“So you think,” Omegan said, but it did not speak with force or conviction. “Is there a special place you wish to go on the Ruby Planet?”

  “I want to see the scooper,” Maddox said.

  “I do not think I care for that.”

  “Fine,” Maddox said. “Then we will take our leave of you.”

  “You will leave the rogue planet?” Omegan asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And you will leave me intact?”

  “No, I will destroy you.”

  “Why should I let you go up then?” asked Omegan.

  “Why indeed?” asked Maddox. “Why not order your robots to kill us right now? You may get off some shots.”

  “I see one of your men is aiming an atomic grenade launcher at me,” Omegan said. “I suspect that could destroy me, even if my robots destroy you.”

  “I’m getting weary of your delay,” Maddox said. “I know that you’re trying different mental channels on us. None of them is working. Accept defeat graciously, and it’ll go better with you. Many have tried to trick me. Many have found to their detriment what that means.”

  “You are a vain boaster, Captain Maddox.”

  “Enough,” Riker said, raising his grenade launcher.

  “Wait,” Omegan said. “There, to your left. Look, it opens.”

  There, to the left, appeared a portal. Through it was the green sky of the Ruby Planet. From it sparkled millions of rubies on the black obsidian plain.

  “My goodness,” Riker said, “but that is lovely. I want a rake.”

  Maddox turned and stared at the sergeant.

  “Just kidding, sir,” Riker said.

  Maddox sighed, and then said, “Let’s go.”

  The four of them walked to and through the portal, landing on the Ruby Planet. As they did, the portal vanished behind them.

  -47-

  The four explorers found the Ardazirhos thirty-six minutes after landing on the strange planet. The four had shoved their vacc suits into packs they wore, the helmet attached to the packs. Each of them wore body armor and helmets like those of a galactic cop, the kind a person could wear without mechanical aid.

  One of the Ardazirhos lay upon the obsidian rock. The other two had placed their rakes upon him and were slowly entombing him with the rubies they had collected.

  Maddox and the others stood behind the Ardazirhos, watching and waiting.

  Maddox finally realized it was going to take the wolves quite a while because Carn Dar kept resting and hanging his head before placing more rubies.

  Maddox stepped closer and said, “Carn Dar.”

  The Ardazirho turned and saw Maddox and the others, and rose slowly. The other did not turn but continued to hang his hairy head and rest, occasionally picking up a ruby and placing it upon his deceased brethren.

  “Do I know you?” Carn Dar asked in English.

  Maddox raised his visor so the other could see his face.

  “You seem familiar,” Carn Dar said. “Have I spoken to you before?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said, “not that long ago, in fact.”

  “It’s so hard to remember. Everything is hazy.” Carn Dar indicated the dead Ardazirho. “One of my pack has died. There is only one left now. He too shall perish in this forlorn hellscape. Then what will happen to me? I shall die, and I will never see…”

  Carn Dar shaded his eyes from the pink gem of a star. He shook his head, feeling obviously deep sorrow.

  “I do not know what has happened. I no longer want to rake, and yet the compulsion to rake is so strong, to gather rubies for the scooper. It is coming. Do you see? It is coming. Will it take my friend, too? Will it return him to…?”

  Carn Dar looked at Maddox, and then raised his muzzle to the sky to howl in a forlorn manner. He howled again and looked at Maddox with doleful eyes.

  “I can help you reach your homeworld,” Maddox said.

  “You know of it?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said, though he was lying. He didn’t actually know, but he wanted to give the creature hope? Besides, he needed Carn Dar. He had an idea, a plan, and much of it rested upon the Ardazirho. Surely, these two had worked once for the Mastermind and had used Yon Soth passageways. Surely, the Ardazirhos knew something about the improved portals that linked these various places.

  “How may I reach my homeworld?” Carn Dar asked.

  “You must come with us,” Maddox said. “We are going to board the scooper as a beginning.”

  “No,” Carn Dar said. “That is impossible and forbidden. We have been sent here to work, to rake.”

  Maddox took three steps closer and raised a gloved hand to touch the Ardazirho on the shoulder.

