The Lost Secret

by Vaughn Heppner

  Ural checked his helmet monitor. There was breathable air here, and it was a pleasant temperature.

  Strand began to remove his EVA suit. He laughed once freed of it.

  Ural opened his faceplate. “Are you mad? What happens when it’s time to leave?”

  “I’ll put the suit back on, of course,” Strand said. “We’ve reached the Builder tunnels. Something is obviously guiding us. So I might as well be comfortable for the meeting.”

  “And if this intelligence grows weary of you and floods the chamber with noxious fumes?”

  “If it wants to kill me, it clearly can. Notice how it knocked out the others in their suits. Wear yours if you like. I’m going to be comfortable while I’m here.”

  Ural was for a fact tired of wearing the bulky EVA suit. This was Strand’s home territory. Even after all this time, wouldn’t the Methuselah Man know what to do? With a shrug, Ural began to unlock the seals. Soon, his suit lay on the floor beside Strand’s. “What are our chances of leaving the planet alive?”

  Strand pointed at him. “That’s why I’ve removed my suit. I want all my faculties working at a keen pitch. They are, after all, my most potent asset. Suits are wearisome after an hour or longer and would have diminished my efficiency several percentage points.”

  “What do you suggest as our next move?”

  First cupping his hands around his mouth, Strand called out, “Hello. We know you’re guiding us, whoever you are. Where do you want us to go next?”

  A light appeared on the floor. It blinked several times, disappeared, and another light farther ahead began to blink.

  “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” Strand muttered.

  “What?”

  “Follow me,” Strand said. “We should have our answer soon.” The Methuselah Man walked in the direction of the light and in the direction of an open corridor.

  Ural almost grabbed Strand. Instead, he started to follow, determined to gun the Methuselah Man down from behind if he felt Strand was attempting to betray the Throne World’s interests. Otherwise, they were in this together.

  -81-

  Leaving the landed fold-fighter, Maddox, Ludendorff and Riker staggered through howling, shrieking winds across an icy hellscape. They wore bulky EVA suits with the heaters blasting overtime to keep their frail bodies alive in the terrifying blizzard. Rock-hard frozen particles struck their suits, helmets and faceplates, leaving marks each time.

  “The stuff is like metallic sandpaper,” Ludendorff screamed over their helmet comms.

  “What’s that?” Riker shouted. “What are you saying?”

  Maddox propelled the other two toward a shadowy metal housing. It was hard to see through the swirling, smashing particles. He used his helmet tracker, which accepted a feed from the tin can to pinpoint their destination.

  Maddox felt an invisible something, pushed, pushed harder and staggered through as the winds and ear-piercing shrieks abruptly ceased. At the same time, the feed from the tin can stopped as well.

  “Was that a force field?” Maddox shouted.

  “I can hear you just fine, my boy,” Ludendorff said in a normal voice. “There’s no need to shout anymore. And yes, I believe that was a force field of some kind. It let us through, but it’s blocking the wind and particles. I’m not sure I like this. It denotes selectivity, which implies intelligence.”

  “A last hiding Builder playing games?” asked Maddox.

  “That seems unlikely,” Ludendorff said. “The Builders are gone.”

  “We’ve met Builders before,” Riker said. “Why not another of them buggers on a home planet of theirs?”

  “Yes…” Ludendorff said at last. “I suppose that is a possibility. As you pointed out, we faced a Builder on the Dyson Sphere.”

  “That seems like ages ago,” Maddox said. “But it was only a few years back.”

  “Isn’t Lisa Meyers supposed to have a Builder in her keeping?” Riker asked. “So that makes two of them bastards still hanging around.”

  “True, true,” Ludendorff said, “Although the Dyson Sphere Builder died with the destruction of the site. I’d forgotten about Meyers’s sleeping Builder. Your supposition becomes more possible by the moment.”

  “That’s just great,” Riker said. “We come all this way to grab technological loot and find a Builder still guarding the treasure hoard.”

  “A crude way to say it,” Ludendorff said.

