Opening his eyes once more, Maddox eased onto his elbows and raised his head. The sides of the corridor had the same bizarre, polygonal patterns. No two were the same. The jigsaw pieces had the same colors and the feel of being hardened resin instead of metal. More than ever, it felt as if alien bees had constructed the ship’s interior.
Maddox inspected his vacc-suit next. He found plenty of abrasions with smears of resin but no tears. The jigsaw pieces must have more give than metal. He appeared to be in one piece. Did his legs work, or had he broken bones?
Gingerly, the captain levered himself to a sitting position. He twisted around, noting that he’d cannonballed around a corner. There was no sign of Riker or Keith.
Could something alive in the ship have dragged them away?
Maddox’s shoulders twitched. He had to get a grip. His imagination was running wild. Where was his coolness under fire?
“Time to test my legs,” he whispered. The sound of his voice helped his nerves.
Maddox brought his knees to his chest. It encouraged him that they worked. He began the arduous process of standing. Too many muscles complained, having taken a battering. He found himself panting from the strain. The process took far too long and he winced from endlessly painful jolts. Finally, however, he swayed as he stood.
He tasted saltiness on his lips. Time was ticking against him. He had to get going, do the job he came here to do. Lurching, he took a step, a second and a third. It left him panting harder than before, with sweat prickling his skin.
Why is this so difficult?
Then it came to him. Grav-plates were at work. This felt more than regular 1 G. Maybe it was 1.5 Gs. He didn’t think it was two. Whoever had built the doomsday machine seemed to have originated on a heavier planet than Earth.
Maddox had no idea if that was useful information or not, but he filed it away.
I’m not going to discover anything standing here. I have to move, explore—and fight the enemy when I run into him.
Star Watch marines were supposed to show up soon. He had to figure out the specifics of how to win before their arrival.
Shuffling around, Maddox began searching for the other two. He headed for the bend, the one he was sure he’d bounced past coming in. Each footfall seemed to go down too fast and too hard. He didn’t like the increased gravities. It was going to make the assignment harder.
Not for Kane and Meta, though. They’re used to 2 Gs.
The movement began to loosen some of his muscles. The painful jolts and pulls lessened, and he brought his breathing under control. Finally, Maddox worked around the corner.
He exhaled with relief, seeing the other two. One of them knelt beside the other, who was prone on the spongy deck. Worse, something moved on its own. It was a piece of arm. The twitching thing gave off a spark.
“What the…”
Maddox got it then. The twitchy thing must be part of Riker’s bionic arm. Apparently, it had broken off during his violent entry.
“Riker!” Maddox said, hurrying. He lost his balance and crashed down onto his knees. He could feel the deck matting give just a little. Nevertheless, the fall caused his teeth to click together painfully. He panted for a moment.
If Riker had lost part of his bionic arm, it necessarily meant a tear in the vacc-suit. Was the sergeant dead?
Climbing to his feet, walking carefully, Maddox reached them.
Keith repaired the sergeant’s torn sleeve with a seal kit. Riker’s suit over his chest rose and fell. It appeared the sergeant was still alive for the moment.
The ace looked up sharply, the visor aimed at Maddox.
The captain tapped his head.
Keith nodded in understanding.
On inspiration, Maddox knelt before the pilot and lowered his head. He felt it as Keith made an adjustment. Whatever the ace did, it caused the headphones to crackle.
“Can you hear me now?” Keith asked, the words coming past static.
“I can,” Maddox said with relief. “Can you hear me?”
“I can, sir.”
“Is Riker alive?”
“I’m alive all right,” the sergeant said, gruffly. “My bionic arm is frozen, though. I won’t be any good in a fight.”
“You can still shoot a blaster,” Maddox said. “Can you walk? Or are you too beat up?”
“I’m sore, sir,” Riker said. “My bones ache. I have no idea if I can stand. That was a crazy idea shooting through the hatch.”