  Carn Dar flinched and snarled, “Do not touch me. You are forbidden to do that. You are the kind that ruined everything.”

  That was interesting. “How did we ruin it?” Maddox asked.

  “I do not remember well. No,” and Carn Dar howled once more as he clutched his head, as if the memories pained him. Perhaps they did.

  Now, the other Ardazirho stood with a rake in hand and snarled with rage. He charged Maddox.

  Meta swooped in to intervene. “Not so fast,” she said, thrusting a strong arm. Her palm connected against the Ardazirho’s chin. There was a crack, a snap, and he collapsed onto the obsidian.

  Carn Dar whirled around, looked at his dead companion—the second one—and stared at Meta. “You killed him. Why would you kill him in such a vicious manner?”

  “I’m sorry,” Meta said, her face twisted with disbelief and sorrow. “He was attacking my husband. I didn’t mean to kill him.”

  “Your mate?” asked Carn Dar. “This was a mate killing? Did you think that one wanted to mate with Maddox?”

  “He was attacking him with the rake,” Meta said. “He could have hit Maddox on the head. I couldn’t let that happen. Don’t you understand?”

  Carn Dar’s shoulders slumped. He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I am lost. None can rake alone. How can one stand by himself when there is no one else to help him in his hour of need? I have watched one friend die and another foully murdered by this fiendish female. You must kill her,” he told Maddox. “Kill her. I demand it as is my right.”

  “Compose yourself,” Maddox said. “The death was unfortunate. You heard her. Meta didn’t mean to kill him. He must have been in a terribly weakened state. The blow hastened his death by a few days, nothing more. It isn’t that we’re insensitive to his death—it was a tragedy. But it was a fast approaching one. You know that.”

  Carn Dar stared at Maddox, looking like a kicked and beaten dog.

  “You must collect yourself,” Maddox said. “We need your help, and for it, we’ll help you. That means you’re coming with us.”

  The captain stepped up, clutching Carn Dar by the right arm. Maddox was stunned by the shrunken flesh and how withered the Ardazirho really was—flesh, bone and fur, a wisp. No wonder Meta had slain the other with a single karate blow to the face.

  “Come with us, Carn Dar. It’s the least we can do to honor your slain comrades.”

  “How will that honor them? You are murderers. Dare I trust myself to such as you?”

  “You’ve already said you cannot stay here,” Maddox said. “You are alone now. Come with us. Murderers we may be, but we need your cleverness. We need your wisdom to understand what to do once we board the scooper.”

  “My wisdom?” asked Carn Dar. “I am lost. I’m far from home. I’m a pack leader without a pack. I want to end this pitiful life and be done with it.”

  “How about some food?” Riker asked.

  Carn Dar stared at Riker, bewilderment filling his face. “I’ve not eaten food for…I do not know how long.”

  “Here,” Riker said, and he shoved some jerky at the other.

  To their astonishment, Carn Dar devoured the jerky as a dog would: gulping fast.

  “More,” Carn Dar said, looking up. “I’m so ravenously hungry.”

  They stood for a time, feeding the flesh and bone Ardazirho as he gobbled food. Ludendorff handed him a flask. Carn Dar guzzled noisily. At last, the wolf alien yawned, and his eyes fluttered. “I must sleep. I feel so good after this feast.”

  “You’re not going to sleep yet,” Maddox said. “Riker, you grab his other arm. I’ll take this one. You’re going to march. If you can sleep while we’re half carrying you, so be it.”

  “I am so tired,” Carn Dar said.

  “Meta, do you see the scooper?” Maddox asked.

  She was searching with her binoculars, scanning the horizon. “Way out there,” Meta said, pointing into the distance.

  “All right, let’s go, Carn Dar. This might be a rugged journey, but you’ve gained sustenance, and friends. You are no longer alone. You have a new pack.”

  Carn Dar whined. If he would have had a tail, Maddox suspected it would have tucked between his legs.

  In any case, the five of them set out for the scooper.

