“I can kill you here, Captain. I am in control. I am Becker. The world and you will soon perceive the real me and tremble in awe.”

  “Let’s make a deal, Becker.”

  “Oh, no, Captain, I made a deal with you once, and you were going back on it.”

  “No, if you’re in my mind, you can see I wasn’t going back on the deal.”

  “I can’t read all your thoughts—” Becker abruptly quit projecting.

  The revelation startled Maddox. His mind could block some of Becker’s power. That was interesting news.

  “Don’t think your mind is going to help you,” Becker said via mental projection. “I can control your wife and make her slit her throat in your presence. Is that what you want?”

  “No,” Maddox said. “But you would be most unwise to try such—”

  “Please, Captain Maddox,” Becker said, “don’t threaten me, not even a little. I have the power to crush your lungs so you can’t breathe. I’m in control even if you do have a different mentality than the others. There is something special about you.”

  In the helmet, Maddox grinned.

  “Hey,” Becker said telepathically, “let’s all sit around a campfire and sing about how special Captain Maddox is. Would that make you feel better? Would that make you feel like a big man?”

  “Don’t work yourself up,” Maddox said.

  “I’ll do whatever I want. I control the darter, and soon, I think I’m going to control Victory. Will you agree to my terms and board my ship?”

  Maddox was about to point out that the darter was Star Watch property, actually Patrol property, to be specific, but he decided that wasn’t the point.

  “Let’s get on with this,” Maddox said. “We’ll do as you say.”

  “I knew you’d see the light,” Becker said smugly. “You may proceed.”

  The two battlesuits clumped to the darter, their suit weapon systems deactivated. The bulky battlesuits entered the open airlock, barely able to squeeze in. The outer lock slid shut.

  Maddox and then Meta detached from the suits and climbed out in skin suits. Neither carried any hand weapons. Even like this, they were barely able to squeeze in here with the battlesuits.

  “How are you feeling?” Maddox asked.

  Meta gave him a blank look, as if unable to think or speak.

  This was bad. Maddox shook his head. Becker might hold all the cards, but he was a physical weakling. One punch would be all Maddox needed to rectify the situation.

  The inner hatch opened. Meta stumbled through, and Maddox walked through normally.

  The three women of the darter greeted them. None pointed a blaster or any other weapon. They greeted them with pleasant, happy smiles and bright eyes.

  “Welcome aboard the darter, Captain. You may refer to me as Honey. That is how Becker likes to refer of me.”

  Maddox nearly groaned. Honey, Becker called her Honey? Maddox expected Meta to scowl and maybe sigh. He looked at his wife. There was nothing in her eyes. She was a robot, pure and simple.

  “Follow us, please,” Honey said. “And Captain, don’t try anything. Our master is far too powerful for you.”

  “Your master?” Maddox asked.

  “Yes!” A deep voice boomed.

  Maddox looked up and saw Becker. Was that Becker? How could it be?

  A naked, misshapen, lumpy, hairy, grotesquely muscled giant stepped up. The man was seven and a half feet tall and massive. He would likely give a Merovingian a run for his money if they fought. But the non-symmetry to the giant startled Maddox.

  “Becker?” he asked.

  “Yes, it’s me. Are you impressed yet?”

  “What in the world happened to you?” Maddox said.

  “I happened,” Becker said. “Now, Captain, I believe you and I are going to have a battle of wills. I’m going to dominate you mentally, and then I’m going to do it physically. Then you are going to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?”

  “Of course,” Maddox said. “I see mentally that I’m not a match for you. Physically, forget about it. You look far too powerful to challenge.”

  “Don’t try your rhetorical tricks on me, Maddox. I know your methods. I’m going to dominate you despite everything you try.”

  “If the feeling of being cowed is any indication,” Maddox said, “I think of myself as already dominated by you.”

  “Girls and Meta, lay on the floor and don’t move,” Becker said.

  Honey and the other two moved with alacrity, sprawling onto the floor face down. Meta seemed to resist for an instant, and then she too lay down.

  That enraged Maddox, and he watched as the naked Becker advanced upon him. All right, this is going to be the fight of my life.

