The Lost Patrol

by Vaughn Heppner

  “You want a miracle from me?” Valerie asked in disbelief.

  “No,” Galyan said. “I am suggesting you use the captain’s modus operandi.”

  “I still don’t get what you’re—”

  “Valerie,” the holoimage interrupted. “If you use the captain’s methods maybe you will achieve one of his miraculous outcomes.”

  “Fine! So how do I do that?”

  “Think outside the rectangle,” Galyan said.

  “Oh. Right. Think outside the box. That’s a good idea, Galyan.” Valerie stared at the closing enemy vessels. She willed herself to think differently. She always went by the book in these situations. Maddox often tried to do the unexpected. How could she surprise the Chitins?

  Using the handkerchief, she blotted her glowing forehead yet again. This was harder than it seemed. How did one go about—?

  Valerie snapped her fingers. Maybe she was doing this the wrong way. Maybe it would be better to try to think like the enemy. What did the Chitins want?

  Valerie watched Smith-Fowler destroy yet another Chitin vessel. The ants protected the star system from the Swarm. Yes, but she needed to be more specific. The Chitins were trying to protect the golden pyramid. That meant—

  “I know what to do!” Valerie shouted. “Gentlemen, stop firing at the Chitins. Turn your weapons on the pyramid and begin firing on it.”

  Lieutenant Smith-Fowler glanced at her for several seconds. Finally, with a fatalistic shrug, he obeyed her orders.

  “What is your purpose?” Galyan asked. “If you destroy the Nexus, you will destroy our ability to make a hyper-spatial tube. Your tactic defeats our purpose.”

  “Would you say this to the captain if he ordered it?”

  “That is different, Valerie. We know the captain always has a plan.”

  “How do you know I don’t?” she asked.

  “Because your personality profile shows—”

  “Didn’t you just tell me to think outside the rectangle?” Valerie demanded. “Didn’t you tell me before to behave like the captain?”

  “I did.”

  “That’s what I’m doing. Maybe the Chitins will slow down in confusion once they see what we’re doing.”

  “There is a hint of logic to your decision,” Galyan said. “I am impressed.”

  A brief smile stretched Valerie’s lips. Then, she concentrated on the outcome.

  Targeted by Smith-Fowler, the disrupter beams lashed out at the Nexus.

  For several seconds, no one spoke. Then:

  “Warning,” Galyan said. “The Chitin warships are no longer decelerating. They are accelerating for us. It would appear they are more determined than ever to reach us in order to stop our destruction of their beloved shrine.”

  Valerie quailed inside. Instead of making the enemy back off in confusion, she’d stirred up a hornet’s nest by trying to do this like Captain Maddox. She’d made things worse. What should she do now? What was the right action?

  I can’t be the captain. I can only be Valerie Noonan from Detroit. What did the streets of Detroit teach me?

  “Gentlemen,” Valerie said, with a little more authority to her voice than earlier. “You will retarget the enemy vessels. We will keep destroying their ships until the last possible moment. Then, we will use the star drive to escape.”

  “What about the captain and the rest of the team?” Galyan asked.

  “We’ll do the best we can for them,” Valerie said. “I owe the captain that. Then, Driving Force, I will have to follow my duty to Star Watch and begin the voyage home.”

  Galyan stared at her. Finally, he said, “You are the acting captain, Valerie. We will follow your commands.”

  Lieutenant Noonan nodded curtly, wanting to say, “Thank you,” but decided that was the wrong thing to do right now. In Detroit, she had fought as long as she could. Then, she ran away for another day. She would do that here and hope for the best.

  -70-

  “The alien is watching us,” Maddox said.

  Beside him, Keith nodded.

  They kept track of the creature. She hovered out there, but didn’t swoop or even radiate fear at them. Something about that troubled the captain. He couldn’t pinpoint why, but a nagging doubt had grown.

  “Danger,” the android said.

  “What was that?” Ludendorff asked Yen Cho. When the android didn’t answer, the professor repeated the question.

  Yen Cho swiveled his head to look at the Methuselah Man “Is something wrong?” the android asked.

