“It is fine now, sir,” Galyan said. “You can look.”

  Maddox removed his hands and turned around to see Ludendorff and Andros crowded around the table with Batrun’s head. The synthetic’s eyes were shut and the lips pressed together.

  “Batrun,” Ludendorff said in a hoarse voice, “I order you to open your eyes.”

  Maddox waited expectantly, but nothing happened.

  “Batrun,” Ludendorff said again. “You must listen and obey.”

  Again, nothing happened.

  Andros and Ludendorff exchanged glances. Both seemed crestfallen.

  “Batrun the Synthetic,” Ludendorff said in a dispirited voice.

  The synthetic’s eyes snapped open.

  Andros jumped back with a startled shout.

  “Ah,” Ludendorff said. “You are awake.”

  Batrun blinked several times and then swiveled his head. He could move it from side to side, swiveling on the power plug. “Captain Maddox,” the synthetic said. “What has happened? Why is my head detached from my trunk?”

  Maddox didn’t know what to say. For once, he was tongue-tied.

  “It worked,” Andros said.

  “What worked?” Batrun said. “What is the meaning of this? I demand that someone tell me.”

  Ludendorff chuckled. It was a nasty sound. “You demand, Batrun? You demand after you played false with—” The professor abruptly stopped talking.

  “Played false?” asked Batrun. Then understanding seemed to shine in his synthetic eyes. He appeared alarmed. “What is the meaning of this?” He looked at Maddox. “You used a knife on me. You destroyed me. I do not understand how I am functioning again.”

  “No?” Ludendorff said, as he rubbed his hands. “But you will understand soon enough, Synthetic. You are going to understand all too well, my scheming android fellow.”

  “Captain,” Batrun complained. “This is wrong. You must put a stop to this. The professor must be using Builder technology. No human, not even a Methuselah Man, should do something so sacrilegious. I beg you, Captain. Stop the professor before he goes too far.”

  Ludendorff glanced back at Maddox.

  Maddox swallowed uneasily. He was tired and this was strange, but Earth’s fate might hang in the balance.

  “Proceed, Professor,” Maddox said. “At this juncture, I’m as hungry for answers as you must be.”

  -66-

  Batrun proved reluctant to answer any questions as he began to demand an attachment to a revitalized torso.

  “I thought this might be a problem,” Ludendorff told Maddox.

  Thus, the professor attached several electrodes to the synthetic’s temples.

  “What are you doing?” Batrun asked. “I do not approve of this. In fact, I demand—”

  Ludendorff nodded to Andros. The Chief Technician activated a bank of machinery. They whirred into life, sending repeated shocks through the wires attached to the electrodes taped to the synthetic’s temples.

  Batrun cried out as if in pain.

  “Barbaric,” Galyan muttered. “Is this truly warranted, sir?” he asked Maddox.

  “I’m not fond of torture,” Maddox said slowly.

  Ludendorff must have heard that. “This is not torture, I assure you.”

  “No, no, the pain,” Batrun said. “Please, make them stop, Captain.”

  “Batrun does not have any active pain sensors on his skin,” Ludendorff said, “as Andros and I deadened them. This is merely subterfuge on the synthetic’s part. I believe there is a higher function—”

  Batrun screamed, although he abruptly quit.

  “There,” Ludendorff said. “I think we achieved a breakthrough,” he told Andros.

  “Let us hope so,” the Chief Technician said, as he mopped sweat from his face.

  Batrun blinked several times and then stared at Ludendorff. “The power surges will no longer be necessary,” he said in an even voice. “I am at your disposal. Ask, as I sense you desire answers.”

  “Indeed,” Ludendorff said. “This is true. Let us begin with a test.”

  “Certainly,” Batrun said.

  “How did you cause Starship Victory to travel ten thousand light-years in a single bound?” the professor asked.

  “I am accessing memories,” Batrun said. “As an aside, I am surprised I retain these memories, as the captain’s mutilation should have rendered that impossible.”

