Meta tugged on his arm.
Maddox peered into her beautiful eyes. She looked worried now. With her chin, she pointed ahead.
Maddox examined the people on their sidewalk. There were Parisians, several Star Watch Marines, a fellow in a long Wahhabi robe—
“Maddox,” she said.
He looked at her again.
Meta must have seen the perplexed look on his face. “The Marines,” she said. “They’re ogling me too much. It’s creepy, especially the short one. Something isn’t right with him.”
Maddox concentrated on the Marines. There were four, three of them big fellows laughing among themselves. The shortest one didn’t join in the laughter. He seemed the most intent, frowning at the sidewalk too much. It seemed as if they were on leave, younger men hardly out of basic training.
The group approached them on the sidewalk as they continued laughing and talking among themselves. The captain felt it then and wondered how he’d missed it earlier. The quality of their laughter was harsh and unkind. These four meant to hurt people.
The biggest Marine stopped laughing and stared at Maddox. The others looked at him, too.
Maddox tried to push Meta behind him, but she was having none of that, holding onto his arm with a fierce grip. Once he stopped trying to push her back, she let go.
“Hey,” the biggest Marine said. He had a buzz of blond hair and thick features. He looked like a hand-to-hand specialist and stood head and shoulders taller than Maddox, who was himself rather tall. The Marine was, in fact, practically a giant at seven feet.
Maddox kept his expression bland.
“Aren’t you that half-breed people keep jabbering about?” the giant asked Maddox. “You’re like part New Man or something, right?”
“That’s better than being a jackass,” Maddox said softly, stung by the insult.
Two of the Marines brayed with laughter. Were they drunk? No. Maddox realized they were keyed-up for a fight.
“Are you insulting me?” the giant asked.
Meta had gotten angrier by the moment. She stepped up to the big man and shot her left knee at his groin. He swiveled his hip fast, barely blocking in time. Meta’s knee connected with his thigh, though. Her density made her heavier than she looked. The Marine staggered backward at the contact. The big man crashed against one of the laughers, making both of them stumble.
This time, Maddox took a firm hold of Meta’s arm, pulling her back.
“He shouldn’t have said that to you,” she hissed at him in passing.
Maddox shook his head as if to say the Marine’s words didn’t matter.
“That was a mistake, bitch,” the giant said. He pulled out a switchblade, clicking it so a gleaming length of stainless steel popped up.
Maddox reacted instantly, launching at the giant, surprising him. The big man must have been one of those who relished seeing fear in others.
At the last moment, the Marine tried to slash. It was too late, as Maddox’s boots crashed against the massive chest. The giant catapulted off his feet, slamming the back of his head against the sidewalk as he tumbled to the ground. The switchblade clattered into a nearby gutter, disappearing from sight.
Maddox landed on his feet like a cat. His speed and reflexes were phenomenal.
One of the laughers cursed loudly. The other stared at Maddox in shock. They reacted too slowly as the captain swung, hitting the next Marine on the chin, knocking the man onto the ground. The other barely got his hands up in time, blocking several punches. Unfortunately for the Marine, he failed to detect Maddox’s leg sweep. He crashed onto the sidewalk, prone and vulnerable. Maddox kicked him twice in the head.
Maddox whirled around to face to the last Marine, the short one Meta had said gave her a creepy feeling. What the captain saw stunned him.
The last Marine was behind Meta, holding one of her wrists in an iron grip as Meta struggled. That was surprising. Meta should have been able to easily put down the Marine. Swiftly, the man shoved a short-barreled gun against her head.
Meta quit struggling.
The short Marine stared at Maddox, almost as if he was waiting for something.
“Well?” Maddox asked. He would move when the man aimed the gun at him. Meta would no doubt smash an elbow in his ribs then. She might even break a few.
“Captain Maddox,” the short Marine said in a clipped manner. “I have a message for you. Under no circumstances should you trust the Spacer. She means you harm.”
