“A what?” asked Valerie.

  Maddox stood. “We’re in it deep out here. We need to decide on a course of action. The Morag, the Fusion, the aliens who made the cerebraters—it’s time to pool our thoughts, take some recommendations and decide on what to do next.”

  “If you say so.”

  Maddox waited for Valerie to add sir, but she didn’t. As the lieutenant commander was no longer technically a part of his crew, he let it go. Now was the time to do some hard thinking.

  -45-

  After leaving Valerie, Maddox debated going to the gym and doing some deadlifts or wrapping his hands and punching the heavy bag. He often did his best thinking like that.

  Instead, this time, he poured some coffee and cream into a thermal mug and went to an observation bay. He sat in a comfortable chair, staring at the dark compacted gases outside the starship. He would have liked to see some stars or maybe even colorful nebula. This gaseous cloud was too dense and without a nearby light source for that. It made the place horrific if he thought about it long enough.

  It was partly like the Biblical Hell, the one that was supposed to be permanently dark where:

  “Their worm does not die,

  And the fire is not quenched.”

  The worm in this case was the human soul and body. Maddox knew that because he’d read the part where Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

  Maddox shuddered. Maybe staring at the darkness of the Glenna Nebula was a bad idea. It was too dour, too daunting. At least it wasn’t the outer darkness of Hell, though.

  How can it be fiery hot and dark in Hell at the same time? Maddox shrugged. He supposed that would be an easy thing to achieve for God.

  Maddox sipped coffee. He squeezed his eyes shut, decided to change the topic in his mind and opened his eyes as he leaned back against the cushions of the chair. He sipped more coffee as he stared into the darkness of the nebula.

  This time, it was just the nebula, just the compacted gases that blocked starlight from reaching Victory and himself in an observation bubble.

  Valerie’s question earlier had sparked something in him, in the memories he’d relived as Garth the Monk. Why had that happened?

  He sipped more coffee.

  That was the wrong question, he decided. What had Valerie asked him? Did you learn anything interesting from his memories? Yes. That had been it. What had he learned?

  Maddox relaxed as he sat in the chair. He sipped more coffee—tried to, anyway, as the thermal mug was empty. Instead, he laced his fingers over his chest and closed his eyes again.

  He’d been Garth, starting out as a frightened lad on Remus. Maddox went through the story of Garth’s life as he’d remembered it.

  Two things stuck out. One had been the golden medallion worn by the old monk that had saved him from a beating, dying in the process. Frightened boy-Garth had purloined the medallion, taking it for his own. Two was the book of Doctor Van Nath, outlining the method to achieving his superlative martial arts skills.

  Okay, why were they the two things of import? Why did they stick out? The golden medallion had been a double weight gold coin. It had been—

  With his eyes closed, Maddox frowned. Had it been a golden medallion, a double-weight denarius? Or had it really been something else? Perhaps instead of Garth’s terror as a child giving him the ingredient to greatness, the golden medallion—that had in fact been something else—had given Garth the ability to fight as he had. Maybe the medallion, whatever it represented, combined with Doctor Van Nath’s book, were the true prizes in Garth’s life. Maybe those prizes had been so grand that the dream memories had disguised them.

  Maddox’s eyes snapped open. He realized that despite the coffee, he’d been dozing, maybe even dreaming again.

  What kind of aliens made a satellite that tracked down people and then provided precise dreams through a cerebrater? How had the aliens leaned about Garth’s memories, his life story? They would have needed to capture Garth and drain the memories from the monk’s mind, wouldn’t they?

  Maddox scowled. He didn’t like that. In fact, it felt like a personal insult. Did the satellites have a variety of dreams or memories and decide which ones to tell depending on who wore the cerebrater?

  Maddox scowled more. This was getting trickier and weirder by the moment. There was something very odd and wonderful about the golden medallion and the book of Doctor Van Nath. He was certain both medallion and book were still on Remus.

