Maddox jumped back. He then twirled his rake and heaved it far, doing the same with hers. Both rakes clattered on the rocky, ruby surface thirty yards from them.

  “Oh!” Meta turned to retrieve her rake, but Maddox grabbed her around the waist, stopping her. Keeping her near took more energy than expected because Meta had been born on a 2-G planet and had some modifications as well. She struggled valiantly.

  “Stop struggling,” Maddox shouted. “As your commanding officer from Starship Victory, I order you to stop.”

  Meta ceased her struggles, turning, staring at him. “Starship what?” she asked.

  “Victory,” he said. “We should be on Victory. Not here.”

  “We’ve always been here,” Meta replied, leaving Maddox baffled.

  He couldn’t fathom this. He didn’t know how they’d transitioned from Victory to this location. It made no sense.

  As Maddox bent his head in thought, Meta snuck away and picked up her rake. He decided to let her. He didn’t want to wrestle with her anymore. He needed to think this through and understand what was happening, and why.

  There’s something unique in me, something that lets me see more clearly than others can. Maddox breathed deeply. Yes, this breathing was the Way of the Pilgrim. There had been someone once called Balron the Traveler—

  Pain throbbed in his head. He massaged the aching spot, realizing something fought against his memories. Maddox shook his head. He refused to let a little throb stop him from thinking. Balron had given him…or helped him discover…an intuitive sense.

  Maddox nodded, licking his lips. He was getting somewhere. He needed to engage his intuitive sense.

  Closing his eyes, he did just that.

  By degrees, it came to Maddox in a tangible way that he had gone to sleep on Victory, in their quarters. Their appearing here was a mystery. This was an alien planet. It made no sense he should be raking rubies into piles. The starship had been going through the Aquila Rift. They had been traveling through dense molecular clouds. How then could he be here?

  This was alien interference was his conclusion. In some manner, there was an alien presence doing this to them.

  Maddox opened his eyes and scrutinized his surroundings, attempting to pierce it as if it were a holographic image, a fake. Perhaps someone was impinging thoughts upon him. His intuitive sense soon told him that was wrong.

  “This place is real,” Maddox said aloud. “This place is real, Meta.”

  She was bent over, raking rubies into perfectly sized piles.

  “Meta, how long have you been doing this?”

  She wouldn’t even look at him now.

  “Meta!”

  “Don’t bother me,” she said. “I’m working.”

  He thought about that, soon shading his eyes against the brilliant pink gem in the sky. He switched his stare to the far distance. Far away, he saw others raking like them.

  Maybe he could get answers from them.

  Maddox turned to his wife. “I’m leaving, Meta.”

  “Goodbye,” she said, not stopping her raking.

  Maddox charged her silently.

  Sensing him, Meta looked up and swung the rake at him. He ducked it, clutched hold, and they had a game of tug-of-war. Both yanked on the rake, pulling it back and forth.

  Finally, with a roar, Maddox ripped the rake out of Meta’s hands. He was almost going to snap it over his knee, but stopped himself. It was metal and might break a bone.

  He drew his monofilament blade, which he had in his boot. He didn’t have any other weaponry, but he did have this. He cut the rake in half, threw the pieces down, and sheathed the blade back in the boot.

  “Why did you do that?” Meta said. “Now we’re in grave danger.”

  “You’re coming with me.”

  “No, no, I’m going to wait here. Your rake, I’m going to—”

  He grabbed her right hand and clutched it with all his strength, dragging her away. Almost spitting like a wildcat, Meta resisted. He pulled and pulled, finally grabbing and lifting her up, running from where they had been raking. She beat upon his back.

  “Stop, stop, you must let me rake.”

  Maddox clutched her tight and began whispering about Jewel. “Remember Jewel. Do not forget Jewel. You’re not even thinking about her. If you thought about Jewel—”

  Meta gasped, “Maddox, where are we? Where’s my baby girl?”

  Maddox set Meta down. She weighed more than the average woman, not from fat but from a beautifully voluptuous figure and strong muscles, a result of her 2-G heritage.