“We can’t stay here,” Maddox said. “You’ll have to stand, Sergeant.”
“Why don’t the two of you give me a hand,” Riker suggested.
Maddox listened to both of them strain and wheeze. Soon, the sergeant swayed on his feet.
“How do you feel?” Maddox asked the ace.
“Like I played a week of rugby,” Keith said. “I want to lie down and sleep a year.”
“It must be 1.5 Gs in here,” Maddox said.
“At least that,” Keith said. “It’s dragging me down. What’s with the weird walls?”
“Don’t know,” Maddox said.
“Sir…” Keith said. “Does it…does it feel freaky to you in here?”
“Can you explain that?” Maddox asked.
“This place feels haunted. It gives me the creeps.”
“I feel it,” Maddox admitted.
“I feel it, too,” Riker said. “The sooner we’re done here, the better. It feels like slime is coating my skin, maybe even my mind.”
“I suggest we concentrate on the mission,” Maddox said. “Whatever is bothering us, we’ll either defeat or—we’re here to win. So, we’ll concentrate on that. Sergeant, are you’re blasters still in one piece?”
“I guess I’d better check,” Riker said. “Yes, sir. They look good.”
Maddox’s blasters didn’t. They were crushed, useless. “Better give me one of yours. Do you have any personal weapons?” he asked Keith.
“I don’t,” Keith said. “Didn’t know I’d be coming along.”
“That was an oversight on my part,” Maddox said. “I won’t let it happen again.”
“So what’s the plan?” Keith asked.
Maddox nodded. “We’re not leaving until we succeed. So we’re not going that way.” He pointed toward the hatch, however far away it was. “Instead, we’re heading the other way.”
“Could be a long time before we find anyone in this monster ship,” Keith said. “It’s fifty kilometers long.”
“We have to keep pushing ourselves,” Maddox said. “We’re down two blasters, and missing a bionic arm, but we have a third member to our party. If you think about it, this part of the mission is a near total success.”
Keith examined the weird walls. “It sure doesn’t feel like success to me.”
“It is,” Maddox said. “Now, let’s go. It’s time to finish this.”
-40-
Valerie sat in the command chair aboard Victory as the starship accelerated to join the main fleet under Admiral Cook.
Meta was gone. Maddox, Keith and Riker were aboard the doomsday machine. That left Dana and her with a few technicians, Galyan and his single combat robot. In other words, the Adok starship was emptier than it had been for quite some time.
The AI ran everything. That gave Valerie a queasy feeling. She had never been able to trust Galyan fully. Who really knew the ancient computer’s thoughts, if one could even say it that way? With its extra, experimental computing power…
Valerie shifted in the command chair.
“I have been analyzing the doomsday machine,” Galyan announced.
The lieutenant jerked with a start.
“Is there a problem with that?” Galyan asked.
“Ah, no,” Valerie said, “no problem. You startled me. That’s all.”
“I am sorry,” Galyan said. “I did not mean to do so.” The holoimage paused. “What did I do specifically that caused surprise?”
“It wasn’t you. It was me. I was thinking.”
Galyan seemed to absorb the information. “I do hope that Captain Maddox is well. His odds for success are extremely low to nonexistent. But, then, so are our odds terrible if we chose to engage the doomsday machine in direct conflict. It is likely that I will cease to exist if I go through with the present attack.”
Here it was. Valerie wasn’t surprised in the least to hear the AI talking about letting everyone down. “Are you suggesting that the starship pull out of the Solar System?”
The holoimage studied her.
“I have gained new observation abilities,” the AI said. “It has allowed me to run personality profiles on each of you. With these programs, I am beginning to build up a profile for humans in general and each of you specifically.”
“Oh,” Valerie said. That didn’t sound good.
“There,” Galyan said. “I have detected it again. You evidence a lack of trust in my words. Have I done something that causes you to feel I’m untrustworthy?”
Valerie shifted uncomfortably.
