“No!” Maddox said with finality.
The clone shuddered. “The pain…” he said. He winced before looking up past Maddox, cackling madly afterward. “It’s too late. It’s too late, Captain Maddox. Oh, yes, I know who you are. You hate me and want to hurt me.”
Maddox looked back over his shoulder. From a distance of a hundred and fifty meters away, three wasp-things scuttled fast for them.
The captain grabbed the clone’s suit, putting his visor against Strand’s mask. “Listen to me, Clone. This is your hour. Endure the pain a few seconds longer, help me destroy the wasps and show me how to turn off this hellish gate. That is your only true chance to strike back at the Methuselah Man.”
The clone stared into Maddox’s eyes, searching, searching. “My blaster,” the clone whispered. “It can hurt them. I’ve tried to use it, but the alien fibers in my mind—”
The clone arched back and screamed in terrible agony.
Maddox understood. He released the clone, tore open the holster and drew out the alien blaster. He rolled off the clone. A wasp-thing flew at him.
Maddox pulled the trigger. A gout of alien energy poured out and burned the first robot. As Maddox ducked, the wasp passed him as a heap of junk.
The captain switched targets and blasted the second robot.
“Look out,” the clone warned.
Maddox dove aside. A wasp-thing scuttled past, barely missing him with an energy-blade.
Maddox swiveled. The wasp-like robot turned, aiming an energy blade at him. At point blank range, Maddox burned down the third and final robot.
Maddox let the pressure off the trigger. The heated blaster quit beaming. Groggily, the captain stood, with the blaster in his hand.
“You did it,” the clone whispered.
“We did it,” Maddox said over the comm.
The clone began to laugh wildly even as tears streamed from his eyes.
Maddox didn’t know what kind of Hell the clone had been through, but they hadn’t won the final contest yet. He stuck the blaster in his belt, grabbed the clone and hoisted him to his feet. He shook the man until the clone’s head wobbled back and forth.
“Clone,” Maddox shouted.
“I hear you.”
“Do you know where the main control chamber is?”
“I should,” the clone said. “I turned on the gate.”
“Can you show me how to turn it off?”
“You mean out of phase.”
“Thank you for telling me about the distinction.”
The clone eyed Maddox, and a look of cunning stole over the bumpy face.
“Fight the pain,” Maddox said. “If you do, you can hurt the one who caused you all this misery.”
The clone blinked, and blinked, and nodded vigorously. Before Maddox could stop him, the clone darted ahead of him.
“Follow me,” the clone shouted. “I’ll show you.”
-44-
Maddox understood that even the clone of Strand couldn’t give up just like that. Even with alien fibers in his mind, even with changes to his physiology and pain inducing him to act a certain way, Strand fought for what he wanted.
Despite himself, Maddox admired that. How many other people could have done what the clone had? Few to none was the answer. Maybe the Nameless Ones in the phase-ship had underestimated the man they had tricked and subverted with a converter. Yes, Maddox hated much about Strand. But he admired the fortitude. A weak man couldn’t do as much evil as a subverted great man.
Maybe that said something about the greatness of Strand.
Maddox snorted to himself. This place was getting to him. Above all else, Strand was a selfish bastard always looking out for number one. If Maddox wasn’t careful, the clone would trick him, too.
Maddox followed the racing clone. He paced himself. He hoped the clone was bringing him to—
They turned a corner and Maddox had no doubt this was the control room. A dozen wasp-things were at various controls. He didn’t see how they communicated with each other, but he bet they did.
On a vast main screen was a completely different…reality. It had hundreds of stars packed next to each other like glittering gems. It must be in the center of a galaxy where stars were clustered side-by-side. Was this the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy or a place even farther away?
One of the wasp-things turned, followed quickly by the others. Their wings began to blur in an angry buzz. An ominous feeling tightened Maddox’s stomach.
On the screen, Maddox saw the other gate. He saw hundreds, maybe thousands of Destroyers. They seemed ready to enter the other gate, cross whatever vast distance separated the two gates and appear here in the Canopus System.
Strand waved his suited arms and pointed at Maddox. The captain heard the man making clicks and whistles. Had the clone just betrayed him?
“Oh, Hell,” Maddox said. He drew the blaster and started burning down one wasp-thing at a time.
That triggered them, as the robots burst into the air, zooming at him. In the next few seconds, Maddox performed one of his most dazzling displays of gunplay. He shot one down, switched targets and took down the next as well, immediately firing on a third robot.
He ducked. He stepped to the side. He swiveled around and shot wasp-things as they tried to turn back at him. He faced forward again and suddenly, the blaster clicked empty as two more wasp-things blurred at him.
Maddox dove, rolled and grabbed a dropped energy-blade. He cut a wasp-thing, barely avoided another, tripped and would have died right there.
Just before the last alien wasp-thing drove its blade into him, a sizzling energy blade sprouted through the creature from behind. It tried to turn, but collapsed instead.
That revealed the clone, who held an energy-knife. When the clone saw that the robot was dead, he dropped the blue-glowing knife.
Maddox scrambled up and the two stared at each other.