  Maddox squinted into the darkness of the nebula. He needed to find the medallion and book.

  Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is this desire manipulating me into a wrong action?

  Maddox examined the idea from several angles. He wanted both items. But he didn’t feel that it was an alien compulsion driving him to do this. Instead, he felt as if the aliens had missed that about Garth’s life or read it wrong. This was the Balron-given new intuitive sense granting him greater understanding. How had the aliens wrenched these life memories from Garth? It was important to know that.

  Maddox lurched to his feet. He was certain he knew something else. The aliens had captured Garth, drained his memories and misunderstood the importance of the medallion and book. That misunderstanding was Garth’s doing.

  How the monk had managed that, Maddox had no idea. How he knew these things—

  No. I don’t know them. I feel them through my intuition. There’s something very important about the Remus System, two things, one in favor of the hidden aliens and one decidedly against them.

  For some reason, it was dreadfully important for Maddox to reach Remus and find the medallion and book of Doctor Van Nath. He needed to find the two items no matter what stood in the way.

  What would stand in the way, though?

  Maddox snorted, realizing he was most definitely going to find out.

  -46-

  The meeting convened soon after Maddox returned the thermal mug to the cafeteria. It took place in a conference chamber, with everyone seated at a large table. Maddox, as usual, sat at the head. On his right sat Meta, then Valerie and Riker, with Galyan on the other end. On Galyan’s right were Ludendorff, then Andros Crank and Keith Maker, sitting across from the other three.

  Maddox began the briefing by having Galyan show them Grutch in holoimage and explain what they knew about the Morag. Afterward, the captain had Valerie explain what she’d learned from the memories of Diana Varus.

  “Just a moment here,” Ludendorff interrupted, after Valerie had spoken for a time. “I’ve been considering something, and it strikes to the heart of our combined situation.”

  “By all means,” Maddox said, “tell us.”

  “How do we know Valerie’s memories and your memories as Garth, for that matter, are real or correct?”

  “What would be the point of replaying such elaborate but fake memories?” Galyan asked.

  “Exactly,” Ludendorff said. “If the memories are false, we have to ask why bother? It means we need to know more, or something, at least, about the people or aliens who built the memory-stick satellites and launched them into the nebula.”

  “A good point,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff nodded stiffly. “If the memories are false, they’re nearly useless. That means we’re heading for a star system under false pretenses. We think we’re going to a place besieged by Fusion people and technology, who are trying to conquer Old Earth colonists. Instead, we may be heading to an alien system with beings far advanced compared to us, and with highly ulterior motives against us.”

  “The Fusion battlewagons were real enough,” Meta said. “We know therefore the Fusion is real, which would seem to substantiate the rest.”

  “That’s one way to look at it,” Ludendorff conceded. “The other is that the most effective lie is one with a basis in truth.”

  “What do you suppose is really transpiring, Professor?” Galyan asked.

  “I have no idea,” Ludendorff said. “But even if we give this a fifty-fifty possibility, half the time we’re going to face horrible new aliens with highly advanced technology. I for one don’t care for those kinds of odds.”

  “Even if the memories were real,” Maddox said. “We still have to ask a few extra questions. How did these people or aliens acquire the memories in the first place?”

  “Oh, dear,” Galyan said. “Do you think they captured these people and ripped the memories from their minds?”

  “That is one possibility,” Maddox said. “I would even say it’s the most likely answer.”

  “Then, we are in possible horrible danger as the professor suggests,” Galyan said.

  “I take that as a given,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox sat back as he rubbed his chin. Should he tell the others about his new analysis regarding Garth, the medallion and book? He was disinclined to do so, and he wasn’t sure why that was. He did know this: he was going to go with his gut feeling on this.

  “While the professor has a point,” Maddox said, “I find myself troubled by the plight of those on Remus.”

  “I agree with that,” Valerie said.

  Maddox nodded at Valerie. “I would add that I find the Fusion people dour and unfriendly. In truth, I don’t like them.”

