The Lost Starship

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Ah,” Maddox said. Then he hurried for the corridor.

  ***

  Maddox didn’t bother knocking. He simply opened the hatch and stepped through.

  Doctor Rich sat up in bed, scanning a reader. She gave him a bored look then went back to reading.

  He closed the hatch and locked it. Meta had tried to enter once when he’d done something like this before. He didn’t want that happening again.

  Maddox pulled up a chair, sat down and began to wait. After fifteen minutes, he realized Dana Rich would never speak first. Part of him wanted to get up and leave.

  Don’t be absurd, he told himself. Winning a stubbornness contest with the doctor means nothing. Gaining the alien sentinel to defeat the New Men is the only measurement of victory.

  “I have news,” he said.

  He saw the fingers holding the reader tighten slightly. Slowly, she lowered the device to her lap. Maddox had the feeling she’d been waiting anxiously for him to talk. Maybe it had been hard on her to outwait him. If he’d stalled just a little longer…

  “I’m reading an interesting chapter,” she said. “So I hope you can get to the point and leave me in peace.”

  She’s bluffing. She must desperately want to talk. Even a tough bird like her will crack over time. She’s smart, but she’s not immune to the same defects and needs we all possess.

  “Of course,” he said. “I’ll be brief. A star cruiser had taken up the chase.”

  “You mean one of the New Men’s special cruisers?” she asked.

  “Precisely,” Maddox said.

  “And you’ve rushed to tell me this for what reason?”

  “I would have thought it obvious.”

  “My wits have atrophied since you’ve locked me in,” Dana said. “Why don’t you explain the reason to me?”

  “It’s simple enough. The destroyer lost our trail. Now one of the star cruisers has taken up the slack. Possibly, it indicates the New Men’s starship has always been there.”

  “Hmm, possibly,” Dana agreed.

  “There might be more star cruisers.”

  “I wouldn’t doubt it,” she said.

  “I believe that proves the New Men’s agents in Star Watch have divined our objective or known it for quite some time.”

  “I’m still not following you,” Dana said. “Why tell me any of this?”

  “Don’t you see? The New Men must believe that our objective is possible. If it were impossible, why use important cruisers to trail a scout?”

  With her brow furrowed, Dana glanced back down at her reader. A smile worked its way onto her mouth as she looked back up. “I can see how you reached your conclusion. That they’re following us doesn’t make the impossible any more feasible. Instead, it proves the New Men are less a menace than you’ve painted them.”

  “Why is that?” Maddox asked.

  “The sentinel is beyond anyone. So, the New Men are as capable as we are of making misjudgments.”

  “What if you’re wrong about this?” he asked.

  “I’m not wrong,” Dana said. “Remember, I’ve been to the alien system. You haven’t, and neither have the New Men.”

  Maddox watched her. Did she really believe what she said, or was she angling for something he couldn’t see yet?

  “Even if you’re right,” he said, “the New Men are closing in on us.”

  “Then you must outfox them, Captain. That means you should leave me in peace while you do your job. Please, go. Your insistence wearies me.”

  Nodding slowly, Maddox dared to asked, “What happened to you, Doctor? Why are you so bitter?”

  “Do you jest?” she asked. “Isn’t it obvious that my bitterness, as you put it, is caused by the powers that spurned my efforts and dropped me onto Loki Prime?”

  “One of those powers also rescued you.”

  Her dark features hardened. “Go away, Captain Maddox. Your presence annoys me.”

  Reluctantly, he stood. He wanted to know the right words to unlock her heart. It seemed frozen on some bitter memory, some slight she refused to forget. Seeking those words, his mouth moved and his right arm rose as he made a forlorn gesture. Finally, silently admitting defeat once more, Captain Maddox retreated from her quarters.

  ***

  By a combination of luck and hard work, the Geronimo easily beat the star cruiser to the tramline. Pushing the scout to its limit, they made five jumps in quick succession. They hopped from system to system. On the third jump, they raced away from Nemesis System frigates. The ships demanded identification, launching missiles after the scout refused all requests. Using an unstable wormhole, Geronimo barely slipped away. It saved them from the missiles, and it seemed to lengthen their lead over their adversaries.