  -47-

  Maddox winced as a powerful telepathic bolt slammed against his mind and smothered his senses. He could barely see, although he heard Becker’s unsymmetrical rush. Maddox twisted, using his instinctive sense, and ducked his head. He felt a rush of air. That must have been a massive fist going past his head. The next instant, a second fist connected with his gut. Maddox curled around it, felt himself hurled into the air with irresistible force and sailed back. He curled as he flew and thudded against a bulkhead with his back. Maddox groaned and dropped to the deck. Instead of snapping back his head and dashing it, his torso throbbed with pain as he lay there.

  Becker laughed as if from a distance. But in the laughing with glee, he must have ceased the harsh telepathic projection.

  As Maddox lay curled on the floor, his eyes focused. He saw the victorious behemoth of a man lumbering toward him.

  “I’m going to knock your ass off, Maddox.”

  Maddox waited on the deck, pretending exhaustion and defeat. It wasn’t hard. At the last minute, he shifted and slid, kicking out his feet. A huge ankle struck Maddox’s left shin, nearly breaking it as pain radiated explosively.

  The action tripped Becker so the monster man slammed face first against the deck and slid, ramming the top of his gargantuan head against a bulkhead.

  Maddox rose with agony. The single punch from the behemoth of a telepath—Becker was inhumanly strong, stronger than any Merovingian Maddox had faced in the past.

  Becker coughed, groaned and rolled over. His eyes raged with fury. “My head, you made me hit my head. Do you know what could have happened?” Becker curled his massive hands into fists as he sat up and glared at Maddox.

  Maddox steeled himself for it. A telepathic bolt blasted against his mind, although it didn’t knock him down. His eyes watered as pain throbbed in his head.

  “You will obey me, Maddox,” Becker howled.

  Maddox strove to maintain his identity, to protect himself against the blast of fury smashing upon his ego.

  Through what process did Maddox maintain his identity? Perhaps it was due to the spiritual stiffening when he’d consumed an Erill long ago. Perhaps it had more to do with the training he’d received from Balron the Traveler. It could have been a combination. Those processes helped his mind to flow with the battering assaults. Thus, instead of shattering as a normal, strong, and indomitable personality would have under the telepathic assault, Maddox’s will shifted, turned, ducked, and wove.

  “Why are you such a slippery devil?” Becker roared.

  Maddox saw that Becker had risen to his feet and lumbered toward him, one long, ill-matched step at a time. The giant was naked, hairy and repulsive.

  “Oh, you think I’m repulsive, do you?” Becker shouted.

  Maddox hadn’t said that aloud.

  “You don’t need to say it. I can see the thoughts in your brain, you arrogant New Man.”

  Maybe that was just the ticket for Maddox as anger surged in him at the epitaph. He climbed to his feet to face the monster man.

  “Don’t like being called a New Man, you freak, you half-breed. You know what I’m going to do to your wife? I’m going to make her mine in every possible way.”

  “You’re a fool,” Maddox said between gritted teeth.

  “I’m the fool? I’m going to beat you raw, Maddox. You have no idea. The physical beating—maybe I’ll literally twist you into a pretzel. You’re done, half-breed.”

  Becker hurled a massive telepathic bolt.

  This time, the rage, almost berserkergang of intensity in Maddox—the man had threated to rape Meta—fended off the blow.

  Perhaps Maddox had inadvertently stumbled upon a method of deflecting the telepathic attacks. Though he was not, strictly speaking, a telepath, he had abilities that resembled the power. Though Maddox wasn’t trained in the art, he was a slippery sort. He dodged and weaved against the dominating assaults that came at him. Maddox did that instead of resisting the assaults full bore. Instead of being like a man facing a bulldozer, he skipped around and never took the full brunt of what Becker did.

  “This is ridiculous,” Becker said. “Why don’t you step up and fight like a man, half-breed?”

  Maddox turned his head to the side and spat on the deck. He rubbed his hands together and took a combat stance as he faced Becker. It was too bad he didn’t have his monofilament blade.

