“Fire,” Sims said. “Take them down.”
Mortars chugged, raining shrapnel onto the massed aliens. Shredders and daisy chains tore gaps in the enemy line. A flamer belched plasma, creating fires and sickly oily smoke.
Vendels blew apart in clumps. Muscled power-wagons groaned loudly, although no marine could see any mouths. Some of the power-wagons lurched, tipping over onto their sides. One of the cannons roared, spewing a shell. The shell punched a space marine, blowing the one-ton soldier off his feet. The shell failed to penetrate the armor, although it badly dented it. Worse, the round slew the marine with the sudden impact.
“No mercy,” Sims shouted. “We have to kill them before they kill us. It’s do or die, boys.”
The marines obeyed in what seemed like a killing frenzy. Thirty seconds later, the battle ended as fires blazed and smoke drifted.
“Keep going,” Sims said.
The marines bounded like giant grasshoppers, destroying any Vendel they saw.
“We can’t keep this up forever,” Sims told Maddox on a command channel. “Eventually, they’ll wear us down through attrition. We’re going to run low on ammo soon, too.”
Maddox checked his HUD map. “We’ll know in a minute if the last alien lied to us.”
“Check your three o’clock,” a scout reported. “There are more of the eight-foot buggers coming.”
“Mortars,” Sims said. “Show us what you got.”
The mortar marines took up position and fired rounds into the sprinting pack of savages. Each mortar blew off limbs and blew back cannibals. The other rounds obliterated even more of the creatures.
“Shredders,” Sims said, “fire.”
A hail of .90-caliber shells took down the entire front, second and third line. This time, no monsters reached the marines. It was technological mayhem as shredder-barrels glowed with heat. Finally, there were no more eight-foot creatures left.
“Keep going,” Sims said.
As the marines bounded, the number of block buildings thinned out. The battle team turned a huge corner and came upon a new subterranean scene. A massive Parthenon-like fortress stood to the rear. Huge steps led up to it. Before the monstrosity of a structure were temples with Greek-like columns. They were smaller, less impressive—
“Lieutenant,” a scout said over the comm. “Aliens are running away from the giant steps. They’re throwing down their weapons and sprinting like mad.”
“We have a rep,” Maddox said. “We’re demons.”
“Sir?” the scout said.
“The aliens think we’re demons,” Maddox said. “I believe their superstitions are getting the better of them.”
“Either that,” Sims chimed in, “or they’re scared because everyone who faces us dies.”
“We have a rep,” Maddox repeated.
In short order, the battle team passed the lesser temples and reached the bottom of the massive steps to the Parthenon-like structure.
Maddox spied the littered weapons. There must have been more than a thousand Vendels surrounding the vast palace.
“Let’s go on up,” Maddox said.
The stairs were so large the marines had to leap from step to step. With a hundred stairs, the palace loomed over the subterranean city.
“Is this a temple to the Builders?” Sims asked.
“Either that or the Raja’s Palace,” Maddox said. “I’m inclined to the second guess.”
“Sir,” a scout said. “Someone’s coming out of the palace’s main door. It’s a vast door. I see him, sir.”
Maddox looked up the remaining stairs, straining to see the top landing. He was among the last of the armor suits.
“What do you see?” Sims said over the comm.
“The creature is coming out,” the scout. “He’s alone.”
“Get ready just the same,” Sims said. “This could be another trap.”
“I don’t believe it,” the scout radioed.
“What? What?” Sims said. “Talk to me.”
“It’s a man, sir, a human. He’s waving a white flag. How did he know we view white as—sir!”
“What?” Sims said. “Is it an ambush?”
“No,” the scout said. “I recognize the man. It’s Professor Ludendorff.”
-46-
“You don’t know how happy I am to see you, my boy,” Ludendorff told Maddox. “The Raja’s soldiers were considering surrender. The terrified soldiers would have handed the Raja and us to the Supreme Vicar. Your timely arrival means we’ve averted the cannibal’s pot.”
