“Done, sir,” the tight-lipped weapons officer said.
Ensign Daggett was trembling, her hands quivering as she tapped her board.
The main screen had become even fuzzier. “Is the channel still open to the alien?” Maddox asked the comm operator.
Ensign Daggett nodded raggedly.
“I know your game,” Maddox told the alien. “I’m not going to allow it. We’re either going to do this my way, or I’m going to destroy you. You have less than ten seconds to comply. Then, I’m ordering the disintegrator beam to fire at the yacht.”
Maddox turned to Smith-Fowler. “Get ready to cut the neutron cannon.”
Warning klaxons blared on the bridge.
“Look!” Valerie shouted. “One of the silver drones has detonated. I don’t believe this. The others are detonating as well.”
“Cut the neutron beam,” Maddox said.
The weapons officer tapped faster than he had so far.
Ensign Daggett slouched at her board, weeping, speaking through her tears to Admiral Sanchez.
“Why did the aliens do that, sir?” Valerie asked. “I don’t understand any of this.”
Ensign Daggett sat up as she wiped tears from her eyes. “Sir,” she said. “Doctor Rich would like a word with you.”
“Put her on the main screen,” Maddox said.
A second later, a visibly trembling Dana Rich stared at him.
“You’re mad,” she told Maddox.
“You know I’m not,” he said.
“You’re an arrogant bastard who only thinks of himself.”
“That would be your boyfriend, the professor.”
“How dare you profane his name at a time like this?” Dana said.
Maddox waited.
Dana took a deep breath. “I’m…I’m requesting permission to come aboard Victory.”
“Yes, on one condition,” Maddox said.
“That being what?”
“You dock the yacht beside the starship and come via a boarding tube.”
“I figured you’d say that,” Dana said. “Yes. I agree.” She stared at him as the fear began dissipating from her features. “You’re—”
“I know,” Maddox said. “The remarkable thing is that I sleep well at night.”
Dana tapped a board and her image disappeared.
“Sir,” Valerie said, having taken over comm duties for the moment. “Admiral Sanchez is demanding to speak to you.”
“Put her on,” Maddox said. “I might as well get this over with.”
***
Admiral Sanchez still wasn’t happy, as Maddox hadn’t explained much. He told her there were hidden forces at play, Star Watch Intelligence secrets he wasn’t at liberty to discuss over a comm line. If she would like to come aboard the starship…
Sanchez made it clear she would not leave her flagship while in a combat zone. Soon, Austerlitz and Wurzburg led the rest of the flotilla away from the Nexus and Victory. They took up station in an over-watch position, scanning relentlessly, searching for any other hidden enemies.
The luxury yacht closed to within several hundred kilometers of Victory.
The bridge personnel were tense. Lieutenant Maker presently sat at the comm station, Ensign Daggett having left for sickbay.
Galyan appeared on the bridge.
Maddox crooked a finger at the holoimage. Galyan floated near.
“I want you to scour the decks,” Maddox said softly. “Search for hidden intruders.”
“You believe the New Men have slipped onto our vessel from the cloaked star cruiser?”
“That would be my guess,” Maddox said, giving Galyan a makeshift task to keep him off the bridge for now.
The holoimage glanced at the others. “I will be discrete, sir.”
“Excellent.”
Galyan vanished.
“Anything yet?” Maddox asked Lieutenant Smith-Fowler.
“It’s quiet outside, sir. I’m only picking up the flotilla’s sensor scans.”
Maddox scratched his chest. Could that be it from the Spacers? Or was Shu planning a surprise on Victory itself? The captain pondered the idea. He slid off the command chair, approaching Valerie’s station.
“Sir?” she asked.
He motioned Valerie to him. She stood while frowning, leaning near.
“You have the bridge,” Maddox whispered. “I want you to say as little as possible, particularly over the ship’s intercom or over the comm to another vessel.”
Valerie peered at him, mouthing the word, “Shu?”
Maddox nodded imperceptibly. He was certain the Spacer studied every wavelength that might possibly give her information. Who knew how much Shu already knew.
Valerie looked as if she wanted to ask him several more questions. Finally, her shoulders deflated as she nodded.
The lieutenant headed for the command chair as Maddox strode from the chamber.
The captain moved purposefully through the corridors. As he did, he fingered a device within a pocket. He used a route that could lead to a hanger bay just in case Shu was watching his progress. Several minutes later, he pressed a switch on the device. The moment he did so, Maddox broke into a sprint.
He used an override unit, shutting down the starship’s interior security cameras, effectively blinding Shu. He hoped the Spacer would think it was a momentary malfunction.
The captain’s sprint took him in a new direction. Instead of the hangar bay, he raced for the detention center.
-31-
Maddox drew his long-barreled gun, having sprinted through the corridors. He didn’t breathe as hard as he would have only several days ago.
He pressed a wall switch and burst through the door into Shu’s chamber.
