The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) (26 page)

The captain was thinking, trying to put the pieces together. The Shanghai android had kidnapped him. The Ludendorff holoimage had begged him to come here. Port Admiral Hayes was gone, with utterly no sign of the flotilla. Surely, in time, Hayes would have inspected the Nexus. The anomaly must be—

“Lieutenant,” Maddox said, crisply. “Turn on the Laumer Drive.”

“Sir?” Valerie asked.

“Please act with alacrity,” Maddox said. “Every second may count.”

“I’m turning on the Laumer Drive,” she said, tapping her board.

Immediately, the silvery whirlpool changed complexion. The silver color vanished. In its place was darkness that seemed to vanish into infinity like a tunnel.

“A portal,” Valerie whispered.

“Good thinking, sir,” Keith said.

“But I don’t understand this,” Valerie said. “If it’s like a Laumer-Point, how can it be moving? That doesn’t make sense.”

“A new type of physics perhaps,” Maddox said.

“I suggest we jump out of danger,” Galyan said. “Let us evaluate this at our leisure.”

“Your advice is noted,” Maddox said. “But I will decline it today. Second Lieutenant, stop retreating. I’ve changed my mind. We will advance into the anomaly.”

“Captain,” Valerie said, growing pale. “That seems unnecessarily rash.”

“Shut down the disruptor cannon,” Maddox said. “We don’t want it on while we go through and Jump Lag distorts critical systems. Second Lieutenant, do we have any Baxter-Locke shots?”

“That we do, sir.”

“Listen to me,” Maddox told the others. “We’re going in ready to fight. Our enemy expects us to run. It will take too long to use the star drive. That means it’s unlikely we can outrun the anomaly. Thus, we will commit the least expected action—we will charge it. ”

“This is extremely rash, sir,” Valerie warned.

“The anomaly strikes me as the answer to what happened to Port Admiral Hayes,” the captain said. “I plan to rescue him and the flotilla if I can.”

“I know we saved the Fifth Fleet before, sir,” Valerie said, “But this time—”

“Hurry with those shots,” Maddox told Keith.

The small Scotsman leaped up with a fistful of hypos in his hand.

Maddox retreated to the command chair. Soon, Keith came to him, giving him one of the injections. The shots helped against Jump Lag, although it could cripple, too. The injection made the captain feel itchy and sticky, which was good. That meant the drug was working.

The swirling blackness raced nearer. It had grown to an immense size, easily able to swallow the starship.

“The disruptor cannon is offline, sir,” Galyan said.

“Be ready to warm it up as soon as we exit the wormhole,” Maddox said.

-28-

Victory
had halted its run while the anomaly’s speed increased. The Adok vessel had almost reached a complete stop by the time the strange entrance engulfed the starship.

“Dear God,” Valerie prayed, “please help me. Help all of us.”

“Aye,” Keith muttered, crossing himself.

Then, the ancient starship was in the transfer point. Maddox forced his eyes wide open. One second,
Victory
entered the blackness. The next, a sensation of incredible speed took hold. Everything became dark and everything seemed to flash past the starship. The bulkheads around them shook.

Maddox called out, but the sound came out distorted, as if time had twisted out of sorts. Colors changed. The captain felt the gore rise in him. He snapped his mouth closed, refusing to give in to pain or weakness. The shaking around him increased. The sense of speed and vast distance grew disproportionately. A warbled scream floated across the bridge. At that point, the bridge seemed to flow together as if in a nightmare. The captain felt as if he
smelled
the weird colors and
saw
sounds like waves in a sea. His gripping fingertips
tasted
the ends of the armrests.

Abruptly, the weirdness reversed itself. The bridge quit melting into odd forms and hardened back into its regular shapes. The blackness around the ship remained the same—

No! He spied an exit that rushed toward them. Everything slowed and the mighty starship popped out of the transfer tube—if that’s what it was—and drifted once again in normal space.

The screen and most of the ship’s systems shut down at that point due to Jump Lag.

Maddox stood. The Baxter-Locke shot had done its trick. He hardly felt the ill effects of the journey, just a dryness of the tongue.

“Is anyone else okay yet?” the captain asked.

“I am, sir,” Valerie said.

“Good. Did you experience anything bizarre during the journey?”

“Yes,” she said in a small voice. “It was…frightening.”

“Right,” Maddox said. “Let’s get our ship working. We don’t know what kind of committee is waiting for us.”

Valerie turned to her panel, tapping away. “It’s dead, sir. It’s going to take—”

At that moment, the starship’s systems began to come back online.

“That was quick,” Valerie said. “Much quicker than usual.”

