The Lost Artifact

by Vaughn Heppner

  The captain shook his head. He couldn’t worry about that now.

  “He must be near,” Maddox said, referring to the original Strand. “If we could go to the Throne World…perhaps the Emperor would allow us to speak to Strand.”

  “Or perhaps the Emperor has already broken Strand and is even now sending star cruisers to the same place we’re headed,” Yen Cho said.

  Maddox considered the idea. The longer he did, the more concerned he became over their lack of progress with the Builder cube. “Tell me, Yen Cho. Why have you failed to crack the cube? You know it better than anyone.”

  “Me?” the android asked. “Surely, you jest. The cube is far beyond my knowledge. The Builders…” The android waved vaguely. “You should not have destroyed the proto-Builder, Captain. We were on the verge of a grand new age.”

  “This may surprise you,” Maddox said. “But I have no desire to enter a grand new age with a murderous Builder at its head.”

  “It would have been better for humanity, at least in the long run.”

  “There are no long runs,” Maddox said, “just an endless succession of short runs.”

  “I suppose I can sympathize with you,” Yen Cho said. “You have your short life, and that is all. You cannot see the long view. That is why…” The android looked away.

  “Why I’m a barbarian?” Maddox asked.

  Stout Andros Crank stepped near. “The cube is resistant to everything we can think of,” he told Maddox. “Oh. Am I interrupting you?”

  “Not at all,” Maddox said. “You were saying?”

  “I have come to believe that the cube is actively resisting us,” Andros said. “The technology behind it…” The longhaired chief technician shook his gray head. “I almost think we should split the cube in half.”

  “What?” Yen Cho said, turning to face them.

  “Yes,” Andros told the android. “We’re not getting anywhere as it is. At this point, what do we have to lose? Captain, I’d like your permission to split the cube in half.”

  Maddox studied the cube in the giant globe. The idea was his, naturally. He had instructed Andros to ask him this while he was talking to the android.

  “Yes,” Maddox said, as if coming to a sudden decision. “I don’t see what else we can do.”

  “But that is madness,” Yen Cho said. “The cube is priceless. To simply destroy it like unthinking primitives—not even you humans are that stupid.”

  “I have to disagree with him, sir,” Andros said. “We’re under the gun. We’re possibly running out of time. We have to gamble that we can gain something from the cube.”

  “Agreed,” Maddox said. “Do you have a way to cut it?”

  “I’ve been working on the idea for several days already,” Andros said. “Galyan has helped me create a centralized disrupter beam. It will act like a knife, cutting the cube in half.”

  “No, no,” Yen Cho said. “You are truly mad. That will destroy the cube.”

  “It might,” Andros admitted. “It might also work. Maybe only one-half will be broken. The other half will have salvageable information we can use.”

  There was a subtle stiffening to Yen Cho. The marines along the wall grew alert, several of them training their heavy rifles on the android.

  “Do you disagree with my verdict?” Maddox asked Yen Cho.

  The android looked away. It seemed his cybertronic mind might be whirling at its highest setting.

  “I have a different solution,” Yen Cho said. “I…have not suggested it yet because it might cause a self-destruct sequence in the cube. We…androids have come upon such a cube before. We attempted to hack into it. The cube exploded, killing all the androids but one.”

  “You?” Maddox asked.

  “That was a shrewd guess, Captain. Yes, I alone survived.”

  “Yet you worship the Builders?” Maddox asked.

  “Shall we try my alternative method?” the android asked.

  “Will it take long? We no longer have the luxury of time.”

  “It should take two, maybe three days to set up.”

  Maddox rubbed his chin, finally shaking his head. “No, I don’t see that—”

  “Give me one day of preparation,” Yen Cho said, interrupting. “Surely, one day more won’t matter.”

  Maddox eyed the android. “One day,” he said. “After that—”

  “Thank you, Captain,” Yen Cho said. “I believe my method should work this time. Last time…it does not matter. This time, I am almost completely certain it will work.”

