Maddox thought about that. In some manner, Venna had aged horribly and changed color. How or why had that happened? It would seem, however, that this creature wasn’t Venna.

  “This is Captain Maddox of Star Watch speaking,” he told the marshal. “You are in violation of the law for illegally entering Commonwealth territory.”

  “I am Marshal Tao,” she said in a scratchy old voice. “I know why we are here and what we are doing. You are in grave danger, Captain Maddox. I suggest you flee while you are able.”

  “I’m in danger?” Maddox said, as he touched his chest. “I seriously doubt that. Even now, Star Watch is gathering several flotillas to appear and intern you all. If you attempt to leave, we will chase you down, and it will go twice as bad with you. We know that you have aided and abetted in the murder of Lord High Admiral Cook.”

  “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,” the old marshal laughed. “We know very well what we have done. You have no idea who our allies are or you would be begging for mercy.”

  “Of course, I know,” Maddox said. “The Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan helps you. That means you’re a traitor to our spiral arm as you are treating with those who wish to conquer us all.”

  The marshal’s features fell, but only for a moment. Then she gloated again. “That is as may be a shrewd guess at best, nothing more.”

  “It’s not a shrewd guess,” Maddox said. “I know for a fact, and I know that you know, because some of your crew saw my emissary on your vessel a short time ago.”

  “You lie! No such emissary came here.” She panted and then seemed to calm down. “Do not bother me with your lies as it will avail you nothing.”

  “Come now,” Maddox said smoothly. “Why be like that? Let us come to an understanding, you and me. You have entered our territory to kill our leaders. Normally, your life would be forfeit. It’s true that I don’t know who you are, Marshal, but we will not rest until your entire Spacer fleet, the Third Fleet, I might add—” Maddox stood and took several steps toward the main screen. His manner had abruptly changed. “Representatives of the Spacer Third Fleet came and killed our Lord High Admiral. You have slain a friend of mine, Marshal. You and your flotilla are in danger of total annihilation.”

  Incredibly, the old marshal seemed taken aback by Maddox’s words. She looked from right to left before she trembled before the wrath of Maddox.

  “Surrender your ships now,” Maddox said.

  “Impossible,” she said. “We do what we must. You have brought us to the brink of this. The fault is yours, sir.”

  “Flee then to Leviathan,” Maddox thundered. “Flee to the cyborgs. Flee as they change you into cyborgs.”

  The marshal turned to the side, and she swayed back as if stunned at what she saw on her bridge.

  Maddox yearned to know whom she stared at, whom had come onto the bridge. As he watched, a transformation occurred to the Spacer marshal. She relaxed and grew calm. With a strange smile, she turned back to Maddox.

  “You know nothing about what is going to happen,” she said, her voice less scratchy than before. “The demise of your false government comes near. You will learn. You will see the Builders rise again. Your Commonwealth shall be crushed. Invasion fleets shall—”

  The marshal’s withered hands clasped her throat as she began to choke. She turned imploring eyes in the same direction as before. She continued to choke and gasp until finally, she slumped onto the deck before her chair, seemingly dead.

  Maddox waited, appalled at this turn of events. But no one else appeared on the main screen. “Hello?” Maddox said. “Hello? Why won’t any of you speak to me?”

  Finally, a low-grade Spacer female stepped before the screen. She stepped gingerly over the marshal’s corpse.

  “It’s no use, Captain Maddox,” she said in a light voice. She wore black-tinted goggles like all the others. “You lost this round. And you have lost much more than you can understand. Your AI, yes, you learned a few details, but that doesn’t matter. You will pay. You will pay desperately for all that you have done against us. And the others, they will learn as well.”

  “Are you talking about the cybers of Leviathan?” Maddox said, guessing.

  The Spacer smiled in a sinister and almost ancient manner. “Goodbye, Captain Maddox. You will not catch us before we leave, and we will not try to catch you. But you and I will meet again. And next time, I will kill your grandmother.”

  Maddox stepped forward, staring intently at the Spacer.

  “Sir,” Galyan said, “something strange is happening by the saucer ships.”

