The Lost Starship

-29-

Captain Maddox watched from outside the scout as he stood on the comet. Ensign Maker maneuvered the Geronimo into the vast cavern he and Meta had carved out of the dirty ice-ball.

It had been two days since the meeting in the wardroom. Since then, the crew had fixed the professor’s engines to the outer comet and positioned the fuel for consumption. Only once the scout was embedded within and the entrance frozen over would they pilot the comet to the unstable Laumer-Point.

Despite their best efforts, the destroyer must have detected something suspicious. Before reaching the inner star system, the Saint Petersburg had braked hard. After the vessel came to a halt, it started accelerating for the outer, unstable Laumer-Point.

Valerie wondered why the destroyer hadn’t gone toward the inner system at full acceleration to circle the star and whip back out here.

“They’re doing it faster this way,” Maddox had told her.

“Yes, but the fuel consumption is enormous the way they did it.”

“The obvious conclusion is that speed is more important to them than fuel. Perhaps the star cruiser, when it shows up, gives the destroyer more fusion isotopes as needed.”

As he stood on the comet, Maddox recalled the conversation. If—

The comet shuddered beneath his vacc-boots. The captain staggered in slow motion. The gravity here was negligible. A moment later, Maddox’s earphones hissed.

“I’m down,” Keith said. “We’re going to begin icing the landing gear to the comet.

Maddox jumped, floating toward the torch. It was time to begin sealing the cavern and the Geronimo inside it.

Everything was hooked to the control room panels. Maddox took his spot and watched Keith and Valerie take theirs.

“Once we start,” Valerie said. “They’ll know exactly where we are.”

Maddox understood. This was the final lap to the alien star system. The comet had to beat the destroyer to the Laumer-Point. Nothing else mattered.

“Ready?” Maddox asked Keith.

The ace nodded.

“Engage thrusters,” Maddox said. “Engage every one of them. We’re blasting full throttle until we’ve made it, or we’re dead.”

Keith tapped his board.

Watching his screen, Maddox saw the engines glow orange. Each of them was frozen into the ice at the “back” of the comet. The orange color intensified. Then blue fusion exhaust burst out. The tails quickly grew. Soon, they stretched far behind the comet. The thrusters pushed the mass of ice, snow, rock and Geronimo core.

Soon, the stellar object broke out of its ancient orbit around the T dwarf. Very slowly, it began to head toward the unstable Laumer-Point. It didn’t have far to travel, a few hundred thousand kilometers. That was nothing compared to the destroyer’s three billion, four hundred thousand.

“We need more velocity,” Valerie said. “At this rate, the destroyer will catch us.”

Maddox couldn’t contain himself. He stood and shook his arms, willing the nervous tingling to stop. They were doing the impossible. After endless weeks upon weeks— “Keep pouring it out,” he told Keith.

“Don’t worry about me, sir. I’m gunning the engines. The comet’s mass is too much, though. It may be ice, but there’s so bloody much of it that we’re not going to accelerate fast enough. Ah, I have an idea. We edge the Geronimo closer to the exit so its thrusters stick out of the back. We add our thrust to the other engines.”

“Not a bad idea for gaining greater velocity,” Maddox said. “But if we do that, we’ll never survive the other side. The only way we’re going to exit the wormhole and live to finish our task is if the comet takes the brunt of the heat for us.”

“You really believe it’s going to be that way, sir?” Keith asked.

“Oh, yes.”

The acceleration continued for another day. The professor’s engines held, and Keith managed to eke a bit more thrust from them. It gave them slightly more velocity, possibly changing the endgame a day from now.

Compared to how far they had to travel to reach this place, the last lap was gallingly short. The comet’s mass was both their bane and their approaching salvation.

Maddox paced inside his quarters. His stomach fluttered with anticipation. He had three distinct fears. First, he dreaded the possibility of the Saint Petersburg catching them before they reached the unstable Laumer-Point. If the destroyer reached them too soon, the twin laser batteries could possibly dig through the ice-shield to bite into the Geronimo. Second, while buried under millions of tons of ice and snow, could the scout’s Laumer Drive open the wormhole entrance? Supposing it could, would the voyage down the unstable tramline annihilate them with random flux instability? Third, could they survive the red star on the other side?

That was the reason for the ice-shield. According to the professor, the unstable tramline was the only way into or out-of the haunted star system. The extinct race must have possessed incredible deflector shields or maybe they used millions of tons of rock as protection. The alien system had a red giant for a star. Once, it must have been a regular G glass star like Sol. Now, it was an M class star.

The star had used up the hydrogen fuel in the core, so the thermonuclear reactions had ceased there. That had begun a long process. From a 1-solar mass star, it had become a red giant with 1000 solar luminosities with a surface temperature about 3000 K and 100 solar radii. The Sun at this stage would engulf Mercury in its photosphere, or outer layer.

The red giant in the alien star system had grown over the only known Laumer-Point. That meant, once a starship exited the tramline, it would be in the star’s photosphere. If the Geronimo exited normally, the star would crisp it in seconds.