  -6-

  The preparations for Yen Cho’s experiment ended up taking three days. Seventy-six hours to be precise. Maddox did not complain or point it out to the android.

  By that time, the captain had other matters on his mind. The starship had traveled an incredible distance in that 76-hour timeframe, leaving the smaller-than-normal crew exhausted from all the star-drive and Laumer Point jumps.

  They had traveled through six Laumer Points, having used the star drive as a short cut to each different system. According to Yen Cho’s star-chart, the short cut saved the crew five Laumer Point jumps and a detour of 63 light-years. Altogether, Victory had traveled 87 light-years since the discussion with Andros and Yen Cho in the science chamber.

  The ancient Adok vessel was now in a neutron star system. They had exited a Laumer Point near the small but incredibly dense iron sun. The radiation from the neutron star bombarded the ship, causing the shield to change color.

  Maddox was on the bridge with a skeleton crew. A pilot sat at the helm, and Galyan stood near the captain. The rest of the bridge crew was sleeping off the cumulative effects of the many jumps over days on end.

  “This is an inhospitable star system,” Galyan said. “There is little visible light, massive amounts of ionizing radiation and high-energy stellar winds. I suggest we leave the vicinity of the neutron star.”

  “One more jump,” Maddox said. “Helm, prepare to jump—” The captain turned to Galyan. “Yen Cho suspects this is the star system. Have you found anything that indicates a human-inhabited base?”

  “Negative, Captain,” Galyan said. “But it is difficult to get accurate sensor readings this near the neutron star.”

  “Let’s jump behind the second inner planet,” Maddox said. “It can shield us from the star’s radiation.”

  “I suggest we jump farther that than, Captain. I can understand why Strand might have picked this system to set up a secret base. But I cannot see how that base could be in the inner system. It will have to be in the outer system at least.”

  “Provided it’s even here,” Maddox said.

  “Agreed,” Galyan said.

  “All right,” Maddox said. “We’ll jump to the nearest outer planet. We can begin searching for the hidden base from there.”

  ***

  Victory jumped one more time. From there, Galyan used the starship’s sensors, scanning, widening the scan and searching even farther afield.

  There did not seem to be anything other than asteroids, comets, gas giants and stellar debris.

  Valerie spelled the captain for a time. He went to his room and fell asleep for what seemed like no time before he felt Meta pushing his left shoulder.

  “They did it,” she said.

  Maddox blinked at her from the bed. “Galyan found the hidden base?”

  “What?” Meta asked.

  “The base, we’re searching for the—”

  “No, no,” Meta said. “Yen Cho’s experiment worked. They’ve opened communications with the Builder cube.”

  Maddox shook his head. “What did you say? They haven’t cracked into the software?”

  “Husband, the Builder cube is awake. It’s angry, and it doesn’t want to talk. But we have opened communications with it. Andros has requested your presence. He says you have a fantastic record talking to computers, that this is another time for you to shine.”

  “The cube is a computer?”

  “Not full
y,” Meta said. “According to what I heard, there’s some bio-matter inside the cube. Andros thinks it’s the genetic code for Builders.”

  Maddox whipped off the covers. He was naked. No surprise to Meta, although she still noted a flutter of pleasure at the sight. According to the clock, he’d slept two hours. A cup of coffee should help him. He wouldn’t take any more stimulants than that, though.

  “That bastard,” Maddox said, meaning Yen Cho. The android had double-crossed them. He wasn’t supposed to wake the thing up. They needed to crack into the cube’s software so they could download the data. Now, he had to deal with an angry Builder cube.

  Maddox threw on his clothes and jacket. Just for once, he would like to get a break and have something fall his way.

  He suppressed the thought. He was Captain Maddox. Like Andros said, this was a time for him to shine.

  Another computer, he thought. After that, he walked briskly, with Meta trotting beside him.

