Maddox studied the doctor. What made her so certain? He hoped to find out during her briefing of the Atlantis Project. Thus, he adjourned the meeting without further comment.
-21-
Two jumps after delivering the data packet, Maddox sat in a darkened room with everyone else except for Keith. The ace remained on the bridge. Galyan presently worked in conjunction with Dana as a holoimage began to take shape before the seated crew.
“Behold,” Dana said through speakers, “we are descending deep into the Mid-Atlantic Ocean.”
The holographic display was clear and realistic, almost like being in a deep-diving sub. The squat vessel descended down, down, down into the heavy pressure depths. Sunlight no longer reached this region of the ocean, making everything dark except for the sub’s lights. To add to the effect, metallic groans sounded around them.
In the gloom, Maddox noticed Meta shiver. Perhaps she recalled the submersible in the Greenland Sea.
“This is something we don’t understand yet,” Dana said. “There is no indication this part of the Mid-Atlantic ever possessed land above sea-level. It’s one of the many mysteries concerning the alien base and its Atlantis connection.”
“Aren’t there underwater mountains here?” Valerie asked.
“Certainly,” Dana said. “But they are far too low to have ever reached the surface. This is not a volcanic region like the Hawaiian Islands.”
“What does that mean?” Valerie asked.
“Hot spots that push lava to the surface, forming islands,” Dana answered. “In time, the lava mass shifts off the hot spot. That spot then builds another mountain, which in turn becomes an island. That’s how the Hawaiian chain formed. We have no geologic evidence this ever happened in this area of the Atlantic.”
“Then how could Atlantis have been here?” Valerie asked.
“Precisely,” Dana said. “That’s what many of the Atlantis Project scientists asked.”
The doctor fell silent as the holoimage sub kept descending into the black depths.
Maddox squinted. He could make out a dot of light seemingly far below them.
“That is our destination,” Dana said.
The bottom light grew and the sub slowed its advance. Finally, the light became a dome. It was a kilometer from the surface.
“There are much deeper canyons in the area,” Dana explained. “But this is—was—the area with the most concentrated metal under the ocean floor.”
“Who discovered the concentration of metal?” Maddox asked.
“His name is Dr. Orrin,” Dana said. “He was the world’s leading aqua-archeologist, having studied every underwater structure found on Earth, from Japan, to the Persian Gulf to Malta. He commissioned a deep-sea scan three years ago.”
“Why did he do that?” Maddox asked.
“I don’t know. No one does.”
“Dr. Orrin isn’t part of the Atlantis Project?” the captain asked.
“I imagine he would be if he was alive,” Dana said. “Dr. Orrin died a year ago. It was a foolish and wasteful death. Food poisoning,” she said.
“That doesn’t strike you as suspicious?” Maddox asked.
“It didn’t before this,” Dana admitted. “Now, though…that is odd, isn’t it?”
Once more, the doctor fell silent.
The holographic dome grew so they could see the octagonal cells like a bee’s hive making up the skin of the dome. The squat sub soon shuddered, parking beside the dome. A short tube moved, connecting with the sub’s main hatch.
“We went through the tunnel into the dome,” Dana said. “It was quite unpleasant.”
The holoimage changed. They passed through the short tube, listening to deep groaning all around them. Soon, they entered the dome. It was much like a starship, with small chambers, hatches and thick bulkheads.
“I’ve shown you this part,” Dana said, “to give you an idea of how daunting the environment was down there. The cost to construct the dome proved staggering.”
“Did Star Watch fund the construction?” Valerie asked.
“Let me check my notes,” Dana said.
Maddox twisted in his seat, looking at the doctor seated on a tall stool. Her face glowed with an eerie green color from her tablet.
“Oh,” Dana said. “This is interesting. Octavian Nerva put up half the money for the dome’s construction.”
“Where did the other half come from?” Maddox asked.
Dana clicked her tablet, finally shaking her head. “I’m afraid I don’t have that information.”
“Could the funds have come from Strand?” Meta asked. “I mean the Strand clone that used to work in Nerva Tower.”
“I’m not sure I like the direction of your thought,” Dana said. “I’d like it even less if it proved true.” She sighed. “In any case, the dome lies over the densest area of underground metal.”
The holoimage changed once more. It felt as if they were in an elevator going down. It stopped with a clang, and the room’s temperature got colder.
“It was always cold in this area,” Dana said. “We wore pressurized suits and worked with extreme caution. The first discoveries mandated this.”
On a holographic table appeared a black cube. A force saw cut through it, splitting the cube in half. Blue sizzling lines bubbled in the two halves.
“That’s what happened the first and only time we cut a cube,” Dana said. “All the circuitry in it fused, destroying the connections and whatever information the cube held.”
“Was it a Builder device?” Valerie asked.
“We believe so, particularly because we couldn’t scan into it”
“Why did it fuse?” the lieutenant asked.
“There are as many theories as scientists on the project,” Dana said. “My belief is that the Builders did not wish to infect our culture. The aliens seemed to desire a civilization to produce its own technology at its own pace. If we could technologically leap ahead…centuries possibly, that would corrupt our culture with advanced technology that we wouldn’t be culturally ready to use.”