  “Do we leave?” asked Riker. “I mean, we gotta leave if a Builder is trying to trap us or teach us a lesson. I hate superior-acting beings thinking they have to teach us lowly humans something.”

  Maddox laughed harshly. “No one’s leaving. This is a lot of guessing and worrying, maybe about nothing. The force field could be an automatic function. The elevator entrance would be a metal nub otherwise, just like those worn-down pyramids on the Yon Soth planet. Besides, we’ve bargained with Builders before. We can do it again if we have to.”

  “Is that what you call it, sir?” asked Riker. “Bargaining with a superior ass by using Galyan to trick him?”

  “No more cheek from you, Sergeant. Professor, can you make this thing work like it’s supposed to?”

  “There’s only one way to find out, my boy.” Ludendorff carefully negotiated the icy surface and examined the outer face of the mental housing. As he did, an elevator door opened.

  “Look at this,” Riker said, “a bloody invitation. Either that or the alligator is opening its jaws and suggesting we enter. It’s safe as can be, he’s saying.”

  “It does seem like a trap,” Maddox said. “Professor, what do you think?”

  “If we decide this is too dangerous, do we turn tail and run?” Ludendorff asked.

  “No,” Maddox said, as he shoved past the other two and entered the elevator.

  Ludendorff followed a moment later. “Well, Sergeant, are you just going to stand there?”

  “Do you mind if I head back to the tin can, sir?” Riker said over the helmet comm. “This doesn’t feel right.”

  “Quit stalling,” Maddox said. “Get your butt in here.”

  Riker still didn’t enter the elevator.

  “There’s more going on than I’m saying,” Maddox said cryptically.

  Riker sighed over the comm and finally entered the elevator.

  The door immediately shut, and the car started plunging down, increasing speed as the seconds went by. That threw both Ludendorff and Riker against a wall, causing them to stumble and fall.

  Maddox rode it out, helping each of them up in turn. “Is this like old times, Professor?”

  “No,” Ludendorff grumbled. “It was civilized back in those days. I don’t know what is happening today. Clearly, there is someone in charge of the planet. It could have been a grave error coming here. Let’s hope the New Men haven’t discovered the planetary controls and are bringing us in for judgment.”

  “Not a happy thought,” Maddox agreed.

  Ludendorff in his suit turned to Maddox. “What do you know that you’re not saying? What do you have up your sleeve?”

  “Nothing much,” Maddox said.

  “That good, eh?” asked Ludendorff, sounding hopeful.

  “Maybe,” Maddox admitted. “But now isn’t the time to talk about it.”

  “When would be a good time?”

  “I’ll let you know. For now, keep on your toes. If someone is in charge, let’s not say or do anything that might upset them.”

  “You think they’re listening in on us?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I do,” Riker said. “It’s what I’d do if I were running the planet.”

  “The sergeant has a point,” Maddox said. “Thus, let’s ride this out and see where it leads.”

  -82-

  The elevator did not stop at any stony tunnels or caverns but continued steadily downward. Nor did any grid map appear under the controls as it had in the other car. Ludendorff did test the controls, but it had no effect on their progress.

  �
�I can’t get through to Keith,” Riker complained. “We’re thoroughly trapped, with no one to know about our fate. How extensive are the tunnels anyway?”

  “The planet is honeycombed with them,” Ludendorff said, pausing before he added, “I’ve only traversed a few of them. We Methuselah Men did not have access to much of the interior system. In truth, we traveled almost nowhere down here. Back then, most of what I knew about the planet was hearsay and rumors.” He made a soft sound. “I was among a select group. Strand was the only other person that I knew in it. We spent most of our time in study and later received advanced training from alien instructors. A few times, we spoke to a Builder. Afterward, our instructors put us to sleep. I think that was when we entered a medical area and the Builders did whatever they did to our brains and bodies.”

  “Sounds horrible,” Riker said.

  “Some of it was,” Ludendorff said sadly. “Yes…I remember a little more now. Perhaps actually being on the planet is stimulating my memories. I resented the secret surgeries, while the mind expansion processes could cause me to scream and thrash, even in my sleep. I had dreadful nightmares for decades afterward.” He turned his faceplate to them. “Isn’t it odd how one forgets so much?”

