“Omegan was dark when we were there,” Maddox said. “A piece of the artifact was missing, though.”

  “Perhaps that was mere deception,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox nodded. He turned to Keith. “Target the last known position of the cave.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” Keith said, as he input the coordinates, nodding to indicate it was done.

  “Fire,” Maddox said.

  “Wait,” Ludendorff said.

  “Do not wait,” Maddox said. “Destroy the cavern and whatever is in it.”

  “But we might be able to make a deal with Omegan,” Ludendorff said. “We can still use him or it.”

  Keith looked expectantly at Maddox. Maddox continued to stare at the lieutenant. Keith nodded and pressed the firing button.

  The disruptor beam speared down at the planet. It smashed any shield aside and burned into what would have been the cavern coordinates. It lasted several pregnant seconds.

  “Cease fire,” Maddox said. “Try the sensors now.”

  Both Andros and Galyan confirmed that the cavern was a smoldering ruin. Whatever had been in it was gone, including the gigantic Builder artifact of Omegan and his robots.

  “Professor, why did you suggest we wait to fire?” Maddox asked.

  “Now is a fine time to ask me that, my boy.”

  “I’d like to know why you dared to countermand me on my bridge.”

  Ludendorff seemed to struggle within himself. At one moment, he seemed pleasant. The next, he scowled. Then there appeared an instant of rage. Finally, a smooth smile broke through. He bowed his head.

  “I beg your pardon, Captain. This is your bridge, as you said, and I acted wrongly.”

  “I accept your apology, Professor. Now, I would like to know why you think I shouldn’t have fired. We had made a deal with Omegan and he broke it.”

  “True,” Ludendorff said. “I merely wondered if there was more to learn. Perhaps there was danger from delaying to act against Omegan, as no doubt you rightly suspected.”

  Maddox didn’t reply. He’d ordered the disruptor beam because that had been the condition of the deal. The giant cube had reneged on its part of the deal. Maddox had shown that he kept his word. Had that been an error? One thing was clear. The portal path to the Ruby Planet was gone, wherever that planet really was.

  Maddox frowned as he looked at the main screen. “Whatever else has happened, the scooper is intact on the Ruby Planet.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Ludendorff said.

  Valerie glanced at each of them.

  “We’ll fill you in later, Commander,” Maddox said. He felt the weight of the mission and his bones ache from the concussions he’d taken earlier in the scooper corridor. Dirt and grime covered him, and he felt responsibility for Carn Dar’s probable death.

  Maddox turned to Ludendorff, who cradled the Prism Device. They had it and the coordinates to the water world.

  He needed to rest, and they needed to head out. With the Prism Drive, it might be possible to destroy the engine drilling into a different dimension. He had to stop the Seekers and the evil one from coming through. Were the squid aliens in charge of what was happening on the water world?

  “Commander,” Maddox told Valerie, “you have the bridge. I have to take a hot shower before I collapse. Meta, are you coming?”

  Maddox held out his hand to her.

  “Yes,” Meta said. She stepped closer and took his hand. Together, they walked off the bridge. They’d completed this part of the mission. Now it was time to see what was taking place at the water-world star system.

  -60-

  Victory traveled through the Aquila Rift toward the coordinates Maddox had gained on the water world from the saucer ship of the squid-like aliens. Soon, the starship left the molecular clouds of the Aquila Rift. The targeted star should be another five light years ahead.

  “I detect nothing at the location,” Galyan said. “Andros, you have probably already found the star.”

  At the science station, Andros shook his head. “I don’t see anything, either.”

  Both Andros and Galyan turned to Maddox in his captain’s chair.

  Maddox was contemplative, not saying anything.

  “Could your coordinates be off?” Galyan asked.

  “Of course they could be,” Maddox said. “I don’t think they are, though.”

  “We detect nothing there,” Galyan said.

