Maddox’s thoughts moved at lightning speed. They had been for some time. “Are you a Builder?” he asked.
The android smiled cryptically. “Come to my chamber, Captain. I will explain everything there. Until then, you will have to wait for your answers.”
“Where is Professor Ludendorff?” Maddox asked.
“I am he.”
“Ludendorff has always been an android?”
The android blinked, blinked some more and finally stared in a frozen manner.
“You broke him, sir,” Keith said. “You asked him one too many questions.”
“No…” Maddox said, studying the unmoving android. “This is a deception, although I can’t fathom a reason for it.”
For a time, no one spoke.
Valerie kept working her controls. She spun around with anxiety in her eyes. “What are we going to do, sir? We can’t—we can’t go down there. We have to do something to break free.”
“Yes,” Maddox said. “Something is exactly what I plan to do.”
-37-
“Sir,” Valerie said. “You have to let us come.”
“No,” Maddox said. “That’s what the thing wants. Meta, Riker and I will move fast.”
“Keith and I can’t keep up with the sergeant?” Valerie asked.
“I want you to guard the ship,” Maddox said. “That is an order. I plan to find a way to free Victory from this insane confinement. Once we do, I want the ship ready to race away.”
“Galyan couldn’t find a way, sir,” Valerie said. “And he’s ten times smarter than any of us. How are you, on foot, going to do better?”
Maddox recognized her fear. Separating was difficult and waiting was always hard. As captain, he had to bolster his crew’s morale.
“Lieutenant, perhaps you don’t remember the story about a young woman caught in a dire situation. She grew up with nothing in the worst Welfare Island on the North American continent. Instead of admitting defeat, she fought every day of her life, scratching her way to a coveted spot in the Space Academy. I doubt she knew the answer at the beginning of her struggle, but she tried just the same.”
Valerie looked away, soon saying, “I hate when you do that, sir.”
“Noted,” he said.
She nodded. “Do you have any idea how long you’ll be away?”
“No idea,” Maddox said, “although I plan to return within three days.”
The lieutenant regarded him, nodding once more. “Supposing you don’t show up in three days, how long do you want us to stay aboard the ship?”
“A month,” Maddox said.
“You could all be dead by that time.”
“We are Star Watch officers,” Maddox said. “We each have our duties. You are primarily a ship officer. Meta and Riker are hand-to-hand specialists. According to what we saw in the last transmission, there is plant life here. This could be like Loki Prime.”
“Okay,” Valerie said. “But after a month, Keith and I are going to rescue you, sir.”
“That’s good to know.”
“Good luck, sir.”
“Thank you.”
Impulsively, Valerie stepped forward and hugged him. Maddox stiffened, finally patting her on the back. She hugged Meta and Riker afterward. Keith stepped forward, shaking the captain’s hand.
“Good luck, sir,” Keith said.
“To you as well,” Maddox told him, refusing to believe this might be the last time he saw either officer. Somehow, he was going to free his ship and people.
After Keith hugged Meta and shook Riker’s hand, Maddox led the way toward the hangar bay’s outer hatch.
Valerie and Keith retreated into the ship proper.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, sir,” Riker said.
Maddox did too, having prepared the best he could. He, like Meta and Riker, wore an EVA suit with a breather and recyclers. The sphere had air. The recyclers purified it for their use. He also shouldered a Khislack .370 rifle, kept a gun with a suppressor in a holster and carried food, water, survival equipment and extra ammo in a backpack. The helmets used short speakers, so they wouldn’t give anything away to eavesdroppers when they communicated with each other.
Meta and Riker were equally weighed down with suit, supplies and weapons.
The outer bay hatch began to rise, stopping after it was several meters off the deck. Outside was a vast, cavernous hall big enough so Victory could have sailed down it. Almost as surprising, lights shined down from the ceiling.
“This place is crazy,” Meta said.
“You stole my words,” the sergeant said.
“The starship was never built to rest in a one G environment,” Meta added.
Maddox kept his thoughts to himself. The tractor beams had guided the starship into the vast bay. Afterward, gigantic doors had closed. Later, cyclers had pumped an Earthlike atmosphere around the ancient Adok vessel. According to the sensors, one G pulled at the ship’s structure. They were in the Dyson sphere by several hundred meters. Did that mean they were trapped here forever? Why hadn’t the intelligence that ran the sphere pulled in the port admiral’s warships as well?
It was a mystery, one Maddox planned to solve.
Meta attached magnetic clamps to the deck and uncoiled a long rope ladder. She swung her legs over the edge and began to climb down.
“Do you even have a plan?” Riker asked the captain.
“I do,” Maddox said.
“Care to let the rest of us in on it, sir?”
“Not at all,” the captain said. “I plan to defeat the intelligence holding us prisoner.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“No. I envision it giving us reasons for its actions. I will also search for super-weapons to help us in the war against the New Men once we return to Human Space.”
Riker stared at the captain. “Oh, well,” he said weakly, “then by all means, let us begin. I can hardly wait. This is an adventure, is it, sir?”
