“I did,” the sensor officer said.
“You definitely saw the starship enter the hyper-spatial tube?”
The gray-bearded officer nodded.
Sanchez turned back to the main screen. The expanding debris from the pyramid’s blast had shredded many nearby asteroids. She found this difficult to accept. The ancient artifact had exploded. It was gone. So was the starship with its arrogant, half-New Man captain. What did that mean for the Commonwealth?
Sanchez knew Victory’s story as well as the next Star Watch officer. The ancient starship and its wickedly clever captain had been instrumental in humanity’s survival these past few years. Could the vessel have survived this catastrophe? She did not see how.
A knot of pain beat in her heart. The Lord High Admiral wanted to use the Nexuses in order to expand the Patrol’s range. Humanity needed that advantage if it was going to survive the Swarm.
Sanchez headed for her chair, concentrating on walking normally. She sat with a soft grunt. This was unbelievable. The Nexus—
She turned to the sensor officer. “I’ll have to send a destroyer to Earth. I have to get a message to High Command about this.”
“Better send several destroyers,” the old graybeard said. “You wouldn’t want a star cruiser intercepting the message.”
Sanchez stared at her most trusted officer. They’d worked together for over twenty-two years. “No. You’re wrong.”
The sensor officer seemed surprised.
“This might be the most important message in Star Watch just now,” Sanchez said. “I’m taking the entire flotilla back to Earth.”
“Ah,” the graybeard said. “Yes. Smart.”
Sanchez pressed the intercom button on her chair. It was time to collect her warships and speak to the workers on the space station. Then, she had to race back to Earth and give the Lord High Admiral the dreadful news.
***
Harsh, wheezing laughter filled the bridge of the cloaked star cruiser.
Strand sat in his chair while surrounded by his New Men bridge crew. He, too, watched the debris from the Nexus smash nearby asteroids.
The cloaked star cruiser was much farther away from the event than Admiral Sanchez was. The vessel had been here for several days already, observing many interesting things.
The laughter continued as Strand slouched in his thickly cushioned chair. The back of his head rested on the fabric. Tears leaked from his eyes. He held his chest as louder whoops of joy emitted from his throat.
Finally, the laughter began to subside. Strand worked himself into a sitting position. He wiped his eyes. He hadn’t laughed like that for a long, long time. Sheer joy and exuberance filled him. This was wonderful. According to his exacting calculations—
“The old goat is gone,” Strand declared. “The meddler has finally met his match. After centuries of interference, I am finally rid of the know-it-all professor.”
None of the New Men spoke in response to the statement. A few glanced up at him from time to time. The rest waited obediently at their stations.
“What?” Strand said. “Can’t any of you join me in my hour of triumph?”
The New Men continued as before in silence.
“This isn’t right,” Strand said. “I am marvelously happy. I want you to join me in celebration. Laugh.”
All the New Men looked up at him now.
Strand found that irritating and unfulfilling. “I said laugh,” he told them. He held up his left arm and began to tap on the control unit.
The effect on the New Men was immediate. Each opened his mouth and began to laugh in a mechanical fashion. None of the laughter reached their eyes, however. Instead, each of them seemed to be in agony of spirit.
“That’s better,” Strand said. He looked around at his laughing crew of golden-skinned superiors. Soon, though, he wearied of the noise, and tapped the unit again.
The laughter ceased.
“Return to your duties,” Strand said.
Each New Man turned around, facing his board.
For once, Strand did not brood at their reactions. He continued to smile as he stared at the main screen. He had slipped into the Nexus over six months ago. He had made adjustments. He had been certain that in time Star Watch would try to use a hyper-spatial tube. It had been an obvious move, easy to foresee. He had even expected Ludendorff to go inside the Nexus to do the deed, as it were.
Strand nodded as he put his hands on his chest. Everything was falling into place. The ancient Adok vessel had tried to use the hyper-spatial tube at exactly the wrong moment. His studies showed that the tube would disappear the instant the generator failed.