  Maddox frowned, thinking. What had gone wrong? Should they return to the rogue planet, setting out again for the water world? It had been several days of travel already. What was happening in the Commonwealth? He’d called the Lord High Admiral with the Long-Range Builder Comm device. So far, no invasion from Leviathan had occurred. Something about all this struck Maddox as odd and off.

  Maddox swiveled his chair toward Ludendorff. “Something you said earlier bothers me, Professor: that the Aquila Rift is the Bermuda Triangle of space. What does that mean exactly?”

  “I think we’ve seen what it meant,” Ludendorff said. “Omegan, the Ruby Planet with its city-sized scooper, raking, and portals to elsewhere—these were all strange occurrences.”

  “Why isn’t the water world star where it’s supposed to be?”

  Ludendorff shrugged. “I agree with Galyan. Could you have made a mistake regarding the coordinates? You were likely under great stress while aboard the sunken vessel. It would be the easiest thing in the world to have forgotten or added to what you’d learned.”

  The question hardened Maddox’s resolve. “I could have made an error, but we’re going there and make doubly certain.”

  “Confound it, my boy. Why would we go to an empty region of space? We see there’s no star. If there’s no star, ergo, there could be nothing happening there. We’re wasting time going there.”

  “Maybe,” Maddox said, “and maybe there is something at the location. We’re going to go and make sure.”

  Thus, Victory made another few star drive jumps until they were in the region where the star was supposed to be. Nothing had changed. This was open space, not the darkness of the Aquila Rift.

  Another region of the Aquila Rift circled around them. They were in an open island of space. They could see neither the Commonwealth nor the center of the Milky Way Galaxy from here.

  Maddox sat in the captain’s chair. The others waited silently at their stations.

  Finally, Ludendorff called from his science lab. “What have you found, my boy? Something, I’m certain. But I’ve heard no alarms or the engine thrumming as we ready the disruptor cannon.”

  “I’m thinking,” Maddox said. “So far, I’m not seeing anything. Any suggestions as to what we should do next?”

  “You made a mistake. We all do now and again. Even you.”

  “That’s true,” Maddox said. “Thank you, that was most instructive.”

  “Wait, wait, before you cut me off,” Ludendorff said, “I think it is instructive. You should consider the possibility closely and not let your pride get in the way.”

  Anger surged through Maddox. This was his bridge, and Ludendorff— “Thank you, sir,” Maddox said, “that will be all.” He clicked Ludendorff off.

  Afterward, Maddox studied the main screen. “Andros, I want you to check the coordinates, the precise coordinates where the star should be.”

  From the science station, Andros looked at him sharply.

  “Where I believe the star should be,” Maddox amended. “Run every sort of test that you can on the precise location.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Andros made his scans. Galyan’s eyelids flickered, which showed he was doing likewise. Soon, both reported, “Nothing, nothing, sir. It is empty space.”

  “But that simply can’t be,” Maddox said.

  It wasn’t that he believed himself infallible. Something had gone wrong, and he couldn’t figure out what. He’d found the coordinates on the alien saucer ship. He’d originally set out to the water world until Ludendorff’s dreams had turned them around. Did dreams have anything to do with this? What were dreams? They were subconscious thoughts that bubbled to the forefront when one was asleep. Sometimes a person could have daydreams. He just sat and thought about things, half-self-hypnotized. What did the daydreamer think about? Ideas, insubstantial—

  Maddox froze with a hand in the air. A moment later, he put both hands on the armrests of his captain’s chair and shoved to his feet. He walked to the main screen. Insubstantial. He whirled around, strode to his chair and clicked an armrest control.

  “Professor.”

  After a few moments: “Here, Captain.”

  “I want you to hook the Prism Drive to the main engine.”

  “I’m still running tests on the Prism Drive,” Ludendorff said.

  “Finish them and do as I say.”

  “What do you think is going to happen that we need the Prism Drive?” Ludendorff asked.

  Maddox sighed. “I’m not in the habit of explaining orders. If you insist on that, on me implementing disciplinary measures against certain personnel…”

  “No, no. I’m off to hook up the Prism Drive,” Ludendorff said. “Whatever you want, you get, as this is your ship. I am abundantly clear on that.”