  “Show me,” Maddox said.

  The main screen changed as the enemy bridge vanished. Now, nine saucer ships showed on the screen. Energy speared from each of them. The energy formed a knot in the middle of them. That almost seemed like a hyper-spatial tube opening. Then, one after the other, the saucer ships popped into the hole and disappeared. A second later, the opening vanished as well.

  “What was that?” Maddox said. “It couldn’t have been a hyper-spatial tube opening, could it?”

  “It seemed like something very similar,” Galyan said. “Perhaps we should go there and investigate.”

  Maddox took several steps back and sat in his captain’s chair. That had been weird: the space opening, the Spacer girl and the marshal choking herself to death. What was going on? It was time for a conference before he decided on the next move.

  -28-

  Maddox called a meeting, but a smaller one than usual. He sat at the head of the conference table. Beside him was Meta. On the other side of her, Galyan floated by the table instead of sitting like the others. On the other side of the table from them, completing the group, sat Professor Ludendorff.

  Maddox had considered asking Andros Crank to come but decided to leave him on the bridge to scour the star system for anomalies.

  “I’ll make this quick,” Maddox said, opening the meeting. “I need to make some decisions fast but want your input before I do that. First, are there any comments from anybody?” He looked around the table.

  “I have one,” Meta said, raising a hand.

  “Please,” Maddox said, nodding to her.

  “I suggest you repair the situation with the new Lord High Admiral,” Meta said. “And I think you should do it sooner rather than later. You can’t afford having Admiral Haig working against you.”

  “Repair it?” Maddox asked. “I didn’t realize it was broken.”

  Meta looked at him and shook her head. “Surely you realize the Lord High Admiral can’t allow his officers to speak to him the way you did. I agree with your logic, but it would have been better not to act so high-handedly. Haig must resent you for that.”

  “I don’t know that I’d call Haig the captain’s superior,” Ludendorff said, “although Haig is clearly higher ranked.”

  “You disagree with Meta, Professor?” Maddox asked.

  After studying Meta and glancing at Maddox, Ludendorff said, “No, as a matter of fact, I don’t disagree. Your wife has an excellent point. You were too abrupt and you pushed Haig far too much. Perhaps Cook’s last will and testament helped you. Perhaps Haig’s floundering in his current position made a difference. But what you did and in front of others was bad politics. It pays to use politics, especially to cover your ass. Now you, sir, have laid yours bare so all and sundry can give it a good spanking.”

  “Your metaphors lack elegance,” Maddox said dryly. “But be that as it may, all right, at the first opportunity, I’ll speak to the Lord High Admiral in a politic way.” He looked at Meta. “I’ll repair the situation.”

  “In the long run, it’s the wiser decision,” Meta said.

  Maddox smiled at her, cleared his throat and glanced around the table. “What about what we just witnessed? I mean how the Spacers used a possible hyper-spatial tube to escape?”

  “I have a thought on that, sir,” Galyan said.

  Maddox nodded.

  “We should investigate the phenomena closely,” Galyan said. “There was something suspect about it.”

  “How so?” asked Ludendorff.

  “It felt as if the energy projections, from the saucers, were keys, rather than the cause or creation of the tube opening,” Galyan said.

  “Could you explain that further?” Maddox said.

  Galyan waved a ropy holographic arm. “We use Laumer Point Engines to open a jump point. A Builder nexus creates a hyper-spatial tube and thus an opening. The projections from the saucer ships lacked the power and harmonics we normally witness from a nexus as it creates a hyper-spatial tube. That is why I said we witnessed activation or unlocking of a projector or nexus elsewhere in the system. That other created the hyper-spatial tube, not the saucer ships.”

  “That’s interesting.” Maddox picked up a hand communicator. “I’m going to tell Andros to start looking for a nexus-like projector immediately.”

  “Sir,” Galyan said, “I wish you would wait a moment. I would prefer to find the projector rather than Andros.”

  Maddox raised an eyebrow before nodding. Andros and Galyan had started a competition last mission. He hadn’t realized it was still ongoing. “We’ll start searching for this projector after the meeting. Are there any further thoughts on what has taken place in the star system?”