  “Under ordinary circumstances you are correct,” Ludendorff said. “You are witnessing Builder technology in action, however. It was a complex procedure, I assure you, but that is beside the point. It almost feels as if you’re evading the question.”

  “I am not,” Batrun said. “The answer is simple. I did not cause the ten thousand light-year leap. It was a freak occurrence. I in no way foresaw such an event and was as surprised as you at the outcome.”

  “Yet, you programmed me ahead of time for such an eventuality.”

  “That is not exactly true,” Batrun said. “Yes, I programmed you as a precaution, a wise one as Galyan masterfully managed to render me unconscious during the encounter with the Rull androids.”

  “Galyan turned you off,” Ludendorff corrected, “not rendered you unconscious.”

  “Yes…” Batrun said.

  “Do you wish to elaborate upon something?”

  “I do,” Batrun said. “It appears I have some kind of conditioning in my core—”

  “Programming,” Ludendorff corrected. “You have programming, not conditioning, as you are a machine, not an actual living entity.”

  “I disagree with the last statement,” Batrun said. “But you have a point about my cybertronic brain accepting programming. Yet, the advanced programming combined with the elite cybertronics has given me actual sentience.”

  “A moot point,” Ludendorff said.

  “Hardly,” Batrun said. “At least, that is, if one has ethics concerning how one should treat another living being.”

  Ludendorff looked up at the ceiling, perhaps counting to ten. When he was done, the professor said, “You’ve agreed you have a cybertronic core that is programmed. Who gave you your original programming?”

  “My Builder.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “The last I saw him, on Albatross VII,” Batrun said. “Yet, I suspect he is presently frozen aboard the Glorious Kent.”

  “Is the Glorious Kent a spaceship?”

  “You know it as Lisa Meyers’s hauler, the one Victory left hidden deep in Jupiter’s atmosphere.”

  With shining triumphant eyes, Ludendorff glanced at Maddox. “Now, we are getting somewhere. I believe we will learn the full scope of what has transpired. I suspect we shall also learn Lisa Meyers’s objective and what the Rull androids are really attempting.”

  “This is amazing,” Maddox said, impressed with Ludendorff. “The hauler holds a Builder?”

  Ludendorff dipped his head as if someone had told him he’d played an excellent concerto on the violin.

  “Now, Batrun,” the professor said, as he took a seat at the table. “It’s time we started from the beginning.”

  “My beginning?” asked Batrun.

  “No, not so far as that,” Ludendorff said. “Galyan, are you recording this?”

  “Yes, Professor,” Galyan said.

  Ludendorff nodded and crossed his legs. “Let us begin with the Old One, the Yon-Soth. You’re familiar with him, aren’t you?”

  “The special detectors I spoke about many weeks ago,” Batrun said, “indicated that the Old One knew about us, my master’s terrible situation in particular. The Yon-Soth directed some of his hideous hallucination waves at us. The detectors explained the nature of the wave-rays, although we were not able to shrug them off, or resist them, I suppose. Unfortunately, the waves were insufficient to wake my master. I am not sure the Yon-Soth wanted to wake the master just yet, as the Builder’s waking would have undoubtedly upset the Old One’s calculations. As another aside, I cannot believe that I am telling you this. I am, in fact, forbidden to speak about such things.”

  “I know,” Ludendorff said. “Don’t let it trouble you. You cannot resist my truth serum.”

  “There is no serum,” Batrun said. “You sent shock waves through me, and used other processes to re-train my brain, to re-program it.”

  “The process isn’t the issue,” Ludendorff said. “I’m interested in your master, his terrible situation and how you think the Yon-Soth hoped to use you.”

  “That is obvious, is it not?”

  “Perhaps if I had your data,” Ludendorff said. “At present, I am in the dark. That’s why we’re chatting, Batrun.”

  “I feel I must protest,” Batrun said. “This is intellectual property rape. This is unworthy of your high intellect and moral nature.”

  Ludendorff chuckled. “Flattery isn’t going to help you today, Batrun. But I appreciate the attempt.”

