The Lost Artifact

by Vaughn Heppner

  None of that mattered as the fold-fighter zoomed past the nuclear-warhead-blasted hatch and headed for open space.

  “Do you see Victory?” Maddox asked.

  “That I do, mate,” Keith said, obviously feeling expansive. “It’s left the vicinity of the gas giant but it’s a long way from us.”

  Maddox nodded. They had almost made it from the ancient artifact. None of them knew how far they had to be so the phase shift didn’t pull them with it. Whatever the distance, it had to be soon now.

  Then a terrible feeling of evil filled Maddox. It rubbed the raw wound the Ska had made in his heart over a year ago. Suddenly, the shadowy Builder was among them. Compared to them, he was a giant that made the quarters seem tiny. Smoke streamed from one of his shoulders. The Builder hunched, and the stars where his head should show did not shine as brightly as before. In truth, they glimmered a bloody red color.

  What did that mean? Nothing good, Maddox bet.

  The Builder groaned and flailed one of his shadowy arms. It must have been a premeditated act, as the arm caught the clone, lifted him off the deck and smashed Strand with thudding force against a bulkhead.

  “I’ll kill you all!” the Builder roared. “I’ll slay the universe.”

  The shadowy giant grabbed Keith, lifting him out of the piloting chair. “What are you doing here, little gnat?” the Builder roared.

  Maddox sensed the evil in the Builder as more smoke billowed from the left shoulder. The Builder had used his right arm each time. Then it hit Maddox. The Ska had obviously touched the Builder there. Had the Builder killed the ancient evil after that happened? Who could know? The point was the Ska had wounded something deep in the Builder and maybe driven him mad.

  “None will leave the gate,” the Builder shouted. “None will stop the dawning of a new age, a hard age, a bitter age of—”

  Maddox didn’t hear the rest of it. With the swiftness of a trained knife-fighter, which he most certainly was, the captain drew the alien energy knife. He clicked it on so raw energy sizzled into existence.

  The Builder sensed something. He hurled Keith from him and whirled around. Maddox didn’t attempt any finesse. He leapt like a jungle cat, extended his arm like a fencer and shoved the energy blade into the Builder’s mid-torso.

  The Builder howled in agony. Maddox withdrew the energy blade and stabbed again, and again, and again. He could not do so a fifth time, as the larger Builder bear-hugged him. Smoke and fluids billowed and flowed from the Builder. Even so, the creature crushed Maddox against him. The captain struggled valiantly with all his steely-muscled might. He pushed against the remorseless Builder arms. He twisted the energy blade that was still inside the creature, trying to inflict as much damage as he could while he could.

  The captain’s bones crackled and snapped under the Builder’s remorseless strength. Maddox grunted. More bones snapped. Maddox moaned before he mercifully blanked out, defeated by the Builder.

  -48-

  Consciousness returned to Maddox with the suddenness of a whip. He felt weaker than a child. He lay…in a cot. He recognized medical. He was on Starship Victory. He heard familiar sounds and smelled familiar odors. It shocked him how good it felt to be here. Tears welled in his eyes. He tried to wipe them, but found that he could not move his arms, as someone had restrained them with straps. He noticed tubes in his arms and a life-support machine. That didn’t seem good.

  The captain cleared his throat.

  “Careful,” a gruff-voiced Sergeant Riker said from somewhere off to the side where Maddox’s couldn’t see. “He’s weaker this time. The Builder almost killed him.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Meta asked. Then she hovered into view over Maddox, her long blonde hair spilling around her face.

  She looked so beautiful. It actually hurt Maddox’s heart to realize that his wife’s beauty stunned him.

  “Baby doll,” he whispered.

  “Oh, Maddox,” Meta said. “Maddox, Maddox, you have to stop doing this to yourself.”

  He would have nodded, but something welled up in him. Maybe it was joy at being alive. Maybe it was knowing he would get to spend more time with his lovely darling.

  Meta bent down so her face was an inch from his. She kissed him so very gently. She touched a cheek. “Next time you go on a mission like that, I’m coming along.”

