Could Dravek supply him with that lack whenever he recovered? An intuitive feeling told Maddox there was a good possibility of that.

  Maddox exited the control cabin and paced up and down the short corridor. He used Velcro-soled shoes on the carpet to anchor him. There was no gravity dampener in the shuttle. Thus, it was zero-G in here. His muscles would quickly deteriorate under these conditions, especially given the length of stay in the shuttle.

  Maddox recalled finding exercise equipment in a different room. He got it out and set it up, soon practicing with bands and cables.

  For the next few weeks, Maddox used the equipment religiously as he hated the idea of losing strength or even muscle tone. The zero-G environment would sap his body fast. Thus, he spent many hours each day exercising, drinking plenty of fluids the whole while.

  He went into Dravek’s quarters and moved the man’s limbs every few hours. The clone was rapidly losing muscle tone and size lying on the cot. Dravek needed to come around soon, or it wouldn’t matter.

  The journey was tedious, but not as awful as the time with the octopedal robots upon leaving Kregen. That journey had been a nightmare, nearly driving him mad.

  Maddox tried not to think about that time too much. When he failed, he’d find himself staring at the bulkheads in a cold sweat. The best way to avoid that was to do other things to occupy his thoughts.

  That was one reason why he sat at the passive sensors for hours, studying the star system systematically. No other vessels used the red opening to enter the system. That was important, as it meant Leviathan hadn’t sent anyone through the vortex after them.

  Did the Soldiers believe their missiles had destroyed them? Or did the vortex lead to different places, randomly switching slots so to speak? Maybe the vortex had vanished. If so, what had caused it to form in the first place? Why would it have attached to the glowing red opening?

  Maddox wasn’t familiar with stellar mechanics regarding vortexes. Once more, it would have been better if Ludendorff or Andros Crank had been his companion instead of an unconscious Dravek.

  Speaking of which, the swelling welt had gone down an appreciable amount. That was good news. Maddox had used a med scan with the computer. It turned out that Dravek didn’t have a cracked skull.

  Since it appeared that Dravek would survive his injury, Maddox pondered about him more. Why had anyone made a clone of him? If he could answer that, he’d know more about his present predicament.

  The days continued to pass, and Maddox concluded someone had obviously kidnapped him. How otherwise had they—whoever they were—gained the needed ingredient to make a Maddox clone? What did he positively know? A scientist named Dravek had made the clone or helped in making the clone. Then, it seemed as if the scientist had refined the clone’s capabilities.

  What had the scientist wanted Dravek to do? Maddox didn’t know. It must have something to do with the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan.

  If that were so, had Leviathan sent operatives into the Commonwealth to kidnap him? According to Dravek, Leviathan hired or paid bounty hunters to enter the Heydell Cloud. Logically, they might have used a similar procedure in the Commonwealth.

  Maddox tried to employ his intuitive sense in this, searching for a clue or a direction of thought. His sense gave him nothing.

  He deduced two possibilities from experience and logic. There had been a bug-eyed monster once trying to kidnap him, a creature named Grutch. Why might Grutch not have tried again and succeeded? Venna the Spy of the Spacers might also have attempted such a thing.

  Would the Spacers know about Leviathan? That seemed more than possible.

  There was a third possibility: the Mastermind in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy? The Mastermind might well have sent Ardazirhos to kidnap him. Would the Mastermind have sold him to Leviathan then? That seemed unlikely. If the Mastermind were like the Cosmic Computer, he would want to deal with Maddox himself.

  The days lengthened and became deadly dull because of their increasingly repetitive nature.

  There was one point of interest. Toward the end of the first month, Maddox noticed another small trade ship headed for the terrestrial planet. This ship kept well away from the gas giant, as in tens of millions of kilometers away. Maddox hadn’t seen the ship enter the system through the red opening. It might have used a normal Laumer Point, but one near, in relative terms, to the gas giant. Interestingly, the possible pirate ship or military vessel never attempted to seize the new ship.

