“Could you explain that?” Maddox said.

  Becker did, adding, “She is no longer Venna the Spy… Well, that’s not exactly right. She is, but she has false memories fed to her by the Spacers. And she is the thing released from the crystals. That is what activated the Seventh Assault Fleet, with five more Leviathan fleets ready to launch. However, the alien in Venna only launched the Seventh Assault Fleet. They were all supposed to launch in tandem. Leviathan would have swept and destroyed Star Watch and its major planetary systems if they had done so.”

  Maddox could believe it. Six fleets like the Seventh Assault Fleet all hitting at once… But if five of those fleets were idle—

  “Do you know the starting locations of the other five fleets?” Maddox asked.

  “I haven’t delved into it,” Becker said. “The key to all this is the new inhibitor. It blocks the Long-Range Builder Comm Device, the Long-Range Builder Scanner, and jump points and hyper-spatial tubes from opening. I suspect the assault fleets have remained hidden within range of the Long-Range Builder Scanner because the inhibitor stops those on Pluto from seeing what is there.”

  “That makes sense,” Maddox said. “Do you know why Venna or the alien in her didn’t use the other assault fleets?”

  Becker became thoughtful. “I believe she thinks she doesn’t need them to destroy the Earth. Oh. No. That wasn’t it. She means to go back to Ector with the other assault fleets.”

  “What is Ector?” Maddox asked.

  “A planet,” Becker said. “The planet Ector is an ancient world that once housed the Aetharians. They built the crystals. They also discovered and nurtured the entity that possesses Venna.”

  “Possesses?” Maddox asked. “Like a demon?”

  “I mean exactly like a demon. It’s not a supernatural entity, but a creature of ancient evil and terrible cunning. In some manner, it fused with Venna the Spy. She was fed false memories by the Spacers and Senior Dax—”

  “Wait a minute,” Maddox said, interrupting, “who’s the last person again?”

  “Dax is the spy chief sent by one of the Grand Strategists of Leviathan.”

  “From the planet Loggia,” Maddox said.

  “Exactly,” Becker said. “How do you know about Loggia?”

  Maddox shook his head. “So you’re saying—”

  “Let me finish,” Becker said, interrupting. “The creature in Venna wishes to destroy Earth because…Venna believes Cook, Stokes and your grandmother killed her family. She seeks vengeance.”

  “Just like we do,” Maddox said.

  Becker shook his huge head. “The entity has cunning and vile thoughts, but it isn’t always smart, let’s say…not even as smart as War Master Vane.”

  “That’s the cyber commander I spoke to,” Maddox said.

  “Exactly,” Becker said. “Venna is driving them through Vane and his officers. Because of that, Earth has received a reprieve.”

  “How do you figure that?” Maddox asked. “We’re about to go into battle.”

  “Leviathan sent Dax the cyber spy with the crystals and phase ship in order to assassinate Cook, Stokes, O’Hara and one other in order to throw Star Watch into turmoil. But because of me, you saved the end game. That destroyed the crystals, put the entity into Venna and she wrecked the perfect attack plan by launching a small part of the invasion force prematurely.”

  “Ah…” Maddox said, nodding, “I see it. Even better, this gives us a chance to destroy the Seventh Assault Fleet.”

  “At great cost,” Becker said. “Fifty maulers are headed for Earth.”

  “Not fifty,” Maddox said. “We already destroyed three of them.”

  “Forty-seven maulers then,” Becker said, “if that makes a difference.”

  “It does,” Maddox said. “We destroyed the three with much smaller numbers. Imagine what we can do with equal numbers.”

  “Even if you have equal numbers,” Becker said, “Star Watch won’t have equal tonnage.”

  “Right, right,” Maddox said. He was already plotting and planning. “What about the other five fleets? What are they doing again?”

  “According to what I read in their minds,” Becker said, “those fleets are doing nothing. That could easily change, though.”

  “We need to find their locations,” Maddox said.

  “Senior Dax would have that knowledge. I’m afraid I don’t have it after all.”

  Maddox rubbed his hands. “This is coming together. You learned all this by peeking into their brains?”

