Maddox sensed that was so and… Had this been one of the primary worlds of the Yon Soths at the beginning of the creation of the universe? What a dreadful thought.

  Dravek hadn’t altered the rate of descent. He took them slow and steady. The anti-grav repellers hummed and the raft sank lower, lower, lower. They had to be a quarter kilometer below the sandy surface. Still the raft went down.

  “I see a bottom,” Ophir said.

  Maddox looked over the edge. He didn’t see any tunnels as the flashlight beams shined on the floor.

  The raft descended until they were three-quarters of a kilometer below the desert surface. At that point, the raft gently landed against solid ground.

  “We’re here,” Dravek said, shutting down the engine.

  “Where is here, and what does it mean?” Maddox asked.

  “Follow me.” Mara jumped off the raft, hurrying.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Maddox and the others did just that, following her.

  -60-

  With Mara in the lead, they soon discovered a huge, sealed hatch an elephant might have easily walked through, if it were open. The lights from the flashlights washed over the sturdy metal hatch. Maddox traced the sides with his fingertips, his flashlight revealing every detail of the surface. As he finished, his gaze fell on Mara.

  “How do we open this?”

  Mara shook her head. “I have no idea.”

  “Are there any other hatches we can try?”

  “There may be. But behind this one is the key to our success.”

  Maddox rapped his knuckles against the metal. It sounded immensely thick. “We have explosives. Let’s see if they do the trick.”

  “They won’t work,” Mara said. “There has to be another way.”

  Maddox ran his hands along the sides and then used a flashlight to examine everything closely. He turned to Mara afterward. “You have to do this.”

  “Why me?”

  “It must be some kind of telepathic code or lock, or maybe it has to be opened from the other side. That means you again.”

  Mara stared at the hatch, nodding slowly. “I’m warning you that the Yun mind fusion is hovering. More are linking to it, increasing its strength. The fusion might interfere with me. There’s something else: a grotesque evil far below us. It could be waking, aware that something threatens its existence. I’m not sure about the last, though.”

  “You mean us as its threat?” asked Maddox.

  Mara stared at Maddox in shock. “The ancient evil hates you, maybe even dreads you personally.”

  “Why would it be afraid of him?” Ophir asked.

  Mara shook her head. “I can’t sense that. What I said is an impression only.”

  Maddox placed his gloved hands against the metal hatch. He looked up at its top and faced Mara. “Despite the various risks, you have to risk using your talent to open this.”

  “Don’t you understand? There’s no one to shield me. My sisters in the expedition are all dead. And you, Captain, have no talent to shield me.”

  Maddox removed one of his gloves and one of Mara’s desert gloves. He held her small, fine-boned hand. It was not like Meta’s, which was strong and could withstand the pressure if he squeezed forcefully. Maddox felt that if he squeezed Mara’s hand like that, he’d break the bones.

  “I’m here, Mara,” Maddox reassured her. “And I'll do everything I can to protect you. But unless we can unlock the hatch, we’re all dead anyway. The mind fusion is gathering and it’s probably summoning the rest of the fighting Metamorphs. What more do you have to fear?”

  “My talent might awaken the evil below. If it awakens, it might possess me. I would do indescribable and horrid things then.”

  “I’ll shoot you before that happens.”

  Mara searched Maddox’s face. “You promise? You’d truly do that for me?”

  “Yes.”

  Maddox felt Ophir glaring at and hating him, wanting to drill him with the beams from his ruby rings. Surely, Ophir could feel Dravek and Gricks watching him. Even with his personal force shield to protect him, would it be enough if Dravek and Gricks slaughtered the other Honey Men and ran back to the sky raft, lifting off and leaving Ophir down here alone?

  “Mara,” Ophir said. “I agree with the captain.” His voice was ragged and full of insincerity.

  Nonetheless, Mara nodded and closed her eyes. She disengaged her hand from Maddox’s and put both hands against the huge hatch. In a moment, she rested a cheek against it and groaned. Surely, Mara quested with her talent and sought—

  There were loud clicks and tumbling sounds from the hatch.

