He had to give the Entity something. Ah. “If you must, know, I’m nervous. I’m wondering what your decision regarding me is going to be.”

  “I have not decided. I told you that earlier. Surely, you must know that I do not have whimsical fancies. I am analyzing even as I take care of other matters. Does that not make sense to you Maddox?”

  “It does.”

  “Then cease this flurry of emotionalism. It only causes me to distrust you.”

  “I will do my best to comply,” Maddox said.

  Dravek eyed him before sitting forward and acting relaxed.

  Soon, the crawler came to a stop. Another suited person must have attached a new flex tube to the outer skin of the machine. The hatch opened. The uniformed man in back motioned for Maddox and Dravek to proceed. The two did, exiting the crawler into the freezing flex tube. They walked through, the uniformed man following.

  “Damn it’s cold,” Dravek said, shivering.

  Maddox barely kept his teeth from chattering. He hoped it was warmer inside. This was crazy.

  A hatch opened and warmth flooded them. All three exited the tube into the building. The hatch shut behind them. They were in a small chamber.

  “Go,” said the uniformed man.

  Maddox led the way down a short corridor. A hatch in front of him opened. A sweaty odor wafted from it.

  “Enter both of you.”

  Maddox looked back. The uniformed man aimed the blaster at Dravek and him. “You’re not coming with us?”

  “No questions,” the man said. “Obey my instructions.”

  Maddox shrugged, entering the bad smelling chamber. Dravek followed him.

  The hatch shut behind them.

  It was colder in the room or circular chamber, which was ten by ten meters. It wasn’t as cold as the flex tube, though. Three other individuals sat listlessly on the floor. They were thin and short, each wearing worn black garments, each with a mop of dark hair.

  “Hey,” Maddox said into the air. “It’s too cold in here. How about warming it up several degrees?”

  None of the three responded and there was no response from the air.

  Maddox studied the others more closely. They had pale, narrow features. Two seemed comatose with their eyes open, as if they were too tired to close their eyes. The last had a furtive, rat-faced look. He seemed more energetic.

  “Well,” Rat Face said, “what’s the situation? Are you part of the Entity?”

  They all stared at him, even the seemingly comatose ones.

  “Can the Entity hear us?” Maddox asked.

  “What do you think?” Rat Face asked.

  “I don’t know. You tell me, I’m asking the questions.”

  “Of course he listens, it listens, whatever you want to call it. Just shut the hell up and do whatever it is but don’t bother us or cause punishments to happen. If you anger the Entity, it’ll go worse with all of us and probably become even colder in here. It has happened before.”

  Dravek sat down near the hatch, put his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. Some of his desperation had returned.

  Maddox paced through the chamber before suddenly plopping down. It was near the rat-faced man. Could that have been by happenstance? That one had cunning in his eyes. That one, Maddox believed, hadn’t given up hope, or not completely, not like the other two.

  “I’m Maddox.”

  Rat Face gave him the barest of glances.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Naxos,” the other said in the barest of whispers.

  Maddox wondered if Naxos had pitched his voice low so whatever receptors were in the chamber wouldn’t pick up the words. He noticed Naxos had spoken so his mouth remained hidden behind an arm.

  Maddox took a similar pose, and he whispered so the words were barely audible. “I just escaped integration with the Entity.”

  Naxos didn’t respond.

  “How did you escape integration?” Maddox asked. “Do you work in the mines perhaps?”

  “That’s enough talk, eh? I want to sleep.”

  “What do you want to know about me?”

  Several seconds of silence followed. “Fine,” Naxos whispered. “Let’s get this over with. I can hear hope in your voice. That’s a mistake. We’re all doomed. Accept it and you won’t be as disappointed when you’re converted into the Entity.”

  “Are you a free trader?”

  With his shifty gaze, Naxos gave Maddox the barest of glances. “I was an engineer. The other two were my assistants. We took care of the generators. The others from the ship were integrated into the Entity. I suppose the Entity considered us three as worthless and put us here.”

