The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Myself, of course,” he said with a laugh. “I constantly amaze myself with my intellect. It’s like being a star in the heavens.”

  Dana blinked at him in wonder. She could never live with him. That would be scandalous.

  Professor Ludendorff stepped closer, taking her in his arms. He held her, smiling, rubbing her back. Finally, his lips touched hers. It had been a feather-soft kiss, and it melted her.

  Dana moved into his place a week later.

  When her father discovered the scandal, he protested. At first, the university resisted Raja Nehru. Finally, they told Ludendorff he had to let Dana go home.

  “I’ve learned what I’ve come here to find,” Ludendorff told Dana the next day. “I’m leaving Brahma tonight. You must join me.”

  “What? No. I-I can’t do that to my family.”

  “Of course you can. They’re good people. I know that. But they’re hidebound like ninety-nine percent of humanity. Come with me, Dana. I’m going to find the most incredible archeological find of the millennia.”

  “What is that?” she asked.

  A secretive look she came to know well darkened his features. Ludendorff shook his head. “I can’t tell you, not yet. But it will be an adventure, I promise you. I could use your intellect. No. I take that back. I positively need it.”

  That had been the key. Dana joined him, leaving Brahma for the first time.

  For six years, they searched for the hidden Adok System. Dana grew up a lot in that time. Ludendorff blew hot and cold. The man was unlike anyone she had ever met. There were hidden depths to him that he rarely showed. Slowly, she came to understand that Ludendorff only trusted one person: himself. He did not subscribe to common thinking or custom, but did everything his own way. Ludendorff always thought he was right. The man was arrogant beyond anything her father had shown, beyond anyone she’d met.

  What made Ludendorff that way? Dana Rich worked as hard to discover that as to find the lost starship.

  “You’re a Methuselah Man,” she told him one evening as they had watch together in their spaceship.

  Ludendorff’s head jerked around. Those eyes that had shined with love on so many occasions became dark with suspicion. It frightened Dana. Would he kill her? Finally, Ludendorff smiled.

  “It’s true,” he said. “Come. Let me show you what that means.”

  The lovemaking in the past had paled in comparison to that night. The pleasure flowing through her had been too much for her to scream. It was as if he tried to forge new chains on her. How could he make her feel like this? It was remarkable and frightening.

  “Professor,” she said later, as they lay entwined on the bed.

  “Hmm?” he asked.

  “How can you do these things to me?”

  “It’s called love, dear girl. You must understand that.”

  “No. You did something else tonight.”

  “That’s true,” he admitted.

  “Why have you waited so long to show me this?”

  Ludendorff smiled sadly, as he stroked her cheek. “Dana, dear Dana, I trust you now. That means you cannot leave me. No one can do to you as I have. You realize that, yes?”

  She nodded mutely. It was true, she realized.

  “We will have many nights together,” he said. “This isn’t even the highest state of lovemaking. There are loftier stages, incredible heights of passion we can reach. First, I must teach you how to control your body.”

  “Dearest?” she asked.

  Ludendorff chuckled. “In truth, Dana, I have already begun your training. You have no idea what I can show you. This is only the beginning.”

  “Didn’t you trust me before?”

  He frowned and looked away. Finally, he reached for her, and they made love one more time.

  It should have been sheer ecstasy being with the professor. He was right about the world opening up for her. He did show her things and teach her new modes of thought. And the body control he taught her allowed them to reach greater heights of passion.

  In the end, she betrayed him for more reasons than simple fear in the Adok System. The lost starship had been frightening, and Dana believed they would all die before boarding the vessel. But it had been more than that. Ludendorff had begun to seem like a devil to her, offering her insights and riches beyond her dreams. She dreaded the coming payment for these things. There was something in Ludendorff beyond her understanding, something that deeply frightened her. He wasn’t like other men. His depths were an abyss she didn’t want to plummet.

  “Why are you like this?” she asked him the night before she betrayed him.

  They had found the smashed Adok System and hid from the last Adok starship.