  “But you don’t have it,” Becker taunted. “I made sure of that.”

  Becker shuffled near and swung a massive fist. Maddox dodged by moving inside instead of away or to the side. Maddox pumped his fists like pistons against Becker’s gut. It was like hitting a hardwood tree. Becker thrust his shorter leg up. The knee barely caught Maddox, hurling him just the same. This time, Maddox didn’t slam against a bulkhead, however. He rolled, and rolled back onto his feet, swaying. He ached all over from the few but heavy blows.

  Maddox wiped his brow. There was no way he could beat Becker man to man like this.

  “That’s right,” Becker said. “You finally understand. I’m your better mentally and physically.”

  “Not morally,” Maddox said, striving to find some weakness in the new and improved Becker.

  “Ah, morally,” Becker sneered. “Don’t you dare preach at me, half-breed. Don’t tell me that I must do this or do that to be good. I am Becker. I never understood until this moment how size and strength changes a man’s outlook. You thought yourself better than me in France Sector because I was physically pathetic. All that has changed forever. I have more power than you can conceive, and I…”

  Sudden confusion filled Becker’s face.

  Maddox glanced around, first to see what confused the man. Maddox didn’t see it. Then he searched for an equalizer. Ah. He spied a holstered blaster at Honey’s side as she lay on the deck. Maddox slid toward her, hoping Becker wouldn’t notice.

  Becker’s massive head whipped up. He’d been massaging the temples as his eyes squinted. There was a brief second of confusion. Then he pointed a huge forefinger at Maddox. “If you go for the blaster, I’ll kill your wife with telekinetic power. I can telekinetically shatter her brain like that.” He snapped grotesquely huge fingers.

  Maddox stopped. He didn’t know what to do. Could Becker really kill Meta that easily?

  Becker shook his huge head. “Forget about the fight. There’s something else going on out there.” He made a vague gesture. “I’ve just become aware of it.”

  Maddox frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “I thought you had intuitive sense. Use it, you idiot, you half-breed mongrel.”

  Maddox scowled. Then he smoothed that out to a mere frown. This didn’t feel like a ploy from the monster man. Might this be the opening he needed? Maddox bent his head, trying to employ the intuitive sense. To his surprise, he realized something was about to happen. It was a faint pulse, maybe why he hadn’t recognized it yet. Still, he couldn’t perceive how the threat would manifest itself.

  “I’ll tell you what it is,” Becker said. “I finally see its outline. The stupid witches have gotten reinforcements.” Becker cocked his head as if thinking. “The Seventh Assault Fleet of Leviathan is almost here.” Becker swore an oath of disgust. “No, this is no good. This ruins everything I’ve planned.” He peered at Maddox and it seemed as if wheels turned in his gargantuan mind. “All right, I’ll tell you what. It’s time to patch things up for the moment. I hate you, but I hate you less than I hate certain others. Victory can be useful to me. I’m going to let you go. If you’re smart, you’ll rush back to Victory as fast as you can and get the hell out of here. An assault fleet of Leviathan is coming. I think they mean to destroy your puny task force.”

  “How can you know this?” Maddox asked, amazed and perplexed.

  Becker raised a huge, haughty chin. “I sense them coming down a hyper-spatial tube.” He laughed. “You have no idea of the magnification of my abilities. It’s so astounding I’m still amazed myself at times. But that doesn’t matter. Here’s the thing. I’m letting you go, Maddox, but you owe me one.”

  Maddox ached all over, including his mind. He searched for duplicity in Becker’s words and failed to find it. His intuitive sense told him the monster man was leveling with him. That meant—

  “I’m taking my wife and the three ladies with me,” Maddox said.

  “No,” Becker said sharply. “And if you keep arguing with me about this, I won’t give you your wife. I’m keeping Honey and the other two, but I’m sparing you your life. Are you going to take it, Maddox, or are going to be an idiot about this?”

  This was a hard decision. Maddox didn’t want to abandon his three crewmembers, especially to this monster.

  “I’m not a monster,” Becker shouted. “I’m just a man who was granted abnormal powers and abilities. I was different and then people and aliens used me, turning me into what I am. I’m not going to mistreat the women. I swear that.”

