-83-

  From Victory, Galyan and Valerie scanned the battlefield. They found no indication of cloaked ships or devices that could cause star-drive jumps to deflect in the wrong direction.

  “If the Juggernauts contained such devices, they are gone now,” Galyan said.

  Maddox was troubled nonetheless. What had caused their ships to deflect? Such a device would be a powerful weapon if used at the right time.

  “This makes no sense,” Maddox said. “If the androids had jump deflectors, why didn’t they use them earlier against the fold-fighters?”

  “An excellent question,” Galyan said. “I do not have an answer for you.”

  “I don’t like unsolved mysteries,” Maddox said.

  “Sir,” Valerie said. “The Lord High Admiral would like to speak to you in your ready room. He asks that Professor Ludendorff be present. Lieutenant Colonel, now that the fighting is over Admiral Cook wants you back aboard his flagship.”

  “Ah,” Strokes said. “Thank you.”

  Maddox was exhausted. He was sure all the survivors were tired and demoralized as well. They had won the battle, but at such a grim cost. Star Watch no longer owned a Destroyer, and the Fleet had been whittled down yet again. They had beaten the androids. That menace should be over…but was it?

  There was a mystery here. Maddox’s eyes narrowed. Ludendorff was in his science lab. He appeared to have been hiding there during the entire battle, and had taken no part. Was that significant?

  Maddox heaved up to his feet. The space battle was over. The Android Fleet—

  “We won, people,” Maddox said. He looked around at haggard faces. “This was a tough one. This one was damn tough, and it took us all over the galaxy. We saved Earth, though. We did what we set out to do.”

  From her station, Valerie gave him a timid smile.

  Keith laughed and slapped the Helm with his right hand. “We did win. You’re right, mate—I mean, sir. We beat the living…tar out of the androids. There’s no doubt about it, sir, we’re the best.”

  Maddox nodded, echoing Keith. “We’re the best, Mr. Maker. Never forget that.”

  Keith laughed again.

  Andros Crank slumped back in his chair at the science station. “You don’t think there are more androids left, sir?”

  Maddox shook his head. “No here in the area…”

  “But it’s not over yet, is it?” Valerie asked.

  “The main battle is,” Maddox said. “The androids and synthetics worked for months, maybe years, getting ready for this. They augmented their Juggernauts with supermetals. We saw the effects. Their shields were fantastic and the lasers hotter than anything we’ve seen so far.”

  “But we beat them,” Keith said.

  “Annihilated them,” Maddox said somberly. He scanned his people. He was proud of them. They were tired but maybe not quite as demoralized as a minute ago. Now, though, he had to deal with Ludendorff. What had the professor been up to in his science lab?

  “Don’t let down your guard just yet,” Maddox said. “But know that the worst is over. We came through again, even if by the skin of our teeth.”

  Stokes cleared his throat.

  “Yes?” Maddox asked the lieutenant colonel.

  “The Lord High Admiral wants to speak to you and the professor from your ready room,” Stokes said. “Shouldn’t you get going?”

  “Galyan, escort the lieutenant colonel to the hangar bay,” Maddox said. “Lieutenant,” he told Valerie, “you have the bridge.” Maddox tugged his uniform jacket straight and headed resolutely for the exit. It was time to deal with Ludendorff.

  ***

  Maddox barged without warning into Ludendorff’s laboratory. “What have you been doing all this time?” the captain demanded.

  Ludendorff looked up from where he sat beside a large table. There were masses of items or pieces laid out. The professor set down two tools beside a small open box. “I’ve been thinking,” Ludendorff replied.

  Thinking? Maddox eyed the spread-out items and laid-down tools. “What have you been thinking about?

  “Events.”

  If that was true, why had Ludendorff been holding tools?

  Maddox pulled out a chair and sat down upon it. The professor wanted to be mysterious, clearly, or he was hiding something. Maddox was almost too tired to play the game. If the professor wanted to…

  Maddox noticed the professor eyeing him sidelong.

