“You do, lord. Supremacy Thrax will speak to you now. Please refrain from any more demonstrations.”
“Only if your attack saucers leave the vicinity of my star cruisers and you allow me to speak freely with my crews at all times.”
“It shall be done, lord.”
“Glad to hear it. Thus, as soon as I can confirm—” Drakos’s communicator began to beep. “Just a minute.” He raised the com unit as he lowered the loudspeaker.
“Lord Drakos?” asked Nar Falcon.
“It’s excellent to hear your voice. We shall proceed as planned.”
“Then it—”
“Nar Falcon,” Drakos said sternly, interrupting.
“I’m sorry, lord. Thank you.”
“Say no more. Are the attack saucers leaving?”
“They are.”
“We will proceed. Drakos out.” He lowered the communicator. The chief looked at him eagerly. Drakos nodded.
“The laser batteries are moving aside, and the soldiers around us are retreating,” the chief said.
Drakos allowed himself the barest of smiles. The plan had worked. Nar Falcon had used the Builder Teleportor and sent a naked dominant to an underground reactor each time. The dominant had used his great fighting ability there and managed, no doubt, to gain a weapon. He had then caused a core meltdown and explosion. That had naturally caused his own suicidal death. That meant the mind-conditioning had held to the end. It had also resulted in a reversal of the flotilla’s imminent destruction.
Now, had it caused Thrax to view him as having great powers? If so, the alliance could move forward on the right track. If not, he would have to think of another expedient. Oh, this was quite exciting, living life to the fullest.
“Let’s go,” Drakos told his escort. He needed to match wits one more time and convince Thrax on using the attack saucers the correct way.
-5-
Drakos and his escort halted. The massive corridor had grown smaller, narrower here. It led to a bright area ahead. For just a moment, Drakos wondered if Thrax would order a gas attack.
“Chief?” Drakos asked.
“Nothing, lord,” the chief said, who was looking at a handheld indicator.
The brightness ahead dimmed. Drakos frowned until he spied a bug column approaching. The bugs marched smartly, and each carried a large rifle. At their head was a giant mantis. That one did not carry a rifle. He had no doubt it was Supremacy Thrax.
“Well, well, well,” Drakos said to himself. He imagined this galled Thrax terribly. The bug was risking his royal person. That told him plenty. Thrax wanted the bug queen, wanted her indeed.
“Attention,” Drakos told the chief.
The chief roared at the escort. They all snapped straight, ready for anything, including an attack-and-destroy-everything order. If that happened, each soldier would slap a mask to his face, Drakos among them. Then they would die gloriously in battle like Viking berserkers of old.
Drakos savored the moment. It was pregnant with potential, and it could also bring death. This was the reason a man lived—to attempt mighty deeds. Why else breathe the air, eat and couple with beauties if not to dare greatly?
“The sides,” Drakos quietly asked the chief.
The man directed the flat indicator at the bulkheads on either side of them. The chief looked up, but did so calmly. “I detect sniper lasers, I would call them, likely for aiming weapons.”
“Yes,” Drakos agreed. “That’s a good name for them. It also tells me something. Thrax fears us personally. I’m not sure I like that, for that indicates true reason. Above all things, we are most to be feared.”
The chief grinned, puffing out his chest a little farther.
The bug host continued to march their way. The bugs outnumbered them. Drakos estimated about ten to one. Didn’t Thrax realize that belittled his Swarm creatures? Didn’t Thrax realize that heightened the value of an individual superior? He supposed the bug lord would have different, lesser indicators of what was of true worth. That was funny, because Thrax would be wrong.
Finally, the hybrid Swarm host halted. Thrax stood at their van. Drakos walked out to meet the bug.
The mantis-type creature was just a little taller than he was. Drakos didn’t like that, as the bug would be just a little shorter than Golden Ural, who he hated above all those remaining on the Throne World.
Thrax wore the box translator on his thorax today.
Drakos crossed his arms, watching the other. He wished there was a physical way to tell if Thrax were agitated or not. Maybe the clicking mandibles or pincers were the indication.
“What have you done?” Thrax demanded, and he sounded angry. Maybe he wore a better translator unit this time.
“Supremacy?” asked Drakos, keenly aware that Thrax had addressed him first. As a supplicant, Drakos silently told himself.
“You claim to have destroyed three reactors in my hive, causing thousands of deaths.”
“Firstly, Supremacy, instead of claim, you should say that I did cause the reactor explosions. I directly caused them.”
“Why?” Thrax demanded.
“Supremacy, let us not mince words. You practiced deceit upon my flotilla and threatened our destruction. That was unkind, though I anticipated it. I merely showed you the error of your thinking. If you would destroy us, I would destroy you. I have called that something unique.”
“What?”
“Tit for tat,” Drakos said.
“Do you think that’s humorous?”
“Fitting, Supremacy, almost showing the accuracy of our varied statuses.”
“I do not understand your meaning.”
“No matter,” Drakos said.
“State your meaning clearly.”
“One of us is worth thousands or tens of thousands of you.”
“New Man arrogance,” Thrax said, his pincers clacking more furiously than before. “One word, one motion from me, and you will all die.”
