Soon, the drug-fortified Elge and Maddox entered a hangar bay. There was a narrow shuttle in the middle of the bay, one resting on four long “legs.” The alien shuttle had large booster cylinders around the back part of the craft. There were also huge metal canisters near one hangar-bay bulkhead. Each canister featured alien script and sprouted a flexible tube that led to a vent.

  At the sight of the canisters, Maddox found his temper rising.

  “Detach those at once,” he told Elge.

  “A misunderstanding,” the Oko said. “We would never have landed on your vessel if…”

  At that point, motion caught Maddox’s eye. A panel on the underbelly of the alien shuttle slid open. A gun attached to a robot arm moved down, rotated and aimed its barrel at Maddox. It was roughly seventy meters from him.

  “A moment, Captain,” Elge said. “Surely you see that?” The Oko pointed at the weapon. “It is an anti-personnel emitter. If you do not release me this instant, it will activate, and a ray will pierce you. Rugged though you are, I doubt you shall survive the experience.”

  “It is a small matter,” Maddox said.

  “Perhaps my translator is malfunctioning,” Elge said. “The ray will kill you, Captain. There is no coming back from death.”

  Maddox smiled dryly, although Elge couldn’t see that because of his gas mask. “Do you recall your people in the brig cells?”

  “Of course,” Elge said. “But they know the risks of our trade and will willingly sacrifice their lives so their master remains free. Now, Captain, lower your weapon. I no longer appreciate it aimed at me, as I have become the arbiter of the situation.”

  “Is that true?” Maddox asked. “I imagine the emitter will glitter or glow at the tip a second before firing. At that point, I’ll put as many bullets as I can through your skull.”

  “You will die if you do that.”

  “Death has little meaning for me if my people are going to die. And they will surely die if you board the shuttle. I imagine you will return to your spaceship and order my vessel’s destruction. Thus, I’m going to kill you here and now, Master Elge. Do you have any last words?”

  As they had before, the Oko’s gloved fingers moved like a squirrel’s paws might have under similar tension.

  “A fanatic,” Elge said at last. “What is wrong with your species? You should desire life, not seek ways to end it.”

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Maddox said. “However, I believe the situation still remains in my control. You are my prisoner and you are the leader. Please tell your people to come out of the shuttle.”

  “Our original deal still holds?” Elge asked.

  Maddox said nothing.

  “It is unseemly to hold grudges or to maintain a sullen manner,” Elge said. “Surely you realize that this was but a test of your nature. I am a trader at heart and always seek to know more about those I am dealing with.”

  “In that case,” Maddox said, “our deal still holds. If you don’t like my final offer later, you will take the mechanical man with you.”

  Elge nodded in a human fashion. “I am glad to hear you are an honest man, Captain. I also admire flexibility such as you’ve shown. I would like you to know that you have passed our personality profile test.”

  “Your people are still in the shuttle,” Maddox said, “and my trigger finger is growing itchy.”

  Elge spoke into his helmet comm. He appeared to listen and then he spoke again, but with greater heat and agitation.

  Finally, a hatch opened, and a ladder extended from the shuttle to the hangar-bay deck. Suited Okos climbed down one by one. The emitter rose and disappeared back into the shuttle as the underbelly panel closed. Each Oko then lay on the deck with his suited arms outstretched.

  “Excellent,” Maddox said. “Now, let’s shut off the gas canisters, shall we?”

  “It will be a pleasure,” Elge said.

  -45-

  It took longer than Maddox liked, but the entire starship crew finally revived and got to work figuring out where they were and what had happened with the star-drive jump.

  As a precaution, Maddox held the Recovery Vessel Gourvich hostage, kept Master Elge near him and the rest of the boarding Okos—including the shuttle crew—prisoners in the brig.

  It soon became apparent that Victory was in the outer edge of a red giant system. Apart from that, no one had any idea where in the galaxy the system belonged. The red giant had no planets but many asteroids and comets. As far as every detection device and sensor could tell, there were no bases or livable habitats in the system.