  “Neither do I,” Meta said.

  Ludendorff raised a hand to speak.

  Maddox beat him to the punch. “But the professor brings up a key point. Maybe others are trying to mold our opinion about Remus and those of New Trotsky. These aliens or others have gone to great lengths to seed the nebula with memory-stick satellites. I would like to know why before we proceed to Remus.”

  “Do we know that the next star system is in fact Remus?” Keith asked.

  “I do,” Valerie said.

  “How do you know?” Keith asked.

  “As Diana Varus I flew home to Remus. This is the correct route.”

  “I have another troubling thought,” Galyan said. “But I hesitate to broach it.”

  “Go ahead,” Maddox said. “That’s one reason we’re having this meeting.”

  “How do we know that you, sir, and Valerie, have not been programmed in some manner by these memory-stick aliens?”

  “Oh boy,” Riker said. “That’s a fine mess of a thought, Galyan.”

  “Do we not need to address the question?” Galyan asked.

  “Maybe,” Riker said, “but you’ve just sown a heap of mistrust among us.”

  “I am sorry, Riker,” Galyan said. “I am merely doing my job.”

  “It’s a valid question,” Maddox said. “I should have thought of it myself. Commander Noonan, do you feel any alien thoughts or ideas attempting to mold you?”

  “No,” Valerie said.

  “I don’t either,” Maddox said.

  “That doesn’t mean it isn’t happening,” Ludendorff said.

  “We should turn around,” Meta said, as she stared at her husband. “We should leave the nebula and return to Earth. We can’t risk Victory to these unknowns.”

  Maddox studied his wife. He could see the worry there. It wasn’t for Victory, either, but for him. Did she sense that he knew more than he was saying? Probably.

  “We should help those of Remus,” Valerie said with heat. “The Fusion has a brutal system of government. No one should have to live like they do.”

  “You’re just saying that because you feel this Diana Varus’s emotions,” Ludendorff said.

  “They’re valid emotions just the same,” Valerie said.

  “For Remus,” Ludendorff said. “Are they valid emotions for a Patrol officer?”

  Valerie bit her lower lip, looking down at the table.

  Meta had been watching Maddox all this time. She now said, “Grutch is still out there. Maybe this time there are too many unknowns. We’ve found Valerie and her crew. We’ve rescued them. It’s time we went home and reported what we’ve learned.”

  “I am disinclined to go just yet,” Galyan said, “as I am still hoping to find some evidence of a living Adok society.”

  “Do you think Adoks could have developed and launched the memory-stick satellites?” Maddox asked.

  “I do not think so,” Galyan said.

  “Ah, that’s an interesting thought,” Ludendorff said to Maddox. “As a case in point for a possibility, I use as evidence Galyan’s deified personality. That is an old memory program, in a sense.”

  “I suppose one could think that,” Galyan said. “I still do not think these unknown aliens are Adoks.”

  “That was an unnecessarily cruel point, Professor,” Valerie said. “Galyan has shown us many times over that he is his own person.”

  “I’m not saying that,” Ludendorff said. “I’m saying that—”

  “Hold that thought,” Maddox said, interrupting, and as he raised his right hand. “Galyan, these satellites and cerebraters: would Adoks fashion them that way? I want a professional analysis.”

  Galyan’s eyelids fluttered for a time. Finally, he said. “Sir, with ninety-eight percent certainty, I say that Adoks did not make those devices. Instead, I think a devious and manipulative species produced the satellites and memory sticks.”

  “For what reason?” asked Maddox, perhaps sharper than he normally would have.

  “I do not yet possess sufficient data to give a reasonable conclusion,” Galyan said.

  Maddox rubbed his jaw again.

  Ludendorff turned to Valerie. “How many battlewagons besiege Remus?”

  “I have no idea,” Valerie said.

  “How do they launch the asteroids at Remus?” Ludendorff asked.