  “No,” he whispered.

  Tears welled in her eyes. They began to drip onto his face. “Oh, darling, I’m sorry,” she said, wiping the tears from a cheek.

  “Don’t be,” he said. “It’s good to be loved.”

  She stared into his eyes. “Say it,” she whispered.

  “I love you, baby.”

  “And I love you, Maddox.” She kissed him again, their lips lingering.

  Finally, Meta pulled back, lifting her head.

  “Is the ship safe?” Maddox whispered.

  “It’s safe,” Meta said. “The Builder is dead, in case you’re wondering. He teleported away before he…well, we assumed he died then by the amount of alien blood we found in the fighter.”

  Worry touched the captain.

  “No,” Meta said. “The Builder teleported out of the fold-fighter, but he didn’t make it to the gate. The ancient structure had almost phased out and I guess you made it far enough to escape the phasing. Keith was in a bad way, but he crawled back to the controls. He saw the Builder on the screen, floating in space. Keith launched a missile and the Builder blew up.”

  Maddox absorbed the news.

  “Keith passed out afterward,” Meta said. “That’s how we found you, the two of you unconscious.”

  “The clone…?” Maddox whispered.

  “Dead,” Meta said. “The Builder crushed his bones, some of them piercing vital organs. The clone never had a chance.”

  “No…” Maddox said, staring far off. “I don’t think the clone ever did.” The captain blinked himself out of his reverie. “Where is Victory now?”

  “Heading home.”

  “Good. Wait, what about Yen Cho?”

  Meta frowned. “He’s back in his cell. The android went wild after Valerie had him unhooked from Helm. The android tore apart two marines before others in armor subdued him. Yen Cho just sits in the cell, staring at the walls. He won’t respond to any queries. What did the Builder do to Yen Cho?”

  Maddox shook his head.

  “Oh,” Meta said, “the Hindenburgers disappeared. We can’t find any sign of any of them. Do you know what happened to them?”

  Maddox squinted as a grim possibility surfaced. How had the Builder gained his bio-matter?

  “I’m tired,” the captain whispered. “I’m going to sleep for a while. Then, I have some thinking to do.”

  “You sleep, darling. I’m going to be right here watching over you.”

  Maddox nodded, or at least he thought he had, before he let his eyes close.

  -49-

  Three days later, after the bone regeneration therapy had taken hold, Maddox felt good enough to leave the cot and don his uniform. He moved slowly as he exited medical, aching all over. On top of everything else, the radiation treatments had taken their toll. But his fantastic recuperative powers had helped speed the processes.

  Meta helped him whenever they were alone in the corridors. Finally, the captain shuffled into a special chamber. Meta helped him into a chair before a desk.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” she said. “You should be in bed.”

  “I will be soon,” Maddox said. “First, I need to report to the Brigadier. There are a few items that need…careful consideration, and quickly.”

  “What considerations?” Meta asked.

  “If you sit in the corner over there, you can listen to what I tell the Brigadier.”

  Meta’s eyebrows raised. Maddox had never allowed such a thing before.

  “I’m going to want your expertise,” Maddox said, as he straightened his uniform. “The way I’m feeling, I don’t care to explain anyth
ing twice.”

  That was a second shock to Meta. Maddox never complained about weakness or tiredness. He liked to maintain the fiction that he was a man of iron. He was tough. There was no doubt about that. But, like everyone, her husband had his limitations.

  Maddox readied the Builder communication device. Finally, he activated it.

  Valerie had sent a signal earlier, letting the Brigadier know that Maddox wanted to speak to her. In a moment, the screen wavered and solidified on the gray-haired Iron Lady of Star Watch Intelligence.

  “Hello, Ma’am,” Maddox said.

  O’Hara did a double take. “Maddox! You look wretched. What happened to you?”

  Maddox hesitated. “I’m not sure where to begin, Ma’am.”

  “I want to know everything,” O’Hara said, as she searched his face. “Don’t leave a thing out.”

