Maddox stepped back, drawing his gun, standing like a murderous statue waiting to kill.
“What are you doing?” Dana asked.
“Getting ready,” the captain said in a determined voice.
“You’re going to shoot him?”
“What’s on his chest?” the captain asked. “Is it deadly to us?”
Fear surged through Dana. She couldn’t lose the professor again. Turning against him in the Adok System all those years ago had been the hardest thing she had ever done. His reaction against her had left her embittered. She knew that now. If she had to make the decision over again, she would stay with the professor and accept whatever fate had in store for her.
Ludendorff didn’t seem devilish now. He was unlike anyone she knew. Even Maddox with his hybrid nature failed to rise to Ludendorff’s level.
Is this love? Do I need this impossible man?
“I wish you wouldn’t wait there like grim Death,” Dana told Maddox.
“Get on with it, Doctor.”
Dana knew the captain was right to be worried and take precautions. The man was simply doing his job. Still, it was difficult to accept.
But that didn’t matter now, did it? Dana opened a drawer and took out a laser scalpel. Her hands shook as she brought up the instrument. If Ludendorff was dead—
I’m a doctor. It’s time to be professional. I can cry for Ludendorff later.
The trembling left her hands. Her features hardened. With sure deftness, Dana clicked on the laser and began to cut the silky substance. She had been afraid the synthetic fabric would reflect the laser. It didn’t. That was one for their side.
The doctor slit open the substance, revealing a corpse-colored head and neck. The tiny laser light vanished from the tip of the scalpel. Dana froze, staring at an un-breathing Ludendorff.
“Is he alive?” the captain asked.
That tore Dana out of her shock. “Look at him. He’s dead.”
“Are you sure?” Maddox asked. “Maybe the professor realized what was happening earlier. I wonder if he took Hibernation-7. He has the rubbery look to his skin.”
Dana’s eyelids fluttered and hope surged in her heart. Hibernation-7 was a drastic drug used by Star Watch in space emergencies. If injected into a person before the heart stopped, it retarded cell death for three days. After that time, the metabolism would return to normal and the deterioration of the body would begin.
Dana pulled out a med-scanner, checking the professor’s life signs. Yes! The captain was right. Ludendorff had taken Hibernation-7. She gasped, smiling, relieved at the news.
She picked up the laser scalpel and continued to slice open the cocoon. It revealed a silver oblong object on the professor’s stomach. The sides of the thing were smooth. Using the end of the scalpel, she clicked it against the item.
“Metallic,” Maddox noted.
“With no visible means of opening,” Dana said.
“Do you think it’s a container?”
“Don’t you?” she asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Help me take it off him.”
The captain hesitated to give up his watch. Finally, though, he holstered the gun and helped her lift the object off Ludendorff.
It proved heavy, and it almost slipped out of her gasp. Together, the two of them set it to the side.
Dana went back to the death-colored professor and removed the rest of the strange material from him. It was like opening a body bag.
“I’ll begin the revival procedure,” she said.
“No,” Maddox said.
Dana looked up with anger in her eyes.
“He hijacked my starship,” Maddox said. “He endangered the entire crew.”
“The New Men are out there, Captain. He’ll know what to do better than anyone else.”
“For all I know, Ludendorff may help the New Men against us,” Maddox said. “The professor may have summoned them with his ancient comm-device. Or maybe the professor will attempt to regain control of Galyan. No. I’ve had quite enough of Ludendorff’s machinations for some time.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m not suggesting a thing,” Maddox said. “I’m making a decision. We will leave the professor in hibernation for the moment. Once aboard Victory, I’ll put him in deep-freeze. I’ll hand him over to Star Watch Intelligence once we get to Earth. The brigadier will know what to do with him.”
“We need his knowledge now.”
Maddox eyed her, with a cool smile hovering on his lips. “We’ll strap him in,” the captain said. “Then, we’ll both see how Keith is doing.”
“I’m going to stay here, if you don’t mind.”
“I most certainly do mind,” the captain said. “You’re coming with me to see Keith.”
“You don’t trust me back here?”
“Of course I trust you,” Maddox said.
Dana lost some of her tension.
“I trust you to act like a lover and think of the professor first,” Maddox said. “That’s why I’m keeping you with me for the moment.”
“I resent that,” Dana said. In her heart, though, the doctor knew the captain was right. Maddox could hardly make any other choice after the things Ludendorff had done.
“Strap him in,” Maddox said. “Then come along. I’m not going to give the professor a second chance to wrest control of the starship from me.”
***
Valerie waited on Victory’s bridge, keeping a careful watch on the shuttle working its way out of the asteroidal junk and watching the two star cruisers building velocity in a hurry. The New Men weren’t doing anything to hide their advance. So far, the enemy commander over there hadn’t tried to communicate with her.
“The shuttle cannot accelerate quickly enough to make it in time,” Galyan observed.
Valerie had just about reached the same conclusion.
“We can attack the star cruisers,” Galyan suggested.
Valerie nodded thoughtfully. She would like that. In her estimation, she made a good combat officer. The trouble was that she’d never had an opportunity to show anyone. This could be her chance.
“I’m not sure,” Valerie said quietly.
“The disruptor cannon is fully operational,” Galyan said.
“But the shield is still rebuilding. Plus, I don’t have anyone to help me on the bridge.”
“I can do that.”
“Certainly,” Valerie said. In her heart, though, she wanted a Star Watch-trained officer to help her, not an alien AI.
“Ah,” Galyan said. “I detect another two star cruisers.”
“Approaching us?”
“No, coming into existence by the Nexus.”
“Is there a special jump gate there?” Valerie wondered.
“I have not detected one.”
“Maybe there’s another Nexus in New Men-controlled territory. Somehow, they learned we were here and used the silver pyramids to reach us.”
“How would that be possible?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Valerie asked. “The professor has a distance communicator, another ancient relic. The New Men have a few too. Or maybe the Builder drones alerted the enemy, and the New Men decided to send a few star cruisers over.”
“Your possibilities are logical,” Galyan said. “Yet, given the star cruisers have just made a tremendous jump, wouldn’t that mean the enemy crews would be tired now? That should give us a temporary advantage.”
“There is that.” Valerie snapped her fingers. “I should have thought of this sooner. Galyan, ready the neutron cannon.”
“We’re attacking?”
“No. We’re going to start blowing away excess debris in the shuttle’s path. At the moment, Keith has to ease through the junk, slowing down to avoid rocks and gravel. I plan to give him a clear path so the shuttle can accelerate to us on the double.”
Galyan stood perfectly still before saying, “That is an optimum plan. I congratulate you, Lieutenant.”