“I understand. One false move from you, and your hive will be terminated, and you with it.”
“How?”
“Do you recall the reactors?” Drakos asked.
“Of course.”
“Tell me how I did it.”
Thrax drew up to his full height, and he raised his pincers even higher. “I do not know how,” he said loudly.
Drakos nodded.
“What does your head gesture mean?” asked Thrax.
“Supremacy, let us stop this. We are allies. We are friends. You tried to teach me a lesson—or perhaps I should say, you planned to murder all of us and steal our star cruisers. You thought we had come to augment your fleet. Instead, you lost a few thousand soldier-workers and have learned just how dangerous twelve star cruisers full of superiors really are. We can annihilate you. Instead, we—meaning me—can grant you immortality. Surely, you wish to grow in strength instead of ceasing to be.”
Thrax eyed him as the bug slowly lowered his great pincers. “I have learned…” The bug lord lowered the pincers all the way to his sides. “We are friends. We are allies. Let us work together as you suggest.”
“Yes.”
“Let us seal that with knowledge. How can our hive gain a subservient queen?”
“Ah,” Drakos said, holding up an index finger. “Before I tell you, we must ensure that such a mishap as occurred here today does not happen again.”
“How can we do that?” asked Thrax.
“I have put myself in your care. Now, it is time to show my side and yours that you trust me as much as I trusted you.”
“You demand that I accompany you onto your flagship?”
“I do.”
“And if I refuse?” asked Thrax.
“Then, we shall leave.”
“To tell others where our hive is,” Thrax demanded.
“Not so,” Drakos said. “To tell others where your outpost lies.”
“You play dangerously, Drakos.”
“I know—Thrax.”
&
nbsp; “No. I will not accompany you onto your flagship. I think you would try to put a control unit in me if I did.”
Drakos’s eyes narrowed. Thrax had just shown good judgment. That had been his plan exactly. The easiest way to gain control of a dictatorship was to control the dictator.
“Think of another safeguard,” Thrax said.
“I don’t need to, as you just passed my test. You showed me high intelligence. That means I can rely on your self-interest. What I’m about to say means you’ll have to trust me to achieve your goal. That will help me, and that will help you.”
“You thought I was stupid?”
“I thought you were foolish, like the other Swarm bugs. But you’re not. You’re something special, something more dangerous.”
Thrax bobbed up and down. Maybe that was his way of nodding. “I am the most cunning Swarm creature in existence.”
“Which is why I can trust you,” Drakos said. “I spoke before about the Builder Dyson Sphere. In particular, there was a Builder there.”
“That is obvious.”
“The Builder modified you, creating the Swarm hybrids. But he didn’t give you a queen.”
“He cloned us.”
“We’re not going to clone you. You need a queen, a female. No growing society is real without females. I’m even betting you need queens in order to fight and prosper.”
“What—”
“Please, Supremacy, don’t interrupt me as I’m giving you the secret to immortality, to greatness among the stars. You have an outpost. After I’m done, you’ll have a hive, a growing collective that can conqueror time and space.”
This time, Thrax said nothing.
“The key to this is the Builder,” Drakos said. “He modified Swarm creatures, and he modified humans. Two of those humans went on to modify humanity, in the end, creating the superiors, what others call New Men.”
“Are you are talking about Ludendorff and Strand?”
“I am.”
“What do they have to do…?” Thrax clacked his pincers as he bobbed up and down.
Drakos was getting a handle on Thrax. The clacking and bobbing meant he was agitated and excited. Maybe the bug finally saw the answer.
“You expect me to let the two Methuselah Men modify my Swarm creatures?” Thrax asked.
“They are the master geneticists in Human Space. They are the premier scientists. If anyone could manipulate chromosomes and genes, it is those two. I doubt you need both, but both would be better. Once we capture them, I’ll hand them over to you. You can bring them down to your hive and force them to create your queens.”
“I will never trust those two,” Thrax said. “I have always hated Ludendorff in particular.”
“We of the Throne World understand that. Strand ruled over us for a time, and we all chafed under his so-called guidance. The reason you don’t trust the Methuselah Men is that you are intelligent. No one should trust them. That doesn’t mean they can’t help you—if you take the right precautions. Remember, Supremacy, I have control units. You can have me insert the control units into their minds. Then, they will be your faithful servants.”
“Such mind tampering might damage their superior intelligence.”
“It’s your call,” Drakos said. “This is the way to immortality, however.”
“We must capture Ludendorff and Strand?” asked Thrax.
“That’s right.”
“Where is Ludendorff?”
“Last I heard, he was on Starship Victory.”
“Ah,” Thrax said. “You mean for us to defeat Captain Maddox for you.”
Drakos stiffened. He had not meant that, but if the bug wanted to think so… “You have unmasked me, Supremacy.”
“Where is Strand?”
“In the prison of the Emperor of the Throne World,” Drakos said, trying to keep the hatred out of his voice.
“Strand will be harder to capture.”
“Not necessarily,” Drakos said. “If we capture enough Throne World soldiers, we can simply make a trade.”
“Your Emperor would do this?”
“We would give him no choice, Supremacy.”