  Maddox interrogated Elge by simply asking questions. First, he had medics attend to the alien’s gunshot wound. It turned out that the bullet hadn’t hit any vitals or broken any bones, although it had torn flesh and muscles.

  With the removal of the Oko’s spacesuit and helmet, they found that Elge wore a black band around his throat with a bulky device just under his jaw. When the Oko spoke his chittered language, English words emanated from mesh in the equipment.

  Ludendorff found that fascinating. “Consider what the machine does. It’s mindboggling in scope. I want to study it.”

  “In time,” Maddox had said. “Right now, I need to communicate with Master Elge, so he’ll wear the translator a little longer.”

  “It is an empty star system,” Elge said as Maddox and he rode a small cart through the corridors. The Oko wore a bandage under his garments and had taken more painkillers and stimulants.

  It turned out that Elge knew about Laumer Points, although the Okos called them portals. The star system possessed several well-traveled portals—the reason Elge had paid for the privilege of “recovering” derelict vessels here.

  “When can I leave with my reward?” Elge asked

  “Soon,” Maddox told him.

  First, he had Elge give him a rundown concerning the nearest political systems and populated planets. The major power was something called the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. Soldiers of Leviathan wore exo-skeleton armor or were cyborgs. Elge wasn’t clear on the matter. Several planets within a ten-light-year range held giant but docile Kursks, the clever Da-doc-cha and machine factories serving Leviathan.

  Elge proved evasive when questioned about the Okos Union. Maddox got the impression that Okos were nomadic, perhaps akin in ways to Spacers.

  Maddox left Elge with Meta in a Medical chamber so the Oko master could rest. After all that had happened, the little alien was yawning constantly and looked bleary-eyed.

  “Don’t leave him alone for a second,” Maddox instructed Meta. “Let him sleep and—”

  “What if he needs to use the john?” Meta asked.

  “Call Galyan to watch him,” Maddox said.

  Shortly thereafter, the captain spoke to the professor in his science lab. Ludendorff had found a spare translator on the Oko shuttle. The professor had started dissecting it, examined a hypogun and several of the alien drugs.

  Since neither Valerie nor any other navigator knew the starship’s location in relation to the galaxy, Maddox asked the professor, “Where are we in relation to Earth? Do you have any idea?”

  “In fact, I do,” Ludendorff said, as he carefully pried open a tiny unit. He looked up. “I thought I told Valerie. She was supposed to tell you.”

  Maddox shook his head.

  “It must have slipped my mind,” Ludendorff said. The Methuselah Man bent low, peering at the opened unit through a stationary magnifying glass.

  The captain scratched a cheek as he waited.

  Despite Ludendorff’s interest in the translator—it was good to see him active again—the professor still didn’t seem like his normal self. He had sagging facial skin and…he almost seemed excessively interested in the translator. Lately, he’d been constantly morose. Could Dana’s departure really still be bothering him?

  Ludendorff picked up a tiny precision tool, using the tip to touch the opened unit under the magnifying glass.

  “Where are we?” Maddox asked.

  It took Ludendorff a moment. He used the precision tool as he peered through the stationary magnifying glass. With the tip of the tool, he clicked something in the unit. It hummed for a just a moment.

  “Ah,” Ludendorff said. “I wasn’t expecting that, but it makes sense.”

  Maddox waited.

  Ludendorff tapped the small device, held his hands still and looked back at Maddox. “We’re in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. The bulk of the Swarm Imperium likely lies farther from the galactic core than we are presently.”

  “What? We’re on the other side of the Imperium?”

  “Not exactly,” Ludendorff said, turning back to the magnifying glass. “The Imperium is to the galactic north of us—if one uses Earth as the directional marker. I estimate that we’re approximately ten thousand light-years from the Alpha Centauri System.”

  “Then…”

  “Silence,” Ludendorff said. “I want to test something.” He brought up another tool, using the one to hold the opened unit and the other to prod something in it.

