“Yes,” Haig said, interrupting, nodding sharply, “it is the only reason I’m not immediately ordering you into the brig. Now, answer me truthfully. Did you take Captain Becker from the max security prison?”

  “No,” Maddox said. “I did not.”

  Haig squinted at him. “You’re lying to me, sir. That is a bad idea, I assure you.”

  Maddox cleared his throat. “I don’t think there are any records that show I did any of this.”

  Haig shook his head in a quick negative, the way a hawk might. “In this case, there don’t have to be records. The logic is clear enough. You went into the facility. Lieutenant Masterson who processed you is dead due to a brain aneurysm. Captain Becker would do that sort of thing. Clearly, you used that Adok AI to help you do all this. I also have reports from General Mackinder that your pet AI has been infiltrating Star Watch computer systems. Are you our enemy, sir?”

  “I am not,” Maddox said.

  “Did you take Captain Becker?”

  After a half-beat, Maddox said, “Yes, I did.”

  “Ah. Now, we’re getting somewhere.” Haig sat back. “Why did you lie to me the first time?”

  Maddox had finished his quick assessment of the admiral. “Sir, I have a general idea as to the type of individual that is attacking and assassinating our people. I believed I could better apprehend them if I worked alone on this.”

  “I see. Are you referring to the so-called phase blips reported earlier?”

  “That is part of it, sir.”

  Haig looked off into the distance and then focused sharply on Maddox. “What if I were to say that I believed you’re onto something? What if I were to say I despise these methods you use to acquire this information?”

  “I would say, sir, that my chief concern is success. My chief concern is winning. My chief concern—”

  “All right, I’ve got the gist of what you’re saying,” Haig said, interrupting yet again. “I’ve read your brief. I know what kind of man you are. I do not agree with your methods, but there is some substance to what you say.” Haig nodded. “You have Becker. You are practicing illegal Intelligence procedures. I will give you seven days and then I’m shutting everything down. If that means destroying Victory, I will do so, Captain. Though you have done amazing things in the past, and I appreciate them, we will run Star Watch from the top. That means you will pass everything through me. I do not hate you, sir. But you will learn to obey me.”

  Maddox recalled that Admiral Haig had Humanity Manifesto Doctrine leanings. Surely, this colored his thoughts.

  “Are you listening to me, Captain?”

  “I am, sir, and I respect your position. I respect you, and I thank you for this opportunity.”

  Haig pointed at Maddox. “I have my eye on you, sir. If you succeed in uncovering this culprit, then I shall forget what you have done illegally in Antarctica. If not…that will be a different kettle of fish, I assure you.”

  “Sir, I believe I should inform you that I made a deal with Captain Becker.”

  “Oh, and what deal is that?”

  “To take him elsewhere, sir,” Maddox hedged at the last moment. He wasn’t yet sure how to deal with the new Lord High Admiral.

  “Take him elsewhere?” Haig asked. “What the hell are you talking about? Becker is going back into stasis once this is done.”

  “Sir, I made a deal with the man.”

  “Captain, I don’t care what kind of deal you made with this mind freak. Becker is going back into stasis, and that is final. Do you understand me?”

  “I do, sir.”

  Haig stared at Maddox. “Will you obey me in this?”

  “I will, sir,” Maddox lied. He would not obey this. He’d given his word to Becker, and this new Lord High Admiral, well, how would his days in Star Watch go with this stickler in charge?

  Maddox decided he would have to wait and see. He was used to running things how Cook had allowed him. Perhaps his stint as Star Watch’s man of the hour was finally coming to an end.

  Maddox shook his head. He wasn’t going to delve into that now. He had to save the planet, even if this Napoleon Complex new Lord High Admiral was in charge of Star Watch.

  “Seven days, Captain, and after that, we’re going to do things my way,” Haig said.

  “Yes, sir. I understand.”

  Haig nodded curtly. “I believe you do. You are dismissed.”

  Maddox stood, saluted, and turned sharply, heading for the door. His grandmother was no longer in charge of Intelligence. Brigadier Stokes and Admiral Cook were no longer alive. Then Maddox had an epiphany, a moment of his intuitive sense. He turned and looked again at the new Lord High Admiral.

  “What is it, Captain?”

  Maddox shook his head. “Nothing, sir. I’m sorry.” He turned and walked out of the office.

  What was the reason for the two deaths? Was the murdering enemy doing all this in a strategic sense while also striking indirectly at him? That was an interesting and troubling thought.

  Maddox hurried down the corridor. He needed to get back to Victory as fast as possible.

