“What do you say, Sergeant? Is this the real Ludendorff?”

  “I have no idea,” Riker said. “I just want to get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

  “It should,” Maddox said. “It’s a laboratory. I believe they’ve been studying Ludendorff—or they’ve been programming him. I don’t like the idea of programming.”

  “Damn.” Riker used a sleeve to wipe sweat from his face. “This is worse than I thought.”

  Maddox nodded, squatted and hefted Ludendorff so the man’s stomach rested on his left shoulder. Then Maddox rose as if rising from a squat. His deadlifts and squats throughout the years made this an easy lift, even though Ludendorff was heavy enough. He didn’t feel heavy like an android or cyborg, though. No, he felt how a human Ludendorff should be.

  Could this be a clone, a duplicate? Maddox’s intuitive sense was saying no. He was going to have to trust his instincts in this. Were Builders hiding here? That seemed the likeliest explanation.

  “Builders!” Maddox shouted. “Show yourselves. Is this some kind of horrid test facility? Is the Methuselah Man your pet, and you hate it that he’s been free all these years? Come on, show yourselves, you bastards. What are you afraid of?”

  Afterward, Maddox looked around and waited with anticipation, with Ludendorff draped over his left shoulder.

  “Okay,” Riker said. “That did absolutely nothing.”

  “Shut up,” Maddox said.

  Riker’s head swayed back before he nodded. He reached for his holster. “Hey, my blaster’s gone.”

  Maddox thought about it, and he drew Riker’s weapon from his waistband. He handed it butt-first to Riker.

  “Thanks,” Riker said.

  Maddox nodded.

  Afterward, the two men of Star Watch listened, looking around and waiting. Nothing happened.

  “Let’s go,” Maddox said. He felt danger. It was coming from the chamber with swirling lights, or where there had been them. They needed to get out of here.

  Maddox took the lead. Ludendorff remained over his shoulder, doing nothing, but doing nothing to hinder Maddox’s movements.

  “Why are you going so fast?” Riker said, breathing hard.

  “Keep up,” Maddox said.

  They reached the place where Maddox had made and cut away a makeshift hatch.

  “Just a second,” Maddox said.

  He set Ludendorff on the floor and lifted the cut piece of metal. He inserted it back into its spot. “Set your blaster at the right temp.”

  There were several clicks as Riker adjusted his weapon’s setting.

  “Weld this or melt it,” Maddox said.

  Riker did, with the blaster beam moving along the edges. The fused metal kept the hatch in place when Maddox let go. The metal had started getting hot.

  The captain maneuvered Ludendorff back onto his shoulder. They continued down the corridor, backtracking. Ludendorff had yet to speak or move, but at least he was breathing. That was good enough for now.

  “What do you think was using him?” Riker asked.

  “I’m guessing Builders,” Maddox said, “but I don’t know for sure. We need to get back to Victory and then we need to get out of the star system.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know,” Maddox said, “and that’s bugging me, but I think we may have discovered a newly haunted star system.”

  “You mean like the Xerxes System from long ago?”

  “Precisely,” Maddox said.

  “Yeah,” Riker said, “I never cared for the Xerxes System. This may be a new one, and it is right beside Earth.”

  “We’re going to have to build orbital platforms outside the Lamer Point entrance in the Solar System.”

  “You think it’s that dangerous?” Riker said.

  “I wouldn’t have made the suggestion otherwise.”

  “That’s just great. After all that has happened—”

  “No,” Maddox said, interrupting. “That’s the wrong way to look at it. We found that this place is dangerous. That’s the important thing. It’s better to know than being ignorant.”

  “I guess,” Riker said.

  They reached the oily portal, the one marked by Maddox’s blaster.

  “Here goes.” Maddox stepped through with Ludendorff over a shoulder, and Riker followed.

  Galyan was waiting on the other side. “Sir, you have only been gone thirty-one seconds and you have found Ludendorff. That was quick.”

