“What do you think this is about, sir?” Galyan asked.
“Spacers, perhaps.”
“I suppose you could be right.”
Maddox raised an eyebrow. “What’s your analysis?”
The little holoimage froze again, his eyelids twitching. Finally, he looked up. “The Swarm, sir. They are still the greatest challenge for humanity.”
“The Swarm are why the Spacers first fled Human Space.”
“Exactly, sir,” Galyan said. “So maybe you are correct and this is also about the Spacers.”
“Right,” Maddox said, as he pondered the problem. Beware the Methuselah Man. It was time to prepare for Ludendorff, which meant preparing for many conflicting eventualities.
-24-
A star-drive jump and a shuttle voyage later, Captain Maddox walked through a battleship door. As he did so, Brigadier O’Hara stood up behind her desk.
It was a spacious office deep inside the Bismarck-class Battleship Moltke. The desk was huge, impressive, constructed from oak.
Maddox was alarmed to note that O’Hara seemed smaller than he remembered. She almost seemed a tad shrunken. Was she getting old?
Obviously, she was older than the last time he’d seen her. That was always going to be the case. She seemed to show her age a little more than previously, though. Was that the ravages of time or the pressing weight of the responsibility of her position. Or did it have something to do with Ludendorff?
“It is good to see you, ma’am,” Maddox said sincerely. He…cared deeply for the brigadier as a son would for his mother. He did not want to utter the word love about her even to himself. That was too raw an emotion for the captain concerning the woman who had done so much for him. He also sensed her concern for him, and that had always touched him.
“Captain,” O’Hara said, coming around her desk, opening her arms wide.
Maddox saw the hug coming, and it almost seemed as if he had been waiting for it. Then, the brigadier hugged him, squeezing with affection.
He patted her back, and he even gave her a one-armed hug in return. He felt…strange doing that. He was Captain Maddox, the avenger. These softer emotions—
The brigadier released him, grabbing him by the arms and looking way up at him. “My,” she said. “You look, look—I will say it, Captain. You are a handsome young man. How you must make the ladies swoon.”
“I’m married to Meta, ma’am, remember?”
“Yes, yes, of course you are. Is Meta well?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Excellent,” the brigadier said, releasing him. “It’s so good to see you my…my best agent,” she finished lamely, as if she’d changed what she was going to say at the last second.
“I am glad to see you’re well, ma’am.”
“Yes, well, enough of that,” she said, giving him a last slap on the arm. “Do sit down, Captain. I dislike peering up at you as if you’re somewhere in the clouds.”
Maddox sat in the nearest chair.
The brigadier returned behind her desk, putting her hands on the edge and gingerly sitting down. She seemed stiffer than he remembered.
Once she settled in, with her hands clasped on the desk, O’Hara regarded him. “Tell me what happened out here. We should get that out of the way before we begin.”
Maddox gave a terse account of the past weeks. The brigadier did not interrupt. She took out a slate and stylus, jotting down notes.
“I have written a more thorough report,” he said.
“No doubt,” she said. “I will read it later, rest assured.”
“Ma’am, there’s one specific I left out of the report.”
“Oh? I find that curious. Why did you leave it out?”
“You know I spoke with Mako 21, the First Class Surveyor Senior.”
“From the sound of your verbal report just now, she made an impression on you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Maddox said. There was no change in his demeanor, but he watched O’Hara more closely. “Mako 21 also told me to, ‘Beware the Methuselah Man.’”
The brigadier stared at him, and she seemed to shrink inwardly as her facial features tightened.
“The phrase obviously means something to you, ma’am.”
O’Hara didn’t seem capable of speech just yet.
Maddox debated options, finally asking, “What has Ludendorff done this time?”
“Just a minute,” the brigadier said hoarsely. She leaned down, opened a drawer and took out a small flask. She unscrewed the top and poured a tiny amount into a shot glass. Putting the flask away, the brigadier tipped back the shot glass and gulped the alcohol. She blanched afterward, made a half-coughing sound, and thrust out her neck. Finally, she put both hands on the desk and pushed herself back to a straight position.