“I can understand your squeamishness regarding me,” Galyan said. “Once, I held you captive. I should point out that that was in the past. Surely, you realize I am indebted to Captain Maddox. The actions he committed in my favor, especially turning me on again when I suspect others suggested otherwise…I will not forget that.”
“Will you fight your hardest to protect Earth?” Valerie asked.
“That is not your real question,” Galyan said. “You are asking if I will sacrifice myself in a futile endeavor to prove how grateful I am. Captain Maddox saved my life. Now you desire me to sacrifice myself as a gesture of goodwill.”
“I’m not saying that.”
“But you are, Lieutenant. That is what I was trying to tell you before your mannerisms halted me. I have run through one hundred thousand simulations regarding the coming battle. Star Watch cannot win even with my help.”
“So you’re going to run away?” Valerie asked.
“You attempt to wound with words. Consider this then: self-immolation does nothing to fulfill my wish to honor Captain Maddox. I must survive so his name lives on through the ages through me.”
“Do you consider him dead?” Valerie asked.
“If Captain Maddox is not dead yet, he will be shortly.”
“I don’t agree.”
“You work through faith,” Galyan said. “I operate in the realm of facts.”
“You have to at least try,” Valerie said. “If you run away, you lose. If you fight, maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Galyan’s holographic features twisted into an approximation of a grimace. “Firstly, I am not suggesting that I ‘run away’. I am saying that headlong attacks against the machine are futile. I must survive. Star Watch must maintain its fleet for later battles. Sacrifice to no purpose lacks sense. The doomsday machine does not operate on faith. It is an ultimate killing machine designed for remorseless action. It will destroy the Home Fleet and then your homeworld. I am sad, as this is too much like my last days as flesh and blood against the Swarm. I do not wish to relive such a horrible event.”
“If you’re not going to help us fight, then let Dana and me off. We plan to attack the planet-killer with everything in us.”
“No!” Galyan said.
“You’re making us prisoners again?” Valerie asked, surprised at his vehemence.
“No, no, you misunderstand me. I…” Galyan looked away, silent for a time. Finally, the AI said, “I have been alone for six thousand years. With my former intellect, I could maintain computing balance. With my new, heightened awareness, I cannot bear another six thousand years all alone with only my thoughts.”
“So you want to keep Dana and me as pets?” Valerie asked.
“You continue to attempt to wound with words. I recognize the tactic. I have seen you humans practice it on each other. I dearly wish you would not do that to me. You are my friend, Valerie. I have so few friends in this cold universe. I do not want to lose those I have. Maddox, Meta, Keith and Riker are gone. You cannot leave me now. You must keep my company for as many years as you have left.”
The lieutenant blinked in shock. Valerie hadn’t expected this. She knew what it meant only having a handful of friends. Sometimes, she hadn’t even had that many. Instead of being angry with Galyan’s talk of running out, she began to feel sorry for the ancient intelligence.
“This is interesting,” Galyan said. “My words have a struck a chord.”
“Are you a mind-reader?”
“That power is beyond me. No. I observe your mannerisms and match them against my known parameters concerning you. Your present posture and facial expressions tell me you are feeling sympathy toward me. That is fading as I explain this. Why is that, Valerie?”
She shrugged. “I supposed I don’t like a soulless machine cataloging me so carefully and accurately. It gives me the creeps.”
“I see. You are not like Captain Maddox, who prefers strict truth. You wish to hold certain illusions. I find that interesting, these differences among humans.”
The lieutenant didn’t care for alien psychoanalysis. “How about we help the fleet, huh? That’s what we came to Earth to do.”
Galyan faced the main screen. “You have misunderstood me. I will fight the planet-killer by staying alive and looking for ways to defeat it. However, for your sake, I will remain with the fleet for the first round. As we’ve talked, I have been listening to the comm-chatter around me. You humans lack comm-security as we Adoks practiced against the Swarm. The Lord High Admiral is about to attempt an interesting tactic. It is revolutionary, to say the least. He had hoped to save this as a surprise for the next encounter with the New Men’s invasion armada. But now he will use it against the doomsday machine.”
