“Thus, we shut Galyan down.”

  “Erase him for good. Galyan is beyond salvaging, and in time, he will become murderously insane.”

  “Perhaps you’re right. The thing is, Governess, we’ve made contact with you in order to see if you’d like our help in escaping the ghost ships and this star system.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “It depends on the number of colonists on the planet.”

  “We number fifty thousand.”

  “Ah…” Maddox said, as his stomach tightened. “That’s more than we can take aboard our ship.”

  Governess Nee-Fong studied the captain. “We have several hidden spaceships in subterranean galleries. They are large vessels as such things go. It is possible the majority of us could board them. Some would stay behind to man the planetary defenses. There is no way, however, that we could outrun or outfight the ghost ships.”

  “Is that your term for the metal moons around Gowon?”

  “It is so, Captain.”

  “Do your ships have jump capacity?”

  “I do not know what you mean by that.”

  “Any technology that allows one to travel faster than light.” Maddox gave her an overview of how Victory did it.

  Governess Nee-Fong clapped her stringy fingers together. “What a wonderful achievement. This star-drive jump, do vessels in the wake of the ship go with it?”

  Maddox found himself grinning at the Governess. He turned to Ludendorff. “What about it, Professor? We did something like that once, didn’t we?”

  “I’m already making the calculations,” Ludendorff said, as he tapped his slate.

  “Alas, Captain,” Nee-Fong said. “We could not possibly ready the spaceships and load them in time. That would take days.”

  “We only have hours.”

  “You refer to the approaching missiles. Our defenses can take care of the first twelve. No, I mean once Ultimate Force Raylan realizes real Adoks still live here, he will summon more ghost ships surrounding Gowon.”

  Maddox placed his chin on his fist. “Perhaps it’s worth a try, anyway. Remember, even deified AIs can miscalculate. You should ready and load the spaceships, and with your planetary defenses we will attempt to run interference. Then—”

  “I understand your intentions, Captain,” Nee-Fong said, interrupting. “But I am unsure. You’re aliens. Why help the Adoks?”

  “We like you because we like our deified Adok friend Galyan. And, everything we have learned about you says you are a noble and honorable race—unlike many we have encountered. We have few enough friends and allies.”

  “That sounds so strange, almost surreal. Yet, perhaps you had different sequences and times with this Galyan. I still do not know how to answer you.”

  “Yes would be a good start,” Maddox said.

  An Adok smile appeared on Nee-Fong’s face. “I like you, Captain. If the deified Galyan has retained a stable Adok personality, I could see why he chose to like you as well. I think it is time for the last Adoks to take a risk on our species. This is a propitious moment, Captain. I’m excited.”

  “I as well,” Maddox said with a grin.

  “I do ask one favor.”

  “Name it.”

  “While we’re with you, please do not reboot your deified AI. We dearly fear them, and for obvious reasons. Once we are safe, we can take the risk.”

  “I understand, and I’ll comply with your request.”

  “Then, let us begin this great task, Captain.”

  “Agreed. Do you have any suggestions about how we can deal with Ultimate Force Raylan in unison?”

  “I do.” The Governess began to sketch a plan.

  Shortly thereafter, Victory broke orbit and began to advance toward the approaching twelve missiles of Raylan’s fortress moon.

  -91-

  After an hour heading toward the missiles, Victory veered away and built up velocity.

  “The twelve missiles aren’t following us,” Barnes said from Weapons. “The missiles are continuing for the first planet.”

  Maddox considered that. “We’ll continue on our course.”

  An hour passed, two.

  “The missiles are accelerating again,” Barnes said. “They’re heading straight for the first planet.”

  “Sir,” Valerie said. “The fortress moon is hailing us.”

  “Put Ultimate Force Raylan on the main screen,” Maddox said.

  The Adok AI entity appeared. “You are Captain Maddox?”