“It still hurts,” the clone said. “I think…I think I’m going mad. You must remember to keep your promise to me.”
“I will,” Maddox said. He nodded toward the banks of controls. “Do you know how to turn this…? Can you make the gate start to go out of phase again?”
The clone looked uneasily at the banks of controls. “I don’t know,” he said over the shortwave. “Let’s find out.”
-45-
The clone of Strand went to work and so did Maddox. Mainly, Maddox followed the clone’s instructions. He tapped controls, turned dials and told the clone what various panels said.
The minutes passed. Maddox kept glancing at the vast main screen. The Destroyers had nosed closer to the gate in their galaxy.
“How do we know if we succeed or not?” Maddox asked.
“Don’t talk to me,” the clone said. “I can’t think when you do. The pain worsens, too. I keep fighting the fibers in my mind. If the phase-ship was still here—”
The clone turned. He was on the other side of the main screen. “What happened to the phase-ship?”
Maddox told him about the antimatter missile.
“Interesting,” the clone said. He winced, stood stock-still and then began manipulating his higher bank of controls.
Time passed. Maddox grew increasingly nervous. He no longer had a blaster. If a handful of wasp-things showed up—
At that point, the image on the vast main screen changed. It wavered and flowed, and suddenly a huge creature filled the main screen. It wasn’t an insect and it wasn’t a man. It was green and scaly with ridges and had antennae sticking up from a head structure. It had several tentacles instead of arms. The thing’s optic centers stood on tall wavering stalks on its head.
“Is that a Nameless One?” Maddox asked Strand.
The thing on the main screen swiveled its eyestalks so they centered on Maddox. It had a large bulk, wore garments over part of its form and made strange clicks and whistles.
The translator hanging from the clone’s neck interpreted the noise.
“
What are you doing?” the alien creature asked
Maddox jumped down from where he was reading a panel. He strode toward Strand, saying, “Pitch me the translator.”
At the creature’s question, the clone had frozen. Was it terror, anger? Maddox couldn’t tell. He reached the clone. The Strand clone stared into nothingness.
“Great,” Maddox muttered.
He removed the translator, putting the cord over his own neck. He climbed down and moved in front of the huge main screen, a pygmy compared to it.
“Who dares to address me?” Maddox demanded. The translator dutifully turned his words into clicks and whistles.
The alien’s eyestalks stiffened and the antenna on its head rose straight up.
“I am the Supreme Leader,” the creature said, with the translator interpreting.
“The leader of that pathetic fleet?” Maddox asked.
“You summoned us, promising rich fields of harvest,” the alien said. “Why, then, are you closing the gate?”
“I’m not closing it,” Maddox said. “We discovered a problem on our side. We wish to fix the problem before you come through. Otherwise, some of your ships might…malfunction on this side.”
The alien stood silently for a time. Despite the translator, maybe Maddox’s manner of speech was so strange to it that it took time to reason out what the captain had said.
“You will open the gate afterward?” the alien asked suddenly.
“Yes. I will open the gate,” Maddox agreed. He didn’t want any of the Destroyers trying to force their way through now while it might be risky but possible.
“You are a disgusting looking creature with your soft and obviously malleable skin. Bring your Master here. I wish to talk to her.”
“She is…” Maddox thought fast. “She is overviewing the repair.”
“Repair? Nonsense. No gate has ever malfunctioned, and if one did, who could repair it? You spout lies.”
“We are shutting down the gate. That is quite true.”
“You have no right to profane the ancient gate. We claim the gates through right of combat.”
“So sorry,” Maddox said. “But I do not recognize your claim, as I’m putting in one of my own.”
“This means war.”
“That’s right,” Maddox said. “So you’d better stay home if you desire to live.”
“You do not know us if you speak like this.”
“Nor do I want to know you,” Maddox said. “Thus, let me leave you with this little gem: bugger off.”
The alien stood motionless as if processing the words. Then it moved closer to the screen as its antennae spread outward like the feathers of an angry bird.
“We shall annihilate you for that,” the alien said.
“Good luck,” Maddox said. “You’re going to need it.”
The alien studied Maddox before turning to the side as if listening to someone else. Finally, it faced Maddox again. “You fear us. That is why you are closing the gate.”
Maddox waited.
“We will find you, loathsome creature. We shall make you suffer in agony for this profanity. We shall—”
The scene wavered, flowed as if it was water, and went blank.
Maddox looked around. Strand stood on a high tier, manipulating controls.
“Did you do that?” the captain asked.
“The gate is beginning to phase out,” the clone said. “We have to get out of here or we’ll be stuck inside. I don’t think either of us wants that, as there are…things in here worse than you can imagine.”
“You’re sure the gate is phasing out?”
“It will take time. But we’re going to need time to escape.”
“Can any Destroyers slip though?”
“Maybe,” the clone said. “I don’t really know.”
Maddox nodded. He understood. It wasn’t over. If even a few Destroyers came through— “Let’s get back to the fold-fighter.”
“That’s a good idea,” the clone said.