  Maddox grabbed the back of Mara’s uniform and pulled her away as the hatch slid open fast.

  She was limp, exhausted, looking at Maddox with wide staring eyes.

  Maddox pushed Mara into Ophir’s arms, a hard, swift motion that left them both startled.

  “No!” Ophir shouted. “Don’t defile me by her touch.”

  Maddox hadn’t released Mara yet. He pulled her back and shoved her into Dravek’s arms.

  “Carry her if you must,” Maddox said. “Don’t let her die. We’re going to need her probably more than we need me.”

  Without looking at Ophir, not understanding the social mores of the Honey Men Highlanders—other than that they were depraved—Maddox led the way. Gricks was hard on his heels. Hern brought up the rear behind the other Honey Men.

  Maddox didn’t get the feeling Hern hung back out of fear but so he could keep an eye on Ophir. The Primus understood morale and personal interactions. As Legion Culain’s chief centurion, he must understand men’s motivations better than most.

  They hurried through the giant tunnel. Instead of the cold rock one might expect, the sides were of steel or titanium, reminiscent of a spaceship’s corridors. Something about it reminded Maddox of a Builder nexus. Maybe it was simply the sense of great age. There weren’t any hieroglyphs but smooth sides.

  With the flashlights providing light, the party took every twist and turn. Then the corridor headed down as if it were a ramp. This went on for two kilometers at least, the air becoming hotter and thicker.

  Finally, a sense of doom filled them. There was something bad ahead.

  Maddox looked back.

  Dravek carried the slip of a telepath, the talent. He carried Mara as if he cared for her.

  This place set Maddox’s teeth on edge. He was tired of Metamorphs and sick of Yon Soths and other ancient entities plaguing the younger races. Seeing Dravek carry the telepath stirred a longing in Maddox’s heart to see Meta again. He longed to put his arms around his wife and shower her face with kisses. He longed to lift Jewel in the air and throw her high. He wanted to hear her squeal with delight and say, “Daddy’s home, Daddy’s home. Daddy don’t go.”

  Maddox shook his head. Why did he think the last?

  “Please don’t go, Daddy,” Jewel said in Maddox’s imagination.

  In his imagination, Maddox caught Jewel and set her down. He wanted to explain that he had to go. This was his job. It was what he did. He was an explorer and soldier. He went out and fought the nasty things of the universe so his family would be safe, so Star Watch could be safe. This was his hour in the cockpit. Who else was going to do these things if he didn’t? Someone else would have to do it. Would they be as skilled as he was? Could these others do as good a job as he had done all these years?

  Maddox heeded the trumpet’s call. He was a fighter, a soldier, and needed to go into the dark lands to kill those that preyed on humanity, would destroy mankind. It was his job. God had given him a family even though he was the scout that went out to find and eliminated these dangers. Or he ran back to the fort of the Commonwealth and told the people in charge about the coming danger and how to prepare for it.

  As the darkness of the tunnel on Gath closed around him, Maddox gripped his assault rifle, his only tangible source of protection.

  This time, someone had ripped him from the Commonwealth and brought him out here. According to what Dravek had told him, Leviathan was planning an assault on the Commonwealth. Leviathan had made its beginning moves. This down here was all part of that. He was finding out about the Heydell Cloud. He was finding out why Leviathan didn’t want to send its ships into the cloud. Maybe those living in the Heydell Cloud would make good allies of Star Watch. Maybe Star Watch could send an expeditionary fleet here to hold the warships of Leviathan in this spiral arm instead of bringing the war to the Commonwealth in the Orion Spiral Arm.

  Maddox grinned, shaking his head. Thoughts of solutions, desires, his family—they were all distractions to keep his mind off what lay ahead.

  “There’s light ahead,” Dravek whispered.

  Maddox could see that for himself. Was this the end of the long tunnel? Maddox slowed and looked at the others.

  They looked at him, too many with wide, frightened eyes.