  Maddox turned back, looking at the portal. “There’s something weird about that place.” He shrugged. He had the professor. “Let’s go. It’s time to get back to Victory.”

  -77-

  The three made it back to the fold fighter. They’d brought an extra spacesuit with them. Once they were aboard, the fold fighter returned to a Victory hangar bay. The starship immediately sped for the Laumer Point.

  Galyan and Andros fixed their sensors on the comet as the starship fled.

  Maddox took Ludendorff to sickbay before heading straight to the bridge. He watched the main screen. He didn’t know what he was waiting for, but he was waiting for something to happen: a hidden missile, a cryptic message. His intuitive sense told him that they were still in danger.

  Why should this be? Maddox asked himself. Because this place is haunted. But that was an imprecise and superstitious answer. It wasn’t haunted. There was something taking place in the star system that they did not understand.

  From now on, they would have to use precautions with Barnard’s Star System, especially since it was so near to Earth with the Laumer Point. The hidden nexus with a one-way hyper-spatial tube—

  Maddox shook his head. This was odd, but perhaps it made sense that an ancient Builder outpost was operational near Earth. Hadn’t the Builders had pet subjects and people? Maybe Ludendorff had been stashed on an ancient laboratory run by the Builders. Maybe the old lab was running on automatic. Perhaps one of the Builders’ servants used it.

  Something was on the other side of the comet station in the Barnard’s Star System. Had they been transported to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy? Maddox didn’t think so. The pathway hadn’t been like the Yon-Soth connections he had used in the past. In those, he had fallen during a horrific journey. This had been an instantaneous thing.

  Maddox snapped his fingers. This had been like the time on the Ruby Planet. Could it have anything to do with Underspace?

  Maddox shook his head. He didn’t know. The journey had been too quick.

  The more important point: was Ludendorff okay? Could they trust the professor after this?

  The Iron Lady once lost her high position because aliens had meddled with her brain. Ludendorff claimed to have fixed that, but the Iron Lady had never obtained the status she used to because of that.

  Would the same be true for Ludendorff? Maddox was loath to get rid of Ludendorff. The professor had been instrumental in many missions. Maybe he would have to keep an extra watch on the Methuselah Man. He owed Ludendorff.

  Soon, Victory left the Barnard’s Star System and reached the Solar System. Maddox took Ludendorff to the best medical facilities on Earth and later reported to the Lord High Admiral. The man listened and agreed with Maddox’s decisions.

  “We need to stay out of that star system,” Haig said.

  “I concur,” Maddox said via screen.

  “We should establish a defensive perimeter around the Laumer Point that connects to the Barnard’s Star System.”

  “I agree with that, too,” Maddox said. “I suggest we only go to the comet with every scientific sensor on full blast and be ready for anything.”

  “Do you think this is a Patrol situation?” Haig asked.

  “Maybe,” Maddox said.

  “I will take that into consideration. Now, I have work to do. The Lord High Admiral out.”

  Maddox waited five days for Ludendorff to regain coherence. When that finally happened, Maddox immediately went down to the hospital on Earth and saw the Methuselah Man lying in a bed. There were three beautiful nurses taking care of him. When Maddox entered the room, the nurses giggled and left.

  Ludendorff was beaming like a fool. “Well, well, well, Captain Maddox. I’m better.” Ludendorff slapped his chest with both hands.

  “Do you remember what happened to you?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff frowned. “I do not.”

  “Nothing at all?” asked Maddox.

  “I remember a kaleidoscope of lights. I remember trying to resist them, and that was it. Riker visited and explained what happened during your rescue.”

  Maddox nodded, wishing Riker hadn’t done that. But what was done was done. “Did Riker mention a double, an android or cyborg version of you? During our fight with Leviathan, the double was aboard Victory for a time.”

  “Riker told me that, too,” Ludendorff said. “It does sound like an android situation, but I’m more inclined to think this has something to do with the Builders.”

  “I agree with that.” Maddox paused before he asked, “What about dreams, do you have any strange dreams?”

