Vaughn Heppner - The Lost Starship

“I’m sure you could crack it,” Maddox said.

“That goes without saying. He was smart. I’m smarter.”

Maddox pursed his lips. “I must say, Doctor. You’re a difficult person to like.”

“All you mean is that I’m not doing what you want. As you can see, I’m too wise to fall for your ploys.”

“Nevertheless, you are in the same predicament as us. You’re in the same craft. The New Men are hunting for us, meaning they’re also hunting for you. What will you do as they close in? You must come to your senses before they trap us, and you, for good.”

“You forget,” Dana said. “I was on Loki Prime, more trapped than anywhere in the universe. Yet, I escaped.”

Maddox could have pointed out that he was the one who had taken her off the planet. Instead, he shifted directions because he realized that an appeal to her better nature wasn’t going to work. Doctor Rich was proud. She was ambitious, and she obviously looked down on others. She was hyper-intelligent. That must have meant a childhood full of loneliness. Maddox knew something about that.

He now snorted softly.

She bristled.

Seeing her reaction, he changed tactics. He would needle her, after all. “You didn’t escape from Loki Prime,” Maddox said. “I did that, taking you with me. Don’t you realize I won’t always be there to save your ugly hide from the New Men?”

“Ha!” she said. “Nice try. I’m not as sensitive or as vain as you seem to think. Let me tell you something. You need me. I don’t need you.”

“If I have to,” Maddox said, “I will decipher Ludendorff’s notes on my own and take us to the alien system.”

“Once you’re there,” Dana asked, “how will you trick the sentinel into letting you board?”

Maddox shrugged as if it would be child’s play.

“You do know that you’re racing to your destruction,” she said.

“Possibly,” he said. “I’m also taking you with me.”

“You’ll have to drop me off first.”

“Under normal circumstances I’d be happy to oblige. I’m afraid with the destroyer on our tail that I cannot.”

“That’s madness,” Dana said. “You’ve already admitted the scout is limping along. They have a fully functional machine. You will not shake them. The only rational choice is to return to a Star Watch shipyard and effect repairs.”

“In this you are correct,” Maddox said. “I am irrational and will stubbornly attempt the mission no matter how poor the odds are of succeeding.”

She squinted at him. “You’re bluffing.”

“Did I try to bluff the New Man on Loki?”

“No…” she said. “You shot him, but he still got away.”

Maddox wanted to shout with frustration, pick up his chair and hurl it at her. What would it take to convince this stubborn genius?

“Look at it this way,” said Maddox. “The destroyer isn’t going to give up. That means we’ll barely stay ahead of them. Whatever else I do, I’ll take the scout into the Beyond. Without your help, I’ll make mistakes deciphering the professor’s notes. That means a longer journey than otherwise. The longer this trip takes, the greater chance that I slip up and they catch us. That personally affects you, Doctor.”

She lay back down and stared up at the ceiling. “At least I get to live longer this way—your proposed zigzag journey through the Beyond. Once we reach the alien system, our lives will be measured in hours, not decades.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” Maddox said. “Let me assure you, Doctor, you won’t hijack my vessel.”

She didn’t answer.

“If it’s in my best interests,” Maddox said, “I can always give you the same drugs as before, put you back to sleep.”

“True enough, you can,” she said, “but you won’t.”

“If I don’t, you’ll be spending a lot of time alone locked in your quarters.”

“We’ll see how well Meta does with that,” Dana said.

Frustration seethed through Maddox. He realized she wasn’t going to budge now. That meant he’d have to start reading Ludendorff’s notes again. He couldn’t believe freeing Doctor Rich had actually hindered their mission instead of aiding it. The scout wouldn’t be in this poor condition if he hadn’t gone down to Loki Prime.

“You know you’ll never decipher the professor’s notes,” she said. “You lack the brainpower. Thus, this mission is doomed to failure.”

“I don’t understand why you’re aiding the New Men, Doctor.”

“I’m not aiding them. I already told you once. I hate the Commonwealth of Planets and think even less of the Windsor League and the Wahhabi Caliphate. Let the New Men make a clean sweep of it. In time, I’m going to get a starship of my own. Then, I’m heading far, far away, Captain. So you see, your threat of heading even deeper into the Beyond is no threat at all, but a boon for my plans. By all means, take us far away from your precious Commonwealth and its oh so high and mighty Star Watch. Good riddance to them all.”

Silently, Maddox admitted defeat. “Very well, you’ve convinced me. Let me help you to your new quarters.”

“I can walk on my own,” she said. With that, she struggled off the robo-doctor and limped for the hatch.

Maddox followed, knowing he’d have to keep a sharp eye on her, or despite his best efforts, she would hijack the vessel.

The deadly game of tag begun with the Saint Petersburg in Earth orbit and taken to the Loki System now entered its most frustrating phase for Captain Maddox.

With its head start, the Geronimo slipped from the barren star system. For a day—twenty-three hours to be precise—it seemed they had finally shaken off the destroyer. Instead, as the scout neared the next Laumer-Point, the Saint Petersburg entered the same star system. After two hours of active sensor sweeps, the destroyer accelerated hard for the jump point the scout neared.

“Since the mine-attack, our cloaking device no longer functions one hundred percent,” Valerie said. “They must be able to see us.”

Maddox stood in the control room, staring at the lieutenant’s view-screen. The Saint Petersburg aimed at them like an arrow, if six hundred million kilometers away. He hated the New Man over there, and he hoped the commander’s ribs hurt where he’d shot him on Loki Prime.

The scout’s engine worked after a fashion. The gravity generator shook the wounded scout too much when employed. The cloaking device—as the lieutenant suggested was still less than perfect.

“Drop the cloak,” Maddox said.

“What if the destroyer’s crew just guessed right?” Valerie asked. “If we appear now, that will let them know exactly what to look for next time.”

Maddox didn’t think so, but it was possible the lieutenant was right. He put his hands behind his back, squeezing his fingers into fists. This was different than his normal spying mission. Given a situation like this on Earth, he would…

Maddox shook his head. To win this time, he had to accept that his choices could produce defeat. He had to think , and he had to accept responsibility. If Valerie had a better idea than he did, he should use it. Captaining a starship, even a small one like the scout, was an art. It was conceivable he still had much to learn in this area.

“Maintain the cloak,” he said.

Now it was Keith’s turn. “If we remain cloaked, the destroyer is going to catch up,” the pilot said. “We have to move as fast as we can, and we don’t dare use the gravity generator until further repairs have strengthened the scout’s structures.”

“Understood,” said Maddox. “Stay cloaked, but put the fusion thruster online.”