  -48-

  Like before, the city-sized scooper with its glass spires, chimneys, and working machinery shuddered and shook, and the bottom tubes snaked as they sucked up the piles of rubies. A section in the back of the scooper sparked and thudded as it hit the obsidian surface.

  “That’s our destination,” Maddox said, pointing at the rear section.

  The others nodded. Carn Dar had slept for a time, and now his eyes became more alert. Although still skin and bones, his belly protruded from the jerky and water he had consumed. The sustenance seemed to have given him renewed strength.

  After a while, the five reached the scooper, running under it as the ground trembled underneath them. Leading them, Maddox dodged countless tubes, showing them how.

  Maddox ran to the scraping region, tossed a hook and line, and scrambled aboard. He helped three others up. As he helped Meta, Ludendorff was already negotiating the shaking rail toward the supposed hobbit hole Maddox had cut before into the hatch.

  Soon, after crawling through the tunnel for a time, all five reached a corridor where they could stand.

  Carn Dar looked around in astonishment. He touched his head as if it ached.

  Maddox debated taking off his anti-telepathic band and putting it on Carn Dar, but he didn’t want to have to resist any compulsions. Carn Dar was going to have to resist whatever telepathy was at work on his own.

  “What is it?” Ludendorff asked the Ardazirho.

  Carn Dar whipped around to stare at Ludendorff. Like the others, Ludendorff had his visor up since he no longer needed the polarizer to shield against the intense glare of the star.

  Carn Dar said, “I recognize this place as if from a dream of long ago.” He paused before continuing. “Ideas rise like ghosts, taunting me. What is this place?”

  Maddox moved closer.

  For a moment, Carn Dar seemed remote, inward, then he glared at Maddox. “Why did you do this to me? Why have you slain one of my pack? Why did you come to jeer the one who died and now to taunt me with these memories? I had a job to do, and it was diverted by…I don’t understand. There is something evil and monstrous about this place. We must flee. We must go.”

  “Go where?” Maddox asked.

  “Can’t you see that I’m trying to remember?” Carn Dar shook his head. “I don’t know where, but we must leave while we can. They’ll trap us, and put us on…”

  Carn Dar stared at Maddox wide-eyed, perhaps with understanding. At that same time, wolfish cunning filled the Ardazirho. He hunched like a comic book villain. Maddox expected Carn Dar to rub his hands together in glee.

  Instead, “I must leave you,” Carn Dar said. “I must go back to the plain.”

  “I don’t think so,” Maddox said. “We need to meet the Inquisitor.”

  “The what?” Carn Dar asked in fear. “No, no, please, not the Inquisitor! That was who tricked us, who trapped us. Don’t you understand what is happening? You must let me go. Please, Captain Maddox, I want to go back to work.”

  “Now see here,” Maddox said, “you’ve eaten our food. We’ve helped you get here. Now, you will maintain your dignity and decorum, or I will tell…” Maddox had an insight, “…I will tell the Mastermind of your desertion in the face of hostilities.”

  “What? Y-You know the M-Mastermind?” Carn Dar stuttered.

  “I do. He sent me here. That’s why you’re in our custody. Do you want to honor the Mastermind, or do you wish to be dishonored in his sight?”

  “The M-Mastermind can see us?” Carn Dar asked.

  “I’m his eyes and ears, and I will report everything that has happened.”

  “Yes, yes, I understand,” Carn Dar said. It seemed that he strove to regain his dignity, to stand proudly, and perhaps act like a soldier in the Mastermind’s employ. “They tricked us, Maddox. They tricked us. This…” Carn Dar waved his hands about, “…this is a foul plot. I remember vaguely, but I need to see more. The Inquisitor…you must be careful in its presence.”

  “Why is that?” Ludendorff asked.

  “Is this one under your authority?” Carn Dar asked Maddox.

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “Professor, until I say otherwise, don’t speak to Carn Dar. Don’t confuse him.”

  Ludendorff nodded, although he seemed upset at the command, until Meta nudged him in the side. Then, Ludendorff smiled as if he was going to do exactly as Maddox requested.