  Once more, Ludendorff studied her with darkness in his gaze. She shivered in dread, and she knew then she had to act or perish.

  “What are you planning to do, dear girl?”

  Dana came to him, using her heightened sexual training. She gave him a delicious smile as she twisted provocatively in front of him. “A surprise, Herr Professor,” she told him.

  He laughed. It was the last time she was able to make him do that.

  On the couch in the dim chamber on Starship Victory, Meta moaned, jerking Dana out of her reverie.

  The doctor let her memories fade. Ludendorff was Ludendorff. He kept his secrets deeply hidden from everyone. The captain said the professor played the long game, but Dana wondered if Maddox really knew the extent of Ludendorff’s game.

  Do I know?

  “No, no,” Meta whispered from the couch.

  Dana forgot about Ludendorff as she studied Meta’s strained features. The dear girl was deep in a memory.

  “What’s happening?” she asked gently.

  “I’m not sure,” Meta said slowly. “There’s danger here.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Kane won’t take his eyes off the pilot board,” Meta said. “He has a grim concentration. It’s like someone watching a cave, waiting for a grizzly to come charging out at him.”

  Meta frowned. “I’ve never seen Kane like this before. It frightens me.”

  What just happened with Meta? Why is she remembering now?

  “Kane is…”

  “Yes?” Dana asked. “What is Kane doing?”

  “I…I don’t know. I can’t see him anymore.”

  “Did Kane leave the command module?” Dana asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Meta said. “No. That’s not it. He simply faded from view.”

  That was strange, Dana realized. “Do you think something is blocking your memory?” she asked.

  Meta’s frown deepened. It was like someone trying to undo an especially troubling knot and finally becoming frustrated with it.

  It’s time to switch Meta’s focus. I’m in deeper and closer to the right memories than ever before. I have to try to stay here.

  “I’m going to ask you several questions,” Dana said in a clam voice. “I’d like you to answer them.”

  “I-I’ll try.”

  “Good, that’s good,” the doctor said in a soothing voice. She glanced at her list and read the first question.

  Meta shook her head.

  Dana read the second question.

  “I-I don’t know,” Meta whispered.

  Dana worked down the list, asking the questions one by one. Meta couldn’t answer any of them. Soon, the Rouen Colony woman began to weep softly.

  “No, don’t do that,” Dana said. “This is not a problem.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t remember. I want to help. I know you need this.”

  Dana tapped her lower lip with a stylus. This was fascinating. Meta was in a unique hypnotic limbo. She shouldn’t have been able to say that she wanted to help like that. That showed too much awareness. Yet, it was clear Meta was still under hypnosis. This called for special handling.

  “I want you to relax,” Dana said.

  “But—”

  “No more questions for now,” Dana said.
“I want you to sleep.”

  Meta frowned. “Won’t the professor take me away from you if I don’t answer the questions?”

  Meta shouldn’t be able to say that.

  “I want to keep working at this,” Meta said. “I don’t want to stop. I have to come through for the team.”

  “Sleep,” Dana said, more sternly than she intended. Meta’s tone indicated regression. She spoke like a little girl speaking to a parent. That wasn’t healthy in this situation.

  Dana learned near so she spoke into Meta’s right ear. “I don’t want you to worry anymore. Relax. Let yourself move into regular sleep.”

  The tension began to drain from Meta’s features, and, her head shifted to the side. Soon, Meta fell into a restful doze, her chest rising and falling rhythmically.

  Dana sat in the chair, with an index finger on her lower lip. Meta had referred to them as a team, and she was right. I’m part of it, too, Dana reminded herself. I have to help the team—the family—the best I know how.

  Dana realized that she had more than one friend now. She had several. Surprisingly, Captain Maddox was one of them. They had successfully worked together to overcome several difficult situations. Earlier, Ludendorff had acted as a friend in order to help them free Admiral Fletcher’s fleet. Now, the professor was up to his old ploys, doing things in his highhanded manner. Not this time, Professor. She wasn’t going to let Ludendorff ruin it for any of them.

