Star Watch had defeated a Swarm Invasion Fleet many years ago with help from the New Men. That attack had originated from the Carina-Sagittarius Spiral Arm. Now, they had single-handedly defeated Leviathan, originating from the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm.

  Maddox wondered if Leviathan would mount another invasion assault. If so, he doubted they would try for several years, at least. How significant was the loss of the maulers to Leviathan? Star Watch didn’t know enough about the enemy empire. Could Leviathan easily absorb this loss, or would it strain their empire? So many questions needed answering.

  Perhaps Victory needed to voyage to the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm on an extended scouting mission. It would be good to see his clone brother, Dravek, again. How was Dravek doing?

  Maddox shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to dwell upon his clone brother.

  “What’s the prognosis?” Maddox asked.

  “So far, so good, sir,” Galyan said.

  “Let’s proceed then.”

  Victory headed for the comet near the third terrestrial planet, soon parking there.

  “It’s time,” Maddox said.

  He rose, went to the hangar bay, and collected the necessary equipment with Sergeant Riker, the young sergeant.

  The sergeant looked very different from his former self. He has lank blond hair in abundance and lean features, resembling a young mechanic in an air-car shop.

  “I haven’t seen you much this mission,” Maddox said.

  “Nope,” Riker said, “and I haven’t really minded it as I haven’t been in any personal danger. But what’s odd is that I missed that.”

  “Then you did mind.”

  “…Maybe I did.”

  “I must have suspected that,” Maddox said. “You’re coming with me to find Ludendorff.”

  “Is Meta coming, too?”

  Maddox raised his eyebrows.

  “Galyan informed me about the situation. I thought that was per your orders.”

  “It was,” Maddox said, “but no to Meta coming.”

  “Anyone else going to join us?” Riker asked.

  “Not inside the comet.”

  Riker frowned. “Galyan told me there would be three of us.”

  “I know that’s what Galyan suggested,” Maddox replied, “but I’ve been wondering. Is three the magic number? I’ve decided no.”

  “So, it’s just the two of us then?”

  Maddox nodded. “When we rescue Ludendorff, three of us will return. There’s your magic number.”

  “Are you being superstitious?”

  “Sergeant, you know me better than that. Now, why all the questions?”

  Riker shrugged. He’d been with Maddox the longest and had an idea what it meant when the captain didn’t care to answer a question. Riker also knew he’d been asking too many and that it was time to stop.

  They entered the tin can, stowing their equipment and strapping in to their respective seats.

  Keith piloted the tin can out of the hangar bay. In less than ten minutes, he parked beside the comet.

  Maddox and Riker unstrapped and donned spacesuits, adding small thruster units. They left through the airlock and using hydrogen propellant buzzed to the comet. It was a dirty snowball, twenty times the size of Victory.

  Behind it was the Mercury planet, a dead world orbiting the red dwarf star thirteen percent the mass of the Sun. Victory was above them, the tin can close by.

  The two reached the Builder area of the comet. They twisted around and applied white hydrogen spray. They turned around again and gently landed against the snowball. Each spaces-suited man swung an ice pick, working over an icy lip until each saw a hidden hatch deep in a crevice.

  With his pick and spiked gloves, each worked beside the hatch. Maddox manipulated an ancient sequencer. The hatch opened. They squeezed in. Maddox pressed a switch. The outer hatch closed.

  A team that had included Ludendorff had used the same airlock a while ago when they’d first checked out the comet’s interior.

  Inside—after the inner hatch opened—it was similar to the Builder Nexus near Earth, the space pyramid Maddox had originally brought back from the Library Planet. The area was far smaller in the comet, compared to a pyramid nexus, but corridors showed hieroglyphics on the bulkheads and various chambers had normal nexus machinery.

  Interestingly, they did not float, but walked, as there was near-Earth normal gravity inside. That meant gravity dampeners. According to readings from Victory, those dampeners switched on when they entered.