  “What is it?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff shook his head as if he didn’t know what the captain meant.

  “You are hiding something,” Maddox said. “Your very bearing screams it out. You’re finally making me curious.”

  “What nonsense,” Ludendorff said. “I realize you have all fought splendidly. I paid attention to the battle now and again. While you fought the good fight, I sat here and thought. We have been running around like a headless chicken, going here, doing this. All the while, Star Watch and even more the Commonwealth has suffered repeated shocks and sharp blows. What does that mean?”

  “You tell me,” Maddox said.

  “Someone is trying to splinter the Commonwealth as a jeweler might attempt to splinter a stone. As separate pieces, humanity will die easier than as a united whole.”

  “The androids made their attempt. If we hadn’t had stopped them, they were going to obliterate life on Earth.”

  “Exactly,” Ludendorff said. “Nine highly advanced Juggernauts should have crushed the Home Fleet and the Destroyer, annihilating each group in scattered clumps. Instead, we intervened and saved the day by sounding the alarm fast enough so there was partial fleet concentration.”

  “We won at a bloody cost,” Maddox said.

  “That was one of the items in my greater calculation.”

  Maddox glanced at the scattered pieces on the table, the precision tools… “Have you reached a conclusion yet?” the captain asked.

  “I’m still working on the puzzle.”

  Maddox rubbed his jaw as he studied Ludendorff. “Do you know anything about a deflection field that could rebound star-drive jumps?”

  “Eh?” asked the professor.

  Something about the seemingly offhanded answer confirmed the captain’s suspicion. He kept rubbing his jaw, and he thought about which ships had survived the death or sacrificial order. The Kaiser Wilhelm, Victory, the Octagon and several destroyers had been deflected…and therefore, saved.

  “Would you give me a moment, Professor?”

  “What is it now?”

  “I need to confirm something,” Maddox said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “If you must,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox went into the corridor. He hadn’t told Ludendorff yet about the meeting in the ready room. “Galyan,” he said.

  The holoimage appeared in the corridor. Maddox asked the AI a quick question and Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. Soon, the little Adok holoimage told Maddox want he needed to know.

  “Thanks,” Maddox said.

  “Sir,” Galyan said. “The Lord High Admiral asked why you were not yet in the ready room.”

  “Tell Valerie to tell Cook I’ll be there soon.”

  “Should I join you in the professor’s lab?”

  “No,” Maddox said. “Just do as I ask.”

  “Yes, sir,” Galyan said, disappearing.

  Maddox eyed the hatch to the science lab. They had fought and won a grim space battle. Many good people were dead, drifting as corpses in space. Nine Juggernauts were gone, having taken tens of thousands of chrome-colored Rull androids with them. Surely, that had seriously depleted the number of hidden androids in Human Space.

  The Spacers were gone. Now the androids were gone, or almost gone.

  Maddox forced himself to even greater alertness. He was tired with the aftershock of hard fighting. Yet, now, Ludendorff was playing his usual mind games, forcing him into a battle of wits. Maddox scowled. He wasn’t going to let the devious Methuselah Man get away with…with whatever Ludendorff was trying to get away with this time.

  Resolved, Maddox headed back into the science lab.

  -84-

  “Feel better?” Ludendorff asked.

  Maddox noticed that none of the parts or pieces or the tools were on the table where they were before. He also noticed that the professor was breathing a bit harder than the first time. Had the Methuselah Man been hurrying the past minute or two, cleaning up? Clearly, that was the case.

  Maddox took a chair and sat back, regarding Ludendorff, giving the old man a wan smile.

  “What is it now, my boy?” Ludendorff asked.

  “Providence saved our hides just now,” Maddox said.

  “Oh? That sounds interesting.”

  “Does it? Does it, really?”

  Ludendorff lost his good humor as he eyed the captain. “Don’t bandy words with me, old son. You’re accusing me of something.”