Maddox blinked in surprise, thrown off by the comment. A moment later, he nodded. “Thank you for the advice.”
The Marine seemed thrown off by this reply. “I hope you remember what I told you about the Spacer. It is vital for your continued existence as a species.”
Maddox had become hyper-alert. “Are you a New Man?”
“By no means,” the Marine said.
Maddox chewed that over as his thinking sped up. If the fake Marine wasn’t a New Man, could he be like Kane—a modified human? Something about the gunman, his choice of words perhaps, clicked an idea in the captain’s brain. This was another android. That would provide the explanation for him being stronger than Meta.
If he were an android, he must belong to the dead Builder. Would that imply Strand, Ludendorff or a last Builder imperative?
“The previous androids—the Stokes models—tried to kill me,” Maddox said. “Why aren’t you going to shoot me?”
“Because I’m not your enemy,” the supposed Marine said.
“They were,” Maddox said, indicating the groaning Marines on the sidewalk.
“I used them,” the android said. “I played upon their race bigotry, goading them into attacking a half-breed.”
“Why do that?”
“As camouflage,” the android said.
“You’re not making sense,” Maddox said. “Why did the Stokes androids try to kill me?”
“That was a mistake.”
“They didn’t think so.”
“Have you ingested my message? Do you understand the danger the Spacers represent?”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“While you are attempting to keep me here longer than necessary,” the android said. “I understand your ploy. Remember what I said.”
“Are there two factions among the surviving androids?” Maddox asked. “Did your side take over after the first two failed to kill me?”
“You must concentrate on the Spacers.”
“Why are they dangerous?”
“I am done here,” the android said. “Do not attempt to follow me when I leave. Otherwise, I will shoot your woman.”
“That would be a grave mistake on your part,” Maddox said.
“You fail to understand, Captain. I desire existence just as you do. I am real. We all are. We are not just soulless machines, as your kind seems to think. Therefore, I will fulfill my threat in order to keep functioning.”
“Don’t you mean to say ‘living’ not ‘functioning’?” Maddox asked. “Functioning is what machines do.”
“Yes. That was my meaning.”
“Why couldn’t you have come to my table and simply given me this information?”
“We speak on my terms, Captain, so I can make my exit at the proper time. I realize your tactic, though, these prolonged questions.” The android glanced at the fallen Marines. “The French shall rise again.”
The effect on the three was electric. Each Marine stiffened as his eyes widened. A muscular change also came over them and they bounded to their feet as if refreshed, and charged Maddox. This time, they fought with berserker power and speed, grunting like animals as they shrugged off the captain’s strikes. After a ringing blow to his head that made him stagger, Maddox debated shooting them. He realized that would be murder. They were pawns, nothing more.
With a sigh, Maddox realized what he had to do. He began breaking bones to incapacitate the berserk Marines. The last one went down hard with an ugly thighbone break.
> By that time, police air-cars thudded onto the street. The officers climbing out of them blew shrieking whistles.
Maddox staggered back as the last Marine dropped to the ground. The captain had bruises where they’d struck him, while blood dripped from a nasty cut over his right eye.
Meta used her hands to hold her skimpy outfit together. Before he’d dashed away, the android had ripped her garment in strategic locations.
There was no sign of him. The android had made good his escape.
“Monsieur,” a Paris policeman said. “You will step over there at once.”
Maddox complied with the order. Riker would be here any minute. He kept wondering about the android, wondering whom the thing represented. Why did it want him to distrust the Spacers? Could the android have known about Shu 15 in particular? That seemed ominous.
This really was getting complicated.
-16-
Aboard Starship Victory, Lieutenant Keith Maker listened intently as the chief mechanic went over, in detail, the damage to his jumpfighter.
Magnetic hooks held the “tin can” in the air inside a large hangar bay within Victory. Keith kept glancing at the hull punctures the Spacer autocannons had made. He counted twelve of them. It was lucky he’d made it out of there alive. That was a tribute to the jumpfighter’s ruggedness.
