The Lost Star Gate (Lost Starship Series Book 9)

by Vaughn Heppner

  Ajax Clanton’s eyes bulged outward at Maddox. “What are you?” he whispered. “I’ve never seen anyone move like that. Are you a New Man? You look like a New Man with a skin job.”

  Before Ajax could say more, several more gunshots boomed. Bullets riddled the giant, making him stagger. More shots roared as casino guards fired at Ajax Clanton. Clearly, they did not want him shooting up any more guests.

  All the gambling stopped as Ajax crashed to his knees. Only then did his big gun slip from his fingers to thump against the floor.

  That must have been the signal, for the casino guards stopped firing.

  Ajax peered around in the sudden and deafening silence. The man must have incredible vitality. He tried to speak, but to no avail. Finally, like a vast redwood tree on Earth, the giant fell forward onto his face, twitched several times and then lay still.

  Smoke drifted from the guards’ guns. They kept their weapons drawn as they eyed the stunned and watching crowd, many of the spectators with cards or chips in their hands.

  Maybe three seconds later, a short blocky man walked briskly into the area. He wore a black suit, slicked back hair and an air of extreme competence. Despite his shorter stature, he had thick shoulders.

  He walked up to the corpse, glanced at it and then listened as one of the guards whispered to him. The man turned toward Maddox.

  “Who are you?” the chief, obviously, of casino security asked.

  “Bishop King,” Maddox said. “Who are you?”

  Two of the casino guards squatted by the back-shot roulette player, lifting the groaning man onto a cloth stretcher. They had grabbed the stretcher from where it had been hidden in a nearby wall slot.

  The security chief glanced at the injured player. “Take him to the infirmary,” he told the guards.

  They hoisted the stretcher with the still-groaning player, hurrying out of the main room.

  The security chief re-regarded Maddox. “I’m the sheriff in the Star Light. It’s best if you act as if my word is law.”

  The remaining guards had moved closer and taken up station a step or so back and flanking the security chief. They still had their guns out, all of them aiming at Maddox.

  “Call me Mr. Tubb,” the security chief added.

  Maddox nodded.

  “Now,” Tubb said, “tell me what happened.”

  “I can do that,” Meta said, stepping up.

  Tubb’s head moved minutely toward Meta as he leaned back toward the guard that had whispered to him earlier. The guard explained something. Tubb nodded, and the guard retreated a step.

  “You started this?” Tubb said.

  “No,” Meta said. “He did.” She pointed at the dead giant.

  “And who are you?” Tubb asked.

  “A traveler,” Meta said.

  “That’s not good enough. I want a name and your reason for being on Usan III and in the Star Light.”

  Maddox felt it then. Something had gone wrong and he didn’t know what. This all seemed like an act. Someone had set Ajax Clanton on him. Now, the hidden someone was setting Mr. Tubb on him. Why then had the guards murdered Ajax?

  Could Ajax’s actions have been an accident? Yes, maybe the giant was supposed to have started something, but he wasn’t supposed to kill other customers. Yet, if that was true, why hadn’t Ajax just kept firing at him? The giant had paused, and in pausing, he’d signed his death warrant. If the guards had acted differently, they would have given themselves away. That might have also given away the hidden someone that Maddox hunted. Yet, how could that have been the case?

  This was a nebulous feeling, to be sure. But Maddox trusted his instincts. He focused on Tubb as Meta gave the man her fake name and a made-up reason for being on Usan III.

  Another nebulous feeling grew within the captain. Something was off with Tubb, very off.

  Maddox suddenly felt as if he should leave this place. Meta needed to leave, too.

  “Thanks for nothing,” Maddox said, interrupting Tubb’s interrogation of Meta. “I was on a winning streak before this. But all this gunplay and useless killing has made me tired. I’m turning in.” He grabbed Meta’s left wrist, jerking her to him. “You’re coming with me, Sugar. I need a bed companion and you’re elected.”

  “No,” Tubb said in an even voice. “I’m not finished with my investigation. You may be at fault here. You will stay until I determine the truth.”

