The Lost Starship

-35-

Maddox retreated to the odd-shaped chair. The lights in the panels around him began to twinkle as they engaged. Engine noises—at least, he assumed they were engines—thrummed with increased power. The deck under his feet vibrated.

“I wonder if I might be of assistance,” Maddox said.

“In what way?” the holoimage asked.

“There are those in my crew who have fought the New Men before. Perhaps you should bring them here to give you information as needed.”

“Yes. I approve. I will send my robot for them.”

“I wonder if that’s wise?” Maddox asked. “They might attack the robot.”

“For what reason would they attack?” the holoimage asked. “The robot means them no harm.”

“You and I know that. They don’t.”

“No. If they harm my peaceful robot, they will die in penalty. Now, you must desist from speech. I am planning my attack sequence.”

“Naturally,” Maddox said, “I’m excited to watch and learn from your actions. However, I suggest you hail my crew using intra-ship communications. At least guide Lieutenant Noonan here.”

The holoimage lifted what might have been an arm, pointing at a blinking screen. “Go there. Speak to them. I remember now that living organisms should be in acceleration couches in case the antigravity systems are destroyed.”

Maddox hurried to the panel. “Doctor Rich,” he said. “Can you hear me?” No one responded. Maddox looked up. “Is there a malfunction to the system?”

“No,” the holoimage said. “In response to your voice, your crew approaches an AI receptacle.”

Maddox waited, and the blinking screen shimmered. Then he stared at Doctor Rich, who wore her helmet.

“Captain Maddox?” she asked. “You’re alive? Why did you sneak away while we slept?”

“I’m in the Victory’s bridge,” Maddox told her.

“That’s the name of the starship?” she asked.

“Precisely,” Maddox said. “I am speaking with the Victory’s illustrious commander. In the past, he imprinted his engrams onto the ship’s AI. As to why I’m here, as you slept, he sent his robot to escort me here to him.”

Dana’s eyes widened, first with shock and then with seeming understanding.

“The New Men have appeared in the system, using the tramline just as we did,” Maddox said. “They have three star cruisers. We are about to go into battle with them. The AI has suggested that Lieutenant Noonan come to the bridge. She’s faced the cruisers before. The rest of you will head to acceleration couches. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Captain,” Dana said. “Can I speak to the AI?”

Maddox glanced at the holoimage.

“No,” the fuzzy image said. “I have analyzed your brain patterns. Translating them was costly enough already. I do not care to analyze another’s. I’m also no longer inclined to let your lieutenant onto my bridge.”

“Oh,” Maddox said. “That’s too bad. I suggest—”

The holoimage raised a hazy hand. “I do not care to discuss it, either.”

Maddox chewed the inside of his cheek, thinking fast. He glanced sidelong at the screen. Dana still stood at an AI receptacle, obviously listening. He decided to go with the flow, hoping the AI was too busy with its computations to worry about turning off the link.

“You’re right, of course,” Maddox said loudly. “You don’t need Lieutenant Noonan’s assistance. The others of my crew will await your coming victory.”

“I have scanned the enemy star cruisers,” the holoimage said. “They possess powerful deflector screens. What weaponry do they have?”

“Your scanners can’t penetrate their shields to find out?”

“That is correct, Captain.”

“Their beams sliced through Star Watch shields of some of our best vessels.”

“Do you know the composition of those deflectors?” the holoimage asked.

“We use an electromagnetic field,” Maddox said.

“I see,” the holoimage said. “Compared to that, I have an advanced deflector shield. Their beams might or might not be as effective against it as it was against your people’s ships. That means the strength of the New Men’s beam is an unknown factor. Captain Maddox, we may have a fight on our hands.”

“Can you defeat them?” Maddox asked.

“I have insufficient data to make a proper assessment. We once possessed the greatest weaponry, and we had developed the most advanced civilization. Reason points to my present superiority. Yet that isn’t a given. Battle will determine the outcome.”

“They have three to one odds,” Maddox said.

“In ship numbers you are correct but not in tonnage,” the holoimage said. “They barely match me in that regard. Ah… they attempt communication.”

“I just had a thought,” Maddox said.

“Yes?”

“Tactical surprise might benefit us.”

“That is logical,” the holoimage said, “as surprise is a force multiplier. Therefore, you are correct. What do you suggest?”