“No, Sergeant, it is an Intelligence mission, one I aim to win.” With that, Maddox went to the ladder, beginning his descent from the starship onto the Dyson sphere.
***
From the floor, Maddox looked up at Victory, impressed as ever by the ship’s size. The only trouble here was that the sphere made it seem like a flea-carrying vessel.
“Do you notice that?” Meta asked, pointing at the nearest oval section of the ship.
Maddox did indeed. Most of the ancient vessel rested on magnetic holders. Two things impressed him about the holders: that they could carry the starship’s weight and that they seemed to have been designed for this very craft.
“What do the stanchions suggest to you?” Meta asked.
Maddox thought about it. “That whoever pulled us in knows our ship’s specifications.”
The three of them studied the starship and the giant clamps holding the underside of the vessel. The hum of the magnetics was audible from their spot on the hangar’s deck.
“I can’t get a grip on the size of this place,” Meta said. “It’s baffling to me. I don’t understand how anyone could build a sphere around a star, particularly one an AU in radius.”
“It is daunting,” Maddox admitted.
“How long do you think it took them to build it?”
Maddox finally detected the strain in her voice. It was one thing to talk about exploring the sphere, another to be out here at the beginning of the quest in this…vast structure.
He stepped closer, putting an arm around Meta’s shoulder. He squeezed her against him until she turned her helmet to look in his eyes.
“I hope to discover the answer soon,” Maddox said.
Riker cleared his throat. “Am I the only one, or did the rest of you think someone was going to be here to show us the way to Professor Ludendorff?”
“That did seem implied,” Maddox said, as he released Meta.
“How long are we going to wait for them to show up?” Riker asked.
Maddox shook his
head. He wasn’t sure.
“Where would you propose we go if we just went on our own?” Meta asked the sergeant.
Riker pointed into the mammoth hall. “That a way seems wisest. It’s toward the inner surface. I’d like to see what a Dyson sphere looks like on the inside.”
“This…failure of an escort fits with the rest of the star system, at least what we’ve seen so far,” Maddox said. “A lone saucer-ship attacked us after we exited the hyper-spatial tube. Port Admiral Hayes’ flotilla drifted aimlessly near the outer sphere. There is no space traffic here, nothing to suggest a lively community. Instead, the system feels…maybe not deserted, but certainly empty.”
“And old,” Meta said, “as if this was built a long time ago.”
“That’s why no one is here to greet us?” Riker asked.
Maddox pursed his lips, scanning the cavernous chamber. They were less than mice in a house, more like fleas traveling through a giant’s castle. The sheer volume of this hall weighed against his spirit.
It would be better to do something than wilt here at the edge of the Dyson sphere. Action was the cure. So thinking, Maddox slid the Khislack’s carrying strap over his EVA-suited shoulder. “Let’s get started then, shall we. I’ve decided I like your idea, Sergeant. It’s time to see the sphere’s interior surface.”
***
They walked for an hour with lights shining down on them the entire time. The vast hall was empty, devoid of machines or any living beings. They moved along the center in case something, anything, should use an unnoticed hatch to charge them. The longer they traveled, the more it felt as if unknown space gods had built the giant edifice.
Maddox stopped, looking back the way they had come. They had lost sight of Victory some time ago. He scanned all around. This place was like a cathedral built to worship size, hoping to diminish a being’s spirit by showing its insignificance.
“Why haven’t they tried to contact us by comm?” Riker asked.
Maddox shrugged.
“Maybe the better question is why they’ve refused our calls,” Meta said.
“I watched the playback of your conversation with the sphere’s android, sir,” Riker said. “The android seemed eager to speak with you face to face. This…absence seems suspicious.”
Maddox couldn’t see what to do differently, so he began walking again.
Time passed as they traveled. After a while, the monotony made the hall seem timeless, their efforts useless. Nothing ever changed.
“I’ve read about Dyson spheres before,” Meta said. “I always thought the outer layer would be rather thin. This layer strikes me as extremely thick.”
“Isn’t that relative?” Riker asked.
“To what?” Meta asked.
“That we’re tiny compared to the sphere,” the sergeant said. “I imagine an ant thinks my garden back home is enormous. We’re the ants here.”
Maddox slid the rifle’s strap from his shoulder.
Both Meta and Riker noticed. She drew a thick-barreled gun. Riker drew two regulation-sized pistols.
The captain aimed the rifle down the hall, pressing the stock against his shoulder as he peered through the scope.
“What is it, sir?” Riker whispered.
“I see a body,” Maddox said, as he continued to peer through the scope.
“Is it dead or alive?”
“I judge it dead,” Maddox said, “as the pieces are spread on the floor. What’s interesting is that I see wires, struts and resistors.”
“A dead android,” Meta whispered.
“Who destroyed it?” Riker wondered aloud.
“Exactly,” the captain said. “The reason no one met us could be lying out there.” With the scope, he scanned around the scattered pieces and then beyond. Abruptly, he lowered the rifle. “Let us proceed with caution, as it seems there are factions within the sphere willing to fight for their beliefs, one of which is non-communication with us.”