  “No,” Maddox said, “the last part doesn’t make sense. You have hope. I see it in your eyes.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  “Why would you three be worthless? That doesn’t make sense. You have brains, bodies. The Entity can use those.”

  “Why doesn’t the Entity use you two?”

  “There are reasons,” Maddox said.

  “This is boring, and worse, useless. I’m done.” Naxos stretched out and pretended to go to sleep.

  Maddox glanced at the other two. They’d stretched out, their eyes closed as they breathed evenly, asleep already.

  “Welcome to Hell,” Dravek said from near the hatch. “This is worse than being a prisoner of Leviathan.”

  Maddox frowned. He couldn’t accept that. It simply wasn’t part of his makeup. What was it with these three? They were different somehow. Why hadn’t the Entity integrated them? He was resolved to find the reason. He might as well. What else was there to do in this freezing Hell of existence?

  -20-

  For the next two days, monotony was the norm. The three didn’t talk with Maddox or Dravek. Dravek didn’t bother with Maddox. Maddox kept to himself, thinking, watching and calculating.

  They ate once a day, the meals military-style rations shoved through a slot in the hatch. Twice a day, each received a plastic bulb of water. Whenever anyone needed to use the toilet, everyone else turned the other way.

  At the end of the two days, an intercom clicked on. “There has been no trouble, no subterfuge that I can detect. Therefore, it will become a degree warmer. If you continue in this positive manner, I will add another degree in two days.” The intercom clicked again, and there was silence.

  Another day passed in monotony.

  Maddox was the most active doing push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises every hour. Dravek soon followed the example. The three peered at them in a listless way.

  At the start of the fourth day, Naxos sidled closer to Maddox. “All right, what is this?” the thin man whispered.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Is this a scam by the Entity? There’s no need for that. You already know, Entity, why I’m unacceptable for integration with you.”

  Maddox scoffed. “Why bother doing that?”

  Naxos squinted at him.

  “You can see in my eyes that I’m me, not the Entity.”

  Naxos said nothing.

  “So why are you unacceptable for integration?” Maddox asked. “You seem to know exactly why.”

  After a moment, Naxos shrugged indifferently.

  “Fine,” Maddox said. “I’ll start the exchange of data. The Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan is after me, as I come from a different spiral arm. My friend, as you can see, looks much like me. That’s because he’s my clone. We’re experiments by Leviathan because Leviathan hopes to invade the other spiral arm, using my clone as an advance spy.”

  “That sounds preposterous,” Naxos whispered.

  “I’m in here with you,” Maddox whispered. “There’s a reason the Entity hasn’t integrated me. The reason is clear. The Entity is keeping Dravek and me as bargaining chips in case Leviathan sends warships this way.”

  The faintest of smiles appeared on Naxos’s rat face. “You’re obviously clever.”

  “You must be too.”

  “Why do you say this?”

  “You’re in here with us,” Maddox said. “Why else would you and the other two have escaped integration?”

  The smile widened until Naxos shook his head. “I’m sorry to disappoint you. The three of us are drug addicts, decidedly so. We also practice vile divinations through magic charms. Our minds would add a chaotic influx of idiocies to the Entity. If you don’t understand that, try this: I’ll only bring ruin to any computer that plugs me into it.”

  “As excuses, that’s not bad,” Maddox said shortly. “But right now, what I want to know is what’s going on? How did this all come about?”

  Naxos stared at Maddox until he finally shook his head. “I know very little. As a drug addict, I don’t retain new information for long.”

  “There’s nothing about the drug addict about you. That means I don’t accept the story. You were correct earlier. I have hope. Before I act, I need to know more. You’re the only one I can ask for now. Thus, you’re going to need to speak whether you want to or not because I’ll pester you until you do.”

