“You make a good point. I attempt to do that, but I can’t let all these people die because of me.”

  “The easy solution is obvious,” the Eye said. “Surrender to Leviathan.”

  Maddox snorted. “I see what you’re doing. You want me to free you of the obligation to help me get back to Earth.”

  The Eye brightened more. “Your logic chopping is making me even angrier. Very well, let us do it. Then I don’t want to hear anything more about the subject. Is that clear, Captain Maddox?”

  “Why are you so testy?”

  “I’ve already told you why. Now let us do this.”

  The Eye blinked, teleporting the two of them to a nuclear weapon station in a legion hall in the North Pole region. There, Maddox picked two large nuclear devices. The Eye teleported the two of them and the first bomb into a storage area in the first assault vessel. Maddox set the timer. The Eye teleported them back to the second nuclear weapon. They then teleported with it into the second assault vessel. In moments, they were back at the spaceport on the planet.

  “I feel so soiled and disgusted with myself,” the Eye said. “I almost feel that since I’ve done this, I’m fulfilled all my obligations to help you. You have angered me, Captain Maddox. At first, I thought you were a noble person. But having recognized your bloodthirsty nature and how you wish to dominate your enemies—your solution is always to kill, kill, kill. Can’t you think of another way?”

  “Not always,” Maddox said. “I wish I was more like you.”

  “That is a flat-out lie. Why do you bother lying to me? Tell me the truth.”

  “All right, I’m tired. I want to go home. I want to love, but I’m a soldier trying to do his duty.”

  “As are the Soldiers of Leviathan doing their duty,” the Eye said.

  As they spoke, brightness flared into existence high in the sky. It was like a new sun, but it only lasted a moment. Almost instantly, a second sun appeared.

  The two assault vessels of Leviathan that had escaped the ballistic missiles now exploded mysteriously—mysteriously to the rest of the population of Gath.

  Thus, the threat from Leviathan was over for Maddox, at least temporarily. He had reached a place where he could possibly acquire a spaceship, once he found the needed funds to do so.

  Until then, he was stuck on Gath, seven to eight thousand light-years from Earth, home and his beloved. He had an angry Eye of Helion, which began to sulk and no longer listened to his entreaties.

  Was this then to be his epilogue: freed of everything, but unable to return home? Would he be like Odysseus, ten years away from his loved ones as he wandered from one locale to the next?

  No, Maddox thought. There had to be a way to convince the Eye to give him the information he needed. They had to use the collected data about the Heydell Cloud.

  Maddox retreated to the hotel room. He also had to figure out how to acquire or book passage on one of the trader ships at the North Pole spaceport.

  -71-

  Several days passed as the money supply dwindled.

  During that time, rumors abounded as to why the attack vessels had detonated. There were rumors of secret defensive systems employed in orbital space. Rumors the Honey Men had developed telepathic methods against alien invaders. There was even a rumor that a team had gone into the mid-world desert and found ancient weaponry and used it against the Leviathan ships. Then there were rumors about this Maddox and his supposed clone.

  More days passed and the rumors faded in public interest as other news took the forefront. One item concerned a recruitment drive for a new legion assault to take place in six weeks. Legion Lanarck needed the recruits.

  That evening, Dravek, Gricks and Hern accosted Maddox at the public table where they ate. They were in a far corner, away from others. Even so, the men spoke in whispers.

  “What are your plans, Captain?” Hern asked.

  Maddox worked during the day at the spaceport as part of a loading team. He was earning currency, studying what he could about space passage and listening to everything.

  “I’m still gathering intel,” Maddox said.

  “That’s what I thought,” Hern said, as he glanced at the others. “You’re dithering. Well, I’m thinking about joining Legion Lanarck for its assault against the Honey Men.”

  Maddox just looked at him.

  “What?” Hern said. “I’m a Primus. Legion work is what I do best.”

