“I’ve learned what I’ve come here to find,” Ludendorff told Dana the next day. “I’m leaving Brahma tonight. You must join me.”
“What? No. I-I can’t do that to my family.”
“Of course you can. They’re good people. I know that. But they’re hidebound like ninety-nine percent of humanity. Come with me, Dana. I’m going to find the most incredible archeological find of the millennia.”
“What is that?” she asked.
A secretive look she came to know well darkened his features. Ludendorff shook his head. “I can’t tell you, not yet. But it will be an adventure, I promise you. I could use your intellect. No. I take that back. I positively need it.”
That had been the key. Dana joined him, leaving Brahma for the first time.
For six years, they searched for the hidden Adok System. Dana grew up a lot in that time. Ludendorff blew hot and cold. The man was unlike anyone she had ever met. There were hidden depths to him that he rarely showed. Slowly, she came to understand that Ludendorff only trusted one person: himself. He did not subscribe to common thinking or custom, but did everything his own way. Ludendorff always thought he was right. The man was arrogant beyond anything her father had shown, beyond anyone she’d met.
What made Ludendorff that way? Dana Rich worked as hard to discover that as to find the lost starship.
“You’re a Methuselah Man,” she told him one evening as they had watch together in their spaceship.
Ludendorff’s head jerked around. Those eyes that had shined with love on so many occasions became dark with suspicion. It frightened Dana. Would he kill her? Finally, Ludendorff smiled.
“It’s true,” he said. “Come. Let me show you what that means.”
The lovemaking in the past had paled in comparison to that night. The pleasure flowing through her had been too much for her to scream. It was as if he tried to forge new chains on her. How could he make her feel like this? It was remarkable and frightening.
“Professor,” she said later, as they lay entwined on the bed.
“Hmm?” he asked.
“How can you do these things to me?”
“It’s called love, dear girl. You must understand that.”
“No. You did something else tonight.”
“That’s true,” he admitted.
“Why have you waited so long to show me this?”
Ludendorff smiled sadly, as he stroked her cheek. “Dana, dear Dana, I trust you now. That means you cannot leave me. No one can do to you as I have. You realize that, yes?”
She nodded mutely. It was true, she realized.
“We will have many nights together,” he said. “This isn’t even the highest state of lovemaking. There are loftier stages, incredible heights of passion we can reach. First, I must teach you how to control your body.”
“Dearest?” she asked.
Ludendorff chuckled. “In truth, Dana, I have already begun your training. You have no idea what I can show you. This is only the beginning.”
“Didn’t you trust me before?”
He frowned and looked away. Finally, he reached for her, and they made love one more time.
It should have been sheer ecstasy being with the professor. He was right about the world opening up for her. He did show her things and teach her new modes of thought. And the body control he taught her allowed them to reach greater heights of passion.
In the end, she betrayed him for more reasons than simple fear in the Adok System. The lost starship had been frightening, and Dana believed they would all die before boarding the vessel. But it had been more than that. Ludendorff had begun to seem like a devil to her, offering her insights and riches beyond her dreams. She dreaded the coming payment for these things. There was something in Ludendorff beyond her understanding, something that deeply frightened her. He wasn’t like other men. His depths were an abyss she didn’t want to plummet.
“Why are you like this?” she asked him the night before she betrayed him.
They had found the smashed Adok System and hid from the last Adok starship.
Once more, Ludendorff studied her with darkness in his gaze. She shivered in dread, and she knew then she had to act or perish.
“What are you planning to do, dear girl?”
Dana came to him, using her heightened sexual training. She gave him a delicious smile as she twisted provocatively in front of him. “A surprise, Herr Professor,” she told him.
He laughed. It was the last time she was able to make him do that.
On the couch in the dim chamber on Starship Victory, Meta moaned, jerking Dana out of her reverie.
The doctor let her memories fade. Ludendorff was Ludendorff. He kept his secrets deeply hidden from everyone. The captain said the professor played the long game, but Dana wondered if Maddox really knew the extent of Ludendorff’s game.
Do I know?
“No, no,” Meta whispered from the couch.
Dana forgot about Ludendorff as she studied Meta’s strained features. The dear girl was deep in a memory.
“What’s happening?” she asked gently.
“I’m not sure,” Meta said slowly. “There’s danger here.”
“How do you know?”
“Kane won’t take his eyes off the pilot board,” Meta said. “He has a grim concentration. It’s like someone watching a cave, waiting for a grizzly to come charging out at him.”
Meta frowned. “I’ve never seen Kane like this before. It frightens me.”
What just happened with Meta? Why is she remembering now?
“Kane is…”
“Yes?” Dana asked. “What is Kane doing?”
“I…I don’t know. I can’t see him anymore.”
“Did Kane leave the command module?” Dana asked.
“I don’t think so,” Meta said. “No. That’s not it. He simply faded from view.”
That was strange, Dana realized. “Do you think something is blocking your memory?” she asked.
Meta’s frown deepened. It was like someone trying to undo an especially troubling knot and finally becoming frustrated with it.
It’s time to switch Meta’s focus. I’m in deeper and closer to the right memories than ever before. I have to try to stay here.
“I’m going to ask you several questions,” Dana said in a clam voice. “I’d like you to answer them.”
“I-I’ll try.”
“Good, that’s good,” the doctor said in a soothing voice. She glanced at her list and read the first question.
Meta shook her head.
Dana read the second question.
“I-I don’t know,” Meta whispered.
Dana worked down the list, asking the questions one by one. Meta couldn’t answer any of them. Soon, the Rouen Colony woman began to weep softly.
“No, don’t do that,” Dana said. “This is not a problem.”
“I’m sorry I can’t remember. I want to help. I know you need this.”
Dana tapped her lower lip with a stylus. This was fascinating. Meta was in a unique hypnotic limbo. She shouldn’t have been able to say that she wanted to help like that. That showed too much awareness. Yet, it was clear Meta was still under hypnosis. This called for special handling.
“I want you to relax,” Dana said.
“But—”
“No more questions for now,” Dana said. “I want you to sleep.”
Meta frowned. “Won’t the professor take me away from you if I don’t answer the questions?”
Meta shouldn’t be able to say that.
“I want to keep working at this,” Meta said. “I don’t want to stop. I have to come through for the team.”
“Sleep,” Dana said, more sternly than she intended. Meta’s tone indicated regression. She spoke like a little girl speaking to a parent. That wasn’t healthy in this situation.
Dana learned near so she spoke into Meta’s right ear. “I don’t want you to worry anymore. Relax. Let yourself move into regular sleep.”