  -7-

  Maddox stood in the large science room. The techs stood around the giant globe that towered over the captain and the others. Just like before, in the center of the globe was a holder containing the Builder cube. Various nodes lined the container. Cables were connected to some of those nodes. Others had sizzling lines of electricity.

  Maddox didn’t comprehend all the scientific reasons for all the pieces of equipment. That was why he had Galyan, Andros Crank and now Yen Cho. Could the three of them do together what Professor Ludendorff had routinely done solo?

  The android watched him. Did Yen Cho fear a reprimand? At this point, Maddox wasn’t going to worry about it. He studied the globe, and he had a second thought.

  “Sergeant,” he said to the chief marine.

  The man acknowledged him.

  “Take the android back to its cell,” Maddox said.

  The sergeant whirled around and collected his men, heading for Yen Cho.

  “Captain,” the android said. “I would like to watch the proceedings.”

  “Of course you would,” Maddox said in an easy manner. “That’s one of the reasons you’re going back to your cell. You played us false.”

  “That is not true. My experiment produced this communication.”

  Maddox turned his back on Yen Cho.

  “Captain,” the android called.

  “Get him out of here, Sergeant.”

  “You heard the captain,” the marine told the android. “Start moving.”

  “No. I refuse to go.”

  Maddox turned around, staring at Yen Cho. “Sergeant,” he said, “shoot him in the arms and legs and torso. Incapacitate him—”

  “I have changed my mind,” Yen Cho. “I will leave.”

  Maddox nodded. The android must have realized he was about to be terminated, his cybertronic brain to be studied by Andros and Galyan.

  After Yen Cho and his guards departed, Maddox beckoned Andros.

  “Tell me,” Maddox said quietly. “Is the Builder cube watching and listening to all this?”

  “Yes, sir,” Andros said.

  “Explain to me how it does so.”

  The chief technician brought Maddox to a major screen. On it appeared a dark image: a shadowy humanoid Builder complete with shifting leathery wings.

  Maddox examined the image and then turned to his left and looked at the cube imprisoned in the globe. He turned again, pulling Andros aside.

  “One thing keeps bothering me,” Maddox said quietly. “The cube was in the clone’s ghost-ship. The clone used the ghost-ship for quite some time. At no point did the cube attempt to become a proto-Builder. I’d like to know why not and why it chose its moment when it did.”

  Andros shook his head.

  “Galyan,” Maddox said into the air.

  The holoimage appeared.

  Maddox asked him what he’d asked Andros.

  Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. Finally, the little holoimage brightened. “I have a theory. I imagine the Builder in the cube was asleep. Or that program had not been activated. The cube acted as the ghost-ship’s computer system. Once the guardian robot removed it, something must have activated in the cube.”

  “Why did the robot wait to do that?” Maddox asked.

  “Perhaps it followed emergency coding,” Galyan said. “That emergency would have activated the old Builder revival program. The guardian robot might not have specifically known it was doing that, at least not in the beginning. Once the Builder rebirth-program activated, though… We have seen the results.”

  “A reasonable theory,” Maddox said. “Thank you.”

  “Yes, Captain. Now, I must get back to scanning for the clone’s hidden base.” The holoimage disappeared.

  Once more, Maddox examined the cube in the globe. It was time to get started.

  “Can you hear me?” he asked.

  “Your chatter is speech, a primitive form of communication,” the Builder cube replied from a speaker in the screen. “I resent your chatter being directed at me, but I can hear and understand it quite well.”

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “That is an insulting question,” the Builder cube said. “I am aware, yes, that you are my chief enemy, the berserk humanoid that attacked me in the hangar bay. I have already indicated that I am aware of everything around me. I know about the guardian robot. I know about the clone Strand and the ghost-ship. In other words, I am a Builder in thought, if not yet in body.”

  “You remember the past?”

  “Captain,” the Builder cube chided. “You do not understand the situation. None of your people do, not even the interesting Adok holoimage. You must release me. I am too great and too sophisticated to allow myself the indignity of imprisonment by inferior creatures such as you.”

