“My protests will not mean anything, sir,” Galyan said. “Unless people keep their promises to me, I am undone.”

  Maddox sighed, shaking his head. “Don’t you understand yet? The truth is I doubt there’s a solution for you, except that you accept that the living Adoks want no part of you.”

  “Sir, I know this rationally and logically… But I so want to be reunited with them.”

  “You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” Maddox said.

  “I do not mean to, sir, but you promised.”

  “Sir,” said Sergeant Riker.

  “Yes, sergeant?” Maddox asked.

  Riker studied the captain. “Perhaps this has something to do with your family, sir.”

  “Is that true?” Galyan asked.

  Maddox frowned.

  Galyan blinked rapidly as he stared at Maddox. No doubt, he ran his personality profile on the captain. Perhaps he reached a conclusion. “I see, sir. Does this have anything to do with those on your list?”

  “What list?” Valerie asked.

  Galyan looked at Valerie and then the captain. “I am not sure the captain would care for me to elaborate.”

  “You’re correct on that score,” Maddox said.

  “Sir,” Valerie said, “if this is a personal vendetta you’re engaged in, we should know. Are you taking the most valued ship in Star Watch on a personal vendetta?”

  Maddox held himself in check. “No,” he managed to say, “but to stop horrid sex trafficking.”

  Valerie shook her head. “Could you elaborate?”

  Maddox hesitated. This was a conference meeting. Valerie had a right to ask this. He nodded. “The New Men are abducting Commonwealth women and taking them back to the Empire as wives or concubines.”

  “You’re sure the New Men are doing this?” Valerie asked.

  “Absolutely,” Maddox said. “Ural said so.”

  “And you’ve seen the evidence?”

  “No, but I trust my uncle.”

  “You have not seen the evidence?” Valerie asked.

  “I just said I didn’t.”

  “May I interrupt this discussion to make a comment?” Ludendorff said.

  “Please, Professor,” Maddox said.

  “You say we’re changing direction in order to put a stop to sex trafficking?” Ludendorff asked.

  “Yes,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff became thoughtful. “The New Men must be capturing desirable, beautiful, priceless females in order that they may breed more sons and daughters. As we now know, the New Men have changed some of their DNA. They only used to sire sons. Now, they can sire sons and daughters. Thus, I’d imagine, the New Men desire this increase in order to build their population even faster. I wonder, was there anything else your uncle told you?”

  “Could you be more precise in your insinuation?” Maddox asked.

  “You went to the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm, and from the reports I’ve read, there’s a possibility Leviathan is sending fleets and has already infiltrated the Commonwealth with spies. Is that not correct?”

  Maddox nodded.

  “I see,” Ludendorff said. “So, we may be on the verge of an inter-spiral-arm war against possibly the most dangerous government we have ever run across?”

  “Do you have a point to all this?”

  Ludendorff was slow in answering. “Was there anything your Uncle Ural told you about Leviathan?”

  Maddox squinted at Ludendorff. The Methuselah Man was playing a game of cat and mouse. He also seemed to know more than he should. Then it hit Maddox.

  “I don’t know how, but you intercepted the message from Ural.”

  “What? Me?” Ludendorff asked. “How could I possibly have done that? No one has ever intercepted a message between Long-Range Builder Comm devices.”

  Maddox stared at Ludendorff. The Methuselah Man looked back with innocence.

  “There’s an assault vessel of Leviathan parked in orbit around the Library Planet,” Maddox said.

  “I see. I see,” Ludendorff said. “That is illuminating, wouldn’t you say?”

  “In what regard?”

  “Leviathan is sending spies and scouts everywhere. They’re mapping out the territory, mapping our spiral arm. Wouldn’t they love to find local allies when they begin their attack upon the Commonwealth?”

  Maddox nodded. He understood. “I suppose you’re going to say that now is not the time to start a conflict with the New Men.”

  “Right you are, my boy, right you are. That is a precise, logical and cunning thought. Now is the time for us to mend fences with the New Men. Now is the time to gain use of their ships, if indeed we are about to enter into a war against the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan.”