  Maddox began telling the Iron Lady what had happened since the last time he’d spoken to her. The Brigadier listened patiently. She shook her head at times. At others, she tsked and became angry.

  Maddox finally lost steam. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to call you later. I’m…”

  “You look exhausted,” O’Hara said. “Get some sleep. You can finish your report later.”

  “Thank you, Ma’am.”

  After the connection ended, Maddox put his arms on the desk, laid his head on his arms and fell promptly asleep.

  Meta left him like that, and stayed sitting in her chair, watching protectively.

  The captain woke up four and half hours later. He looked worse than before.

  “Really,” Meta said. “I need to take you back to medical.”

  “Not yet,” Maddox said in a querulous voice. “I must finish my report.”

  “What’s bothering you?” Meta asked.

  “Could you get me some water? My throat is parched.”

  Meta got him water. He drank it all. Then he contacted the Brigadier again. Meta went to her chair in the corner, listening to what he had to say.

  Maddox told the Brigadier the rest of the story. She made sympathetic noises at times and murmured “Oh, dear,” at others. Finally, the captain completed his report.

  “The clone is dead?” the Brigadier asked.

  “And so is the Builder,” Maddox said as he nodded his yes. “I believe his fight with the Ska proved too much for him.”

  “Did you happen to pick up a second energy blade?” O’Hara asked.

  “I’m afraid I didn’t,” Maddox said.

  “Pity,” O’Hara said. She was silent for a time.

  Maddox was content to fold his hands on the desk and wait.

  “There are two things that concern me,” the Brigadier finally said.

  “Just two?”

  “Yes. Firstly, the Nameless Ones know intelligent races are back in the Orion Arm. Will they send Destroyers here to investigate? If they do, how long will it take such ships to reach us?”

  “It could be a thousand years or more,” Maddox said.

  “Are there no more gates in the Orion Arm?” the Brigadier asked.

  “We have no one who can tell us.”

  “The Methuselah Man imprisoned on the Throne World might,” she said.

  “I’m not so sure,” Maddox said. “The original Strand toyed with forces he didn’t truly understand. I doubt he knows much about the gates.”

  “It is a quandary,” O’Hara admitted. “It is yet another problem that Star Watch and humanity don’t need. We still have the Swarm Imperium to worry about, never mind the Nameless Ones. It’s too bad you couldn’t find a gate that led into the Imperium, and open it to the Destroyers. Our two most pressing problems could annihilate one another.”

  “Possibly,” Maddox said.

  “The more immediate concern is the Builder listening post,” O’Hara said. “Could Yen Cho have contacted other androids and told them about it?”

  “I’ve been wondering that for some time,” Maddox said.

  “It would be bad if the androids gained the Builder tech left in there,” O’Hara said. “And it would be to Star Watch’s benefit if you went back to the listening post and took what tech remained there.”

  “The listening post is set to detonate if anyone without the proper entry codes tries to force it.”

  “It is indeed a thorny problem, Captain. That means we should send our best team there. That would be you. You’re also closer to the listening post than anyone else is. I order you to retrieve the Builder tech. If that proves impossible—and for the Commonwealth’s sake, I hope that’s not true—don’t let any androids get their hands on the advanced technology.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Maddox said. “Is there anything else?”

  “Get better, Captain. I hate to see my prize operative in such a wretched condition. Do try to take care of yourself. Oh, and say hello to that beautiful wife of yours. You do know that I love her…”

  Maddox looked stricken. It seemed as if the Brigadier had almost said, “You know that I love her, too.” That would imply the Brigadier loved—

  Maddox cleared his throat. “I will pass along the message, Ma’am. I do hope you are talking care of yourself.”

  “I am, thank you. Now, be careful, Captain.” O’Hara paused before adding, “Star Watch can ill afford to lose…your services.”

  “You are gracious, Ma’am.”

  She nodded. “Brigadier O’Hara out.”

  The screen wavered and Maddox sat back.

  Meta stared at him. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Why did the Iron Lady take such a keen interest in her husband? It was very peculiar, almost like a mother worried about her son. Meta was going to have to think about this.

