“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ran Doo added quickly.

  Grutch paid particular attention to Maddox’s facial features, noting each tiny muscle twitch or tightening. He also noticed how the human’s eyebrows did not move. Given enough observation and analysis and Grutch would be able to tell what the hybrid freak was thinking just by looking at him.

  “You know very well what I’m talking about,” Maddox said. “But it doesn’t matter. Drop your cloak and prepare for boarding.”

  “I think not,” Ran Doo said.

  “You see our ship approaching, yes?” asked Maddox.

  Ran Doo’s head twitched. “I cannot allow you or any of your personnel to land on my vessel. That is strictly forbidden.”

  “Forbidden by whom?” Maddox asked.

  Ran Doo stared at him even as perspiration broke out on his narrow face. “Never you mind,” the commander said robotically.

  “I do mind,” Maddox said. “And the boarding is going to happen no matter what you do.”

  “It won’t, though, as I will self-destruct before such an event happens.”

  Maddox leaned back against his command chair, eyeing Ran Doo. “You prefer death instead of capture?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand, then.”

  “Neither do I,” said Ran Doo, as he massaged his narrow forehead.

  “Are you feeling ill?” Maddox asked.

  Ran Doo lowered his hand. “I’m not. My head hurts is all.”

  “One moment please.” Maddox swiveled his chair and spoke to someone off-screen. Several seconds passed before Maddox turned back to Ran Doo. “You were saying?”

  “What?”

  From the teardrop-shaped ship, Grutch became curious. What had Maddox just done? The captain had clearly spoken to someone off-screen. The question was, who?

  Grutch activated a new sensor. It pinged. Two eyestalks swung around to check the new sensor as two tentacles tapped the device. Then, Grutch’s entire gelatinous form shifted so all the eyestalks studied the sensor reading.

  It appeared something—not someone—had transferred from Victory to the cloaked vessel. This something moved throughout the saucer.

  No, no, this would not do at all.

  Grutch used all his tentacles. They lashed and tapped, manipulated and adjusted. This was not making sense. Then, the answer appeared as Grutch saw a nearly invisible holoimage of an Adok floating through a corridor in the cloaked saucer.

  “Clever,” Grutch said to himself.

  Two eyestalks went back to other devices, which meant that two tentacles did so as well.

  A Morag could divide its mind and thus attention at the same time, truly multitasking. This was critical as a solitary mercenary for hire.

  Grutch sent a pulse of negative holo-energy from his hidden teardrop-shaped ship, interrupting the process that allowed the Adok holoimage to range upon the cloaked saucer.

  Grutch then ceased all vision and all movement as he contemplated the situation. In this instance, his eyestalks and orbs pulled into the gelatinous form as a slug or snail on Earth might do. This allowed a Morag to concentrate more fully.

  Did Maddox know that he, Grutch, had employed Spacers as a cat’s-paw? By his words, the captain already suspected Spacer interference. What would happen if the genetic hybrid came to the right conclusion?

  No, no, Maddox couldn’t possibly reach the right conclusion. Grutch didn’t think any of his kind had interacted with Commonwealth humans before, just with Spacers in a distant part of the Orion Arm.

  Once more, Maddox’s people hailed the cloaked vessel.

  Grutch came to a sudden decision. He reactivated his sensory input as the eyestalks reappeared and lengthened. A tentacle also snaked to a button, which the tip pressed.

  A signal left the teardrop-shaped vessel.

  Seconds later, the cloaked saucer detonated violently, killing the hypnotically controlled crew and destroying the ship. The detonation caused the particles of the former ship and crew to head at speed toward the nearby atmosphere. The particles would burn into ash while descending, erasing any damning evidence.

  Grutch was unhappy with the action forced upon him. It was always something, wasn’t it? Still, he’d learned much in these few moments, and it was likely he would learn more before he made his move. Yes, he would need to know much more before that.

  The eyestalks lowered toward his bulk, while three of the four tentacle tips rubbed against each other. The operation was in motion. His target—

  You are worth many bars of tellurium to me, Captain Maddox. I will collect. You can be sure of that.