  “Then give them back their identities,” Maddox said.

  Becker stared at Maddox, and incredibly, the monster man’s features softened. “Maybe in time, I will, if I can fix myself. I have a feeling you and I will work together again soon.” Becker nodded. “I have a feeling things are turning in a way neither you nor I would have expected.”

  “Why? What else is going on?”

  “Go! Take your wife!” Becker’s features scrunched before he looked up again. “There. I’ve granted Meta her normal identity again.”

  Maddox glanced at his wife.

  Meta looked at him startled, scrambling off the floor. She stared at Becker, swayed back in surprise, and then turned away so she wouldn’t view the naked brute.

  “All right,” Maddox said. If an assault fleet of Leviathan was really headed here, he needed to get back to Victory now. “I’m holding you responsible for these three. Remember Becker, I’m the one who came and got you out of stasis in Antarctica.”

  “Because you needed my help,” Becker shouted.

  “That’s true, but no one else would have done what I did. And the new Lord High Admiral wanted to put you away in stasis afterward. I stood up for you because I’d given you my word. If you’ve really looked into my mind—”

  “I know, I know, I know that already,” Becker said. “Why do you think I’m letting you go? Now hurry! Time is running short. You may not make it anyway.”

  “All right,” Maddox said, “we’re going.”

  Then he and Meta hurried to the airlock and began to climb back into their battlesuits.

  -48-

  In the battlesuit that acted as a spacesuit, Maddox climbed up the crevice in the asteroid. Meta followed close behind in her battlesuit.

  “What happened in there?” Meta said over the short link. It worked now. “Who was that monster?”

  “Not yet,” Maddox said. “Try not to think of anything but climbing.”

  “Why?”

  “Meta, I know you trust me. This is critical.”

  “All right, I’ll do as you ask.”

  They continued to climb.

  Maddox had put the silver headband back on and turned on the buzzing box. He felt a little relief. He didn’t know if Becker was watching or doing something else. Why hadn’t the man wanted to come with him onto Victory? He would have guaranteed the man’s safety. He would have demanded the three crewmembers back. Maybe that was the reason, the deal breaker. Did Becker think he had a better chance of staying alive and free down here on the asteroid? What had Becker called it again? Right, the Seventh Assault Fleet from Leviathan. That sounded ominous. That meant the inter-spiral-arm war was about to begin.

  How did the mutant know so much? Where had Becker learned to mutate his body like that? It was incredible, and it was frightening.

  Maddox knew that wasn’t the important point right now. Getting back to Victory was.

  The Spacers clearly had used other hidden nexuses to create other hyper-spatial tubes. There were more hidden nexuses in the Paran System than Maddox realized.

  Eleven destroyed Conqueror-class battleships would be a good beginning for the enemy and a terrible one for Star Watch. How many ships from Leviathan would arrive here? Why and how had the cybers of Leviathan agreed to work with the Spacers in this way?

  Maddox shook his head. He didn’t know the answers. Thus, he concentrated on climbing as fast as he could. He also opened the comm link and tried to hail Victory. So far, it was no good.

  What had happened to Galyan? Likely, Becker had neutralized Galyan. Yet, how had the telepath done that?

  “Victory, Victory, this is Captain Maddox speaking. Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?”

  There was no response.

  Finally, Maddox climbed out of the crevasse. He turned and helped Meta out. Then the two began to glide-jump across the rocky, dark surface of the asteroid. They needed to get to the other side.

  Had this been a clever trick? Did Becker realize he couldn’t defeat the captain of Victory and this was his way to seal his freedom?

  No, Maddox didn’t believe that. Becker had been winning. The man’s mentality and physicality had been too gargantuan for Maddox to handle. Becker’s insults—

  Maddox cocked his head. It struck him then, the reason for all that, the insults. Becker was alone and friendless. The man was a nerd, if you will, who had gotten his life-long dream. Becker was the secret king who had attained the strength and intelligence he’d always wanted. Becker hadn’t gotten good looks, though.