  “Like I said, I tore memories, thoughts. It’s a method I’m only now learning to use. I take the swift glance, but I need time to go over it slowly later. I have to do that before everything leaves my memories.”

  Maddox stared at Becker.

  “What?” Becker said.

  “You’ve got a great chance here,” Maddox said. “You’re an Overman, as you say, and I accept that. I don’t know anyone who can do what you’ve done. I hope you use it for humanity’s good instead of our ill. I have greater gifts than normal, and I’ve tried to use them for good.”

  “You’ve also used them for yourself,” Becker said.

  “I admit that,” Maddox said, “It’s a balance. You have to look out for yourself—but what good are you if you don’t help the people that spawned you?”

  “Spawned?” Becker said. “Is that a slur against me?”

  “That’s what I mean. You took offense quickly. That tells me you’re still insecure about certain things.”

  “How dare you speak to me that way,” Becker said, “especially after all that I’ve done for—”

  Becker cut himself off in mid-tirade. He leaned back and laughed. “Touché, Captain. I begin to see your point.”

  Maddox began to see too. Becker had changed. The man had learned true confidence. If only they could get past Honey and the others. No, not Honey but his crewmembers. He needed to save them. But he needed to do it in such a way that he wouldn’t enrage Becker.

  “There is no way to do that,” Becker said. “The girls are mine, the beginning of my harem. In this, I will not be thwarted, for a harem is what I have always wanted.”

  Maddox didn’t reply.

  “Oh,” Becker said, “we’re just about ready to enter the Laumer Point. I have to get ready.”

  Becker must see that with his telepathy because it wasn’t on any screen. Then Maddox realized something. “Is there anything we should do to soften the jump lag impact to you?”

  Becker shook his head. “I discovered a way to insulate myself from jump lag and hyper-spatial lag and star-drive jump lag. I am immune to it, recovering faster than even you, Captain.”

  “Fine,” Maddox said, standing.

  Becker also stood in his crazy beach towel kilt. Becker held out a huge paw. He was misshapen with one leg shorter than the other, one arm longer than the other, one hand bigger than the other.

  Maddox grasped the outthrust hand. He had a feeling Becker only lightly squeezed. Otherwise, Becker would have probably crushed the bones in his hands.

  “You’re not the man I knew, Becker.”

  Becker didn’t respond to that, but it seemed obvious he enjoyed the compliment.

  “Let’s go to it, Captain. We have some important business to take care of, and then we’ll settle for good.”

  “So be it,” Maddox said. He pivoted and headed for the exit.

  -62-

  Venna gave her final instructions to War Master Vane on the Behemoth’s bridge dais, telling him precisely how she wanted the attack accomplished.

  “You must smash the Earth with world burners,” Venna said. “You must turn the planet into rubble. If that costs you the entire fleet, do it without hesitation. I say this by the orders of Great Leviathan.”

  “I will do everything in my power to achieve the Earth’s destruction,” Vane said.

  “Excellent, excellent,” Venna said.

  She turned, hunched with mad eyes, staring at Mu and Dax. “Come, follow me. We are going to the saucer ship.”

  “Will you not remain here to witness the glorious battle?” Vane asked.

  Venna turned back to study him. “Of course I will be at the battle. You will not see me, though, and you will not know from what venue I watch. But I will see every move. I will record every heroic act, every honorable duty. I will note and I will reward. Similarly, I will chastise and punish anyone who is lax or fails to follow my commands.”

  “I understand,” Vane said. “Go with peace.”

  “I go how I wish to go, not how anyone tells me to go,” Venna hissed.

  The War Master stepped back with fear in his eyes.

  Venna made an abrupt motion of dismissal.

  Vane turned, perhaps with relief, and began to issue orders.

  Venna observed, nodded and hurried for the steps. “Come,” she told Mu.

  Hold back a little, Dax thought.

  Mu must have read his mind. She watched a wrist screen and held back, only slowly starting down the dais steps. Dax preceded her.

  Venna hurried through the bridge exit and down the corridors toward the hangar bay, the one that held the saucer ship and the rest of the Spacer crew.