  Still, Grutch needed to know more about the Adok holoimage. Something about that troubled him. Even so, his entire bulk shivered with anticipation. Afterward, Grutch settled down to a long period of observation.

  -11-

  As Starship Victory approached the planet Balder III, Maddox, Professor Ludendorff and Galyan sat in one of the cafeterias. The two humans sipped coffee. Galyan floated at his edge of the table, waiting.

  Professor Ludendorff was a Methuselah Man, a good-looking tanned fellow with a gold chain around his throat and a hairy white chest. The first three buttons of his hunting shirt were undone to help reveal his rugged chest. He had thick white hair, bluff leathery features and intense blue eyes. The professor considered himself as the greatest of lady’s men, which wasn’t completely unfounded, as he’d had considerable success with the opposite sex throughout his long life.

  The professor held a computer slate as he re-watched the cloaked saucer’s explosion. It was interesting that the explosion hadn’t spread outward, but seemed shaped, exploding toward the planetary atmosphere. That meant there had only been minimal damage to the nearest Crowder ships in low orbit.

  Shaking his head, the professor set the slate onto the table and verbally related his insight.

  “I hadn’t realized that,” Maddox said. “Shaped—but by what? No wonder there was so little disruption to the nearby ships. Did the saucer people do that on—?”

  “I already know your question,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “I doubt the Spacers cared a fig about the Crowder ships. Consider. By blowing all the particles at the atmosphere, it conveniently burned them up. That hid whatever they desired hidden.”

  “Agreed,” Maddox said a moment later.

  “My holographic imager has never failed before this,” Galyan said. He was referring to the severing of the projector beam, his holoimage abruptly ceasing to glide through the saucer-ship’s corridors. Galyan had run a diagnostic on the imager or holo-projector and hadn’t found anything wrong to cause it to stop functioning as it had. That had proven very disconcerting to the ancient AI.

  “Nonsense,” Ludendorff told him. “The imager most certainly has failed before.”

  “Not without some specific cause. I can find no cause…yet,” Galyan said.

  “I suppose that’s true,” Ludendorff said. “Are you sure there wasn’t some kind of outside interference? Perhaps the star pulsed with greater radiation, overloading the beam.”

  “I checked that,” Galyan said. “The star has remained steady-state in every sense since we arrived. I detect nothing to cause the severing. The linkage simply ceased.”

  “Never mind about the imager,” Maddox said testily, perhaps annoyed at the professor interrupting him. “Why did the Spacer detonate his saucer? We weren’t in position to board yet. Ran Doo hadn’t really started to object, not forcefully. It was a premature detonation, suicide without purpose, as if he wanted to die, and that doesn’t make sense.”

  “Are we sure they really were Spacers?” Ludendorff asked.

  “Galyan saw enough evidence to indicate Spacer construction of the saucer,” Maddox said. “And Ran Doo kept squinting as if it was too bright on his bridge, as if he usually wore eye protection, Spacer goggles.”

  “I don’t disagree with any of that,” Ludendorff said. “But what’s really wrong, my boy? You’re more upset than seems reasonable for you. Is something else the matter?”

  “You don’t think a saucer self-destructing isn’t a good enough reason for me being upset?” asked Maddox.

  “In truth,” Ludendorff said, “I do not.”

  Maddox made a sharp gesture with his left hand. “If you must know, I don’t understand how the Spacers came to be here.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Ludendorff said. “They came to be here the same way as always. They flew into position.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” Maddox said. “Why would Spacers be out here at this time? Were they smugglers? Why self-destruct, then? Why not at least try to bribe us first? Besides, how would they have learned about the Crowder people so quickly?”

  “We’ve been back in the Commonwealth for over a year already,” Ludendorff said. “Surely that’s enough time for the Spacers to learn about the Crowder people. I think it’s more than enough time. Besides, Spacers worked for Meyers back in the Crowder System. The workers might have reported back to the others.”

