How much time did they have left? Had he chosen the right paths? A man could wander these corridors—
Maddox halted, staring at a wall.
“Is something wrong, sir?” Riker radioed.
Ignoring the sergeant, Maddox approached the wall. A black line a meter long marked two polygonal shapes.
With his heart beating faster, Maddox looked around, searching for other lines. He didn’t see any. With his blaster drawn, Maddox increased the pace. The malignant oppression still weighed down his mind, but now, he felt a stir of curiosity.
Then he spied a second line. Twenty-six steps later, he saw a third.
“What is it?” Keith asked. “What are you looking at?”
“Stay alert,” Maddox said.
“Alert? I’m sick to my stomach with fear, mate. My eyes feel like they’re going to pop out of my head. This place is worse than any Halloween barn I’ve been to, worse than any horror show I’ve seen.”
“Ignore the feeling,” Maddox said.
“Are you daft?” Keith asked. “You don’t ignore something like that. I’ve been praying ever since I entered here. I can hardly—”
“Quiet,” Maddox said. “We have company.” He stood at an intersection of corridors, peering around a corner. Down the length of the dim hall with its resin-coated walls approached a hideous monstrosity.
It had eight spindly spikes that moved in sharp jerks up and down, propelling the body. Over that was a platform of crystal that glowed eerily, providing the extra illumination. Attached to the crystal were separate cockroach carapaces. Each of the bio-matter forms supported an odd-shaped crystal with mechanisms whirling within.
Maddox realized his sense of fear came from the thing. It radiated off the crystals. That made no sense to him.
Darting back, Maddox motioned to the sergeant. Riker pulled away from Keith, staggering to the captain.
“Grenades,” Maddox said in a choked voice. “Give me three.”
Wordlessly, Riker used his good hand, digging out three grenades, handing them one at a time to Maddox.
The captain didn’t trust his blaster against the crystal thing. He also didn’t want to expose himself any more than he had to. There was something extra-sinister about the robot, plant, insect, whatever the approaching thing was.
Holstering the blaster, Maddox activated the first grenade, moved to the corner and slung the grenade underhanded at the thing. He did the same with the other two grenades before shifting to safety.
Seconds later, explosions shook the corridor. They were ordinary grenades, not the pulse type Oran Rva had used.
Drawing the blaster, taking a deep breath, Maddox peered around the corner.
The thing had canted onto its side. Oil gushed from the torn carapaces. Some of the mechanisms in the crystals still moved.
“Give me one more,” Maddox said.
“It’s my last grenade, sir.”
“Do it,” Maddox hissed.
Wordlessly, Riker gave the captain the last grenade.
Maddox steeled himself. Then, he dashed around the corner. Immediately, waves of fear billowed against him. The captain knew the machine or thing saw him and went into overdrive. It radiated the raw emotions at him.
Maddox felt as if he drove himself against a hurricane. Wheezing gasps hiccupped past his throat. Tears sprung to his eyes. He didn’t care. He had a job to do. This thing tried to stop him. It used—
A raw sound of anguish tore past Maddox’s lips. He activated the grenade, setting it among the crystals. Then, Maddox sprinted for the intersection.
He dove around the corner, landing on the spongy deck. He wasn’t sure he heard the explosion. The immediate cession of the fear told him the last grenade had done its job, though.
“What just happened, mate? I feel ten times better.”
“It’s gone,” Maddox said, climbing to his feet “That’s what matters. Maybe it has more of them, though.”
“Who has more?” Keith asked.
“The doomsday machine,” Maddox said.
“Is it alive?” the ace asked.
“Is Galyan alive?” the captain rebutted.
Keith’s helmet tilted as if he thought about it. “Sure seems like it to me.”
“Same thing with the planet-killer,” Maddox said. “I can think like myself again, and I can finally tell you. I’ve seen evidence of Per Lomax.”
“What?” Keith and Riker asked together.
“Blaster burn marks on the walls,” Maddox said. “The New Man must have made it this far. I’m betting that thing I just broke had something to do with Per Lomax’s death.”
“How do you know the New Man died?” Keith asked.
“Because he didn’t stop the doomsday machine, now did he?” Maddox said. “In any case, we’re going that way.” He pointed down the corridor with the broken crystal thing.
“Any special reason why?” the sergeant asked.
“Yes,” Maddox said, although he didn’t elaborate.
***
They found Per Lomax’s corpse twenty minutes later. The carcass lay in a large chamber, crumpled forward on a dim, spongy deck.
“What killed him?” Riker asked.
Maddox knelt, gently turning the corpse onto its back. Three stab wounds had opened the vacc-suit many weeks ago.
“Nasty,” Riker said. “Looks like whatever did this got close.”
“Yes,” Maddox agreed. He didn’t have to search the body long. The corpse’s gloves gripped two items. One was a blaster. A quick checked showed Maddox the battery was drained. The other item looked like a recorder with a small screen.
“What’s that?” Keith asked, as Maddox picked up the recorder.
“I’m betting it’s something Ludendorff gave the New Man, something to help Per Lomax while he was in here.”
“Ah,” Keith said.
Maddox examined the recorder and screen, finally pressing what looked like an activation switch. Nothing happened. Did it have any power left or not? He studied the small device longer, finally opening a slot on the bottom. A ball dropped out of it. He’d seen a ball like this before, but where…
“I remember,” the captain said. Opening a pouch on his vacc-suit, he pulled out the force field ball Dana had given him. Removing the chain, he fit the ball into the empty socket.
Closing the slot, Maddox tried the switch a second time. A grin split his features as the screen activated.
“It works,” Keith said.
“So it would appear.”
“You’re a clever man, Captain,” the ace said.
Maddox didn’t have time to bask in the compliment. He examined the device again.
“Say,” the ace said. “When you turned it on, I felt even better.”
Maddox nodded.
“You know why?” the ace asked.
“Likely, there are more fear-producing machines wandering the corridors,” Maddox said. “Maybe they have to be near for the full effect. Maybe you were feeling one that’s headed our way.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“No,” the captain agreed. “Ah, I think I may have something.” He showed the others. What appeared to be a schematic of the vessel showed their position and the location of what Maddox surmised must be the control room.
“Does it give any distances?” Riker asked.
“No.”
“How about—”
“Just a minute,” Maddox said. “I think…” He adjusted the controls. Tiny blue dots appeared on the screen. The dots were near the control room. “I think I may have found Oran Rva. Look.” He showed the others.
“It seems we’re going to have to increase our pace. It should help that we know where we’re going now. Are you two ready?”
“Let’s do this,” Riker said.
The ace nodded his agreement.
***
Maddox could feel Riker trembling through the vacc-suit. The sergeant struggled to maintain the hard pace. Clearly, the man’s injury pained him.