***
Ten minutes later, they neared the scattered pieces. There were wires, struts, rotators, resisters and clots of dark matter on the floor.
Meta knelt by the first dark clot. With a metal pin, she shoved into the substance. “It’s blood,” she said.
Riker took several steps forward, toeing something. “This is hair,” he said, pointing at it with a gun. “Whoever did this loves androids as much as we do.”
“If this was an old kill,” Meta said, “the blood would have crusted a long time ago. This happened recently.”
As before, Maddox slid the rifle off his shoulder, using the scope to scan ahead. He saw nothing else unusual.
“We keep going,” he said.
They left the destroyed android behind, possibly the one who had spoken to them only a short time ago.
Fifteen minutes later, a loud clang sounded from ahead. The floor quivered under their feet.
“That’s wonderful,” Riker said. Before he could say more, alien-sounding squeals caused the sergeant to snap his teeth together.
Meta frowned as she glanced at Maddox.
The captain gripped his rifle.
From ahead came more clangs and squeals and then a loud and long whooshing sound. The squeals became higher-pitched, filled with pain and rage.
“We should retreat back to the ship,” Riker said.
“Go ahead,” Maddox told him, as he began to stride toward the noise.
“Are you crazy, sir?” Riker shouted.
Maddox began to run toward the sounds as they intensified. He wanted to see what was going on around the bend.
-38-
Maddox skidded to a halt. The others raced to catch up. What the captain saw in the distance caused a cold feeling to crawl up his neck. Swiftly, he raised the Khislack and peered through the scope. The sight confirmed his worst fear.
He had seen ancient exoskeletons of Swarm creatures before. Six thousand years ago, the Swarm had attacked Victory in its home system. When he and the others had boarded the starship several years ago, it had been full of crusted slime and well-preserved exoskeletons of Swarm boarders.
The red-colored beasts scampering away from a metal humanoid construct struck him as creatures of the Swarm. They were around the size of a medium-sized dog and had hardened exoskeletons like beetles, but with whippy scorpion tails. They also had braches—legs after a fashion—six of them. Four helped them run. The last two could have acted like pincers.
The metal humanoid thing was huge and heavy, maybe one hundred tons in weight. It had two legs that clanged with each step. A tube sprouted from its chest. The edges of the orifice were blackened with what seemed like soot. As Maddox watched, a long tongue of liquid fire arched from the tube and licked among the fleeing Swarm creatures.
Some curled immediately and began to crisp with wisps of black smoke, giving some idea of the fire’s heat. Others threw back their ugly heads and squealed in agony. Several spun around, charging the metal thing.
Individual rays from the construct’s fists fried the attacking beasts. The stench of the burning creatures finally reached Maddox through his EVA suit. It reeked horribly.
Meta reached him, panting and groaning in complaint at the noisome smell.
“Bugs,” Maddox said.
“What do you mean bugs?” she panted.
“Swarm creatures.”
“Oh no,” she whispered, her eyes becoming wide. “They’re not extinct?”
“Apparently not,” Maddox said, “and they’re on the Dyson sphere with us.”
“At least they have an enemy,” she said.
Riker finally stumbled up with phlegm rattling in his throat “What is that thing out there?”
“An excellent question,” Maddox said. He’d lowered the rifle. Now, he raised it again to look through the scope.
The construct—it appeared to be twice the height of a man—finished slaughtering the red creatures.
“What’s it doing?” Riker said, his voice rising. “Is it headed here?”
“Yes,” Maddox said.
“Is it coming to kill us?” the sergeant asked.
“I imagine we will find out soon enough,” Maddox said. He lowered the rifle.
“We have to run,” an exhausted Riker said.
“Do you have a reasonable destination in mind?” Maddox asked.
Riker stared at him. “Captain, this…” The older man turned toward the construct. “That thing moves bloody fast when it wants to.”
“Let us hope it knows the Ludendorff android welcomed us onto the sphere,” Maddox said. “Otherwise…” The captain watched the approaching construct, feeling the floor vibrate each time one of its metal feet struck the deck.
***
Maddox stood in front of the others as he studied the approaching construct.
It was an alien humanoid design with squatty legs, a long torso and a boxlike head. The sooty flamethrower had retreated into its chest cavity. The thing lacked a neck, although the box-head could rotate back and forth. In place of a face, it had a screen. The screen now activated, and the Ludendorff android from earlier regarded them with the sun still shining behind it.
“I’m glad to see you haven’t come to any harm,” the android said.
“Were those Swarm creatures?” Maddox asked.
“Think of them as vermin,” the android said with a wave of its hand. “It’s more suitable.”
“That fails to answer the question.”
“Come now, Captain,” the android said. “That is a surly attitude. The sweeper saved you from death. You should rejoice.”
“If you hadn’t dragged us into the sphere, we wouldn’t have needed saving,” Maddox said.
“Logically reasoned, but still rather sullen, my boy,” the android said. “This is the revelation of a lifetime. I am willing to give you all the answers you want. Surely, you must recognize the importance of the event.”
“You have suggested before that I will be unable to inform Star Watch about these revelations.”
“Does that matter?”
The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) Page 29