  “Now that you mention it, my sleep has been troubled. But I can’t remember my dreams when I wake up. I do know they’re intense. I wonder if they’re sexual.”

  Maddox shrugged. “Do you think whoever did this to you, reprogrammed you for future actions?”

  “Alas, the possibility exists,” Ludendorff said. “I plan to take precautions. Although it pains me to say this, you must take precautions with me, too.”

  “I agree,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff frowned. “You didn’t have to agree so quickly.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  “So what happens now?” Ludendorff asked.

  “What always happens,” Maddox said. “We wait for the next mission to start.”

  “With the possibility of an enemy having programmed me, you still want me with the starship?”

  “Most assuredly we do,” Maddox said.

  “Because of my genius?” asked Ludendorff.

  “Yes,” Maddox said with a chuckle, “because of your genius.”

  “Good. If anyone can figure out what happened, it’s me—and you, Captain. I’ve learned to appreciate your unique abilities.” Ludendorff frowned. “How did Becker know all this and why did he bother telling you? And why didn’t he tell you more?”

  “I’ve been wondering the same things,” Maddox said. “My conclusion, as hard as it is for me to say this, is I think Becker feels kinship for me.”

  Ludendorff barked laughter.

  “You might not think that, Professor, if you’d seen him in his latest guise.”

  “Oh?”

  Maddox explained how Becker had changed himself into a lumpish and powerful giant.

  “How extraordinary,” Ludendorff said. “That truly is a marvel. The Liss did something strange to Becker. We may rue the day you ever let him out of stasis.”

  “Becker is dead, don’t you know?”

  “What?”

  Maddox looked around and leaned near. “I’ll tell you about it once you’re back on the starship.”

  “Fair enough,” Ludendorff said, “although you know I hate a mystery. “It makes me curious.”

  “I know, Professor. I want you back on the ship as quickly as possible. This is to goad you.”

  Ludendorff nodded. “Are we going to go to Barnard’s Star System?”

  “I want to wait on that,” Maddox said. “It reminds me too much of the Xerxes System.”

  “Aha! Yes, Riker said something about that. Well, Captain, we succeeded again, didn’t we? Even though I don’t know what I had to do with it.”

  “We succeeded, and you’re part of the team. You’re part of the family, Professor. So you had plenty to do with it.”

  “You know,” Ludendorff cocked his head. “That actually makes me feel good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m waiting for the nurses to return. I’ve been telling them stories, and they’ve been, well, they’ve been helping me recover.”

  “Right you are, Professor.”

  With that, Maddox got up and headed for the exit.

  Star Watch had defeated Leviathan. He had rescued the professor, which was a serious mystery and there was a new problem with a nearby star system. That could wait for next time. This time, they had succeeded by thwarting Leviathan’s invasion.

  He would have to deal with the three missing crewmembers. He’d made a hard choice and kept his word. He’d never said anything about letting Becker keep the women for as long as he wished. Maddox would have to rescue them, and do so soon.

  Maddox sighed. He would miss Cook and Stokes. Yet, that was the nature of life. As Maddox walked down the hospital corridor, he realized that one should enjoy life to the fullest while he was alive. For there would come a day when he no longer was alive.

  Maddox nodded to himself. Then he increased his stride. It was time to take his family out for a big dinner. It was time to take a vacation with Meta and Jewel, having fun with his daughter, and with his wife. Maddox regretted that he spent so much time away from Jewel, not seeing her enough. It was time to rectify that, at least for a little while.

  -78-

  Several weeks later, Dax and Mu reached the tail end of the mauler formation heading for the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. They hailed the giant warships; one mauler detached from the fleet and waited. At that point, Mu lost her nerve.

  “I can’t do this,” she told Dax. They were in the ready room off the bridge of the saucer ship. “I’m afraid to leave this spiral arm. I feel as if I’ll never come back if I do.”

  “Aren’t there Spacers in the next spiral arm?” Dax asked.

