“You should let me examine him,” Dana said.
Maddox looked up. “I didn’t realize you were that kind of doctor.”
“I’m full of surprises.”
Maddox thought about it and nodded.
Dana approached the control panel. She examined the readout, and she tapped in commands. Hypos hissed, dosing the sergeant with antibiotics.
“He’s going to be here a few days,” Dana said. “Loki organisms are incredibly resistant to treatment.”
“Is he all right for the moment?” Maddox asked.
“He should be, although I’d like to check up on him in a half-hour.”
“We may not have the luxury,” Maddox said. “You’re coming with me to the control room.”
Dana pointed at her anklet.
“I have a temporary override code,” he said, tapping it in to his control unit. “There, we’re set.”
They exited medical and walked down the corridor. Her anklet beeped, flashing a warning red, and she stopped short. Maddox rechecked his unit. He must have been more exhausted than he realized, as he’d made a mistake.
“There,” he said. “I fixed it.” A green light appeared on her anklet.
Dana gave him an indecipherable glance before opening the hatch. An argument was in progress between Valerie and Keith. The ace sat in the pilot’s chair. The lieutenant tapped her instruments, studying data.
“Enough!” Maddox said, entering behind Dana. “What’s the problem?”
“Saint Petersburg is upstairs above us,” Keith said. “Valerie is saying to race around the world down here. I say we lift and go just under the high cloud cover. There’s too much air density down here to travel fast enough. That means we’ll crawl, and even though the destroyer has to cover more territory, they’ll match us.”
Inhaling, Valerie likely made ready to explain her view.
“We don’t have time,” Maddox told the lieutenant. To Keith, he said, “Take us up.”
“Sir,” Valerie said, sounding indignant.
“Didn’t you just hear me?” Maddox asked her. “We don’t have time for discussions. You,” he told Dana, “go there.” He indicated his regular spot. “That’s where you’re going to do your magic.”
The doctor sat down and began to familiarize herself with the controls.
Maddox wanted to slide down onto his butt and close his eyes. Now was the time to concentrate, though. Clearly, he faced the most dangerous opponent of his life, the New Man.
“Here’s the situation,” Maddox told Valerie. “At least two New Men are down on the surface. One’s dead. I believe they came down from the Saint Petersburg.”
“What?” the lieutenant asked. “That’s incredible. You can’t be serious.”
“You must have monitored an orbital firing two missiles,” Maddox said.
Lieutenant Noonan nodded.
“The missiles struck a Star Watch shuttle on the ground,” Maddox said. “The personnel tortured criminals to find her,” he said, jerking a thumb at Dana. “The New Men were on the Saint Petersburg. What that means is that we have to win this little game of cat and mouse with the destroyer. I’m betting the New Man on the surface has found my clearance code in the flitter. That means they can mask themselves from the orbitals just as we’re doing. That’s good news for them and us.”
“I don’t see how it’s good for us,” Valerie said.
“Don’t you see?” Maddox asked. “The Saint Petersburg will likely send another shuttle down to pick up the New Man. That will allow us time to flee.”
“Even if that’s true,” Valerie said, “don’t you think the monitor’s crew knows something here is wrong?”
“Forget about them for now,” Maddox said. “They’re far away at the chthonian planet. Do you have a fix on the Saint Petersburg?”
“Yes,” Valerie said.
“Are we cloaked?” Maddox asked.
“No, sir,” Valerie said. “The cloak isn’t any good in an atmosphere. The destroyer must know where we are.”
“Compared to us,” Dana said, speaking up, “the destroyer has the high ground. They’ll just shoot us down.”
“Yes,” Maddox said, sarcastically. “You make a brilliant point. But I want you to concentrate on the space-beacon hacking. Let us handle this end.”
“She’s Doctor Dana Rich?” Valerie asked.
“Correct,” Maddox said.
“I’m glad to make your acquaintance,” Valerie said. “I’m—”
“Stow the welcoming committee routine,” Maddox shouted. “Fixate on the destroyer and how to outmaneuver it.”
“Do you charm everyone, mister?” Dana asked him.
Maddox glowered at her. Doctor Rich turned back to the instrument panel.
The scout rose rapidly as the planetary surface receded. Soon the jungle trees merged back into a vast green carpet. It was impossible to tell the mountain peaks: the abode to human bacterium living on the spore-infested nodes of existence.
The thought once again caused Maddox to feel the intense relief from escaping the jungle world and its ruthless germs. No doubt, once this was all over, Star Watch Intelligence would demand a detailed report on life on Loki Prime. If people wanted criminals to suffer for their crimes, the judicial arm had picked the perfect planet for it.
“Sir,” Valerie said. “A destroyer shuttle is dropping to the surface.”
“This is it,” Maddox said. “My guess is the destroyer will wait to pick up the New Man and my flitter. It’s our chance to make a run into space away from the Saint Petersburg.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Dana asked. “Why don’t they have the shuttle pick up the New Man and wait in orbit? The destroyer can hunt us down and come back for it later.”
“No,” Maddox said. “Lieutenant Noonan made an excellent point a few minute ago. It’s possible the SWS monitor at the Class 1 tramline entrance will have detected the shuttles. If not, the Star Watch commander out there is sure to detect the missiles or beams.”
“What beams?” Dana asked.
“The ones the destroyer will use on us to obliterate our scout. If Saint Petersburg shows its attacking someone on Loki Prime, the monitor will have to investigate. That means the destroyer will have to flee the system. Despite their superiority at tactics, even a New Man-captained destroyer can’t beat an SWS monitor. What that means is the destroyer will first have to pick up the shuttle before it chases us, because if they want to escape the star system, they won’t have time later to come back to pick up the shuttle and the stranded New Man.”
“Sounding confident about a thing doesn’t make it true,” Dana said. “You’re guessing, and you could be wrong.”
“Fair enough,” Maddox said. “I’ve noted your displeasure with my decision.” He turned to Valerie. “Show me the destroyer’s position relative to us.”
The lieutenant put it on her screen. The destroyer paced them overhead. Saint Petersburg had come down to Low Loki Orbit.
“Let’s open it up,” Maddox told Ensign Maker. “We need velocity.”
“The atmosphere will make it difficult for us, Captain,” Keith said.
“I know,” Maddox said. “It’s going to get hot in here. Unfortunately, I don’t see any other way to do this.”
“Aye-aye, Captain,” Keith said, who began to tap his panel.
The minutes passed as Ensign Maker increased velocity. They reached Mach 10, 11, 12. Soon, they flew at Mach 18. It wouldn’t take much longer to reach escape velocity. The ship’s air-conditioning systems already hummed. The vessel shook as air turbulence struck it.
“Captain, a missile is heading down at us from the Saint Petersburg. Correction,” Valerie said, “two missiles.”