“I needed that,” O’Hara said.
“Do you believe Mako 21 spoke knowledgably?”
“No. That’s nonsense,” O’Hara said.
“Yet Ludendorff troubles you.”
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, Captain. You suspect Ludendorff of wrongdoing. I realize that’s a natural reaction on your part, but you’re wrong thinking he’s been making trouble again. He has a list of new demands certainly… That’s what has me…concerned for you.”
“Concerned for me?”
O’Hara sighed. “You’ve been on the fringes too long, Captain. There are new developments taking place, terrible developments.”
She told him about the Swarm “science team” invasions. One had hit the Commonwealth. One had hit the New Men in their Throne World System.
“Interesting,” Maddox said.
“Is that all you can say? Interesting? It’s a horrifying development.”
“But not unforeseen.”
“We’re talking about the Swarm, Captain.”
“I heard you the first time.”
“Star Watch cannot defeat a dedicated Imperial invasion.”
“We did before.”
“You don’t understand,” O’Hara said. “The Lord High Admiral understands what this means. I do, too. I understand so well that…” She told him about her adventure to the Tau Ceti System.
Maddox sat impassively as she talked, soaking in the story. He understood the reason for her desperation, and Ludendorff’s cunning. Yes. He could see all right.
“You never should have gone alone, ma’am. That was imprudent of you.”
“I run Intelligence, Captain. I studied what little we know about the Imperium’s gargantuan size and the…staggering number of ships they must possess. It boggles the imagination. A minor Imperial invasion fleet stretched the combined forces of Star Watch and the New Men to our breaking point last time. If you hadn’t come up with your harebrained scheme of the Destroyers in the null zone, and if Ludendorff hadn’t fashioned that awful soul weapon—with these two new science team invasions, I realized mankind had come to the end of its collective rope. So, yes, I took a risk, and it worked. Ludendorff had an answer. Isn’t succeeding the important thing?”
“I suppose you’re right,” Maddox said, allowing the brigadier to appear to persuade him. He was going to have to take matters into his own hands after all. This could be tricky. “I still don’t like your confrontation with two Strand agents.”
“I can well understand that,” O’Hara said. “We’ve dealt far too much with Strand lately. And that without actually meeting the original. That is all about to change, though.”
Without showing it, Maddox grew more alert. “I don’t understand what that means.”
“I think you do, Captain. I believe you understand me perfectly. Star Watch, in conjunction with Professor Ludendorff, is going to break Strand out of his Throne World prison.”
Maddox continued to sit impassively as the words washed over him. This was his worst suspicion come to life. Ludendorff or the Strand agents had turned the Iron Lady. The Strand agents might even have inserted wires into her brain.
Maddox had a gr
im certainty that he’d walked into a trap—a very elaborate trap—set either by Ludendorff or the Strand agents.
Meta had told him before how Ludendorff had come to see him in the hospital room after his final encounter with the Ska, and after using the strange soul weapon that Ludendorff had created. The professor had blamed him for what a Builder had done to his mind ages ago. Without the professor creating the soul weapon, Maddox would never have driven the Ska into Alpha Centauri “A” Star. Maddox would never have drained some of his own soul energy powering the weapon. He would never have been responsible for billions of people, and millions of Swarm, dying that day.
Maddox clenched his jaws. He refused to go back there in his thoughts. He had to escape this trap laid by Ludendorff or the Strand agents, and he had to take O’Hara with him and find a way to wrench her mind from their control.
“You look as if you’re about to do something rash,” O’Hara said.
“Not at all,” Maddox said, squelching the obvious signs of tension and going into mission mode.
“Are you sure?” O’Hara asked doubtfully as she searched his face.
“Perfectly sure,” he said, using all his skill to maintain an easy manner.
O’Hara finally nodded. “Good,” she said, pressing a desk button.