  “Let’s get ready to do what we have to,” Maddox said. “Remember, we’re a team. We all make it or none of us makes it. We’re sticking together and we have each other’s back. Is that clear?”

  “It’s clear,” Hern said.

  Gricks nodded.

  The Honey Men soldiers glanced at Ophir.

  “We’re all in this together,” Ophir said.

  “Good,” Maddox said. “Let’s do this.”

  -61-

  The party slowed because they heard murmuring and machines gurgling ahead.

  To Maddox's trained ear, it seemed that there was a large, cavernous area before them. It struck him that the mind-fusion pressure had completely ceased. There had to be more of a reason than what Mara had said earlier.

  Maddox looked back.

  Dravek yet carried a sleeping Mara with her curly-haired head nestled against his chest.

  If Maddox were any judge, he believed Dravek held her closer, more protectively than before.

  He and Dravek traded glances.

  “I may have to set her down,” Dravek said.

  “You keep her alive. You’re her bodyguard. Do you understand?”

  “I do,” Dravek said.

  Maddox winked.

  They were about to possibly fight to the death, but there was no reason for his knees to quake. This was adventure. This was the moment. He’d fought ever since waking up on the spaceliner.

  “Come on.” Maddox led the way from the tunnel into a lit and vast, cavernous area.

  He was shocked to see fifty or more Metamorphs. Some had over-large two-brain heads. Others were tusked, ugly suckers. They all wore white lab coats and held slates or testing equipment. All around were working machines. Some were attached to vast aquariums built along the sides of the incredible chamber. In the aquariums floated bodies attached to lines. Some were naked Metamorphs. Some had three-brained skulls. Others were aquatic creatures like huge octopuses or squids. Could those be baby Yon Soths?

  Maddox didn’t see any of the mechanical automatons he’d sensed before.

  The place was a vast laboratory. Was this where they perfected the desert Metamorphs? Why create a Yun mind fusion? Why did the mind fusion not penetrate this place? It didn’t make sense.

  Whistles blew from enemy mouths. Some of the Metamorphs dropped their slates and testing equipment. It felt to Maddox as if they were going to run away or maybe grab weapons.

  Maddox could have called out. He could have asked to parley. “You give us that and we’ll give you this.” Instead, he took the stance he had earlier with Dravek. He held the assault rifle with both hands and fired with three bullet bursts. He cut down those attempting to run.

  The others fired, too.

  “Use controlled fire,” Maddox shouted. “Make all your shots count.”

  He glanced back.

  Dravek had set down Mara. He stood over her, firing his assault rifle.

  The team cut down Metamorphs by the bushel. They murdered the scientists, shooting the two-brained and burly Metamorphs indiscriminately.

  The surviving Metamorphs stopped trying to flee but pulled out scalpels and other sharp technical instruments. They charged the humans.

  Maddox, Dravek, Hern and the Honey Men let rip with a barrage of automatic fire. They riddled the charging enemy with heavy caliber bullets. Gricks used a grenade launcher. He was a wizard with it: dropping detonating grenades where they did the most damage, making Metamorphs fly.

  It was carnage, pure and simple.

  This was the right thing to do, Maddox knew. These creatures were evil as far as what they hoped to achieve. They’d created the mind-fusion Yun People. The Yun had originated here. The—

  Maddox grunted as pain lanced his brain. The throb of it increased.

  He noticed in back. Three of the two-brained Metamorphs clutched hands with each other, pressing their grotesque foreheads together.

  Maddox knelt, raised the assault rifle and willed himself to ignore the agony. With each shot, he blew apart one of the two-brained. He killed them. They’d been a link to the greater mind fusion outside.

  Maddox now sensed the cavernous chamber was lined with anti-telepathic material. That meant the team should be safe from the Yun until they tried to leave the giant sinkhole. At that point, the mind fusion would smash against them with furious force.

  “Dravek, Gricks, you’re with me,” Maddox shouted. “Hern, you take those two. The rest check that way. Kill everything you find.”

  They split into the assigned teams. That was often a stupid thing to do in a horror house where great evil lurked. Here, they wiped out the two-brained and Metamorph muscle by slaughtering them.