  Soon, the new ship was sixty million kilometers away from the gas giant as it steadily continued for the terrestrial planet.

  Except for the ship, more dull days passed. At the beginning of the fifth week, an important difference occurred. A significantly thinner Dravek opened his eyes.

  When Maddox noticed, he hurried beside the man. “Do you know who I am?”

  Dravek moved his mouth, silently saying, “Maddox.”

  “You’ve been injured,” Maddox said. “Through the vortex, we reached a star system with an inhabited planet. We’ve been traveling through the system for five weeks already.”

  A wan smile spread across Dravek’s face. He made the barest of nods.

  Maddox would have said more, adding that they were a long way from reaching safety, but Dravek’s head rolled to the side as he began to snore.

  Maddox took that as a positive sign because snoring took more energy than otherwise. Dravek’s chest rose and fell more than before.

  During the next few days, Dravek gained greater coherence and could speak for several minutes at a time. Finally, he could sit up, take food and use the bathroom facilities on his own.

  Dravek practiced getting up, but he’d find himself intensely dizzy. He passed out twice. Fortunately, each time Maddox was on hand to catch him. Thus, Dravek didn’t re-injure himself by banging his head too hard while he floated through the room.

  More days ticked by, and Maddox would sit in the control room watching the gas giant’s moons, trying to detect radiation, anything that would give him a clue as to whether that pirate vessel was still there.

  Dravek increased strength until he began to use the exercise machines in order to strengthen his depleted muscles.

  “Hurts,” he said.

  “No doubt,” Maddox said. “How’s your head feeling?”

  “Better. I can’t remember how we got here, though.”

  Maddox told him for the eighth time.

  Dravek nodded, laughing at part of the tale. He hadn’t done that before. Maybe he would remember this time.

  “Who was Dravek the scientist?” Maddox asked. He’d been dying to know. “Why were you made into a clone of me?”

  Dravek searched Maddox’s eyes. Was there wariness in the clone? “I don’t know much. The scientist did say once that I was supposed to join a spy ring at Omicron 9. Later, I think they planned to send me Earth.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “To collect information.”

  “For Leviathan?”

  “I’m sure of that,” Dravek said.

  “How did you feel about that?”

  Dravek laughed harshly. “I don’t want anyone controlling me.”

  “You mean the scientist would have inserted a coercive device?”

  “Not would have, had,” Dravek said.

  This was new information.

  “I removed it,” Dravek said.

  Maddox was impressed. “It was an outer device?”

  “Surgically implanted,” Dravek said.

  “How did you manage to remove it?”

  “It was a grim process,” Dravek said.

  His tone implied he didn’t want to talk about it. Maddox accepted that—for now.

  “I know something else,” Dravek said. “My imprinting from you didn’t fully take. That was why the scientist woke and questioned me. During the questioning, I gained greater coherence and a semblance of who I was. I dissembled until the scientist turned his back on me. By that time, he’d removed the restraints. It was a mistake on his part. I acted. From that moment I’ve been a fugitive.”

  “That’s all you remember?”

  Dravek’s eyes clouded. “Yes,” he said shortly.

  Maddox didn’t believe that in the slightest. He’d asked that to test the man. Maybe it was time to put this out in the open. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

  “Let’s reverse that question. Do you trust me?”

  Maddox rubbed his chin. “I was a captive of Leviathan and now I’m not, thanks to you. Our situation is difficult at best. But if you continue to help me, I’ll most certainly continue to help you.”

  “That’s fair enough.”

  They might have kept talking, but Dravek became drowsy and soon fell asleep.

  -10-

  After endless weeks of travel, they neared the gas giant. Maddox spent more time in the control cabin using the computer. He estimated times and distances. He also played the video showing the battle with the trader and drones. From that, he attempted to pinpoint the exact location of the hidden moon base. Did such a moon base exist, or did the pirates or military personnel live in their warship, remaining hidden behind the moon?

