Realizing he was too cautious, Venna clicked on her ruby necklace. She hadn’t thought she’d need it, certainly not with any human. But this pudgy fellow possessed a vibrant energy none of the others had exuded to the same degree. Did that help him resist her? That was astounding. Few men could resist her in this situation.

  He stared at the ruby necklace as it energized, sending powerful lust signals into his brain. He blinked several times. He actually made to turn away. The man had spectacular self-control. This was incredible. Then the lust rays zoomed deeper into his brain, clicking the right relays. He mouth opened and his eyes shined. He began panting for Venna.

  Venna worried this would hurt in the culmination of what she attempted. She shut off the ruby necklaces, pushed one of his hands against a crystal. At the last second, he hesitated, showing abnormal powers of resistance to her beauty and the sensuality of the moment. Fortunately, a blue color from the crystal ignited and passed from it to his hand. His fingers tightened around it as he raised the crystal from the box. The color began to climb up his forearm.

  “What’s happening?” he shouted.

  The process proved too fast for him to resist. The Phantasma Synth Crystal released even more energy into him. His eyes rolled up into his head as he thumped onto the floor. He writhed in agony, clutching the crystal as it began to devour him, sucking up his etheric energy.

  Venna didn’t have the same strength to do this as she had the other times. She nearly dropped the crystals several times. She’d taken his, as the link had already forged into an unbreakable bond.

  With manic strength, Venna hung onto the crystals, although she sobbed twice. Then she gritted her teeth and used everything she could to continue. But the process was too powerful this time. Her fingers lost their grip.

  A powerful memory surfaced in her. Years ago, the Iron Lady had sent Star Watch slayers to kill her family. She had been a key operative to all that. Now the Iron Lady was going to live in the lap of luxury for what had happened to her people back then.

  A terrible laugh bubbled up in Venna.

  That old witch was going to get what was coming to her. Venna clutched the crystals, enduring more than she would have ever thought possible.

  The transformation continued as the crystals crisped the man as his etheric energy bled upward into a scintillating pattern in midair.

  Venna squeezed her eyes shut. She already felt spent, but now it was time to assassinate the Iron Lady.

  As Venna thought this, readying herself for the final lap, the tin can was halfway through the stratosphere, rocketing toward orbital Victory.

  -19-

  As Venna gripped the Phantasma Synth Crystals and gained control over them and the etheric creature forming before her, her vitality diminished. Venna felt it, and she knew the process might kill her this time.

  Using the alien, technological mystic devices was killing her by degrees. She saw that, and then she had to put the understanding aside. She needed everything to control the entity that she’d created out of the vibrant man whose name she didn’t even remember.

  His etheric energy had created something more vibrant than before. It was like—

  Venna recalled stories about genies from the Tales of the Arabian Nights. The first two etheric creatures—genies—she’d conjured from the bodies of the first two were as nothing compared to this one.

  The crystals shook dreadfully in her hands as they blazed with color. She held them tightly, as if her fingers had become eagle’s talons. Her fingers seemed to shrivel, becoming like ancient things. She felt blemishes, maybe blood vessels, bursting under her once smooth skin. This one was going to kill her. This one was too strong for the crystals and for her.

  “No!” Venna shrieked in a harsh and unlovely voice, “You will obey me!”

  She shook the two crystals at the thing that glared at her balefully from midair. It wasn’t just her imagination. The thing sought her death. No! That wasn’t it. The man understood what had happened to him. He wanted vengeance against her.

  For just a moment, Venna thrust her hip out seductively. The pattern of etheric energy recoiled. It almost seemed that a mouth would appear on the swirling alien entity being and start to curse her.

  Venna raised both crystals above her head. They pulsated with power. Fortunately, the color did not bleed into her hands, up her arms and clutch her chest to kill her. The color bled from the crystals and through the air in slow motion. The colors advanced in two lines until they touched the etheric, swirling creature.

  It recoiled further as if it had received shocks like a cardiac arrest victim. There was a strange, keening sound vibrating from it.

