The Lost Patrol

by Vaughn Heppner

  Maddox observed superimposed curved lines sweeping around the red giant to a spot hidden from view in Victory’s present position.

  “Dana doesn’t know what the object is,” he said, “just where it is?”

  “Yes, sir,” Valerie said. “She’s requesting probe launches—”

  “Probes won’t work out here,” Maddox said, irritably. “The Chitins will destroy them. She means for us to make another jump, this one within the system.”

  “You’re probably right, sir,” Valerie said. “But at least we know where to go.”

  Maddox nodded slowly. The mystery of the importance of this battle likely lay on the other side of the curvature of the giant star. It appeared, as well, that this thing was near the star’s surface in a relative sense. It would seem to be a Mercury-from-Sun distance from the star’s surface. That surface was a cool 5000 degrees Fahrenheit, a balmy temperature as stars went.

  How near should the starship appear to this unknown thing? If they were too far out, it would put them nearer the military action. Too far in, and it would put them close to the endless Chitin reinforcements.

  “Galyan,” Maddox said. “Do you have a recommendation?”

  The holoimage studied the main screen. “Yes, Captain,” Galyan said. “I would jump to these coordinates.”

  “Just a moment,” Maddox said. He went to his chair and had Valerie call Ludendorff. The professor appeared on the main screen as he worked in a sensor chamber.

  “I’m thinking of making another jump,” Maddox said.

  “Splendid,” Ludendorff said. “It’s what I would do if I commanded a ship like this.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “Where would you jump exactly?”

  “What did Galyan suggest?”

  Maddox told him.

  “Hmm,” Ludendorff said. “That is sound, as far as it goes, but too cautious. You know my take. Go in deep. Get a close look and a recording. Then, jump far out so we can think it through.”

  “If we do that,” Maddox said, “the Chitins will certainly recognize our ability for what it is and react accordingly next time.”

  “Why would that matter?”

  “Being ready for any eventuality and all that,” Maddox said in an offhanded way.

  “I see,” Ludendorff said. “You think you know what’s out there.”

  “In fact,” Maddox said, “I do think that.”

  “Well, my boy, don’t keep me in suspense. What is the prize?”

  Maddox shook his head. “Not yet, Professor, I need to make one more preparation.” He motioned to Valerie.

  The lieutenant cut the connection, staring at him as he headed for the exit.

  “Sir,” Valerie said.

  “Hmmm?” Maddox asked, facing her.

  “What’s hiding around the curvature of the red giant?”

  He gave her an unreadable stare and the faintest smile before heading once more for the exit.

  -53-

  Sergeant Treggason Riker lay in a regular bed in his chamber, with his hands behind his head. His boots were on the floor beside his bed as he wriggled his sock-clad toes.

  Since the surgery to remove the android-fired bullet, he had been on medical leave. The surgeon had done a fine job. The drugs had speeded his recovery in record time. As a bonus, his recuperation had given him time to read.

  He’d paged through endless descriptions of various trees and flowers. In his mind, he selected another tree for up near the mound on the left corner of his property back home. It would need a small bed of flowers to match the new tree’s spring blooms. Yes, that would add to the overall effect of his cottage.

  With that decided, Riker had started reading fictional mysteries. The stories took place in the distant past before space travel. They were quick tales with a solo brash-talking detective quick with his fists. Of lasers, tangle-guns, gravity dampeners there were none. Instead, the people in the stories used gasoline-burning vehicles and often engaged each other with knives or brass knuckles. In a way, the hero detective reminded him of the captain.

  Riker grinned as he set the tablet aside. This was the best adventure he’d had aboard Victory. The bullet had been bad at first. A few days later, the sergeant had realized the advantage of his wound. It left him out of the action.

  Riker’s grin turned into an actual smile. He’d thought he’d long for the action. In fact, it was relaxing to wait in his room and listen to the occasional report. Perhaps it was time to put in for deskwork back on Earth. He’d been a field agent almost his entire life. He could easily imagine the new life. He would get up at seven, drive to work, fill out reports and drive home to fiddle with his plants and go out to dinner with a lady every second week.