  Maddox grunted his agreement.

  “Strand resented the Masters as well. I suppose that’s how he talked me into trying for the forbidden chamber, a way to get back in a small thing. I plan to go to the library chamber again—if the crystal pylons are still operational. That’s how I hope to find the data to neutralize whatever damage has been done to your grandmother’s brain.”

  Riker scoffed. “I’ll tell you what I think. We’re rats in a maze. Every one of them Builders was an arrogant son of a bitch, and so is the one screwing with us now.”

  “Sergeant,” Maddox warned.

  “I know,” Riker said with a sigh. “Shut my yap. I’m trying, but I’m getting antsy about all this. I can feel the Builder sitting back and watching us, observing and making his decisions. Why did he wait until now to pop up, eh? He let us apes crawl around his planet and then snapped his trap on us.”

  “What crawling do you refer to?” asked Ludendorff. “We barely arrived on the planet.”

  “It’s his star system then, all right?” asked Riker.

  “Sergeant, you have your orders,” Maddox said sternly.

  “Yes, sir,” Riker said, with zip to his voice. “Stand in the corner, is that what you’re saying?”

  Maddox moved closer to the sergeant. He peered through the faceplate at Riker’s seamed features. “What are you feeling?”

  Riker gave him a feeble smile. “Trapped, sir. I feel trapped.”

  “And?”

  “Like we made a stupid choice coming here.”

  “Anything else?” Maddox asked, as he searched the sergeant’s face.

  “What are you driving at?” Ludendorff asked.

  Maddox waved the professor silent. “Sergeant, do you hear me?”

  “I’m feeling sick, sir,” Riker said, as his eyelids fluttered.

  “Because of our stupid move?” asked Maddox.

  “No…” Riker said, beginning to sound sleepy. “My gut is churning. It’s like waves of something are striking against me. It feels like crawling ants, but ants with hot feet. I can hardly keep my eyes open.”

  “Don’t fight it,” Maddox said.

  “Thanks, I won’t.” And with that, Riker closed his eyes and slumped onto the floor.

  “What’s happening?” Ludendorff asked, alarmed.

  The elevator car began to screech. Moments later, it stopped with a lurch. The door opened into a smoothly lit corridor.

  Maddox and Ludendorff peered outside.

  A yellow light began to blink on the floor. When it stopped blinking, another a little farther off started.

  “That’s an obvious invitation,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox grunted noncommittally.

  “We must go,” Ludendorff said.

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  Ludendorff stepped out of the elevator, maybe noticed that Maddox wasn’t following and turned around. “Are you coming?”

  “Help me with Riker.”

  “We can’t carry him.”

  “We’re sure not going to leave him,” Maddox said.

  “Captain—”

  “Forget it,” Maddox said. “The sergeant stays with me, or I stay with him. If you want to go alone, go ahead.”

  “You’re being stubborn,” Ludendorff said.

  “You bet your sweet ass I am. Now, give me a hand.”

  Ludendorff muttered and reentered the elevator.

  The two suited men hoisted the EVA-suited Riker, throwing one of his arms over each of their shoulders. They dragged the unconscious sergeant, his booted feet scraping across the smooth floor. In that way, the three of them followed the blinking yellow lights, moving away from the elevator and deeper down the chosen corridor.

  -83-

  Maddox and Ludendorff dragged Riker a solid half-a-kilometer through a maze of corridors before the sergeant smacked his lips, the sound loud in their headphones.

  “If he’s waking up,” a panting Ludendorff said, “let him walk on his own. I can’t take much more of this. I’m exhausted.”

  “Set him down,” Maddox said.

  They propped Riker against a wall and then crouched near him, waiting.

  “What a lousy dream,” Riker muttered. “I was in a suit—” His eyes opened fully as he stared into Maddox’s helmeted face. The sergeant let fly with a string of profanity, ending with, “It ain’t no dream, is it?”