  Maddox turned to the gamblers from his table. Someone had righted it and put the glasses, cards and chips back in place. He pointed at the miner with the red silk handkerchief tied around his bull neck. “You saw it. Tell the man what happened.”

  With a nod, the miner started talking about Ajax’s foul mood.

  “You,” Tubb told the miner, “stop talking, now.”

  The miner stared at Tubb, maybe noticed the gunmen behind him, but he kept on talking anyway. The miner seemed like the stubborn sort, not easily intimidated.

  Other gamblers from other tables were listening to the explanation. Two men at Maddox’s table nodded in agreement as the miner continued his rundown of the event.

  There was no flicker of annoyance, no flicker of any emotion as Mr. Tubb moved up to the strong-looking miner. The security chief put a hand on the man’s left shoulder, squeezing gently, it seemed.

  The miner cried out in pain, twisting under Tubb’s steely grip. The red-haired man tried to wriggle free, but despite the difference in size, Tubb was clearly stronger than the bull-necked miner.

  At last, the miner whimpered, nodding vigorously.

  Tubb let go.

  The miner collapsed forward as he gingerly touched his tortured shoulder.

  Meanwhile, Tubb eyed the other gamblers at the table before focusing on Maddox, who still stood with Meta’s wrist in his grip.

  It was time to preempt the security chief.

  “Know what I think?” Maddox shouted. “I think Mr. Tubb here wants my varth stingers.” With his free hand, he took the glass tube from his inner jacket pocket and held it high. Maddox rattled the two stingers. “Man wants to murder me for these. Can you believe it, here at the Star Light?”

  A murmur began throughout the casino as many of the patrons nodded in agreement with Maddox.

  “Are you going to murder me, Mr. Tubb?” Maddox asked the chief directly. “Don’t they pay you enough in this joint?”

  “Boss?” an upset guard asked the chief.

  Mr. Tubb shook his head, holding up a hand even as he stared evenly at Maddox.

  The captain did not read any anger in Tubb’s eyes. He did note something critical that convinced him of a hard certainty—Tubb was an android. Maddox would have bet his captaincy on that.

  “You must come with me, sir,” Tubb told Maddox in a mild tone.

  “You want to murder me out of sight, is that it?” Maddox asked loudly. “That ain’t fair.”

  “Have you forgotten?” Tubb asked. “My will is the law in the Star Light. Notice those guns, Mr. King. I have the ability to enforce the law.”

  “Being the law don’t give you no right to murder me,” Maddox said in a loud voice. “I haven’t done nothing wrong. All I done is win money and hold two stingers everyone wants.”

  Tubb scanned the watching throng. It seemed that gears clicked in his computer brain—and they did, if Maddox was right about the humanoid being an android. “Bishop King,” Tubb said, “you are free to go. Before you do, I would like a private word with you.”

  “You can talk to me outside,” Maddox said, “without your bully boys and your damn law.”

  For a half-second, Tubb assessed the situation, nodding, dismissing his gunmen. He noticed the two stretcher-bearers returning, walking to the giant corpse and putting the empty stretcher beside it.

  “A round of drinks,” Tubb said loudly and emotionlessly. “It’s on the house.”

  The miners, varth hunters, corporation shills and gamblers cheered. Afterward, the spectators left the tables as they rushed as a
mob to collect their free alcohol at the bar.

  Compared to a moment ago, the main room was almost empty. The stretcher-bearers grunted under their heavy load, staggering for an exit. The bloody corpse was face-down on the stretcher, with his hands dragging on the floor. Two guards had remained in the general area, while a crusty old salt sat alone at a blackjack table slyly inspecting some of the decks.

  “Outside,” Tubb told Maddox.

  The captain eyed Tubb, deciding on his plan of action as he nodded. The security chief was likely an android; likely enough that Maddox would play that angle.

  As he turned to go, the captain glanced at the two guards. By their stance, they were clearly waiting for orders. They would not move until they received new orders from Tubb. As Maddox continued to turn, he also checked out the lone blackjack cheater.