  During their conversation, they continued walking down the corridor. Now, a mote of brilliant light appeared and rushed toward them.

  -49-

  The mote of light, shifting colors as it raced up, caused Carn Dar to shrink back in fear.

  Maddox stepped before the Ardazirho. “Inquisitor, what are you doing here?”

  The mote of light stopped before Maddox, and it brightened, shifting from red to green to blue and purple. “I must speak to the Ardazirho. Do not stand between it and me.” This time, the Inquisitor used verbal communication so all could understand it.

  The mote of light began to circle around Maddox. Maddox quickly interposed himself between the mote and a whimpering Carn Dar.

  “Inquisitor, you must first speak with me before you may speak with Carn Dar.”

  At that, the mote of light, the Inquisitor, moved back several feet, rose a little higher until it was almost touching the ceiling. It flashed brilliantly in various sequences.

  Carn Dar cried out forlornly, and the others put up their visors. The polarizers darkened, nullifying whatever effect the Inquisitor had hoped to achieve with its brilliance.

  Maddox brought up his blaster and aimed it at the Inquisitor. “I demand that you cease your games and speak with me.”

  “Lower your vision apparatus,” the Inquisitor said. “It is improper and impolite that you hold it up against my manifestation.”

  “I’m not lowering it,” Maddox said. “Do you dare summon the tentacled platforms?”

  “How do you know of those? Wait.” The mote sparkled in various hues, lowering its brightness. “You are that one that was here. You have now returned. You left the scooper, as I graciously granted you the ability to go.”

  “I went because I would have destroyed things otherwise.” Maddox said.

  “Incorrect. I granted you leave, and now here you are again. You have practiced deception upon me, Maddox. I will summon others, and they will remove the visors. You will watch the patterns of many colors and configurations until you understand correctly.”

  “You mean until you’ve hypnotized me and brought me under your control.”

  “You speak bizarrely. I do not accept your concepts. Rather, I will bring you peace and true joy.”

  “I don’t want your peace or your true joy,” Maddox said. “I want answers, and I want them now.”

  Carn Dar whimpered, “Destroy it, please. I cannot stand in its presence.”

  “Do you see?” asked Maddox. “I don’t think Carn Dar benefited from your hypnosis either. He wants nothing more to do with it.”

  “You do not understand the forces with which you are toying,” the Inquisitor said, lessening its brightness even more.

  “Why don’t you explain them to me?” Maddox said. “If I had the knowledge, I could make a wise choice.”

  “No, you will make the wrong choice,” the Inquisitor said. “You are a destroyer like Carn Dar. His kind and your kind are but tools one uses. Ah, I have said too much. You must leave the scooper immediately, or I will summon the others.”

  “Carn Dar, do you know what he’s talking about?” Maddox said over his shoulder.”

  “Do not speak to the Ardazirho,” the Inquisitor said. “I am in control here. I am in charge. I will make the decisions. You will obey.”

  “Look,” Meta said, pointing. “There are more of those platforms coming, the kind we faced before, the ones with tentacles.”

  From the four corridors leading to this junction, eight, six, four, and eight platforms emerged, respectively. On each, the metallic tentacles bore hacking weapons.

  “You’re making a mistake,” Maddox told the mote of light.

  “No,” the Inquisitor said, “you have made the mistake. You have made a grand and terrible mistake.” It began to brighten again.

  “Wait a minute,” Ludendorff said. “How can we understand you if we have on these anti-telepathy bands? Don’t you use mind control?”

  “I am using an auditory system,” the Inquisitor explained. “You surely must realize that as you’ve been listening to me.”

  Maddox pressed the trigger. A blast struck the mote of light. Maddox half expected nothing to happen except perhaps a burn hole in the bulkhead behind the mote. Instead, the Inquisitor vanished. Did the force of the blast destroy it or did it merely disperse its properties?

  Whatever the case, the approaching attack platforms sped up. That forced the others to blast them. Soon, the platforms were smoking ruins, their tentacles no longer moving and the platforms sinking to the decks with a whining and mechanical sputter.