  “You will obey me!” Venna said.

  Not knowing how or why, she understood. She had gained control over him, it, whatever the thing was. With the understanding came a verge of panic. She was tired and frightened. Yet she exulted in some bizarre manner. That came from the crystals. They were alive after a fashion. They were alive the same way a robot, or sentient AI would be alive. The crystals were mechanical and yet they were mystic and certainly technological, but from the alien Aetharian shaman perspective.

  Venna caught that much. It was nebulous, and yet, in the background, she saw scaly humanoid entities with spindly limbs and big heads. She realized she didn’t see them visibly but in her mind’s eye.

  Venna concentrated on the here and now. She looked up and saw the swirling energy watching her like a panther ready to pounce upon an unwary hunter. She controlled the entity and sent it away, causing the energy to flash through the wall.

  Venna gasped with relief, as the horrible energy creature terrified her. Perhaps as important, the lizard image of the ancient Aetharians from the planet Ector that had circled a pulsar had vanished. There was something dreadfully upsetting about the image, but Venna didn’t know what it was.

  She propelled the etheric energy as she had the first two, at Star Watch Headquarters in Geneva. She knew the Iron Lady was there, or Venna was certain the Iron Lady was there. The others had been there. Wouldn’t this one be there as well?

  The etheric energy sped nearly invisibly, passing through the extra security as if it didn’t exist. The faint energy roved up and down the buildings seeking the Iron Lady. There was no evidence of her, however. Her office was empty, without any trail leading elsewhere.

  Venna in Basel, in the apartment, wondered where the Iron Lady could be.

  The etheric energy creature looked up at a ceiling. It spotted the target far away. Then it zoomed for space. It had located the Iron Lady. She was on a spaceship in orbit.

  Venna became aware of this. Oh, how cunning Captain Maddox was. He thought himself so terribly clever. The Iron Lady certainly was there on the starship.

  “I’ll get you, old witch,” Venna muttered. “You sent those killers to destroy my family. Now I’ll destroy you, and later I’ll destroy all of Star Watch. You can bet before that I’ll destroy Captain Maddox as well.”

  But only if I have the strength to finish this, Venna realized. Handling these crystals and vibrant men was killing her.

  Venna’s features stiffened. So be it. It was worth the chance to avenge those who had long ago been slain. That her memories had been manufactured and inserted by Spacer Intelligence was unknown to Venna. Instead, the lies fed her the resolve to kill. She would suffocate that old witch. There was nothing anybody could do to stop her because—

  The etheric knot of force consumed some of its substance as it climbed into orbit. It zeroed in on the double-oval spaceship. As it started to pass through bulkheads, fixing on that old witch who had ordered the murder—

  “I’m coming to kill you,” Venna said.

  At the same instant, as if Mary O’Hara heard those words, she looked up from her bed. The etheric energy burst into her chamber. Mary gasped and brought the covers up to her chin.

  Slowly, the pulsating, swirling energy glided toward her.

  It was time to kill, Venna knew.

  -20-

  Before the killing happened, before the entity reached Mary O’Hara’s quarters, Maddox lashed out at Keith with his tongue, and the ace rocketed up toward the starship.

  They faced security challenges from satellite operators, a Conqueror-class battleship and even a call from the new Lord High Admiral. Maddox told Keith to ignore them all.

  They didn’t fold this time around. Because of Becker and his precious big mind, they did not dare do that. It took them longer because of that. However, the tin can landed inside a Mid-Earth Orbit Victory hangar bay.

  Seconds after touching down, they piled out with Maddox and Meta once again lifting Becker between them, each grabbing an upper arm. They exited the hangar bay and raced along the corridors with their brainy cargo.

  Maddox shouted, “Galyan, Galyan!”

  Galyan appeared.

  “Is my grandmother safe?” Maddox shouted.

  “I have seen nothing strange yet,” Galyan said. Then his eyelids began to flutter. “I am wrong, sir. There is a strange force heading for our starship. I have just detected it.”