  “Battlewagons tow and release them,” Valerie said.

  “What are you getting at, Professor?” Maddox asked.

  “Just trying to assess our chances if we go to the Remus System, if it is the system we’re actually approaching,” Ludendorff said.

  “I don’t doubt that we may be facing a large Fusion fleet,” Valerie said. “But we’ll have several advantages over them. We have the star-drive jump. They have the nebula FTL drive. That drive does not operate near large gravity wells, such as planets or stars.”

  “Oh?” asked Maddox.

  Valerie described what she’d learned as Diana Varus in the Remus AirSpace Service concerning the limitations of the nebula FTL drive in a star system.

  “That does give us much greater mobility than they have,” Maddox said, “especially in the star system.”

  “And it means the Fusion people will likely strive all the harder to capture Victory,” Ludendorff said. “They’ll want our star-drive jump.”

  “That could work to our advantage,” Maddox said. “If they’re trying to capture the starship for its technology, they won’t be trying to destroy it.”

  “I see,” Ludendorff said. “Then, you’re for heading to the star system?”

  Maddox looked around the table. “Who else is opposed to doing that?”

  Andros, Ludendorff, Riker and Meta were opposed, showing by raising their hands. Valerie, Keith and Galyan were for going on.

  “Well,” Maddox said. “We know this could all be a trick, but I’m for at least taking a look around. We’re out here, and if aliens are using humans—I’m sick of anyone using us humans.”

  “So, we’re definitely going?” Ludendorff asked.

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “We’re going onward to Remus, if it’s there.”

  -47-

  Victory appeared from its latest star-drive jump near a ringed gas giant in the Remus System.

  “How do we know it’s the Remus System?” Ludendorff asked. He and the others were on the bridge. They’d all recovered from jump lag.

  “Easily,” Valerie said. She’d taken over for Meta at communications. Swiveling around on her seat, Valerie pointed at the main screen. “That’s the Jovian planet Vulcan. If you like, I can find debris from a battle that took place…” She frowned. “I don’t know how many years have passed since then. Five at the least, I’m thinking. Then Consul Arrius fought a brilliant battle, but we were overmatched technologically. One of the Fusion battlewagons got away.”

  “You ambushed a Fusion flotilla?” Maddox asked from the captain’s chair.

  “It was a brilliant maneuver that began years earlier,” Valerie said. “I was there…no, I just remember being there. That never happened to me, did it?”

  “No.”

  “Captain,” Ludendorff said. “If you can’t see it, I feel I must point it out to you. The Lieutenant Commander is presently unfit for duty. She has dual memories. That isn’t odd, as she was freed from the cerebrater only a short time ago. I believe she needs more time to adjust, as you seem to have done.”

  Valerie had taken to wearing a snug military hat to cover her forehead. She glanced at the Methuselah Man. “He may have a point, sir. I feel…disoriented.”

  “I recognized the problem,” Maddox said. “However, I want you on the bridge, so you might as well maintain the communications post. You know more about Remus and likely Fusion space forces than anyone else does. I want you here to advise me.”

  “If you wish, sir,” Valerie said.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Ludendorff muttered.

  “Do I need to summon the Marines?” Maddox asked Ludendorff.

  “No one is questioning your orders,” Ludendorff said sullenly. “Why must you be so—?”

  Maddox swiveled around to stare at the professor.

  “Never mind,” Ludendorff finished lamely. “You’re the captain. You’re in charge. Does that satisfy you?”

  For an answer, Maddox swiveled back to face the main screen. “Galyan, keep watch for Grutch’s stealth ship. Tell me the instant you spot it.”

  “Yes, sir,” Galyan said.

  “Mr. Barnes, inform me when you detect Anora’s Fusion flotilla arriving in-system.”

  The muscled weapons officer acknowledged the order.

  “I should point out, sir,” Valerie said, “that the flotilla will drop out of its nebula FTL drive a considerable distance from us: several days away, in fact.”