  “That makes sense,” Maddox said. “But if it makes sense for us, it also makes sense for the Empire.”

  “They might not see it that way,” Ludendorff said. “The Commonwealth is between the Empire and Leviathan. Maybe the Emperor would like to see Leviathan cut us down to size. If you cause friction between our governments, Captain—”

  “Are you suggesting I turn a blind eye to the kidnapping of young ladies from the Commonwealth?” Maddox asked, interrupting.

  “I suppose that is what I’m saying. This seems like an ill-advised moment to pick a fight with the New Men. Maybe it is time to turn a blind eye, as I’ve said. We should also cement relationships with the Adoks. Perhaps if we unite them with Galyan that will go a long way to doing this.”

  “Professor, you know very well that isn’t going to happen between Galyan and the Adoks,” Maddox said.

  “You may have a point.”

  “In fact,” Maddox said, “if we push the Adoks too hard to reunite with Galyan, when that is what they fear more than anything else—”

  “Ah-ha! Hoisted on my own petard, is that what you’re saying?” asked Ludendorff. “You’ve turned my own argument against me.”

  Maddox became solemn. “Do you have any more points to make?”

  “This is a tenuous moment,” Ludendorff said. “You need to take more things into consideration than just your personal animus against whoever runs the abduction campaign.”

  “Archduke Artaxerxes Par runs it,” Maddox said.

  “Is that who?” Ludendorff said, rather too lightly, it seemed.

  “You know very well that’s who it is.”

  “Do I indeed?”

  Maddox looked away. The meeting hadn’t gone as he’d expected. The professor had a point about uniting with the New Men against Leviathan. Galyan had a point about the promise. What about Valerie’s point? He’d never been big on authority when directed against him, only when he used it on others. This writ gave him the authority to do as he wished. His father’s blood cried out to him. Was it time to mend fences with the New Men? Perhaps it was time to cauterize this piece of friction between them.

  Maddox looked up at the ceiling.

  What about the young abducted women? Did Star Watch want to sacrifice them for the so-called greater good of humanity? If Star Watch couldn’t protect those who could not protect themselves, what good was the organization? It would be a farce.

  Maddox faced the others and rapped the table with his knuckles. “Ladies, gentlemen, we’re going to change our heading. I appreciate what you’ve said, but now I ask you to do your duty, giving one hundred percent—unless anyone has an objection to that.”

  They all looked at him. No one objected outright, though Valerie looked unhappy, and Galyan? The holoimage looked tormented.

  With that, the meeting ended. Galyan disappeared. Valerie jumped up and hurried out.

  Ludendorff came around the table. “A moment, Captain, there is something I would really like to know.”

  -9-

  Meta, Andros Crank, Sergeant Riker, and Keith all left the conference chamber. Maddox sat down at the head of the table. Ludendorff sat in Meta’s vacated chair.

  “All right, Professor, how did you manage to overhear communications from the Long-Range Builder Comm device?”

  “Well, well, well,” Ludendorff said. “As you know, I’m a bit of an inventive genius.”

  “And you’re humble, too.”

  Ludendorff laughed. “It’s good to have you back with your grouchy and forthright manner. Yet, you are a liar extraordinary.”

  Maddox tensed once again. “If you’re done with such foolery, perhaps you could get to the point.”

  “My latest invention worked. I overheard enough, and you have confirmed the rest. Naturally, I could have kept this a secret, but I openly told you. Yes, an Intelligence officer of your acumen would quickly understand I’d cracked a most elegant security system.”

  “If you cracked the security, you must understand how the Builders did what they did with the devices.”

  “To a degree,” Ludendorff said.

  “Can you fashion more such devices?”

  “Not yet, not yet, but I’m working on it. Wouldn’t it be something if all our ships were installed with such long-range comm devices? My boy, I’m on the verge of great technological marvels. These last two years, while you’ve been gone, I’ve thrown myself into my old occupation. But I’ve been meaning to ask you several questions that have bothered me greatly about your tale.”

