“How is he?” Maddox asked.

  “The sergeant should survive this,” Ludendorff said. “And I think he’ll keep the leg. I heard him mention something about a prosthetic. He should remain unconscious for a time. But now, Captain, what’s our next move? You have the crystal stick.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “Now it’s time for us to see what it says, if we can.”

  -54-

  With trepidation and expectation, Maddox inserted the crystal into the slot Carn Dar had shown them before.

  “I understand how to do this.” Ludendorff manipulated the controls, and before them, a holographic screen displayed an intriguing situation accompanied by explanations in script.

  “Can you make that English?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff tried a few buttons. “Here, this is it.”

  The text switched to English, and they began to read a report, simultaneously observing events unfolding on the capital planet of Loggia.

  “How interesting,” Maddox said, watching the three major strategists make a significant decision.

  ***

  Deep in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm was the capital planet of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan, Loggia.

  The shape and composition of the planet, together with the terrain, weren’t germane to the moment.

  Instead, in a subterranean chamber, three of the highest ranked Strategists gathered. They were in order of rank: Hyperion Codex, Tactix and Enigmach.

  In this instance, their shape and appearance had little bearing. Each of the cyber entities reclined on a couch. Each had assistants that inserted a jack into their massive and AI-enhanced brains. The jack linked them to huge mainframe computers. These computers took up fifteen percent of the surface crust of the planet.

  As Hyperion Codex, Tactix and sly Enigmach received the jacks, their minds shut down outer stimuli. In other words, they no longer heard, saw, smelled or felt.

  Their minds linked with the mighty computers and knew logical and vast intelligence data.

  It was an exalting experience for each of the veteran analysts. Here in the computer they knew so much and could sense even more. It was liberating and breathtaking. Each of them loved being jacked into the mainframe. There was no pain here, only the pleasure of pure and unadulterated thought.

  “Let us consider the problem of the Commonwealth of Planets and its subsidiary regions,” Hyperion Codex said.

  He did not speak as humans would with their mouths and hear with their ears. Instead, this was direct electric linkage.

  “The Commonwealth is growing,” Tactix said. “They could become a problem in one hundred and fifty-three years.” He had been running simulations and this was the conclusion.

  “Perhaps even several years sooner,” Enigmach said.

  “That is possible,” Tactix conceded.

  “If the humans ever unite,” Hyperion Codex said, “it would accelerate matters considerably on their behalf.”

  “Are you referring to the major splinter groups such as the New Men and Spacers?” Tactix asked.

  “Yes,” Hyperion Codex said.

  “How likely would such a merger happen in the near future?” Enigmach asked.

  The three great Strategists of Leviathan made swift and vast calculations.

  “If they unify, which is unlikely, they could create trouble for us in thirty-one years,” Tactix said.

  “There are other dangers for Leviathan in the present,” Hyperion Codex said.

  “Because of the one named Captain Maddox?” asked Tactix.

  “He has foiled us on two separate occasions,” Hyperion Codex said. “In one of the occasions, the Spacers had handed him captive into our custody. Maddox, through a set of bizarre circumstances, escaped and later created trouble for us in the Heydell Cloud. That trouble is yet to mature. In truth, those in the Heydell Cloud could actually create danger to greater Leviathan. There is uniqueness and incalculability to Maddox that foils our best calculations.”

  “We should kill him,” Tactix said.

  “We have tried and failed,” Hyperion Codex said. “The conclusion is clear. Direct methods have the poorest result with him.”

  “We need to deal with Maddox through the slyest cunning then,” Enigmach said.

  “Do you have a proposal?” Tactix asked.

  “In fact, I do,” Enigmach said. “I propose we invade the Commonwealth and render the Maddox equation moot.”

  “Invasion of the Commonwealth could be dangerous with Maddox alive and thus disrupting our strategy,” Hyperion Codex said.