Victory, the infernal Ludendorff, the freak Captain Maddox and a Spacer witch had all died in the tube.
“I am Strand,” he whispered. “I am the greatest.”
“Master,” a New Man said.
Strand looked up, surprised one of the New Men would dare to speak to him uninvited.
“You instructed me to tell you the moment the Star Watch flotilla began to maneuver for the Laumer-Point.”
Strand nodded. That’s right. He had ordered that. His heart rate came down to normal.
“All the vessels are accelerating for the wormhole,” the New Man said.
Strand debated whether he should ambush the flotilla on the other side of the wormhole. He decided against it. Better to prepare for the next round. With Ludendorff gone, with Victory out of the way—
“Attention,” Strand said. “You will prepare for jump.”
“What coordinates should I set, Master?” the navigator asked.
Strand told him. Then he resumed studying the nonexistent Nexus. After all this time, it was gone. He felt a momentary loss but shook that off. This was an enjoyable moment. He had far too few of those. He would miss the professor—
“What?” Strand asked himself. “No. I’m glad Ludendorff is gone, very glad. Good riddance to that bothersome old meddler. Now, I can finally get on with my life’s task.”
-39-
Captain Maddox groaned. He didn’t know where he was, couldn’t remember what had happened.
His eyelids fluttered as he struggled to open them. The first attempt failed. That seemed off.
Why can’t I open my eyes?
For a brief moment, Maddox wondered if he’d died. A dead body couldn’t do anything. That’s why he lay here.
By slow degrees, he realized that if his soul was still inside his body he couldn’t be dead. Therefore, he must be alive. And if that was true, he could open his eyes.
Unless I’m paralyzed.
Is that what had happened? That would explain—
He groaned again as his right eyelid twitched just enough to emit light against the orb. That caused his head to jerk, which in turn made the other eye open. More light poured piercingly in.
Was he in some kind of time trance, seeing the brilliance of the pyramid’s explosion?
That didn’t seem right. The shuttle had plunged into the hyper-spatial tube. He’d escaped the Nexus’s destruction. So if light shined in his eyes—
His eyelids fluttered, and things finally started to come into focus. He viewed a vacc suit’s knees—his own. He moved his eyes, peered farther, spotting a blinking panel in front of him.
I’m in the shuttle. I’m strapped into my seat. I survived. It appears we made it out of the hyper-spatial tube.
With an effort, Maddox sat up; straightened his spine and willed his head to follow. He raised his arms next. They worked. Thus, he wasn’t paralyzed. Breathing in and out, he gathered strength. Finally, he unhooked himself. The straps floated in the air.
They were weightless, meaning the shuttle no longer accelerated or decelerated.
Maddox glanced at the others. Each of them slumped where he’d strapped them in. All the vacc suits looked intact.
A hyper-spatial tube—the shuttle had entered and exited a tube. They were somewhere in the great Beyond. No doubt they were far from the
Xerxes System, far from the Commonwealth of Planets, far from any region of Human Space. Where were they? How far had the shuttle traveled and what had happened to Starship Victory?
Priorities, he realized. Patrol School had taught him to take care of essentials first.
Maddox shoved off his seat, floating to Meta. Her suit indicators showed that she was alive. It surprised him how visibly less tense he felt because of that. Maybe his feelings for Meta were even stronger than he realized. He set the thought aside, going to each of the crew in turn. Everyone had survived, although none of the others had woken up yet.
That must be due to his stronger constitution.
Returning to his chair, Maddox began a diagnostic of the shuttle. For now, it was their only ship. The tiny vessel seemed to be intact. They had fuel, air, food—
Maddox leaned near Keith, adjusting the piloting board. He retracted the blast shields from in front of the viewing port and turned on the screen. Outside the ship, he spied endless debris and giant rocks.
The captain frowned. Had they doubled back, reappearing in the Xerxes System, in its asteroid field?
