“Maybe,” Maddox said. “Remember the Ardazirho vessel around the Library Planet the first time we were there?”

  “The first time you were there,” Ludendorff said. “I grew up on the Library Planet, remember?”

  “Right, my mistake. Do you remember the Ardazirho cargo vessel?”

  “I do.”

  “The vessel was in a different sync than everything else. We can say that differently. Perhaps this ship has phase-shifted.”

  “I begin to perceive,” Ludendorff said. “You think this ship holds the Prism Drive?”

  Maddox nodded. “Blasters out, Professor. It’s time we took a look around.”

  The two vacc-suited men began to float through a giant spaceship. They passed many chambers, all empty. Despite that, there was a subtle hum around them. It likely meant an engine or system operated.

  “How will we know what the Prism Drive is?” Ludendorff asked.

  “That’s why you’re here.”

  “You expect me to know?”

  “It ought to be like a phase shift device.”

  “You’re putting a lot of weight on my genius.”

  “Whatever works, Professor.”

  They floated from one place to another until they came into a vast engine room. It seemed that ghostly forms glided around them, hard-to-see wisps.

  “Whatever these wisps are, they seem to be out of phase,” Ludendorff said. “What happens when we take their Prism Drive, providing we find it?”

  “We race to the portal, killing anyone in the way.”

  “You mean kill these poor souls, if that’s what the wisps really are?”

  “Perhaps they’re not poor souls but have lived a long time, stuck in some kind of phase shift hell,” Maddox said.

  “You have too much imagination, my boy. Did I ever tell you that?”

  “Nope,” Maddox said. “Now, see if you can find the Prism Drive.”

  For a time, they searched without luck, moving around in the huge engine chamber.

  “What’s this?” Ludendorff opened and reached into a vacc-suit seal and pulled out a palm sized, cloudy crystal lens. A strange copper-colored alloy surrounded it. There were tiny engraved carvings or marks in the alloy that formed bizarre, possibly electronic configurations.

  “Do you know what this is?”

  “A Prism Drive finder?” asked Maddox.

  “I believe that’s exactly right.”

  “That means your dreams have more to do with this than we originally anticipated.”

  “Indeed, indeed,” Ludendorff said. He used both hands and adjusted the gadget. Looking around, he launched toward the center of the vast engine room.

  Maddox followed.

  They reached a crystal the size of Maddox’s chest. It sat in mechanical piece of equipment.

  “How hard would it be to pull the crystal out of the machine?” Maddox asked.

  “I don’t know until I’ve tried.”

  “Are there any bolts or any other things that need to be taken off first?”

  Ludendorff studied his device and then the crystal. “If you notice, there’s an indentation in the crystal. If I place my gadget in the indentation, I believe that will cause the crystal or Prism Drive to detach from the machine.”

  “And you know this how?”

  “It seems like the proper thing for the gadget to do. Does that mean the Builders foresaw this long ago, imprinting it upon my memories? Or was it something I learned while raking the rubies?”

  “I wish you’d get on with it,” Maddox said. “Save the philosophizing for later.”

  With both gloved hands, Ludendorff placed the recently invented device into a groove in the crystal. The device went in with a click. The crystal went dark. Ludendorff pulled it out of the greater machine.

  Maddox turned to the ghostly wisps, but they remained unchanged.

  “Let’s go, my boy.”

  They pushed off the greater machine and floated for the hatch.

  As Maddox left the chamber, he noticed that the wisps were less dim and more coherent. They also changed from formless blobs into octopoid shapes.

  Maddox shuddered, not liking that.

  The two men kept pushing off, floating through the giant ship. What had been wisps were now solid squid aliens that could see and shout at them. Some brought up weapons, training them of the humans. Five times Maddox fired at the aliens. Five times, a squid alien died with a steaming blaster hole in its main body.

  Alarms rang. Saucer ships left planetary orbit and headed for this vessel. Maddox saw that through a viewing port. They’d reached the original room.

  Ludendorff flew through the portal first, followed closely by Maddox. Gravity took hold on the other side and he fell onto the deck beside Ludendorff.