“Let them address me as Victory’s captain. They will believe I’ve just boarded the ship and couldn’t possibly understand all the alien systems. The New Men believe themselves superior to regular humans, such as me.”

“I scanned your brain, Captain. I am aware of the situation.”

“My point,” Maddox said, “is to lull them into a false sense of security. Then, once we engage in battle, your brilliant tactics might well dull their reaction times, giving us a greater margin for victory.”

The holoimage froze for several seconds before moving again. “That is well-reasoned. Yes. Go to your… left. Do you see the blinking screen there?”

“I do,” Maddox said.

“You will receive a visual link with the alien caller.”

Maddox didn’t have long to wait. The same being appeared as he’d seen earlier on Geronimo’s screen. The New Man had golden skin, inky eyes and masklike perfection.

“Captain Maddox,” the New Man said, “well, well, well.”

“Per Lomax?” asked Maddox.

The faintest of smiles appeared on the New Man’s lips. “That is correct.”

Irritated, Maddox said, “I use the name simply as a point of reference. Whatever meaning you supply to the name, I do not.”

“You are resourceful, Captain. I admit to surprise at seeing you in the relic.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Maddox noted the holoimage turning to him. He hoped the AI didn’t speak.

“Not only have you reached the alien vessel,” Per Lomax said, “but you have restarted the engines. Our scanners indicate energized weaponry. Do you mean to attempt to fight us?”

“Not if we can come to an understanding,” Maddox said.

“Ah,” the AI said softly behind him. “You plot deception. That is interesting. I had not expected such guile from a lowly life-form such as you.”

Maddox had become thoroughly tired of everyone thinking humans were idiots. Still, he held back a retort and concentrated on the situation. Winning the battle wasn’t half as important as getting Victory to Earth. The Star Watch needed this vessel for future engagements with the enemy.

“You wish to surrender?” Per Lomax asked.

“Surely, you can offer me more than that,” Maddox said. “I have a valuable commodity in this starship.”

“Do you truly think you can dupe me?” Per Lomax asked. “Your deceit fools no one but yourself. We will defeat the relic and possibly capture you. If you wish to forgo lengthy torture, surrender now.”

“Your negotiating strategy lacks subtlety,” Maddox said.

“Do you negotiate with ants? No. You spray them, eliminating the problem. I realize you will not surrender to me. Your previous action proves this. Therefore, we shall engage in battle.” Per Lomax glanced at something below him. “You have less than two hours of life remaining—unless you brake and flee away from us. Then you may have three hours left. Good-bye, Captain Maddox.”

“Wait!” he said.

The New Man stared at him.

The words stuck in Maddox’s throat. He wanted to ask the man if he was like them. Yet he felt Per Lomax would laugh at best. He also remembered that Dana and the others listened in on the open channel. The thought he was part New Man shamed him deeply.

“It is nothing,” Maddox said.

“You are a troubled creature,” Per Lomax said, “yet you a have a spark of genius in you. I speak compared to the common ruck of your kind. If you compare yourself to me, it is like a candle versus the sun. The hour of your extinction approaches. Prepare for non-existence.”

The screen went blank.

“He is an arrogant sentient,” the holoimage said.

“Yes,” Maddox said.

“He also happens to be correct.”

“Oh?”

“We will engage in battle in less than two of your hours.”

Victory increased velocity as it approached the three star cruisers. They fanned out so the edges of their shields brushed against each other. The red giant blazed behind the three vessels. The battle would take place within the inner system. Various ancient wrecks drifted between the enemy and Victory, debris from the long lost war.

Time passed as the vessels closed. None of the combatants launched drones or missiles.

Maddox sat in silent contemplation. This was a pregnant moment. He wished there was some way he could inform Brigadier O’Hara he’d made it. To have reached the impossible goal and never let her know… it galled Maddox. He also wanted to know who he was. If by some quirk he wasn’t part New Man, then what was he? Where would his mother have fled from in the Beyond?

Who is my father? A man should know.

“Do you feel anything?” Maddox asked.

The holoimage had remained perfectly still like a photograph. Now the fuzziness returned. Did that mean the AI’s intelligence animated it again, and it hadn’t before?

Maddox wasn’t sure why it would matter either way, but he couldn’t help himself. Until he died, he would struggle with every fiber, looking for any advantage he could. This was his moment in the universe, his time in the ring for humanity. To come this far and lose the engagement—no! Failure was out of the question, and yet, it was all too likely.