  That had happened last time, too.

  Galyan appeared. “Would you like me to show you what I recall from Becker’s instructions?”

  “By all means,” Maddox said.

  Maddox and Riker no longer wore their spacesuits and thruster units. The first time the Ludendorff-lead team had entered this place, regular air had begun to cycle. It hadn’t stopped from last time, which was interesting. It meant the interior held breathable air.

  Galyan guided them through large chambers filled with slowly buzzing machinery of unknown purpose to a hatch or opening that shimmered as if a film of oil covered it.

  “Is that the supposed portal?” Maddox asked.

  “Becker informed me with his latent message that Ludendorff is somewhere beyond this portal,” Galyan said.

  “Now that we’re here,” Maddox said, “I wonder why a portal would be in a one-way nexus?”

  “I do not know,” Galyan said. “Nor do I know what lies on the other side of the portal. I highly urge great caution in doing this.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “Are you going to wait here for us to return?”

  “If you will permit it, I will,” Galyan said.

  “I permit it.”

  “I would not plan on staying on the other side for long,” Galyan said.

  “Becker told you a being took Ludendorff through the portal?” Maddox asked.

  “I have not said that,” Galyan replied. “Becker was not sure. Instead, he indicated Ludendorff’s going to the other side was a matter of odds.”

  “It keeps getting better, doesn’t it?”

  “It that a rhetorical question?” Galyan asked.

  “Might as well be.” Maddox turned to Riker. “Are you ready for this, Sergeant?”

  “Why does this feel like the old days when I was your adjutant, and we went to places where we weren’t supposed to be?”

  “Because we’re on the right track,” Maddox said. “I can feel it.”

  Riker frowned. “Is it just me, or do you seem unusually upbeat, sir?”

  Maddox realized he did, and he realized the portal was the reason for it. He was going to do something physical in an Intelligence sort of way, a mission where he would rely on his quick wit and physical skills. Did he enjoy those more than fleet battles? Yes. Maddox realized he did.

  Maddox turned to Galyan. “We should be back soon.”

  “I believe you already said that, sir.”

  Maddox nodded curtly. “Let’s go, Sergeant.”

  Maddox stepped through what Galyan had called a portal with Riker following close on his heels.

  -75-

  Maddox stepped into a corridor that looked identical to the one he’d just left. Then Riker stepped through.

  They glanced at each other. Riker shrugged.

  Maddox eyed the corridor. This place felt like a mirror image of what they’d left. The corridor had lights and gravity, which implied gravity dampeners. It also had regular, breathable air. Had it been foolish to step through without a breather, at least? Maybe his intuitive sense would have told him he needed a spacesuit on this side.

  “Does it feel as if we’re in the same place?” Maddox asked.

  “Now that you mention it,” Riker said, “it does.”

  Maddox drew a blaster.

  Riker followed suit. “Just a second, sir. I want to check something.” Riker took out a comm unit and clicked it on. “Galyan, can you hear me?”

  Galyan did not answer.

  “Where could we be if these corridors look just like the ones we left?” Riker said as he pocketed the comm unit.

  “Good question,” Maddox said. “For all we know, the portal was created by the Mastermind, or it is part of the Yon Soth passages the Mastermind’s Ardazirhos used.”

  “I hope that’s not the case,” Riker said.

  Maddox thought about that, and he shook his head. “It doesn’t feel as if we’re going to run into any Ardazirhos.”

  “That’s a relief. Does it feel like we’re back on the planet with the rubies scattered everywhere?”

  “No, it doesn’t feel like that either,” Maddox said. “This feels like a Builder structure built inside a comet.”

  “A different comet?” asked Riker.

  “Let’s find out.”

  They started down the corridor, searching, remaining alert. They tried various hatches. They all opened. Behind some, they found chambers filled with crates. No doubt, the crates contained ancient Builder artifacts.

  “Could this be a storage facility?” Riker asked.