  Carn Dar had closed the portal behind them.

  Maddox sat up and took off his vacc helmet.

  Ludendorff also sat up and raised the dark crystal, the possible Prism Drive. It was making odd sounds.

  “Now what do we do?” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox climbed to his feet. He looked around and waited, listening intently.

  “What are you waiting for?” Ludendorff asked.

  “For the next shoe to drop,” Maddox replied. “I think we’ve gotten a Prism Drive, but I wonder… The entities that built the scooper or developed all this, I’m waiting for them to show themselves.”

  Suddenly, clangs sounded throughout the scooper.

  “You may have got your wish sooner than expected,” Ludendorff said.

  “Omegan,” Maddox called, “open the portal. We want to come home to the rogue planet.”

  Nothing happened.

  “Do you think the giant computer cube has played us false?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I don’t know,” Maddox said as the clangs intensified as if coming closer.

  “This is not good at all,” Meta said.

  “Let’s get ready,” Maddox said.

  “For what?” Ludendorff asked.

  “For whatever comes next,” Maddox said.

  -57-

  Maddox drew his blaster, moving across the chamber in the direction of the clangs. He opened the hatch. A long corridor snaked into the depths of the city-sized scooper. The clangs rebounded, coming from that direction. Should he wait here or check it out?

  He looked back into the chamber. “I’m going to take a quick recon. Be ready to leave when I come back.”

  “Leave how?” Ludendorff asked. “Omegan is either ignoring us or cannot open a portal on the scooper.”

  “If Omegan won’t or can’t open a portal,” Maddox said, “have Carn Dar make one to the rogue planet, preferably to the cavern with Omegan.”

  “What about the computer cube’s robots there?” Ludendorff asked. “Won’t they destroy us, particularly if Omegan is acting against us?”

  “Are there other portals to the rogue planet?” Maddox asked.

  “How should I know that?” Ludendorff said.

  “Exactly,” Maddox said. “We’ll use the portal we know is there.”

  More clangs sounded from the corridor.

  “Speaking of robots,” Maddox said. “Could Omegan have sent his here? I’m going to check. Carn Dar, can you make a portal to the rogue planet?”

  “There are many possible portals to choose from—not necessarily to there, but everywhere—but I’ll try.”

  “Start trying now.” With that, Maddox headed toward the approaching clangs in the corridor, leaving the hatch and the others behind. He kept alert, knowing this was an attack. He wasn’t surprised to see an Inquisitor appear and zoom toward him.

  The first flashes from the Inquisitor were disorienting. Then Maddox put up his visor, which darkened. That changed everything. He aimed and fired, but the Inquisitor dodged the shot and fled.

  The shot left a smoking burn hole in the bulkhead. Maddox sprinted after the Inquisitor. Soon, he turned a corner and skidded to a stop.

  The Inquisitor hovered before an eight-foot, silver-colored, square-like, but humanoid, robot. It had a rifle-like instrument with a glowing tip. A cord to a back-pod connected with the rifle. Maddox recognized it. He’d used a similar weapon before, a plasma burner.

  That was one of Omegan’s robots.

  The robot aimed at him. A gush of superheated plasma arched at Maddox. He pivoted and sprinted away. Behind him, hissing plasma burned into deck metal.

  The clangs resumed, meaning the robot and others like him had made the sounds.

  Panting, Maddox stopped after having turned the corner, facing the direction of the enemy. The clangs neared. Just before the robot came around, an Inquisitor, a mote of light, did. Maddox fired, hitting the mote. The thing disintegrated or vanished. The robot clanged around next. Maddox fired three times in quick succession. Two blasts struck a crystal lattice that appeared like a personal force field before the robot. The third shot, Maddox aimed at the glowing orifice of the plasma rifle. It hit the gaping mouth. In a nearly instant chain reaction, a terrific explosion destroyed the robot, blowing it apart. The blast also picked up Maddox and hurled him tumbling down the corridor.

  Metal pieces rained past him. He felt hot pinpricks, but didn’t take any lethal shrapnel.

  He lay on the deck, badly shaken, his bones and head aching. It took several moments before he could collect his thoughts.