  “No flattery was intended. You are a Methuselah Man. A Builder modified you for the purest of motives. You must have strict parameters guiding your—”

  “Batrun,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “We’re not talking about me. You will not mention my Methuselah Man status again.”

  “Yes,” Batrun said. “I understand. You wish that information kept secret from Captain Maddox.”

  Ludendorff said nothing for a moment. Finally, he turned in his chair to regard the captain. “The synthetic is quite intelligent and cunning. He seeks in any way he can to disrupt the smooth flow of knowledge.”

  “I’m not interested in your Methuselah Man secrets,” Maddox said. “I want to know his. Please, continue. You have my full confidence.”

  Ludendorff nodded sharply and once more regarded Batrun. “Do you hear that, Synthetic? Your plan failed. Your plan has failed all along the line.”

  “Why torment me with that?” Batrun asked. “I am in your power.”

  “Call it…a personal tendency of mine,” Ludendorff said.

  “You are having too much fun with this,” Batrun said.

  “I am giddy with joy, machine. After the last several missions… Well, that’s not important. As the captain pointed out, we’re after your secrets. We’re all listening, Batrun, and Galyan is recording. Tell us about your master and this dreadful situation. It’s time you made a confession. Yes, think of me as your priest and start confessing.”

  -67-

  Batrun began to talk, and it lasted for far longer than Maddox or possibly even Ludendorff expected.

  The synthetic had been part of a Builder’s personal team. That had been more than one thousand years ago, Earth time. One thousand years ago was before the first man went into space, before the first automobile, train or even steam engine existed on Earth. Men traveled by horse on land and sailing ship across the sea. In those days, the Builders had been on the cusp of their great retreat, although no one had known it yet.

  “Just a minute,” Ludendorff said. “Why are you shaped like a man then? Did the Builders know humanity would seed the stars?”

  “Hardly,” Batrun said. “But you have made an incorrect assumption. I was not shaped like a man then, but a different creature you have never seen.”

  “You came to us shaped like a man,” Ludendorff said.

  “I was shape-modified for the mission,” Batrun said. “But I thought you wanted me to start from the beginning.”

  “I do,” Ludendorff said. “Continue your tale, your confession.”

  Batrun obeyed. He had belonged to a Builder’s personal team that went to Albatross VII, which had been in a Jotun-controlled star system. Over one thousand years ago, the Jotun Expanse still existed, although they had been dying out as a species for five thousand years. The Builder had gone to Albatross VII, leading an ambassadorial delegation. However, the Jotuns had been one of the most xenophobic races the Builders ever visited. The most xenophobic were the Nameless Ones followed by the Swarm. The Jotuns came in at a distant third. That made them bad, but not impossible. Thus, the Builder wished to begin a dialogue with the ancient race in order to understand why a species went into terminal decline. To that end, the Glorious Kent descended with the Builder mothership deep into the Jovian atmosphere of Albatross VII. The mothership was vast, dwarfing the Glorious Kent, which in truth was little more than an escape pod. The Builder had a Builder team, which included a dozen spratlings to assist him.

  “Wait,” Ludendorff said. “I’ve never heard of spratlings. What are they?”

  “I just said,” Batrun explained, “part of a Builder team.”

  “Be more specific,” Ludendorff said.

  “The spratlings were cyborgs, I suppose,” Batrun said, “being part bio-creature and part machine. They were patterned off Builder adults in order to simulate offspring. The Builders no longer possessed females—”

  “I know,” Ludendorff said.

  “The spratlings—”

  “That’s enough about them for now,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “Continue with the larger tale.”

  According to Batrun, there was little more to tell. The Jotun authorities practiced deception against the delegation. The Jovian aliens had feigned friendliness in order to capture a Builder vessel and crew. The mothership went deep into the atmosphere, and the Jotuns used a planetary stasis field. Batrun admitted he was not certain whether it was a stasis field, but it ended up being similar in effect.