The mechanic was a large woman in every way. Keith had trouble focusing on her words as he kept wondering about the exact size of her ponderous breasts.
“Do you want to feel them?” the mechanic asked at last.
“Beg pardon?” Keith asked.
“These,” the chief mechanic said, indicating her bosom. “Would you like to touch them? You keep staring at them.”
Her words embarrassed Keith. He hadn’t realized he’d been so obvious. The captain never backed down in these situations, though. Maybe that was the right way to handle it.
Thus, Keith said cockily, “I don’t mind if I do,” and he reached out.
The mechanic slapped his hand, hard.
Keith yanked his hand back, flexing the throbbing digits. “Hey!” he said.
“I’m fixing your jumpfighter. That doesn’t mean you get to eye my rack as if I’m a piece of meat.”
“Fine,” he said, more embarrassed than ever. “It’s your loss.”
She shook her head. “Flyboys. You never change, do you?”
He wanted to talk about anything else now. “You don’t think anyone but me could have brought my baby home, do you? Look at all those holes. I’m a one of a kind to have coaxed my tin can into its bay. So don’t talk to me about change, as there’s never been one like me before.”
“Like I said,” she muttered, “you flyboys are all alike. Any more questions?”
Keith shook his head.
“All right,” she said. “Why don’t you beat it then, Shorty? I have enough to do here—”
Her words trailed off with Keith’s abrupt exit from the hatch.
Keith fumed over her calling him “Shorty.” He hated the term. He was a small man with what some of his mates used to call bird-sized bones. Maybe he was smaller than normal, but he was also faster and quicker-witted. Nature hadn’t burdened him with flab and useless height. Wide and tall men had trouble maneuvering inside a strikefighter, but he fit just perfectly. He’d been born to be a strikefighter pilot.
That didn’t mean big girls like the chief mechanic should badmouth him. He should go back there and straighten her out.
Keith scowled. He knew that would be a mistake. One of the keys to military life was never letting anyone know what bothered you. If you did, your mates would hound you mercilessly about that thing. Leaving like that had been a mistake.
The problem with the mechanic was that he hadn’t had lots of experience with women. For all his boastfulness and outlandish piloting style, he was normally shy with the opposite sex. Even owning a bar in Glasgow hadn’t changed that much. Back then, drinking had sustained him with women.
Since forgoing blessed alcohol these past years, he’d been thinking about women more and more often. The past voyages hadn’t given him much opportunity in that regard. Training out on Titan had left him zero time to pursue women. Training again this past year and teaching other pilots his specialty skills…no, he’d led a monk’s existence. Now, it was time he got a girlfriend. The captain had one. With all the added crewmembers aboard Victory, surely he could find a looker to hold at night.
He adjusted his flight jacket and ran his fingers through his straw-colored hair.
Starship Victory was huge. It wasn’t as large as a mainline hauler, but it was the largest fighting vessel in Star Watch. This time, they were going to use all of the ship, not just the small area where the few of them had lived.
Keith passed people he’d never seen before. There were engineers, core specialists, security personnel, service people to take care of everyone, including cooks, doctors, nurses—Keith loved nurses.
He remembered a pretty nurse from Tau Ceti when the miners had been on strike against the Wallace Corporation. Of all things, he’d had an impacted wisdom tooth back then. It had finally begun to interfere with his flying.
The dentist had given him gas. Keith remembered thinking the stuff was useless, as he hadn’t felt tired at all. The next thing he knew, he was groggy, waking up and feeling outraged.
He’d used his tongue to probe around, finding the area in back with a hole instead of a hurting wisdom tooth.
The dentist had walked in then, asking if he could get him anything.
Keith had blinked groggily at the man. Finally, he’d said, “Make sure you keep the pretty nurse beside me.”