  If Ludendorff took Meta, there would be war because Maddox would never accept that. Villars had ensured a bloodbath between them. Dana had to forestall such a situation any way she could. The professor was too useful to throw away, and she owed this to the others.

  Yet, how do I accomplish such a thing? Meta simply can’t remember. The mental block is too strong. But if Ludendorff doesn’t get his answers…

  Dana’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Ludendorff must be watching the session through Galyan’s surveillance system. Yes, of course the professor watched. Yet, it had been dim in here for quite some time. He might not realize that Meta had fallen asleep as deeply as she had.

  “What was that?” Dana whispered, leaning closer to Meta. “You’re mumbling. I want you to speak clearly so I can understand you.”

  Meta didn’t say a thing. She was fast asleep.

  Dana’s head moved back as if in surprise. “You can remember some of the events now? Why, this is…is very good, dear.”

  Meta continued to breathe rhythmically, never stirring.

  “Let me ask you this again then,” Dana said, reading from the list. The doctor waited and then cocked her head as if listening. “Oh, that’s very interesting. Please, continue.”

  Dana picked up a slate and stylus and began to write fictitious answers. As Meta slept, Dana wrote what she thought Ludendorff would expect to hear. The made-up answers would quite possibly endanger the starship and the crew, but the false answers would forestall Maddox from going to war with Ludendorff before they defeated the planet-killer.

  This unity is going to come at a price. Maybe it would be better to unlock Meta’s mind with the professor’s tools. But I don’t trust the professor. And there’s always the possibility Villars would get to her while she’s in the professor’s custody.

  Finally, Dana stopped asking her softly spoken questions. She urged Meta to wake up, and told the lights to brighten.

  As greater visibility lit the chamber, Meta opened sleepy eyes. “Did I remember this time?” she asked, hopefully.

  “You did,” Dana lied. “We did it.”

  Meta smiled uncertainly. “Why don’t I remember any of it then?”

  “That’s part of the healing process,” Dana said. “Don’t let it trouble you. Come. Let’s take this to the captain. He’s going to want to give the answers to Ludendorff. I have a feeling the ship is almost to the Xerxes System.”

  “Will entering the system be dangerous?” Meta asked.

  “Not now that we know what Kane did there,” Dana said.

  “Good,” Meta said. “Because I do remember that being in the star system frightened me.”

  What have I done? Dana asked herself. Then, she smiled inwardly. Kane and Meta survived the Xerxes System. We will too. We have Starship Victory, a vastly more powerful vessel than they used. Everything will be fine.

  -13-

  “Given these coordinates,” Ludendorff said, lifting a tablet. “We’ll use the star drive and appear just outside the asteroid field.”

  Maddox nodded thoughtfully. The Xerxes System was a mere three light-years away. Fortunately, for everyone, Dana had come through, piercing the mental block holding Meta’s memories prisoner. That had solved the coming dilemma with the professor. If they followed Kane’s approach, they should be able to successfully navigate the haunted star system. The question was this: how could the star system help them against the planet-killer? Ludendorff still hadn’t spelled it out exactly.

  “Are you familiar with the Xerxes System?” Maddox asked the professor.

  “Now I am,” Ludendorff said.

  “You’ve never been there before?”

  “I haven’t dared,” Ludendorff said. He seemed to be in especially good humor today. “You once called it the Bermuda Triangle of space. That’s a good summation. Frankly, I think the New Men have played it far too loose by using the Nexus. So far, they’ve gotten away with it, but I find that surprising.”

  Valerie swiveled around on her piloting chair. “I have a question, sir. How did the New Men learn to use the Nexus?”

  “That’s an excellent question,” Ludendorff said, “an excellent question indeed.” Unfortunately, he did not expand on the topic.

  Valerie glanced at Maddox. The captain shrugged minutely.

  “Lieutenant, plot these coordinates.” The professor read the numbers off the tablet.

  Once more, Valerie glanced at Maddox. The captain nodded, and she began to tap in the coordinates.