“Oooo,” Keith said, raising his head off the flight panel. “It feels as if I have a hangover.”

“You’re fine, Second Lieutenant,” Maddox said. Just like Jump Lag, the Baxter-Locke shots worked differently on different people. “Get the ship ready for battle.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” Keith muttered, as he tried to rub something off his tongue.

After several minutes, the main screen finally flickered on, but Galyan was still motionless.

Maddox slid to the edge of his chair, studying space. Something felt off, but he couldn’t place it. He kept searching. The system star was muted, more than any other he’d seen in his travels.

“Is that a white dwarf?” the captain asked.

“Sir,” Valerie said, with dread in her voice. “I can’t believe what my sensors are showing me.” She fell silent, staring at her instruments.

“Spit it out, Lieutenant. Every second may count.”

“Sir…” she said, waving her hand in a vague manner.

“There’s an enemy ship directly behind our stern!” Keith shouted. “It’s firing.”

“Give me a visual,” Maddox said

Keith tapped his board.

The image on the main screen shifted. A huge, saucer-shaped vessel possible three times
Victory’s
size fired a beam. It struck the collapsium hull armor, as the shield hadn’t come back online yet.

“Give me propulsion,” Maddox said. “Don’t let them keep hitting the same spot. Lieutenant, hail the vessel. Tell them we’re friendly. Galyan—Galyan are you awake yet?”

There was no answer from the frozen holoimage.

Once again, a beam struck the starship, but it was at a different location.

“It’s a heavy laser, sir,” Valerie said. She seemed hyper-focused on it, as if she didn’t want to look at other sensor readings. “At least they don’t have better weaponry than us. That suggests the enemy ship doesn’t belong to the New Men.”

Maddox clicked the comm on his armrest. “I am requesting that you stop firing. We are friendly. I repeat—”

“There’s an incoming message, sir,” Valerie said. “I’m putting it on the main screen.”

The main screen wavered. Then a metal construct vaguely humanoid appeared. The head was box-shaped. It opened its orifice and high-speed words came out.

“Can the computer analyze that?” Maddox asked.

“Maybe,” Valerie said, sounding dubious.

The metal creature tilted its head. Lights flashed in its eyes. The orifice—or mouth—closed and opened again.

“You use a variation of Anglic two point three,” the robot said. “That is interesting. Now, we will work on specifics. I demand your immediate surrender.”

“Of course,” Maddox said. “We do surrender. Who do I have the privilege of addressing?”

“That is not germane to your surrender,” the robot said. “I am sending a launch to your ship. Your crew will board the launch and head to the habitable sphere.”

“Can you point out the sphere?” Maddox asked. “We haven’t spotted it yet.”

“Your curiosity suggests you are planning a deception. A moment while I coordinate.”

The main screen went blank.

“Galyan,” Maddox hissed.

“Yes, Captain. I am awake.”

“Good. Get the disruptor cannon ready. Lieutenant—”

“The shield is energizing, sir,” Valerie said.

The main screen flickered and the robot reappeared. “You must lower your shield immediately, as that is part of the surrender process.”

“Yes, of course,” Maddox said smoothly. All appearances of concern had vanished from his face. “Thank you for your—”

“Do you understand what lower means?” the robot asked, interrupting. “De-energize your shield this instant.”

“I do indeed understand the term ‘lower,’” Maddox said in a friendly tone. “And I appreciate your query.”

“That you understand means you have affirmed my command.”

“That is correct,” Maddox said. “May I add that communicating with you is a delight?”

“Your courtesy is noted and appreciated. However, your shield is still up. I demand an immediate lowering to prove you are surrendering to me. I have strict protocols. Your delay, whether manufactured or by accident, will soon result in the destruction of your vessel.”

“I have ordered the shield lowered,” Maddox said. “At times, my crew acts in a slovenly manner. I will have the slack crewmembers punished for this unconscionable delay.”

“A slovenly crew,” the robot said. “I had not anticipated such a thing. A moment while I check—warning! My instruments reveal that your ship is readying a disruptor cannon.”

“That can’t be,” Maddox said. “I have not ordered such a dastardly action. We are guests in your star system and wish to comply in every way.”

“Lower your shield and shut down your offensive weaponry.”

“I hesitate to suggest such a thing,” Maddox said. “And please believe me when I tell you that absolutely no slight is intended. But could your instruments be at fault?”

“They cannot possibly be faulty, as I have perfect instrumentation.”

“How fortunate for you,” Maddox said, sounding envious. “I wish I could say the same for my ship’s instruments. Ah. I have good news. My crew has informed me that they are shutting down the shield and cannon. We await your launch with—”

“One moment,” the robot said. It eyes flashed with blinking lights. When they returned to normal luminosity, the creature asked, “Are you Captain Maddox?”