The plan called for the comet taking the star’s blasts. At their speed—if the calculations were correct—they would only be in the photosphere for a brief amount of time. Still, even for many hundreds of thousands of kilometers beyond the star, they would need the comet to absorb the hellish heat and radiation.

Maddox paced in one direction, turned sharply and paced in the other. If even one of the three fears came true, the mission would fail. They would be dead, and humanity would never gain its balancing starship.

He snorted to himself. Even if they beat all three worries, they still had to deal with the killer sentinel. They had to find a way aboard—and then they had to figure out how to make the ancient starship work for them.

Maddox shook his head. If they passed all those tests, could they take the alien vessel out of the star system into the wide universe?

The Geronimo had almost reached the goal, yet the imponderables seemed to expand before him.

Although he hated to admit it, Maddox realized he’d just have to wait for the answer.

I’m unsuited for starship command. The need to do, to act, is too strong in me. The waiting game and dispassionately playing each move—I want to get this over with one way or another.

Time crawled as the comet-vessel headed for the unstable Laumer-Point. The engines thrust, and hourly Maddox expected one of them to give out.

Behind them, the Saint Petersburg came at maximum drive, building greater velocity with each second. It launched two missiles, which accelerated even faster.

“Those are going to hit, sir,” Valerie told Maddox in the control chamber.

Maddox stared at her screen. They had expected the move. At his orders, they had previously dismantled the scout’s two cannons, freezing them and their autoloaders on the back of the comet.

“When the time comes,” Maddox said, “Ensign Maker will have to shoot down the missiles.”

Valerie gave him an unreadable look.

More time passed. The destroyer rapidly closed the distance. The two missiles zoomed toward destiny.

Finally, Maddox ordered Keith to his station.

The ace flexed his fingers. “I have this,” he told them. “They’re coming so fast there’s no way they can maneuver out of the way of my shells.”

With the primitive targeting system they’d frozen into the comet, Ensign Maker selected the lead missile. He began long-distance firing.

At thirty thousand kilometers from the comet, he struck the hardened nosecone. It should have shredded the warhead, but the thing held together. At twenty-one thousand kilometers, Keith nailed it again. The missile and its warhead died.

“I told you!” Keith shouted.

The last missile bored in. It had better ECM, and Keith failed to lock onto it. The shells sped past it as the missile kept coming.

“Blimey cocker,” Keith hissed under his breath. “I ain’t missing this close.”

Before he could hit it, at nine thousand kilometers from target, the warhead ignited. The EMP blast and heat did its trick. All but one comet-frozen engine malfunctioned and kept spewing exhaust.

“Shutdown the last engine,” Maddox said. “We don’t want to skew our entrance trajectory.”

The comet no longer accelerated, but drifted at its present velocity for the approaching Laumer-Point. Behind them, crossing the plane of the brown dwarf, Saint Petersburg made its last run. The destroyer traveled at high velocity. It would reach the Laumer-Point at almost the same instant as the comet.

“Sir,” Valerie said. “We’re being hailed.”

Maddox massaged his chest, taking his seat. He debated with himself for all of three seconds. Decision made, he clicked on the comm equipment, letting his features appear to the other side. What did it matter now?

His screen showed the inflexible face of a New Man. The eyes were like swirling black ink, the skin like golden ivory. Gigantic haughtiness faced him.

“I know you,” Maddox said, thinking to recognize the face. He’d had a momentary glimpse on the prison planet’s surface and would never forget the man.

Despite the words, the enemy’s masklike features never changed.

“I beat you on Loki Prime,” Maddox said. “I shot you to the ground and took your weapon. I’ve kept it as a memento in my trophy case.”

“You have failed,” the New Man said.

The deep voice shocked Maddox. It was so utterly controlled and confident. He envied the New Man that.

The other cocked his head and seemed to peer through the screen with greater interest. “I detect an anomaly. You are not like them.”

“What’s he mean?” Keith whispered.

Lieutenant Noonan shushed the pilot, tapping her index finger against her lips.

Maddox sat frozen in his chair. He yearned for the New Man to elaborate. Was he a failed experiment? Had they used his mother as a breeder, putting their exalted seed into her womb?

Am I like them? Maddox wondered.

“Surrender,” the New Man said. “There is no need for you to die.”

“Why would you care?” Maddox asked.

“You have information I would like to confirm.”

Maddox mulled that over. The New Man hadn’t said, “You have information I need.” Instead, the haughty New Man wished to confirm a thing.

“What’s your name?” Maddox asked.

The New Man frowned. “You young presumptuous pup of the Star Watch, you have insulted me for the last time.”

“What insult? I just asked you your name.”

The New Man stiffened before he said, “Know that your mission will die with you, Captain Maddox.”

Maddox’s eyes widened with surprise.

“We always know more about our targets than we need to understand. Thus, I know you and your inefficient crew.” The New Man leaned closer. The black eyes seemed to burn with passion. “You were always doomed to fail, Captain. It was inevitable. We have arrived to halt the madness of your species’ chaotic inconsistencies. You should surrender to us as gods coming in judgment. Homo Sapiens’ era of rutting and ugliness will finally cease.”