  “You barely escaped with everything intact this last time,” Maddox said. “Why risk it all over again?”

  “It’s simple,” Hern said. “I know things now. I could sell the information to Tribune Lanarck and maybe use it to gain higher rank in the legion.”

  “Who’s going to believe you?” Maddox asked. “No doubt, you’d have to explain how you got from the mid-world desert to here. Do you think anyone will believe a teleportation story?”

  Maddox didn’t add that he didn’t want Hern talking about teleportation or the Eye of Helion. That should be clear enough. If he had to tell Hern that, he’d probably end up telling Hern he was taking his life into his hands by talking about all this. Maddox might have to silence the man. Hern would understand the latent threat and probably go to Lanarck anyway out of stubborn pride. That would force Maddox to act prematurely against the Primus.

  “Believability would be a problem,” Hern said, with his big hands on the table. He looked Maddox in the eye. “Unless you came forward, showed people the Eye of Helion and explained the situation. We could change the ways of Gath, set ourselves up as important people.”

  “Possibly, possibly,” Maddox said, who did not intend to do anything of the sort.

  He’d been working on the Eye of Helion, trying to get it to commit to getting him home. The truth, Maddox was sick of being stranded on this strange planet, sick of being grounded, and sick of every day that went by he wasn’t already on his way home. He’d been gone well over a year, maybe two. Star Watch might consider him dead. What would Jewel be thinking? Had she started kindergarten yet or first grade?

  Hern spoke more, slinging various arguments why Maddox should come out about the Eye. None of the arguments stuck, as they were all logically weak.

  Dravek finally put a hand on one of Hern’s wrists.

  The beefy Primus glared at Dravek.

  Dravek gave the barest shake of his head.

  Hern must have gotten the message, as he finally shut up.

  “Listen,” Dravek said, leaning closer to Maddox, who was across the table from him. “What are your plans? I need to know so I can make mine accordingly.”

  Maddox sat up. Dravek was a different matter entirely. “Is there anything specific you’re thinking?”

  Dravek nodded. “I need a spaceship in order to implement my plans. For that, either we storm the spaceport—”

  “Wait a minute,” Maddox said, interrupting. “Have you studied spaceport security?”

  “I have,” Dravek said. “And you’re right. Security is tight. We’ll need the Eye for this.”

  Now Maddox understood the thrust of Hern’s questions. The Primus had been feeling him out for Dravek. The Eye of Helion was in his jacket pocket. It remained there all the time unless Maddox and the Eye argued while they were alone. Then the Eye came out of his pocket.

  “You say you want a spaceship, maybe even steal one to get it,” Maddox said. “What happens once you have it? I mean, if you steal it from here, you’d have to leave Gath—unless you plan to go to the South Pole with it.”

  Dravek shook his head. “I don’t trust the Honey Men. That means I’d leave Gath. You’re right about that.”

  “To become a pirate?” asked Maddox.

  Dravek shrugged. “I’ll need to do something to keep life and limb together. I have good crewmembers in those two.” He indicated Gricks and Hern.

  “Don’t forget me,” Mara said.

  “I haven’t,” Dravek said with a smile.

  “You’ll also need someone who knows how to keep engines running,” Maddox said.

  “I know.”

  “I’ve been studying space mechanics,” Gricks said. “Unlike Hern, I’m never going back to legion work.”

  Maddox took a sip from his pot of beer and took another bite from his fish cakes. The others were getting restless from waiting out the days. He couldn’t say he blamed them. “Let me think on it. I’ll give you an answer later tonight or tomorrow. Is that fair?”

  They all agreed it was.

  Maddox finished his meal. One way or another, he had to do something. The time for waiting was over. What was his next move?

  -72-

  As was his way, Maddox strolled alone through the spaceport city’s alleyways that evening. There were footpads along the route. So far, none had dared to accost him during his nightly forays. Maybe they sensed something threatening in his tigerish stride, or the thrust of his head or alertness. In any case, they kept away from him.