  -15-

  Former Captain Becker lay on his cot in the medical center aboard Victory. His brain no longer throbbed constantly, nor did his eyes blur from the pain. However, he did feel unwell. His limbs ached, and he had thrown up on three separate occasions.

  Becker hated throwing up.

  He remembered as a child when his mother used to hold his forehead with her warm palm and while calming him as he retched, spewing the contents of his breakfast or lunch into the toilet. Would a mother hold the forehead of such a freakish individual as he had become?

  I’m a bigheaded freak. I didn’t always used to be this way. I used to be handsome. Oh, if only I hadn’t crawled into that deep cave and found the Liss on Jarnevon long ago.

  That had been an awful day. He would give anything to change it, particularly the moment of his wretched discovery. Everything had followed from that.

  The hours passed sluggishly as Becker felt sorry for himself, and as the nurses came by and looked after him. His health increased, so that was something. Soon, his eyes focused again, and his brain no longer throbbed incessantly.

  Those were the positives. However, he refused to look in a mirror and see his horrid reflection. He wouldn’t be able to stand such a sight. Here was the thing: if he couldn’t stand it, how could he imagine any woman could, especially enough to love him?

  Becker desperately wanted the virile part of him back. He replayed more times than he could imagine the telepathic discussion with the Prime Saa years ago. The alien Liss mind-meld had been so smug with him, forcing him to choose between sexual or political power. Becker could still hear the horrible snip in his mind when the Liss had stolen his precious parts. Now, though, if Maddox kept his end of the bargain, he would end-run the arrogant Prime Saa. He would receive what the aliens had stolen.

  Becker yearned to read Maddox’s mind, to know which way the captain would go. But if he could read Maddox’s thoughts—

  Becker smirked as he lay on the medical cot. If I could read his mind, I’d take control of the damn starship. I’d go to this Library Planet, wherever that is. I’d have them work on me so I could regain…

  Ironically, Becker didn’t like to refer to them as testicles. That seemed too clinical. He preferred the term ‘balls,’ considering it a more virile, jock-like term.

  It was true that he was anything but a jock, but he loved to think of himself in a way the ladies loved.

  Had the Prime Saa known how much the ladies consumed his thoughts? Maybe the Liss had been needlessly cruel to him. The Prime Saa must have known. Even though he was a eunuch, even though he was a castrate, he still wanted—

  “A girl,” he told himself. “I need a woman to love, maybe many of them.”

  Becker loved watching the nurses walk past or stop to take care of him. Whenever one doted on him, he smiled. Yeah, he rifled through the woman’s life experiences. He’d see things in her memories that would make him really grin. The ugly things…he didn’t feel like looking at those recollections yet.

  Josef Becker was reading minds all right but refraining from any dominating, controlling thoughts. Then he realized he had to do this right. He’d lost track last time when working for the Prime Saa. That was the lesson there. He couldn’t let himself go. He had to win first and play second, not play first. That had been a costly error. He’d lost ten years of his life, to say nothing about the rest.

  Thus, Becker began to concentrate on Galyan. Didn’t the Adok AI run the starship? Becker caught Galyan hovering in ghost mode, watching him. Becker could even feel the ship’s sensors spying on him.

  Through telekinesis, Becker started rifling through the AI stations in the armored center of Victory. He began collecting data.

  That impressed him later. He could do more than read biological thoughts. He could master computers, too.

  I am literally godlike, as I have godlike powers in this weak body. What if…what if I could combine my wonderful, my stupendous, my frankly incredible brain with the physique of Captain Maddox or even a New Man?

  Becker considered the idea in detail as he lay upon the cot or as he sat up to drink fluids or eat bland medical food.

  What if he could find and eventually have them—whoever they needed to be—change his body the way the Liss had changed his brain? If doctors gave him a Herculean physique so that he was truly godlike, could run for hours, could bend steel with his hands and still maintain his gargantuan, his colossal brain—yes indeed. He needed a body to fit his big head. Then he wouldn’t be a mutated freak anymore. He would be a mutated Overman. He would not be a New Man. He would be an Overman. He would be beyond their small ideals of what a man really was.

  The idea took hold of Becker’s imagination and he began plotting out possibilities. That was what a real he-man did. He made things happen. With his dominating telepathy, he could take Professor Ludendorff, for instance, and force him to conceive of ways to do this.

  Unfortunately, the blasted Methuselah Man kept a silver band around his head the whole time, including when he slept. The band and box blocked his telepathy from entering the old brain.