  “I understand,” Enigmach said. “Thus, I propose we use the entity known as the Supreme Intelligence of the Library Planet. We must guide the Supreme Intelligence so he sends Captain Maddox to the Aquila Rift. There, we have assets that could render him inoperative.”

  “That is a dangerous initiative,” Hyperion Codex said.

  “We will use an entity of dangerous complexity and uniqueness to quell Maddox long enough for us to gain our conquest,” Enigmach said. “Once we have rendered the Commonwealth impotent, the Maddox equation is moot.”

  “How exactly would you embroil Maddox? And what type of invasion in the Orion Arm do you suggest?” Hyperion Codex asked.

  Enigmach engaged much of the planetary computer to run tests and simulations, showing the other two how he would use a computer virus to assist them.

  “Your proposal seems too simple,” Tactix said.

  “In our way of thinking, it’s simple,” Enigmach said. “But for the humans, and even the Supreme Intelligence, this is as complex as it gets.”

  “Do you think Omegan can contain and then steer Maddox in the correct course?” Hyperion Codex asked.

  “Omegan is composed of strange patterns outside our calculations,” Enigmach said. “The same appears to be so with Captain Maddox. Only such an entity as Omegan has a chance of doing this to Maddox, as it is indirect.”

  “Indeed,” Hyperion Codex said. “Your sly cunning is legendary and well deserved, Enigmach. I applaud you.”

  “Should we then suggest our plan to High Leviathan?” Enigmach asked.

  “Let us vote,” Hyperion Codex said.

  The vote was three to zero to attempt this. Thus, the Chief Strategists of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan would propose the Intelligence Operation to the High Leviathan, along with the beginning of the conquest of the Commonwealth.

  -55-

  Carn Dar had awakened toward the end of the report they’d gained from Loggia and the three master strategists.

  “How utterly amazing,” Ludendorff said. “Leviathan staged the virus assault in order to trick the Supreme Intelligence into bringing you here.”

  “I don’t know if I can accept that,” Maddox said. “Carn Dar, could the strategists have manufactured this, knowing I would come through a portal to retrieve it?”

  “That’s an incredible idea,” Ludendorff said. “You think the strategists could devise such an elaborate deception scheme, and to what propose? Why would causing you to think so change anything you do here? No. I think we heard their real scheme, which was to get you out of the way and into the Aquila Rift while Leviathan invades the Commonwealth.”

  “If anybody could be that subtle,” Maddox said, “it would the main Leviathan strategists jacked into the planetary battle computer.”

  “I agree with Ludendorff,” Carn Dar said. “I think the strategists have attempted a plan that is working. You are out here in the Aquila Rift, after all.”

  “You spoke about Yon Soth and Builder influences,” Maddox said. “Where’s the reality of that? All I see is a Leviathan plot?”

  “You forget one important point,” Carn Dar said. “While the strategists seemed to think Seekers were a myth, a way to draw you here, Seekers are indeed real.”

  “True,” Maddox said. He looked at Meta and the sergeant.

  Riker was snoring loudly, the drugs having taken effect and dulling the pain enough so he was out.

  “The Seekers are real,” Maddox said, regarding Carn Dar and Ludendorff. “That is perhaps the most interesting fact of all.”

  “Only real after a fashion,” Ludendorff corrected. “The Seekers are in another dimension and thus far from us.”

  “A dimension a team of beings have been working to reach,” Maddox said.

  “My only point,” Ludendorff said, “is that the strategists of Leviathan made a correct analysis. They took you out of commission, at least while whatever attacks they’re planning against the Commonwealth are taking place. More to the point,” Ludendorff paused. “I lost my train of thought. I don’t know if it’s the shock of this crazy place or what has happened.” Ludendorff shook his head. “Captain, the Seekers are not precisely real. You can’t find them yet. Instead, if you had maintained your original course, you would now be trapped at the water world.”

  “We would have gone there,” Maddox said. “Who knows if the squid aliens could have trapped us or not?”