Maddox clanked beside the professor down a lengthy and ornate hall. It showed fantastic alien artwork with glorious paintings on the walls and splendid marble statues striking martial poses.
Maddox, the professor and the rest of the space marines walked upon a thick green carpet.
The captain had lowered his faceplate but kept on the exoskeleton armor. He dwarfed the professor, who wore a Vendel jacket over his unwashed garments.
“Before we talk about anything else,” Maddox said. “I want to know what happened. How has your shoulder already healed?”
“Isn’t it remarkable?” asked the professor enthusiastically. “While the Vendels have lost much of their former high technology, they have retained several interesting practices. One of them is bone, muscle, tendon and flesh repair fluids. It is a fantastic substance that bonds with the injured or shattered substance, repairing on a molecular level. If a Vendel survives a firefight or near-fatal injury, the doctors can repair him to almost full health. It’s why we all survived our falls from the raft and bounced back like normal. I’m sure you took damage too. You just don’t remember it.”
“Interesting,” Maddox said. “Now, what kept the vicar’s soldiers from entering the palace?”
“Tradition,” Ludendorff said promptly. “Plus, if you’d been looking harder, you would have seen gun-ports in the upper palace areas.”
“My scouts saw the ports,” Sims told Maddox over the helmet comm. “I was about to order the sharpshooters to take them out.”
“You’re friends with the Raja?” Maddox asked Ludendorff.
The professor eyed him sidelong. “You sound suspicious, my boy. You even seem upset with me. I can’t fathom why. I have paved the way for our ultimate success.”
“How so?”
Ludendorff laughed as he slapped his chest. “I analyzed the society in a thrice, don’t you see? Oh, I finagled an audience with the Raja. Noticing the obvious cues, I explained his dilemma to him. Naturally, I astounded the alien. He wanted to hear more. I told him I needed my aides for that. He brought Meta and Keith. I told them to keep quiet while I pretended to confer with them. Afterward, I told the Raja how to solve his priestly problem. As often happens, the Raja couldn’t believe his luck in finding me. Still, he equivocated, attempting the solution half-heartedly. The Supreme Vicar understood what was happening. I judge him the cagiest of the Vendels. The vicar acted with speed to avert what he must have considered a disaster. Still, I’m surprised they grabbed you so fast—”
“Strand is in the star system,” Maddox said, interrupting the monolog.
“That’s excellent news,” Ludendorff said, not missing a beat. “I’ve been wondering when he was going to show up.”
Maddox absorbed that in silence. Finally, he said, “When were you going to tell me Strand was coming?”
“I hadn’t planned to tell you at all. I was never sure if Strand would fall for the lure until he actually arrived. I’m sure you understand my reasoning.”
“What lure?”
“Why, me, of course,” the professor said. “I radioed him some time ago, telling him what I planned to do to him. I stoked the fire. Surely, you can see that.”
Maddox said nothing as he began to calculate his options given this new information.
Ludendorff pulled at his nose. “This may upset you, I’m not sure, but I let the Methuselah Man know our ultimate plans.”
Maddox lo
oked down at the Loki of a professor. “How could it possibly upset me that you told our greatest and most profound enemy our secrets?”
“There you are,” Ludendorff said. “That is why I kept the fantastic plan to myself. I am fated with superior insights and an ability to gauge the future better than anyone else alive. I believed Strand would come. Now—”
“Why do you want Strand here?”
Ludendorff looked up at him in shock. “Why, to capture him, Captain. Surely, that is obvious.”
“And?”
“What do you mean, and?”
“You don’t plan to hand Strand over to Star Watch, do you?”
Ludendorff chuckled nervously. “That is a preposterous and foolish notion. Why not gain the maximum benefit from Strand. Star Watch doesn’t want him half as badly as the Emperor of the New Men would like him.”
“Strand holds priceless information.”
