“The Builders are gone,” Maddox said.

  “Not all of them are gone,” Meyers said. “I have my Builder. I will restore him to full life. Then, with him as my guiding star, I shall seek out other Builders and help them rekindle their passion for living. The Builders will return, and they shall sweep aside your paltry society to make room for something infinitely superior. Can you comprehend my great purpose yet?”

  “I see that you’re insane, Doctor Meyers. I imagine the Yon-Soth ray unhinged your mind. Let us help you. Let us restore your mind—”

  Meyers laughed, and it had a maniacal edge. “You have unwittingly aided me, Captain, by your earlier voyage and what you found. Do not seek to find me right away. I will be gone for a time. But then I shall return, and the glory of the Builders will follow. Humanity is doomed, Captain Maddox. They have been allowed this small hour. But the grossness and the pettiness of your civilization will soon be washed away in a tide of blood.”

  “Is that really you speaking, or is that the Yon-Soth in you speaking?”

  The look of purified hatred shined through her eyes once more. Then, she smiled in such a vampirish manner—a sinister and seductive thing—that it caused trepidation in Maddox’s heart.

  “I failed this round,” Meyers said. “The next, however…”

  “Sir,” Valerie said. “There’s a build-up of forces around her ship.”

  “Put it on the main screen,” Maddox snapped.

  Meyers disappeared. In her place was a corner of the Supermetals Planet and the Glorious Kent. A blue nimbus circled the hauler, and then it seemed as if a bright opening tore in the very fabric of space. Powers swirled there, and the Glorious Kent entered the rift, the rift closed, and the ancient hauler was gone.

  “What just happened?” Maddox asked.

  “That,” Ludendorff said, “is an excellent question. I suspect it will be some time before I can give you an accurate answer.”

  -88-

  Thirty-six hours later, Ludendorff concluded that the rift opening had been a superior form of jump drive. The assumption was that Lisa Meyers had gone somewhere far from the Alpha Centauri System.

  “I think it’s possible the Glorious Kent traveled a thousand light-years or so in a bound,” the professor said in a cafeteria. He ate sparingly of broccoli and beans.

  “Are you suggesting she went to the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan?” Maddox asked, nursing a beer.

  “I deem that a possibility,” the professor said, “although not necessarily likely. You saw her there at the end. She was unhinged. Who knows what she was thinking.”

  “The Yon-Soth seemed to be in her,” Maddox said, who studied Meyers in his mind’s eye.

  Ludendorff looked up from his plate. “I don’t subscribe to the transfer of souls. I’m frankly surprised you do.”

  Maddox blinked away the mind’s eye memory and considered the professor’s statement, shrugging. “Call it Yon-Soth conditioning, then. Maybe the Yon-Soth ultimately wanted her to find more of his kind and somehow programmed her to do it.”

  “That is not rigorous thinking, sir. Doctor Meyers is clearly fixated on the Builders. She has a Builder in storage, presumably. Restoring him to life, to vigor, strikes me as her more likely quest.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Maddox said. “She did tell us her objective. Why doubt her on that?”

  “Anyway, it’s out of our hands for the moment.” Ludendorff stirred the beans with his fork and abruptly pushed the plate away. “Cook knows about the location of the supermetal mine and is sending people to Alpha Centauri. We’re finished with it. Now we’re supposed to clean up this Lord Drakos Affair. I wonder if we’ll have as much success against the New Man as we did last time we tried to capture him.”

  Maddox became thoughtful. After the Glorious Kent had vanished, he’d had Galyan locate the mine on the chthonian planet. Then, a survey team had gone down and explored the facility. The mine had still been in working order, although all the storage bins had been cleaned out.

  Maddox sipped his beer. He’d neither captured nor killed Doctor Meyers. He considered her a long-term threat to the Commonwealth, but suspected it might be several years before they saw her again. She was obviously dedicated to her goal, but struck him as someone who might plan more carefully and thoroughly next time.

  Maddox took another thoughtful sip. The starship was on its way to the Vega System, and should reach Vega II—Pandora—in three days.