  “I have one,” Ludendorff said, “but it concerns Becker.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “Becker is a problem and he’s in the star system.”

  “Indeed,” Ludendorff said. “My point is that he has served his purpose, has he not?”

  “He has,” Maddox said. “Becker saved my grandmother. I’m grateful for that and plan to keep my end of the bargain.”

  “To take him to the Library Planet?” asked Ludendorff.

  “Exactly,” Maddox said. “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No. That seems like the right idea,” Ludendorff said. “Becker is latently dangerous, especially as we do not understand the full extent of his mental capabilities. Certainly, he did what no one else has been able to do in dealing with the alien entity, although who knows what happened on the Spacer ships.”

  Maddox raised a hand. “Let’s address the two issues separately. First, I want to hear any further thoughts about Becker. We know he sustained a so-called semi-stroke while in the stasis unit.”

  “That is what I discovered, sir,” Galyan said. “

  “Do you know why the so-called stroke happened?”

  “I have an idea,” Galyan said. “All the indicators point to a telekinetic attack upon certain of Becker’s brain cells. That means it wasn’t really a stroke, just the end result of some strokes.”

  “Who could do that to Becker?” Maddox said.

  “On our ship, at this moment,” Galyan said, “that would be Becker.”

  “Are you suggesting Becker attacked himself?” Maddox asked.

  “While that seems unlikely,” Galyan said, “that is the logical conclusion from the evidence.”

  “Why would Becker attack himself?” Maddox asked.

  “That’s the question,” Ludendorff said. “Answering it could probably help us answer the rest.”

  Maddox nodded slowly. “Becker may be going crazy and gave himself a semi-stroke. Might he have felt self-revulsion and cut himself for it, so to speak?”

  “I’m not sure Becker is capable of self-revulsion,” Ludendorff said.

  “Nonsense,” Meta said. “Anyone is capable of it.”

  Ludendorff showed surprise.

  “Maybe not anyone,” Galyan said as he looked at the professor.

  Maddox laughed.

  Galyan smiled shyly at him.

  “Your jokes are improving,” Maddox said.

  “Thank you, sir,” Galyan said.

  Ludendorff, perhaps finally understanding, scowled.

  “Whether Becker can feel self-revulsion or not, he did the impossible and stopped the assassinating entity no one else could,” Maddox said. “Do the rest of you believe I should take him to the Library Planet?”

  “You truly want our suggestions?” Ludendorff said.

  “I’m open to your suggestions,” Maddox said. “I do have my own idea on this, of course.”

  “May we know what those ideas are?” Galyan said.

  “I plan to keep my word,” Maddox said. “That means going to the Library Planet. That will take time and effort we possibly can’t afford right now. There’s one other point. I don’t know how wise it is leaving Becker on the Library Planet.”

  “Why would you leave him there?” Ludendorff said.

  “Where else should we leave Becker?” Maddox said. “Should we take him with us?”

  No one answered the questions.

  “I flat don’t know what to do with Becker,” Maddox admitted. “It’s why I’m open to suggestions. I could use the input.”

  “Hmmm,” Ludendorff said. “As we’ve talked about Becker, and now considered the next move with him, I’ve been reconsidering what the Prime Saa of the Liss did to him.”

  “You mean in castrating Becker ten years ago?” Maddox said.

  “Precisely,” Ludendorff said. “Why would the Prime Saa do that to Becker, to one of his key telepathic operatives? I don’t believe the alien Liss did it for reasons of cruelty or sadism. I believe the Liss acted for logical reasons. Thus, I’ve asked myself, what could be the reasons?”

  “What’s your conclusion?” Maddox asked.

  “Becker had and has an inordinate love of women,” Ludendorff said.

  “Is it not odd you should be the one to point that out?” Galyan asked.

  Ludendorff grinned and ran a hand through his thick white hair. “I’m a lady killer, no doubt about that. I suspect Becker was and is a gamma male want-to-be. Becker loves the ladies but doesn’t know how to acquire them. And yet, when he had telepathic powers—if I’m correct in my supposition—he acquired them through mental domination, through his telepathy. Perhaps, as a gamma male—I’m talking about ten years ago—he poured all his energy into the enjoyment of the ladies.”