  “Omegan does seem to be in the employ of whoever is behind trying to free the Seekers,” Carn Dar said.

  “Except,” Maddox said, “there were assault vessels of Leviathan here. Could there be a thicker plot? Are there others behind Leviathan manipulating Leviathan in various ways?”

  “I don’t think the Mastermind has a hand in any of this, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Carn Dar said. “The Mastermind’s ways are not so convoluted, despite his name.”

  “There’s one other thing,” Maddox said.

  “Before you get to that, my boy, if these Seekers are potentially real, they’re obviously a great danger to all of us. We can’t do anything directly about them, though. Thus, it would seem our best move would be to destroy the scooper so no more rubies go to the water world. If there are other scoopers on the planet, we should destroy them as well. The scooper shows us another thing. If you consider how many rubies the scooper sucks up and sends over time… How many trillions of rubies has it taken to create a planetary ring? This enterprise has been going on for an exceedingly long time.”

  “I’ve been raking for a long time,” Carn Dar said, “so I can attest to the truth of that. Destroying the scooper seems like the only thing you can do for now.”

  “I disagree,” Maddox said.

  “How can you disagree, my boy? The strategists of Leviathan guided you here in order to take you and Victory out of any consideration while they attack the Commonwealth. That means—”

  “Professor,” Maddox said, interrupting. “The strategists weren’t aware of all the facts. They thought the Seekers were not real. But Seekers are real, if behind a dimensional wall, in another realm.”

  “That means that they might as well not exist,” Ludendorff said.

  “But they do exist, and at some point in time, they’re going to come through.”

  “I understand that,” Ludendorff said. “But what difference does it make to us now?”

  “It makes all the difference,” Maddox said. “For you see, if the Seekers are real, then, by implication, so is the Prism Drive.”

  “Confound it, my boy, but that’s logical. Do you think the Prism Drive is a counter weapon against the Seekers?”

  “Good question,” Maddox said. “Carn Dar, what do you know about the Prism Drive?”

  “Nothing,” Carn Dar said. “This is the first I’ve heard of it. What does it do?”

  Maddox didn’t answer. Instead, he began to pace, thinking. Where would a Prism Drive be? There were Seekers at the water world, or attempting to come through there from another dimension. Would the Prism Drive be near there?

  “Carn Dar, I think the next place Ludendorff and I need to go is to the ship through which we viewed the water world.”

  “No,” Meta said. “Look what happened to Riker. You think you’ll be okay on the ship? Do you think you’ll make it back this time?”

  “My dear, we’ve almost completed the puzzle,” Maddox said. “The Seekers are at the water world, or on the other side in a nearby dimension. Those of Leviathan believe they’ve tied me in a web. Instead, I am near a place with exotic weapons that might help solve two problems.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Ludendorff said. “Even though we’ve found one of these things to be true, this still is a haunted region of space. If one considers the Bermuda Triangle on Earth, it was haunted like this place is haunted, and best left alone. What I’m saying is that we should leave the Aquila Rift as fast as possible.”

  Maddox shook his head. “If we find the Prism Drive, it may be useful in stopping the dimensional engine at the water world. We must stop that or we risk having a new terrible enemy appearing at the worst possible moment.”

  “That’s just the point, my boy. It would take the combined fleets of Leviathan and Star Watch to destroy the engine around the water world.”

  “We’ve heard that,” Maddox said. “We don’t know that it’s true. We know where the water world is. We can make a reconnaissance there. We also need the Prism Drive because I believe only with the Prism Drive can we win.”

  “Win how and against who?” Ludendorff asked.

  “By destroying the dimensional-drilling engine that the ring of rubies feed,” Maddox said.

  “What if that means destroying the entire water world?” Ludendorff asked. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I don’t know. We should find out.”

  Ludendorff muttered under his breath before saying, “Perhaps I’m getting cautious in my older age.”