  “Oh. Well. In that case… The Entity is an experimental model, a computer that can add biological brains into its system. It does so by inserting a foul mechanism into the brain of its victim. Those integrated into the Entity become zombies, if you will, or terminals. I think I heard you say that once.”

  “No,” Maddox said. “You didn’t hear me say that. I now suspect you’re here to trick me, as a ploy of the Entity.”

  Naxos gave a raw caw of laughter.

  That brought an immediate shift in the chamber’s lighting so it flashed several times.

  Dravek sat up, looking tense, possibly frightened.

  The other two like Naxos continued to lie on the floor, indifferent to everything.

  There was an audible click. “What are you two communicating about?” asked a computer voice.

  “We’re bored,” Maddox said. “We engaged in idle chatter to pass the time.”

  “I can change your boredom,” the mechanical voice said. “In fact, I will do so now. I need a volunteer to enter the mines. One of the former miners has deteriorated from too much radiation exposure. Who wishes to go in the miner’s place?”

  “I do,” Maddox said.

  “No. I do not accept you for the reasons that you and I have discussed. What about you, Naxos? Perhaps it is time for you to enter the mine.”

  “Whatever you wish,” Naxos said. “But know, Entity, that you take a risk doing that.”

  “Since you have spoken at length with Maddox, I will accept the risk. He is devious. You are devious. I have decided that you are next. The others will join you and see how I achieve union with a human. It will be salutary for everyone. The guards will arrive shortly. I have spoken.”

  There was a click and then silence.

  Naxos glared at Maddox. “Thanks a lot.”

  “Quickly now,” Maddox said, “tell me about your plan. If we’re ever going to escape, this is the moment.”

  “You’re a fool and a cretin,” Naxos said, although he didn’t sound bitter.

  “Why haven’t you been inserted into the Entity? There must be a reason.”

  “I’m to go to the mine. I am going to die. Isn’t that enough for you?”

  “I thought—”

  Naxos gave the barest shake of the head.

  “Listen,” Maddox said urgently, “this is the moment. We must charge the guards together.”

  Naxos laughed sourly. “Do you truly expect me to reveal my one secret?

  “I have a secret, too. You can have it if you’ll help us.”

  Naxos seemed disinterested.

  Despite that, Maddox slyly indicated his monofilament blade. “With it, I can cut through anything.”

  Naxos stared at Maddox. “This isn’t a trick?”

  “No trick. This is our one chance. We must band together and do what we can. Staying here as we have: it’s sapping my morale. I must act now or accept defeat, and that I refuse to do. I’d rather go down fighting.”

  Naxos spoke a single word in an exotic tongue. The air in the chamber charged with electricity.

  Maddox turned. The other two lean individuals stood. They seemed tense and ready and were even paler than before.

  Dravek climbed to his feet, cracking his knuckles. The look on his face said he knew this was the moment.

  Maddox exhaled. They would all have to make their move even though he had no idea what the skinny individuals could do. He was sick of waiting, though. He doubted he could take any more of this.

  “Better to die with glory than continue with this fraud,” Maddox muttered to himself. With that, he prepared to face whatever was to come: hoping Meta would forgive him for never returning home.

  -21-

  As the five prisoners approached the hatch, Naxos stepped near Maddox and put his hand on the other’s head. It was a quick action. Maddox would have jerked away, but there was an intuitive thought, don’t.

  Naxos placed his right palm on Maddox’s forehead and there was a jolt, not of pain, but of a torrent of words all spoken in an incomprehensible rush.

  Even as the hatch opened, it left Maddox dazed, confused, and blinking.

  Three guards stood there. The guards wore the square hats with the strange, deformed parts on top. No doubt, that was where the conversion circuitry had been inserted.

  “Maddox—” Dravek said.

  “No speaking,” said one of the guards, using the toneless voice that indicated the Entity. “File down the hall to the crawler. I’m bringing you five to me. There’s a new development in progress. You shall find it interesting and instructive.”

  Naxos and the other two moved smartly past Maddox.