  “Contact me as soon as the drive is ready.” Maddox clicked the intercom off.

  “What is it, sir? Have you stumbled onto a possibility?” Galyan asked.

  Maddox regarded Galyan. “I want you to double-check this whole region of space. I want you to look at every little minute thing. Study it on all spectrums. If you find any anomaly, anything, Galyan, tell me.”

  “Do you want Andros to do the same thing?”

  “I have a different job for him. You work on this.”

  “Thank you, sir, for trusting me. I will.”

  “Galyan, there is something here, something we’re missing, and I’m counting on you to find it. Do you understand?”

  “I do,” Galyan said, and he stood a little straighter. “I’m going to find it, sir. You can,” his eyelids fluttered, “you can take that to the bank, sir.”

  “Good, now get to it.”

  Galyan disappeared.

  Maddox turned. He saw Andros scanning at the science board, no doubt in competition with Galyan. He had not given the order to Andros, as he’d assumed the Kai Kaus technician would already do what he was doing.

  Maddox sat down on his chair and crossed his legs. He waited. This was the right location. Intuitively, he knew it. Yet, there was nothing here.

  What was the answer to this mystery?

  -61-

  Not bothering with ghost mode, Galyan roved as a holoimage through the space around Victory. He traveled as far as his holoimage could reach. He could have expanded the range with a probe, but he used the ship’s sensors instead. He only rarely went into space like this, as it produced odd ideas and thoughts. The captain knew something was out here. Galyan was determined to be the one to find it.

  Galyan knew Andros was also scanning the area because he kept an eye on the bridge through his security systems. He could do more than one thing at a time. He was an AI computer system after all, and thus he had greater capacity than any human did.

  Galyan strove with every ounce of his computer power and deified engrams of the driving force of old. He found anomalies, but they were regular anomalies found in space: a particle of dust with strange properties, a beam of light streaking too fast, a swirl of gas that surely had once belonged to a passing spaceship. None of these things reached the quantitative state where he should tell Captain Maddox.

  Galyan went from one locale to another. He found a stone as large as a human. He tested it. This wasn’t an ordinary space rock, but an expended shell from some kind of explosion. That was weird. Should he call the captain and tell him about this? Galyan didn’t think this quite reached the status of a unique thing.

  He continued to search and found two more shells. Now that was strange. Why were there three casings? That indicated…?

  Galyan concluded there had been a battle here. How long ago had the battle taken place? He rechecked the shells…

  Ten thousand years ago or more.

  He did not need to consider them important then.

  “Hello, Dolly!” Galyan said.

  One moment his holoimage was at a location in space and the next moment it was fifty thousand kilometers elsewhere. He stared at a vacc-suited body. The body was dead, humanoid, but not a human. Galyan checked. This was an Ardazirho.

  That was very odd. What was its age? The creature had died recently. The Ardazirho had been starved, even though there were jerky pieces and water in its belly.

  In a moment, Galyan knew where this jerky had come from: one of the stores in the cargo bay. Riker liked to eat this jerky.

  Riker had been on the Ruby Planet—this was an anomaly. Galyan disappeared and reappeared on the bridge, finding the captain and giving his report.

  -62-

  Maddox listened to Galyan’s report. “Carn Dar,” he said. “Keith, take us to the coordinates. No, send a tin can to pick up Carn Dar’s corpse.”

  “Sir?” asked Galyan.

  “I think the corpse could be a trap,” Maddox said.

  Everyone on the bridge stared at Maddox.

  “A trap?” asked Galyan. “But sir, no one else is out here.”

  “I know that,” Maddox said. “And yet, something—”

  There was an alarm on Andros’ science board. “Sir—”

  Galyan spoke faster. “Sir, there are two saucer-shaped vessels appearing as if out of nowhere.”

  “Where are they?” Maddox asked.