  Smoke rose from the device.

  “Damn,” Ludendorff said. “I didn’t want it to do that. Hmm… Let’s see.”

  He tapped the device with the precision tool, and the smoking ceased. He paused, set the tiny tools near the opened alien unit and straightened, putting his hands behind his back and groaning as he pushed. “I’m not as nimble as I used to be,” the professor said. “I should stretch more. Dana had me doing yoga. Perhaps I should continue the practice.”

  “If I could have your attention…” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff turned to him in surprise. “What is it, my boy? Oh. You’re worried about our location.”

  “Did our warhead’s antimatter blast aid our star-drive jump in some way?”

  “You’re referring to our encounter with the Juggernauts near the Supermetals Planet.”

  Maddox nodded.

  “An antimatter blast…no, it wasn’t such a crude process, but essentially you are correct. The blast provoked the drive and produced a miracle.”

  “How could it do that? Can we reproduce the result? Could Swarm Imperium warships do likewise to reach Human Space?”

  “Bah! How many questions do you want answered? I’m not a miracle worker, although I realize everyone thinks I am.” Ludendorff scowled as he rotated his midsection. “The process was extremely unlikely. Think of it as a one-of-a-kind event. For instance, if you took fifty starships and attempted to replicate the jump, one of them might travel as far as we did. The rest would either permanently vanish or ignite into a fireball.”

  “Is this a possible method for traveling extended distances?”

  “Are you hard of hearing? We had a freak occurrence, my boy, an anomaly if you will. Certainly, attempting the same thing to go home again is out of the question.”

  “Why?” asked Maddox.

  “Because one out of fifty times you might succeed. Maybe the actual number is one out of sixty, seventy or even two hundred times, for all I know. Those are horrendous odds. Yes?”

  “We must accept the risks if we’re going to save the Commonwealth,” Maddox said.

  “That’s absurd. We shouldn’t commit suicide for an ideal. In this instance, I can assure you that the process would never work.”

  “You said that one of fifty times it might,” Maddox replied.

  “Are you prepared to die attempting such awful odds?”

  “Not die, Professor, but save our home, our people.”

  Ludendorff stared at the captain. “You’re a gambler extraordinaire, I understand. But I would rather ship out with Master Elge than attempt to go on a suicide mission with you. Consider it this way. Russian roulette is having one bullet in a six-chambered revolver. You have a one in six chance of dying. What we’re talking about is having forty-nine bullets in a fifty-chambered revolver. You spin the chamber, put the gun to your head and pull the trigger, hoping to survive. That’s what you’re talking about, my boy.”

  Maddox frowned. Could he push everyone into likely dying for a one-out-of-fifty success rate for going home again?

  “I’m open to suggestions, Professor. What else can we do?”

  “You’re against saying here?”

  “I am,” Maddox said. “What about a Builder nexus? We could use its hyper-spatial tube.”

  “First, you’d have to find one. But it’s good to remember that nexuses aren’t magical. Last mission should have taught you that. Ten thousand light-years is too far for a hyper-spatial tube. At the outside, we could use one for five thousand light-years, but that would be taking grave risks. And that’s providing we could break into the nexus. For all we know, if Builders reached this spiral arm, they might well be different enough from ours—”

  “Batrun,” Maddox said, interrupting. “He claimed to have come from another Builder.”

  “True,” Ludendorff said slowly. “But you’ve agreed to give Batrun to Master Elge as payment for services rendered.”

  “That’s not exactly true,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff eyed the captain. “Did you lie to Master Elge?”

  “I said I would give him Batrun if he didn’t like my final offer.”

  “Which is a bullet to the brain if he doesn’t drop his claim,” Ludendorff said.

  “That would work, and you’ve divined my fallback. But I hope to pay the Oko with something else.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Maddox admitted, “and I’m not overly interested in what a salvage operator would find intoxicating. Elge is a scavenger and attempted to steal my ship and likely kill all of us. I’ll pay him something and keep Batrun and my word—”

  “Calm yourself, Captain,” Ludendorff said. “I’m merely curious.”