  “Let’s check one of the crates.”

  They entered a storage chamber. The crate was wooden. They pried it open and discovered a deactivated android similar to those they had previously encountered in past missions.

  “I like this even less,” Maddox said. “I feel like rigging an explosive and detonating everything.”

  “I know what you mean,” Riker said. “Can we afford to do that?”

  “I guess not if we want to continue breathing,” Maddox said.

  They backed out of the chamber, keeping their blasters aimed at the crates. None of them exploded open. None of the androids activated, if the rest of the crates indeed held androids.

  Once the hatch closed, Maddox and Riker resumed their search along the corridor.

  “Should we be shouting for Ludendorff?” Riker asked.

  “I doubt that would be wise.” Maddox paused, trying to use his intuitive sense. He didn’t feel Ludendorff anywhere, and he had no idea what Ludendorff might be doing.

  “I wonder why Becker left the information in Galyan,” Riker said. “Heck, I wonder how Becker learned what he did.”

  “Those are good questions. Becker seems to want to help us, but he wants to do everything his way. I think he’s conflicted, enjoying his new status, but also wanting to belong to a greater organization. As to how he learned this, I have no idea.”

  Riker nodded.

  They kept going and tried different hatches, finding more crates and then empty chambers. One chamber had a viewing port. They stepped in and up to the viewing port. There were masses of stars bunched together out there, a glittering panorama from horizon to horizon.

  “Oh no,” Riker said. “It feels like we’re in the galaxy’s center, where stars cluster thick as diamonds.”

  “Does seem that way,” Maddox said.

  The captain studied the massed stars. They seemed like gleaming gems presenting a multitude of colors. It was awe-inspiring, and yet Maddox felt, “I don’t think this is real.”

  “Sir?” asked Riker.

  Maddox indicated the viewing port and stars. “This feels like a projection, an image for our benefit.”

  “Then we’re not in the center of the galaxy?”

  “Whoever is doing this wants us to believe we are.”

  They exited the viewing-port chamber and continued down the corridor. They reached a small hangar bay with a small, triangular ship parked on the deck. It was three times the size of a Star Watch shuttle.

  “What do you say, sir? Should we take the ship out and verify if we’re really at the galaxy’s center?”

  Maddox thought about that. He almost said yes, but then he decided it was a bad idea. There was too much risk for too little reward. They left the hangar bay and continued searching. They must have gone in a circular pattern, because they reached a portal with an oily film in front of it.

  “Is this the same portal?” asked Riker.

  “We should have marked it before we left,” Maddox said. “We can do it now.”

  He aimed his blaster and fired beside the portal, leaving a scorch mark. Then Maddox holstered the blaster and crouched beside the bulkhead.

  “What are you doing?” Riker said.

  “Time for a break,” Maddox said. “Let’s take five to eat and drink, then we’ll resume.”

  Riker sat down beside Maddox. They broke out rations and began to eat, munching in silence as they leaned against the bulkheads.

  Where in the hell were they, and where was Ludendorff? They’d better find out soon before something evil happened to them.

  -76-

  With a grunt, Maddox stood, holding out a hand. Riker reached up, and Maddox pulled him to his feet.

  “What now, sir?” Riker said.

  “Now we’re going to retrace our path but keep an eye out for hidden hatches or doors.”

  They started with a slow step, checking, touching, and listening. Progress was slow, covering even a hundred feet took time. They continued with the same slow, cautious approach, looking for something they had missed last time.

  Perhaps an hour and a half later, Riker said, “Here, sir, look at this.”

  Maddox joined the sergeant on his side of the corridor. There seemed to be a faint line running like a seam.

  “I think we may have found something, at least something different than before,” Maddox said.

  Riker stood, looking around before he pointed. “That’s the way to the viewing port.”

  Maddox nodded, but he was disinterested in the port. He ran his fingers over the bulkhead, questioning if it was significant. It was too imperceptible to be sure. He looked at Riker. “Your eyesight is better than mine. I don’t see a thing, although at first I thought I did.”