  Maddox shook his head. He wasn’t making himself clear, which proved he was irritated.

  “Is this unease due to your intuitive sense?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I feel something off,” Maddox admitted. “But it’s more that it doesn’t make sense that a Spacer vessel should be here, especially if it was waiting for us.”

  “This is curious,” Galyan said. “Has your intuitive unease anything to do with my imager failing?”

  Maddox turned to Galyan as surprise filled him. “Now that you mention it… Yes. That does bother me. It failed at just the wrong time. Or the right time for someone else. That’s a good insight, Galyan. Thank you for mentioning it.”

  “It is my pleasure,” Galyan said.

  “I don’t understand why the imager failing should matter,” Ludendorff said.

  “I’m not talking about understanding,” Maddox said. “I don’t understand why it should either. But it’s definitely a gut feeling. The imager failing…” Maddox frowned.

  “Is it anything you can share?” Ludendorff asked.

  While still frowning, Maddox touched his coffee cup, moving it so the handle squarely faced him. “Something about this feels like a setup. How and why, I don’t know. It just does.”

  “Are you suggesting we were meant to find the cloaked vessel?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I don’t know about that,” Maddox said. “I’m taking about our greater assignment at Balder. That feels like a setup.”

  Ludendorff pondered that as he sipped his coffee. “Now that you mention it…it is strange to use Victory for such a task. What do you think, Galyan? Have you detected anything or anyone attempting to manipulate us?”

  “No,” Galyan said.

  “Have you found anything wrong with the imager to cause it to malfunction as it did?” Ludendorff asked.

  “No.”

  “Could it have simply quit?”

  “I do not believe that,” Galyan said.

  “I don’t either,” Ludendorff admitted.

  “What are you suggesting?” Maddox asked.

  “The obvious,” Ludendorff said. “When you put all these things together, it feels as if we’re facing outside interference.”

  “We didn’t detect anything,” Maddox said.

  “Nevertheless,” Ludendorff said. “It was there. Logic points to outside interference.”

  Maddox frowned at his coffee cup. He looked up suddenly. “The outside interference…might be why the saucer detonated too soon.”

  “Ah,” Ludendorff said. “I think you’re onto something.”

  “If we’re right about this,” Maddox said, “and I’m beginning to think we are, whoever is doing this has objectively superior technology—the simplest reason why we’re not detecting anything.”

  “Yes,” Ludendorff said. “That’s a reasonable correlation to our givens. I congratulate you on your logical analysis, sir.”

  Maddox picked up his coffee cup, but he didn’t drink. “Could our unknown assailants be Ardazirhos?”

  The Ardazirhos had fought against them while they’d been in the Crowder System last mission. The Ardazirhos were center galaxy aliens with access to advanced technology.

  “That’s a reasonable guess,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox shook his head. He didn’t want to deal with the wolves again. He wasn’t particularly frightened of the Ardazirhos, but their ability to shift or cross great stellar distances was daunting. Still…

  “It makes sense then concerning the Crowder people,” Maddox said. “Ardazirhos know them and us from last mission, and from the mission before that.”

  “But Ardazirhos do not explain the Spacers being here,” Ludendorff said.

  “Unless in their wanderings,” Maddox said, “the Spacers ran across the Ardazirhos.”

  “Reasonable,” Ludendorff said. “So, what’s our plan?”

  Maddox set down the coffee cup. What could they do differently knowing what they knew now, as little as it was? He wasn’t sure. “Well, for one thing, we do the job we came to do,” Maddox said. “The Lord High Admiral thinks you and I hold a special place in the combined Crowder hearts. Cook may be right—”

  “Normal people would worship us as heroes,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “We saved them. But these are Crowder folk. I remember back in the Crowder System when we readied for the black hole to appear. You told me about endless stabbings, chokings, poisonings and gunshots in the armada as the Crowder people jockeyed and murdered each other for higher rank or to keep their rank.”

  “I remember,” Maddox said.