  “Fifty thousand kilometers away, sir,” Andros said. “They are near the dead Ardazirho.”

  Maddox snapped his fingers and stood. “Show me on the screen, I want to see the ships.”

  “Do you think that they are Spacers, sir?” Galyan asked. “Spacers use saucer-shaped vessels.”

  The two vessels appeared on the main screen. They were saucer shaped, but had long funnels on top and on the bottom, not at all like a Spacer saucer, which was much flatter.

  “Maddox,” Meta said. “That’s the same kind of craft we saw underwater.”

  “I know,” Maddox said.

  “The enemy ships are powering up energy weapons,” Andros said.

  “Shields up,” Maddox said.

  Keith tapped his board.

  From the saucer ships, bright beams flashed at Victory, hitting the shield, doing no damage.

  “What kind of weaponry is that?” Maddox asked.

  “High-intensity lasers,” Andros said.

  “That’s it?” Maddox asked. “Don’t they have something more powerful?”

  “If so,” Andros said, “I’m not seeing it.”

  “Keep watching everywhere else, Galyan,” Maddox said. “Alert me if more saucer-shaped vessels appear. Meta, hail these two.”

  From her comm station, Meta did. “The enemy ships are replying, sir.”

  “Get the universal translator ready,” Maddox said. “I don’t think these guys are going to speak the King’s English.”

  A squid alien appeared on the main screen. It stood on tentacled legs. It had its eyes in its squid-shaped body. It wore rubbery garments. The creature stood on a bridge Maddox had seen before in the sunken spaceship on the water world.

  “Why are you still firing at my ship?” Maddox asked.

  The creature quivered. “Who are you, alien one?”

  “I’m Captain Maddox of the Commonwealth. Do you have a name, sir?”

  The alien listened, quivering again. “Lower your shields. You are under our command.”

  “We’re not going to lower our shields,” Maddox said, “unless you can give me a good reason. I ask again, who are you and why are you still firing at us?”

  The creature quivered. “Sir, we are switching beams. You shall see the uselessness of resisting.”

  The lasers ceased and now red fusion beams struck Victory’s shield.

  “Those will smash through our shield soon enough,” Andros said. “I don’t know why I couldn’t detect those cannons earlier.”

  “Damn it,” Maddox said. “Keith, get the disruptor cannon ready. Take out both ships.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” Keith said, who began tapping his board.

  As a fusion beam from each saucer vessel struck Victory’s shield, three more saucer-shaped vessels appeared as if out of nowhere. They appeared farther back, another one hundred thousand kilometers from the beaming duo.

  The starship’s disruptor beam drilled against the first vessel, knocking down its shield and boring into the armor. The beam caused a terrific explosion and eruption of metals from the destroyed ship. Shrapnel from the wreck hit the second saucer. The squid aliens must not have been used to this kind of space battle. The second saucer ship exploded almost instantly.

  Before Keith could extend the disruptor beam against the trio one hundred and fifty thousand kilometers away, the three new vessels disappeared.

  “They must be using cloaking devices.” Maddox said.

  Andros was tapping his board, likely trying to determine just that.

  “Negative,” Galyan said. “I have seen this type of situation before. It is definitely not a cloaking device.”

  “Out with it, Galyan,” Maddox said. “What is it?”

  “Dimensional maneuvering,” Galyan said. “The three have left our…space.”

  Understanding struck Maddox with thunderous force. “They must have Prism Drives. Those ships are shifting out of phase in relation to us.”

  “How interesting, sir,” Galyan said. “They operate like submariners in an ocean.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “It appears as if they can go into an underspace or hyperspace or whatever and wait there.” Maddox clapped his hands forcefully. “That’s where the star is. That’s where the planet is. We must use our Prism Drive to reach it.”

  “If they were elsewhere, how did they detect us, sir?” Galyan asked.

  “I don’t know. But this place is like the Bermuda Triangle. Things can come in and out as if it is haunted space. That means we’re at the right location. We just have to figure out how to reach it.”