I’ve just lost control of my ship.
Maddox groaned. His head was pounding. The taste of sand made his mouth incredibly dry. He unglued his eyes, and he realized someone had been shaking him and calling his name.
“Sir, I wish you’d wake up.”
“Riker?” whispered Maddox, with his eyes still closed.
“Ah, that’s good, sir. He’s coming around,” Riker called. “You were out for some time, sir.”
Maddox forced himself to open his eyes. Blurriness made his stomach heave, and he almost threw up.
“Easy, sir, take it easy.”
“Did Dana and Meta put you in here with me?”
“Ha-ha!” Riker laughed. “Not an old hound like me, sir. Not on your life. I think I know what happened. You’re not used to grubbing it, sir. But me, you see, I’m a sergeant. Someone is always telling me to do this or do that. It’s hardened me to privation, it has.”
Maddox rubbed his forehead. “Where’s Doctor Rich? Where’s the scout?”
“I’ll start with the last question first, sir,” Riker said. “The scout has moved beyond the T dwarf and is headed for the thickest clot of the comet field. The lieutenant doesn’t believe anyone over there on the destroyer has seen us yet. I believe Meta is examining the vacc-suits and powerdrill. Once we land, she plans to go outside and dig for Professor Ludendorff’s hidden engines and atomic fuel.”
That didn’t sound right. Meta the traitor was still running free in his ship? “What are you talking about?” Maddox whispered.
“Well, sir,” Riker said. “As I was trying to tell you, I’m an old space hound. I also happen to be a very suspicious man. I’ve been watching. This one old eye sees pretty good, sir.”
“I’m sure that’s true, but would you please get to the point.”
“Sometimes, I even see quicker than a genius. That’s how I spotted the Tojo bodysuit back in France, remember?”
“Yes,” Maddox said wearily. “That was an excellent piece of deduction. Now would you kindly get to the bloody point, Sergeant?”
“Don’t go straining yourself, sir. You’re still weak from the stunner blast. I’m still finding it hard to believe Meta did that. Not that she got the drop on you, but that she actually pulled the trigger. I think we should punish her, but maybe a reward is more in keeping with her latest action.”
Maddox closed his eyes. His sergeant had gained a coup over him. The man wouldn’t go on like this otherwise. Riker liked to boast even as he pretended not to.
“Do you want to hear what happened, sir?” Riker asked.
“I’d be delighted.” Maddox opened his eyes again and found that the blurriness had departed. He lay in Dana’s abandoned room, on her cot.
“Well, sir, I peeked out of my quarters, and I saw Meta and Doctor Rich come out of hers. Meta looked crestfallen. The doctor strutted like a gambler pulling in a hard-won pot. In a beeline, she headed for the control room. Not to put too fine of a point on it, sir, I stepped out of my room. I stunned Meta first. It took a strong blast to bring the lady down. Then I aimed at Doctor Rich. Well, first I blasted the gun in her grip so it clattered onto the deck. She cradled her hand as if she wanted to scream with agony. She didn’t scream though, not her. No, sir, that woman can talk faster than you can run. She told me all sorts of gibberish, threatening and promising all in one breath. It made me smile inside.”
“I can imagine,” Maddox said. He noticed that Riker was smiling openly now.
“I didn’t get fancy. Well, the hand-stunning was a trick shot like you might have done. After that, no sir, no more fancy pants with a dame who had outsmarted Captain Maddox. I knew she was too dangerous for an old codger like me. So I just shot her with the stunner, and I did it again as she lay on the deck, in case she was faking.”
“You didn’t harm her, did you?” Maddox asked, worried he’d lost the doctor.
“Ah, that’s what I love about you, sir. You’re so solicitous about your enemies that you forget to ask how your boon companions are feeling.”
“Let us rectify that, Sergeant,” Maddox said. “How are you feeling?”
“Good, sir, very good indeed,” Riker said.
“Splendid. It does my heart good to know it. I have a few questions, though. Do you believe you can answer them quickly?”
“I do indeed, sir.”
“How did you, or we, the crew, discover which comet held the professor’s secret supply of spare engines and fuel?”
“Meta told us—that was her positive action I’ve been trying to tell you about. The guilt of shooting you loosened her tongue. She’s decided to pitch in with us all the way, after all. It seems she and the doctor had been communicating in secret for the past few weeks. Ain’t that interesting, sir.”
Maddox said nothing.
“At the moment, Doctor Rich is on the robo-doctor. I used the computer and found the formula to an old-style truth serum. It’s an underhanded way to do this, I know, and beneath us to—”
“What did you say?” Maddox asked, interrupting.
“Truth serum, sir,” Riker said. “I read up on the computer how to make the right formula.”
Maddox closed his eyes. He’d been a fool and overlooked an obvious solution. It galled him, but not as much as letting Meta knock him unconscious. He knew that becoming overconfident was a problem with him. This time, he’d paid for it with a headache and wounded pride. Thank God for a good man like Sergeant Riker to back him up.
With his eyes closed, Maddox said, “I congratulate on you on your cunning and forcefulness, Sergeant. You have single-handedly saved the expedition and possibly humanity as well.”
“Keep talking, sir. I like the sound of this.”
Even though it hurt his head, Maddox grinned. He opened his eyes once more and swung his legs off the cot. Dizziness threatened. He heaved up to his feet nonetheless.
“To work, Sergeant,” Maddox said.
“We’re already working, sir. I think you should rest a little longer.”
“No. Everyone must pitch in. We lost the luxury of time a while ago.”
As if to punctuate his thoughts, Ensign Maker looked into the room. “Captain, sir, you’d better come to the bridge. I mean the control room. According to Lieutenant Noonan, the destroyer has increased its acceleration above its safety limit maximum.”
-28-
Keith followed an unsteady Captain Maddox to the control room.
Upon entering, the captain stopped and stared. Keith climbed through the hatch after him. Meta sat in the captain’s usual spot. Maddox looked straight at her.
Lieutenant Noonan swiveled around. She didn’t bother with the captain, but gave Keith a meaningful glance. He nodded and headed for the pilot’s chair. Once he’d strapped in and assessed his board, Keith turned and found the captain still glaring at Meta.
Finally, the former Rouen Colony miner dropped her gaze. She gave her head a quick shake. It made her long hair cascade behind her.
“I don’t expect you to understand… sir,” Meta said in her pleasant voice.
Keith never got tired of studying her, the way she walked or listening to her talk. It defined logic that she’d captured him on Loki Prime, had manhandled him, in fact.
Would you call what she’d done womanhandling me? Sure, a few bodybuilding women can bench press more than I can, but to just push me around so easily…
The crazy part was that he still recalled her grip, the way her breasts had mashed against his back while she’d forced him through the jungle. What would she be like in the sack?
“I lived on Loki Prime for four terrible years,” Meta quietly explained to Maddox. “Living there changes you. Well, maybe not you, but it did me. Dana… she saved me from some grim predators. I owed her, Captain.”