  “Maddox,” Meta said. “Where is Jewel?”

  Maddox waited.

  Meta looked around. “Where are we? What is this place? How did we get here? I was on Victory. I joined you this mission. We’ve been traveling through the Aquila Rift.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “Our being here makes no sense.”

  Meta looked him square in the face. “What are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to talk to those individuals way out there and see if we can piece together what in the world is going on.”

  Meta blinked several times. “Fine, let’s do it then.”

  Thus, together, hand in hand, they began to trudge to others raking in the distance.

  -29-

  Maddox and Meta trudged for many kilometers. Distances were hard to determine in this strange realm with the black obsidian. The star or sun seemed to hang motionless in the green sky—brilliant, yet not searing to the eye.

  Eventually, they neared a pair of hairy individuals with wolfish snouts.

  “Ardazirhos,” Maddox said. “They’re from the center of the galaxy, remember? The ones we’ve known served the Mastermind. They used Yon Soth portals to go from one place to the next. Did these get trapped in this realm because they took a wrong turn in a portal?”

  “I don’t quite comprehend all that you’re saying,” Meta said.

  “Somehow, the Ardazirhos have ended up in this realm, a place where none of us should be. I’d like to know how or why. In the meantime, stay a bit behind me.”

  “I can fight.”

  “I know you can. If needed, pick up a ruby and hurl it at the wolves. Until then, let’s see if we can find out what’s going on and how any of us got here.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Maddox and Meta approached what turned out to be three Ardazirhos. One had been lying down and now popped up. All three raked determinedly, making mounds of rubies. It seemed like an endless task. Maybe it never ended. Perhaps this was some kind of hell realm.

  “Hello!” Maddox shouted.

  The Ardazirhos stopped, turned and stared. They clutched their rakes with a manic grip. Slenderer than Maddox, their metallic clothes were shredded. They looked thin, maybe even skeletal. Maddox saw no evidence of food or water.

  “Why are you doing this?” Maddox asked.

  They cocked their heads, then growled to each other in whatever they used for language. Maddox and Meta continued to approach. As they did, the Ardazirhos hunched their shoulders. Finally, they picked up their rakes as if they were weapons, growling menacingly.

  “I’m Captain Maddox from Starship Victory. Who are you?”

  They glared at him as if he was a madman.

  “Why do you rake up these rubies? Is there a reason for that?”

  They growled low, perhaps communicating among themselves. Were they going to rush Maddox and Meta?

  Maddox didn’t want to draw his monofilament blade too soon. It was a last resort. Although his knife was probably much deadlier, a stout swing with an iron rake could knock him unconscious. They would have his knife then and likely kill him with it.

  “I won’t bother you anymore,” Maddox said.

  They lifted their snouts, howling at the gem-like sun. Raising their rakes as if they were spears, they charged Maddox, with Meta behind him, gaining speed with every stride.

  Before Maddox could decide what to do, Meta had already hurled two rubies. One hit an Ardazirho square in the head, knocking him down. Another tripped over the fallen one. Maddox dodged the last one’s swing, caught the rake and swiftly used his knee to hit the skeletal, wolfish humanoid in the gut. He threw the creature aside, who released the rake. Maddox continued holding on to it. The Ardazirho who had tripped climbed to his feet. Meta used a ruby in each hand to knock him senseless to the ground.

  Two were out, and one lay panting on his back.

  Now that Maddox had a good look, the creature appeared frail.

  “What is this about?” Maddox demanded.

  The Ardazirho gave a forlorn cry, resembling a whipped dog’s whimper.

  “I’m not going to hurt you.” Maddox tossed the rake aside so it clattered on obsidian.

  The Ardazirho stared at the rake, then at Maddox, almost with wonder. It was as if the creature thought Maddox had performed a superhuman feat.

  “Who are you?” Maddox said loudly, then chuckled, realizing the foolishness of shouting. He tried a different language.

  From on the ground, the Ardazirho cocked his head.

  “Can you comprehend me at all?” Maddox asked.