  “Go to my grandmother’s quarters now,” Maddox said. “Protect her. Do whatever you can. Use whatever electronic force you can. We’ll be there soon. Becker, are you ready for this?”

  Galyan vanished.

  “Evil,” Becker moaned. “I sense great evil. I don’t know what this is. I lack the power to block this.”

  “Listen to me, Becker,” Maddox said. Even as Meta and he ran down the corridor, lifting the light, bigheaded fool with them, “you use whatever power you can. Read its mind. Send mental domination blasts against it. Use telekinesis and destroy it by pieces. I don’t care how, just destroy it.”

  “It might attack me if I do that,” Becker said.

  “Hey, if you don’t try, you’re a dead man.”

  “That’s not fair,” Becker whined. “Why is everyone always coming at me? Why am I always the object of scorn?”

  “Shut up, you little mouse,” Maddox said. “Think about ways to defeat the alien assassin. That’s all that matters.”

  They rode a turbo lift up. Now, alarms blared on Victory.

  Galyan appeared in the turbo lift. “The energy entity is heading straight for your grandmother’s quarters. Nothing is stopping it. I tried, but it shrugged off everything electrical.”

  “Go there, Galyan. Start attacking it anyway. Give us time.”

  “I do not know what that thing is, sir. It is resisting analysis. It is zooming through everything we have. I do not even know if it is material in any real sense.”

  Maddox struggled to contain his rage. “Think for a second, you idiot. It’s touchable, material, because it suffocated the Lord High Admiral and Stokes. My grandmother is not going to join that list. Now go. Save her.”

  Once more, Galyan vanished.

  Precious seconds passed. The turbo lift halted and the hatch opened. Maddox and Meta dashed down the corridor carrying Becker between them. They ran into the Iron Lady’s quarters, instantly spotting the etheric form as it descended toward the Iron Lady.

  Galyan rushed the entity, entering the swirling energy, shocking the thing with audible zaps. The swirling entity slowed down, so that was something.

  Lights began to flash inside the entity. Hisses sounded and brighter lights flashed. Galyan disappeared.

  The flashing lights did nothing to Maddox and Meta as they set down Becker.

  “It’s all up to you, Becker,” Maddox said.

  The former captain clutched his privates with both hands as if he were a rock singer from an ancient age.

  “Will you keep your bargain, Captain Maddox?” Becker asked.

  “I said I will,” Maddox replied, as he stared at the alien energy. “I’ll follow through despite everything. Give me a reason to trust you, Becker. Now kill the damned thing.”

  Becker looked at the alien energy. It is damned, he realized. He used his big head, marshaling the telepathic powers the Liss had given him combined with his native abilities. He reached out telepathically and struggled against the entity.

  At first, Becker wasn’t aware of Venna. He strove against the etheric power floating toward the quivering Iron Lady. Then he realized someone drove the creature through willpower. He sought the secondary source, and finally sensed Venna.

  “Aha,” Becker said.

  With telepathic bolts, Becker strove to break the link between Venna and the etheric entity. That was when he learned about the Phantasma Synth Crystals. The crystals entered the lists, as it were, and battled against him.

  As Venna stood in her hotel room in Basel, the crystals flashed with power as she gripped them. The alien crystals sucked up whatever bits of energy remained in the crisped husk at Venna’s feet. Then the crystals began to draw power from her life energy.

  Venna gasped for air, her lungs hurting.

  The Phantasma Synth Crystals might have consumed her life, but they needed her mentality in order to fight this big-brained opponent in the starship. The crystals were tools, machines in a sense. Without a living person, they were useless. Still, the balance they strove to achieve hurt Venna.

  The crystals used bizarre patterns because the ancient Aetharians had different mind designs than humans. They literally thought in a different manner. It had allowed the construction of the crystals, but it meant…

  Here and now, it meant that a ferocious struggle took place between the ancient alien tech and Becker’s desire for freedom, women, and life. The Liss had constructed his improved mind on human patterns, adding to its telepathic strength.