  “Yes, you said ‘danger,’” Ludendorff said.

  “I do not recall saying that.”

  Maddox was intrigued enough to glance at the android. Yen Cho was still hooked into the ancient machine, accepting a vast “gulp” download of data.

  “If I said that,” Yen Cho explained, “I no longer know why. Perhaps some of the incoming data alerted me.”

  “Yes, yes,” Ludendorff said. “That seems obvious. You must access the data and tell us why you warned us.”

  “I cannot access the data now,” Yen Cho said. “I am ‘gulping’ prodigious amounts of information and am unable to process any of it at an individual level. Perhaps we can do so later on the starship.”

  “Oh-oh,” Shu said. The Spacer had been standing still as if at attention, a sign she used her Builder adaptations. “We have another problem. The Chitins have accelerated their attack upon our starship. It appears they plan to smash against Victory. Unless we head back to the starship at once, we will never leave this star system.”

  “I am switching to the hyper-spatial program,” Ludendorff said, “and shutting down the data retrieval.”

  “Do you have all the data you desire?” Yen Cho asked.

  “I just implied we don’t,” Ludendorff said testily. “Now, let me think. Ah. Here’s the program.”

  The Methuselah Man’s fingers blurred across the Builder panel faster than Keith’s did at his hottest moments flying a jumpfighter.

  “Does the creature know what we’re doing?” Maddox quietly asked Shu.

  “I think she does,” the Spacer replied. “I can almost communicate with her, sensing some of her moods. If she would open up, I could talk to her. Unfortunately, something about me deeply repulses her.”

  “She is made for mating,” Ludendorff said as he worked. “I suspect she has no desire to speak to any female.”

  “The ancient female Builder spoke to the Spacers,” Shu said.

  “I wonder if that one only spoke to men,” Ludendorff said. “It would be interesting to know. Ah! There. I did it. A hyper-spatial tube will appear outside the Chitin globular in three point three-two minutes. It will remain there for exactly ten minutes. That gives us and Victory a little over thirteen minutes to enter the vortex.”

  “Then we’re as good as dead,” Shu said. “We have no conceivable method to get onto Victory in time.”

  “I beg to differ,” the professor said. “I have stumbled onto an amazing technology. It operates on similar fold principles as the lieutenant’s destroyed jumpfighter. Instead of needing a vehicle, the new tech takes an individual and sends him through a fold field.”

  “What does that mean in English?” Keith shouted.

  “I’m working on it,” the professor said. “Oh my, I’m afraid the technical specs of this did not make it into the android’s storage area. If I could study—”

  “No!” Maddox said. “Fold us immediately.”

  “Yes, yes, I am setting the coordinates,” Ludendorff said. “If I did not possess a superior intellect and centuries of Builder training, I would never be able to pull this off. You have no idea of the complexity of this operation. It really is a shame I can’t stay and take this machine apart. It is wizardly in its function.”

  The entire time Ludendorff rambled on about his amazing traits and skills and the fold mechanism, he had been manipulating the panel.

  “Captain,” Keith said. “The creature is leaving.”

&
nbsp; Maddox bit his lower lip. He wished she had attacked one more time so they could kill her. Something terrible and ominous had taken place, and he didn’t know what or why. He felt as if they left a terrible menace by leaving the golden pyramid like this.

  “Listen to me carefully,” the professor said loudly. “We will have to run in a moment. I could not bring the folding any closer. We will have to be in exactly the right location. Otherwise, we won’t go home.”

  The professor tapped once more, decisively.

  “Now!” the old man shouted. “Follow me or remain forever behind.”

  The Methuselah Man hopped on his good leg, bumping against Sergeant Riker. Ludendorff clawed an arm around the sergeant, and Riker held him up by sheer strength.

  “That way,” the professor shouted, pointing down a hall. “And move, man. Run!”

  Riker began to run with the professor in tow. They were like two old men running in a three-legged race. It was ungainly and slightly ridiculous, but the two covered ground faster than seemed possible.