Three enemy ships had destroyed a strengthened Star Watch battle group lead by a veteran admiral. Who was he to think he could do better than von Gunther had?

“I’m Captain Maddox of the Star Watch,” he told himself.

“I know who you are,” the holoimage said.

Maddox smiled.

“Why are you speaking as you do with your lips twitching… oh, yes, yes, I remember now. Blood and flesh creatures such as you have synapse trouble. How do you say it? Nervous? You are nervous before the beginning of a battle. I almost envy you the feeling.”

“Almost?” asked Maddox.

“I have been deified, advanced to a higher plane of existence. I am no longer troubled by my former biology and physiology. Yet, in a sense, I miss those days of…”

You’ve trapped yourself in the soulless hell of a computer, Maddox thought. Yet that wasn’t logical, was it? If the personified AI didn’t have emotions, it couldn’t feel its loneliness.

“Nervous or not,” Maddox said, “I’m glad to enter combat with you.”

“Does that imply you think you’re going to help me?” the holoimage asked.

“Only in the sense of offering a suggestion or insight,” Maddox said. Could AI’s be touchy? This one seemed to be.

“It is too bad,” the holoimage said. “As you spoke, I assessed my weaponry. The disruptor no longer functions. With it, I could have swept these three vessels out of existence. I do not have use of the gyro destabilizer either.”

“What do you have?” Maddox asked.

“The neutron beam,” the holoimage said. “It is my most primitive weapon. Yet it did well enough against the Swarm. These New Men will not survive it, I’m sure.”

Maddox wondered about the ancient battle. “How many star systems did you control before the Swarm attacked?”

“This system,” the holoimage said.

“You hadn’t colonized other systems?”

“We had not yet used our newly discovered star drive. Victory was an experimental model, the first of its kind. Perhaps I should have attempted faster than light travel, but it doesn’t matter now.”

“By star drive,” Maddox asked, “you mean the wormhole, right?”

“Wormhole?” the holoimage asked.

“The one that begins in your star’s photosphere,” Maddox said.

“I have no idea what you’re babbling about now,” the holoimage said.

Maddox ingested the information. Could the alien not know about tramlines and Laumer-Points? It seemed inconceivable.

“Ah,” the captain said, “didn’t the Swarm burst out of the sun as these star cruisers just did?”

“Of course not,” the holoimage said. “For over one hundred years, we watched the Swarm advance toward our star system. Their massed fleet came at sub-light speed, heading straight for us. In their arrogance, they made no attempt to hide their approach.”

“Wait a minute,” Maddox said. “Let me get this straight. The Swarm didn’t use tramlines?”

“What are these tramlines you keep speaking about?” the holoimage asked.

“They’re wormholes, the means we used to enter your star system. How do you think we got here?”

“I’ve had enough of your senseless chattering,” the holoimage said. “The enemy is energizing his weapons. Can it be his beams have a greater range than ours?”

Maddox crouched over his screen, watching the void. As he did, three rays of light speared from the three enemy starships. The captain stopped breathing. Would Victory’s deflector shields hold?

Yes! Before the lances of light touched Victory, a shimmering substance halted them. The three beams poured energy against the ancient vessel’s shield. The rays turned that area red. As the enemy continued to beam, the color darkened, and the area grew larger and larger as the shield attempted to dissipate the energy.

“This is unbelievable,” the holoimage said. “Their beam range astounds me. The Swarm possessed nothing like this. Neither did we possess such long-ranged weaponry.”

Maddox gritted his teeth and balled his fists tight. The New Men continued to beam Victory’s shield. The starship began to tremble. It didn’t come from the strain against the shield. Rather, the antimatter engines whined so Maddox could hear the sound from the bridge. The thrumming engines shook the panels.

“The star cruisers are slowing down,” the holoimage said. “No. I need to close the distance faster. If only I had use of my primary weapons. I would smash these gadflies then.”

“How much longer will it take until we’re in neutron beam range?” Maddox shouted.

“No!” the holoimage groaned. “This isn’t possible.”

Maddox saw it on his screen. A beam speared through the blackened shield. The ray sped for the ancient starship and boiled against hull plating. Armor grew red hot. The beam dug deeper, deeper— “I am overriding the safety precautions,” the holoimage said. “There. That should fix it.”

A fierce high-pitched whine grew louder. The entire bridge shook harder than ever. The holoimage became dimmer, his words harder to hear.