  It was like archers firing arrows at a lancer galloping at them on his horse. Both ways hurt and could kill. Each used different strategies and methods.

  Becker blocked with his mind as a horseman might use a shield. He deflected the arrows, straining to reach the enemy and pierce him with the tip of the lance.

  At the same time, the energy entity in the quarters lowered by degrees, inching closer to the Iron Lady. O’Hara stared at it transfixed like a mouse watching an owl’s talons descend. O’Hara strove to move from her bed, but like some rat staring at a hypnotizing, swaying snake, she couldn’t do it.

  It turned out that Maddox and Meta couldn’t move anymore either.

  Meta’s face was purpling. In the etheric entity’s presence, she could not move her lungs to breathe.

  Maddox managed to suck down air, but he struggled to pull out his blaster and start shooting at the swirling thing. His muscles stood out in stark relief, straining and unmoving.

  The etheric entity inched closer yet to O’Hara, touching the top of her head. At that point, the energy being froze.

  Maddox watched the alien entity shiver and shake, no doubt trying to move more.

  “I’m winning,” Becker boasted. “I’ve finally got the hang of it.”

  Becker used deft telepathic and telekinetic moves learned from the Prime Saa. The key, though, was a mental bolt that had slammed against the crystals. It had almost severed the crystals’ link with the entity. That had allowed Becker time to practice telekinesis.

  The crystals might have panicked. In order to continue operating, they stole yet more of Venna’s life force. Was it too much?

  Abruptly, a slit mouth appeared on the etheric energy. A horrific sonic scream erupted from it. In that moment, the creature inched a bit more over O’Hara’s head.

  “No!” Becker shouted. He pointed both hands at it, opened his hands wide and then clenched his fingers into fists. He did this several times. Each time, he pumped telepathic and telekinetic power into the entity.

  The etheric creature squealed.

  Yet again, Becker squeezed his fingers as tightly as they would go.

  The etheric energy quivered faster and faster as it remained in one place, and then it blasted apart.

  Becker’s hands flipped palms outward toward the thing, seemingly creating an invisible shield. The telekinetic shield didn’t block everything, but maybe enough. Becker seemed to absorb the alien etheric blast that got through, using his giant head like a battering ram. The skull didn’t cave in. It didn’t do anything but absorb. Becker felt an alien presence slithering into his brain. He struggled for control of himself. He hated this oily sensation. It strove for mastery over him.

  Oh, no, you don’t, Becker said in his mind. The Prime Saa tried that and failed. I will be in control of me or no one will.

  The etheric presence in his brain rose up like an alien snake. It rose as fangs sprouted. In his mind’s eye, Becker stood before the gigantic serpentine monster. He stood heroically with his hands outstretched. The alien thing wanted to control his mind, his body, his very essence.

  Becker could feel the vitality of the man Venna had seduced tonight. It was a combination of that man and the alien mystic technology striving against him.

  The image in his mind fixed as the snake-like monster struck at Becker. He howled in his mind and blasted at the thing with bolts that came from his telepathic power. The monster swallowed him whole and still Becker fired his mystic bolts.

  The bolts tore through the scaly skin, obliterating the beast that had tried to infiltrate his soul, which he successfully stopped.

  In the real world, Becker fainted even as his body continued to shiver and shake. He did not die and he did not lose possession of his body or mind to the alien thing. He went into a catatonic state, though.

  There was another reaction down on Earth in Basel, Switzerland Sector. Like a backwash, etheric power zagged down from the heavens and invisibly struck the Phantasma Synth Crystals. There was a breaker in the alien tech items. That was fortunate for Venna.

  The etheric power flowed back into the crystals. The breaker was the Phantasma Synth Crystals shattering in a mystic blast.

  The process was soundless as the shards moved in seeming slow motion. Several of them embedded into the chest and neck of Venna the Spy. That should have slain her out of hand. Instead, the crystals dissipated, melting as if they were ice. The shards seemed to melt into Venna.