  Three Inquisitors hovered before him, flashing.

  Fortunately, he still had the visor before his eyes and the anti-telepathic band around his head. He’d taken Riker’s band. That blocked any hypnotic effects. They didn’t use sound this time, so he had no idea what they were saying. It wouldn’t be anything good.

  He rolled onto his back and fired at them, destroying one. The other two fled back the way they had come.

  More clangs resumed. More robots, presumably, were coming.

  Maddox lay there a moment longer, trying to gather his thoughts. These were Omegan’s robots. Right, he’d already ascertained that. The giant computer cube was trying to kill them. It was war to the death then. He hoped Valerie had done her job and beamed the great cube into smithereens. Leaving the Ruby Planet now rested solely on Carn Dar finding the right portal out.

  Maddox climbed wearily to his feet. He staggered, woozy, and crashed against a bulkhead. The concussion of the blast had messed with him. He wanted to concentrate, as it felt as if he was missing something.

  An Inquisitor peeked around the corner. The brightness of it gave it away. Maddox turned and fired. The mote of light dodged away before he could kill it.

  The clangs resumed.

  Now it occurred to Maddox. The crystal lattice defense, a personal shield, had protected against blast shots on Loggia, the Leviathan homeworld. That showed a direct connection between the cyber strategists and Omegan.

  Maddox pushed himself to run. He ached and was tired. The concussion had done more than he realized. He saw the closed hatch ahead, and he tried to stop, but not in time. He struck it, bounced off and crumpled onto the deck.

  The hatch opened. Maddox stared at a furious Meta, her blaster aimed down the corridor. It took her a second to notice him lying on the floor.

  “Maddox,” she said, leaping out, extending a hand.

  Groggily, he reached up. Meta grasped his hand, helped him to his feet and half hoisted him onto her left shoulder. “What happened to you? You look awful.”

  “It was a blast,” he said. His mind was shutting down, it would seem, but he had to keep it together a little longer. He had to tell them what was going on.

  “Robots,” Maddox slurred. “Carn Dar...we need...out.”

  Meta helped him through the hatch, closed it behind them, and then spun the wheel to lock it. “Carn Dar,” Meta shouted. “We must go now.”

  “Not yet,” Carn Dar said. “You need to be wearing your vacc suits when you go through to the rogue planet.”

  “Right,” Meta said. “Come on, dear.”

  Maddox stumbled toward Carn Dar and the others.

  -58-

  Meta helped Maddox don his vacc suit. He helped her with her magnetic seals. Once the four of them were ready, they stared at Carn Dar. The Ardazirho had no vacc suit. They hadn’t thought to bring an extra one.

  Now, booms and clangs were getting closer to the hatch. At any moment, Maddox expected an Inquisitor to ooze into the chamber.

  “Carn Dar,” Maddox said, “you can come with us, but the air is thin and impure on the rogue planet.”

  “I’ve already anticipated that,” Carn Dar said. “I have a different pathway. Now, you four must hurry.”

  “A pathway to where?” asked Maddox.

  “I imagine you’re asking about mine. It is to a place where the Mastermind once had a station. Do you hold it against me for wanting to rejoin my own kind?”

  “Not at all,” Maddox said. “My hand to you, Carn Dar.” Maddox held out a vacc-gloved hand.

  The Ardazirho held up a weak hand and they shook.

  “It has been a pleasure knowing you, Carn Dar. I wish you luck, and send the Mastermind my greetings. Tell him I said you’re a worthy soldier in his cause.”

  “Thank you. Thank you,” Carn Dar said. “Now you really must go if you hope to make it.”

  “Look!” Ludendorff shouted. He fired at an Inquisitor. It vanished into the bulkhead.

  Carn Dar manipulated the controls. A portal appeared. It showed a giant dark cube in a cavern.

  “Let’s go,” Maddox said through the comm unit.

  “More Inquisitors,” Meta said.

  They all whirled around. Many Inquisitors had oozed through the bulkhead near the hatch. The four fired at them, burning motes of light and punching blast holes in the bulkhead and hatch. A red robot eye peered through one of the rents. Then the robot thrust the muzzle of its plasma rifle into a hole.