  He’d been reading Intelligence files on the situation, and now switched topics with Ludendorff, bringing up their next assignment. The professor didn’t have much to say on the subject, although by the end of the talk, his curiosity seemed to have been piqued.

  During the journey, Maddox, Galyan, Riker and Ludendorff all read more Intelligence data. The Adok holoimage became absorbed with the problem.

  Galyan came to Maddox several times with new ideas and possibilities. Finally, the captain sat down with Galyan and pored over critical data. They read dossiers on various people. Ludendorff joined them, and he bent his considerable intellect to the problem.

  A day out from the Vega System, Ludendorff summoned Maddox and Galyan to his science laboratory.

  “I think I have it,” Ludendorff said. “I’ve solved the puzzle.”

  “As have I,” Galyan said.

  “Nonsense,” Ludendorff said. “You’re claiming to have out-reasoned me?”

  “That would depend,” Galyan said. “When did you solve the problem?”

  “Does your answer concern Vint Diem?” Ludendorff countered.

  “Vint Diem the professional gambler,” Galyan said. “Yes. He is clearly a former Spacer adept at using his—”

  “Confound you, you pile of alien circuits and computer programming,” Ludendorff said. “When did you realize he was Lord Drakos’ Pandora agent?”

  “I do not believe that Vint Diem is,” Galyan said.

  “Ah-ha!” Ludendorff shouted. “You’re not so clever after all. Vint Diem is most certainly Drakos’ agent. That’s how Drakos is funneling masses of money into his various underworld rebellions. It’s quite obvious once you know what to look for.”

  “I must protest, Professor,” Galyan said. “Vint Diem’s operations strike me as a Spacer ploy to reintroduce themselves into a corner of Human Space.”

  “No, no,” Ludendorff said. “The operation has a New Man taint to it. It’s ultra-aggressive and uses Pandora’s function with brutal efficiency.” He turned to Maddox. “I suggest a normal Intelligence sting and kidnapping. That way, it won’t appear as if we’re trying to trap Drakos, but figure out his chief agent’s plan, and, I suppose, shut off the flow of money from Pandora to the rest of the Commonwealth.”

  “Perhaps if you start your reasoning from the beginning…” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff grinned. “It’s a good thing for you I’ve never taken up Intelligence work. I could run rings around your Brigadier and most probably around you, too.”

  “No doubt,” Maddox murmured. “Now, from the beginning…”

  “Of course,” Ludendorff said. “Pay attention, Galyan. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

  “You have my attention, Professor,” the holoimage said. “Please proceed.”

  Ludendorff did more than that. After explaining his reasoning in great depth, he produced a small tech item he’d built. He then suggested a way to carry out the assignment that would fool any New Men observers left behind as a security measure.

  “I do not believe Lord Drakos wants us to capture and question Vint Diem,” Ludendorff said. “Therefore, what I’m suggesting needs to be done subtly.”

  Maddox had been listening to Ludendorff for some time. The complexity of the mission…and that they’d missed capturing Lord Drakos last time… Maybe he would use some of Ludendorff’s suggestions once they reached the Vega System.

  -89-

  “What is that?”

  Maddox looked up to see a big security man from the main Vega Casino on Pandora staring at the analyzer beeping softly in his hands. The captain thought he’d held the analyzer in such a way that no one in the gigantic crowd would notice.

  Maddox stood in a vast chamber bigger than any sports stadium. The ceiling was fifty feet high with expensive murals everywhere showing scenes Michelangelo might have painted during the High Renaissance. Maybe ten thousand people played at the roulette, craps, blackjack tables, spinners, slots or other gambling areas.

  This was the high stakes room of the Carlota Casino on Pandora of the Vega System. It was famous throughout the Commonwealth. Here, billions of credits exchanged hands daily, enough of a percentage going to the house that the high stakes room not only paid the majority of planetary taxes, but the majority of the Vega System taxes as well.