  With Maddox and Keith’s help, Meta hoisted the android onto her back. Then, they raced after the professor with Shu behind them.

  The team sprinted down the halls, racing past strange machines and long procreation tables.

  “We’re not going to make it,” Ludendorff shouted. “Run faster.”

  Riker panted. His still-healing gunshot wound hurt. But he lowered his head and charged even faster.

  “Yes, yes,” Ludendorff said. “Do you see that silver pole?”

  “I do,” Riker said raggedly.

  “Bring us to it.”

  The sergeant did. Shu slid to a halt as she grabbed Riker’s torso, making the sergeant grunt. Seconds later, a panting Meta with Maddox and Keith Maker came to a halt.

  “How long is this going to take?” Maddox asked.

  “Shu,” the professor said. “This won’t work if Victory has her shield up. Can you get through to Galyan and tell him to drop the shield?”

  “I…I don’t think so,” Shu said.

  “We’ll die if you don’t,” Ludendorff told her.

  “Why didn’t you say something about this sooner?” Shu asked.

  “It slipped my mind with all the calculations I had to make,” Ludendorff said. “This is your moment, Spacer. It’s all up to you, as I’ve done what I can to save us.”

  Shu 15 turned in the other direction. Then, she froze, letting her Builder adaptations go to work.

  “It’s fuzzy,” Shu whispered shortly. “I feel faint.” She grunted then as if someone had punched her. “What…” she whispered. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

  “Who is she talking to?” Maddox asked.

  “I have no idea,” Ludendorff said. The Methuselah Man checked a chronometer. “We have seventeen second left for her to succeed.”

  “Please,” Shu whispered. “Why won’t you talk to me? We’re your children. We want to know you and help you. We want you to help us.”

  “Is she speaking to the Builder love bot?” Meta asked.

  The others stared at Shu. The Spacer trembled as she raised her arms as if imploring someone. “No. That’s a lie. We’re not your enemy. We don’t belong to the Makers. You made a false assumption just as we once did. Please, for all our sakes, don’t go down that path.”

  Shu cocked her helmet as if she was trying hard to hear what someone said.

  “No, that’s wrong,” Shu said. “Look. If you’ll let me explain—”

  Shu no longer had time to explain—if indeed she spoke to the love bot via her transduction device.

  Darkness appeared as a dot among them. The dot expanded rapidly, encompassing the humans and the android. For a moment, it seemed that each of them tumbled into the darkness. As they fell inward, they disappeared from view. In reality, they also disappeared from the golden pyramid.

  They folded through space, heading toward Starship Victory.

  ***

  “I am sorry, Valerie,” Galyan said. “I am taking matters into my own hands. I think you will thank me later.”

  “No!” Valerie shouted. “The Chitin vessels are about to fire. Don’t do it.”

  “Our shields just went down,” Lieutenant Smith-Fowler said, turning pale.

  “Why, Galyan?” Valerie asked. “Why have you done this to us?”

  “I have tried to tell you the reason,” Galyan said.

  “No, no,” Valerie said. “What you’re suggesting—”

  “There,” Galyan said. “The team has appeared in Cargo Hold Seven. It worked. Shu did speak to me. You must use the star drive, Valerie. You must leave this place immediately. I think the hyper-spatial tube opening has appeared outside the Chitin globular.”

  “Raise the shield,” Valerie shouted at Smith-Fowler.

  “I’m trying,” the weapons officer said, as he tapped his board. “But it’s going to be a few minutes.”

  At that moment, the first Chitin warship reached the required distance. At the front of the teardrop-shaped vessel, a port slid aside. A firing mechanism poked out. The tip glowed.

  “The enemy’s power readings are spiking,” Smith-Fowler shouted.

  A Chitin heavy particle beam shot from the firing mechanism. The beam moved at ninety-nine percent light speed. The coherent ray struck the starship’s hull armor. The Chitin particle beam was unlike others in the past. It smashed through the hull armor, ripping apart metal and special hull ablating. The particle beam was short-ranged but brutal, making up in destructive power what it lacked in long-distance range.