“Are you saying you’re no longer human?” Maddox asked.

“Your conceit is ill-reasoned,” the New Man said. “Homo Sapiens have risen little higher than the brute beasts around them. Perhaps you have something more personally compared to the common ruck of your Orion Arm herd. I would like to examine your DNA to discover what this difference is, but it is a small matter. We of the Race have arrived at genetic perfection. That makes us human. You and your ilk are something lower on the evolutionary scale.”

“Yet we can communicate,” Maddox said, “which disproves your theory.”

“How you strive to reason like a man. It is pitiful to watch. Attend my words, Captain Maddox. A cow lows to let its master know it is hungry. A farmer shouts to guide the cow to the waiting grain. They communicate, but they are far from equal. Can you grasp the point?”

“I do,” Maddox said. “Your arrogance will destroy you.”

“I see a half-beast wishing to ape humanity. You practice what you conceive as self-awareness. We of the Race are true to ourselves—what you perceive as arrogance.”

“Did you call me to gloat?” Maddox asked.

“How you struggle to understand me. To you, I am Per Lomax. Know then that I have degraded myself to give you an opportunity to surrender and save your genes for study. I also require Professor Ludendorff’s notes. Do this, and live. Refuse, and go into an eternity of oblivion, never to know again.”

“You don’t believe in an afterlife?” Maddox asked.

“Show me the evidence you’ve complied of such a state.”

“Humanity’s sacred books all teach this,” Maddox told the New Man.

“Do not speak to me of the cries of a terrified subspecies. The Race is humanity. Our books do not speak of pale illusions needed to soften the realities of existence.”

“Per Lomax is like calling you master?” Maddox asked.

“As I said earlier, you are a grade above the others of your herd. Bravo, you can see to a limited degree. Now, the moment is upon you, Captain Maddox of the Star Watch. Surrender or die. You will not have another opportunity.”

With his heart pounding, Maddox put the comm on mute. He turned to the others. “How much time until we reach the Laumer-Point?”

“Ten minutes,” Valerie said. “We don’t even know if the scout’s Laumer Drive can activate the tramline through all this ice.”

“Lasers!” shouted Keith. “Saint Petersburg is firing.”

“Blow off the first engine,” Maddox said.

With a forefinger, Keith stabbed his board. The great mass of the comet meant that down here no one felt the explosion that ripped away the engine, hurling it behind them.

On the screen, Maddox watched an engine tumble from the comet. At the same time, the twin lasers stabbed into the ice, burning deeper and deeper.

The lasers boiled ice into water and vapor. As the lasers kept digging, they boiled away more and more. Finally, that created a cloud. The cloud dissipated some of the lasers’ strength. Unfortunately, the temporary situation wouldn’t last.

“According to my calculations,” Valerie said, “the lasers are going to dig through to us. Once the beams reach the scout’s hull, the game will be up.”

Maddox knew that. He waited as the tumbling engine continued away from them and toward the approaching destroyer. The distances were too great between the vessels to make much of a difference. The captain waited for the engine to be far enough away from the comet.

During the wait, the lasers sliced through the ice and past the hidden scout. The attack lasted long enough for the beams to reach the other side of the comet, stabbing through.

“The destroyer is retargeting,” Valerie said. “They must know they missed us with the first shot.”

Beaming once again, the lasers tried another area of the comet.

“Now,” Maddox told Keith. “Send the signal.”

The pilot did just that.

Seconds later, the engine with its atomic pile went critical, creating a thermonuclear fireball. That blocked the beams. The ice protected them from the EMP wash and the heat and radiation expanding back to them.

“The destroyer’s deflector shields snapped on,” Valerie said.

“Blow the next engine,” Maddox said. “We’ll try this again.”

Per Lomax of the Race refused to let the trick play out a second time. He used the destroyer’s beams to melt the next engine before the atomic pile could go critical.

“It’s no good,” Valerie said, her eyes so wide the whites showed as she stared at him.

“Wrong,” Maddox told her. “While the destroyer’s beams struck the engine, they weren’t needling through the comet. Ensign, blow off the next engine.”

For the next several minutes, the comet detached engine after engine. The Saint Petersburg destroyed them one at a time, beaming into the comet between intervals.

“The Laumer-Point is approaching,” Valerie shouted.

“I can hear you just fine, Lieutenant,” Maddox said in a calm voice.

She cast him a harried look but nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said in a more controlled voice.

“Activate the Laumer Drive,” Maddox told Keith.

“Aye-aye, Captain, sir.”

They watched the board, watched—

“It’s not activating,” Valerie groaned. Then a green light flashed. “Wait! The Laumer-Point is opening, Captain.”

Maddox grinned fiercely. “Get ready for jump,” he said.

“The lasers,” Keith said. “They’re digging straight for the scout this time.”

Maddox glanced at his board. He knew the lasers wouldn’t make it in time. “We’re going in, people.”

“Will we make it through the red giant’s photosphere?” Valerie asked.

“That,” Maddox said, “is the question of the hour.”