It took everything the captain had within him to remain still as the door opened behind him. He tested the air… Maybe he couldn’t smell it, but he knew. Ludendorff stood in the doorway behind him.
Maddox imagined a knife poised at his back. He glanced at the Iron Lady. She did not seem concerned. That could be the result of enemy mind control.
Maddox tensed imperceptibly. Space marines had taken his sidearm when he’d left the shuttle in the Moltke hangar bay. The marines had searched him, too, removing two other weapons. They had not found the one gun, though. Maddox whirled around in the chair and drew the hidden gun—on Professor Ludendorff in the flesh.
Yet that didn’t seem right. The last time he’d seen Ludendorff, the Methuselah Man had aged. This Ludendorff looked like the one he’d been with for years. Could the professor have reversed the aging process? That didn’t seem likely, but it also didn’t seem impossible. The easier answer was that this was a Ludendorff clone or robot.
The professor scowled at the gun aimed at him. “I told you to take his weapons,” he reprimanded O’Hara.
“I know you did,” the brigadier said. “I was told the marines had done just that. I don’t understand this.”
“Well?” Ludendorff demanded of her. “Fix it.”
O’Hara focused on Maddox. “Captain, put the gun away at once.”
Maddox did no such thing. He rose to his feet, keeping the gun aimed at Ludendorff. By the distasteful twisting of the Methuselah Man’s features, Maddox believed the professor lacked a personal force field; he’d once had a piece of alien tech to provide just that. The captain wasn’t going to give Ludendorff the chance to activate one, just in case he had another alien device like the former one.
“Come inside, Professor,” Maddox said in a cheery tone. Maybe this wasn’t a clone or robot. “Close the door behind you. It’s time we had a heart to heart, the three of us.”
Ludendorff did not move.
“Step lively, Professor, or I’ll shoot you where you stand and save us all a lot of trouble.”
“Captain,” O’Hara said sternly. “I order you to put down your weapon.”
“Rest assured, I will, Brigadier,” the captain said, “but not just yet. Inside, Ludendorff. It’s time I find out what’s really going on.”
-25-
Maddox had dealt with the professor for years. He could tell when the Methuselah Man was thinking fast, searching for angles out of a mess.
“Three,” Maddox said. “That’s all the count I’ll give you. Consider it a gift for old time’s sake, for all the times you actually acted in our interest. Ready? No? Well, let’s begin anyway, shall we? One!”
“See here, Captain,” the brigadier said. “You can’t just shoot the professor in cold blood.”
“Two,” Maddox said, and he shifted his position so he could watch both the brigadier and the professor at the same time. He…loved the old woman, he admitted to himself, but he didn’t trust her right now. He was certain the professor had tampered with her mind.
“Fine,” Maddox said. “Have it your way, Professor. Three—” he said, his trigger finger tightening.
“Wait, my boy,” Ludendorff said, with perspiration dotting his broad forehead. “I’m entering the office. Look, I’m shutting the door behind me.”
It closed with a snick.
Maddox eased some of the pressure from his trigger finger.
“I’m not going to approach you any closer,” Ludendorff said, “as I’m unsure if you’ll approve of such an action.”
“Good choice, Professor,” Maddox said. He used his boot and forcefully shoved a chair toward the Methuselah Man so it bumped against him.
Ludendorff automatically grabbed an armrest.
“Slide the chair around the brigadier’s desk,” Maddox said. “Put it at the corner, though. Brigadier, if you would be so kind, keep your hands off the desk and where I can see them.”
“Captain,” the brigadier complained. “This is an impossible situation.”
“It’s far from that, ma’am. Although it pains me to believe it, it is possible that you’ve been compromised.”
“Are you mad?” she asked.
“Consider what I’ve heard,” Maddox said. “You went alone to the orbital station in Tau Ceti. You were unconscious for quite some time. Your only companion was the professor. He showed you dead New Men with implants in their brains. That is well within his ability to stage.”