Ludendorff sighed. “I see your point before you utter it. You don’t want the New Men to gain Strand’s information. But that is an accountant’s way of looking at the problem. Humanity is going to need the New Men sooner than it realizes. Thus, we must bargain with them. Strand is the greatest coin I could find on short notice.”
Maddox studied the Methuselah Man. The professor’s mind and plans were complex and strange, and sometimes brilliant.
“Halt,” the captain said.
Immediately, the space marines surrounded the professor and the captain, with their weapons aimed outward.
“What are you going to do, my boy? Time is precious. We must strike hard—”
“There’s a problem,” Maddox said, interrupting.
“Do you mean Strand?”
“No. I mean you.”
“Come, come, my boy, I so dislike these oblique references. Say what you mean.”
“You’ve been compromised.”
“That’s news to me,” Ludendorff said. “Pray tell me how this happened?”
“We found the box hidden in the incinerator unit.”
Ludendorff stared at him blank-faced.
“I see,” Maddox said. “It’s worse than I thought. You don’t even remember the box.”
Ludendorff threw his hands into the air and began shaking his head. “I can’t believe it. I simply can’t believe it. What did you do with the box? I hope no one retrieved it.”
“Dana is on life support. It poisoned her.”
The professor’s features became stark. He blinked rapidly, and swayed, seeming as if he were about to faint. A marine caught him.
“Thank you,” Ludendorff muttered, pulling himself from the metal gloves. He moistened his lips, tried to speak, but seemed unable.
“Riker also took a hit,” Maddox said. “He saved Dana’s life—if she lives through this. Galyan has reasoned that the box is the motive for your strange behavior.”
“Confounded, meddlesome AI,” Ludendorff muttered. “It thinks it’s so wise but really—”
“Riker discovered the box,” Maddox said. “So don’t blame Galyan for that.”
“Your sergeant found the box? I don’t believe it.”
Maddox waited.
“Riker discovered the box. How amazing,” the professor said. “But tell me more about Dana.”
“There’s nothing more to tell. Her chances are fifty-fifty.”
“Dana, Dana,” the professor said, shaking his head. “Maybe I miscalculated. Maybe I played this one too close to the vest.” Ludendorff looked up at Maddox. The Methuselah Man seemed to be weighing his choices.
“You’re a clever man, Captain. You know the only way to keep a secret is not to tell anyone. That is what I did, believing it the course that would lead to our success.”
“You may have a point,” Maddox said. “Now, where did you get the box?”
“It is an android device, clearly. You must realize that.”
Maddox nodded.
“The androids believe they turned me. I had to let them believe that so they would let us pass. Even as it was, they attempted to destroy Victory.”
“Are you talking about the Juggernaut?”
“Exactly,” Ludendorff said. “The androids have been out here from the beginning. The most aggressive android faction knows more about the Rull than anyone else does. I believe the androids have been hard at work collecting Rull relics. Certainly, the androids have attempted to destroy the Vendel guardians. The androids want the Builder artifacts in the subterranean vaults. Just as Strand desires the artifacts and just as Star Watch wants them.”
“And just like Professor Ludendorff desires them,” Maddox added.
The professor shrugged. “Is that so wrong?”
“Keeping all this to yourself was wrong. It may cost you Dana.”
Anger washed across the professor. “Don’t throw that in my face, my boy. I know the costs. I doubt you can fathom my love for—”
“Save it,” Maddox said, interrupting. “Who is that?”
Ludendorff scowled at Maddox before looking past the marines. “The Raja is coming.” Conflicting ideas seemed to war in the professor’s skull. At last, the Methuselah Man used his hands to smooth out his features.
“Listen to me well,” Ludendorff told the captain. “The Raja believes I’m in charge of everything, and that would include you and the marines.”
“Why does he think that?” Maddox asked.