  The old-timer was one-eyed, as he had a patch over the other side. He had the worn clothes of a down-on-his-luck varth hunter and the leathery skin of a man who had spent far too much time under a harsh star. Once, the old-timer must have been strong and agile.

  The man was, of course, Sergeant Treggason Riker in disguise. He had a bionic eye under the false patch, and a bionic arm. Riker had lost both the eye and the arm during a desperate mission on Altair III many years ago.

  For just a moment, Riker looked up. As the sergeant did so, Maddox gave him a prearranged signal—he rubbed the underside of his nose as if trying to stifle a sneeze. They had many prearranged signals to choose from.

  Maddox did not look long enough to see if Riker gave him the yes, I understand countersign. The captain expected Riker to be on top of his game and to get it right the first time.

  With the turn completed, Maddox headed for the casino exit, with Mr. Tubb following him. The captain had no doubt that Tubb had signaled the two security honchos, who would now trail behind. That was fine, as Meta and Riker should both be following the guards.

  Maddox had released Meta’s wrist a moment ago, pushing her from him as he’d turned to go. That, too, had been a signal, one he knew his wife had clearly understood.

  Meta and Riker surely knew that they were going to try to kidnap an android in plain sight during the middle of the day. It would be a novel approach, one that should work but that had never been tested in the field before.

  This could prove to be interesting, which whetted the captain’s appetite to try it.

  -7-

  At the blackjack table, Sergeant Riker rose unsteadily to his feet. He had been checking decks, acting the part of a drunken fool. Unfortunately, he’d had far too much practice doing the real thing the last few years.

  The truth was that he was too old for these sorts of junkets. He should have retired after the terrible invasion war with the Swarm Imperium. The horrors that he’d undergone then—

  The sergeant shivered as he remembered, and he brushed his bionic hand with the real one. He’d burned off the old bionic hand with a blaster when a Ska ego-fragment had tried to indwell his body. The fragment or spawn of the Ska would have possessed him like a demon in those Bible stories.

  Riker shivered once again, and he felt one of the security people studying him. It wasn’t one of the two that followed the captain and Mr. Tubb, but a different person in the shadows.

  Was Mr. Tubb really an android? According to the signal, the captain clearly thought so. How would Maddox have determined that? How could Maddox think at all after barely surviving an assassination attempt by that giant madman?

  Riker did not know. He did know that the captain had uncommon reasoning abilities and was one of the coolest people under fire that he’d ever met. The youngster—well, Maddox wasn’t really a youngster anymore. He was a seasoned Intelligence agent. Maddox might actually be one of the best agents in Star Watch’s impressive arsenal of agents. The captain still took far too many risks, though.

  The security person that had been studying him from the shadows now turned away, perhaps satisfied that he had seen a bum. Riker’s private worries and fears must have translated into the role he was playing, making him a convincing non-threat.

  Riker didn’t celebrate the small victory. He was a technician doing his job. He seldom made fancy moves, sticking to the book or to his plain old horse sense.

  He shuffled across the casino floor, wearing shabby clothes and even worse footwear. Riker knew that he had something of a gift for looking like a rundown hobo.

  Oh-oh, the two guards following the captain and Tubb drew holstered weapons. Did they mean to gun Maddox down on the street?

  Riker did not speed up, but his gut began to twist. If Tubb was indeed an android, his best chance at remaining free was to follow a ruthless pattern of behavior against the captain. It should be obvious to all the security personnel—and certainly, to Tubb—that he and Meta were Star Watch agents. How could the enemy not know?

  Riker began muttering, spitting on the spotless casino floor. If a guard saw him, the man might come over and reprimand him…but no, the guards were through watching him. To them, he was a harmless bum, a rabbit in a den of wolves.

  At that point, Riker increased his speed. He also increased the volume of his muttering in order to disguise that he’d slightly picked up his walking pace. He no longer shuffled as such, but scuffed his worn-out boots against the polished floor.