  The ten thousand or more people were millionaires or higher. All wore expense garments, some of them outrageously so. Many had personal bodyguards, although none of the thick-necked guards were legally armed, having passed several stiff security scans to make sure.

  Instead of his Star Watch uniform, Maddox wore a black suit and tie, as he was working undercover. Victory had parked in orbit around Pandora two days ago. They were implementing ninety percent of the plan Ludendorff had suggested. Their target was Vint Diem, but they had already picked up two Vint-Diem lookalikes. Each had committed suicide and supposedly ended the trail right there.

  This time, Maddox hoped to pinpoint the real Vint Diem and render him unconscious before the man could kill himself.

  Galyan had determined the source of the kill-order in the two lookalikes—a New Man post-hypnotic command. Vint Diem definitely belonged to Lord Drakos’s secret organization. What would they find if they could interrogate the former Spacer? It must be critically sensitive information if Drakos was using post-hypnotic kill commands.

  “I asked you a question,” the security man said in a gruff voice.

  The man was big, practically hulking—he clearly outweighed Maddox and stood a trifle taller, too. The man wore a green casino security suit and had an abnormally wide face. That indicated genetic modification. The man’s face was like a block, with thin black hair, a heavy forehead and a Neanderthal-like bridge of bone over his eyes. The pupils were not normal, but like black pin-dots. If that wasn’t enough, the shoulders were massive, indicating great strength. The sausage-sized fingers looked capable of crushing the life out of an ordinary man.

  The security man reminded Maddox of Kane from long ago, a genetic experiment from the same 2-G Rouen Colony where Meta had been born and raised. That such a man questioned him now was highly suspicious. Maybe Maddox’s team hadn’t been moving as secretly as he’d thought.

  “Give me that,” the security man said, using his chin to point at the device in Maddox’s hands.

  “You mean this?” Maddox asked, holding up the analyzer. The motion was a signal.

  The small cube-shaped device was still quietly beeping. It was Ludendorff’s invention. Maddox wanted to study the readings because he’d just aimed it at the target, at the real Vint Diem, it would seem.

  “Give it now,” the security man said, taking a step nearer.

  Maddox shifted mental gears, nodding meekly while giving the man an ingratiating smile.

  Instead of mollifying the security man, his thick features tightened. “Playing tricks, eh?” the man asked. “I know all about you, Maddox.”

  The captain’s gut clenched, although nothing showed on his face. “Are you saying the game’s up?”

  “Give me that,” the man said, holding out his left hand.

  “Of course,” Maddox said. He set the analyzer, which had just stopped beeping, onto the man’s meaty outstretched palm.

  The big man looked at Maddox with surprise. “That’s it?” he asked. “No—” The man grunted as he arched up onto his toes. He began turning around—

  Maddox stepped closer yet, grabbing the outstretched wrist that held the small cube. He stopped the man from turning—it took every ounce of the captain’s strength to do so. Then he plucked the analyzer from the man’s trembling palm.

  From underneath his bony ridge of brow, the man stared at Maddox, and his mouth moved slackly as if trying to form words.

  Meta moved from behind the man. She wore an amazing dress of sparkling sequins that showed off her cleavage to great effect. She had a tiny purse made of the same sequined material. She deposited something small into the purse, clicking it shut. That something had a needle on the end, which she’d just jabbed into the back of the security agent, injecting him with a quick-acting knockout drug.

  Despite himself, the captain gazed at his wife’s wonderful butt, emphasized by her high heels, and the flash of her legs as her slit dress parted just enough to tantalize his desires.

  Then Maddox regained his poise, pocketing the analyzer, holding up the extraordinarily heavy man as the victim’s knees buckled. Despite the strain, the captain eyed the throng around him, searching for someone watching him.

  For just a second, he saw a tall individual with the long gaunt face of a New Man. The New Man must be using body paint to mask his normal golden skin.

  The instant passed as the observer blended with the crowd.

  This could get tricky. New Men thought faster than regular men did, faster even than Maddox did. Even so, they were finally closing in on the real Vint Diem. Maddox was not going to let the New Man scare him away.

  “Galyan,” Maddox whispered.

