“Now what is it?” she asked.
Maddox wanted answers, not more questions. He did not intend to wake up Ludendorff. Villars, on the other hand, was more emotional and lacked the professor’s uncanny intellect. If Villars had been with the professor long enough, the slarn hunter might know critical facets of information about the mysterious Ludendorff.
Maddox stood, saying, “It’s time to thaw out Villars and ask the man some questions.”
-21-
Maddox watched the sergeant wheel a clear cylinder into the medical chamber. Villars lay inside the tube. The man was stiff, barely breathing.
Following Dana’s instructions, Riker withdrew Villars from the top of the tube onto a medical cot. The sergeant affixed straps to the man’s limbs and medical adhesives onto the skin.
Soon, Dana began reviving Villars, monitoring his reactions with her instruments. “He’s strong,” the doctor said after a time.
Maddox already knew that. “How old is he?” the captain asked.
The doctor shook her head. “Over one hundred at least,” she said. “He could be as old as one hundred and thirty.”
“How old do you think Ludendorff is?”
Dana shrugged.
“Give me an estimate,” Maddox said.
The doctor became pensive. “Old,” she said.
“More than one hundred and fifty years?”
“No,” Dana said, “much older.”
“Three hundred years?”
Once more, the doctor shrugged.
“Are you suggesting Ludendorff is one of the oldest Methuselah People alive?” Maddox asked.
“I can’t tell you anything for certain,” Dana said, “but yes, that’s what I believe.”
“Why?” asked Maddox.
“He knows too much. Sometimes it’s like talking to God, as if Ludendorff has been around forever.”
Her answer shocked Maddox. But as he thought about it, the captain silently concurred. The professor did seem to know a lot about everything. Did that indicate excessive age? There was a problem with the idea, directly related to the key fact about Methuselah People.
“If Ludendorff is as old as the hills,” Maddox said, “how has he maintained his high curiosity? I thought Methuselah People became progressively more set in their ways the older they become.”
“I’ve heard that, too,” Dana said. “It’s strange about the professor, then, isn’t it?”
“Any theories as to why or how he’s kept his curiosity?”
“None,” Dana said.
A beep sounded from the doctor’s panel. Dana studied it before turning to Villars. “He’s coming to.”
Maddox watched the man stir. The blocky slarn trapper—that wasn’t right. Villars wasn’t really a hunter of Wolf Prime. The professor had indicated before that the man had gone native this time. That would indicate the two of them had been many places together.
Slowly, Villars unglued his eyes. They were red-rimmed and bloodshot. Here was an unsavory man, a killer, a psychopath with over one hundred years behind him. Villars was a formidable foe, just not as formidable as the professor.
“You’re awake,” Maddox said.
Villars tested his straps, trying to lift his arms and then his feet. The man didn’t rave or thrash. He grew still and smacked his lips together. Slowly, he inspected the medical bed, his restraints, his limbs, the chamber and finally Maddox watching him.
“Pretty happy with yourself, aren’t you, boy?” Villars asked in a raspy voice. “You brought me out of stasis. The starship is traveling. I can feel the vibration. We must be heading for Earth.”
“We are,” Maddox agreed.
“The AI okay then?”
Maddox made a bland gesture.
“No problem,” Villars said. “I can wait this out. My time will come.”
“Maybe not,” Maddox said.
“True,” Villars said. “Maybe not. We’ll see.” The Methuselah Man closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He kept doing that, expanding his chest as far as it would go. Finally, he exhaled everything, opening his eyes and beginning to breathe normally.
“Got anything to drink?” Villars asked. “I’m as thirsty as Hell. Stasis always does that to me.”
Maddox picked up a bottle with a plastic straw, letting the man suck as much liquid as he wanted.
“That’s good,” Villars said. “Where’s the professor?”
“In stasis,” Maddox said.
A frown creased Villars’s leathery skin. “Better bring him up.”
Maddox said nothing.
“You don’t know what you’re playing with, boy.”
“That’s why I had you revived,” Maddox said. “You’re going to tell me what I’m playing with.”
Villars gave a smoker’s chuckle. “Don’t count on it.”
“You’re the professor’s bodyguard, maybe his chief of bodyguards.”
“Think what you want.”
Maddox had an inspiration. He fell silent, letting the idea sink in first. Obviously, Villars was intransigent, a contrarian by nature. The man had one weakness, though, if his idea proved true.
“Swallowed the canary, have we?” Villars asked. “Why do you look so happy with yourself?”
“You’re programmed to protect Ludendorff,” Maddox said.
Villars stared at him. Suddenly, the man didn’t seem as cocksure of himself.
Yes. The professor has programmed Villars. Ludendorff doesn’t trust easily, maybe not at all. So, whom can he trust? Those he’s programmed. That’s why the professor could so easily tell that the teacher had modified Meta. The professor recognized the look. What does that say about Strand? What does that say about Ludendorff? Are Strand and Ludendorff two peas in a pod?
“I want you to realize something,” Maddox said. “I’m going to keep the professor in deep-freeze until we’re back on Earth. Then, I’m handing him over to Star Watch Intelligence. I bet they’ve waited a long time to get their hands on Ludendorff.”
“You’re guessing,” Villars said.
“I am,” Maddox admitted. “But it adds up. You don’t want to help me, but you’re going to because you have to protect the professor from falling into Intelligence’s hands.”
“Wrong,” Villars said.
“Unless I have good reason to wake Ludendorff, I won’t do it. You need to give me a good reason.”
Under hooded lids, Villars studied the captain. He seemed to be getting angry.
“You’re a freak,” Villars blurted, “a hybrid that should’ve been strangled with its umbilical cord at birth. The breeding masters made a mistake letting you live.”
“You may be right,” Maddox conceded, trying to keep his sudden temper under control. What did Villars know about the breeding masters?
Villars laughed harshly.
It reminded the captain that the former slarn hunter was good at reading people. The laugh and the knowledge of the man’s brilliance helped check the captain’s anger at the enemy’s genetic laboratories. He wanted to know a whole lot more about that. Yes, Maddox wanted to scour the universe, eliminating every gene lab and breeding master he could find. But that would have to come later. Stopping the planet-killer was everything now.
“If you stay silent,” Maddox repeated, “the professor goes to Star Watch Headquarters.”
“He’ll go there no matter what I say.”
“You may not like what I am, but I keep my word.”
“That’s a lie,” Villars said. “You’re an Intelligence officer. You say whatever you have to in order to get people to talk. It’s your stock in trade.”
“I’ve done some thinking these past few days,” Maddox said, switching tack. “I’ve come to a frightening conclusion as one fact keeps hammering for attention. Out of all the people in the Commonwealth, who would be most likely to think up a long-term eugenics plan that entails ‘culling’ eighty percent of humanity?”
Villars stared at him.
“A Methuselah Man would,” Maddox said. “That Methuselah Man owns or has access to the Cestus Hauling Company. I bet he sent ships into the Beyond to help the Thomas Moore Society colonists. The fledging Throne World couldn’t have grown this powerful in one hundred and fifty years on its own. Nerva Enterprises must have been sending supplies on the sly from the start.”