Ludendorff had placed the chair in the ordered location and sat down. He also put his hands on his knees. Maddox wasn’t sure, but the Methuselah Man might have been trembling the slightest bit. Was that suppressed rage or did the old goat realize he’d almost been shot dead?
“Ma’am, I must insist you follow my instructions,” Maddox said. “The idea of using force against you—I find it repugnant. But I will use it if I have to, as I no longer believe you are in your right frame of mind.”
“Well, I never, Captain,” she said. “This is highly embarrassing—”
“Do you remember when an android impersonated you?” Maddox asked, interrupting her.
“How could I remember that?” O’Hara’s lower lip had been quivering. That now ceased. She furrowed her brow and tilted her head at him. “But I see your meaning. You have not fired the gun. You wish to talk, it seems. You wish to ascertain the situation. Perhaps that isn’t so bad.” She turned to Ludendorff. “Captain Maddox is my best agent.”
“He’s a hotheaded fool,” Ludendorff declared. “The only thing he has in his favor is greater than average luck.”
“That’s rot and nonsense,” O’Hara said. “He’s good. Why, he surprised me just now, and he surprised you. Admit it.”
“He has his share of animal cunning,” Ludendorff said. “Any lowbrow criminal has the same. That does not put him on my plane.” The professor regarded Maddox. “What’s the point of all this? Do you get your jollies by threatening your betters?”
Maddox made no reply. He watched impassively, analyzing behavior against past memories of the person. He also weighed options, wondering how to play this.
“Let’s address the situation,” Maddox said. “Perhaps we can come to a reasoned conclusion. The brigadier of Star Watch Intelligence has arrived at a fringe star system near the Beyond. She has traveled all the way from Tau Ceti in a single older-style battleship, accompanied by a missile cruiser, and that’s it.”
“You’re forgetting about my three ships,” Ludendorff said.
“Three freighters of dubious military worth,” Maddox said.
“No!” the brigadier said. “They are potent vessels, I assure you of that, Captain.”
Ludendorff exhaled with exasperat
ion. “Brigadier, the captain is goading you. He wants you to reveal the properties of my privateers. I’d rather not oblige him.”
“Why is that a problem?” O’Hara asked. “I think he should know.”
“Know at my discretion,” Ludendorff said. “I thought I had made that crystal clear to you.”
“You did,” O’Hara said. “But this—”
“The present situation changes nothing,” Ludendorff said, interrupting her. “Captain Maddox is often overeager. In the past, a few of his indiscretions have worked for the greater good. Perhaps he even thinks he is doing well here. In the interests of our greater goal, I will put down this farce to his high spirits. In other words, if he puts away his gun I am willing to overlook the incident.”
“That is good of you, Professor,” the brigadier said, nodding.
Ludendorff made an offhand gesture.
“Perhaps the two of you could enlighten me about this greater goal,” Maddox said.
“Do I have your permission?” the brigadier asked Ludendorff.
“He’s still aiming the gun at me,” Ludendorff said.
“Captain,” the brigadier said.
“The gun will remain aimed at his chest,” Maddox said. “Nothing said so far changes my original assessment of the situation.”
“Bah,” Ludendorff said. “You always were a monomaniac. You’re far too impressed by yourself, Captain. I’ve never understood why the brigadier allows you such indiscretions. Yet, I’m tired of sitting here like a captive, and I seriously dislike having a gun aimed at me. Therefore—”
“You’re mistaken, Professor,” Maddox said, interrupting. “You are not like a captive. You are a captive.”
Ludendorff’s eyes narrowed. “I’m almost ready to walk out of here.”
For the first time, Maddox smiled. It was a small thing, filled with deadly intent.
“Yes, Professor, go ahead. Get up and walk out.”
“Would you shoot me in the back, my boy?”
With his free hand, Maddox snapped his fingers, with the deadly smile frozen on his face.
The Lost Star Gate (Lost Starship Series Book 9) Page 13