Vaughn Heppner - The Lost Starship

Maddox scowled. The New Man on Loki had fired into the undergrowth, unerringly hitting his targets. That had been uncanny. The man’s running speed was faster than Maddox could have sprinted. He also happened to know that he ran much faster than others could.

Maybe this is my mission in life. I’m alive to halt a monstrous racial war. Yes, I drugged Doctor Rich. I did it to keep her out of the way for a time. The mine almost finished us. We had to fix the scout before the destroyer came and demolished us. The Saint Petersburg may annihilate us anyway. I drugged the doctor because it’s harder for one person to resist others mentally when they’re on their own. According to Valerie, Meta has come closer to our way of thinking. We need her .

On the table, Dana smacked her lips. Even though her eyes remained closed, she reached up and began to rub her face.

Even more than Meta, Maddox thought, we need this unpredictable woman. Without her, the operation is likely doomed to failure. How can I convince her to help us? Do I dare try to trick her? Maybe it’s better to lay my cards face-up. What will sway Dana Rich? What should I base my appeal on? You’re supposed to be a smart operator, Captain. What would appeal to me if I were in her shoes?

Yes. That was the question. Know yourself and you could know others.

“What… what happened to me?” Dana whispered in a dry voice.

Maddox held his breath. Here we go . Then, he stood and approached her with a glass of water.

Dana struggled to a sitting position. Although noticing it at first, she ignored the tumbler in his hand. First glancing around, she asked, “How long have I been here?”

He gave her the number in days.

Gingerly, Dana touched the back of her head. She gave him a suspicious glance as he explained how she’d been knocked unconscious and into a coma.

When he finished, she said, “I haven’t been in a coma. The signs are wrong. The truth is you drugged me.”

“The robo-doctor gave you medicine,” Maddox said.

“You know what I mean. By your decision, you put me under. I want to know why you did it.”

“Here,” Maddox said, pushing the water forward.

He could see in her eyes that she wanted to slap the glass away. Finally, she snatched the tumbler, spilling liquid. He wondered if she would fling it in his face. No. She sipped. Finally, she drank the glass dry. Then, she let the container slide from her fingers to bounce off the deck.

“What’s the situation with the scout?” she asked. “The engine sounds different.”

Ignoring the glass, he told her about their repairs, and how the Saint Petersburg was in the same star system with them.

Her eyes darted from side to side thoughtfully. When her orbs came to a rest, she said, “Okay. The destroyer is hunting us. Isn’t that what you’re saying?”

“It is,” Maddox agreed.

“I could have helped with the repairs,” Dana said. “I can do more than Meta.”

“I believe you. The thing is, Doctor, it’s easier to trust Meta than to trust you.”

Her eyes widened until understanding fired in her pupils. “Oh, I see. You’re trying to win her over to your cause. With me out of the way, you could persuade her more easily. Yes. I understand now.”

“And?” Maddox said.

“What do you mean, ‘and?’”

“Aren’t you going to tell me that my trickery won’t work?”

“I don’t engage in useless comments,” Dana said. “Of course your skullduggery could work. It’s a common enough tactic, building camaraderie under extreme conditions. Meta hungers for friends. She’s a lonely person.”

“You aren’t?”

Dana smiled as a predator might. “If I thought about it, I might have time for loneliness. Your trouble, Captain, is that you ponder things too much. You’re much more transparent than you realize.”

“Oh?”

“How is it that your people chose you to try to beat the New Men?” she asked.

Tension bubbled in his chest. “Could you explain your statement?” he asked.

“I don’t have to. Your reaction tells me I struck a nerve. Let me tell you something about your operation. Your plan to gain the sentinel is futile. It won’t work.”

“Doctor Ludendorff believed it could work,” Maddox said.

Dana made a dismissive gesture. “Ludendorff is a hopeless romantic. Yes, the man is brilliant. I concede that much. Frankly, that’s part of his problem. His brilliance blinds him to what can and can’t be done. Most of his life, he’s been doing things everyone told him was impossible. Thus, when he finally came to an impossible situation—I’m talking about the alien star system—he was too puffed up to realize we all would have died if I hadn’t acted quickly enough getting us out of there.”

“Why exactly is gaining the sentinel impossible?”

“You’re a smart man, Captain. At least, you seem capable enough. It should be elementary to figure out the reason.”

“Why don’t you tell me,” Maddox suggested.

Dana looked at him as if he’d become simple-minded. “Ludendorff estimated the alien war to have taken place nearly six thousand years ago. Knowing the man, he’s probably right. Let me ask you something. Can you imagine how long ago that was? Oh, I understand that you think you can. You can’t, though, not really. The timeframe contains all of humanity’s recorded history, everything. The sentinel is impossibly old, yet it is still dangerous. Don’t you think others throughout the centuries tried to tame it as you’re hoping to do?”

“I have no idea,” Maddox said. “By the articles I’ve read, the aliens vanished long ago. Maybe this is the first attempt since their disappearance.”

“Even if you’re right, the sentinel would be too different for us to use. Its controls are likely based on incomprehensible alien realities, at least as we think of them.”

“Wouldn’t rational minds think alike?” Maddox asked. “For instance, aliens must have used the same mathematics we have.”

“Clearly, you’ve read Ludendorff’s notes,” Dana said. “He spoke as you do. No! I reject the concept out of hand. Different races from different worlds would think and act inconceivably different from us.”

“Then how do we defeat the New Men’s star cruisers?” Maddox asked.

“Not my job,” Dana said.

“We—meaning you as well—are presently hunted by a New Man.”

“Correction, you’re hunted by a Star Watch destroyer. I’m beginning to suspect your entire story, Captain. I think you have a completely different agenda in mind, one you’re refusing to tell us.”

“No,” Maddox said. “That doesn’t fly. You saw the New Men down on the planet. You witnessed them and you know they’re incredibly dangerous to us. They have several edges over regular humans, not least of which is that they know us but we know very little about them. Tell me, Doctor. What must I do to convince you to aid us?”

“Nothing,” she said, “because I’m never going to help you in the way you want. It’s death to go back.”

“At least show us how to get to the alien star system. I’ll drop you off before we reach it.”

“Forget it,” she said. “Firstly, I don’t trust you. You drugged me, Captain. You lack a sense of decency. Secondly, if you want to go there, you have Ludendorff’s notes. Read them and use them.”

Maddox stared into her eyes, feeling like a deer watching a wolf panting under a tree. “I believe the professor wrote in code,” he said.

An eyebrow lifted. “So, you’re more intelligent than I’ve given you credit for. Yes, the professor was a maniac about security. He put everything he wrote into an inscrutable cipher.”