  Meta and Valerie worked overtime on the struggling engine. Keith helped them, and Sergeant Riker spelled the other two in order to keep an eye on an unflagging Meta. The Rouen Colony woman kept the scout running more than any other two of them combined.

  All too often, Maddox sat hunched in his quarters, rereading the professor’s notes over and over. Even when his eyelids drooped, he forced himself to read, to think, to read some more.

  The captain shuddered and awoke with a yell. Sweat slicked his face, and his heart pounded. He could only remember pieces of the dream, but it horrified him—a woman on the run had carried him in her womb.

  “Mother?” he whispered.

  Maddox squeezed his eyes shut. He’d never known his real mother, or his father, for that matter. Who had they been? What kind of people exactly? Would they have been proud of what he was trying to do, or would they have laughed at him?

  My father—

  Maddox’s head snapped upright. His eyes shined. He grabbed the professor’s notes and began to read for what felt like the one hundred and first time. What if “sun” meant “comet” and “asteroid” meant “star system?” That would mean— He jumped to his feet and turned on the computer. With the notes in one hand, he tapped in the coordinates on the computer and finally deciphered Ludendorff’s record of his visit to the alien star system. An hour later, Maddox had a chart leading into the Beyond. The departure point would be the Nine Whiskey Star System.

  He pulled up a star chart and found they were four jumps from there. Afterward, he slumped in his chair with his gaze blurred. Could this be it? Had he truly broken the code that would bring them to the most legendarily haunted region in space?

  There’s only one way to find out. He downloaded the information, sending it to Valerie’s computer in the control room. Then he hurried there to tell them the good news.

  ***

  The next three weeks left the crew exhausted as they worked overtime keeping the scout running. Geronimo had left the Oikumene far behind. They ranged deeper and deeper into unknown territory. The Saint Petersburg and the New Men star cruiser had both shown up again, but the Geronimo had managed to shake them off.

  Maddox imagined the New Men spreading a net after each jump the scout made out of their sight. There were only so many routes to choose from. Each enemy starship must head for a different point. Then, the enemy used their sensors in each newly-entered star system to search for the Geronimo.

  How are they coordinating the moves between ships in different star systems? That’s what baffled Maddox. The only method he knew was actually sending other ships as messengers. Whatever the New Men were doing, though, was working.

  “Do you think they’re letting us run ahead of them on purpose,” Lieutenant Noonan asked one day.

  “Maybe,” Maddox admitted.

  They sat in the galley, Meta, Valerie and him eating freeze-dried pork chops. The favorite meals were vanishing from the menu selections. Soon, only the skipped meals would remain. After those vanished, there wouldn’t be anything left to eat but dried fruit and nuts.

  Maddox cut his pork chop, popping a piece of meat into his mouth, chewing. It lacked salt. He picked up a shaker and added granules.

  “That’
s no good for you,” Meta said.

  “You like your meat without salt?” Maddox asked.

  “I’m not like you,” she said. “You eat for pleasure. I eat to sustain myself.”

  Maddox indicated himself. “Do I look as if I eat for pleasure?”

  Her gaze flickered over him. “I’ve wanted to ask you this for a while,” she said. “Why are you so thin?”

  “Lean,” he said. “I’m not thin but lean.”

  Meta bristled. “Are you saying I’m fat?”

  After examining the full-figured woman in her rating uniform, Maddox shook his head. “Not fat at all,” he said. “I’d call you pleasing, easy on the eyes.”

  Meta blushed at this uncharacteristic remark.

  Lieutenant Noonan noticed and frowned at Maddox. “Captain, please, we’re eating.”

  As if nothing had happened, he cut another slice of pork chop, chewing in silence.

  “I want to get back to my point,” Valerie said. “If we’re leading the New Men to the alien star system, maybe we should turn back and try again later. If the enemy gains the sentinel, the New Men will become even more invincible than before.”

