The klaxon began to wail again. Given what he’d just seen that couldn’t be good.

  Maddox pulled his head back. All around him, the ship shuddered, seeming to do so more and worse.

  Maddox found himself breathing hard. Something was wrong with the ship. He needed to find the man, and he needed to do it now.

  -3-

  During the next hour, Maddox discovered that this was a big vessel. He walked through kilometers of corridors, gaining strength the entire while. He found more crew quarters and possible passenger areas. Everything was empty.

  He had no idea where his cryo unit had been, nor could he find the lookalike man or any bridge.

  He did see more portholes, looking out of them each time. He saw more of the same but in varying degrees. Sometimes he saw more stars. Sometimes he saw less. The purple energy continued to swirl. The comet-like streaks seemed to have thickened. He didn’t recognize any constellations.

  The shaking in the ship had gotten considerably worse.

  Then, he heard metallic crashes or the sound of breaking hull. That caused high-pitched shrieks, possibly air screaming as it left the ship for the vacuum of space.

  Maddox waited in frightened anticipation. He was sure the air he breathed was becoming thinner.

  Loud clangs heralded an end to the shrieking. Maddox supposed emergency hatches or bulkheads had sealed the broken hull from the rest of the ship.

  Tension eased from his shoulders until he wondered if the emergency seals had blocked him from the ship’s bridge or the man who’d woken him.

  There was only one way to find out. He kept walking, exploring the huge vessel. At no time did he come across any military hardware or elevators. He didn’t find any hangar bays, either. The vessel must be a large passenger liner but without any crew or passengers aboard.

  Did that mean the man who’d helped him earlier had hijacked it? That seemed like a reasonable assumption.

  Maddox longed for a pistol or knife. He found a length of hollow metal in a closet. It lacked threads on the ends, so he doubted it was a pipe. It had that kind of heft, however. For the moment, it was his sole weapon.

  He imagined he heard the man’s voice speaking over an intercom system. The voice was faint, though. Should he have remained in the original crew quarters with the shower?

  Maddox’s stomach rumbled and he found that he was hungry and thirsty. There had to be a cafeteria around here somewhere.

  He continued to explore. The voice spoke again, louder than before. It still wasn’t loud enough so he could distinguish the words. He followed the voice until he found a closed hatch.

  The voice came from behind it.

  Maddox searched the hatch and then the side of the hatch. He found no controls or anything else to activate it.

  The voice ceased speaking as he searched.

  He pulled out the length of hollow metal and struck the hatch. Both door and “pipe” clanged. He started to hammer the hatch, badly denting his “pipe” on one end.

  Maddox stepped back, inspecting the hatch. He looked around for camera eyes. So far, he hadn’t seen anything to resemble that.

  Abruptly, the hatch opened. Beyond it were spiral stairs.

  Maddox hesitated only a moment. He hurried, and he nearly wasn’t fast enough. The hatch began to close as he went through. He leapt. The hatch caught the end of the officer jacket, ripping material.

  He’d put on the jacket during his second visit to the crew quarters.

  He examined the back of the jacket. It wasn’t much of a rip, and he was through the hatch, in one piece.

  He took the stairs. They only went up. Did that mean he’d been on the bottom deck? He climbed until he came to a landing. There was a hatch before him. He tried it, but it refused to open.

  He continued up the spiral stairs.

  The intercom system didn’t activate again. The ship continued to shudder. From farther away, Maddox heard shrieking. This shrieking had a different quality to the sounds of earlier.

  He had the terrible feeling that the man who’d helped him had just met with a fatal accident. If that had happened—

  The shrieking stopped but he heard clangs again. These were different from before. They sounded… in sequence, if that made sense. That told him… Maddox bent his head in concentration. He should know what that meant.

  He began to breathe harder as an odd thought struck. What if he was the clone? What if the real Captain Maddox had freed him from the cryo unit? That would explain why the other had the monofilament blade.