She’d laughed at that, a full-bosomed woman in nurse’s whites with eyes like honey. She’d been sitting on a stool beside him, watching some instruments. He would have liked to have been smothered by her.
Grinning as he sauntered down the ship’s corridors, Keith forced himself to nod at every woman he passed. A few smiled. Most ignored him. One arched her eyebrows at him.
“Lovely day,” Keith managed to say.
She giggled, blushing a little.
Keith started feeling better. He wasn’t short. Sure, maybe he wasn’t as tall as the next fellow was, but he certainly wasn’t short. Could anyone fly better than he could? Not on their bloody life! He was the best pilot, and he had style.
I need to approach the ladies like I fly. They love style.
Keith grasped the ends of his flight jacket and squared his shoulders. With the next good-looking woman he passed—
Keith stopped in shock still gripping his jacket. He blinked stupidly. Who was that? And what was with the dark goggles? Even more importantly, what was with that perfectly shaped rear? The way it moved the tight fabric of her pants…
Keith stood in the middle of the corridor staring at a small Spacer. Two hulking Marines escorted the woman, one of them carrying a small suitcase. The ship Marines almost seemed like prison guards the way they bracketed her. They were headed toward a detention area.
For a moment, the lovely Spacer looked past one of the Marines. It was hard to tell with those goggles, but it appeared as if she stared straight at Keith.
He couldn’t help it, just smiled stupidly. Without thinking, Keith stood at attention and saluted her.
She smiled back at him.
I’m in love, Keith told himself. She’s the one. She’s perfect.
She actually waved to him.
That made the nearest Marine turn his head and scowl at him.
Keith didn’t care. He waved back. He had to meet her. He had to talk to her, hold her, kiss her and have her for himself.
This is going to be the best voyage yet, Keith told himself.
The Marines marched her into the restricted area, passing from view.
Keith turned the other way, heading for his quarters. He didn’t know it, but he was whistling. She’d smiled and waved to him. Could this be love at first sight?
“I do
n’t know what else it could be, boyo,” he told himself. “This girl clearly likes what she sees.”
His smile widened as he began to plot how to get into the restricted area to talk to her and find out who she was.
-17-
Maddox thought about the android and its implications as Riker brought them upstairs to Victory. Meta suggested he call the brigadier immediately to tell her about the incident. He wasn’t so certain that would be wise.
The brigadier might want to reopen the Shu Situation, and he couldn’t allow that. It was too interesting now. What infernal game was swirling around the Spacer? How had these last androids kept so well hidden and why had they all shown themselves now?
Over a year ago, androids boiling out of an ancient secret Builder base in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean had tried to take over Earth and the Commonwealth. They’d tried by first kidnapping and then impersonating many of the highest ranking people, including the Lord High Admiral and Brigadier O’Hara. Doctor Dana Rich had broken free from her confinement in the ancient base and helped to blunt the secret takeover. Star Watch Intelligence had led the fight in finding the imposters and hunting down what they had thought were the last of the androids.
Now, it appeared that some androids had remained at large. What had they been doing the past year? Had they contacted any New Men, or Strand or Ludendorff, or was there another Builder somewhere controlling them? It would seem the androids worked against the Spacers.
Raising these questions might give the brigadier a bad case of caution, as the androids had proven deadly in the past. Maddox’s gut told him they were going to need Shu this voyage. He didn’t believe they could afford a delay, either. And there was another thing, a personal reason. He wanted to see Ludendorff’s reaction to the Spacer. If Shu distrusted the professor so intensely, what would be the professor’s reaction to her? He wasn’t ready to turn her over to the brigadier just yet.
Lost in his ruminations, Maddox said little after docking onto Victory.
“Will I see you tonight?” Meta asked.
He said “Yes” absently and went his way. He didn’t notice Meta’s frown or Riker leaning near to ask her what was wrong with the captain.
The Lost Patrol Page 9