“Do you plan to collect the Spacer Third Fleet for this?” Mu asked.

  Venna studied Mu. “Do you have divided loyalties, my little adept?”

  “No, Great One, I am your devoted servant.”

  “Then don’t worry about the Spacer Third Fleet. We shall engage it when the time is right, when I have time to do as I have done here. We shall also collect the other assault fleets. But we shall turn them on an object that will amaze you.”

  “I don’t understand,” Mu said.

  “Then attend me.”

  The way Venna spoke… Dax wondered if with her conflicting memories and the shards of the Phantasma Synth Crystals…was Venna sane? Could Venna have insane goals? He remembered Enigmach telling him about the ancient Aetharians, and the danger of the crystals. What exactly had Enigmach said? Why couldn’t Dax remember?

  “You must remember,” Mu whispered in his ear.

  Dax turned with surprise. Venna had moved away, studying various screens as the Seventh Assault Fleet readied to move into the Barnard’s Star System.

  “The Phantasma Synth Crystals,” Mu said, “I must know more about them. Recall what Enigmach told you.”

  Dax looked at Mu fixedly. Do you think Venna is mad?

  “Don’t think such things,” Mu said.

  Venna half turned to her. “What shouldn’t he think?”

  “Stupidities,” Mu said without missing a beat. “He is being foolish, and I do not want to have to deal with that.”

  “If he’s too much of a problem…” Venna said. “I know how to dispose of him.”

  “Yes, Great One,” Mu said, “what are your wishes?”

  After a moment, Venna said, “Never mind.” She turned back to studying bridge screens.

  Dax and Mu traded glances. Dax wondered what was going on, and what had Mu discovered.

  “Never you mind,” Mu said. “Keep your thoughts to yourself, and keep reciting the math equations. You must hide your thoughts.”

  Dax realized—but before he could finish the thought, he concentrated on the most difficult algebraic equations of them all. Maybe he really did have a chance of escaping the mad witch.

  -59-

  Victory sped from the hyper-spatial tube exit in the Barnard’s Star System and headed for the Lamer Point that would lead to the Solar System. It was a short hop, and Victory was going fast. They could have used the star-drive jump, but Maddox nixed the idea. He was letting the Hernan Cortes get to Earth before they did.

  One reason was that he didn’t want to appear cowardly. Not that he thought Admiral Jellicoe or General Mackinder were deserters. This had been a frightening mission, no doubt about that. But he was letting Jellicoe give the bad news and alert Star Watch to the coming fight. Certainly, it seemed as if the Seventh Assault Fleet was going to converge upon Earth. Would there be other assault fleets joining the Seventh? Such seemed possible. Maddox was also sure Haig would listen to and believe Jellicoe much sooner than himself.

  Time was critical. The sooner Haig believed and readied for battle, the better.

  Maddox shook his head.

  The annihilation of ten Conqueror-class battleships, the nearness of certain death, and that he hadn’t pulled a rabbit out of the hat as Galyan liked to say—Becker had done that. Now, Becker was waiting in the darter in a hangar bay.

  It bothered Maddox that he’d promised Becker he could keep the three crewmembers. Those were Victory’s crewmembers. How could he trade his people for the life of his wife and daughter? That wasn’t ethical in the least.

  Maddox scowled. He didn’t like wrestling with ethical problems. He did what he needed to do. Whatever action he took was good enough. The truth, however, was that he had an obligation to the three kidnapped crewmembers. He couldn’t just let Becker have them. Yet, he couldn’t just take them from Becker either.

  The problem was more than that, though. He didn’t want to give promises merely to maneuver people, backing out on the promise when it no longer suited him. A man was only as good as his word.

  Maddox sighed. He had left the bridge and headed along the corridors to the hangar bay.

  Galyan paced him.

  The little holoimage must have used his Maddox Personality Profile, as Galyan must recognize he didn’t want to talk with Becker.

  Maddox glanced at Galyan, a sign the holoimage could ask questions.