  “Perhaps you are,” Maddox said. “In any case, Meta,” he went to her and helped her stand. She had been beside Riker, watching him.

  “I want you to understand, we’ve got to do this. You can come with me, but that will leave Carn Dar on his own. I think someone must watch him with the medikit.”

  “Oh, darling, I know you feel you must do this, and perhaps someone must, and you seem to be the one who’s always doing it.”

  Maddox smiled.

  “All right,” Meta said. “I’ll support you in this, and if I have to, I’m going to come through and rescue you. I think we were already on the water world and faced things that happened on it.”

  “That may be true,” Maddox said. “But I don’t recall a ring when we were there. We would have seen one. We also saw land on our water world. There didn’t seem to be any from the portal view we had earlier.”

  “Do you think that this is a time portal, as well as space?” Meta asked.

  “We’ve found a viper’s nest of strange things here,” Maddox said. “We can only untangle one or two threads at a time. The Aquila Rift, and what is occurring here, is odd and perplexing. We need to deal with one or two situations at a time. Let’s end the threat of the Seekers and this evil one from another dimension. Then, we’ll use the resources we’ve found, or will find, to help against any military incursion from Leviathan.”

  “You have balls, my boy,” Ludendorff said. “Brass balls, big balls.”

  “Enough of that,” Maddox said.

  “No, no,” Ludendorff said, beginning to clap. “Let me congratulate you.”

  “He’s being sarcastic,” Meta said.

  “Maddox is the key,” Ludendorff said. “Perhaps listening to those of Leviathan, treating him so importantly has finally turned the captain’s head. You are important, my boy, but it is my dreams that have brought us here this time. Remember that.”

  Maddox nodded tightly. “Are you ready to go? Carn Dar, can you stand?”

  The Ardazirho struggled but finally climbed to his feet. He was panting, but he steadied himself.

  “The water world, did you say?” asked Ludendorff.

  “No,” Maddox said, “a place near the water world.”

  “Ah,” Ludendorff said. “I understand. The captain wants to go to a spaceship from which we viewed the water world. Thrust us into danger. Why, of course, that is a great idea. Don’t you think so, Carn Dar?”

  “I don’t know,” Carn Dar replied. “You remind me of the Mastermind, Captain Maddox. Let me go to work and see what I can do.”

  -56-

  Carn Dar made the portal.

  Maddox and Ludendorff, wearing vacc suits, went through, stepping into an alien spacecraft. A viewing port was before them through which they could see the water world, the beautiful ruby ring around it and then the mass of junkyard spaceships all clumped together at a moon distance. They also saw something that they hadn’t seen before: a red stream flowing up from the ring into a massive space station at an L5 orbital point. From the station shot a narrow red beam, drilling at a point in space. The beam drilled relentlessly and did not dissipate, but rather seemed to disappear into nothingness.

  Ludendorff and Maddox exchanged glances.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Ludendorff asked over a suit comm system.

  “That they’re trying to beam, and maybe are partially beaming into another dimension?” asked Maddox.

  “That is what I’m thinking,” Ludendorff agreed. “This is a frightening situation. Look at that. There are other ships moving out there.”

  Maddox saw them: saucer-shaped ships moving in orbit around the water world. Below the spaceships and the ruby ring, the planetary clouds were thicker than before, with a swirling storm in one area.

  Ludendorff turned to Maddox. “I don’t understand this. If this ship is here, centered on a Yon Soth portal, and so far no one has seen us… The saucer ships don’t seem to notice this ship.”

  “We don’t know that’s true,” Maddox said.

  “Is there a crew in here?”

  “We haven’t seen one yet. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. There is a different possibility, though. That was why I wanted to come here.”

  “I don’t understand,” Ludendorff said.

  “What kind of ship could stay in one location all this time without anyone seeing it or bothering to investigate?”

  “Are you suggesting this ship is out of sync to the rest?”