  “Yes,” the Ardazirho said in tortured English. “It clicks finally, your words in my mind.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Carn Dar,” the Ardazirho said.

  “Why are you raking here?” Maddox asked.

  “It is the way.”

  “Has it always been the way?”

  Once more, Carn Dar cocked his head. “I remember now, long ago we came. It tricked us.”

  “Who is it?”

  “I have never met it, but I know because sometimes, like now, the veil lifts from my mind. I realize all this is impossible and the raking of these,” Carn Dar used a strange alien word for rubies, “it makes no sense. I almost wonder if these gems power some sort of engine.”

  “Did you take a wrong portal? Did you use portals to reach here?”

  “Do you know of the Mastermind?” Carn Dar asked.

  “I do.”

  “You are a servant to him as well?”

  “No,” Maddox said, deciding to refrain from any lies for the moment. “I’ve resisted the Mastermind, and I’ve fought your kind before. Know, though, that I hold no enmity against you here and now.”

  Carn Dar looked away and then regarded himself in his shredded attire. Slowly, he worked to his feet. “I do not care for comprehension. I do not care to speak to your hairless face. I will sink into the mental gloom and do my duty. I will rake the,” he used the strange alien word again for rubies. “If you would allow me to retrieve my rake…”

  Maddox looked at the rake, realizing he felt a compulsion in the back of his mind to start raking with the Ardazirho. Maddox scowled, shaking his head.

  “You show contempt for me?” Carn Dar asked.

  “No,” Maddox said. “I will not be a slave to an alien entity for reasons I do not understand.”

  “There is no escape from here,” Carn Dar said. “I have tried on occasion, but it is futile. It is all futile.”

  “We’ll see,” Maddox said. “Which direction is most likely for escape?”

  Carn Dar became thoughtful and turned around to look into the distance. “I think that way is the great scooper that gathers all the…the rubies, you call them.” Carn Dar faced Maddox again. “I do not think you can reach it, though. The scooper is a long way away.”

  “What do you use for sustenance?”

  Carn Dar shook his head. “I do not know, but if I work, I am sustained. The others are stirring. Perhaps you should leave before we battle again. Perhaps we will win this time and hurt you.”

  “Perhaps,” Maddox said unconvinced. “I thank you, Carn Dar, and I wish you luck.”

  The Ardazirho nodded and turned back to his rake.

  “Come, Meta.”

  She had been looking longingly at a rake and now looked at Maddox. “Are you sure this is right? Maybe we should help them rake. I feel as if we should. I feel as if what we’re doing is wrong. It’s against everything that is right.”

  “Perhaps,” Maddox admitted, “but we can’t let that feeling control us.” Was it his intuitive sense or sheer stubbornness? Maddox would do what was wrong if that would get him where he wanted. He would do what was wrong until the very end of his life if that was what it took.

  “Come, Meta.” He grabbed Meta’s hand, and once more, they began to walk across the plain.

  -30-

  Maddox and Meta walked, and walked. They saw others in the distance, groups of two, sometimes three, raking. No one was raking alone. They saw aliens several times. Maddox and Meta skirted everyone and continued their journey.

  “I’m getting thirsty,” Meta said eventually.

  “We have to hope that whatever sustains the others will sustain us, as I’ve seen no water anywhere.”

  “Many look skeletal, most of them in fact.”

  “I think whatever they’re doing is devouring their flesh,” Maddox said. “They’re engaged in this activity, and in this realm, they can persist on whatever their fat stores and muscles have accumulated.” Maddox became thoughtful. “Doesn’t it strike you that we’re in a different dimension?”

  “Oh, Maddox, you said no more dimensional travel.”

  “I’m not saying we are in a different dimension. I’m saying things seem to operate on a different timeframe. For instance, it hasn’t gotten dark yet.”

  “Yes,” Meta said, pointing. “Look at the star. It’s on the horizon instead of high in the sky when we first became aware. The star has been skirting the horizon for a while.”

  “Maybe we’re in a polar region of the planet,” Maddox said.

  “That could be. But how did we get here?”