  Maddox flexed his hands. The idea of being a clone terrified him.

  “I’m Captain Maddox,” he said.

  The sound of his voice comforted him.

  Yet…wouldn’t a clone of Maddox say the same thing?

  Maddox thought furiously. He’d married Meta. He remembered it explicitly, especially the wedding night. He’d gone through many adventures as Victory’s captain.

  Maddox shook his head. He was who he was. He was the original. How did he know that?

  “I’m Maddox is how.”

  The words seemed to settle his nerves. He refused to accept the possibility that he was the clone, second fiddle, as it were. Why had the other said he needed help? Because the other lacked the full memories and—

  Maddox raised his eyebrows. He had Erill spiritual energy. He could feel it. He closed his eyes and sought the intuitive part of him.

  He felt it.

  Then why have I been so tired all this time?

  Maddox shook his head. He could feel the Erill soul energy. It had replaced a dull zone in him that the Ska he’d once attacked had stolen.

  Steeled with resolve, Maddox continued climbing the stairs. He heard the continuing clangs and decided he knew what the sounds represented.

  A foreign entity had boarded the ship. They had used attack pods, the clangs he’d heard as the pods attached. Other sounds meant drills or breach bombs had blasted the hull open in places. Yet, if the spaceliner were empty except for the clone and him…

  The attackers were after him, possibly also after the clone. If the attackers were after both of them, he should help the clone, as they were allies then.

  Or he could play it safe and hang back, letting them take the clone.

  Maddox shook his head. He rejected the last idea as too passive and possibly disloyal.

  Maddox took the stairs two and three steps at a time. He needed to find the clone. He needed a real weapon. He needed to find the attackers before the attackers found him.

  As he climbed the stairs, it dawned on him that perhaps the attackers were Star Watch personnel come to rescue him.

  Maddox reached the next landing. The spiral stairs didn’t go any higher. He’d raced up seven levels, seven decks, he assumed. There was a porthole in this hatch.

  He didn’t race to it. Instead, he first pressed against the hatch and then rolled around to spy through the porthole with one eye.

  Down the lit corridor were three thin humanoids in battle armor. The suits were archaic or baroque with fluting like medieval knightly armor. The blast rifles looked lethal, though. A cord connected the rifle butt to a power pack on the back of the armor. Maddox estimated the attackers stood seven feet tall and were extraordinarily thin. In fact—

  One of the armor suits turned toward him. Maddox saw a mostly metal face with plastic parts, much of that around and in the eyes. The face wasn’t behind a faceplate or visor as the being didn’t wear a helmet. The being was the suit. Ludendorff had named such a thing once.

  Ludendorff had called the thing a…cyber.

  Maddox nodded stiffly. Cyber was the same as cyborg.

  Was that a Soldier of Leviathan then?

  The cyber or cyborg aimed his blast rifle at the hatch and fired.

  Maddox threw himself back.

  The blasts dented the hatch. More shots fired, denting the hatch more.

  Picking himself off the deck, Maddox raced down the stairs. That must have been a Soldier of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. Could he have reached the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm where Leviathan ruled a huge region of space? That would be distinct from the Orion Spiral Arm where the Commonwealth was.

  If that were so, he was a long way from home.

  Above on the highest landing, the blasted-off hatch clanged heavily against the deck. The cyber or cybers had opened the way.

  This was bad. This was very bad. Maddox couldn’t let the cybers capture him. What in the world did this all mean?

  Maddox snarled with frustration. He had to figure out how to open one of these staircase hatches or the cybers would catch him for sure.

  -4-

  Maddox hurtled down the spiral stairwell. He was no combat match for three cybers with blast rifles. Heck, he probably would fail against three of them in hand-to-hand fighting.

  Cybers or cyborgs were a meld of organic and mechanical. They would likely possess heightened strength and speed. If they were Soldiers of Leviathan—

  Maddox had faced them before many years ago. He hadn’t faced them like this, but he’d learned since then about their brutal reputation. They were ruthless, intelligent and had no appreciable weaknesses.