  “That’s not the point,” Mu said, “and not Spacers from the Third Fleet.” She twined her fingers together and bit her lower lip. “The truth is my blood chills at the thought of being in an empire run by cybers. I saw what your cyborg trooper could do.” Mu shook her head. “It’s too frightening to think of living among your people.”

  “The choice is yours,” Dax said. “Will you return to the Spacer Third Fleet then?”

  “I don’t know,” Mu said. “I feel like a pariah.”

  “Are you evading my question?” Dax said.

  Mu turned and stared at him through her black-tinted goggles as some of her former arrogance returned. “If I am, I’m certainly not going to tell you about it.”

  “Fair enough.” Dax became thoughtful, glanced at her and said slowly, “What then of the phase ship?”

  Mu quit biting her lower lip as they firmed. “You remember that, do you?”

  “I would be remiss if I didn’t,” Dax said. “The phase ship was my responsibility.”

  It seemed she was staring at him, although it was hard to tell with the goggles. “With the maulers near, you have the power to commandeer it.”

  “I do have the power,” Dax said.

  There was a subtle stiffening of her shoulders. “Will you use the power to take the phase ship?”

  Mu asked because she was no longer able to read his thoughts. Dax had convinced her a week ago to dismantle the process she’d installed earlier, in his brain, under Venna’s direction.

  Dax debated with himself. Taking the phase ship would be the wisest policy, especially if he returned it to the Leviathan High Command. Returning without the phase ship might be a dubious prospect. Still, he wondered if Mu might kill him here at the last minute in order to keep such a prize.

  He would never have to worry about Leviathan High Command if he died today. Such being the case, Dax decided to insure the greatest prize of all, his life.

  No one else held his life in such high esteem. There was another consideration. Mu had helped him against Venna when she could have worked against him. She had worked against him in the beginning, but not at the end when it finally counted.

  Considering the odds, risks, and rewards—

  “The phase ship is not mine to command,” Dax said. “Therefore, I will not enforce my right to it as a representative of Leviathan. The phase ship is yours.”

  “Do you mean that?” Mu asked, sounding dubious.

  “I do, and I will not break my oath on it.”

  Mu stared at him, turned away and seemed to think. The phase ship represented power and a unique ability in the Orion Arm. She faced him. “I’m not going with you. I’m staying with the saucer ship and in this spiral arm. It’s the only home I know, and I don’t feel like changing it. I will do nothing to hinder you leaving, however.”

  Dax felt a wave of relief. He was going to live today. He could worry about tomorrow another time.

  “Goodbye, Mu. Despite all you did to me, in the end, you sided with me when it counted.”

  “I hope I made the right decision doing that,” Mu said.

  “You most certainly did,” Dax said. “Don’t doubt yourself on that.”

  “I don’t.”

  Soon, an orbital from the gigantic mauler docked with the saucer ship. Dax took his leave of Mu.

  The cyborg trooper no longer existed in any meaningful way. It was spaced junk. Thus, Dax boarded the mauler alone and began the long trip home as it sped to catch up with the formation. There was no sign of the Python or the other two Kraken-class warships Dax had used to come to the Orion Spiral Arm. He had no idea what had happened to them. Likely, the Spacer Third Fleet had them.

  The long trip to Loggia, the capital planet of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan, took eight months and eleven days after leaving the saucer ship. It proved an uneventful journey.

  During that time, Dax thought, rethought, and recalculated, learning everything he could from the War Master of the fifty maulers about what had happened to them. Dax used the information to refine the report he could give upon his return.

  After having been away from Grand Strategist Enigmach for well over a year and a half, Dax was returning.

  The cyber spy decided on his strategy for maintaining a long life and retaining his post as a senior spymaster.

  Dax reminded himself there was no one in Leviathan’s spy services that could have endured his torments. He was, at least in his estimation, the greatest spy Leviathan had ever developed. Therefore, it behooved him as a servant of Leviathan, to make the most of his talents and skills in the service of Great Leviathan. That meant he should remain alive, did it not?