On the screen, the enemy ray no longer melted outer armor. The deflector shield was no longer black, either. It had turned back to a brown color, with the three hellish beams trying to batter it back down.

“In a few more minutes we’ll be in range,” the holoimage whispered.

With pent up frustration, Maddox struck a panel. The alien shield was obviously better than anything the Commonwealth of Planets had. With even that improved technology, the lost vessel would immeasurably help the Star Watch against the New Men. How could he get the starship home was the question.

With their heavy laser beams, Star Watch battleships could have already been hammering the enemy. This short-range alien neutron weapon— Maddox sat up, blinking rapidly. How daft do I have to be? The AI spoke about a star drive. He doesn’t mean wormholes either. Could the aliens have discovered a different way to go faster than light?

An explosion shook the room. The motion threw Maddox out of his seat to sprawl onto the deck. He looked up from his spot.

“Did the antimatter engines blow up?” he asked.

“This is incredible,” the holoimage whispered. “One of the neutron chargers exploded. I’ve taken interior damage. The shield—”

Maddox scrambled to his feet, rushing to the screen. On it, he witnessed three savage beams digging into the vessel’s hull armor. Victory’s deflector shield had disappeared. Pieces of starship melted away in great globular clumps.

“Do something!” Maddox shouted.

“Yes, I will attack now,” the holoimage said. “In dying, I will strike a fearful blow.”

A supercharged purple beam lanced out of the starship. It struck the nearest star cruiser. The alien beam boiled against the enemy screen. First, the shield turned red, then brown and then black. Afterward, the neutron beam speared against the cruiser.

“Yes!” Maddox shouted. “Yes. Yes.”

Star cruiser armor blew apart as the neutron beam dug into the enemy vessel. This was fantastic. The New Men weren’t invincible after all.

“I must attempt the hyper-drive,” the holoimage said. “Otherwise, the enemy will annihilate the greatest starship in history.”

For a terrible moment, intense vertigo overcame Maddox. His eyesight failed him. He heard roaring sounds. It felt as if he left his body and exotic colors swirled around him. Then everything became quiet. It felt as if he floated in space. The next second, the roaring in his ears and a brilliant flash caused his senses to overload. He felt himself thrashing on the deck and shouting incoherently. Then, every color seemed to fly inward toward him—and normalcy returned to the bridge. It left Maddox blinking and panting on the floor. With strangely rusted muscles, he turned to the holoimage.

“What happened?”

The holoimage had frozen. It said nothing.

Painfully, Maddox climbed to his feet and checked his screen. No beams burned into Victory. He saw the void with its distant stars, and something seemed very wrong. He frowned, trying to figure out what the something was. Then he realized that he no longer saw the red giant.

What does that mean?

Ah, Maddox noticed that he still saw the red nimbus. They were still in the alien star system. Yes, he noticed several wrecks. Yet the red light seemed to come from the wrong direction, from the opposite direction as before.

“It worked,” the holoimage said.

The captain whirled around. The thing was hardly visible, but it moved. “What worked?” Maddox asked.

“The hyper-drive was a success,” the holoimage said, “although extremely limited in range.”

“We jumped?”

“I suppose that is the correct way to describe it,” the holoimage whispered. “We were there, and now we’re here on the other side of the star. The others are hunting for us with their sensors. If they move to a new position so we’re no longer hidden by the star, they will no doubt find us soon enough.”

“Hyper-drive,” Maddox said. “You can jump without having to use a wormhole. Why, this is fantastic.”

“Why do you say so?” the holoimage asked.

“You can escape the New Men. Let’s go. Let’s jump to a different star system right now.”

“No,” the holoimage said. “You are incorrect in your assessment for several reasons. Firstly, I will not abandon my home system to these primitive invaders. Secondly, the hyper-drive was badly damaged in its limited use just now. Remember, I said it was experimental in nature. The star drive has become inoperative. Instead, I will use my last robot to effect what repairs I can to ship damage. Then I shall finish the fight with these arrogant whelps.”

“I hate to say this,” Maddox said, “but I don’t think you can defeat the three star cruisers with the weaponry you have at hand.”

“Perhaps not,” the holoimage admitted. “But I cannot conceive of a better way to cease existence than fighting for what I love.”

“But—” Maddox said.

“Prepare for the final encounter, Captain. Victory is heading back toward the star, seeing if we cannot surprise the enemy.”