  Maddox checked and rechecked angles, concluding that the position the pirates had taken hid them from any direct line of sight from the planet or any satellites or probes launched from the planet—as long as the equipment didn’t travel too far from the planet. Were the pirates or military personnel taking precautions or was this mere happenstance?

  Maddox continued to study as he hunched over the console. He wished the electrical fire had never taken place, as certain functions still didn’t work. But if he was going to wish, why not for grander things? This was the situation. It was time to plan accordingly, time to—

  Maddox sat up, twisting around to stare at the hatch. His intuitive sense had just pinged. Something… Maddox’s eyes narrowed. He stood and strode for the hatch. He slowed and stopped, purposefully relaxing his shoulders. He set his face into a more pleasant mien. Only then did he continue, exiting the cabin.

  The hatch slid shut behind him. He moved to Dravek’s quarters, using Velcro attachments to navigate in the zero-gravity environment. He knocked, practicing propriety.

  “Enter,” Dravek said.

  Maddox manipulated the control. The hatch opened and he entered. Dravek was stretched out on the cot, almost as if in pain. Maddox approached, noticing the dim lighting. Something yet pinged in Maddox’s intuitive sense. Something wasn’t right. He didn’t look around, as that would indicate suspicion. He wanted to subdue any of Dravek’s suspicions to the man might give himself away.

  “How are you feeling?” Maddox asked.

  “As well as can be expected,” Dravek said.

  Maddox understood that Dravek had forced lassitude into his voice. He approached closer, with a half grin, even as he noticed the welt. It had shrunk considerably. Dravek’s color was also better than before. Indeed, the man looked positively healthy. That was a sudden recovery after weeks of injury.

  Maddox stopped from grabbing Dravek’s arm and seeing if he’d injected himself. Or seeing if there were any telltale marks from a hypogun. Instead, Maddox pulled up the chair he’d brought in weeks earlier.

  “It looks like you’re still feeling low,” Maddox said.

  “I just need to sleep. Your knock woke me.”

  Maddox didn’t get any sense Dravek was drowsy, or in any way incapacitated or dulled. In fact, he noticed the blanket. It seemed as if Dravek held a weapon under it. Was this the moment of decision?

  Intuitively, Maddox knew it was. He moved. At the same instant, so did Dravek. But the blanket hindered him. Maddox set his hand over the blanketed wrist. Dravek strained to move the arm. Maddox was astonished at the man’s strength, given his condition.

  Maddox tore away the blanket and ripped a blaster out of Dravek’s grip. He checked the setting: narrow beam lethal.

  “Well, well, well,” Maddox said. “You appear to have gotten dramatically better.” After shrinking to a degree, the welt had remained for endless weeks, seeming a permanent fixture on the forehead. Now… “The welt—how is it possible it has shrunk so quickly in so short a time? Tell me, Dravek, where did you get the medicine?”

  Dravek stared at him stony-faced.

  “Is this how it’s going to be?” Maddox asked.

  Dravek remained silent.

  “What haven’t you told me?” Maddox asked. “What has you worried?”

  “Nothing. I’ve been candid with you the entire time. The blaster—I got nervous the last few days, wondering if you really mean what you said.”

  “Go on.”

  Dravek paused and then shrugged.

  Maddox shook his head. “You’re holding out on me. You have medicine and weapons. What else do you have I don’t know about?”

  Dravek turned away. Perhaps he was thinking.

  Maddox let him. He sensed this was a pregnant moment with implications for the rest of the journey.

  Dravek looked at him. “Do you mind if I sit up?”

  “Not at all.” Remembering the scientist Dravek had once surprised, Maddox stood, moving back as he kept facing the man. Dravek still had his monofilament blade. He should have recovered it when Dravek was unconscious. He hadn’t, though. However, he was being careful about it.

  Dravek hunched as he sat on the bed, his hands down on the mattress. He looked up, grinning in a hale-good-fellow sort of way.

  “I haven’t been completely candid with you.”

  Maddox nodded.