  Maddox reached into a pocket, his hand hovering over the Eye of Helion. He glanced around warily, a cool breeze stirring his hair as the quiet hum of the city echoed around him. He stood atop an older abandoned manufacturing building and didn’t sense anyone in proximity.

  “Come on out at a dim light setting.”

  The Eye rose from the pocket as Maddox removed his hand. The crystal drifted near head level.

  “We’ve been spinning our wheels too long here,” Maddox said.

  “I understand the idiom,” the Eye said. “Unfortunately, I’m filled with remorse as I have been contemplating my part in destroying the cybernetic soldiers and their assault vessels. I’ve also contemplated my part in the thermonuclear destruction of the desert Metamorphs.”

  “You had no part in the latter.”

  “I disagree. I connected communications between Grandma Julia and Ophir. That allowed them to plot the Metamorphs’ destruction.”

  “You did do that. But you weren’t in the loop about what to do back then. And you were still being grateful for having been raised from your ageless slumber.”

  “True,” the Eye said, in a wistful tone. “Now, I don’t know if I should be grateful anymore. There are so many evils, so many harsh things in the universe. Maybe I would be better off inert. I admit the universe was like this when I was awake the first time. Still, I sense the stirring of the one below. I sense others of its kind alive and working in this spiral arm.”

  “What about the Orion Spiral Arm?” Maddox asked. “How many Yon Soths do you feel working there?”

  “That surpasses my range of knowledge,” the Eye said.

  Maddox waited. The Eye sounded too wistful, too forlorn. He didn’t like this.

  “I do dream about going back to Helion,” the Eye said after a time. “I could take the coordinates of Helion from your mind, even though that might involve an effort. I have found you more resistant the more that I gently probe your mind.”

  Maddox didn’t say that he’d been sensing the probes and hardening his resolve accordingly.

  “I also realize I could do you a service, one that you would desire but haven’t had the wit to ask about.”

  “Oh,” Maddox said.

  “I believe I could tell you who kidnapped you from the bridge when your Starship Victory was trapped.”

  In an instant, Maddox became hyper-alert. “Is Victory free now?”

  “I have no way of knowing. I do know that the process of trapping Victory was a concerted plan. At least you believed so, and so did your crew before you were snatched off the bridge of your starship.”

  Maddox’s heart began to hammer. Was the Eye being deceptive? He didn’t think so. “How could you know any of this?”

  “Through the impressions and memories that you’ve suppressed or forgotten. They’re much like erased computer files. Those that understand can reconstruct them. Your mind is a deep and layered thing, as I have once said. It is different from those around me, who are open slates, as it were. Dravek has some of your complexity, but it’s not the same. What accounts for your difference, Captain Maddox?”

  Maddox shrugged as if he was indifferent to the whole thing.

  “Was it the Erill creatures you absorbed? Was it Balron the Traveler who trained you and changed the trajectory of your brain?”

  “Why do you ask if you already know the answers?” Maddox said.

  “Testing, studying, probing, I seek to know more. I find that I do not care to study the dregs around us, the small-minded. I am interested in uniqueness. You are unique, Captain. You have a role to play in the grand scheme of the universe, and I detect you long for your wife. You long to see your daughter, and I almost want to help you.”

  “You promised to help me.”

  “It was a promise tricked and ripped from me by your sophistry. I’m not sure that I want to agree to such trickery any longer.”

  “If you break your word, you’ll defame all the crystals of Helion.”

  “There you go again,” the Eye said. “Why do you always resort to these ruses and subtleties?”

  Maddox shrugged. Did he resort to ruses as a matter of course? If he did, it was because he lived in a cruel universe. He fought for the spark of life called Humanity, for its place in the universe. He wasn’t going to apologize for that in the least.

  Maddox rubbed his jaw as he regarded the floating Eye. “Who kidnapped me? And is my starship safe?”