  “Nevertheless,” Maddox said, “you are my prisoner. You attempted to murder all of us. You did kill some, more than seventy individuals. Do you know that we humans—”

  “Captain, captain, I am going to interrupt you right there. You—specifically you—are not fully human, Homo sapiens human, is what I mean. You are partly…an altered New Man.”

  Maddox did not reply right away. He pondered the cube’s objective and its…prissy manner. That did not seem like the Builder on the Dyson Sphere. Had they damaged the software during the fight in the hangar bay? Had it been asleep so long that some of its programming had downgraded? Entropy always won in the end. Builder artifacts lasted longer than any others did, but even they deteriorated in the end.

  Putting his hands behind his back, Maddox began to pace before the screen.

  “You do not like being a hybrid,” the cube said. “This I know from my detailed study of you. The Strand clone was quite interested in your psychology. I don’t mean the clone you are presently hunting. You see, I even know about that.”

  “You’re clever,” Maddox said.

  “No. I am a Builder. I am superior by my very nature.”

  “But you’re not a Builder. You have the DNA of a Builder stored within you and given time, you might possibly cause a Builder’s birth. But you yourself are a construct, an android with delusions of being a Builder. I’ve spoken to a genuine Builder, and you are not one, nor do you act or sound as one.”

  “I will long survive you, Captain. In time, the essence in me shall become a Builder. I will supply it with a personality and great knowledge. Therefore, gloat and strut to your heart’s delight, Captain. It matters little to me. I have infinite patience.”

  “I’m delighted to hear that,” Maddox said. “For I’ve decided to practice another experiment with you.”

  “Oh?”

  “Your cube is made out of a nearly indestructible substance.”

  “Delete the ‘nearly,’ and you would be correct.”

  Maddox spun around to face the screen. He clapped his hands as if overjoyed. “That’s exactly what I want to test.”

  “Nothing on your starship can ultimately harm me, so test away”

  “I suspected as much,” Mad
dox said. “Therefore, I am going release you several AUs from the neutron star. I am even going to give your cube a pressure-force push. You will fall onto the neutron star. If you survive your impact, I imagine it will be an exceedingly long wait for you. Millions of years, in fact, as you wait for the neutron star to eventually fall apart.”

  The Builder cube did not reply.

  “Chief Technician,” Maddox said.

  “Here, sir,” Andros said.

  “You will begin to dismantle the globe. Detach the cube from its place and tell me when you’re ready for the launch.”

  Andros stared at Maddox.

  “I expect prompt obedience, Chief Technician,” the captain said.

  “Y-Y-Yes, sir,” Andros stammered. “I shall begin the process—”

  “Captain,” the cube said. “I believe you are being a tad premature.”

  Maddox waved a hand. “I imagine that’s true. But like I’ve been trying to tell you. I’m not interested in your opinion. To me, you’re not really a Builder. You’re a thing that might in time become a Builder, but now you’re going to have to wait for millions of years to find out. I doubt you’ll be able to send a message off the neutron star.”

  “Sending a message from the neutron star would be impossible.”

  “There you are,” Maddox said. “Of course, all that is provided you survive the impact. Do you think you can survive it?”

  “That is not the issue,” the cube said. “Your neutron star experiment is a gross misuse of me.”

  “I have other things on my mind. If you don’t want to help me—”

  “Who said that?” the cube asked, interrupting.

  “Oh. I believe you implied—”

  “Captain, captain,” the cube chided. “I know what you are trying to do. It is quite elementary.”

  “I’m just a lower-order creature,” Maddox said. “I hardly know better.”

  “You are savagely bloodthirsty and will let nothing stand in your way. You see, I know you better than you know yourself. I know this is no idle threat.”

  “I hate threatening anything that I’m not willing to actually do,” Maddox said.

  “Yes, I know,” the cube said. “Now, let us proceed to the heart of the issue. What is it you want?”