  Riker shrugged. “To be honest, sir, I felt something odd, then noticed that faint line. It is faint.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. He reached to his boot and pulled out his monofilament blade. He shoved the tip into the imperceptible seam and cut with the blade that could slice through anything. Behind the newly made opening was another corridor.

  Maddox carefully put the monofilament blade back into the sheath of his boot. He straightened and drew his blaster.

  “Be wary,” Maddox said.

  They started down the previously hidden corridor, with Maddox in the lead. The lights began to flicker. It was surprising there had been lights. In a second, they went out.

  Both men donned headband lamps and switched them on. They continued with circular lights sweeping the corridor ahead of them. Soon, they reached a hatch.

  Maddox tested the hatch, then opened it.

  Inside, a wall displayed a kaleidoscope of colors. Seated before the kaleidoscope was Professor Ludendorff. He was strapped down to a chair.

  “Ludendorff,” Maddox said.

  There was no response from the professor, not even a twitch.

  “High alert,” Maddox told Riker.

  The two stepped inside the chamber.

  “Don’t look at the patterns of light,” Maddox said.

  It was too late for Riker. He’d looked and was mesmerized, standing there doing nothing.

  In two steps, Maddox snatched away Riker’s blaster and thrust it in his waistband. He walked over to Ludendorff. The professor’s eyelids were taped open so he had to look at the swirling lights. His face was strapped to a harness so that he couldn’t turn away. There was a drip in his mouth.

  Maddox checked the water supply, which had run dry.

  Holstering his blaster, Maddox took out the monofilament blade for a second time and carefully cut away the restraints holding Ludendorff.

  “Come on, Professor. I’ve set you free.”

  There was no response from the Methuselah Man.

  Maddox had expected that. He stowed the knife, then grabbed the front of Ludendorff’s shirt to pull him up. The man rose limply, as if he had no control over his body. Maddox pulled Ludendorff to the quietly waiting Riker. The sergeant’s mouth hung open and he had begun to drool. Maddox grabbed Riker by the front of the shirt and pulled both of them staggering out of the chamber.

  Maddox released Riker, who swayed but remained upright. Then he forced Ludendorff onto his butt, resting against a bulkhead in the corridor.

  Maddox reentered the chamber without directly looking at the swirling lights. There was a tug at his eyes, but he resisted looking. With his blaster, he fired until he destroyed the swirling colored lights. He didn’t find anything behind where the lights had been to project them. Even so, the colored lights swirled no more.

  Maddox felt an instinctive need to get out of here. He leaped out, and as he did, gas hissed into the chamber and the hatch shut with a clang.

  Both Ludendorff and Riker rested against the bulkheads, limp and staring at nothing.

  Maddox found it interesting that Riker had sat down by himself. He studied them and listened carefully. There was no noise and no indication of aliens.

  “How do I do this,” Maddox whispered under his breath. “Riker,” he said, crouching before the sergeant and shouting in his face.

  Riker blinked, blinked again, and slowly came to. “Captain, what happened?”

  “You stared at the swirling light even when I told you not to.”

  “Lights?” asked Riker.

  “Can you stand?”

  “Maybe,” Riker said.

  “Then do so.”

  Riker used the bulkhead and pushed himself up to his feet. He was panting as if he’d exerted himself.

  “Ludendorff,” Maddox said, in front of the professor.

  There was nothing. The man seemed to be a zombie, as far as his mind was concerned. The usually alert eyes were blank.

  Maddox stared into Ludendorff’s eyes longer. He couldn’t be sure. There had to be a way to test this. Then he took out the monofilament blade again. He made an incision in one of the professor’s legs. Blood seeped. The problem was that there had been androids in the past that had skin that could bleed.

  Maddox put away the knife. He opened Ludendorff’s mouth and peered into the throat using the headband light. Everything looked normal, human.