  Maddox landed with a thud, grunting, trying the next hatch.

  It was locked.

  He turned and continued down the stairwell.

  “Human,” a cyber called in its synthesized voice. “Cease your flight. It is futile. Worse, you might damage yourself. The Strategist desires you whole and unharmed.”

  Maddox craned his head upward. He couldn’t see the cyber, just stairs. He heard its remorseless tread, the whine of its mechanical parts as it chased him. By the sounds, there was more than one. Probably all three headed this way.

  It had spoken about the Strategist. Maddox knew very little about the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. It was a highly stratified society: that much he knew. He’d spoken to a Strategist before, a cunning individual.

  “Human,” the cyber called. It was odd and perhaps frightening that it used speech Maddox recognized.

  Maddox landed on the second-to-last landing. He’d entered on the bottom deck earlier. He tried this hatch.

  It opened.

  Without hesitation, Maddox bolted through. He didn’t bother trying to close the hatch behind him. It did, though, doing so automatically. He thought to hear a click that meant it had locked.

  Maddox didn’t check. He ran, sprinting as swiftly as a cheetah. He’d regained his normal faculties, having recovered from the cryogenic weakness. He didn’t have his regular stamina, however. Soon, he panted and sweated.

  He should have drunk gallons of water while in the shower. He was likely dehydrated from prolonged stasis.

  He looked around. This deck or level was different from the other. It didn’t feel like crew quarters. The hatches struck him as the entrance to cargo holds. Were there any hangar bays on this level?

  Maddox slowed as he gasped for air. Stopping, with his hands on his knees, he listened. In the distance, he might have heard cyber footsteps as they stalked him.

  Straightening, Maddox moved down the corridor. His hands trembled, he was so tired. Maybe he hadn’t fully recovered from the cyro process yet as he’d thought earlier.

  If the clone had stolen the spaceliner, it would appear that a warship belonging to Leviathan had tracked it down. Could he really be in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm? That would mean he was thousands of light-years from the Commonwealth of Planets, maybe even thousands of light-years from Human Space. In other words, he was far from home.

  How could he have gotten this far?

  The refugee planet of the Adoks was on the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm side of the Commonwealth. The planet had to be 8000 light-years from the edge of the other spiral arm, though.

  Could Maddox have been unconscious or in cryo-stasis during a journey of that distance? Or did the mind block keep him from remembering what had happened during the journey?

  It was frustrating not knowing.

  Far down the corridor, a hatch opened.

  Maddox was headed that way. He slowed, half-expecting cybers to march out, trapping him. None did, at least not yet.

  After ten more steps, he broke into a run again, heading for the open hatch. He was going to assume the clone had caused the hatch to open. Earlier, Maddox hadn’t done anything he could conceive to have opened the stairwell hatch onto this level. That implied someone else had done it. Cybers surely hadn’t been the operative entities. That just left the clone as far as he knew.

  “You’d better be right,” Maddox mumbled under his breath.

  As he ran, the corridor lighting flickered, threatening to go dark.

  Maddox bet the cybers caused that.

  He increased his sprint, pushing as hard as he could.

  If cybers were here, that implied a spaceship had brought them. That meant a Leviathan warship likely waited beyond the civilian spaceliner. Would the clone know that?

  Why was there a clone of him, Maddox wondered. That was weird.

  The open hatch was nearby. Maddox sensed greater space beyond it. Should he call out?

  Maddox did not. He slowed, walked through the hatch and spied a short corridor. Beyond it was a hangar bay.

  Maddox trotted through the corridor and entered the hangar bay. It wasn’t as huge as Victory’s bays. There were several shuttle-sized craft parked on the deck. They looked like atmospheric vessels as each had stubby wings and aerodynamic designs. Down at the end was a vessel double in size. It had an open hatch with a ladder going up from the hangar bay deck to it.