  The captain had reached the main door. He glanced at Tubb just behind him, opened the door and strode through as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  Tubb glanced back at the two security honchoes following him, giving them a slight nod. The likely android noticed Meta. It did not seem to surprise him. Instead of checking further, Mr. Tubb followed Maddox into the hot sunlight.

  The two security men picked up their pace, jogging toward the closing door.

  “Hey,” Meta called to them, using a seductive voice.

  One of them looked back at her.

  She used her left hand to raise her skirt, showing the guard the color of her panties.

  That guard slowed down to get a better look. The other continued for the door.

  Meta smiled, licking her lips at the guard.

  That must have been too much for the security man. He scowled, and he began to turn his head toward his companion, who had reached the main door as it closed.

  From her glittering purse, Meta drew a tiny but powerful stunner. She drilled the head-turning security man, hitting him in the neck.

  The man gurgled, staggered—Meta stunned him again—and he went down with a thud.

  The other man already had his hand on the doorknob. Instead of turning it, he turned back, saw his downed friend and looked at Meta closing in on him. He began to bring his weapon around to bear against her.

  Meta kept the stunner trigger down, drilling the second guard in the face. It was a brutal stunner tactic. He crashed back against the door. Meta hopped over the fallen security man and punched the second man in the kidney. He arched back in pain. Meta slammed another fist against him, and he began to fold.

  Riker reached them, stepping over the first guard, and he passed Meta as she bodily tossed the second guard out of the way.

  There was no place to drag them out of the way to hide them from others. Speed and the element of surprise were their only friends today.

  Meta yanked the door open. Riker needed that, as he busily assembled a special android-altering weapon. Taking a deep and hopefully calming breath, Riker charged through the opened door and into the painfully bright, dusty street where Maddox faced Mr. Tubb.

  If Maddox was wrong about Tubb being an android, the captain was going to bring a storm of trouble onto their heads. Even if the captain was right, things were about to get nasty in the worst possible way on an out-of-the-way desert planet like Usan III.

  -8-

  Maddox whirled around as Mr. Tubb stepped out of the shadow of the Star Light Casino porch and into the glaring light of the bright star.

  The captain expected Tubb to continue his role as chief of sec
urity. He was surprised to see Tubb point a forefinger at him as if it was a weapon. That meant it likely was a weapon and that Tubb was indeed an android, a synthetic human constructed long ago by the Builders.

  “Ah. You understand the situation,” Tubb said in a flat voice.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Please, Captain Maddox. Let us forgo the pretense. You belong to Star Watch, and I am an android, as you clearly have already surmised.”

  The captain switched mental gears at astonishing speed. “Are you a Yen Cho model android?” Maddox asked.

  “I am going to warn you, Maddox. You are in grave danger on this planet. We all are. The—”

  At that point, Sergeant Riker appeared. He aimed the anti-android weapon at Mr. Tubb. It was likely that the sergeant understood the meaning of the pointing finger. The android concealed a weapon-tube there and threatened the captain with death.

  Maddox noticed the sergeant, saw the man’s weapon, the intent on Riker’s face, and he signaled with a raised hand. There had been a change in plans.

  Tubb turned around as he stopped talking, likely seeing Riker with the weapon drawn.

  Riker must not have seen the captain’s waving hand, or if he did, not understood the new sign. The sergeant pulled the trigger, firing a strange yellow energy into the android’s chest plate. The beam burned away the clothing, but it did not blacken the pseudo-skin underneath. The beam wasn’t supposed to.

  The effect of the beam on Mr. Tubb was startling. He—or it—stiffened at once.

  Riker fired again, even as Maddox shouted at him to stop. From a second tube under the first, the sergeant fired a small disc that attached to the exposed android skin. The disc made humming sounds, and it injected a computer virus into Mr. Tubb.

  The special virus was supposed to turn the android into a willing Star Watch helper.

  “No,” Tubb whispered. “That isn’t going to happen. We have anticipated such a weapon and have developed a counteraction.”