  “Now, though,” Ludendorff said, “you’re here to free the kidnapped Crowder leaders and apprehend those responsible, and find out if the representatives hired criminal elements on Earth to capture your family and you?”

  “Your point?”

  “The Crowder people asking Star Watch’s help to free their leaders sounds preposterous. The leaders—the kidnappers would have killed them and taken their place. That would be normal Crowder practice.”

  “I’m aware of the dichotomy of the situation.”

  “It’s a setup, don’t you see?” Ludendorff said.

  “That seems more than possible, yes.”

  “So why attempt it?”

  Maddox said nothing.

  “I see,” Ludendorff said. “You have an ulterior motive.”

  “For the moment,” Maddox said.

  “And the representatives we have aboard, will you use the direct approach with them?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “You’re not just letting them go free then?”

  “No…” Maddox said. “Not just yet.”

  “With the possibility of Ardazirhos, this has turned into a maddening and puzzling problem,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox didn’t reply, but he silently agreed. It was always harder fighting someone you couldn’t see than someone you could. He stood abruptly. “Gentlemen.” Then, he turned and headed for the exit.

  -12-

  The first order of business for Maddox was a meeting via screen with Superior Tudor Anne Crawley.

  Superior Tudor was a title, the way Caesar had once been the name and then title for Roman emperors after the death of Julius Caesar and the ascension of Octavian who’d become Augustus Caesar. Long ago, a Yon Soth had hijacked a boatload of English people, the crew and passengers deposited on Crowder III. At that time, a Tudor had been king of England, or “Albion.”

  Anne Crawley wasn’t the leader of the Crowder people, although she’d taken the role as the highest ranked naval person in the system. She’d ratified the choices of representatives to go to Earth, and she now wished to complain on several fronts to Maddox.

  The captain stood before his chair on Victory’s bridge, facing the main screen. On it, seated in an ornate chair behind a huge desk was a shriveled old woman: Anne Crawley as she sat aboard the fifty-five million-ton Dreadnought Poseidon.

  Crawley had gray hair in a bun, wrinkled skin and piercing dark eyes like some tiny avian predator. Despite her feeble appearance, she was a dangerous old woman, a Crowder climber who had clawed her way to the present post, and had kept it so far from assassins and other killers seeking to dethrone her from the exalted position.

  “Now you’re the Lord High Admiral’s representative to us?” Crawley asked in a shrill voice.

  “It depends on the situation,” Maddox said. He didn’t remember Anne Crawley, and for good reason. She’d reached her exalted position after Maddox had left the Crowder Armada and gone to Earth. That was one of the things with Crowder leadership: it could change suddenly and drastically with the thrust of a knife or shot from a gun. “For normal affairs,” Maddox added, “the Star Watch flotilla admiral at the Laumer Point—”

  “Don’t talk to me about that time-server,” Crawley sneered, interrupting Maddox. “The admiral sits far from us, terrified to have any human contact with us.”

  “I believe those were his explicit orders, ma’am.”

  “Do you know why?” Crawley demanded.

  “Of course,” Maddox said. “The orders came about from my recommendations.”

  “Oh? You have it in for us, Captain?”

  “Not in the least,” Maddox said. “I’m well acquainted with Crowder ways and traditions, and know that you are worthy friends and deadly adversaries. The Lord High Admiral wishes peace between our peoples. He thus wishes to forestall any incidents between us that could cause premature bad blood.”

  “Such as the flotilla admiral’s death by assassination?”

  “Exactly,” Maddox said. “We in the Commonwealth don’t adhere to Crowder philosophies concerning fitness and how it’s tested.”

  “I doubt that’s true,” Crawley said. “We’re just more open and honest about the competition of life.”

  Maddox inclined his head.

  “In any case,” Crawley said. “That isn’t why I’ve summoned you.”

  “Excuse me, ma’am,” Maddox said. “You requested an audience with me. And as I have the best interests of Crowder society at heart—the reason I aided you two years ago—I decided to grant the interview.”