Thrax scuttled to the side. Then, he scuttled in the other direction. He shook his mantis-like head. Then, he began to bob up and down. Finally, he faced Drakos again. “You are cunning, and you are wise, Lord Drakos. Your idea is well thought-out. I admire your mind. I like the idea. I realize as well that I will need your aid in order to capture the Methuselah Men.”
Drakos smiled. He’d been counting on that.
“I would rather destroy you,” Thrax said. “I can admit that now. But you are dangerous, Lord Drakos. Will you not hurt your own kind by helping me?”
“Not if you help get me what I want.”
“What is it that you want?”
“You will need time, Supremacy, to grow. You will need time for Ludendorff and Strand to find the genetic answer. In order to gain this time… Well, let me back up. In grabbing these two, the submen and Throne World soldiers will recognize your existence.”
“Yes?”
“They will recognize the danger you bring to their continued existence. Thus, you must smash the power of the Throne World and the Commonwealth before you can gain your immortality.”
“You want us to conquer the two societies for you?”
“No. But we must break their power. That means decisively defeating Star Watch. Once that happens, according to my projections, the various elements in the Commonwealth will splinter. Some will side with me.”
“I understand. You want your own empire. You want to build on the ruins of the Commonwealth. But you hope to use my ships to create that destruction.”
Maybe the bug lord was a little too smart. That was exactly what Drakos wanted.
“We both need Star Watch destroyed, and preferably the Throne World, as well,” Thrax said. “But you cannot want the last thing. The Throne World is the home of your people.”
“But I do want the Throne World destroyed,” Drakos said. “Like you, I yearn for immortality and greatness. Do you care if the Imperium homeworld is destroyed?”
“No,” Thrax said.
“Then, you understand me, I think.”
Thrax regarded Drakos, finally bobbing up and down once more.
-6-
Almost ninety light-years and many weeks away from the Mira Binary System, Starship Victory came out of a Laumer Point and into an uncharted star system. At least, no Patrol map held any data concerning the system.
Galyan had data, but it was over six thousand years out of date.
Valerie sat in the command chair. Keith piloted, and Galyan stood near Valerie.
“Warning,” Andros said from his station. The Kai-Kaus Chief Technician had thinned these past weeks, and his cheeks looked positively gaunt. His fingers were still pudgy, however, and they moved smoothly across his board.
Valerie had swiveled the command chair toward him.
“I put it on the main screen,” Andros said.
Valerie swiveled toward the screen. On it appeared a bloom of light. “What is that?” she asked.
Andros tapped his board, peering at it closely. “Some kind of drive. It’s expelling gamma radiation.”
“It’s a gamma drive?” asked Valerie.
“That’s not what I meant,” Andros said. “It’s—”
Another bright bloom of light appeared.
“Gamma, X-ray and other hard radiation,” Andros said.
“Oh,” Galyan said. “That is an Orion drive.”
“Nuclear explosions?” asked Valerie.
“Exactly,” Galyan said. “The craft must have a heavy blast plate. The explosion propels the craft. It is rather primitive—”
“That wasn’t in your data banks?” Valerie snapped.
“In my memory, no,” Galyan said.
“That’s what I meant.”
“Then why did you not say what you meant, Valerie?”
“This
isn’t the time to get touchy. You brought us here. You don’t have anything on possible defensive systems?”
“No,” Galyan said. “This was supposed to be a peaceful system.”
“It isn’t peaceful anymore,” Andros said. “Those are two missiles. I’m scanning. The missiles clearly detected us,” the Kai Kaus said. “I’m spying thousands of missiles, space mines.” His pudgy fingers roved over the board as he leaned forward, studying the incoming sensor data.
Andros tapped his board, superimposing a system diagram onto the main screen. The G-class star was 1.4 times the size of Sol. It had two terrestrial planets: one in a Venus-like orbit, and the other in a Mars-like orbit. There was nothing more except for a distant asteroid belt…in a Neptune-like orbit that was almost in the system’s Kuiper Belt. Victory had come out of a Laumer Point near the first terrestrial planet. The majority of space mines-missiles were between the starship and the second terrestrial planet. The missiles acted like mines.
More bright blooms appeared on the main screen, indicating more missiles accelerating at them.
“The nearest missile is one million, three hundred and forty-six kilometers from us and closing,” Andros said. “The next nearest is one million, three hundred and eighty-nine kilometers away. After that—”
“I get the picture, Chief Technician,” Valerie said. “Thank you.”
Andros nodded curtly.
“Are we in immediate danger?” Valerie asked.
“Negative,” Andros said. “In another day, it will be a different story.”
“How many space mines are in the system?”
Andros gave her a wondering glance.
“Are we near the—?” Valerie turned to Galyan. “Which planet, if any, holds the supposed sculpture?”
Galyan’s eyelids fluttered.
“Please don’t tell me the ancient sculpture is in the asteroid belt,” Valerie said.
Galyan looked up. “No. The sculpture is on the second planet. There should be a vast structure, a city of pyramids.”
“Pyramids?” asked Valerie. “You mean these aliens have something to do with Builders? Or are they Builders?”
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