  The particle beam smashed through Victory’s armor, ripping through bulkheads and roaring through decks. It directly struck Ensign Davis Young, killing him instantly. The particle beam destroyed Ensign Young’s damage control station, causing three of his people to hit the deck as debris flew everywhere.

  In seconds, five more Chitin warships reached firing range. The forward ports slid open. On each of the vessels, a firing rod with a glowing tip emerged. Out of each spewed another heavy particle beam. Those five rays also traveled at near-light speed. Each of them smashed against hull armor, ripping into the starship.

  More Star Watch personnel died. Others received massive doses of radiation. The particle beams chewed through bulkheads and obliterated sections of the outer decks.

  On the bridge, Valerie said, “Oh, Galyan, you’ve destroyed us.”

  “I am executing an emergency star drive jump,” Galyan said. “You will see I am right.”

  “There are multiple and serious hull breaches,” Smith-Fowler declared. “The Chitin warships are tearing into us, Lieutenant. The particle beams are devastating. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  As more Chitin warships maneuvered into position, as more ports slid open and more firing mechanisms emerged, the ancient Adok vessel jumped.

  -71-

  Victory appeared outside the Chitin globular and near a swirling silver mass.

  “Go,” Valerie told the pilot. “Accelerate into the wormhole.”

  The pilot tapped her board, shaking her head. “We’ve temporarily lost motive power, Lieutenant. Some of the particle-beam shots went deep, likely damaging propulsion.”

  “We may also be experiencing a sluggish response due to Jump Lag,” Galyan said. “The short but intense particle-beam bombardment may have nullified some of the Kai-Kaus procedures against the machine end of lag.”

  Valerie leaned on an armrest and clicked on the ship’s intercom system. “I want all damage control parties working on possible propulsion ruptures. This is a red alert. Nothing else matters but getting propulsion back online.”

  The lieutenant switched off the intercom, leaning back as fierce determination etched across her face.

  “I am trying to pinpoint the precise locations to repair,” Galyan said.

  Valerie nodded as she stared at the swirling silver mass outside. They were so close to leaving this place but it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t get the sh
ip to move in the right direction. They had some momentum, but they were heading the wrong direction. If they couldn’t reach the hyper-spatial entrance in time, who knew if they would ever go home again? Watching the silver mass slip farther away, the lieutenant hungered to reach the tube.

  Behind them, Chitin missiles that had been launched earlier detected them. They began to swerve in a ragged mass for the starship.

  “Oh Galyan,” Valerie said, “what have you done to us?”

  “I operated on a hunch,” the holoimage said in his defense. “Perhaps that was an error. I thought I was doing the right thing. But maybe only Captain Maddox can make a Maddox gamble and win.”

  Valerie yearned for the captain to return to the bridge to take over. Yet, she also wanted to solve the problem. She wanted to get it right for once, all along the line. What could she do? Saving Victory meant reaching the hyper-spatial tube.

  “How long until the first enemy missile is in detonation range?” Valerie asked.

  “Five minutes and thirteen seconds,” Galyan said.

  “That doesn’t leave us much margin for error.”

  “It is possible the star drive mechanism will be ready by then.”

  “That will save the ship,” Valerie said. “But the hyper-spatial opening won’t stay open forever. Lieutenant,” she asked Smith-Fowler, “are any of the disruptor cannons working yet?”

  “Checking,” he said.

  Valerie unconsciously bit her right index knuckle as her stomach tightened painfully.

  “Cannons one and two are definitely offline,” Smith-Fowler said. “Three…is also offline,” he said looking up. “We’ve been struck by some sort of Jump Lag. Galyan must be right. The deep hull breaches have disrupted the delicate Kai-Kaus mechanical balance.”

  “Galyan,” Valerie asked, “what about the neutron cannon?”

  “I am sad to report it is also offline,” the holoimage said. “If we could—”

  “Stow the thought,” Valerie said. “We have PD cannons. They’re simple devices. Can any of them fire?”

  “That is affirmative,” Galyan said.