The Lost Starship

-20-

In the distance, Maddox heard muffled flintlocks discharging. Once, a heavy assault rifle made sustained noise. Afterward, the number of flintlocks firing lessened.

“It sounds like a running fight,” Meta said. “I hope one of them killed the torturer at least before dying.”

Once more, the cavewoman’s voice struck Maddox pleasantly. In another setting—no, don’t go there. You can’t afford to have anything mar your judgment.

“Torturer,” Maddox said. “They must have grabbed some of your tribe before, doctor, to try to force them to reveal your location.”

Dana glanced at Meta before saying, “You don’t miss much, do you?”

“Sorry,” Meta muttered.

Doctor Rich shrugged. “He has all the advantages. Don’t worry about it.” With Meta’s help, she limped along. From time to time, Dana squeezed her eyes shut, and she groaned twice.

Maddox didn’t think she was faking. It wasn’t if the doctor had a concussion, but how badly.

Keith began breathing heavily, and he rubbed his chest several times.

After a while, Dana halted and shuffled around. Sweat slicked her face. “You seem to be playing fair with Meta and me. I ought to tell you then that we have even less time than you realize. The other tribes, both higher and lower, will be coming to investigate. They’ll know something catastrophic has happened. Each tribe will want to salvage what they can from us. We live like vultures down here.”

“By all means, increase your pace,” Maddox said.

They continued to move under the gloomy trees. The smell of smoke strengthened, and the sound of flames increased.

“The fire’s growing,” Dana said. “What do you know? No one figured that was possible. I’ve heard old-timers say tribes have tried to burn each other out with a forest fire. The soil and trees are too wet to make it work. When those missiles hit, they must have spread enough flammable substances to burn long enough to dry out nearby trees. It will be good to remember that—in case we’re stuck here for the rest of our lives. Manufacture enough gunpowder and maybe we can burn out the Stone Dogs after all.”

Maddox was only half listening. He kept analyzing their situation. Earlier, hidden scouts had paced them. Those scouts had hooted a warning, but they didn’t seem to be there anymore. What had happened to them? Likely, once they’d seen Dana had made it to the hideaway, they must have run back to help against the shuttle crew. He bet each prisoner dreamed hours a day of ways off the planet. Even though the New Man was deadly, Dana’s tribe kept trying to snipe him and the shuttle crew. They obviously wanted what was left of the shuttle.

Beside Maddox, Keith wheezed. The bubbling in his throat sounded worse than before. The pilot turned his head and spat red-stained saliva. Maddox wondered if Keith realized the significance of the color. He hoped not. He wanted the ace upbeat for as long as possible.

“This way,” Dana said, indicating a faint trail.

Flintlock fire had intensified again, although it remained muffled in the distance. A heavy assault rifle opened up. A person screamed. It was a shrill and continuing noise.

Keith swore under his breath as he shifted his shoulders.

Dana noticed with seeming interest—Maddox watched her sidelong. He digested her awareness, trying to figure out what it meant. He didn’t care for the screams either, although he could compartmentalize his unease so it didn’t interfere with his present task. The point to remember was that this was Loki Prime. Here lived some of the most ruthless people in the Commonwealth. Many of those would use what they considered as squeamishness or weakness against a person. Dana was a hardened denizen of this place. Maddox knew it was important never to forget that.

Ahead of them through the undergrowth, a hidden man muttered incoherently between wheezing inhalations. With a sting of recognition, Maddox realized it was Sergeant Riker.

Dana must have heard him too. Her step slowed.

“Hurry,” Maddox said.

She did, and in seconds, they came upon a gargantuan flattened bush and trampled ground. There were two crushed lines through the spider grass. Maddox frowned until he realized those were wheel marks.

The flitter—it was gone! How were they supposed to get out of here now?

Calm, stay calm—think. By the signs, someone had taken the flyer. They hadn’t taken the sergeant, however. Maybe he knew what had happened.

Riker sat on his rear with his back to them. He fiddled with his arm, muttering, trying to—

The sergeant woke up. He found the package. Keith had asked him about the box earlier. The packet had held Riker’s prosthetic arm. The sergeant had become lucid enough to fit the arm into his socket. Now, it appeared as if he was trying to turn it on, maybe make adjustments.

“Sergeant,” Maddox said.

Riker’s head lifted, but he didn’t turn around.

“Keith,” Maddox said. “Help him.”