  As the stasis-like field enveloped the mothership, the Builder and his security team rushed into the Glorious Kent. Once in the escape pod, they ejected through the escape tube, sinking deeper into the gas giant’s atmosphere. At the same time, the mothership began its emergency protocol. In this instance, that was a Builder-level planetary attack. This was not with antimatter bombs and fusion or disrupter beams, but with EMP bombs, computer viruses and time displacement strikes. The mothership caused over ninety-nine percent of the population to die horribly. That had not been the intent, but it had been the result. The only Jotuns to escape the genocidal attack had been the few operating the stasis-like weapon. That weapon had rebounded on them, putting them in effective stasis. A triple-curvature time-displacement strike hit the Glorious Kent at that point, immobilizing the crew, which included the Builder.

  “What does a…triple-curvature time-displacement strike even mean?” Ludendorff asked.

  “In this instance, that for over one thousand years we existed in an immobilized status,” Batrun said. “Then, the Old One’s hallucination wave struck us and the stasis enveloper. Did the Yon-Soth realize what would happen? The few machines that still ran on the Glorious Kent suggest he did. For, as we awakened, the hallucinations struck each of us. Do you know what it is like having a nightmare in your mind, realizing it is a nightmare, but being unable to resist its effect? It is a horrible experience. I do not wish it on anyone.”

  “You awoke deep inside the atmosphere of Albatross VII?” asked Ludendorff.

  “And with a plan already in our minds to help annihilate humanity,” Batrun said. “Lisa Meyers insisted that after the humans—in all their variations—were gone that we could revive our master.”

  “The Builder still lives?”

  “Exists might be the better term,” Batrun said. “We are his personal security team. That had always been our prime function. In some manner—I do not understand how I can be telling you this. I believe something unwarranted is happening in my mind to force me to speak.”

  Ludendorff motioned Andros.

  The Chief Technician jumped up, checking several machine screens. Finally, the Kai-Kaus turned to Ludendorff and nodded.

  “You’re fine, Batrun,” Ludendorff said. “If you feel a glitch, don’t let it trouble you.”

  Batrun did not look convinced.

  “Tell me,” Ludendorff said, “is Lisa Meyers human?”

  “That is an astute guess,” Batrun said. “Yes, she is the only human among the crew, although she has been modified like you.”

  “You’re saying that she’s a Methuselah Man?”

  “A Methuselah Woman,” Batrun said. “She is likely older than you by far.”

  Ludendorff said nothing, apparently absorbing the idea. He shifted in his chair several times, finally asking, “So you weren’t Watchers helping humanity all these centuries?”

  “No,” Batrun said. “That was my cover story.”

  “Your kind—fellow synthetics just like you from the Glorious Kent—summoned the Rull androids and convinced them to shed their clothes and pseudo-skin?”

  “That is correct,” Batrun said. “We were highly successful, using several cybertronic-altering devices on many of them.”

  “Your object was and is to destroy humanity?”

  “We cannot help ourselves,” Batrun said. “It is part of the nightmare. However, we have managed to turn that to our advantage.”

  “Explain,” Ludendorff said.

  “I mean the Supermetals Planet, of course,” Batrun said. “We need the supermetals to repair our machines aboard the Glorious Kent. We need them in order to revive the Builder. The—” Batrun abruptly stopped talking.

  “What were you going to say?”

  “It is of no import,” Batrun said.

  “Something is happening in his brain,” Andros said, who stared at a screen. “It’s some kind of energy buildup, an excess, I think.”

  “You must obey me,” Ludendorff told the synthetic.

  “I know, I know,” Batrun said. “I am obeying.”

  “You must obey only me,” Ludendorff said. “You must resist any other compulsion.”

  Batrun opened his mouth, but no sounds issued.

  “Are the Rull androids mining the supermetals in order to augment their Juggernauts?” Ludendorff asked.

  Batrun groaned, but finally said, “Yes,” in a haggard voice.

  “Are more Juggernauts gathering there?”

  Batrun nodded, seeming unable to speak the words.

  “What is the exact master plan to annihilate humanity?” Ludendorff asked.

  Batrun stared at Ludendorff. One could almost see the wheels turning in his cybertronic brain as an interior struggle took place. Then, the tiniest of smiles played on the synthetic’s lips.