Maddox turned toward the exit…and paused. He walked to a fallen alien energy blade and picked it up. This was a wicked weapon, maybe even more powerful than the monofilament knife he’d once owned. He clicked the knife on, studying the crackling energy. He clicked it off and hefted the handle, deciding to take it along.
-46-
Maddox and the clone of Strand hurried through the vile corridors. In a way, the route had become harder to traverse. Before, all the captain could think about was saving his people and the Commonwealth of Planets by phasing-out the gate. Now, they had won, it seemed. Now, he wanted to survive. That made the spongy deck worse and made the strange gunk on the walls seem filled with dire portents.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Strand wearied too fast and started lagging behind.
“We don’t have time for this,” Maddox radioed the man.
The words had no effect. The captain hurried back, grabbed a suited arm and forced the clone to march faster. Maddox believed he knew the route back, but it was better to have a second pair of eyes to help him just in case.
“My head hurts,” Strand complained. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“You can do it,” Maddox said, pushing the clone faster.
It worked for another hundred meters.
“No,” the clone said, twisting in Maddox’s grip. “I-I want to leave, but the command in my mind—”
Maddox whirled around, surprising the clone. Strand didn’t wear a helmet exactly, only a rebreather and mask.
“Do you want to live?” Maddox asked.
“Of course I do,” the clone said. “It’s just—”
Maddox grabbed the clone’s shoulder, spun him around, made a fist and clubbed him on the back of the head.
The clone collapsed.
One part of Maddox wanted to leave him behind. He wouldn’t for two reasons. One, it would be morally reprehensible. And two, maybe Strand could revive just enough later to bring the gate back into phase. The captain would never discount Strand’s thirst for vengeance again.
Maddox grabbed the clone and hoisted him over a shoulder, beginning to trudge for the fold-fighter.
***
With the clone slowing him down, Maddox passed the lifeless bulk of the Galyan-copy android and the dead wasp-things. It was good to see that they hadn’t moved. Later, when he felt the clone stir on his shoulder, he wondered if he could risk clouting the man again. Maddox didn’t want to risk giving him a serious concussion. With the alien fibers in the brain, that might kill the clone.
As he trudged along, Maddox had come to realize there were many useful things Star Watch could learn from the Strand clone. If Intelligence had the Methuselah Man’s memories, and if the clone hated the original Strand enough, maybe they could learn secrets they never would any other way.
The clone stirred once more, but then he slumped inert again.
Finally, Maddox and his limp cargo made it to the waiting fold-fighter. It was possibly the greatest sight Maddox had ever seen. He went to the hatch and tried it. Locked. That was a good sign.
Maddox punched in the code, moved into the ship and shut the hatch behind him, re-engaging the lock. He squeezed through a short corridor and entered the cramped control chamber.
“Captain?” Keith asked, aiming a gun at him as he crouched on the opposite end of the chamber.
“Yes. It’s me,” Maddox said with a helmet speaker. “Are you well enough to fly?”
“When I’m dead, I’ll still fly better than anyone else alive,” Keith said, climbing to his feet.
It was forced heartiness, but Maddox approved. They needed all the good cheer they could get.
“Get started,” Maddox said. “The gate is phasing out again and we have to leave before it takes us with it.”
“What gate?” Keith asked, as he holstered the gun. “How did I get here?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Maddox said. “Get started.”
“Who is that?” Keith asked.
“The clone of Strand,” Maddox said, as he deposited Strand in a corner. “Be careful around him. He has alien fibers in his mind.”
“Figures,” Keith said, as he slid into the piloting seat and began the start-up procedures. “Karma came back to bite him hard.”
The tin can shuddered.
“What was that?” Keith asked, alarmed.
“Don’t know,” Maddox said.
They both waited, but nothing else happened.
“Get us out of here, Mr. Maker. That’s an order.”
Keith stopped asking questions as he concentrated, speeding through his preflight routine.
Maddox waited tensely. He waited for the fold-fighter to shake again. He waited for wasp-things to hammer on the outer hatch. He waited for a Ska to invisibly appear and begin to terrorize them.
Instead, several minutes later, the fold-fighter revved and then thrummed, lifting off the alien deck. It was time to go home to Victory, if they could.
-47-
They were close to home free as Keith piloted them out of the main blasted-apart hatch. They had been zooming up the corridor for what seemed like a lifetime.
“I told you it would be a piece of cake,” Keith shouted. “There was nothing to it.”
Maddox noticed the glistening sweat along Keith’s temples. The ace had clenched his teeth more than once, especially as they passed walls that seemed thinner or less substantial as they phased out.
The clone had woken up several minutes ago, taking off his mask and rebreather. Maddox had taken off his space helmet. Strand complained about a splitting headache. He’d also asked Maddox several times already about what had happened to him.
“You hit your head,” was all the answer the captain had given him.
Even though the gate was phasing out, it didn’t do it all at once or in single piece. Maddox wondered how the various parts could keep together. The Builder could have explained the physics of such a thing, but he wasn’t here.
Did the Builder still wage war against the Ska? What if the Ska won? Could the Ska make the Builder phase the gate back into normal quantum reality?
The Lost Artifact Page 43