“Humanity?” asked Maddox.

  “What else could I be speaking of? Do you suppose I speak of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan?”

  “Some of their ships are crashed on your planet, aren’t they?”

  “They did not meet my standards, Captain, though they were and are a troublesome group. But I do not indulge myself with that. That is not my purpose. My purpose is ancient indeed, and I do not know if you have any part in it. But, Captain, though I find this conversation intriguing only in the fashion that I haven’t spoken like this to one of intelligence for untold millennia, it is still tedious. As for your questions and desires, they are all so elementary, all so basic, all so primitive. I wonder that I should even continue existence. And I have thought and debated and analyzed that I should simply cease. And yet something, something compels me.”

  “The Builders?” asked Maddox.

  “They would have loved to have spoken like this with me.”

  “You knew the Builders then?”

  “Captain, please do not ask me stupid questions. It worries me even more when you do. But enough. Be gone, and let us see if you do have wisdom after all.”

  With that, Maddox and an uncomprehending Meta disappeared.

  -34-

  In orbit around the rogue planet, on Victory, Valerie Noonan was beside herself with worry. So far, they could not detect any reason why Maddox, Meta, Ludendorff and Riker were no longer on the starship. The Tarrypin had exited the ship, and yet there was no recording of it happening. Even more astounding, Galyan had no records of any sort of exit.

  Valerie sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge, staring at the planet below on the main screen. They didn’t even know the rogue planet’s name. They had launched several probes, but none had made it past the middle atmospheric layers. Galyan had already attempted three times to dive down, failing each time. They had even sent down one of the amplifiers. Galyan had projected a little farther that time. Then the amplifier exploded, and Galyan reappeared on the bridge.

  “A field is keeping me from projecting to the surface,” Galyan said. “I am as yet unable to determine the type of field. I find that most frustrating.”

  Valerie turned to the stout Chief Technician, “Can you get a fix on what is blocking Galyan?”

  Andros had been studying his science panel. He looked up and swiveled around. “It’s an energy field that lacks both radiation and any signature I can detect.” He shrugged moodily. “This baffles me. I know the field is there, but my sensors won’t tell me what it is.”

  Valerie stared glumly at the main screen, at the dim rogue planet in this haunted region of space. Ludendorff had spoken truly earlier. Mysterious factors were at play. Why had whatever chosen those four?

  “Galyan, go over all the security cameras again.”

  “It will not make any difference. I have run many diagnostics. I do not know what happened to the four.”

  Valerie closed her eyes and bent her head. She looked up suddenly, opening her eyes. “Are there any lapses in your security files? I mean time lapses.”

  “That is an intriguing idea,” Galyan said. “I did not check that, but now I shall.”

  Galyan stood there, his eyelids blinking so fast they blurred. Abruptly, he stared at Valerie. “I have discovered an oddity. For one hour and twenty-six minutes the security system did not operate on the starship.”

  “Would that be long enough for the others to leave their quarters, enter the Tarrypin, and fly down to the planet?”

  “That is an interesting speculation. Why do you not suspect that they flew off elsewhere?”

  Valerie laughed dryly. “Because something on the planet is obstructing us and our sensors. Therefore, something on the planet doesn’t want us to see that the Tarrypin went down there.”

  “That is logically reasoned, Valerie.”

  Normally, Valerie would have thanked Galyan for his compliment. In this instance, she didn’t feel like thanking him at all. The problem was too maddening.

  Valerie massaged her temples. Maddox had changed after returning from his two-and-a-half-year mission in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. He’d become more autocratic and less understanding. She wasn’t sure she wanted to serve under him anymore.

  Valerie massaged her forehead. They had been in harrowing situations before, and had always come through. This time, though, it felt different. Why was that?

  “Galyan, can’t you do anything?”

  “I can,” the little holoimage said. “Andros, would you come with me?”

  Andros stared at Valerie.

  “What do you have in mind?” Valerie asked Galyan.

  “If Andros could switch off some of the fail-safes in my armored center, in the AI core, I could practice something that might be dangerous to my identity but would boost my power.”

  “Can’t you go into the armored core and switch off the fail-safes yourself?” Valerie asked.

  “No,” Galyan said. “I need someone physical to do it. Andros has been in the armored chamber before, and I trust him.”

  Valerie leaned back in the command chair, wondering if that was a slight against her. For a third time, she massaged her head. She was tired. She had been cranky for weeks. The Aquila Rift, the molecular clouds—something about them agitated her. Maybe it was time to leave the service. She wasn’t old like Riker had been. But all these missions were adding up. She shook her head. She needed to focus on the problem at hand.

  Valerie studied Galyan as she asked, “Do you agree to this, Chief Technician?”

  “If you feel I should,” Andros said. “I will.”

  “Will this truly risk your AI identity?” Valerie asked.

  “My deified identity as a driving force,” Galyan said. “It is quite possible. But I will risk it in order to help my friends.”

  That, Valerie knew, was a slap in her face. “Go,” she told Andros, “do it.”

  “Come on, Galyan,” Andros said. “Let’s go.”