Sitting back in his chair, Maddox gathered his resolve. If the shuttle had doubled back…
No. That was ridiculous. He needed to continue doing one thing at a time. Steeling himself, Maddox began a survey of nearby space, analyzing the composition of the largest asteroids.
A half hour later, Maddox turned around as Meta snorted. He heard the sound over his vacc suit’s inner helmet speaker.
“Meta,” he said, using a short-link connection.
“Maddox?” she whispered. “What happened? Where am I? Where’s the Nexus?”
He floated to her, unbuckling her straps, holding her. As gently as possible, he told her what had happened.
“Destroyed?” Meta asked. “The Nexus is destroyed?”
“Yes.”
“Where are we?”
“I don’t have an exact fix. But by triangulating from several known stars, I believe we’ve traveled two thousand light-years from the Xerxes System.”
“That’s insane,” she said in a small voice.
“It appears we moved in the direction of the galactic core. As far as I can tell, we’re still in the Orion Arm.”
She was quiet and still. That was a lot to take in. Finally, she stirred. Maybe she was ready to hear more.
“I haven’t been able to contact Victory,” he said. “Unfortunately, so far I haven’t seen any sign of the starship. That’s not conclusive, though. With all the debris, she could be hiding, or she could be farther than the message has traveled. It’s only been a half hour since I sent the message.”
“I can hear it in your voice. What else is wrong?”
“The star system seems familiar.”
“How is that possible?” she asked. “We’ve never been two thousand light-years from the Xerxes System.”
“I mean the star system’s state seems familiar. I haven’t detected any planets, but there is endless debris and asteroids.”
“What does that mean?”
“It reminds me of Galyan’s star system. Maybe there are no planets because they’ve all been blasted apart.”
Meta moaned. “The alien Destroyer has been here?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I doubt this is the work of the Destroyer. The Builder once told me the Destroyer had been used closer to Human Space.”
“But if the Destroyer didn’t smash the system—the Swarm,” Meta said. “The Swarm invaders blew up Galyan’s planets. Have you spotted any Swarm vessels?”
“I have not,” Maddox said.
“What about Swarm devices?” Meta asked. “Maybe they left mines.”
Maddox released her. “Yes. We need to scan for mines. I’ve been so busy trying to figure out where we are that I haven’t had time—”
“You can’t do everything,” Meta said, interrupting. “That’s why you have a crew. We should wake up the others.”
“Let’s wake up Keith first,” Maddox said. “We’ll hold off on Ludendorff and Shu.”
“Are you sure? We might need their brainpower.”
“I’m sure,” Maddox said.
“Should we recharge our suits with air or should we take them off?”
Maddox wondered if a lingering portion of Shu’s toxin still inhabited his brain. He should have already thought of that. Perhaps the extent of their plight had numbed his thinking. They were all alone out here, far away from anything familiar. They might have lost Victory, their only hope for long-term survival.
“We’ll take off our suits,” Maddox said. “We need efficiency and clear thinking. Staying in our suits only adds to our burdens.”
“I agree,” Meta said, heading for Shu.
***
The Spacer remained asleep, but soon did so wearing her regular garb.
Ludendorff woke up as Maddox took off the Methuselah Man’s vacc suit. The professor was groggy, though. He seemed dazed, unable to form words. Maddox strapped Ludendorff back onto his chair.
Keith came around faster than the others did. “What happened?” the pilot asked.
Maddox told him as the lieutenant began to nod.
“Right, right,” Keith said, “I remember now.”
Soon, the three of them went to work. Keith piloted, mapped the star system and searched for Victory. Meta went throughout the shuttle, exploring for damage and taking stock of their supplies. Maddox checked the gun locker, searched Shu and then Ludendorff. Afterward, he thought through the implications of their situation.