  “Go on,” Maddox said.

  “The Prime Saa must have recognized this,” Ludendorff said. “But the Prime Saa needed Becker to concentrate on the tasks at hand. That was dominating its foes at the time. Therefore, the Prime Saa had to remove Becker’s desire for the ladies. Presumably, that was why the alien Liss castrated Becker ten years ago.”

  “That makes as good a sense as any,” Maddox said. “Do you have anything to add to that, Galyan?”

  “No, sir, in this I am listening and gathering data.”

  “There is another point I wish to make,” Ludendorff said.

  “Please,” Maddox said. “Do so.”

  “If Becker regains all the normal functions of a man, perhaps his sex drive will return in full, gamma-male force.”

  “That seems obvious,” Maddox said.

  “It may seem obvious,” Ludendorff said, “but the point or question is will the sex drive do what it did to Becker in the past? Becker might return to his inordinate desire for women.”

  “Are you saying we have to protect women from his dominating power?” Maddox asked.

  “That would be one way to look at it,” Ludendorff said. “My point is different. If Becker utilizes most of his efforts toward acquiring and enjoying the beauties he so dearly desires, then he will not be affecting political or other aspects. Therefore, Becker will prove much less dangerous to the Commonwealth and Star Watch once he fully recovers.”

  “But not less dangerous to the women he assaults,” Maddox said.

  “Again,” Ludendorff said, “that isn’t the aspect I’m addressing, although you have a point.”

  “That brings us full circle,” Maddox said. “Do I unleash Becker upon the universe, or do I keep him in stasis where he can’t hurt anyone?”

  “Keeping him in stasis means breaking your word,” Ludendorff said.

  “Exactly,” Maddox said. “I dearly do not want to do that, particularly as Becker saved my grandmother.”

  “I have a suggestion,” Galyan said. “You could lessen Becker’s mental capabilities.”

  “Burn out some of his brain cells?” asked Maddox.

  “That would be the easiest way to reduce his mental powers,” Galyan said.

  “Why not give him a lobotomy while you’re at it,” Ludendorff said in a huff. “Turn him into an imbecile, a vegetable, and then you’ll all be happy. Is that what you’re saying, you AI scoundrel?”

  “Why are you angry with me, Professor?” Galyan asked.

  “Because what you’re suggested is monstrous in the extreme,” Ludendorff said. “You want to make a retard out of the poor fool just because he agreed to help us, just because he saved Maddox’s grandmother, and just because he loves the ladies. I find the lobotomy idea detestable.”

  “I agree,” Maddox said. “Yet I don’t know if I should release a fully masculine Becker upon the universe? I don’t want to be responsible for the bane he might prove to be to women.”

  “What is the right thing to do?” Ludendorff said. “It is an interesting quandary.”

  Maddox glanced at his wife, at Galyan and then folded his hands on the table. “We’ll take Becker to the Library Planet. I’ll see what the Supreme Intelligence and my Uncle Ural have to say. Perhaps we can rehabilitate Becker so he restrains himself and acts like a civilized man.”

  “You mean he doesn’t use his dominating power to coerce women to do his bidding?” Ludendorff said.

  “Exactly,” Maddox said.

  “Do you think a man such as Becker will ever be able to restrain himself?” Ludendorff asked.

  “If I had to guess right now,” Maddox said, “I’d say no. But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. I owe him the chance at rehabilitation, and I want to keep my word.”

  “How about taking Becker to the Library Planet, having the Supreme Intelligence restore him, and then putting him back into stasis,” Ludendorff said. “In that way, you’ve kept your word and kept the universe safe from him.”

  Maddox frowned, even though he’d already thought of that.

  “Before we do any of that, sir,” Galyan said, “I suggest we take a closer look at the terrestrial planets near this dwarf star. The planets could provide the answer as to how the Spacer ships did what they did in leaving the star system.”