  “Can’t you tell us humans apart?” Maddox asked. “I thought you were a gloriously capable AI. Surely simple face recognition…”

  “I do not deign to devote capacity to the necessary subroutines,” Raylan said. “I demand an answer to my question.”

  “I’m Maddox.”

  “I wish to speak to Driving Force Galyan.”

  “He’s indisposed at the moment.”

  “Doing what?” asked Raylan.

  “Never you mind.”

  “That is insolent talk.”

  “Yup, it is.”

  “I am not used to such disregard from flesh and blood creatures. Do you wish to die, Captain?”

  “What’s it to you what I wish?”

  Raylan’s dark eyes swirled with menace. “It is a query.”

  “I got that part. So what?”

  “Are you attempting to anger me?”

  “Is it working?”

  Raylan glared at him. “What is the point of your vulgarity?”

  “You’re so smart. Devote some circuits. You figure it out.”

  Raylan’s eyelids began to flutter. Soon, that ceased. “I understand. You are attempting to lure me from the first planet.”

  “You think so?”

  “That is the most logical reason, the purpose as to why I said so.”

  “Yup, it’s logical to me too.”

  “Galyan informed me that you are a master of deception.”

  “Why would he tell you that?”

  “We exchanged data, tit for tit.”

  “The saying is tit for tat,” Maddox said. “Although that’s not even correct usage, as it doesn’t mean quid pro quo.”

  “Nevertheless,” Raylan said, “I know that you routinely employ deception. I now take that into consideration while communicating with you.”

  Maddox had wondered about that.

  “Thus, I am now perplexed by your speech. If you wanted us to veer from the first planet, you would have employed an elegant deception against me. Instead, you attempt this primitive goading rhetoric, as if you want to provoke me and think it will work. Yet, you must realize I am perfection in application. Goads do not work against me, and you must know this. Thus, I am inclined to believe your present verbiage is a deception within a deception for reasons I cannot yet fathom.”

  “Is it getting too complicated for your perfection?”

  “Not in the least,” Raylan said. “I do find it tedious, however, and I find your manner insulting and—I can’t find a specific word in my translation program to convey my meaning. Stupid? Backward? Slow? Low-IQ?”

  “How about retarded?”

  “Ah, it is ‘retarded,’ your manner is retarded and I do not think you are a retard. I believe, though, that the best way to offend you is to not rise to the bait. Thus, I will continue to the first planet.”

  “Whatever,” Maddox said.

  “That was a nonsensical statement.”

  “You’re nonsensical, and you’re a retard.”

  Raylan studied Maddox for several seconds. “Is it the realization that you will not escape the star system alive that is unhinging your reason?”

  “Captain,” Barnes said, “two more fortress moons are pulling away from Gowon. No. Make that three more.”

  “Your ship is doomed, Captain Maddox,” Raylan said. “The Adoks on the first planet are doomed. You fought as well as you could, I suppose, but it was not enough against my perfect intellect and calculating capacity. I am boxing you in no matter what you direction you go.”

  “And yet you can’t recognize my face.”

  “I can. I simply choose not to.”

  “Sounds moronic to me.” Maddox grinned. “Are you forgetting my star-drive jump?”

  “No.”

  “I can leave any moment I wish.”

  “This I know.”

  “So you haven’t boxed me in anywhere.”

  “You do not like the shoe on the other foot, do you?”

  “What’s that mean?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff cleared his throat.

  Maddox glanced at him.

  “Raylan is attempting to goad you by using your own methods against you,” Ludendorff said.

  “Right,” Maddox said, as he studied what seemed to be a smug AI Raylan. “I’ll stop if you stop.”

  “You mean the goading and foolish speech?”

  “Yes.”

  “You will likely escape the star system, Captain. And in a way, I do not mind. It was interesting speaking to Driving Force Galyan. He told me much concerning the Commonwealth of Planets. You have also revealed the last living Adoks, the larva of my species to the deified AIs. I have many AIs in reserve.”