  There was a slight shimmer ahead of him. That was a nearly invisible Galyan. During the trip here, Andros had fixed the holoimage projector. Victory could once again project the Adok holoimage many thousands of kilometers.

  “Captain,” Galyan whispered.

  Maddox covered his mouth, pretending to cough as he asked, “Have you detected any New Men?”

  “I did not know I was supposed to search for New—”

  “Never mind that,” Maddox said, interrupting. “Search the high stakes room for New Men. If you find any, report to me immediately.”

  “Yes, sir,” Galyan said, pausing. “By the way, sir, I see you are holding up an unconscious man. The strain is showing on you. I think several ladies have noticed.”

  “Give me a flash.”

  “Here?”

  “Forty meters to my left. Do it now, Galyan.” Maddox spoke the last words in a pant.

  Seconds later, a newly located Galyan flashed, discharging harmless energy from his holoimage—it was another high-tech feature that Andros had repaired.

  People screamed, as the flash simulated a sonic grenade’s explosion.

  Maddox lowered the security man and walked away nonchalantly. After several steps, he glanced at Meta.

  She shook her head as she fixed her hair before a mirror attached to a column. The headshake meant no one had seen him set down the security-uniformed man.

  Maddox bit his lower lip and put a hand in a jacket pocket.

  Casino security men flowed into the flash area, calming patrons and searching for the source. Nothing more had happened after the one brilliant flare of light.

  Maddox glanced at the craps table where Vint Diem stood, holding dice. Everyone over there was still looking at the area of flash. Then someone at the table said something so the throng turned back to the green felt table, glancing at the shooter. Vint Diem grinned back at them and began shaking the dice in his right closed hand that he held just above his head.

  It was illegal to hold craps dice with both hands, as some players cheated by switching dice that way.

  Maddox slid up against a nearby column and took out the analyzer. Would it beep again? It was time to find out.

  -90-

  Maddox fiddled with the cube’s tiny controls while aiming the thing at the shooter.

  Shooter was the name for the player rolling the dice at a craps table. In this instance, the shooter—Vint Diem—was a small man with narrow shoulders and short dark hair that stood straight up as if someone had just frightened him. He wore a garish orange suit with padded shoulders and a silly orange band around his forehead. He also wore dark sunglasses that completely protected his eyes from any stray light, including from the sides.

  Vint Diem had the appearance of someone of Southeast Asian origin from Earth. Not that Vint had been born on Earth. In fact, he must have been born a Spacer.

  Many Spacers were of Southeast Asian origin. They were also small like Vint Diem. That he wore dark sunglasses like that could mean he was accustomed to wearing dark goggles. The most damning indicator that the man had been born a Spacer was that the analyzer beeped softly in Maddox’s hands.

  This time, Maddox studied the readings. Ludendorff had made the analyzer a few days ago. After looking at the readings, Maddox scanned the people moving about his general vicinity.

  No casino security-agent headed for him. No particular person that he could tell headed his way. That did not mean no one walked toward him, just that no person seemed to do so in a deliberate manner with him as the object. There were security people around the fallen man that Meta had stabbed. Several of them knelt as they examined the unconscious bruiser. Two looked up sharply, scanning people. Maybe they’d found the wound where Meta had made the jab.

  The chief security honcho—a slender man in a dark green suit—asked a question, listening to the replies from his operatives. Afterward, the chief’s eyes narrowed as he spoke into a comm unit on his cuff.

  Maddox waited to see if any of the security personnel would notice him. The big man had called him by name. If the casino knew about him… The chief honcho looked his way and made no appreciable indication that he’d noticed him. Could the chief be that good of an actor?

  Maddox decided no. So that meant… That meant the former Rouen Colony man had been working undercover for Drakos. Did the chief honcho over there realize they had a security imposter lying on the floor? It seemed quite likely.

  That would give the security people something to worry about. They would be on even higher alert, though. Since this was the high stakes room, with thousands of millionaires and billionaires in their midst, just how much higher could that alert go? Security was already tight.