  I could get used to that.

  Riker sat up abruptly, frowning at himself. When had he started thinking his life was bad?

  He shook his head. He enjoyed his life, as far as that went. It was just… He was missing something.

  Riker cocked his head. What was he missing? What did he need to make his life good?

  The old sergeant scratched his neck. That was an interesting idea. Maybe he needed more things to do. Maybe for him, lying around thinking too much was a bad idea.

  Riker laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t be an idiot. I finally have a sweet assignment and I’m grumbling about it. That’s silly.”

  He lay back down, picked up the tablet and felt a small moment of enjoyment as he realized he was going to find out who murdered the heiress. Likely, the detective—

  There was a sharp rap at Riker’s hatch.

  The sergeant froze, deciding he wasn’t going to answer. He wanted to finish the story and that was that.

  Another rap sounded.

  Riker muttered under his breath, but stubbornly held to his original conviction. A few moments more passed. He raised the tablet again.

  “Sergeant Riker.”

  Riker yelped in surprise, sitting bolt upright and bug-eyed, finding Galyan staring at him.

  “What do you want?” Riker demanded.

  “The captain is waiting outside your door,” Galyan said. “He wants to know why you aren’t answering.”

  “So he went and fetched you, eh?” Riker asked.

  “That is correct.”

  Riker sighed, tossing the tablet onto the bed. He rose with a grunt, heading for the hatch in his socks. “I knew it couldn’t last,” he said.

  “What could not last?” Galyan asked.

  Instead of answering, Riker pressed a switch so the hatch slid up.

  Maddox stood there, looking impatient. “Hurry along, Sergeant. Grab your stunner and gun. I want you with me. And put on your boots,” he added, taking in Riker’s disheveled appearance with disapproval.

  “I’m on sick leave, sir. I’m recouping from the bullet wound.”

  “Your leave is suspended,” Maddox said. “I’m declaring you fit for duty. I’m going to need you.”

  “Begging your pardon, sir, but need me for what?”

  “If I’m right,” Maddox said, “for combat.”

  “What’s that, sir? Did you say combat?”

  “I imagine that’s the most likely outcome. I want an old salt by my side. This could be our hairiest mission yet. That means I need my best people. In these situations, that’s you, Sergeant.”

  “What’s been happening that you need me, sir?”

  “Quit dithering and get your boots,” Maddox said. “I don’t have any more time to explain. The proverbial excrement has hit the fan, or I imagine it will in another hour or two. If I’m right… Well, never mind. Just get a move on, Sergeant. And start psyching yourself up for a combat situation.”

  -54-

  Maddox stepped into the medical center. He headed for the security area where Shu 15 was kept. An orderly stepped up, blocking his passage.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” the beefy man in hospital greens said. “But the doctor has ordered this place off limits to everyone.”

  Maddox di
dn’t show any surprise or even anger at the intrusion. He simply brushed past the orderly.

  “Sir,” the man said, reaching out.

  Before the orderly could grab the captain, Maddox spun around. He grabbed the hand reaching for him, twisting it so the orderly cried out in pain as he bent sharply forward so Maddox wouldn’t break the wrist.

  “I have my orders, sir,” the orderly wheezed.

  “Stun him,” Maddox told a startled Sergeant Riker.

  “Sir?” Riker asked.

  “Please obey me the first time, Sergeant. We don’t have time for any more delays.”

  Riker reluctantly drew his stunner, put it at the lowest setting and stunned the orderly. The man collapsed onto the floor as Maddox released his hold.

  “If I indicate someone, stun them,” Maddox said over his shoulder.

  “Yes, sir,” Riker muttered.

  The captain moved briskly. He pointed at three more people, all of them succumbing to Riker’s stunner.

  “What’s going on here, sir?” Riker asked, half trotting to keep up with the captain.