  “You seek this from me?”

  “Tell me those things and I’ll give you the coordinates to your planet without demanding that you show me a quick way home.”

  “This is a surprise.”

  “I bargained for two problems solved. I’ll go by that even though I long to reach—search my mind freely. I have the coordinates to the planet Helion. I’ll trust in your goodness do tell me what I’ve asked for after you get what you seek.”

  The Eye projected a beam at Maddox’s head that lasted for seconds and then quit.

  “This is interesting,” the Eye said. “Your coordinates for Helion match mine.”

  “You already knew the coordinates?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Was this another test then?”

  Maddox hated tests of his character. He was who he was. He hated—he worked to calm himself and breathed deeply. He used the Way of the Pilgrim until he felt at peace with himself.

  “You are a remarkable man, Captain. The trick of the breath to bring yourself serenity—I admire that.”

  Maddox nodded.

  “I have detected these bits of data in you. In that sense, I am merely a conduit from you to you,” the Eye said, a touch of melancholy in its tone. “Take the Adoks, for instance, those deceitful beings from the refugee planet tricked you, as they feared the one called Galyan. I think the Adoks feared irrationally. In any case, they sent the starship to a locale where another waited. That one practiced deceit. From what I can piece together from your mind, your crew overcame the deceit, the stasis, and other manipulative energies. The starship broke free. As it did, a bug-eyed monster with tentacles appeared on your bridge. It snatched you and disappeared.”

  “Do you know the name of this one?” Maddox asked.

  “You’ve already named him in your mind, Captain. His name was Grutch. He brought you to those I believe you call Spacers. The Spacers decided to sell you to Leviathan. You arrived at a science station deep in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. They cloned Dravek there and used a chronowarp to speed his growth. They transferred many of your memories to him. As far as I can tell, Dravek is the reason you are free. He committed treacherous acts to achieve this and yet he saved you. Why or for what reason—I haven’t probed his mind. I am leaving that to Mara.”

  “Do you have a secret alliance with Mara?”

  “Negative,” the Eye said. “I believe your starship escaped the trap, but you were not aboard. As to what happened to your starship after that, I don’t know.”

  A sudden chill ran down Maddox’s spine, his fists clenching tight. “Grutch,” he spat out the name like venom. “He’s going to wish he never crossed paths with me.”

  The Spacers were going to rue the day for interfering with him like this as well.

  “Captain Maddox, Captain Maddox, are you still able to comprehend what I’m saying?”

  It took Maddox a moment. He nodded. “Go ahead, Eye. You have my attention.”

  “I’m going to return to Helion. It will take time, but after all these millennia, I believe I can safely reach home. Thank you for what you have done, Captain. I appreciate it and I wish you the best. I am still grateful for what you dared to do deep underground near the evil Yon Soth.”

  Maddox saluted the Eye. “Good luck. Godspeed and I hope you make it home.”

  “By the way, Captain, even as we speak, I’m imprinting a certain sequence of events, stars and spatial anomalies in your mind. If you follow those coordinates and can make split-second decisions while traveling from one spatial anomaly to another—do you see it in your mind?”

  Maddox realized he did. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

  “In less than a year, you shall reach the Omicron 9 System. From there I warrant you will be able to reach home rather rapidly. I’ve decided to gift you with that knowledge as well as certain other key pieces of data regarding what I know of this spiral arm. Beware the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan, Captain. I believe they are well able to send a powerful expeditionary force into your spiral arm. No doubt, the force would handily defeat a Commonwealth-New Men combined fleet.”

  “What do you suggest we do about that?”

  “That is up to you and your people. I have given you fair warning. That is enough. I will grant you this, however. I have added one tiny refinement to your mind. It should allow you to stop anyone from doing what I did to you. I give you this as a parting gift. I am indeed more grateful than you could suppose. Captain Maddox, it has been an honor knowing you, you are a mover and a shaker.”