  “What I just said?” Maddox asked.

  “No, no, when you were abducted and taken to the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm, and then after you escaped into the Heydell Cloud. A few things about that perplex me. One, how did humans like us reach the Heydell Cloud? I admit the Soldiers or cybers of Leviathan are humanoid, although I don’t think they’re strictly human in the same sense we are.”

  “I don’t know about that, the Soldiers, I mean. As to your question about humans in the Heydell Cloud…” Maddox shrugged. “I don’t know the answer to that either.”

  “Come, come, my boy, you’ve got to have a better answer than that. You were there. Surely, there was a hint as to their origin.”

  Maddox just about rebuked the old goat, but then he thought, what was the point? He had enough friction with Galyan and Valerie. He didn’t need another war with Ludendorff. In the past, the Methuselah Man had often been easy to ignite. If Ludendorff was trying to be engaging…

  “There were humans behind the Yon Soth barrier on the other end of our galaxy,” Maddox said. “We know how they arrived, through the Yon Soths. There was a sleeping Yon Soth at Gath in the Heydell Cloud. Perhaps it or some of its compatriots were responsible for the humans there.”

  “An interesting proposal,” Ludendorff said. “It’s as good an answer as any. It could also be that humans are more prevalent than we suspect.”

  “That could be it,” Maddox said. “I’m more inclined to the Yon Soth thesis.”

  Ludendorff scratched a cheek, nodding. “The second question has been bothering me for some time. How were you able to speak the language of those in the Heydell Cloud? That’s astounding, and it begs comprehension—”

  “Wait a minute, Professor. That one is easier to answer. It’s in my report. If you studied it, you’d see. You probably just missed it.”

  “Me? Miss it? You must be joking.”

  “When Dravek woke me from stasis, he told me he’d inserted certain information into my brain, the chief being the language of those in the Heydell Cloud.”

  “That makes perfect sense,” Ludendorff said. “I suppose I did miss it after all. Can you speak the language still?”

  “In a pinch, I can. I haven’t tried since returning home, but I think if I hear it, I’d be able to reply in kind.”

  “Interesting, most interesting.” Ludendorff cleared his throat. “Lastly, I must know more about the Eye of Helion. In particular, where is its planet?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “But you have a rough idea?” Ludendorff asked.

  “A rough idea, I do.”

  “We must enlist the crystals in our greater cause. Surely, you can see that.”

  “The Helion crystals could be useful in some things,” Maddox admitted.

  “I’ll give you a specific example,” Ludendorff said, “the teleporting ability. We could use that power. Think of it. If we fought the ships of Leviathan, we could teleport our missiles directly into their holds just you did in the Gath System. Now, I know we’ve had teleporting machines before. There was the old Builder machine that could teleport bio matter. Do you remember when Lord Drakos sent naked New Men aboard a ship? Some of them destroyed the ship by wrecking the antimatter engine.”

  “I remember quite well,” Maddox said. “It was during the Battle of the Gomez System, where Drakos fought together with the hybrid Swarm bug Thrax Ti Ix. My uncle was there helping us.”

  “Never mind the battle,” Ludendorff said. “It was an example. These crystals of Helion obviously invented a means for teleportation. There was another teleporter behind the Yon Soth barrier.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “I remember.”

  “Is teleportation similar to the folding process we use with our fold ships?”

  “I don’t think so,” Maddox said, “because I didn’t feel any disorientation when I appeared from the Eye of Helion’s teleportation onto Gath.”

  “Splendid,” Ludendorff said. “This is confirmation. I feel as if I am on the verge of a teleporting breakthrough. I’ve been studying the possibility. Knowing others have made it work on several separate occasions from different races spurs me on.”

  “I never thought of it like that.”

  “You’re not an inventive genius.”

  “If that’s it then,” Maddox said.