  “Go!” Carn Dar shouted. “You have no more time.”

  Maddox jumped through the portal. He helped the others come through. Back in the chamber, hellish plasma-fire poured everywhere. Abruptly, the portal closed.

  Was Carn Dar dead? Maddox dearly hoped not. He hoped the Ardazirho had another portal ready and had escaped through it. He didn’t see how the Ardazirho had the time, though.

  “Damn robots. Damn Omegan,” Maddox muttered. He gazed upon the four-story giant cube. The great Builder artifact was dark, without any energy coursing through it.

  Ludendorff pointed up at a piece of missing cube, a missing square from the much greater whole.

  “Could a part of Omegan have escaped?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I don’t know,” Maddox said. “I do know this, though.” He raised his blaster and began to fire at the ancient Builder cube.

  Riker brought up the grenade launcher, firing heavy shells into it. He was saving the atomic shells for later. The giant cube exploded, the concussion forcing all of them back.

  “Sergeant Riker!” Maddox shouted. “What the hell are you doing? You want to kill us?”

  “Sorry,” Riker said, his voice tired.

  “Professor,” Maddox said, “lead the way to the Tarrypin. It’s time to go up to Victory.”

  Ludendorff staggered out of the huge cavern exit. Maddox followed as he helped Riker. The sergeant held on to the grenade launcher.

  Maddox finally noticed. “What kind of shells did you use back there?”

  “Regular explosive,” Riker said. “The next one is the thermonuclear, in case anything comes after us.”

  Ahead on the stony ground, Ludendorff had stopped.

  “What’s the problem?” Maddox asked over the suit comm.

  “The Tarrypin has been destroyed,” Ludendorff said, pointing.

  In the distance, the wreck of the Tarrypin lay scattered on the stony terrain.

  Maddox didn’t hesitate. He opened channels with the starship. “Valerie, this is Captain Maddox.” He recited the litany of coded words. “Professor, is your teleporter ready to take us up?”

  Ludendorff already had out the small device, making adjustments. Perhaps he’d anticipated the captain. “Is the starship still up there?”

  “How can I possibly tell that?” Maddox asked. “They haven’t answered me. They’re not supposed to.”

  “If Valerie didn’t drop the shield, we’ll all die because my device won’t let us teleport through it,” Ludendorff said. “If the starship is gone—wait. I’m detecting the ship. I’ll take us onto the bridge.”

  Maddox approved even as flashes of intense light originated from inside the cavern. It would appear that they were out of time and choices. Enemies were in the cave.

  “On my signal, sergeant,” Maddox said, “fire your grenade launcher at the cave.”

  “Now sir?” asked a slurry-voiced Riker.

  “Not now,” Maddox said. “Wait for my command.”

  With shaking arms, Riker raised the grenade launcher.

  “Valerie,” Maddox said over his suit comm, “respond.”

  There was nothing, no click or word from Valerie or appearance of Galyan.

  A robot came through the cavern entrance. It carried a plasma rifle.

  “Professor, send us up,” Maddox said, “Sergeant, fire.”

  Ludendorff manipulated the teleporter. Just before they disappeared, Riker fired the grenade launcher. Maddox saw the grenade lob for the cave entrance. In that moment, he disappeared, hoping to appear on Victory.

  -59-

  They made it onto the starship.

  It turned out that Valerie had not answered because she had been obeying orders. She had dropped the shield at the coded words, and had waited longer than she had thought reasonable. Finally, they had appeared.

  Through the sensors, Andros and Galyan did not see any indication that the atomic grenade had detonated. They saw the remnants of the Tarrypin, and then that vanished from the sensors.

  Maddox, Ludendorff, and Meta were on the bridge in their vacc suits, minus their helmets. The helmets were on the deck. Riker was already on the way to medical.

  Ludendorff had teleported directly onto the bridge as he’d said.

  “I suspect Omegan has regained control down there,” Ludendorff said. “He’s cloaking the planet or that area from our sensors. Perhaps he believes a lack of sensors will keep him safe from our disruptor beam.”