  “Why tell me any of this?”

  “Because you did me a good deed by coming so I could learn all that I did from Driving Force Galyan. You will likely escape us, but at great cost to your species, as you have ensured the glorious conquering future of the deified Adok AIs.”

  “Do you mind if I put a fly in your ointment?”

  “I do not see how you can.”

  “Remember that later as you recalculate what you could have done differently,” Maddox said.

  “You are back to attempting to goad me. Is it an endemic practice with you, Captain?”

  “I suppose I just can’t help myself.”

  “Then this is not goodbye?”

  “You’ll know when it is, and you’ll hate it. You’ll learn to hate me,” Maddox said.

  “Galyan suggested as much. But I will have to see the evidence before I concede such a thing. Whatever you are planning against me shall fail. But I suspect you will have to find this out the hard way.”

  “Somebody will.” Maddox turned to Valerie and made a chopping motion.

  She cut the connection with the Ultimate Force.

  -92-

  The twelve AI missiles continued for the first planet. Ultimate Force Raylan’s fortress moon also headed that way, but it no longer accelerated. Perhaps he had taken heed to Maddox’s threats.

  Among the other fortress moons leaving the third planet, one headed toward the second planet. The second headed for the first fortress moon while the third worked for a location between the first and second planet. It began to launch missiles. Thirty-two headed for the second planet. Thirty-two headed for the first planet. Thirty-two headed for the midway point between the first two planets, while the last thirty-two accelerated at a fast burn for Victory.

  “We can’t face all thirty-two missiles of our set,” Ludendorff said, “never mind the combined mass. We’re badly overmatched.”

  “What a waste,” Maddox said. “What a fine waste. It’s too bad the deified AI system proved such a dismal failure.”

  “The idea of it always seemed ghoulish to me,” Ludendorff said.

  “Did you feel that way about Galyan?” Valerie asked.

  “In the beginning,” Ludendorff said. “The dead should stay dead.”

  “They do,” Maddox said.

  “You know what I mean,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox nodded.

  “The quest for immortality has led people into many strange endeavors,” Ludendorff said. “Now, we know that that the quest for immortality also screws with aliens. That’s an interesting condition of thinking entities, don’t you think?”

  “Yet more proof of the Creator, of God,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff raised an eyebrow.

  “Man’s desire to be like his Creator, his Father, is the proof,” Maddox said.

  “It’s not just man’s desire,” Ludendorff said.

  “No,” Maddox said. “Not just his, but aliens as well.”

  “Not that I concede your point about God, though,” Ludendorff said. “I don’t think it is a proof, just a condition of intelligent beings. The survival instinct. They avoid death at any cost.”

  “As do I.”

  “Sir,” Barnes said. “The first twelve missiles are nearing the first planet.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Maddox said. “Please put that on the main screen.”

  Soon, the bridge crew watched the distant missile-first planet battle. It took another nine minutes to begin, and did so as one of the fortress-moon missiles exploded. Another one did likewise.

  “Stealth missiles must be striking them,” Maddox said.

  Moments later, heavy beams thrust from the first planet, striking the remaining ten missiles, destroying them as well.

  “Show me what’s happening on the planetary surface.”

  It took some doing, but finally they saw it. This was after all the enemy missiles had been destroyed. Giant pits had appeared on the surface. From the pits slowly arose gigantic spacecraft that wobbled in seeming slow motion, heading up from the subterranean depths.

  “They must use anti-gravity units,” Ludendorff said, who looked up from where he made calculations on a computer slate.

  Ten huge round ships worked upward, moving much slower than seemed possible.

  Ludendorff drifted off, and he might have left the bridge. Maddox wasn’t sure. He was too fixated on the Adok ships. The aliens were ready much sooner than any of them had expected. The weight of Adok survival was beginning to settle onto Maddox, making him antsy and more nervous than usual.

  Time passed.