  “This is bad, sir, isn’t it?”

  “I think so,” Maddox said.

  Galyan studied him more.

  “This is the big brouhaha we’ve been expecting from Leviathan for years,” Maddox said. “Now it has started. We destroyed three maulers. But if the Seventh Assault Fleet gets into the Solar System, there’s going to be bloodshed.”

  “Believe you me, sir,” Galyan said. “I understand. I still remember… Is it okay to bring up a memory from six thousand years ago?”

  “This reminds you of the fight for your homeworld,” Maddox said.

  “It does.”

  “You’re right,” Maddox said, “the next battle could be for all the marbles. But before any of that, I have to talk to the monster man.”

  Galyan seemed to take his time. “Becker really is not a monster man, is he, sir?”

  Maddox shrugged. “Maybe he’s exactly what he told me earlier. He’s a man with a few abilities who’s been used and abused by aliens. Now suddenly, he’s reversed it all. He has tremendous power and abilities. Becker has literally reshaped himself from a weakling into a savage monster of a giant.”

  “You are impressed by that, are you not, Captain?”

  “I am impressed. For all Becker’s flaws, he has lifted himself by the bootstraps, if you want to be cliché.”

  “Are not clichés there for a reason?”

  “They are indeed,” Maddox said. “But that’s not the point. The point…I wonder what Becker knows that I need to find out.”

  “What avenue will you use to extract the knowledge from Becker?”

  Maddox smiled sadly. “I’m going to try a method I haven’t used in a while. But it may be the most cunning method I have.”

  “What is that?”

  “I’m going to ask.”

  Galyan looked sharply at Maddox. Then the holoimage smiled. “I think that is a good idea, Captain. I have started a personality profile on Becker.”

  “Oh?” Maddox said.

  “He wants to be treated normally, maybe even like a comrade.”

  Maddox thought about that. “You think this could be a matter of loneliness?”

  “I think so, sir. I think the three ladies he has taken as his crew—”

  “Let’s not call them that, shall we Galyan?” Maddox said, interrupting.

  “What should we call them then?”

  “Captives,” Maddox said. “Becker took captives.”

  “We need to free the maidens. Is that what you are saying?”

  Maddox sighed, looking up at the ceiling as he continued down the corridors. He could have sprinted. Victory was racing to Earth. Shouldn’t he be racing to Becker?

  Maddox took out the silver headband with the box and set it around his head. He switched on the box. That was all he had, other than his native ability, to protect himself from Becker. Well, that wasn’t all. He had Balron’s training and what the Erill spiritual entity had granted him upon ingestion. The rest was native to him, what he had been given at his birth.

  Maddox thought about his dear mother whom he had never met. Well, he had met her as a baby. There had been the one memory or dream of her from that time. Maddox recalled his father, who had given his life for him and his mother. His father, Maddox had never met him.

  This was a hard universe, but a good one. Meta and Jewel proved that. His wife hadn’t liked him at first. Maddox remembered the first day he’d seen her. Meta had been wearing a fur bikini on a prison planet. She’d been a lovely babe then and now.

  Maddox knew he was being sentimental. Maybe that was because he’d just saved their lives. He owed Becker that. Sure, Maddox had used what skills he had. But his skills wouldn’t have availed him much without Becker.

  Becker was a strange combination of a greedy, insatiable, lustful, arrogant prick. Yet, Becker had done them and him a service. Becker had done Maddox the greatest favor of all: saving his family. The man had also saved his grandma, Mary O’Hara.

  Lord High Admiral Cook was gone. An era had passed.

  Maddox hadn’t mourned it, hadn’t really thought about it. There was no more Admiral Cook. Instead, he had to deal with Lord High Admiral Haig. Would Haig lead the Grand Fleet into battle and make the right decisions to ensure victory?

  Earth was on the line again. A small number of spaceships would be all that stood between Earth and its destruction or salvation, at least for another day.

  Maddox nodded, and his stride lengthened. It was time to talk to Becker.