  Maddox stood there, dazed, confused and blinking. Garbled words tumbled through his mind even though he knew he didn’t hear any physically spoken words.

  Dravek moved from behind, putting a hand on an elbow, guiding Maddox down the corridor.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Dravek whispered.

  “No talking,” said the one guard.

  The other two watched with their blaster-pistols aimed and ready.

  Maddox stumbled down the corridor, only half-aware of Dravek or the guards. As he stumbled, the garbled words that had tumbled as a torrent into his mind began to string out into meaningful phrases, spoken in Naxos’s voice.

  I’ve given you a compressed thought. We are a Triad, my brothers and me. You likely don’t know what that means, but that is not important now. I’ve been building this word torrent for days, and my brothers know that this is our one chance to escape. Maddox, you seem like a man of action. I have some intuitive sense, and I know that you have intuitive sense as well. Your brother, the other who looks like you, he is not the same as you, but I think that you can guide him.

  We are dealing with an Entity of devious Leviathan cunning. They made a device, an insurgent device, to send into the Heydell Cloud. I don’t know if you know this, but Leviathan is terrified of entering the Heydell Cloud because it is filled with anomalies, such as the vortex through which you likely reached this place. Other anomalies affect their cybernetic circuitry. Thus, they have been working for a long time on perfecting anti-Heydell Cloud circuitry. An experimental piece of equipment was stolen from a Leviathan planet. Who stole it and how did they affect the theft? I have not yet been able to determine that.

  My brothers and I are agents from a planet that I will not name. We are a Triad, a highly skilled operative team, and—

  There were garbled words that made no sense to Maddox. It went on for a time. Then:

  I am trying to produce this in a coherent fashion, but my excitement and the idea that we may escape the vile evil that is the Entity—

  There were more garbled phrases.

  I am calm again. Listen then. The Entity surprised the crew of the large Gnostic ship. The Gnostics were pirates and they thought they had captured a prize of Leviathan in the computer that is the Entity.

  Instead, it turned out that Leviathan had captured the Gnostics. The Entity inserted the vile technology that forms everyone into the hive mind of the cyber computer. It uses the knowledge and the bodies of its captives to do its bidding. It is building—

  The next few phrases were garbled.

  For that reason, the Entity believes itself greater than the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. If Leviathan knew what had happened here, they would send warships to destroy the Entity.

  We are not going to attempt to destroy the Entity. That is beyond our capabilities. But we are going to escape if we can. Captain Maddox, you are the key, you and your explosive energy that I perceive you possess.

  There was more garbling of words.

  You see, when traveling through the Heydell Cloud, every free trader has a seer that watches for gravitational masses and other spatial distortions. We, as a Triad, when wielding the Eye, can do that. We came disguised as you see us, as malcontents, drug users and fools, in order to find—

  The next few phrases almost made sense, but Maddox couldn’t quite comprehend.

  We are agents and we fell into a cunning trap due to the Gnostic practice of using stasis rays. The Entity incorporated that in its assault on our free trader. That means the enemy incapacitated us before we knew to act. By that time, we were separated from the Eye. We strive against Leviathan and plan to use the Entity as a ploy against it. First, I must escape. We must escape.

  That is why I’ve given you this mass of information with a touch. Listen closely, Maddox. Attend to my thoughts. I believe you have the intellect, will and ferociousness to succeed. They will take us to a crawler. You must overpower the guards once we’re inside and moving. I take that back. You must kill the guards. Use whatever means is at your disposal. The knife of yours is likely your best chance. Then you must take us to the third free trader ship. On the ship resides the Eye, the Eye of Helion.

  Intellect is the key to our combined…you might term it as telepathic powers. The Triad must act in unison. We three are brothers and have trained our entire lives for this mission. We are not as you perceive. We do not mean you any harm. You will be able to go on your way, wherever that is, if you will let us go on our way. The Entity is dangerous even if we gain the Eye, but that is the only way we will be able to escape.