  Maddox hurried, looking around, but he didn’t see any cybers. He wanted to call out. Instead, he ran, reached the ladder and scrambled up it.

  He passed through an open airlock. It closed with a clang behind him as soon as he moved through. Lights flickered on ahead.

  “Follow the corridor,” a familiar voice said.

  Maddox’s shoulders eased. He recognized the voice as his own. That must mean the clone.

  Maddox passed closed hatches on either side of a short corridor. At the end, in front, was another hatch. It opened as he reached it.

  Maddox entered a small cabin with several seats and control panels. The clone in his black uniform sat in one, likely the pilot’s seat. There was a large curving window in front and beyond it the shuttle’s nosecone.

  The clone looked back, grinning at him. “For a while there, I didn’t think you were going to make it.”

  Maddox approached the clone. Several screens were on. They showed spaceliner corridors. In one, three armed cybers jogged swiftly with their blast rifles ready.

  “Are they Leviathan Soldiers?” Maddox asked, pointing at the screen.

  “Yes,” the other said.

  “Are you a clone of me?”

  The other looked up and stared hard at Maddox. “You come right to the point, don’t you?”

  “Is that your answer?”

  The other faced forward. “I suggest you strap yourself in. We’re going to have risk leaving. It could get hairy if the Soldiers spot our shuttle.”

  Maddox sank into a nearby, cushioned seat. “Are we in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm?”

  “‘Fraid so,” the other said.

  “What should I call you?”

  The other nodded. “Dravek will do for now.”

  Maddox scowled. “I’ve never heard that name before. How did you come to pick it if you’re a clone of me?”

  The one called Dravek continued to manipulate his boards. He was silent for a time and then inhaled sharply, looking at Maddox. “That was the name of the scientist working on us when I first revived.”

  “Us?” asked Maddox.

  “You called me a clone,” Dravek said. “I suppose the term has validity. The scientist said I didn’t have all your memories, though. It was more a smattering of your thinking style or process.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Can we talk about it later?” Dravek asked. “We have more pressing matters to deal with.”

  After a moment, Maddox nodded.

  “Are you snug?”

  Maddox yanked at the restraint he’d clicked into place.

  “Good,” Dravek said. “Here we go.”

  -5-

  Big hangar bay doors opened to outer space. That was bad because Dravek must have forgotten to depressurize the bay first. Worse, the other shuttles weren’t locked in place. The atmosphere in the hangar bay rushed out the doors. The escaping air pushed the other shuttles, causing them to skid along the deck until they tumbled through the open doors into stellar darkness.

  The bigger ship that Dravek and Maddox inhabited remained locked in position. The other shuttles barely missed theirs as they slid past.

  “Have you ever flown a shuttle before?” Maddox shouted.

  “What’s that?” Dravek asked. “Oh.” He shook his head. “Don’t sweat it, chief. I know what I’m doing. I’m using some of your infamous trickery.”

  Maddox stared at Dravek.

  The other must have felt the continued scrutiny. He faced Maddox again. “No. I’ve never flown a damn thing as me, as Dravek. I have many memories of piloting, though. Would you like me to enumerate them?”

  “You have my memories?”

  “Don’t you remember what I said? I don’t have all of them, just some. They should prove enough.”

  Maddox watched the last shuttle slide out of the hangar bay. Outside in space, red fusion beams from somewhere had already struck several craft.

  That implied the Soldier warship was out there, possibly waiting for something like this. Did the clone know that? If the clone or Dravek did know that—

  What would I do in his place? Maddox nodded. He knew what he’d do. “Did you open other hangar bay doors on the spaceliner?”

  “I did indeed,” Dravek said.

  “And you unlatched those shuttle skids as well?”

  “To every single shuttle in the spaceliner.”

  Maddox grinned. He liked it, as it gave the Soldiers scads of targets. “Are you trying to confuse the cybers?”

  “Something like that.” Dravek pressed several controls at once.