  “Go into ghost mode, Galyan. Don’t interfere unless absolutely necessary.”

  “I may not be able to interfere, sir. Becker is different from what we have faced for quite a while.”

  “Yeah,” Maddox said, “You’re right. Let’s go to it, my friend, shall we?”

  “Yes, Captain, I agree with that.”

  -60-

  Maddox crossed the hangar bay deck alone, or so it seemed. Galyan was there in ghost mode, but Maddox didn’t bother checking.

  No other crewmembers were in the hangar bay, per Becker’s request. Soon, the starship would enter the Laumer Point, and they would be in the Solar System. How much longer before the Seventh Assault Fleet showed up?

  The hatch to the darter opened.

  Maddox ducked his head, went through the hatch, and found two crewmembers waiting. They wore bras and panties. Maddox frowned. He didn’t like that. Not because he didn’t like seeing beautiful female flesh, but these were his crewmembers, and Becker was flaunting that they were his now.

  “How astute, Captain,” Becker said.

  Did his thoughts leak through the headband? Had Becker become too powerful for these gadgets to block him?

  “Not completely,” Becker said, “but for the most part, yes.”

  Maddox followed the voice and entered the small bridge. He spied the lumpish giant with his absurd beach towel wrapped around his waist as if he was on Kauai sands.

  “Can you read my thoughts?” Maddox asked quietly.

  “I don’t need to, as I can see your face. Let us say rather that I understand your thoughts. Ladies, you may retire to your quarters. I’ll be fine, Honey.”

  Honey nodded, holstering a blaster, and left with the other two.

  Maddox noticed a folding chair near Becker’s captain’s chair. Maddox pulled the chair away from the giant and sat down. The captain’s chair was higher and it could swivel. The chair said that Becker was in charge of the darter.

  “Thank you for what you did in the Paran System,” Maddox said. “You helped us escape and survive.”

  “I did,” Becker said. “I did, and it felt good. I helped Star Watch. I hope those in command remember that.”

  “I hope so too. But I wouldn’t count on it.”

  “I don’t,” Becker said. “But I do count on you keeping your word to me.”

  “Good—because I intend to.”

  “I believe you,” Becker said, “because you were going to keep it earlier when it wasn’t to your advantage. I saw that in your mind.”

  Maddox wished he could boost the power of his silver headband and box.

  Becker smiled. “You may be interested to know that I have discovered a latent power. Latent in the sense that I can catch a glimpse of what is in someone’s mind and at my leisure, I can understand what he was thinking. An analogy would be a grazing cow. When it is time to meditate, the cow chews its cud. I regurgitate what I mentally took and study it. I have been mediating upon some of these things, and I have discovered interesting facets that will interest you.”

  Maddox waited for it.

  “Before we get to that,” Becker said, “I want you to know that Galyan was right about me.”

  It took Maddox a second. “You’re lonely?”

  “I have my girls, but they’re only mine because I manipulated their minds. Otherwise…”

  Maddox sat forward. “Free them, and win them over the old-fashioned way, letting them go if you can’t do that.”

  “I’m thinking about it,” Becker said. “It’s so…” He looked around, and then smiled at Maddox. “I’m an ugly bastard. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “That’s one perspective. I doubt the ladies see it that way.”

  “Because I twisted their mind,” Becker said. “Or were you trying to say something else?”

  Maddox blinked several times, and he decided to change tack. “You did a generous thing earlier. You saved us. You saved my family.”

  “To save myself,” Becker said. “Surely you realize that.”

  Maddox forged ahead. “You’ve been given a bum rap, although you have done some terrible things. You let evil aliens use you so you almost submerged the human race under their thrall.”

  Becker nodded. “I remember. The Liss snipped my balls off so I’d be a good puppet for them. The more I think about it— I’ve considered hunting down every vestige of the Liss and destroying them.”

  “Vengeance?” asked Maddox.

  “That’s as good a word as any. Wouldn’t that be a good way to spend my time?”

  “Are you trying to make a point?” Maddox asked.