  “No. I want to reaffirm the idea I broached in the meeting. Is it wise to start a fight with the New Men when Leviathan is possibly readying to attack the Commonwealth?”

  “I don’t know about wise,” Maddox said, “but I know I’m sick of the New Men starting fights with us. They kidnap our people. Who do they think they are?”

  “We know who they think they are. They think of themselves as the superior ones who do as they wish.”

  “Fine,” Maddox said. “But what good are borders if you don’t protect the people behind them?”

  “You have a point, my boy. All I’m saying is that in the clash of empires and spiral arms, sometimes it’s wiser to overlook a small cut so you can work together to forestall annihilation. It might be wiser to walk carefully concerning the abduction campaign.”

  “I understand your reasoning, Professor. Normally, I would agree with it. But with Artaxerxes Par…

  “You can’t let it go, can you?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Even if it means the destruction of the Commonwealth?” asked Ludendorff.

  “I don’t accept your givens.”

  “But if practicing your vendetta brings about the Commonwealth’s destruction—”

  “It’s not a vendetta,” Maddox said, interrupting. “It’s justice.”

  “Aha! Is that the lie you’re telling yourself?”

  Maddox drummed his fingers on the table. “I suggest you have a care how you address the issue. I appreciate your intelligence and brilliance. But sometimes—”

  “Say no more, my boy. I’ll drop it.”

  Maddox frowned, surprised by Ludendorff’s easygoing manner. In the past, the old goat would have sputtered and fumed. Now, Ludendorff smiled and tried to act gracious. Had he been gone too long? Had the two and a half years away from command changed him?

  Maddox wasn’t sure. The trouble was that Ludendorff had a point. Was it right to go after the New Men when humanity might need their help against Leviathan?

  Maddox drummed his fingers on the table and looked away. He mused for so long that the swish of the hatch and Ludendorff’s departure startled him.

  Thus, with a heavier heart than when he’d arrived at the conference chamber, Maddox departed. It was time to go to the bridge and give the order to head for the Cestus System. Was this the worst mistake of his life? Maddox scowled. He didn’t think so. And he prayed to God it was not so.

  -10-

  Lady Margaret Wold had never been more terrified in her life. With a sick knot in her stomach, she realized she had made a terrible decision. Handcuffed, she was riding on the back of an air cycle, racing over the Klondike Mountains. This was horrible. Why had she ever dreamt of knights, daring deeds and fair maidens? This was not at all how she had supposed the romances would go.

  As the ride continued and Margaret sat there helplessly, a thought came to mind: what if she hurled herself off the cycle and plummeted to her death?

  For a moment, with a harsh gleam in her eyes and thinking she could thwart Clint’s intentions—if “Clint Seasons” was even his real name—Margaret nearly acted on the impulse. But she rejected the thought after a moment’s reflection. It wasn’t her way. It wasn’t her family’s way.

  Surely, her father would rescue her. Surely, the king’s constables would find out about this. One of the space yachts would prevent the kidnappers from taking her to some hideous planet. Or would Clint bring her to a dungeon of some perverted lord who had always desired her?

  Clint told her nothing. He wore his helmet, flying fast, just above the trees, zigzagging up and down the slopes. Margaret didn’t feel airsick or motion sickness. Instead, worry and anger consumed her. How could she ever have believed Clint was noble? He was vile and evil, having deceived her.

  I’ll never let this happen to me again, she resolved. I will approach life with hardheaded realism. I will watch and wait, seizing my opportunity when it comes. What else can I do?

  Margaret pondered the dire possibilities: What if others planned to rape her? What if there were ten men waiting for their opportunity?

  The thought was so abhorrent that Margaret once again felt an urge to hurl herself off the cycle. But even stronger was a desire to retaliate against Clint. She refused to accept her fate meekly.

  However, the next few hours challenged Margaret’s determination. Fate seemed intent on cruelty. Clint didn’t head to the spaceport. Instead, he eventually circled what appeared to be an abandoned stone building. Instead of a yard, there were thick weeds with a path leading to the house.