  Dax and Mu followed, the distance to Venna growing, although they kept her in sight.

  “We can’t linger like this long,” Mu said from behind Dax. “Venna is becoming unpredictable.”

  “As I envisioned.” Dax didn’t think this, but he spoke low over a shoulder. “I suspect the entity in the shards is responsible for this. It is ancient and insane, unlike us. I’ve begun to wonder if that’s why the Aetharians vanished. From the little I know, they proposed vile technological ideas. The Phantasma Synth Crystals were one of the lesser items.”

  “It did seem like an evil way to assassinate the Star Watch leadership,” Mu said.

  “Indeed,” Dax said, “only evil will come from it.”

  “Are you superstitious? I can’t believe that.”

  Dax sighed. What was the best way to proceed?

  “With the truth,” Mu said.

  “Perhaps you’re right. You and I love the Builders, is that not so?”

  “It is.”

  Dax tried to hide from her what he knew about the Spacers regarding the Builders. Cybers held the Builders in esteem, but they didn’t worship them like the Spacers.

  Two plus two equals twenty-nine. Seven plus—

  “What are you trying to hide now?” Mu asked. “Didn’t we agree that truth was best?”

  “Look,” Dax whispered. “This is the moment for us to act. You heard her. Venna is launching the Seventh Assault Fleet at Earth. Unfortunately, forty-seven maulers are probably too few for the task.”

  “Not if the maulers surprise the humans.”

  “Surprise was lost when the battleship and Victory flew into the hyper-spatial tube, escaping the Paran System.”

  “You’re probably right. Yes. Star Watch will be waiting. They might even strike while the maulers are coming through a Laumer Point, weakened by jump lag.”

  “You see then that this is bad,” Dax said.

  “I see that, but what can we do about it? And what do you mean that we should act?”

  Dax had been waiting for the question. He paused as if thinking about it and then started to speak as if he’d just thought of this.

  “You must convince Venna to gather the rest of the assault fleets. While the Seventh attacks Earth, we must collect the other five. I believe that would be one hundred and twenty-five maulers, more than enough to annihilate Star Watch. Then the combined assault fleets can travel from one important Commonwealth system to another, destroying the inhabitable planets as Great Leviathan wishes.”

  “What do I care about what Great Leviathan wishes?” Mu said.

  What was the best way to explain this? “Great Leviathan will be angry with the wastage of the Seventh Assault Fleet. That, however, is nothing compared to Venna’s plans for you Spacers and us in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. We must alleviate this disaster before it happens.”

  “You’ve said nothing,” Mu said. “You have no idea what Venna plans. Those are just words. Can’t you see that Venna is on a vengeance quest? The Seventh Assault Fleet will do much more than you realize. A mauler is a mighty warship. Forty-seven of them can likely smash Star Watch’s Grand Fleet. Our Spacer Third Fleet could never stand against the Seventh.”

  That could be why Mu was so impressed with the Seventh. “Listen,” Dax said, “it’s unwise to underestimate Captain Maddox and those with him. The Seventh struck at the task force and failed to annihilate it. The Star Watch ships even managed to destroy three of these mighty maulers. Now, our forces are going in piecemeal. This is a black disaster. Forty-seven maulers likely aren’t enough to do this. We must convince Venna to gather the rest of the assault fleets. If they attack while the Seventh dies and holds the Grand Fleet’s attention, we can salvage everything. I implore you, sell her on the idea.”

  “This isn’t like you,” Mu said. “How does any of that help you to escape?”

  “I no longer believe I can get away. Besides, I serve Leviathan. Perhaps my destiny is to make sure the assault fleets sent to this spiral arm completes the mission. Now is the moment to do this.”

  “It is too late for that,” Mu said.

  “No. You’re wrong. Convince Venna to get the rest of the maulers.”

  “Are you telling me what to do, Senior Dax?”

  “No, no, not at all,” Dax said. “All I am saying is—why did the Spacer Third Fleet agree to this? Wasn’t it to see Star Watch annihilated?”

  “Of course,” Mu said. “Star Watch is an aberration, halting the return of the Builders.”