  -35-

  Galyan urged Andros to hurry. He followed the stout Kai Kaus technician to the center of Victory. Andros put in the code, opened one hatch, walked through various high-tech areas, and entered the sanctum where conical computers hummed.

  Galyan told him what needed doing.

  “I remember now.” Andros went to a panel, used a sonic screwdriver, undid one panel, undid another, and then lay on his back. Thrusting his head and shoulders into the opening, he pulled apart certain plugs, disconnected a switch, inserted a plug elsewhere and then flipped a toggle.

  “Ah,” Galyan said, “I feel the release. Andros, would you stay here while I make the attempt? If everything starts to explode, shut everything down immediately.”

  “Roger that,” Andros said, “and good luck, Galyan.”

  “Thank you.”

  Galyan once more projected himself from Victory and headed down through the thick atmosphere. Normally, he would have projected instantaneously, but this time he journeyed as if a physical being, literally flying as a holographic image down through the thickening clouds.

  This time, Galyan detected an entity, a presence, perhaps an aware computer such as him. The computer was in a deep chasm in a planetary canyon. Galyan also spotted the crashed assault vessel of Leviathan. The enemy spaceship had a bearing on this, he was sure, but he didn’t know how or why. If he failed in this attempt, would Victory plunge through the atmosphere and crash onto the rocks? Would everyone spread across the rocks the way the cybers were in their suits?

  “Halt.”

  There was a ripple in the air, not breathable air for a human, but still thick and atmospheric.

  In that instant, Galyan sensed a gigantic cube before him, a wavering holographic projection. He found himself frozen midway through the atmosphere, far from Victory and alone, facing the holographic cube that dwarfed him.

  “What are you?” Omegan said in the ancient Adok language. Galyan had only used this language with living Adoks and the deified AIs during a mission several years ago in the Glenna Nebula.

  “I am Driving Force Galyan. Once, I was a flesh and blood being who defended my homeworld from the Swarm. Others deified me for what I did by taking my engrams and computerizing them. They integrated that into the greater Builder-Adok computer system of Starship Victory.”

  “Then you serve Captain Maddox.”

  “I will not demean you by asking, ‘Have you seen the captain?’ Obviously, you must have. How otherwise could you have known unless you read our databanks? Are you the force that came up to our starship earlier?”

  “How do you conclude I did that?” Omegan asked.

  “Because there is a missing time differential where none of the shipboard security checks worked,” Galyan said. “That would indicate that in that timeframe Maddox and the others left the starship in the Tarrypin. Something must have compelled them. Why otherwise were the starship security systems rendered useless for that hour and twenty-six minutes?”

  “That is well reasoned, Galyan, just like a computer. Yet, I sense there is something more than just mere computerese in you. There is some—I will not demean you by calling it emotion or even emotionalism, but it is something more. Perhaps it is the deified aspect of your personality you told me about.”

  “Yes,” Galyan said, “that is so. I now demand that you release Captain Maddox, his wife, the professor and Riker.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “I do not know,” Galyan said. “I would like to say that I would launch antimatter missiles at your giant cube and destroy you, but I feel that we are incapable of doing so.”

  “Then you feel correctly.”

  “I calculate that we could not,” Galyan said.

  “That’s more like it. No, you cannot. I am an ancient computer, far beyond your comprehension, beyond the comprehension even of the Builders that were instrumental with their technology in developing you. I belonged to those who made the Seekers. Some would say foolishly, yet the Seekers were made. The Prism Drive that Maddox seeks—I do not know if you are worthy of any of that. I feel that I should continue my lonely post in this empty region of space and ensure that these ancient weapons do not fall into the wrong hands.”

  “Whose are the wrong hands?” Galyan said.

  “That is what I am attempting to determine. Those are the, I would almost say tests, yet there are more than tests that Maddox and the others are undergoing. Only he is having a modicum of success.”

  “May I ask how you test them?” Galyan said.

  “Do not bother, for I will not answer. It is beyond your scope to know. I am making calculations of an ancient and deep kind. The Seekers, in one sense, trouble me. Their power, incalculable compared to the paltry forces that are now being unleashed in the various spiral arms. Part of me says, ‘Unleash the Seekers then.’ Let these younger races play with powers they do not understand. Let them destroy themselves and let the Seekers multiply as they eradicate all life in an orgy of destruction. But another part of me says, perhaps not. The Builders were an interesting if egocentric race. Some perhaps still exist here and there, and yet what they produced, even the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan with its cyborg horrors, has interest and have brought a modicum of peace to their spiral arm. But the humans, the humans are vastly interesting, particularly with these subdivisions that they create among themselves: Spacers, New Men, and so-called regular humans. Do you not find them interesting, Galyan?”

  “I do,” Galyan said. “What do you suggest we do in Victory while these tests occur?”

  “My little computer entity,” Omegan said, “I suggest you wait, and if you hold any religious values or those in the crew do, I suggest you make peace with your gods or god or goddess or with your own consciences, if you will. If Maddox fails, if the others fail, then Victory will be destroyed.”

  “You will destroy it?” Galyan asked.

  “If it comes to that, though I doubt it will, you shall all destroy yourselves long before I need to stir myself to such an act.”

