Vaughn Heppner - The Lost Starship

Maddox glided away toward the voices. The gloom was less dense here than lower down on the mountain. He heard fire crackle in the distance, and the smell of smoke became noticeable. The voices had stopped speaking, but he could hear footfalls.

He circled them. Sergeant Riker had told him the natives were expert woodsmen. If he came at them from a different direction, he might catch his trackers by surprise. Determination hardened in Maddox’s heart. He strained to move soundlessly and quickly. It was a good thing he wore his camouflage gear.

Then his nape hairs rose. Maddox froze, straining to sense what had alerted him. Danger flowed around him. He felt the threat grow. Holding his breath, the captain rotated his neck, looking in one direction and then another. He couldn’t see anything except for foliage. He had to keep moving.

With infinite care, he stepped softly, avoiding anything that might crackle or snap. He suppressed the urgency to know, to stare. He had come to believe that people gave off an unknowable sensation that a few individuals could sense. It was how he’d found the sniper so quickly in Glasgow. Maddox let himself blend into his surroundings.

His throat caught. The fierce warning of danger resumed. Once more, he froze. Something— Then Captain Maddox saw something out of the corner of his eye. A golden-skinned individual walked through a small clearing. The man did it with much of the care the captain had just been practicing. There was a sense of intense athleticism to the New Man, as if he were some great cat in human guise. He wore a dark garment, tight at the ankles, wrists and throat. Only the hands and face showed the golden color. A hat covered his head, hiding the hair. The invader held a flat pistol. The man’s face—Maddox wanted to turn his head to get a better look.

He resisted the urge. The slightest movement would give him away. The combat video he’d seen from Odin made him extra cautious. There, on the invaded planet in a spaceport, a single New Man had seemingly successfully charged suited space marines. Maddox only had his gun.

The fleeting glimpse of the New Man’s face allowed Maddox a snapshot of his enemy. He sensed anger from the invader, a desire to kill and arrogance. The golden-skinned human would stamp out anyone who got in his way.

After the momentary glimpse, Maddox doused his curiosity to mute any telltale emanations.

Maddox didn’t know how he’d given himself away, but the New Man began turning his head toward the captain.

Before the captain could discover the answer, the undergrowth creaked. The sound came from the other side of the clearing. A leaf shook over there.

The New Man moved like greased death. Four times, he fired, sending bullets into the undergrowth. Someone grunted painfully back there. An unseen body thudded onto the ground. Another person staggered, crashing through foliage. She burst into sight, clutching a flintlock against her chest. Blood poured from her throat. Her eyes were glazed with approaching death.

The New Man snapped off another shot, obliterating her head.

As the golden-skinned superman fired the last time, Maddox brought up his gun. He moved faster than he could ever remember doing. He’d been waiting for the chance to act while the other was occupied. Even so, the New Man proved uncanny in his abilities.

Maddox pulled the trigger. The gun bucked in his hand. A bullet exited the barrel. The New Man had already reacted, diving away. Maddox saw this, adjusted, pulled the trigger a second time. The gun bucked once more, sending a second round at what should have been an easy target.

By now, the New Man had rotated his body, bringing up his flat weapon to fire back.

Maddox shot a third time. His mind moved at hyper-speed. He shot where he judged the New Man would be as the invader dodged yet again.

Then the golden-skinned man fired his gun from around his torso at Maddox. It was a trick shot.

Time resumed its normal speed. Maddox’s first bullet missed. The second grazed enemy skin. The third pitched the New Man off his feet, entering against the ribs. The invader slid across the ground. Bright red blood spurted from his side, staining his garment.

At the same time, a bullet flashed past Maddox’s head. He could feel the burn of its passage, although it missed hitting flesh by the proverbial hair’s width. The round made his left eye blink rapidly. That caused him to jerk away, duck and finally roll, as he figured the New Man must be sighting him for another shot.

An entire second ticked away as Maddox completed his roll. He was on his feet in a low crouch, scanning where the New Man should be. Instead of seeing the invader aim at him, or lying shot on the ground, Maddox caught a last glimpse. The golden-skinned invader fled, disappearing into the undergrowth. His running speed was incredible.

What just happened here?

Maddox had never seen anyone move so fast. And the man had made his decisions faster than lightning.

With a feeling of unreality, Maddox stood. He wasn’t used to being dazed like this.

You don’t have any time to waste. You have to act decisively, and you have to do it now.

“Right,” he whispered. Maddox hurried to the fallen weapon. He reached down for it— “If you touch the gun, you’re dead,” a hidden woman said.

Maddox debated grabbing the gun anyway and rolling. The voice indicated a person with icy calm. He waited one second, two. Then he said, “The New Man will be back.”

“You mean golden-boy?” the woman asked.

“They consider themselves superior to ordinary humans.”

“Drop your gun,” the woman said, “and don’t try to touch his.”

Maddox listened, trying to pinpoint the woman’s exact position. At the same time, he let his weapon thud onto the soil.

“Straighten up,” she said.

He followed orders.

“Face me,” the woman said.

Maddox found himself staring at a medium-sized woman with brown clothes, a dark ponytail and darker skin. She aimed a flintlock at him, and her hands were perfectly steady.

“Doctor Dana Rich,” Maddox said.

Suspicion flared across her features. “How do you know me?”

“I’ve come to take you off Loki Prime.”

It took a half-beat. Then she said, “You’re the second person to say that today. I want to know why.”

“I’m here because of the golden-skinned man you just saw. His kind is invading the Oikumene.”

“Good. I think I’ll aid them. Your people stuck me on this filthy piece of sod. You think after that I want to help the Commonwealth or the Windsor League?”

“The New Men won’t reward you for long, Dr. Rich.”

“Wrong,” she said. “Before your missiles smashed their shuttle and killed the leader, they offered me more than you possibly could.”

“Oh, right,” said Maddox. “That’s why he killed those people.” He indicated the headless woman prone on the ground. There must be more dead hidden in the undergrowth. “You’re spinning fabrications, Doctor.”

“I don’t care for people calling me a liar.”

“Then don’t lie to me,” Maddox told her.

From the undergrowth in the direction he’d come, Maddox heard a branch snap, leaves rustle and finally a muffled grunt of a pain.

“We have to flee,” he told Dana. “The New Man must have doubled back.”

“Don’t be absurd,” she said. “If he was here, we’d already be dead.”

Maddox looked at her questioningly.

“I’m beyond caring whether I live or die,” she said. “This planet has sucked the joy of life from me.”

Dana Rich didn’t look defeated as she squinted down the rifle barrel at him, more like icily determined to overcome anything thrown at her.

“On your knees,” she said. “It’s time you answered some questions.”