An hour later, they compared notes. Meta said with rationing they could survive several months. The power might last as long, but depended on how much they accelerated and decelerated. Keith said they were two thousand, three hundred and sixteen light-years from Earth. So far, he'd found seven powered mines floating in the system. The mines seemed primitive but huge in terms of megaton size. There were another thirty-eight inert mines. The lieutenant had also spotted two hundred and nineteen hulks.
“Ships?” Maddox asked.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Keith said. “They are burned out shells of ships. You were right, Captain. This is just like the Adok Star System. If I had to guess, I’d say the Swarm has been through here, killing another species. If I were to guess again, I’d say it happened at least a century ago, maybe longer.”
“Your length-of-time estimate is due to the inert mines?” Meta asked.
“Aye,” Keith said.
Maddox ingested the data. Active mines were bad. At least they hadn’t entered a war zone. Still—
Ludendorff groaned before raising a hand, wiping drool from his chin.
“Get me out of here,” the professor said querulously.
“Have you forgotten how to unbuckle?” Maddox asked.
The professor gave him a peevish glance, finally poking at the buckles. A moment later, he clicked them, shedding the straps. He pushed out of the chair to float up to the ceiling.
“Confound it,” Ludendorff said. “Was that on purpose?”
Maddox went to his rescue, pulling Ludendorff down and shoving him into a chair. The professor gripped the armrests, watching them as if they might move.
“What’s wrong with him?” Keith whispered.
“I’m adjusting to the situation,” Ludendorff snapped.
“Adjusting to what?”
“Don’t be impertinent,” Ludendorff said. “My mind is more sensitive than yours. It’s why I’m so brilliant. I respond to stimuli with greater vigor. I see quicker.”
“Then why did the captain revive sooner than Meta?” Keith asked.
“Why don’t you shut up,” Ludendorff said. “Your monkey chatter is giving me a headache. I need time to compose myself. The Nexus—”
Ludendorff looked up at Maddox. “What happened to the Nexus?”
“It exploded,” Maddox said.
Ludendorff frowned severely, finally glancing at Shu. “I doubt it was sabotage on
her part. It seems rather excessive for a Builder.”
“Do you suspect Strand?” Maddox asked.
“I don’t see how he could have done it,” Ludendorff said.
“Perhaps because he knows more about the Nexus than you do,” Maddox said.
“On the face of it, that sounds preposterous,” Ludendorff said. “But perhaps you have a point. I don’t see why he would want to destroy the Nexus, though. It is a priceless artifact.”
Maddox glanced at Meta. She shrugged. The obvious reason would be to try to kill them.
“The Nexus is gone,” the captain told Ludendorff. “Even if it existed, it couldn’t help us now. We’re over two thousand light-years from Earth. We have no idea what happened to Victory, and we’re in a destroyed star system with Swarm mines in evidence.”
“I want to see them,” Ludendorff said excitedly.
“Did you hear me?” Maddox said. “We’ve lost the starship, and we’re stranded deep in the Beyond. Before we study anything, we’d better decide on our priorities.”
“Studying those mines should be our priority,” Ludendorff said. “We need to know if the Swarm came through the system ages ago or more recently. Maybe studying the mines will tell us if the Swarm has a star drive or if they still rely on a NAFAL drive. Perhaps as important, whom did they destroy, and does that species exist in a nearby star system?”
Some of the professor’s excitement bled into Maddox. They had problems, serious ones. But they also had their wits and tools to do something about the situation.
Patrol protocol called for hard work at a time like this. They only had so much time, so they’d better start using it.
***
Four hours later, Maddox helped the professor out of his vacc suit. The Methuselah Man beamed with excitement. He’d just spent the last three quarters of an hour outside the shuttle examining an inert mine.
Keith piloted the shuttle, heading away from the huge warhead. The thing had been as large as a Star Watch strike cruiser.
“Amazing, simply amazing,” the professor said. “It is a genuine Swarm mine. I’ve studied ancient mines like this in the Adok Star System. I have also scoured Swarm ruins on Wolf Prime, having seen schematics like that mine.”
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