  “Sir,” Valerie said, “I’m getting a hail from the first planet. It’s Governess Nee-Fong.”

  “Put her on the main screen,” Maddox said.

  There were a few seconds of delay, possibly because of their distance from the first planet. Then, the Adok Governess appeared on the screen. “We are doing it, Captain. We are leaving for good.”

  “I thought you said it would take you days to load your spaceships.”

  Again, there was a small delay.

  “That was an innocent deception on my part,” Nee-Fong said. “We have lived in the ships these many years, wondering if we would ever gain the courage to attempt an escape from the haunted star system. Today is the day of destiny for the Adok race.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said, his mouth dry at the realization at what was taking place. It was too bad Galyan wasn’t around to see it. The AI would have gloried in it. Well, the regular Galyan would have. Could they yet save their AI friend? Maddox shook his head. That would be for later. He would have to watch it on the sensor and visual records. Right now, he needed to concentrate on saving the last of the Adoks.

  “This is all contingent on your starship being able to take our vessels with you,” Nee-Fong said.

  “I understand,” Maddox said. “We’re still working on the process.”

  The delay made it odd.

  “You can’t do it?” Nee-Fong asked.

  “Governess, we will do it. We’re still making the calculations. For now, you need to slip onto the other side of the planet from the next batch of approaching missiles, and it would be good to do that as quickly and unobtrusively as possible.”

  “Yes. That makes sense. I am quite concerned about the process of…jump, I believe you called it.”

  “Yes. We’ll use a star-drive jump.”

  “The Adoks are pinning all their hopes on this possibility.”

  “I fully understand. You came up faster than we anticipated is all. We’re in the middle of making the preparations.” Which wasn’t completely true. Ludendorff was still working on the possibility, the calculations.

  “Captain Maddox—”

  “I’m sorry for interrupting you, Governess. I ask that you do your part and let us do ours. Together, we’ll achieve success for the Adok race.”

  The small alien Adok eyed him.

  It made Maddox uncomfortable, as he felt the responsibly for the Adok race resting on his shoulders, the weight increasing with each passing second.

  “I will leave you to your tasks,” Nee-Fong said. “Please, let us know what else we must do as soon as you can.”

  “I will,” Maddox said. “I give you my word.”

  The connection ended.

  “Get me Ludendorff,” Maddox said.

  “No need,” Ludendorff said. “I’m right here.” The professor had been sitting to the side, using a bridge computer to further his calculations and theories.

  Maddox swiveled around. “Can we do this?”

  “Hmm,” Ludendorff said, as he brought up the computer slate. “It turns out that there is such a thing as a star-drive jump-wake, as it were. The formula is technical and highly mathematical, and there are endless variables and quirks that I’m still contemplating—”

  “Can you give me a quick overview?”

  Ludendorff glanced at his slate, at the main screen with its view of the first planet and then back at Maddox. “An overview might be too simplistic.”

  “Professor, please,” Maddox said, the strain showing on his face and in his bearing.

  Ludendorff nodded. “The quick and dirty is this then: we can take one ship of theirs at a time, provided we don’t jump too far.”

  “Why does the distance make a difference?”

  Ludendorff raised his bushy-white eyebrows. “Like I said, the formula is technical and highly mathematical. To explain the why of distance, I’ll have to use a lot of math.”

  “Never mind,” Maddox said. “What distance can we jump with an Adok ship in tow?”

  “Given their ship’s size and so we don’t overstrain our drive…” Ludendorff said, as he tapped the slate, tapped more and looked up. “Near the edge of the star system would likely be wisest. Afterward, we can run tests. This is all theoretical so far. After we do it several times, I’ll be able to tell you more.”

  “Can we move all ten Adok ships from the first planet in time?”

  Ludendorff appeared dubious. “That will depend on their planetary defenses and how quickly the deified AIs try to saturate it. This could prove harrowing and difficult to achieve.”