  Maddox raised his head. He stood, took his plastic dish and paused long enough to tell Valerie, “That’s a brilliant idea, Lieutenant.”

  “What did I say?”

  “I’ll tell you later if it works.”

  With that, Maddox hurried from the galley, gulping down the rest of his pork chop. He tossed the plastic into a disposal unit. After washing his hands, he stopped before Dana Rich’s hatch. Should he just barge right in?

  Instead of doing so, he rapped his knuckles against metal. There had to be a better way to do this. This was a starship, for Heaven’s sake. Knocking on metal didn’t make much sense.

  “Who is it?” Dana asked in a muffled voice.

  “Captain Maddox,” he said.

  After a short pause, she said, “Go away.”

  He turned the wheel, opened the hatch and failed to spy the doctor.

  “Do I have to gas your room?” he asked.

  “No,” she said, from the wall beside the hatch. She moved toward her bed, becoming visible, tossing a lamp so it hit her sheets.

  She’d been hidden from sight, ready to whack him over the head as he entered her quarters. Warily, Maddox stepped within.

  Dana thumped down upon her bed. He pulled up a chair, sitting down.

  “I’m weary of our arrangement,” she said. “I’m going stir crazy. In the name of decency, you must change the situation.”

  “I have a proposal to make,” Maddox told her.

  “I won’t join you in your mad venture. That hasn’t changed.”

  “You know we’re nearing the alien star system right? I cracked the professor’s encryption some time ago.”

  “So you say,” Dana told him. “When we’re there, you can let me know. Oh, how about this, just before we jump into said system, tell me.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Look, this is…” He squinted at her. “Why did you ask me to tell you just before we get there?”

  “No particular reason,” she said offhandedly.

  “You’re—” He was going to say, “lying,” but decided on greater tact. “I’ll keep your request in mind,” he finished.

  She nodded indifferently. “What’s your proposal then?”

  “The New Men are following us. Whether they mean to capture the sentinel, I don’t know. Let us suppose you’re right: no one can board the alien vessel. Okay. We’ll use the sentinel to set up an ambush.”

  “Meaning what?” she asked.

  “We’ll lead the New Men to the alien starship. It’s automated, you say.”

  “Correct,” agreed Dana.

  “Fine,” he said. “We lead them there and it destroys the hunters for us.”

  “How does that help us?” she asked.

  “That should be easy to understand. They’re following us, and I don’t think they’ll quit until they have us. This stops them, and it gets rid of one or more of their elite star cruisers. Afterward, we’re free to return home. You get your pardon and I have the honor of destroying however many enemy cruisers the sentinel annihilates.”

  Dana studied him, and finally, she laughed. “Nice try, Captain. I almost believed you.”

  “Well, whether you believe me or not that’s my plan as of now. We’re almost to the second-to-last star system.”

  Doctor Dana Rich expelled a lungful of air. “Are you serious?” she asked. “You’ve actually taken us that far into the Beyond?”

  “Correct. Now, what do you want to tell me?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.

  Maddox sat perfectly still. Scout duty was hard work. The ship was too small and they’d rubbed elbows too long. Normal Patrol scout crews were carefully chosen for their abilities to get along and to handle the cramped quarters for extended periods. Maddox doubted any of them were constitutionally suited for the small craft. Thus, he forced himself to sit quietly as he studied the doctor anew, instead of jumping up and pacing.

  He envisioned Dana Rich, as she’d been the first few days after she awoke. Since then, the woman had become tenser. More than that, she seemed frightened. But because of her pride, she tried to hide it.

  “Fine,” he said abruptly, standing. “If you have nothing else to say—” He started for the hatch.

  “Wait,” she whispered.

  Maddox turned around.

  Doctor Rich stared at her hands. She breathed heavily, causing her breasts to rise and fall rapidly. She was older than either Valerie or Meta, but she was beautiful in an exotic way.