“What causes you to project such a benevolent behavior on their part?” Maddox asked. “Why couldn’t they have done it out of fear? Maybe they did not want to create a species too powerful to handle?”
“Some of the others believed that,” Dana said with a hint of reproof. “I think the evidence points otherwise.”
“Do you have an example of this evidence?” Maddox asked.
“We’re getting to that,” Dana said. “First, I’d like you to see this.”
The holoimage changed around them. Bulky, suited workers moved through a slanted shaft. They used power drills on rock, chipping deeper. Shafts of light from their helmets crisscrossed through particles of dust. Then, after what seemed like speeded time, the workers broke into a chamber through the ceiling. The shafts of light speared down on cubes of various sizes. Beside them were tubes. Inside the tubes were frozen people.
A shock at the base of Maddox’s skull caused him to frown and rub the spot.
“Were those captives?” Riker asked.
“We don’t think so,” Dana said. “We opened three tubes and took tissue samples from the frozen individuals. Each person was six thousand years old.”
“The same as Victory,” Maddox said.
“Yes,” Dana said.
“What time period would that have put the people?”
“Pre-dynastic Egypt,” Dana said.
“What does that mean exactly?” Maddox asked. “I’m not that familiar with ancient Earth history.”
“That would be before anyone built pyramids or the sphinx. I think the sphinx might be the most important structure of ancient Egypt.”
“Why is that?” Valerie asked.
“Because of this,” Dana said. As part of the holographic display, they entered another chamber. This one contained five metal sphinxes, each of them larger than a big African lion.
“Are these statues of Builders?�
�� Maddox asked.
“Some of the scientists think so,” Dana said. “I’m inclined to think not.”
“They don’t appear to be mechanical people or cybernetic organisms,” Maddox said critically. “Galyan.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Do the sphinxes seem familiar to you?”
“No, Captain,” Galyan said. “But I never saw the mechanical people who helped the Adoks or spoke to anyone who had.”
“Doctor,” the captain said. “Did you look at the sphinxes’ paws?”
“Oh, we did,” Dana said. “They were not like a cat’s paws put more like a baboon’s, which would seemingly give them the benefit of human-like hands.”
“So…” the captain said, “the Builders left statues of sphinxes and held humans in tubes. I don’t see why you think they were strictly peaceful. Furthermore, I don’t know how you conclusively call this a Builder structure.”
“You haven’t seen the most interesting thing yet,” Dana said. “You’ve looked at a few chambers. You haven’t seen what the outer structure looks like. I’ll give you a cutaway of the entire building.”
The holoimage shrank until it was clear that the structure under the seafloor was a giant metal pyramid.
That caused a second slight shock at the base of the captain’s skull.
“Was it a Nexus?” Valerie asked.
“I’ve wondered that,” Dana said. “We planned to go deeper, but our digging units always cut out after this point.”
“In what way did they ‘cut out’?” the captain asked.
“We’re not sure,” Dana said. “It seems something deeper inside the pyramid sucked out the energy.”
“Lasers positioned higher up might have beamed deeper,” Maddox said.
“You can’t be serious,” the doctor said. “You would use lasers against such a fantastic archeological discovery?”
“Yes. I would laser down into an alien base on Earth, one that kept humans in tubes like butterflies. I would not hesitate to do so.”
“Which shows that you’re a soldier at heart,” Dana said, “not a scientist with a yearning to know why.”
“You may be right,” Maddox said. “Is there more?”
“Isn’t this enough?”
Maddox found that an odd comment coming from the doctor. Her curiosity was usually insatiable.
“How did you conclude this was a Builder structure and that they were peaceful?” Maddox asked. “The last aspect, in particular, has eluded me.”
“I’ll answer the last question first,” Dana said. “Think of what you’re seeing. The Builders were on Earth six thousand years ago. They did not subjugate humanity. Instead, they held a few people in tubes. There is reason to believe the tubes were some type of advanced medical equipment. That would mean they were not holding those people against their will, but trying to save them. In answer to your first question, the pyramidal shape implies Builders, as well as the age of the humans in the tubes.”
“I agree that the Builders did not appear to be aggressive,” Maddox said. “They seemed to have left humanity alone, at least the vast majority of people. Yet, I fail to see the evidence of utter peacefulness. Could it be this is what you wish to see, Doctor?”
“Nonsense,” Dana said in a brittle tone. “I am well known for my objectivity. I do not appreciate your slander.”
Maddox pursed his lips, nodding after a moment.
As the briefing ended, the captain rubbed his neck, recalling the two shocks. Something was off here. He needed to think, to ponder the last few days and find the connective to his growing unease.
-22-
Two jumps later, Maddox stood in a vast, nearly empty room, speed drawing his pistol, firing at a distant object. The kicks against his hand aided his thinking. He continued like an automaton, drawing faster and faster, his aim becoming uncanny.
“Maddox!” someone said, sharply.
The captain halted his descending hand a centimeter before it would have grasped the gun butt. He turned in a languid manner, although the narrowness of his eyes belied his seeming easy way.