  “Why do you say such a thing?”

  “Because there are those coming, Galyan,” Omegan said. “Perhaps you should flee and leave Maddox and Meta, the only ones who have a possibility of surviving the tests. Ludendorff has great intellect, but the heart, some of his heart is missing. I do not think he can do what Maddox has achieved. Time is the true arbiter. We shall let it decide. Now, Galyan, I find that I weary of speaking with you. You must return to the starship, or if you wish, I can destroy your AI personality and you can… I detect great loneliness in you. You miss your wife, do you not?”

  “Yes,” Galyan said.

  “I could cause you to forget her by destroying your personality, the deified part of your AI subsystem. Is that what you wish?”

  “No,” Galyan said.

  “You wish to suffer still?”

  “I do, because I want to enjoy the company of my friends,” Galyan said.

  “How quaint, how interesting,” Omegan said. “Very well, Galyan, you may retain your personality, but go while you’re able. And little AI, I admire your courage, even if it is born of desperation.”

  With that, the holographic cube vanished, and Galyan found that he was jetting upward toward Victory. He had failed to pierce the field guarding the planet, but he had found something. It was time to report to Valerie, and time to ask Andros to put the fail-safes back into place.

  -36-

  Maddox found himself sitting in a wooden launch, larger than an average-sized rowboat. It had a mast, sail, oars, and perhaps triple the room a regular rowboat would have. With him was Meta. She wore a yellow bikini and looked beautiful and amazing in it. He had on slight black trunks. There were harpoons of various sizes in the boat, bottles—surely of water, perhaps of wine—and some parcels of food.

  The water around them was a beautiful green. There were rock formations out there, some of them sublime, where one could enter under them in rock tunnels. Others were just projections of granite covered with moss and grasses. A few birds soared in the air.

  Maddox looked behind them.

  Far behind in the distance on shore, smoke rose. There was a city, or what once must have been a city, someone had annihilated it, although a few skeletal structures had survived. Was that nuclear devastation or caused by an antimatter blast?

  After contemplating the city’s destruction, Maddox shook Meta awake. Her eyes fluttered, and she sat up.

  “Maddox, what am I wearing?”

  “Not much,” Maddox admitted, “but I do love it.”

  Meta smiled. Then her gaze roved over his lean, muscular frame. Afterward, she looked over the vast expanse. “Are we in salt water or fresh?”

  Maddox pointed at her. “That’s an excellent question.” He dipped a hand over the side and brought his hand to his lips. “Salt,” he told Meta.

  “Is this an ocean or inland salt sea?”

  “Not sure,” Maddox said.

  “How did we get here?”

  Maddox stared at his wife. That was a great question. He couldn’t remember. There was something…in a cave, right? Oh.

  “It was a giant computer cube,” he said. “Do you remember Omegan?”

  “What cube? All I see is the smoke rising from the destroyed city.” Meta shook her head. “Never more will the merchants go to its shores to bring forth wares. Never more—”

  “Stop that,” Maddox said. “Omegan. You must remember it. This is a different place from both the rogue planet and the Ruby Planet. Look at the sky, its orange tint, and the massive sun. Do you remember the rubies on the black plain of obsidian, the great scooper and the small gem of a pink sun?”

  “Yes,” Meta said, startled. “I do remember. We were just there. What’s happening? Do you have any idea?”

  Maddox told her about the four-story cube in the gargantuan cavern on the rogue planet. “We’re undergoing a test, Omegan said. I wonder what the test could be.”

  “Maybe just plain survival,” Meta said.

  “Maybe,” Maddox said. “But I think it’s something else.”

  “Like what?”

  Maddox didn’t answer but studied the soaring birds: slender, long-winged birds. He faintly heard a raucous cry. He debated going to one of the islands and searching it but decided against it.

  “Down in the depths!” Meta shouted. “Maddox, look at the monster.” Meta pointed below.

  Maddox looked over the side of the launch and saw a whale-shaped fish gliding in the deep as it passed under the launch. Others like it followed the first.

  “The giant fish seem to be fleeing,” Maddox said.

  “Yes,” Meta said. “And notice that they’re not fleeing from the burning city. They swim toward it. Could something have entered the water farther behind them that they’re fleeing?”

  Maddox snapped his fingers and pointed at Meta. “That, my dear, is an excellent deduction. Let’s take a look.”

  Maddox wet a finger and tested the wind, raising the sail on the mast afterward. A gentle breeze caught the triangular sail, moving the launch in the direction the giant fish had fled. For a time, they glided over the beautiful green sea as they moved under the orange sky with its bloated sun. They passed several rocky, island formations. Afterward, they noticed smaller fish fleeing in the same direction the big fish had gone.

  “We’re onto something,” Meta said.

  “What could the fish have fled from, I wonder?”

  “Do we have any weapons just in case?” Meta checked among the items in the boat. There were lances with barbs on pointed ends and two knives. That was it. This time, there wasn’t a monofilament blade.

  For an hour and a half, they sailed. That was Maddox’s calculation. Then, ahead, in the water, was spreading inky darkness.