  She raised her head, and a tic twitched under her right eye. “You’re a monomaniac, Captain. I can’t believe you’ve brought us so far out into the Beyond. The dangers out there…” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. This next jump, well, the one into the alien system, must be done exactly how I say. If you don’t do it like that, we’ll die.”

  “Why is that?” Maddox asked.

  “Does the scout have a deflector shield?”

  “You know it doesn’t,” he said.

  “Then the minute you exit the jump point into the alien star system, you and everyone else aboard the Geronimo dies.”

  “Because the sentinel will attack us?” asked Maddox.

  “Not at all,” Dana said. “The alien star system will do the killing.”

  “Can you elaborate?”

  Once more, the doctor stared at her hands and began to speak in a low voice. The reason shocked Maddox. Without the good doctor’s insight—if she were right—the alien system would indeed destroy the scout. The question had changed, then. Did they have enough time to get ready to enter the alien system the doctor’s way before the star cruiser or the destroyer found and annihilated them?

  -27-

  The star patterns had changed drastically since Maddox had begun the mission on Earth over three months ago. In a straight line, they were well over three hundred light-years from the Solar System.

  The scout had entered this system at high velocity and accelerated. Now, several days later, they approached the other end, decelerating for some time already.

  The system possessed an A spectral class star. That made it a bluish-white furnace with a mean surface temperature of 8000 K. Three terrestrial planets made up the inner system, each about twice the size of Earth. The first two had molten surfaces like Mercury. The last resembled a giant dust-blown Mars.

  The lone outer system planet—the one they approached—was unique, at least as seen during their travels. It was a brown dwarf with twenty-one times Jupiter’s mass, making it gargantuan. The dwarf was a substellar object, meaning that despite its size, it lacked the mass to sustain hydrogen-1 fusion reactions in its core. Instead, the planet fused deuterium in the center. This was a T spectral type dwarf and was magenta to the eye rather than brown.

  The massive planet was over four billion ki
lometers from the star, the reason for the longer travel time. The dwarf had moons, the largest similar in size to Saturn’s Titan. The T dwarf also possessed highly elliptical orbiting comets, which thickened in the region near an unstable wormhole.

  This system possessed two Laumer-Points: the one they’d entered near the third planet in the inner range and the one they approached out in the comet field.

  “I’m still not picking anything up yet,” Valerie said. She sat at her station, engaging all the ship’s sensors. She had been targeting comets since exiting the Laumer-Point.

  “It has to be out there,” Maddox said. “The doctor told me so.”

  Valerie muttered under her breath. After days of fruitless searching, it seemed she’d reached her limit. She straightened and swiveled around.

  “Ensign,” she said, “Could you give us a moment.”

  Keith sat at the pilot controls. He glanced from her to Maddox. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Valerie asked him.

  “Have you seen the menu choices lately?” Keith asked. “If I’d tried to serve that stuff in my bar, the patrons would have stoned me.”

  “Ensign!” she said.

  Keith sat back, and it seemed he was about to go into his Scottish routine.

  “Go head,” Maddox told him. “Grab some chow. Give us a few minutes.”

  “Aye-aye, Captain, sir,” Keith said. He marched out of the control room, banging the hatch louder than usual behind him.

  The moment the hatch closed, Valerie said, “Permission to speak—”

  “Yes, yes,” Maddox said, with a wave of his hand. She was obviously strained, and so was he. “Please tell me what’s troubling you.”

  “Sir, meaning no disrespect… Is it possible Doctor Rich lied to you?”

  “The thought has crossed my mind,” Maddox admitted.

  “This may be her attempt—”

  A beep sounded from her board, interrupting Valerie’s speech.

  Maddox’s stomach tightened. He knew what the sound meant. For weeks, this had happened with increasing regularity.

  “It’s Saint Petersburg,” Valerie said, studying her panel. As she spoke, the lieutenant engaged the cloaking device. A loud thrum told them all they needed to know about the device’s condition. “We can’t keep this up much longer, sir.”