  Maddox was doing what he had to do. This was part of going into the wild lands. Sometimes, you reached a place where the enemy thought he was safe, where he could relax and didn’t have to post a guard. When you reached such a place, you didn’t parley or show mercy. This was a rattlesnake, a black widow spider. These were poisonous aliens. What did you do to a rattlesnake in your home? What did you do when you found a black widow spider building a web where your child would play? You killed it. You stamped it out.

  With barely suppressed fury and the calmness that was his heritage from the New Men, Maddox shot everything in sight. As he marched back after having searched every nook and cranny, he noticed that some of the creatures in the fluid-filled aquariums watched him. That included the tentacled monsters.

  “Trade me weapons,” Maddox said.

  Gricks handed over his grenade launcher, accepting the assault rifle.

  Maddox shoved grenades into the launcher and aimed, blowing holes in the aquarium “glass” so the blue fluids drained and swept across the floor. He aimed again and pumped grenades into the tentacled creatures, killing them as they flopped and struggled. He killed the others, too, new Metamorph experiments waiting to plague the people of Gath.

  If Maddox could have, he would have done this to all the Highland Old Ones, the deviants who castrated men, stealing their dignity. He abhorred that kind of thing.

  Did this killing make him as bad as his enemies? No. He was the soldier who did his duty as a defender of the home front. If there was too much blood on his hands, well, that was one of the sorrows that could happen to a defender. He overdid it at times. He admitted that to himself. If he overdid it today, he’d ask God’s forgiveness later. He didn’t mean to indulge in any sin he wanted and use God as a ticket puncher. He had to make sure here. If he were going to have any regrets later, it would be for killing too many enemies instead of seeing his own people die because he’d killed too few.

  Thus, Maddox destroyed everything he could find in this huge chamber as a matter of deliberate policy.

  -62-

  They gathered amidst the watery slipperiness of the floor.

  Two Honey Men were dead, slain by hidden Metamorphs. The rest had taken minor bruises at most.

  “We killed everyone,” Ophir said. “Now what happens? Mara’s out and I see no super weapon unless these ugly aquatic creatures were it. You killed them. I hadn’t realized you were quite so bloodthirsty, Captain.”

  “This is stage one,” Maddox said. “Now we move to stage two.”

  “What’s stage two?” Ophir demanded. “Everything is dead and shot up.”

  Maddox pointed at the largest shattered aquarium. There was a man-sized hatch in back. The blue-tinted water had covered and hidden it earlier.

  “I see,” Ophir said. “You’re suggesting we open the hatch and get flooded out?”

  “We open the hatch and see what happens,” Maddox said. “Unless you know about a different path we can take.”

  “I don’t,” Ophir said.

  “Then that’s what we do. It’s onward and forward. Check your weapons and make sure they’re working. Take what you need from here, if anything. Are there any other questions?”

  There was none from any of them. They all were grim-faced. It was time to find the place worse than this den of iniquity laboratory.

  Dravek carried Mara and was ready to go.

  Without further ado, they approached the targeted aquarium. Maddox and the others shattered jagged glass with their rifle stocks, creating a safer way in. Then, they helped each other to climb into the drained aquarium.

  “Watch your step,” Maddox said. “It’s slippery in here.”

  They filed past the dead rubbery creatures. Once, a tentacle moved and an eye opened.

  Five weapons chattered at once, riddling the giant creature with explosive rounds, killing it for good.

  “Enough, enough,” Maddox said.

  They reached the hatch at the back. It looked to have an ordinary type of handle. Maddox tried and moved it. With a jerk, he swung open the hatch.

  Water or fluids didn’t gush out to sweep them away. Maddox opened the hatch all the way. He peered into a dry tunnel or corridor. They all had to hunch. It was maybe half the height of a tall man. They crab walked, filing one at a time with Maddox in the lead.

  The sense of grimness grew. They were heading deeper into this place and had no reason to expect any kind of mercy if they should falter.