  “You seek vengeance against the New Men.”

  “Some of them,” Maddox said. “I have taken vengeance and probably will again. I don’t know that I recommend it to anyone else, though.”

  “Oh,” Becker said.

  “Certain New Men killed my parents and they’re thriving because of it. When I think about it…it makes my blood boil.”

  Becker sat back and laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Maddox said.

  “You and me,” Becker said, waving a hand between them. “We’re talking like friends, like equals. You’re the one they call the di-far. You can change the course of events, taking it from one track and putting it in another. Maybe I’m that now. Maybe I’ve become something greater.”

  “You are powerful.”

  “I’m an army of one,” Becker said, slapping his thick chest. “I have abilities that you could barely comprehend if you knew them. Now I grant that you’ve done mighty deeds in your time. You thwarted me before, and you were the one to pull me out of stasis and give me a second chance. Though you planned to use me, you gave me the shot. I took it, and I gained immensely from it. But you know what? I gained the most because of an accident, because the Phantasma Synth Crystals shattered. From that, something invaded my mind. In killing it, I gained knowledge. From the player that Venna used and supped upon his etheric forces—I’ve stolen the files from his memories and learned much. The shattering crystals were an accident. But I grabbed it with both hands. Because of that, I’m a different man.”

  Becker laughed again. “I almost said I was a New Man. But I am not a New Man. I am an Overman. I am above. I see humanity as something far beneath me, except for Honey. I do love her. I want to win her over to me. I’m not going to ask you how I can win her. I already know how. I just don’t quite have the balls to try yet.”

  Becker laughed yet again and shook his huge head. “But I do have the balls. I do because I granted myself the balls through my powers of mind.”

  “You were given a gift,” Maddox said. “In that way it wasn’t all you. Someone gave you the gift.”

  “Are you going to say God did that? Are you going to say that we should all be grateful to God for what we have?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “I am saying that. But that isn’t the point. Becker, we don’t have much time. Soon, the Seventh Assault Fleet is coming, right?”

  “They’re coming,” Becker said. “I haven’t sensed them yet… Maddox, let’s get to it. I’m keeping the girls. Anyone who tries to take them from me—” Becker shook his head as if signaling a sense of finality. “There’s another thing. You’re going to need me for the coming battle, or maybe for its aftermath. I’m not sure yet.”

  “Fair enough,” Maddox said. “But don’t aim too high or view ordinary humans as beneath you. Who knows? One of them may slip a knife between your ribs. That would finish it for you.”

  “If the knife were long enough, sharp enough, and the person were fast enough. But I’m going to live in a new way. I am the Overman. That means I’m going to live with verve, thrust and excitement. I’m going to go to the max with whatever I do. Do you believe that, Captain?”

  “Does it matter what I believe?” Maddox asked.

  “In the end, it doesn’t,” Becker said.

  The two stared at each other. Maddox remembered their fight earlier. He hadn’t done well against Becker.

  “You would lose again in a second fight,” Becker said.

  “Maybe…” Maddox said. “But why don’t we get to it while there’s still time?”

  “Yes,” Becker said. “It’s time I told you some interesting facts.”

  -61-

  “Just before we fled the Paran System, I had mental contact with Venna the Spy. I also touched Mu, the Surveyor adept, and Senior Dax, the spy chief for Grand Strategist Enigmach.”

  “What?” Maddox said.

  “Venna the Spy is no longer the same person,” Becker said. “When the Phantasma Synth Crystals shattered, some of the shards embedded into Venna. That released—”

  Becker looked troubled. “That released something ancient and vile. I’ve gained some understanding of what by comparing and contrasting Dax’s thoughts from what he learned from Grand Strategist Enigmach and from the thing itself that inhabits Venna. What inhabits her once inhabited the crystals that stole the etheric substance from selected men. That substance killed the Lord High Admiral and Brigadier Stokes. That substance nearly killed your grandmother. Venna, or what she has become, uses that to feed off the life force of Spacers in her entourage.”