The pilot shoved his pistol through his belt and walked in front of Riker. The sergeant shouted in surprise, pressing his prosthetic arm. It hummed, and from the shoulder, it raised threateningly as Riker remained seated. The other arm moved. Riker grabbed a cloth and put it before his mouth.

“Walk around him please,” Maddox told the women. “Keith. Back away. The sergeant doesn’t remember who you are.”

Dana and Meta complied until they walked before an even more astonished Sergeant Riker.

“Sit,” Maddox told them.

Meta and Dana did. Maddox didn’t think they would try anything now. They were too interested in getting off Loki Prime. Still, it paid to be cautious.

“Sergeant,” Maddox said in a commanding voice.

Riker’s head swayed. He kept his mouth covered, and the rag was red. The poor man’s real eye was horribly red-rimmed and glazed. He must be running a high fever.

“It’s Captain Maddox,” Maddox told him.

“I know who you are, sir,” Riker said in a wheezing voice.

“You found your arm, I see.”

“Yes, sir, and I got it working. Who are these, these—” He began hacking, sounding wretched. He had to bend over and finally wheezed air down.

“It’s no use for him,” Dana said. “You need to—” She sliced a finger across her throat. “The swamp spores are deadly. They can spread fast.”

“Ha-ha,” Riker laughed drunkenly, staring at her. “Cunning witch, aren’t you? Old Sergeant Riker isn’t going to lie down to death so easily as that, though. Captain Maddox may be overly ambitious, but the lad needs a steadying hand like mind. He gets carried away otherwise. No, I’m not quits just like that. So, you can stop scheming. The young captain will see through your cunning, you can count on that.”

“Never mind her, Sergeant,” Maddox said. “Who took the flitter? Why didn’t they shoot you?”

“Me?” Riker asked, sounding indignant. “Why not shoot me? Oh, no, sir,” he said. “I woke up, I did. I took my arm and crawled out of the flitter. I hid because I heard them coming. I saw him too.”

“Saw who?” Maddox asked.

“The golden-skinned killer, sir,” Riker said. “He had people hooked up like oxen. A woman was with him. She had an assault rifle. They forced the others to lift the flitter onto the wagon. It was a big old cart, sir. I couldn’t believe they lifted the flitter. It ain’t light, you know?”

“Strange,” Maddox said.

“Then I noticed their eyes, sir,” Riker said. “The ones hooked to the cart like oxen. They looked drugged. Some of them cried out as they lifted the flitter. I think some of their muscles tore, or shoulders popped out of their sockets. The others kept right on lifting your flyer onto the cart. I wondered if they had super-strength.”

“Or a New Man drug to give them such strength,” Maddox said. “Hysterical strength, I believe it’s called. I wonder if that’s part of their secret.”

“Sir?” Riker asked.

“Never mind,” Maddox said. “What else? Do you have anything else to report?”

“I do indeed, sir. Old Sergeant Riker has been paying attention to your sly ways. I thought to myself, ‘What would that young hothead do in a situation like mine?’ Then it came to me, sir. I knew exactly what to do, and I did it on the spot.”

“Do you care to tell me what that was?” Maddox asked.

Riker blinked his red eye, and he started coughing. Finally, after a twenty-second bout, he wheezed down air like a dying man.

“Sir,” the sergeant said, “before the others reached the flitter I called upstairs.”

“You used the flyer’s radio?” Maddox asked.

“I did, sir.”

Maddox went cold inside. Had Riker called the destroyer or the scout? “Who did you speak to?” he asked.

“Some pretty girl, sir. She sounded worried, though. She asked about you.”

“Do you recall her name?”

“She wouldn’t give it to me. Said something about the enemy able to hear over the radio, she did. And, sir, she’s coming down to get us. She said regulations demanded she ignore your original orders in order to rescue the landing party.”

Maddox had no doubt then. Lieutenant Noonan was going to bring the scout down into the prison planet’s atmosphere. Perhaps she was already on her way. If Riker had used the flitter’s radio, Valerie would likely home in on it. That meant she was flying down to the New Man, because he now had the flyer.

“How long ago did you send the message?” Maddox asked.

“It’s hard for me to tell, sir. Some time ago.”

Maddox’s eyes widened. “She could be here right now.” He took out his comm-unit.

“If your sergeant used the radio,” Dana said. “It’s possible the destroyer intercepted the signal.”

Maddox nodded. “Come in, Lieutenant Noonan. This is Captain Maddox. Do you hear me? Come in, Lieutenant.”