  “It strikes me as hypnotism or some form of mind manipulation,” Maddox said.

  “You mean the Spacer is causing this?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said. He almost bumped into the next hatch, which did not rise at his near approach. The captain cleared his throat before raising his voice, “I know you can hear me, Shu. I would like to discuss our coming strategy.”

  Several moments passed.

  The captain inhaled to shout again. Abruptly, the hatch opened.

  “Wait here,” Maddox told Riker. “Incapacitate anyone trying to enter. If your stunner stops working, use your gun and kill them.”

  “Sir?” Riker said, sounding astonished.

  Maddox strode through the entrance, which immediately shut behind him.

  The captain noticed the difference to the large chamber. It no longer seemed like a medical room, but a headquarters or outpost. Several monitoring stations showed various regions of the red giant system. No people sat there. Instead, Shu lay propped up on a medical bed. Her head moved minutely as he approached, letting Maddox know that she saw him.

  “Hello, Surveyor,” Maddox said.

  “Hello, Di-Far,” Shu said.

  “Are you feeling better?”

  “Some,” she said. “Your AI struck me a hard blow. I had no idea he was a mindtech.”

  “I’m unfamiliar with the term.”

  “It’s Spacer lingo,” Shu said. “He, or it, or whatever the AI is, found my feedback link. He sent several harsh pulses and then attempted an adjustment. I’m impressed. He’s a quick study.”

  “He is an AI.”

  “In truth,” Shu said, “he’s more than that. We would call it deification. Much of the AI equipment is higher-level Builder technology. That is odd, to say the least. The last Adoks transferred much of his identity or personality into the AI core. The Adok aspect of Galyan’s personality thwarted me. It would not happen again, though.”

  “You haven’t suborned Galyan to your will?”

  “No,” Shu said.

  “Then why hasn’t Galyan told me about this operation?”

  “I’ve hidden from him by rerouting certain interior sensors. In another week, I imagine, Galyan would discover me. Still, you have moved uncommonly fast. I am impressed with you, Captain. The Visionary correctly named you.”

  “You accept that I’m di-far?”

  “Without a doubt or hesitation,” Shu said. “Humanity is about to launch unto a new path, and that is thanks to you.”

  “A golden pyramid orbits the red giant?” Maddox asked.

  Shu held her breath, finally exhaling as she nodded slowly. “I believe so. However, like you, I won’t know it until we see it.”

  “Does a golden pyramid have the ability to project a hyper-spatial tube?”

  “I suspect we will find out,” Shu said.

  “Why are the Chitins protecting the pyramid?”

  “I don’t know. That aspect of the mission surprises me. I didn’t expect them. I didn’t expect the Swarm for that matter. It makes sense, though, if you think about it.”

  “In what way?” asked Maddox.

  “This is going to sound superstitious, but I don’t mean it that way. You are di-far. Thus, the moment the Visionary included you, it meant we would encounter something momentous. In this instance, that means the Chitin-Swarm War.”

  “You call it that because you’ve known about it all along, or you’ve listened in on our communications?”

  “The latter, of course,” Shu said.

  “Why haven’t the Spacers attempted to reach the golden pyramid on their own?”

  Shu laughed. “But we have, Captain. Our records indicate such attempts on three different occasions. Clearly, the missions never reached the golden pyramid, given that it still exists.”

  “What else could the Chitins be protecting?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “If you had to guess, why would you say the Chitins are protecting the pyramid?”

  “My guess is the Builder in the pyramid originally modified what you call the Chitins. I believe she raised them up into intelligence long before her interment. Thus, I imagine it’s a religious reason. The Chitins, if I were to guess, worship the Builder inside the golden pyramid.”

  “How large do you think the Chitin Empire is?”

  “Until we reached here, I had no idea the Chitins existed. Again, if I were to guess, I’d say the Builder erected a bulwark against the encroaching Swarm Imperium.”

  “You said she.”

  “I did.”

  “You believe this Builder is a female?” Maddox asked.