The small Spacer gasped. She had her back to him, peering up into the air as she sat in a chair. She did not wear her goggles, or much of anything else for that matter. With a lurch, Shu staggered from her chair, moving in an almost blind fashion. Her bare legs bumped against the edge of the bed. She fell onto it with an oof, her panties sliding higher than seemed proper. Her hands roved over the covers, latching onto her goggles. She slid them over her eyes, seeming to take a second longer to make sure they were in place. Finally, she twisted around to stare accusingly at the captain, her hands covering her bare breasts.
“Your conduct is shamefully rude,” she said.
Maddox aimed his gun at her, although he was outwardly calm.
“Do you mind turning around while I put on my clothes?” she asked.
“In this instance, yes,” he said. “But by all means, dress.”
She stared at him. It took several seconds, but her demeanor changed. She let her hands fall away from her pert breasts as she stood and cocked an appealing hip at him.
“This is an interesting change, Captain. What would Meta say if she could see us now?”
“No doubt, she would do you bodily harm. I suggest you don your garments. Otherwise, I will have to tell Meta you tried to seduce me.”
“Captain,” Shu purred. She cupped her breasts and made a pouting face, approaching him seductively.
Maddox’s aim never wavered.
Shu neared and tried to reach him. The end of the long gun-barrel poked against her flat belly.
“You don’t need that,” she told him, looking up into his face.
Using the barrel, Maddox prodded her belly, forcing her to back away.
“Put on some clothes, Shu. We can talk then.”
Her hands dropped away from cupping her breasts. “Are you an icicle?”
“Not in the least. Believe me. I’m enjoying the spectacle. I rate you a solid eight and a half. If you removed the goggles and grew out your hair, I suspect you could become a nine.”
“How dare you?”
“Frowning like that lowers your score,” Maddox said. “You do better as a smiling girl.”
With her hands, Shu covered her breasts, retreating to her bed. She donned her Spacer garb, only looking at h
im after she clicked shut the last clasp.
“The Visionary thought you were a gentleman. I’m afraid I’ll have to tell her you’re a brute.”
“Given that the Visionary sees so much, I doubt that will come as a great surprise to her. At least if Meta barges into the room, she won’t do you any bodily harm. That was a close call.”
“Why are you here? And why are you pointing your gun at me?”
“I have good news. I’m finally taking you out of detention. You can leave your meager belongings. I’ll have a steward collect them and bring them to your new quarters.”
Shu ingested that, finally saying, “That accounts for your presence. Why do you have to point a gun at me, though?”
“It’s a formality, nothing more.”
“You’re lying, Captain.”
“If I am, it no doubt brings equality to our situation, as you’re concealing things from me as well. For instance, what does it mean when you’re staring into the air without your goggles on?”
“It was a religious moment, one that you interrupted.”
“I rather doubt that.”
“You’re too irreligious for your own good, Captain.”
“On the contrary, I am quite pious.”
“And that’s why you like to stare at naked women?”
“No. That is due to my natural appreciation for beauty.”
“Even an eight-and-a-half-rated beauty?”
“That is why my precision is so accurate. I am a beauty expert due to extended study. Do not downplay your eight and a half score by the way. That is a relatively high number.”
“And you call yourself pious. What a mockery you make of spiritualty.”
“I am pious in that I believe in the Creator and try to give Him His due.”
“Him, Captain?”
“Precisely,” Maddox said. “But let us return to your so-called religious experience. What did you see without your goggles?”
Shu peered at him angrily until a new expression swept over her. “You’re doing this deliberately. You’re trying to goad me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know,” Shu said.
Maddox smiled. “Now it is you who are lying. I have arrived at the belief that removing your goggles helps you ‘see’ radiation or wavelengths better. Maybe removing your garments does that as well. Or perhaps you simply like to sit seminude in your quarters.”
“Forget about all that,” Shu said. “Forget about me. You’re making a terrible mistake doing this. He’s incredibly dangerous, you know?”
“I presume you’re referring to Ludendorff, and I quite agree. But then, so are you.”
“You can’t compare me to a Methuselah Man.”
“The Methuselah Man doesn’t have your abilities. Consider. You have as good as admitted the scramblers don’t hinder your eavesdropping on our communications.”
“Your cautious actions on the bridge already showed me you knew that. I feel I must warn you again. Ludendorff is a danger to everything we hold dear. We cannot let him on Victory.”
“Is there a Spacer convoy in the Xerxes System?”
“Of course not,” Shu said. “The admiral chased them away.”
“There is not even one cloaked Spacer vessel watching what happens out here?”
“No.”
“This is interesting,” Maddox said. “You mix a strange blend of lying with the truth.”
“Why ask me anything if you’ve already arrived at your own answers?”
“Habit, I suppose.”
It took a moment. Then Shu laughed, shaking her head. “We’re both liars, Captain. The situation is absurd, don’t you think? You can put your gun away. I can’t do anything to you. If you won’t believe me about Ludendorff—”
“Enough,” Maddox said, becoming suspicious at her cheery nature. “You will walk ahead of me.” He holstered the long-barreled gun and drew a stunner from where he’d kept it under his belt. He adjusted the setting.
He showed her the new weapon. “This is to let you know that I won’t hesitate to stun you. I’m not sure you believed that I’d shoot you with a bullet.”