  “Score one for the professor,” Maddox said, still maintaining his smile.

  “What am I supposed to have done now?”

  “The parts you had on your table a bit ago—what did they make when assembled?”

  Ludendorff opened his mouth to reply, and it seemed he was about to ask, “What parts?” Instead, the professor closed his mouth and folded his hands on the table.

  “You had dissembled a machine or a device and had swept away most of the pieces when I walked in the first time,” Maddox said. “Everything is gone now. I’m guessing the device acted like a jump deflector or gave our jump computers the opposite coordinates.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Victory and the Kaiser Wilhelm deflected from their destinations in front of the Juggernauts. Several nearby vessels must have received similar deflections and found themselves near our two ships after coming out of jump the last time.”

  “You’re blaming me for…for our survival?” Ludendorff asked, incredulous.

  “That’s how you view it, isn’t it?” Maddox asked. “Yes. You told me some time ago that you didn’t agree that we should sacrifice our lives for those on Earth. Thus, instead of allowing Victory to do its duty, you employed a fancy gadget. But…where did you get a gadget like that? I never heard of deflection technology until the Glorious Kent showed up. Do you know what that tells me, Professor?”

  “I haven’t a clue,” Ludendorff said.

  “That you were in communication with Lisa Meyers. She must have given you the deflection device. What did you pay for such an item, Professor?”

  “I’ve had just about enough of your accusations. If I had such a device and we indeed deflected, you should be on your knees thanking me that you and your wife are still alive. Would you rather be dead?”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “The Hell it isn’t!” Ludendorff shouted. “That’s exactly the point. You wanted to play the Teutonic hero like Sigrid and the Dragon. You and Cook think alike—fight bravely and let everyone else take care of the issues afterward. Well, maybe I did save Victory and maybe I realized the Commonwealth needs that old fool of a Lord High Admiral, and thus I pulled the Kaiser Wilhelm to safety along with us. Yes, I’ll admit a few ships in the Juggernauts’ way likely gave the Destroyer a few precious extra seconds. We needed the others to sacrifice themselves, but we didn’t need our best people to die like that.”

  “And you’re among our best people?”

  “You state an obvious truth,” Ludendorff replied.

  Maddox knew there was no shaming Ludendorff, so why even try. Instead… “When did Lisa Meyers give you the device?”

  Ludendorff held the captain’s gaze, but couldn’t continue to do so as he looked away. “She did not give me any device,” the professor said.

  Maddox considered the professor’s words. “Oh. She gave you the schematics so you could hurriedly build the device while the rest of us fought.”

  “You haven’t been fighting the entire time,” Ludendorff said.

  “What did you give her in return?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff looked up. “She’s a remarkably beautiful woman, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Maddox barely refrained from rubbing his forehead. “What have you gotten yourself mixed up in this time, Professor?”

  Ludendorff shook his head before looking up at the ceiling. “You still don’t understand, do you? I used to be a man, an ordinary man, but long ago, the Builders sent servants to Earth. The servants snatched me and took me far away to the Builders. They worked on me. They trained me, and they taught me to love the Builders. I cannot do otherwise, Captain.”

  “Do you love the Builders so much that you would betray humanity?”

  “That has never been the question, my boy.”

  “Until now?” asked Maddox.

  Ludendorff stared at his hands as he squeezed them tight and opened them wide. “I am the ultimate man. I have so many responsibilities… I have protected the human race for far longer than you can understand. You’re a pup, a hybrid with inordinate luck, and yet you dare to judge me. No, sir, I will not stand for that.”

  “What did you do, Professor?” Maddox asked tiredly.

  “I bargained with the devil,” Ludendorff said. “Yes. I caused our ships to deflect and saved our lives. I saved mine, as well. I also gained some precious new technology from that minx, Lisa Meyers.”

  “I thought you said she was beautiful.”