  Maddox nodded. “Hopefully, the Okos knows the whereabouts of a Builder nexus and can take us there directly, without our having to interact with others here. We don’t know the social norms of this Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan, and I’m not sure I care to find out by doing something to enrage them.”

  “You were Patrol trained,” Ludendorff chided. “You should be more curious. In one sense, this is an amazing voyage. We’ve discovered alien political organizations that have successfully fought the Swarm Imperium to a draw. There are at least several cultures here ten thousand light-years from Earth. We’ve also gained a better understanding of our galaxy. We should be brimming with curiosity and cataloging everything we can, while we can.”

  “That’s sound reasoning, Professor. I’m authorizing you to set up a cataloging team. Learn everything you can. Remember this, though. The fact that the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan fought the Imperium to a standstill is why I don’t want to meet them.”

  “That’s prudent. Yes. I’ll start immediately. By the way, how long do you plan to hold the Gourvich hostage?”

  Maddox clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace. “I wonder how much time has passed since Victory was a floating derelict. Was it hours, days, weeks—months? I hate not knowing. The Rull androids have gone crazy. Imagine bringing three Juggernauts to the doorstep of Earth. And shedding their pseudo-skin the way they did…”

  “It’s time to wake Batrun,” Ludendorff said. “The Supermetals Planet…it could have already given the Rull Nation key advantages. How long have they been mining it, hmm? With the superconductor metals—if I had such an abundance of supermetals, I could vastly improve our disruptor cannon, for instance. Maybe that’s why J-B3’s laser burned so hot. I’ve never heard of the like. Did you study the wattages?”

  Maddox nodded absently as he continued to pace.

  “And if the Jotun fleet exists—”

  Maddox stopped, turning around sharply.

  Ludendorff noticed. “Batrun has spoken about the Jotuns, but several factors make me wonder if they’re real after all.”

  “Meaning?” asked Maddox.

  “Has Batrun has been telling us the truth about them?”

  “Lisa Meyers’ hauler had a reflective shield and was able to project a binding-force bubble,” Maddox said.

  “I’m aware of that. But consider. One ship—a hauler—possesses the technology to do those things. Does that mean a Jotun fleet of Jovian aliens is really converging on Earth?”

  “You don’t believe Batrun?”

  “I need more proof before I accept the totality of his claims.”

  Maddox rubbed his jaw. That was sound thinking. But the critical point was that they had to get home, a journey of ten thousand light-years, and they had to do it before the Rull androids gathered a large fleet of Juggernauts and rushed the Solar System. Wasn’t such an attack a possibility? Despite what Ludendorff suggested, a Jotun fleet could well be coming to aid the Rull androids.

  “I’ll see you later, Professor. It’s time I had a heart-to-heart discussion with Master Elge.”

  -46-

  Victory and RV Gourvich were several hundred meters apart at the edge of the red giant system.

  The recovery vessel was larger than Maddox had anticipated, about a quarter the size of the starship. The Gourvich held the equipment and living quarters for the Oko wives, children and slaves.

  The slaves, it turned out, were for purchase both as novelty items and as workers. There were many species aboard. Master Elge claimed to own seven different classes. When Ludendorff learned about this later, he suggested Maddox buy at least one of each.

  “We’re not slave traders,” Maddox said. “Nor are we going to capture intelligent beings and take them so far away from home that they can never get back again.”

  “They won’t go home anyway as slaves of the Okos,” Ludendorff pointed out.

  “Maybe,” Maddox said. “But this is the culture they know.”

  “Small comfort for the slaves,” Ludendorff grumbled. “But have it your way. You’re the captain—even if this is missing a priceless opportunity to learn more about this region of space.”

  In any case, Recovery Vessel Gourvich was longer than it was wide, with fusion engines. It turned out that Master Elge was eager to acquire antimatter technology.