  “That is what the word she indicates.”

  “Why was the Builder mummified?”

  Shu laughed with an edge. “I imagine Ludendorff told you quite a tale. Mummified indeed. That is how the male Builders think of the females. Ludendorff is an offspring of his dead master, arrogant, boastful and strutting across the stage of life.”

  “No one else has told me about the origin of the Spacers,” Maddox said.

  “Nor will I do so now,” Shu said. “We don’t have time. The Chitins will soon attempt to overwhelm Victory with thousands, perhaps even millions, of missiles.”

  “You can talk to them?”

  “Not as you think,” Shu said. “I am able to tap into their communications. Because of my adaptations, I have a small ability to decipher clump messages. They believe Victory is a Swarm vessel. Thus, they will attack with extreme prejudice and destroy it if they can.”

  “Victory doesn’t act like a Swarm vessel.”

  “Captain, your starship is non-Chitin. I would think that would be good enough for them to want to attack it. You are in their holy star system.”

  “You’ve sensed religious communications among the Chitins?”

  “Yes,” Shu said.

  Maddox detected a slight variation in her voice. He wasn’t sure he believed her last comment.

  “Let’s get down to the meat of the situation,” the captain said. “What are you hoping to achieve here?”

  “I’m surprised you have to ask. It should be obvious by now, especially as you have figured out so much already. I want to revive the Builder. According to our legends, she has slept for an incredibly long time.”

  “Why would that benefit the Commonwealth?” Maddox asked.

  “Not just the Commonwealth,” Shu said. “It would benefit all of humanity. Think about it, Captain. The Swarm are on the move. The male Builder unleashed Commander Thrax Ti Ix on the universe. Think what the Swarm can do with Laumer Drive technology. It will only be a matter of a few decades, at most, before the Swarm reaches Human Space. Look at their numbers out there. Could the Commonwealth defeat this host if the Swarm had jump tech?”

  “I doubt it,” Maddox said.

  “That’s an understatement. The Swarm would swamp humanity.”

  “S
pacers are passive. Your presence here at this time is not a passive act.”

  “You distrust me,” Shu said. “I understand. You have listened to Ludendorff’s slurs against us. He doesn’t know real Spacers. Passive? That is a poor joke. We don’t waste our time on frivolities like the rest of you. How humans love to battle over trinkets.”

  “You’re not human?”

  “I misspoke,” Shu said. “Of course, we’re human. We live in the stellar void instead of on planets, but we come from the same common stock of Earth as you.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Maddox said. “So…you’re suggesting we take the Builder onto Victory?”

  “Exactly,” Shu said.

  “The Chitins would hardly want us to take their goddess-queen.”

  “They will fight mandible and pincer to stop us,” Shu said. “Thus, we should avoid fighting them. That means using the star drive to appear beside the pyramid. I will open the way for us into the golden artifact. We will hurry inside, wake the Builder and guide her onto the starship. You will jump to the appearing hyper-spatial tube, and we will head directly to Earth. Does that sound acceptable to you?”

  Maddox nodded.

  “You still have some reservations about me,” Shu said. “I would like to hear them so I can convince you I mean exactly what I’m saying.”

  “How do we know the Builder is there?”

  Shu only hesitated a fraction of a second. “We don’t know except for the ancient legends. I must point out, Captain, that those legends have proven accurate to date. How do you think the Spacers have all their advanced technology? We have followed the old legends to ancient caches of Builder equipment.”

  “You’re not in communication with the Builder?”

  “I wish I were,” Shu said.

  “Why can’t you reach her?”

  “Distance for one thing,” Shu said. “The other is heavy Chitin interference. It leads me to suspect the Chitins have some idea of what lies in the pyramid. Otherwise, they would not have made such an effort to build jamming stations around it.”

  “How do you know about these jamming stations?”

  “Captain, you’re much too suspicious. I know because I can feel the jammers out there. It’s faint. But given the distance and the interfering red giant, the source would have to be incredibly powerful.”