Meta eyed him with concern. She wore a formfitting one-piece accentuating her voluptuous figure. Normally, this might have caused one corner of Maddox’s mouth to quirk upward. Instead, he regarded her dispassionately.
“I shouted your name three times before you finally acknowledged me,” she complained.
Maddox said nothing.
Her concern visibly grew. “Are you well?”
He nodded.
“What’s wrong?”
“Yes,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to deduce.”
Meta blinked several times before she appeared to understand him. “Oh. Is it Dana?”
“Do you care to elaborate on that?”
Meta glanced at her hands. She clasped them, kneading her intertwined fingers. “It’s small things, well, maybe not that small. So far, she hasn’t talked to me about old times. We usually do that after being apart.”
Dana and Meta had spent hard years together on Loki Prime, surviving against some of worst people in the Commonwealth. It had forged a bond between them.
“She’s barely given me a nod, in fact,” Meta added. “I tried talking to her yesterday in the cafeteria. She smiled absently and listened to what I had to say. Once she finished her coffee, though, she excused herself, saying she had work to do.”
“What kind of work?”
“That’s what I asked. She became secretive. I’ve seen her that way with others, but never with me. I don’t know. I’d like to say she’s worried about Ludendorff. But…”
“Her interest in the professor seems staged?” Maddox asked.
“Yes!” Meta said. “You’ve noticed too?”
Maddox took his time answering. “It dawned on me during the briefing, certain items that refused to mesh. And the enemy beam attack on Galyan—” The captain shook his head.
“What does the beam attack have to do with Dana?”
“After the attack, Dana came out of the AI core,” Maddox said. “There were scratches on her hands. What caused the scratches?”
“You think Dana had something to do with the missile attack?”
“That strikes you as wrong?” Maddox asked.
“Dead wrong,” Meta said, with heat. “You make it sound as if she’s working against us. The first voyage that was true. I’m surprised you can doubt her now. Hasn’t she proved herself many times over?”
“She has,” Maddox admitted.
“Then…how can you suspect her?”
Maddox smiled faintly.
“Did I say something stupid?”
“No,” he said, coming closer, pulling her hands apart, intertwining his fingers with hers.
Meta searched his eyes. He embraced her, kissing her softly. After a time, she pulled away.
“What was that for?” she asked. “Not that I don’t like it. But you were so remote just a moment ago.”
“I decided to take a moment and remember my humanity. Your…garment helped in that regard.”
“Do you like it?” she asked, posing for him.
“Very much,” he said.
“Good,” she said, pressing against him, kissing him again. “That’s for noticing. Sometimes, you’re too busy thinking to notice what you should.”
“Hmmm,” he said.
“Let me ask you again, how can you suspect Dana?”
Maddox released Meta, taking several steps toward the target. He paused, and it seemed he might draw and fire again. Instead, his shoulders relaxed and he faced his Rouen Colony woman.
“Do you remember how Dana hypnotized you last voyage?”
“Of course,” Meta said. “She helped me remember what happened on the star cruiser in Wolf Prime orbit. Strand used a machine on my mind. He…” Meta’s eyes widened. “Do you think someone has tampered with Dana’s mind?”
“That would be the easiest explanation to the missile assault. In particula
r, how they knew where we were.”
“You’re suggesting Dana is a traitor?”
“Not intentionally,” Maddox said. “Still, I’ve come to believe it would be extremely difficult to target Victory with weapons-firing portals. And this beam that asks a question in order to thought-loop Galyan—I cannot accept it. Instead, I think we have a similar situation as last voyage, except that this time it is the doctor who may have altered the AI. I also find no concrete evidence to conclude the Builders are entirely peaceful. If there are any thought-loops, they appear to be in the doctor’s mind.”
“If you’re right,” Meta said, “that would explain why she hasn’t acted normally to me.”
Maddox nodded.
“What do we do?”
“Precisely nothing,” Dana said. The doctor stepped into the chamber with a laser pistol aimed at Maddox.
Meta whirled around. “Dana, don’t! Don’t shoot the captain.”
“I have no intention of shooting him provided he cooperates,” Dana said, her gaze locked onto Maddox. “Move with extreme slowness, Captain, and unbuckle your gun-belt. Meta’s life depends on it.”
“What?” Meta asked. “You’d shoot me?”
“Only as a last resort,” Dana said.
“But we-we’re friends,” Meta said. “Don’t you remember Loki Prime?”
“Shut-up,” Dana said.
A third shock at the base of Maddox’s skull must have struck a thought loose. The captain believed he understood what was going on. It was simple, direct and oh-so obvious now. Yes, and it meant he must act at once.
“I am ice,” Maddox said.
Meta stared at him in surprise and then understanding. “No, Maddox!” she shouted. “Don’t do it.”
Dana glanced at Meta.
Maddox drew his pistol with lightning speed. He fired three times, each slug shattering Dana’s face. That proved it was not actually Dana but an android. The thing had amazing reflexes of its own. The laser pistol beamed, shooting an intense ray that burned between the captain’s left pectoral and shoulder.
Horrible agony struck Maddox. His gun clattered onto the deck. He staggered backward as waves of pain slammed home, threating to make him vomit and fall unconscious.
The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) Page 18