While mentally worrying the question like a dog with a rag, Valerie resumed her navigating chores.
Sometime later, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to find Keith Maker.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
Keith grinned sheepishly, and that should have alerted her right there. He’d slicked back his hair, put on aftershave, it smelled like, and scrubbed his face with some perfumed soap. The lieutenant wore a spiffy flight jacket with his new insignia on the shoulders. She noticed that his shoes shined, too.
“Could, I, ah, talk to you a minute?” Keith asked.
“Yes.”
“Not here,” he said, glancing around.
There were several people on the bridge, including the new Chief Technician Andros Crank. He was a stout Kai-Kaus with long gray hair and observant gray eyes.
“Can’t it wait until I’m off-duty?” Valerie asked.
Keith shook his head, looking more anxious by the second.
Valerie eyed him again. Was Keith playing a prank on her? The pilot was a little too much like the captain, irreverent at the wrong times. She sensed true anxiety in Keith, though. She should know the symptoms, as she was often quite anxious.
First checking her board, she said, “I’ll take a break in a half hour. Would you like to meet in the cafeteria then?”
“Yes!” he said. “Thank you.” Keith glanced around again almost as if he was being furtive. He would have made a lousy spy. Then he hurried off the bridge.
What had that been about?
Valerie shrugged. She did some systems checks, watched the others for a bit and noticed that the half hour had already passed. She informed the bridge officer before leaving.
The corridors leading to the cafeteria were crowded compared to last voyage. This was quite different, and it made Valerie feel more at home. This reminded her of her training time in the Academy. Finally, Victory was beginning to feel like a regular starship. Maybe this time their assignment would be normal. The captain certainly wasn’t a run-of-the-mill line officer, and this showed in almost everything he did.
In the cafeteria, Keith sat at a far table, nervously sipping coffee. How many cups had the pilot drunk already? Obviously too many, as he’d become jittery.
“What took you so long?” Keith asked as she sat down.
Valerie didn’t care for the reproof in his voice. Maybe Keith had been promoted to lieutenant, but that was different from her Navy lieutenant rank. His was a strikefighter rank, which still went by old air force regulations.
“Look,” he said, leaning toward her. “I’m going to have to insist you keep this quiet for now.”
“Insist all you want,” she said.
“You promise, then?” he asked, clearly not sensing her mood.
“I never promise anything until I know exactly what’s going on.”
“Come on, Lieutenant,” he wheedled, “give a guy a break.”
She studied him. Keith was panicky. Valerie glanced over her shoulder, half-expecting to see someone ready to pour a glass of water over her head.
Facing him, she demanded, “What’s going on?”
Keith bent even lower over the table as he whispered, “I need a favor, Valerie. I, ah, have to get into the detention center.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s important.”
“So tell me about it. Why is it important?”
Keith licked his lips and frowned, struggling to find the right words.
“Would you tell me what’s going on already?” she said.
“I saw a woman,” Keith said as he stared intently into her eyes. Then he dropped his gaze as if embarrassed.
“Who is she?” Valerie asked, interested now.
Keith seemed to agonize over the answer. Finally, he looked up at her, the words gushing out. “I think she’s a Spacer. She looked like a Spacer. She was beautiful and she waved to me. She even smiled. She likes me, Valerie. I have to see her, make sure she’s okay. I want to ask her…”
Valerie blinked several times as Keith continued to stare at her. She was trying to figure out if she should play this straight or have some fun with Keith and give him a hard time.
“Do you like her?” she asked.
Something in the way she said that must have alerted the pilot. Keith pulled back and even managed a shrug. “Maybe,” he said, with badly feigned indifference.
“Maybe?” Valerie said. “What do you mean maybe? You come running onto the bridge all breathless and now you’re a jittery mess. You really like her a lot, don’t you?”
“Okay!” Keith said. “So what if I do? Is that a crime?”
Valerie arched her eyebrows in order to keep from laughing. “Why would liking her be a crime?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
Valerie couldn’t hold it in any longer. She laughed. This was too delightful. The boastful, bragging Keith Maker was embarrassed for once. She couldn’t believe it. This was wonderful.
His features clouded over, though, in a way she’d never seen with him.
That sobered her as she recognized the pain in him. She’d been a loner all her life, having trouble making friends. The former crew of Victory was family. Keith was family. Despite his bragging ways, they had been through hell and back on more than one occasion. She recalled that Keith had never talked about girls before. Could he be shy around women? That would be something.
“I…” He groped for words. “I…want to meet her.”
Valerie nodded.
Keith must have noticed her change as he visibly brightened. “You’ll help me then?”
Valerie was a stickler for rules and protocol, but this was a matter of the heart, it seemed. “Let me see what I can do,” she said. “I’m not in charge of security, you do realize that?”
“I know, but you’re always making sure everything is running right on Victory.”
At least someone noticed, she thought. “Let me see what I can find out about her. Maybe if I ask the captain—”
“No!” Keith said. “Don’t breathe a word of this to him.”
“Why not?” Valerie was genuinely surprised by the outburst.