  “The coordinates are laid in, sir,” Valerie said.

  “Good,” Maddox said. “Then begin the jump sequence.” After giving the order, the captain sat down, mentally preparing for the event.

  Ludendorff also took a seat.

  After warning the crew, the lieutenant shut off the ship’s intercom. “Preparing for transfer,” Valerie said. “Three, two, one…zero,” she said, tapping her panel.

  Starship Victory used its unique star drive, jumping from its location to the one given by Ludendorff three light-years away.

  Maddox felt the wavering disorientation. Dizziness made his vision blurry. Then, a klaxon blared a warning. Instead of the awful feeling of Jump Lag, something worse occurred. There was a sliding sensation that made everything lurch within the captain’s mind and body. The universe seemed to turn dark and then explode with brightness. The klaxon’s shrieking intensified, and the brightness pulsated, causing the captain to shield his eyes with his hands. Finally, the lurching sensation ended, and the starship shuddered as gigantic clangs hammered against the hull armor and made the bridge shiver with motion.

  The captain gripped the arms of his command chair. An intense wave of nausea made his flesh tremble. Maddox struggled to keep from vomiting.

  By the retching sounds nearby, others hadn’t been so successful.

  Maddox strove to regain the full use of his eyes. They were still blurry. Something had definitely gone wrong with the transfer, and he didn’t know what it was. He spoke but his words came out in a garbled manner. No one seemed to hear, as the retching sounds increased.

  Maddox massaged his jaw and spoke again. “Turn that off,” he said, relieved that his words finally made sense.

  Valerie dragged a hand across her board and pressed a switch. The klaxon stopped abruptly.

  Maddox clutched his head, willing the pain to stop and his eyes to focus. It took twenty seconds of effort. Finally, he saw the main screen. His eyes widened in surprise.

  Small asteroids and debris in profoundly close proximity to each other
and the starship appeared in an endless succession of rocks large and small. Even as Maddox watched the screen, a boulder grew in size. Then, it slammed against the giant vessel, with a clang rocking Victory, almost throwing Maddox from his chair.

  “All stop!” Maddox shouted.

  Valerie gave him a blank look.

  “We’re in the middle of the asteroid field,” Maddox said. “Our shield isn’t working yet. We have to halt our momentum or those meteors will pound the ship to pieces.”

  Valerie began to manipulate her panel.

  Another boulder slammed against Victory. The tortured groaning of metal combined with the bridge deck-plates trembling. Then, massive deceleration hit. Gravity dampeners howled with effort, lessening the actual effect on the vessel and crew. The starship shivered again. The engines strained, and yet another large rock clanged off the collapsium hull plates.

  As the ill effects of heightened Jump Lag wore off, Valerie declared. “We’re at all stop, sir.”

  Ludendorff sat in his chair, pale, trembling and sweaty. He produced a rag and wiped his face. Afterward, he studied the main screen. The professor stared for a time, finally turning angrily toward Maddox.

  “I miscalculated the intensity of your spite,” Ludendorff said. “You struck me as more rational than this.”

  “Beg pardon?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff stared at the captain, studying the man. “If you didn’t engineer this disaster, then—” The professor sat up. “Dana! This must be her doing.” Ludendorff raised the tablet, studying the figures. “She lied to us.”

  “What’s he saying, sir?” Valerie asked softly.

  Ludendorff must have heard her. The professor waved the tablet at the main screen. “We’re in the middle of the Xerxes System’s asteroid belt. Only this isn’t a natural field, but a construct of ancient design. The rocks are perilously close to each other. What we felt earlier must have a spatial-temporal side-shifting.”

  “What does that mean?” Maddox asked.

  “I think I know, sir,” Valerie said.

  Maddox turned to the lieutenant.

  “We must have jumped into the same space as a boulder,” Valerie said. “If we had materialized with the small asteroid, the two masses would have occupied the same spatial coordinates. That would have destroyed both masses. Instead of that happening, we slipped sideways as the professor suggested. That caused us trauma different from regular Jump Lag.”