  “I, uh, had a lot of time on my hands while you were in stasis. Much of that time, I prepared for this day, our freedom, you could say. Our spaceliner carried contraband, specifically, Leviathan weaponry. Much of that weaponry and space mobile equipment is sealed in hidden chambers aboard the shuttle.”

  “I didn’t find any.”

  “I would be shocked if you had. This is a smuggler vessel meant to maneuver through the Heydell Cloud. The spaceliner was on its normal route, if a little ahead of schedule.”

  “Meaning what?” Maddox asked.

  “Can’t you guess?”

  “I’m done guessing. I want you to level with me.”

  “I am.

  “Excellent. So this equipment we have…” Maddox raised his eyebrows.

  Dravek looked away, sighed slowly, and then looked at Maddox again. “I believe we can use the equipment against those on the moon.”

  “Do you know who they are?”

  Dravek nodded. “One of my original crew that helped me steal the spaceliner was part of their team. They’re Gnostics. They’re from a corrupt world, one could say. They live on the edge of the Heydell Cloud, or the world or star system is. Gnostics are some of the premier pirates, smugglers, kidnappers and pimps of the region.”

  “Why doesn’t Leviathan wipe them out?”

  “Why should they?” asked Dravek. “The Gnostics pay many fees and taxes to Leviathan. Sometimes, Gnostics hire out as bounty hunters for Leviathan.”

  “It appears you know more about the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan than you’ve let on.”

  “I’m afraid so. I’m afraid you were out for months in cryogenic stasis. During that time, I’ve been learning, thinking, and planning. My plans went awry because a Leviathan warship showed up. If I’d still had some of my original crew—”

  “Did you get greedy?” Maddox asked, interrupting. “Is that why they’re dead? You killed them so you could keep all the profits for yourself?”

  Dravek raised his hands palm upward as if shrugging. “I have some of your memories, remember? I don’t have all. If you have a higher code of ethics than I do, that’s your business. I’m a survivor, at least as far as I know. I suspect you are, too. It’s clear you have a few different modes of thought than me, even though we have many of the same abilities. I’m curious, why did you suddenly decide to come in at exactly this moment?”

  Maddox made a faint gesture.

  “No,” Dravek said. “It was more than a whim. You have some kind of… Do you have psionic abilities?”

  “None,” Maddox said.

  “I’m not sure I believe that.”

  Maddox shrugged. “Tell me more about the smuggling operation, about the equipment and weaponry in the secret hold. You must know we’re fast approaching the gas giant.”

  “Don’t think we’ll find any grace from the Gnostics. They’re a greedy, savage bunch. They’ll slit our throats in an instant.”

  “Meaning I can’t offer them the goodwill of the Commonwealth in trade for services rendered?”

  Dravek snorted. “As well offer that to me. It means nothing. The Commonwealth is thousands of light years away. We’re on our own, Maddox. It’s up to us to save our skins.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “Take their ship.”

  “That’s a possibility?” Maddox asked.

  “I’ve thought about it a lot. The Gnostics are clannish to the extreme. Therefore, it would be difficult for an independent mercenary to come in and take over from the inside.”

  “I understand,” Maddox said.

  “That means we have to come in guns blazing and take what we can as fast as we can.”

  Maddox raised his eyebrows. “What type of secret equipment are we talking about?”

  “Leviathan’s latest commando space tech,” Dravek said.

  “Commando?”

  “Our shuttle was always limited in its scope, more so now than ever. If we wait for the Gnostics to help us or call them, we’ll be at their mercy. We’re going to have to this commando-style.”

  “You know,” Maddox said, “the way you’re talking, I want my knife back.”

  “I’ve been wondering when you would get to that.” Dravek slid a hand under his pillow and pulled out the knife and sheath. He tossed it to Maddox. It floated in the zero-G environment.

  Maddox watched it, and he noted that Dravek watched it too closely. There was a reason for that. Did he see a glint of something on the bottom of the sheath?

  Maddox moved aside, letting knife and sheath float past until it thumped against the bulkhead. An electric buzz sounded, and a zap of lethal proportions flashed. That left a burn mark on the bulkhead.