Keith shrugged moodily. “I…I don’t want to do it like the captain. I want to do this my way. He’s too brash with the ladies and might not understand.”
Valerie knew that was true. Maddox was too brash with everyone.
“Promise me you won’t tell the captain,” Keith said.
“I’ll keep quiet for now,” Valerie said. “But I have to know why she’s in the brig.”
“In detention,” Keith corrected.
“Let me find out what’s going on. Then, I’ll get back to you. I can’t promise to help you see her because maybe she’s dangerous.”
“I can’t believe that,” Keith said. “She sure didn’t look dangerous.”
Valerie realized Keith was no longer thinking straight. She must be a pretty Spacer to have caught Keith’s attention like this. That made her curious about the woman. Why did Victory have a Spacer in detention anyway? Did it have anything to do with their voyage?
She eyed Keith sidelong. Would he have any luck with a Spacer woman? This could prove to be very interesting…
-19-
Maddox decided to speed the rate of travel by making strategic star-drive jumps. Each “jump” put Victory near a system’s Laumer-Point, which the vessel promptly used. Bypassing the normal acceleration and deceleration from one distant Laumer-Point to another allowed the starship to quickly travel halfway to the Xerxes System.
These jumps in rapid succession were possible because Star Watch had improved the Baxter-Locke injections against Jump Lag. The new jump medicine meant that Victory could travel faster and with less fatigue dumped onto the crew than before. Maddox had grown thoroughly sick of Jump Lag. If nothing else, this trip would be more enjoyable with its near-absence.
Perhaps as critical, several Kai-Kaus techniques helped to negate th
e worst effects to delicate equipment. Presently, only Victory and several Star Watch battleships had these improved methods. These ships could go through a Laumer-Point or use the star drive with minimized Jump Lag so that man and machine could come out fighting.
Could Star Watch keep these advantages hidden long enough to surprise the New Men with them?
Maddox had his doubts. Look at what had happened to the knowledge of fold-fighters. The enemy had stolen the technology from Star Watch to construct their own.
Such events were normal, historically speaking. Technological superiority was notoriously difficult to keep for more than a few years. Almost as important as the tech advantage itself, was the time it took to implement the change in sufficient numbers. The other side’s spies might steal the blueprints to a new design, but building them quickly enough to face the enemy was another matter.
Maddox wore his regular uniform with his long-barreled pistol in its holster. Being armed on his own starship was a habit he’d developed from his Intelligence days. It had proven critical on more than one occasion.
During the past few days, Galyan hadn’t noticed any differences in him. Maddox wondered if that was because of normal ship routine. Maybe the differences only revealed themselves under pressure, when he acted at peak levels.
Maddox pondered that as he moved through an “E” Deck corridor near a hangar bay. His stride lengthened as his thoughts shifted to Shu 15. Had she grown weary of her confinement yet?
He planned to interrogate her in another day or so, starting with the softest methods first: using regular questions. He’d become more suspicious of Shu the longer he thought about the situation. Spacers didn’t like androids. The androids appeared to reciprocate the feelings with a vengeance. That seemed to imply prior dealings with each other.
Had the Spacers had some kind of encounter with the androids when they acquired their Builder technology? It seemed a likely possibility.
Maddox stopped. He realized he hardly saw anyone down here. Even with the skeleton crew that operated the starship during the night shift, there should have been a few people about.
He needed to concentrate, not think about what he was going to do tomorrow. He’d come down here for a flash inspection of the shuttles and strikefighters.
Patrol Training had taught him that crews did not do what you expected of them, but what you inspected. Thus, he planned to inspect everything on this voyage. It was tedious to be sure. But it was one of his responsibilities as captain. In the past, he’d shifted many of these chores onto Lieutenant Noonan. He needed to find a way to reward her for all her hard work.
He started walking again. The corridor lights flickered, which he found strange. Was there a power malfunction?
The captain unhooked his communicator, clicking it. The thing was dead. Was that a coincidence or did it have a connection with the faulting lighting? The lights flickered worse than before. Only as he heard a shoe scuffle did he realize his reaction had been off. The instant he realized his communicator didn’t work, he should have drawn his gun.
His hand fell onto the holstered gun-butt—
“Please,” a man said. “That would be a tragic mistake.”
The voice came from behind. With his hand still resting on the gun-butt, Maddox turned around.
A security Marine regarded him. The man had wide shoulders and a square head. He seemed like a wrestler. That reminded Maddox of Kane, but the Marine was too short to be like the former Rouen Colony spy. The Marine gripped a regular Star Watch stunner, aiming it at him.
“Please,” the Marine said in an odd voice. “Remove your hand from the gun.”
The wording seemed off. “I don’t think so,” Maddox said, deciding to test the Marine.
“You are making this difficult.”
“Thank you.”
The Marine cocked his head. “I did not intend that as praise.”
“My mistake then,” Maddox said.
The Marine cocked his head the other way. “Is this a test?”
“Yes, and you failed it.”
“I do not understand your meaning.”
