He pressed a switch and a panel opened. A small screen activated, showing him a number pad. Grunting, Kane stepped closer and tapped a precise sequence onto the pad.
A thrum began on the other side of the hatch. Curiosity shined in Kane’s mind. What was inside the compartment? What did—?
Once more, pain spiked inside Kane’s head. He groaned. The hatch and the number pad became fuzzy and then altogether disappeared in Kane’s mind. He turned away from it even as a clack of noise occurred inside the compartment.
The robotic nature of his movements faded as he walked away. Finally, he donned a vacc-suit, forgetting the dream about a strange hatch and hidden compartment on the scout.
Kane exited the scout and walked for many kilometers in the vacuum of the hauler’s cargo halls. He entered a secret module, sealed the hatch behind him and moved to a panel. Tapping the correct sequence, part of the wall opened. If he had failed the sequence code, hot plasma would have flushed the chamber to turn him into a pile of molten molecules. Instead, Kane found a locker for his suit and case of advanced weaponry.
He’d safely made it to the insertion hauler. Now, the cargo vessel would journey to Earth. It would easily pass any coming inspections. Once in Low Earth Orbit, Kane would perform a dangerous, sub-aqua entry onto the planet. Then, he would make the deadly commando raid against Nerva Tower in Monte Carlo, collecting the critical key.
-20-
By slow degrees, Maddox woke up on a medical bed aboard Starship Victory. Meta stood by the railing, smiling down at him. It seemed as if she towered kilometers above him.
“Don’t strain yourself,” Meta said, touching his arm with a warm hand. He liked that. “If you’re wondering how you got here, Galyan used a tractor beam, bringing the shuttle under control.”
She spoke. Maddox could see her lips move. He concentrated. Oh. Yes. The shuttle, he remembered spinning wildly. A tractor beam, Victory had a tractor beam? Pain blossomed in his brain then.
“Rest, darling,” Meta said. “Keith’s idea worked. Your shuttle entered the star drive with us. We reappeared several light years outside the Xerxes System. Your shuttle kept tumbling, and it took a while for Galyan to recover from Jump Lag. That’s why all four of you are in medical. It was a close thing.”
Maddox heard the words more easily this time. But the pulsating in his head weakened his resolve to stay awake.
“You’re okay now,” she said, stroking his arm.
Maddox tried to anchor onto the comforting sensation.
“You’re all just going to be tired for a while,” she said.
The pain in his head was starting to make him nauseous. Then, he realized something critical. He battled against the drowsiness in order to tell Meta. That hurt his head even more, and he considered closing his eyes and going to sleep.
No! He refused. This was too important. Maddox struggled against the beckoning sleep, finally managing to whisper a word.
“Please, Maddox. You’re not supposed to strain yourself. Go back to sleep. We can talk later.”
He couldn’t do that because the stakes were too high. There might not be a later if he couldn’t get his words out. With a straining effort—making his eyesight blotchy—Maddox managed to wheeze, “The professor.”
“Okay… What about him?”
Waves of exhaustion rolled against Maddox. Speaking had taken more out of him than it should have. What was wrong with him? He didn’t know. Worse, he felt his mouth closing as he shut down. With a final effort, he struggled against that. The fight made the pain in his head turn into gongs of agony.
“Shhh, go to sleep, darling.”
He almost listened to her. Somewhere deep inside him he realized that he was Captain Maddox of Star Watch Intelligence. He wouldn’t quit until he was dead. He had to speak, forcing his lips to move and his throat to convulse.
“Put…the…Professor…”
A warm hand squeezed his forearm.
Maddox couldn’t see anything now. The waves of exhaustion deadened his weak energy, trying to pull him down into unconsciousness.
They tormented my mother! That did it. A surge of strength gave him the power to speak:
“Put the professor…in deep freeze. Don’t let him…wake up.”
“What?” Meta asked.
Maddox strove to explain it.
“Yes, of course,” she said, with worry in her voice. “I’ll do what you say. Now go to sleep. Regain your strength.”
Maddox still wanted to say more. And he wondered if Meta was just saying that? He felt like a drowning man sinking into the depths, struggling to get back to the surface where the light shined.
“I think I know what’s bothering you,” a faint voice said. “Valerie said we’re headed for Earth. Command needs to know what’s going on. We have to get ready against the doomsday machine. Don’t worry, we know.”
The exhaustion finally conquered Maddox. The effort to remain awake was simply too much. Quietly, he slipped into the depths of a numbed state of unconsciousness.
***
Due to his superior healing abilities, Maddox was the first to recover sufficiently to leave his medical bed. He found that Meta had transferred the professor into a stasis tank. It was the old way of space travel. With Riker’s help, Meta had also “frozen” the rest of Ludendorff’s team, including Villars.
His woman had known what to do. Because of Meta, that danger was over.
So much about Ludendorff troubled Maddox. The appearance of New Men by the Nexus also worried him to no end. Just how much Builder technology did the enemy possess?
It was time to solve a few of these mysteries. Where should he start? Maddox decided on the time-honored Intelligence technique of searching the offender’s quarters. He summoned Riker, and they headed to the professor’s room.
“I suspect Ludendorff has a great many secrets,” Maddox said as they walked down a corridor. “He also strikes me as someone who would booby-trap his possessions. We must proceed with caution.”
Riker nodded. The sergeant carried detection equipment. The various items dangled from straps around his shoulders and neck.
They entered the room and began checking the closet, drawers and mattress. They searched for secret compartments in the walls, floor and ceiling. They found slacks, shirts, jackets, shoes, a few useless knickknacks and several pill bottles and sheaves of notes.
“What does an ancient long-distance communicator look like?” the sergeant asked. That was the chief item on their list.
“I have no idea,” Maddox said.
In the end, they placed three peculiar items on the table in the room. One was the flat device that had projected the web field. The second was a small chain and bulbous object, which Maddox suspected was the personal force field protector. The third looked like an ordinary tablet.
“It’s clean,” Riker said, waving a detection wand over the tablet.
Maddox sat down at the table, flexing his fingers. He tapped the tablet’s screen, examining the options. The tablet lacked a security code, which he found odd. Soon, Maddox read the most recent notes.
One in particular interested him. What did Meta see aboard the star cruiser in Wolf Prime orbit? You must break her mind-lock. Was HE there? I’m beginning to suspect so.
Who was HE? Maddox wondered. Whom would Ludendorff suspect? The captain drummed his fingers on the table. Could Ludendorff mean the teacher?
“Find something?” Riker asked.
“Maybe.” Maddox tapped the screen again, searching for more clues. He found a file with a security code. After a moment’s hesitation, he attempted to crack it.
The tablet buzzed.