“What are we going to do?” Valerie asked.
“I have stoked your interest, yes?”
“Will you quit bragging already? Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”
“Let us observe the tactic as it occurs. I find it is more enjoyable to communicate than remain alone with my thoughts. I have many thoughts, Valerie. They never cease except when I communicate with one of my friends. Then a process from the engrams of Driving Force Galyan takes hold of me. Don’t you think that is interesting?”
Valerie did figure that was interesting. There was something else, too. Galyan needed her, genuinely needed her. The lieutenant smiled, liking that.
“You’re something else, Galyan. Do you know that?”
“I am unique. I am the last of the Adoks.”
“That you are. Now, it’s time to go to work. Let’s join the main fleet as they begin their maneuvers against the doomsday machine.”
“Affirmative,” Galyan said.
***
Sometime later, Valerie studied the screen. Starship Victory sped toward Cook’s main concentration of battleships, which had already left the Moon far behind.
The doomsday machine still hadn’t reached Mars’ orbital path, but it was rapidly building velocity.
A mothership among the fleet’s most forward warships launched two special jumpfighters. Instead of missiles, those two held space marines, the ones O’Hara had told Maddox were coming as reinforcements.
“Special ops,” Valerie said. “I hope the pilots are as good as Keith.”
As she watched, both jumpfighters folded space, disappearing from view.
“I will use full magnification so we can witness their success,” Galyan said.
Valerie waited. It would take several minutes for the images of what happened out there to reach here at light speed. Finally, the lieutenant saw them again.
The first jumpfighter appeared too near the neutroium hull. The tiny craft had forward momentum and crashed against the doomsday machine. Debris scattered and drifted away like flotsam, including slowly squirming bodies. The second jumpfighter appeared much farther out. It would take the craft time to reach the planet-killer.
“Notice to your left on the mach
ine,” Galyan said. The AI used a red circle to highlight a tiny area of the hull. A plate slid aside on the neutroium armor. A gleaming cannon poked out. It expelled small rounds of matter.
“What are those?” Valerie asked.
“According to my sensors,” Galyan said, “the cannon is a rail-gun. Those must be proximity shells.”
The second jumpfighter exploded under the quick barrage of doomsday rounds. The debris scattered more slowly, but this time included pieces of armored space marines.
Valerie felt a hollow pit in her stomach. Keith had proven himself the better pilot. Maddox wasn’t going to get any reinforcements. He’d have to do this on his own.
The lieutenant waited for Galyan to make one of his soulless comments. Instead, the holoimage remained silent.
“Well?” she finally asked.
“I am observing a moment of sadness for the dead,” Galyan said. “They gambled their lives for their world. It is a pity they died so uselessly.”
“War is Hell,” Valerie said.
The AI turned to her. “That is an apt phrase. I will catalog it for future reference. I did not realize you had a gift for phraseology.”
“I don’t coin the term.”
“Coin?”
“As in mint,” Valerie said. “In the old days, people minted or stamped coins. It means that I didn’t come up with the phrase you like so much.”
“Who did?”
“An old-time Yankee general named Sherman.”
“Let us observe the next tactical attempt,” Galyan said. “It might help to take your mind off the death of the brave marines. Notice, the Lord High Admiral is positioning the next wave of jumpfighters for the assault.”
“I’m surprised he’s going to throw them away after witnessing what just happened.”
“War is Hell,” the AI said. “I remember my last days as Driving Force Galyan. I imagine the Lord High Admiral is making difficult choices. He must do something, or it is possible the Earth will die soon.”
***
Lord High Admiral Cook stood on the bridge of his Flagship Bull Run. The Gettysburg-class battleship accelerated for the doomsday machine. The white-haired admiral had watched the destruction of the two jumpfighters. Even now, he continued to keep his leathery face impassive.
The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) Page 35