“You’re an android,” Maddox said. “Your mannerisms give you away.”
The Marine frowned.
Maddox sensed what was about to happen a moment before it occurred. He drew the long-barreled gun to forestall it.
The android fired the stunner. As the long barrel of Maddox’s gun cleared the holster, a blot of force struck him. The blast blew him backward so he thudded onto the deck unconscious.
***
Maddox regained consciousness all at once. His head whipped up and to the left. Only then did he realize someone had put smelling salts under his nose.
He blinked several times. His body ached from a hard stun and his thoughts moved sluggishly. He moved his jaw from side to side and squeezed his eyes shut. Nausea struck. He willed it down but found that difficult. He concentrated, feeling a dull thrum in his skull. The nausea increased. He gagged, and that made him more determined.
Maddox breathed deeply through his nostrils, held his air and slowly let it out. He did this several times. The nausea lessened, but his body still ached. He began to hear noises, tinkering sounds and others breathing.
The captain forced the grogginess from his mind. He could already feel his heightened metabolism shaking off the effects of the stun.
He peeled his eyes open, looking around. The cramped quarters and the sealed hatch told him this was a shuttle hold. He sat in a metal chair, his torso, arms and legs clamped tightly.
The android had obviously dragged him through the corridor, into the hangar bay and onto a shuttle. How had the false Marine done so without alerting Galyan?
Two Marines were in the cargo hold with him, not just one. A familiar looking Marine monitored a screen attached to a strange machine. The captain recognized him as the wrestler-like android. Lines snaked from the machine to the band around Maddox’s head. The other Marine regarded him.
“Is the shuttle outside the ship?” Maddox asked.
They ignored his words.
“Have your circuits overloaded so you fail to understand my question?” Maddox asked.
The “wrestler” android scowled. “I am aware of your question. Since the meld isn’t ready yet, I have refrained from answering it. All will become clear in a moment. You must be patient.”
Maddox tested his bonds.
“You are quite secure,” the android told him.
“If you’re planning to torture me—”
“Of course not,” the android said, interrupting. “We are going to adjust your thinking on an important matter. In a short time, you will be back among your crew.”
Maddox abhorred anyone trying to control him. Knowledge of their objective helped focus his thoughts. It also caused his features to relax.
“I see, I see,” Maddox said. “Is this due to the Spacer’s presence on Victory?”
“You will not remember any of this, Captain. Thus, you can forgo your Intelligence techniques, as they will not aid you.”
Maddox ingested the words in silence. What was the best way to play this? The android hadn’t liked the comment about overloaded circuits. That was a marker, clearly. The captain pondered a few moments longer, devising his strategy.
“I understand,” he said at last. “You’re a soulless machine.”
The android’s head twitched. He clearly thought about the comment until he smiled. “I feel I should inform you that your verbal tricks won’t work on me.”
“Yes, of course. I realize this,” Maddox said. “And the reason the tricks won’t work is obvious. You’re both machines. How could I deceive an advanced computer system such as you?”
“We are more than mere machines,” the android said reproachfully. “Your starship’s AI should have already proven the possibility of such a thing.”
“How dare you liken yourself to Driving Force Galyan?” Maddox said, injecting heat into his voice. “You
have insulted him.”
The android cocked his head once more. “No. You are not emotional regarding the Adok AI. You are attempting to anger me through studied slights. That proves you believe I am more than a machine.”
“Touché,” Maddox said. “I applaud the genius of your maker. You are quite sophisticated. Tell me. Whom do you represent?”
“I do not represent anyone. I am myself.”
“That’s false on the face of it, as you’re impersonating a Star Watch Marine.”
“That is incorrect. I am a Star Watch Marine.”
“You expect me to believe that you went through basic training?” Maddox asked.
“I did rather well, too,” the android said. “It is how I got posted to Victory. Yet, to be honest—I believe that is how you biological beings say it. You are not fully human, are you, Captain? You are a hybrid. Thus, you are in no position to judge the authenticity of my humanity. I am, in fact, more human than you are.”
Maddox tested his bonds again. He did not care for the android’s statement.
“Please, Captain, desist with that. I do not want you to injure yourself. You are too important to the mission.”
Maddox shook his head, trying to dislodge the metal band around it.
“Now you are merely being obstinate,” the android said. “That will serve no useful purpose.”
“Unless I get a vicarious thrill out of being obstinate,” Maddox said.
“Yes,” the android said. “That is logical.” It blinked twice in quick succession. “There, I have recorded the quirk of your obstinacy.”
“But I don’t enjoy being obstinate,” Maddox protested. “I merely pointed it out as a possibility.”
The android studied him. “Ah. I see. That was an obstinate statement.” The wrestler-like android smiled. “Does my understanding surprise you?”
Maddox pretended to consider the question. “No. You successfully captured me. That shows heightened abilities, among them a keen application of logic. You have a superior AI, obviously of advanced Builder make.”
The android studied the captain a few seconds longer before turning to the other. They spoke in high-speed chatter, impossible to follow.
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