He feared jamming. If the enemy jammed, it would be clear the New Man understood that the scout descended. Maddox tried to fit the various pieces together, the Saint Petersburg, the New Man, the orbital missiles— Valerie must have used my security code on the orbitals if she’s taking the scout to the surface. It’s a good thing I gave it to her. Otherwise, the orbitals would shoot her down. A new thought struck and Maddox wanted to curse. The New Man has my flitter. Its computer has my security code embedded in it.

His comm-unit came alive. “Come in, Captain Maddox, this is Lieutenant Noonan speaking.”

Despite the burst of joy in his chest at hearing her voice, Maddox wondered if it was really her. What if the destroyer was homing in on his comm-signal? The heavy cloud cover meant the Saint Petersburg couldn’t beam him. Yet they could launch missiles just as easily as the orbitals had done.

“Captain?” she said. “Are you there?”

“Who led the raid into the Odin System?” he asked.

“Sir?”

“Don’t think,” Maddox told her. “Just tell me.”

“Do you mean Admiral von Gunther, sir?” she asked.

“Exactly,” Maddox said.

“I don’t see why that has any bearing—”

“Why shouldn’t I punch an officer whenever I desire to do so?”

“What?” Valerie asked.

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t do that?”

“Do you mean regulation—?”

Relief washed through Maddox. Without a doubt, he spoke to the real Valerie Noonan.

“Home in on this comm-signal, Lieutenant,” Maddox said. “The enemy has captured the flitter, so you mustn’t use its coordinates. In fact, I want you to be ready to obliterate anything that isn’t me.”

“Sir?” she asked.

“How close are you to the surface?”

“Less than two minutes, sir,” she said.

Maddox glanced right and left to see if the scout could land here. Yes, this could work. He knew boarding Geronimo was far from victory, but it would be a good start to leaving the Loki System. Should he try to find the flitter afterward, destroying it to obliterate its onboard computer? Likely, they had no time for such ventures. The Saint Petersburg in orbit changed all the equations. How long would it take the enemy to try the flitter’s computer, to find the security clearance that would allow landing craft to ignore the orbital platforms? Given the New Man on their side—they probably already knew about the code.

Leaving the comm-unit on for Valerie, Maddox faced Dana Rich. “Listen to me, Doctor. We’re about to leave Loki Prime.”

“Meta goes with me,” Dana said.

Maddox’s gaze flickered to the cavewoman. With her superior strength, Meta could be a problem aboard ship. He wasn’t sure he could take that risk.

“She’s from the Rouen Colony,” Dana said. “They’re miners, and they’re a clever bunch. Meta is an engineer. She can fix anything you give her.”

“Fine,” Maddox said, even as he still considered his options.

“Another thing—” Dana said.

“Shut up and listen,” Maddox told her. “Once we’re aboard, you’re going to have to figure out a way to hack into a space beacon.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re asking?”

“I do indeed, Doctor. You’re a computer genius, a hacker and a tech thief. This is your area of specialty.”

Dana’s dark eyes seemed to glow with resentment. Even so, she gave a curt nod.

“Another thing,” Maddox said. “On the ship, you’ll both wear security anklets. It will be on a probationary basis until I can trust you.”

“I see the ship!” Keith shouted, pointing past the tallest tree.

Before Maddox could look, his comm-unit beeped a warning. Lifting it to his mouth, he asked, “Lieutenant?”

“There are people coming your way,” Valerie said, “a lot of them.”

“Right,” Maddox said. “I want you to land… one hundred meters from my position. Crush whatever you have too to get down.”

“Those are some big trees, sir.”

“You can squeeze in,” he said.

“Those people I talked about,” Valerie said, “they’re coming fast, sir.”

“Use the cannons on them, Lieutenant. The weapons are there for a reason.”

“Roger, sir,” Valerie said, sounding grim.

As a shadow passed overhead, Maddox looked up at the scout. He’d never seen anything so beautiful. They were actually going to leave Loki Prime.

The antigravity pods hummed. Then the twin cannons spat shells. Explosions, crashing trees and screams told Maddox how near the mob was—almost on top of them. He was thankful for the thick foliage slowing the mob. Seconds later, the cannon firing stopped, and the scout came down.

“You,” Maddox said, pointing his gun at Meta. “Help the sergeant.”

Splintering sounds and a thud shook the ground. A hatch opened. The comm-unit squawked, and Lieutenant Noonan said, “I’m down, sir. Let’s go.”

Maddox needed no more urging than that.