  Maddox shrugged. “Maybe we teleported, folded space, or moved through a portal. I don’t know.”

  “We’ll never get out,” Meta said.

  “Of course we will,” Maddox said.

  “What makes you think so?”

  “Because we came in,” Maddox said. “If we came in, surely we can reverse the process to leave.”

  “There are some mouse traps and bug traps where the creatures would disagree with you,” Meta said.

  “You make my point for me,” Maddox said. “Eventually, someone opened them to empty the trap.”

  “You mean God?”

  Maddox shook his head. “No, I don’t mean God. I mean whatever is controlling us. Whatever managed to kidnap us from Victory.”

  “Kidnapped?”

  Maddox chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “We’re like the women in the Commonwealth, kidnapped from their homes and brought to the New Men. Someone is trying to use us to do their bidding. That is going to stop.”

  “Husband, I marvel at your grit and determination. I wish to emulate that. But my mind slips, and I see the rubies. I want to gather them together. What sustains you in your alternate purpose?”

  “I am who I am.” Maddox pulled Meta closer with one arm and kissed her. He realized that her lips were cracked, and his lips were cracked. The lips didn’t bleed, but he was vaguely thirsty. No doubt, water was being devoured from his essence, from his cells.

  Maddox focused once more, trying to break any mental condition, spell, or whatever it might be. He used his intuitive sense and thought with every ounce of his spiritual power. Nothing changed, except perhaps his determination to break free from this ruby-raking prison.

  “Come, Meta.” He took her hand, and he strode forward with her following, stumbling at times.

  Did his will drive them both? Perhaps some of the intensity of effort trickled from Maddox into his wife. She no longer complained.

  How many weary kilometers did they travel? Now, far in the distance—

  Maddox stopped and raised a hand to shield his eyes from the brilliant sun. The gem of light had moved high in the sky again. Had twenty-four hours passed since it was on the horizon? More?

  Maddox felt weaker than when he’d originally arrived. He sensed gauntness in him. Did the sustenance process devour Meta and him faster because they weren’t raking? Was the act of raking, or maybe the acquiescence a mental thing that somehow energized in ways he didn’t understand?

  Maddox almost debated raking for a while to strengthen himself. But he was worried. Could he break free from the hypnosis or whatever mental servitude the raking impinged upon him if he started?

  Maddox stared into the distance. Was the blot on the horizon a gargantuan machine? Did the machine rove on the plain, or did it hover above it?

  “Do you see that, Meta?” Maddox pointed far into the distance.

  “Do you mean the machine?” she said.

  They renewed their effort, walking faster.

  For a long time, the machine did not become bigger or smaller. Did it retreat from them at the same speed at which they walked? It was possible. Yet, after a long span, the machine seemed to grow in size.

  “That’s interesting,” Maddox remarked. “Do you note it?”

  Meta nodded. “It seems as if there is space between the volcanic rock and the machine. It hovers.”

  “It hovers,” Maddox agreed.

  They continued to walk and walk, and then walk some more. Maddox’s legs ached, his feet were sore. He felt a diminishment, a devouring of his cells.

  The machine must be massive, maybe as big as Victory. There were metallic tubes snaking on the bottom. The tubes went from one pile of rubies to another and sucked them up into the great machine.

  Meta frowned. “I wonder why these poor souls need to rake the rubies into piles. Why can’t the machine just suck the rubies off the volcanic rock?”

  “Huh,” Maddox said. “That’s an interesting question. Now that you mention it, I wonder the same.”

  With one arm, Maddox drew Meta beside him. The closer her proximity, the more she resisted the hypnotic or enslaving mental process that enveloped everyone else they’d seen.

  They continued to head for the great machine.

  “Do you think we will be able to enter it through one of the tubes?” Meta asked.

  “I don’t know how big the tubes are, and I don’t know if we want to fall into a storage bin area. But we’ll see. Let’s keep our wits about us. Get ready, Meta. This might be our only opportunity. I don’t know if we’re going to have the energy to continue if we fail now.”