  “You’re not going to achieve Star Watch’s demise with just the Seventh. Forty-seven maulers are simply too few against the alerted Grand Fleet. If you add another one hundred and twenty-five maulers, however, the iron dice of war will turn in Leviathan and the Spacers favor.”

  Mu fiddled with a handheld device as they turned into another corridor. Venna was still moving fast. They had to increase their pace to keep her in view. “I’m beginning to perceive your urgency and the logic of what you’re saying. It frightens me, though. If I try this, it will be a dangerous dialogue.”

  “No more dangerous than what we are already in. We’re as good as dead staying with Venna. One wrong step and the entity in her will consume us.”

  “You before me,” Mu said.

  “Don’t be too sure,” Dax said. “She’ll remember, sooner or later, that we were her handlers, you more than me. We forced her actions by inserting false memories. I can’t think she’ll treat us well for that.”

  Concern crossed Mu’s face. She looked away.

  At that point, Venna turned around. She was much farther up the corridor. “Why are you two lagging behind? Are you conspiring against me?”

  Dax knew better than to say anything, especially effusively denying such a thing.

  “No, no, of course, we wouldn’t conspire,” Mu said.

  Venna frowned.

  “Hurry, you sluggard,” Mu said, prodding Dax in the side. “He keeps hanging back. I’m sick of it.”

  Dax knew Mu would burn him before she went down. Still, look at the hag.

  Venna watched Mu even more closely. Mu must have seen that, for she was having trouble holding it together.

  Without Mu, Dax doubted he could get it done. He needed her more than she needed him. Maybe he could force Mu’s hand. He had to act before it was too late.

  “Great One,” Dax said, finding it hard to breathe suddenly. “We were speaking about collecting more of the assault fleets. If we could throw them into the battle while the Seventh is engaging Star Watch—”

  “Is that what you were saying?” Venna snapped, interrupting him while directing that at Mu.

  Mu sounded as if she was hyperventilating. “It was,” Mu said breathlessly. “I can collaborate that.”

  “You two are collaborators,” Venna said. “Do you turn so soon against me, Mu?”

  “No, no, I assure you that is not so. I—”

  Dax shot an elbow against Mu, shutting her up. Did the hag notice?

  Venna was more hunched over and haggard than ever. It was hard to tell what she noticed. Maybe Venna had to consume etheric forces more and more often to keep her body going. Dax calculated on the spot. With a shock, he realized that the times between feedings were lessening. Was Venna, in a sense, already dead? Did the etheric force keep her alive in some unholy manner?

  Mu sucked in air.

  Dax turned his head. Mu stared at him with horror and shock.

  “What?” Venna said. “What is the cyber thinking?”

  Mu looked up, her face slack. That only lasted a second, though. “Great One, Dax fears that if we fail in this task, Great Leviathan will hunt us down and kill us.”

  “Hmm,” Venna said, stroking her hideous countenance. The skin had turned into the tree bark-like substance again. “Perhaps you’re right. We will go to the Solar System and watch the battle from a distance. If the battle goes against the Seventh Assault Fleet, it may be time to gather the other assault fleets. Do you remember where they are, Dax?”

  “I do, Great One.”

  “Good, good. Now let us hurry. The contest is about to begin and I need to witness it.”

  -63-

  Earth was in turmoil, Star Watch high command even more so.

  The Hernan Cortes and Victory had made it from the Barnard’s Star System to Earth’s vicinity. So far, no enemy had appeared. But the terrible news—

  Admiral Jellicoe had reported everything to the Lord High Admiral Haig. Mackinder had taken a shuttle down to Earth. Perhaps the Spymaster had had enough of battle from an engaged battleship.

  Haig had left Earth as all this was taking place. The nexus opened one hyper-spatial tube after another, allowing warships from other systems to join the Grand Fleet. The nexus was positioned between Earth and Luna. So far, one hundred and seventy-two battleships had assembled. There were also motherships, missile ships, and other miscellaneous vessels, enough to add up to three hundred-plus warships. Many of these were not capital ships, but they would fight.