“You’re much too gallant, Captain,” Shu said sarcastically. “Why do you need any weapon at all to deal with me?”
He tapped his chest, indicating her adaptations as the reason for his caution.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You already know.”
“I don’t. Please, where are we going?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. Now, if you would please, Provost Marshal, march ahead of me.”
Shu 15 sighed, heading for the open door.
-32-
“This is a mistake,” Shu said on “E” Deck.
They had been walking for a time, the Spacer having become taciturn since leaving the detention center.
Maddox felt a lurch on the deck.
Shu turned around wildly, feeling it too. “Captain, I implore you. Take me back to detention while there’s still time.”
Maddox heard real fear in her voice. She must have realized the lurch meant the luxury yacht had landed inside the hangar bay instead of docking outside.
“My life is in danger,” Shu said. “Ludendorff or one of his people will try to kill me.”
“Do you suspect a revenge killing?”
“The Methuselah Men don’t need a reason. They kill and maim for sport. We Spacers have defended ourselves from them for years, only having become proficient in arms for our own protection.”
“I wish you’d shared more about your culture earlier,” Maddox said. “I could know then whether to have sympathy for the Spacers. As it is, I’m in the dark concerning your people.”
“Everyone knows we’re peaceful.”
“How do you explain the cloaked missiles that attacked the yacht and shuttle?”
“That had nothing to do with Spacers. Someone else put the missiles there.”
“I have my doubts,” Maddox said. “In fact, you’re my chief suspect.”
“I’ve been in detention for some time now. Do you think I can teleport in and out of my room hundreds of light-years at a time?”
“I do not.”
“Then how could I have ambushed the shuttle?”
“Your people could have put the missiles in place, ready to be activated by you.”
Shu stared at him. “If you believe I’m that powerful, I’m surprised I’m still alive. I would think a paranoid individual like yourself would murder someone as powerful as you’re making me out to be.”
“You forget that I’m di-far. I dare because I’m a man of decision.”
“Even you can’t stop the Methuselah Man.”
“I’ve stopped you,” Maddox said. “Thus, it is reasonable to suppose I can stop the professor.”
Shu shook her head, moaning to herself. “Leave me while I compose myself to meet my Maker.”
Maddox smiled faintly. “I’m bringing you along for two reasons. One is to protect you from the professor. The other is to protect the professor from you.”
Shu stared at him longer this time. “You have a painfully high regard for yourself. In that way, you are fully New Man.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Maddox said. “Now, march.”
Reluctantly, Shu did.
***
Maddox brought her to the chamber near the hangar bay, where he’d been when the cloaked missile had destroyed the shuttle. It was a stark room, with several machines holding drinks and others stocked with condiments. Otherwise, tables and chairs filled the chamber.
“Galyan,” Maddox called.
Nothing happened.
“Oh,” the captain said. He reached into a pocket, pressing a button on his special unit. “Galyan,” he said, trying again.
“There you are,” the holoimage said upon appearing.
Maddox glanced at Shu before whispering to the holoimage. A moment later, Galyan disappeared.
�
�You’re going to extremely tedious lengths to thwart a minor ability on my part,” Shu said.
“Attention to detail is another characteristic of New Men,” Maddox said coldly.
“Ah. I see my remark earlier stung. That is interesting.”
Maddox sat across from Shu, resting the stunner on his lap. A few moments later, he tapped a device on his wrist, and they continued waiting.
Finally, the door swished open and a medium-sized man in a yellow shirt and black slacks and shoes waltzed in. He wore a gold chain around a wrinkly neck. He was older, bald and had deeply tanned skin, with a prominent hooked nose and eyes that shined like diamonds.
Professor Ludendorff stopped short. There was commotion behind him outside in the corridor. He turned around.
Maddox saw Meta with several security Marines holding up three beefy men who had tried to follow the professor into the room.
“Don’t worry, Professor,” Maddox said. “This is strictly a routine measure.”
Ludendorff glanced at Maddox. Then, he spied Shu. The old man moved fast, thrusting a hand inside his shirt. Before he could complete whatever it was that he was trying to do, Maddox fired the stunner.
A blot of force knocked the Methuselah Man onto the floor, his feet in the chamber and his head and torso in the hall.
Maddox spun fast, training the stunner on Shu.
The Spacer had been rising from her seat. A twitch of her head allowed her to see the captain. Slowly, she sat back down, carefully putting her hands on her knees.
In the meantime, Meta collected the professor, carrying him to a table and laying him on it. The door had swished shut behind her.
“His security detail is angry,” Meta said.
“Put them in detention,” Maddox told her. “Remember. Treat them as extremely dangerous. The professor wouldn’t trust them with his safety otherwise.”
Meta nodded, hurrying out the door to the Marines and their three captives.
“Well done, Captain,” Shu said. “I see you do recognize Ludendorff’s deadliness. I suggest you kill him now while you’re able.”
Maddox said nothing as he adjusted his stunner. Then, he went to Ludendorff, reaching under his shirt. He felt a small cube tapped to the man’s torso. With a twist, Maddox tore it free, pocketing it. Afterward, the captain moved away from both of them. He wanted to be able to watch them both at the same time.
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