  “Afraid not,” Maddox said. “Feel better after your nap?”

  Riker sat up and turned his faceplate in both directions. “You dragged me with you?”

  Maddox nodded.

  “Yeah, that’s better than being left behind. Thanks…I guess.”

  “What did you feel earlier?” asked Maddox.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Yes,” Ludendorff said. “What do you mean?”

  “Why did Riker fall asleep and we didn’t?” Maddox asked. “You said something about hot-footed ants.”

  “Yes!” Riker said. “It was a hot prickly feeling on my skin, my whole body. It made me tired. I must have fallen asleep after that.”

  “They targeted him,” Maddox said.

  “Why the sergeant?” asked Ludendorff.

  Maddox shook his head. “I have no idea. I do think we’ll find out at the end of the line. Are you ready to walk?”

  “I suppose,” Riker said.

  “Love the confidence,” Maddox said, giving him a hand up, slapping him on the back. “Now, let’s see what this is all about.”

  ***

  They followed the blinking lights as the corridor slowly increased width and height until they reached a closed hatch, a large one over ten meters high and wide. Maddox reached for it—

  The hatch opened, sliding up fast. It was dark in there. However, when they attempted to switch on their helmet lamps, they discovered that the lamps would not shine. That wasn’t all, though. The air cyclers shut down—must have shut down some time ago and they’d only noticed now.

  “My air is getting stale,” Riker said. “I’m going to have to open the faceplate. According to my indicator, the air is okay here.”

  “My suit is malfunctioning,” Maddox said. “The heater suddenly switched on.”

  “Mine just did, too,” Ludendorff said.

  “Blast it,” Maddox said. “This is a message. Whoever it is wants us out of our suits.”

  Riker had already started unlatching the seals. “You know what they say: if you can’t fight ’em, join ’em.”

  “That isn’t my motto,” Maddox said. “But we might as well bow to the inevitable in this.” He, too, began to remove his seals.

  “I hope they don’t mean to kill us,” Ludendorff said, as he shed his EVA suit.

  Soon, the three men stood in their regular clothes, wi
th the bulky suits on the floor.

  Maddox shrugged, grabbed his suit and dragged it through the large hatch. The other two did likewise.

  The hatch slammed shut behind them, casting them into darkness.

  “Better and better,” Riker mumbled.

  “There,” Maddox said. “High up, I’m seeing dim illumination.”

  “Yes,” Ludendorff said.

  Lamps or lights high up, a good hundred meters high, gained strength, casting more light.

  “The place is huge,” Ludendorff said, looking around, “bigger than a stadium. Ah. Look over there. Do you see people?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said, “two people: a tall one and a dwarf.”

  “Strand,” hissed Ludendorff. “It has to be Strand.”

  “The tall one might have golden skin,” Maddox said, as he squinted. His right hand fell onto the holstered butt of his blaster. He had the monofilament blade in his boot. He recalled his promise to even the score with Strand for withholding information about the Hormagaunt in the mobile null region last mission. The Methuselah Man must have meant to murder them before. “Let’s go,” Maddox said eagerly.

  Ludendorff’s grabbed an arm, saying, “Captain.”

  Maddox turned on the professor.

  “Don’t go in that frame of mind.”

  Maddox raised an eyebrow.

  “You sound angry,” Ludendorff said. “This is a time to keep our wits, to think clearly.”

  Maddox blinked, blinked again—and for the first time in a long time, he practiced the Way of the Pilgrim breathing. He continued with the Way, settling himself, realizing the professor had a point. Strand—the Emperor had released the Methuselah Man from his prison. The New Men—one at least—had reached this deep location with Strand. It was time to… to use his wits and do whatever was necessary to win. He had Ludendorff and Sergeant Riker for help—

  Maddox reached up, shut off the anti-T device and removed the headband. He had his new and improved sixth sense, honed by Balron the Traveler. It was time to test the sense in the fire.

  “Leave the suits,” Maddox said. “Stay calm, and let’s see what in the hell the New Man and Strand have discovered.” Maddox led the way, with the other two hurrying behind him.