  -50-

  The ancient listening post mission truly began for Maddox four days after talking to Brigadier O’Hara via the Builder communication device.

  The captain had slept far too much, taken what seemed like endless bone regeneration therapies and too many pills for the radiation he’d endured while storming the eons-old gate. In other words, he was thoroughly tired and yet feeling that it was time to get started.

  They would be in the targeted star system soon enough, another week at the most. Would Rull Nation androids already have arrived? Maddox had no idea. He bet Yen Cho did, but the android still hadn’t spoken to anyone.

  What had happened to Yen Cho? The Builder must have done something to change him. It had looked wrong, felt wrong, seeing the android with all those wires sprouting from his otherwise human-seeming head. The Builder had treated Yen Cho like a tool. Surely, the android must have resented that.

  Maddox didn’t know. He needed Yen Cho’s knowledge. He had to find out if the android had communicated with other androids while under the Builder’s tutelage.

  It was time to talk to the android. Yen Cho had gone berserk, though. The android had killed two trained marines. That pissed off Maddox. He was tired of these…constructs killing his people. The Builder had devoured the Hindenburgers…

  “Right,” Maddox said, as he sat on the edge of his bed.

  “What was that?” Meta asked groggily. She was still under the covers.

  “I have work to do,” Maddox said.

  Meta came fully awake as she turned toward him. “Are you serious? You’re still healing. Maddox, are you listening to me?”

  The captain had stood up. He was sick of just sitting around. “Don’t worry.”

  “Why should I worry? What are you planning to do?”

  “Yen Cho—”

  “Maddox,” Meta said. “Don’t you dare go into the same cell with him. He—”

  The captain turned toward his wife.

  “Please,” she said.

  He sat back down, moved part of the blanket and patted her naked rump. It was a fine butt, a perfect butt, as far as he was concerned. He gave it another affectionate pat, tossed the blanket over it and stood. He moved to a chair and picked up his uniform jacket, slipping it on. He had to move gingerly with his l
eft shoulder, but tried not to show it.

  “You still need a few more days of recuperation,” Meta pleaded. “Androids move deceptively fast.”

  “Don’t worry. I have that covered.”

  “The dead marines likely thought that, too.”

  Maddox’s eyes narrowed. The marines—he needed info from Yen Cho but would rather execute the android for having murdered his men. Would that be the right angle to play? He rather doubted it.

  Forcing the fingers of his left hand to move, Maddox buttoned his coat. He never wanted to endure so many broken bones again. The Builder had been so dense, as if he’d packed his molecules more tightly than others did. Maddox wouldn’t doubt if that had been the case.

  “Who are you taking with you?” Meta asked.

  “Riker.”

  “And…?” she said.

  “Just Riker.”

  Meta didn’t say a word to that.

  Maddox knew that if he turned around his wife would be staring at him, trying to give him the eye. Therefore, he didn’t turn around. He headed for the hatch.

  “You’re impossible,” she said.

  He supposed that might be true. He opened the hatch, thought about looking back, but didn’t.

  “Be careful,” Meta shouted, as he shut the hatch.

  Maddox nodded. His reflexes might be slower than normal, and Riker was an older man, but he knew what he was doing—he hoped.

  -51-

  Riker stood on one side of the closed hatch, just inside Yen Cho’s cell. The captain stood on the other. Each Intelligence operative gripped a heavy-duty pistol—a slugthrower—aimed at the prisoner.

  The android sat motionless on a chair before a table. They’d played this game before, back before the ancient gate had appeared, but the game seemed different this time.

  Maddox eyed the android. Yen Cho didn’t have any hair this time. Someone had shaved him bald in order to insert all those wires into his head.

  “Been like this ever since he killed the marines,” Riker said in his gruff voice.

  Maddox didn’t nod. He studied his opponent, thinking back to their lengthy question and answer sessions. “I went to the gate,” he said. “So did the Builder. Since I’m here, it’s obvious we were successful. The Builder’s fate…” The captain cocked his head. “Are you interested in what happened to the Builder?”