“Who is he?” the captain asked.

The eye-lights dimmed and then brightened once more. “You fit the suggested form of Captain Maddox. I also detect a deception in progress. I will fire in three seconds unless you lower the shield and turn off your weaponry.”

“May I ask you a question first?”

“Yes.”

“Have you heard of Professor Ludendorff?”

“I have. He is the one who instructed me in your appearance and placed my protocols.”

Keith cursed at his station.

“This changes matters considerably,” Maddox said. “I will only surrender to Professor Ludendorff. Please put him on the screen.”

“Negative,” the robot said.

“They’ve started firing again,” Valerie said.

The main screen wavered, showing a heavy laser striking the shield. Another laser beam lanced out from the giant saucer-ship, and another and a fourth. They concentrated on one tiny spot, turning the shield there a cherry red and then a deeper brown color.

“They will achieve a burn-through sooner than we like,” Valerie said.

“Shall I employ the neutron beam?” Galyan asked.

“No,” Maddox said. “We’re going to hit them hard with the disruptor.”

“That will be cutting it close, sir,” Valerie said. “These are incredibly heavy lasers. Their wattage is equal to seven SW battleships combined.”

Maddox nodded, waiting, wondering if the real Professor Ludendorff had told the robot these things or if that Ludendorff had been an android.

“Second Lieutenant,” Maddox said. “Do you have any idea of our location compared to our last known spot in the Xerxes System?”

“Not yet,” Keith said. “I’ve been too busy to check.”

“I know our stellar position, sir,” Valerie said, as she worked her board. “I figured it out almost right away. It’s what had me speechless. You’re not going to believe this, sir, but we’re one thousand light-years from our last location.”

Maddox stared the lieutenant.

“I wish I could enjoy the moment,” Valerie said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you startled before, sir.”

Maddox shifted on his chair, closing his mouth. “Galyan, how much longer until the disruptor cannon is ready?”

“Three minutes, sir.”

The area of shield was changing color from brown to black.

“I can still use the neutron beam, sir,” Galyan said.

Maddox shook his head. He wanted to put as much of the ship’s power as possible into the disruptor beam at the first strike. He wanted to obliterate the enemy vessel if he could as fast as possible.

One thousand light-years—that was incredible. He didn’t doubt the lieutenant. The technology for such a leap…these must be Builders. Maybe the creature speaking to him was a Builder. But then why did its ship only have heavy lasers?

There was something else. Had the thousand light-year transfer tube swept up Port Admiral Hayes and his people? That seemed like the most obvious answer.

“Does the enemy vessel possess a shield?” Maddox asked.

“The same kind as a star cruiser, sir,” Valerie said.

“The same strength, too?” the captain asked.

“Maybe fifty percent stronger,” Valerie said. “Oh-oh,” she said, “they have burn-through.”

The enemy beams punched through
Victory’s
shield to strike the collapsium hull armor. Collapsium was the best armor anywhere, made of collapsed molecules. That made the hull armor incredibly dense.

The beams where they hit turned the collapsium red. They continued to strike in one area. A slug of collapsium wobbled off the hull, floating away. The lasers were digging deeper.

“Our cannon is online, sir,” Galyan said.

“Excellent,” Maddox said. “Fire at will until the enemy ship is destroyed.”

The antimatter engines built up power. Then, the disruptor beam shot from
Victory
, reaching across the fifteen thousand kilometers to strike the enemy vessel.

The disruptor cannon was much more powerful than a mere laser, even a laser seven times stronger than one on a SW battleship. The disruptor beam turned the enemy shield to brown almost right away.

“Sir,” Valerie said.

Maddox waved her to silence. He didn’t want any warnings about this. Either their beam chewed into the enemy’s innards first or the enemy did it to
Victory
. It was a simple equation with only one winner and possibly two losers.

“If these are Builders,” Galyan said, “why is our weaponry superior to theirs?”

“You think they’re Builders?” Maddox asked.

“It is the most logical answer, but it isn’t conclusive.”

Maddox watched the disruptor beam strike the blackening shield. The enemy ship dwarfed theirs, but it wasn’t anything like the alien Destroyer. He did not sense vast age, either. There wasn’t a feeling of evil to the spacecraft. Of course, he wasn’t as close to it as he’d been to the Destroyer.

“Look,” Valerie said, her voice quivering. “There’s a fifth laser. Sir, we’re in danger of a burn-through to the hull. Maybe…maybe surrender is better than destruction. If Professor Ludendorff is here, we can still bargain, can’t we?”