  “She is, and I was sorely tempted to teach her highly advanced sexuality. I almost took her offer. But I am Professor Ludendorff. I master women. They do not master me. Thus, I will keep the deepest love arts from her, lest she become unconquerable by any man.”

  “What did Meyers gain from you?” Maddox asked.

  “Knowledge of our outbound trip, my boy,” Ludendorff said. “I told her about the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan and about the nexus with the graveyard of spaceships around it.”

  “You told her the truth about those things?”

  “She is a Methuselah Woman. She would have detected lies.”

  “And you did this during the battle?”

  “I did.”

  “You think that was a fair exchange?”

  “She received more than I did, I realize—”

  Maddox stared at Ludendorff.

  The old Methuselah Man couldn’t help it. He broke into a huge grin. “She received more than I, until I used a trick or two. Doctor Meyers is racing to the Supermetals Planet. She loves her Builder and will do anything to revive him. She almost used my ancient conditioning to pull me with her. But after what the Bosks did to me last mission—I have enough of myself in charge of me that I resisted the ancient lure. I’m sure that astonished her.”

  “What will she do upon reaching the Supermetals Planet?”

  “She has an ally. I’m not sure whom, but I suspect it is Lord Drakos.”

  “And?” asked Maddox.

  “I don’t know, at least, not with assurance. I sensed that Doctor Meyers was frustrated with us—I mean humanity in general and Starship Victory in particular. She must have realized that her android allies were about to perish, or maybe she was just hedging her bets.”

  “Zon Ten said he hated the Methuselah Woman.”

  Ludendorff shrugged. “Whatever Zon Ten’s feelings were—if that’s even the right way to say it—Meyers maneuvered the androids to do her bidding. They were her pawns. She meant for them to smash Earth. She hates humanity with inordinate passion. I think it’s more than just the Yon-Soth’s rays that have caused that. She has a dark heart. I’m not sure why exactly.”

  Ludendorff blinked several times before shuddering. “You must kill her, my boy. Kill her before she engineers humanity’s death.”

  “Wait. I’m supposed to kill her while you trade secrets with her so you can double-cross us at a critical instant?”

  “I did not double-cross us. I saved our collective skins, and you all have clean consciences because I took the burden upon myself. Now, however, I am warning you about a future evil, and her name is Doctor Lisa Meyers.”

  “Not if we can catch her at the Supermetals Planet.”

  Ludendorff shook his head. “You will fail. She knows we’re coming.”

  “Because you told her?” asked Maddox.

  “Because that is our logical next step,” the professor said.

  Maddox turned away. He wasn’t sure what to make of all this. “Let’s go,” he said.

  “Go where?” Ludendorff asked suspiciously.

  “You and I have a meeting with the Lord High Admiral.”

  Ludendorff licked his lips.

  “You’re going,” Maddox said. “You can’t squirm out of it this time.”

  The professor’s shoulders slumped, and he nodded. “When is the meeting?”

  As if on cue, Galyan appeared. “Excuse me, gentlemen. There has been a change in plans. The Lord High Admiral is already on his way. He instructed me to listen in on your conversation and link it to him. He listened as well.”

  “What?” Ludendorff shouted. “That’s an outrage. That’s an invasion of privacy.”

  “Agreed,” Galyan said. “I still suggest that you get ready to receive the Lord High Admiral and his security detail. They should be here within twenty minutes.”

  -85-

  The Lord High Admiral almost seemed frail, as if the towering individual in his white uniform might have twisted and hollowed out.

  Lord High Admiral Cook sat behind a large desk. His security people were outside the chamber. All he had to do was touch a button and they would rush inside, taking care of business.

  Ludendorff sat before the large desk to the left. Maddox sat in the chair to the right. The Lord High Admiral eyed first one and then the other.

  “The very thing we sought to avoid happened,” Cook said in a low voice. “I wanted to preserve our fleet units. Instead, we’ve taken losses again. Worse, we’ve lost our best ship—the Destroyer. Without it and its twin, we never would have defeated the First Swarm Invasion.”