“Because I told him so,” the professor said. “Now listen, before it’s too late. The Raja is extraordinarily clever. If you knew the process that makes a Vendel a Raja, you’d understand. You must let me do the talking. I am about to make a breakthrough for us. We need the Raja if we hope to crack the deep vaults. We need him if we hope to trick the androids and Strand. This is vitally important.”
Maddox said nothing.
“I know, I know,” Ludendorff said. “You are vain to the point of excess. You believe you must always control the situation. I wish you would trust me for once. If you interfere here, all my hard work, Dana’s possible death, will be for naught. Do I have your agreement?”
Maddox eyed the professor and then glanced at the approaching party. The Raja was bigger than those around him, and he wore a gaudy orange jacket with an outrageously tall feathered hat. Armed guards surrounded the Raja. He noticed Meta walking with the aliens, and Keith bringing up the rear.
What had Ludendorff told the Raja? Should he trust the professor?
“Tell me we have a deal,” Ludendorff said.
Maddox understood. The professor would practice trickery if he didn’t agree. The captain smiled. “My dear professor, of course you can play your hand.”
“Do you give me your word as an officer and a gentleman?”
“Of course,” Maddox said.
Ludendorff stroked his nose thoughtfully before finally smiling and taking a deep breath. “This could be tricky. So don’t be surprised at anything I say.”
Maddox nodded.
Ludendorff squared his shoulders and turned toward the approaching throng.
-47-
Ludendorff led the way as the battle team clanked to the Raja and his party.
The Raja had several elegantly dressed ladies in attendance and a squad of thick-bodied guards. The guards wore elaborate uniforms with wide collars, excessive frill and baggy pantaloons. Each guard wore an ornate metal vest and held a rifle at port arms.
Meta and Keith where in the rear with guards around them.
Maddox used magnification to study Meta. She looked gorgeous, the curve of her face, the way she walked—the captain grinned. Meta seemed unharmed, although she did look anxious as she studied the exoskeleton suits.
Maddox had closed his faceplate along with all the other marines at Ludendorff’s suggestion. He now raised his right gloved hand, made a fist and pumped it three times up and down.
Meta caught the motion. She visibly brightened. No doubt, she recognized the gesture from a mission on Earth, one where he had signaled her exactly that way. She
clenched a fist before her face, signaling him that she understood. Then, she nudged Keith, whispering to him.
The ace smiled, and his shoulders sagged the slightest bit, showing his obvious relief.
“Your honor,” Ludendorff said, walking faster, no doubt to disengage from the marines. The Methuselah Man bowed low, sweeping his right arm so his fingertips touched the rug. “These are indeed my fighting robots as I suggested earlier.”
Maddox wasn’t sure if Ludendorff knew he had a translator, but Ludendorff spoke the Vendel language without any mechanical aide. Could the professor learn an alien language so quickly, or did that imply a long association with the Vendels?
“They are from the Builders?” the Raja asked. The Vendel had an uncommonly deep voice. He also had a band around his throat. Maddox wondered if that helped to deepen his voice.
“Indeed, your honor,” Ludendorff said. “I have thousands of such fighting robots waiting in my orbital vessel. If I bid them land, they can sweep your enemies before you. I can also use them in space to rid you of the Rull machines orbiting your world.”
The Raja eyed the battle team. He seemed suspicious. “What of my priests? They have declared me an outlaw, my soul reserved for eternal destruction if I continue to consort with demons.”
“We are hardly demons,” Ludendorff said with a wave of dismissal. “We are at best heretics to a false theology.”
“You speak of deep matters of faith,” the Raja said. “I do not have my confessor in attendance. He slunk off and joined the priest-technicians. These are my lifeguards. They are dedicated to me body and soul. My soldiers stand loyal, but if the priests continue to declare me outlaw…”
“I understand perfectly,” Ludendorff said. “You face a terrible dilemma. But if we can clean the poisons from the air, return the monsters to their original form and drive the Rull from the skies, will the priests not recognize you as the greatest Raja in existence?”
The Lost Planet (Lost Starship Series Book 6) Page 25