  Becker knew, because he’d been roving through Victory with his telepathy and testing who was worth his effort and who was not. It had taken great effort of will on his part to keep from modifying Keith Maker a little. Becker wanted to turn Keith randy as hell so the ace would bother Valerie, and then she would be forced to slap him in the face to cool him down.

  That would be hilarious. Yet Becker knew he had to control his urges. That was part of his ‘win first, play second’ philosophy.

  I must be a good boy for a little while. I need to give Maddox what he wants and hope he keeps his end of the bargain. I must be ready for if he doesn’t, though. Then, I’ll strike fast and turn things around on him.

  Becker decided on an initial strategy of sweet serenity to lull them. In other words, he did what they asked him to do. He didn’t complain. When Maddox came, he gave the captain the correct noises, saying things that made suspicious Maddox happy.

  Becker understood that Maddox didn’t trust or believe him. That was okay. Becker was going to go by the numbers this time, even as he strengthened his mental domination powers. Besides, he was still sloughing off all those years in stasis.

  Can you imagine? They put me, Josef Becker—the Great One—in stasis.

  This was where Becker got clever as he derived a conclusion from all his thinking. Maybe it was seeing Maddox strut around with his powerful body, protecting his small head by a silver band and box. Perhaps it was the way Ludendorff looked at him. The Methuselah Man actually had handsome virile features and curly white chest hair showing past his open shirt, open at the top. Despite that, the Methuselah Man had a puny-sized head like all the rest.

  Yet—and here was the important point—Maddox, Ludendorff, and Meta had defeated the Prime Saa. The trio had defeated the cyber Liss mind-meld. That was amazing, considering that the Prime Saa had defeated him. The Prime Saa had toyed with and castrated him, even as it had given him monumental, domineering, telepathic power.

  Becker went back to an old idea. I’m going to find the last holdout Liss and use them. They’re going to be my backup. I’ll find any Bosk servants in this part of the Orion Arm. I just have to get off Earth. First, I have to get out of this bed and strengthen myself. Then, soon, I’ll be the Overman of the Orion Arm. They are all going to pay for pissing on me. That I solemnly swear.

  Lieutenant Masterson had paid with an aneurysm. That hadn’t been a slip up. He’d killed the urinating creep. Piss on me while I’m sleeping, will you? The universe had done that as well. Calm down, calm down, calm down, Becker told himself. You have to take it easy, my friend. Put all that in the back of your mind. Hide it. Don’t let them see the real you. Give them what they want. Remember, Maddox, Ludendorff, and Meta beat the Prime Saa. Therefore, they’re exceedingly dangerous, even if they have puny heads and tiny brains. They have innate cunning. They’re probably more venal and evil than you realize. But I’ll take care of it. I’m going to play it straight, just for now, you watch me.

  Several hours later, Maddox came by and told him the doctor said he could start hunting for the assassins.

  Becker nodded.

  After Maddox departed, Becker told himself, I have to out-wait and out-smart everyone. If I do that right this time…

  Becker fantasized about a bevy of extreme beauties catering to his every whim and loving it. He would love it, too.

  Just bide your time, buddy-boy. Bide your time before you strike out of the blue for everything.

  -16-

  Maddox was in Professor Ludendorff’s science chamber aboard Victory, conferring with the Methuselah Man.

  Ludendorff was a well-built, silver-haired, handsome fellow, tanned, with a gold chain around his neck. He must have been that way in his youth when he thought he was the ladies’ man par excellence. In truth, Ludendorff still believed he was the premier ladies’ man. He was also a gifted genius in inventing and in seeing facts and facets of things that others missed.

  Maddox was going over with Ludendorff the events that had ended in the extermination of Admiral Cook and Brigadier Stokes. It had been six days since Stokes’ death. It would seem, therefore, that the next attempt would take place within a day or two.

  Maddox and Ludendorff compared and contrasted the things they understood. That included the alien manner of the suffocation deaths, the ability of the attacker to enter Star Watch Headquarters with ease, and that the secretary had recorded the creature on her glasses. That had been a strange precaution for the late Lord High Admiral to have taken. Had old Cook sensed his coming demise?

  Abruptly, Galyan appeared in the chamber and said, “Excuse my interruption, gentlemen.”

  Ludendorff jumped and yelled. Then he swore, “I wish you wouldn’t do that, you damned AI. Don’t you know enough to knock or to send a signal so that you don’t surprise us each time?”

  “I am sorry, Professor,” Galyan said. “I did not mean to disturb you. I thought—”

  “Yes, yes,” Ludendorff said. “What did you think?”

  “Never mind,” Galyan said, as he glanced at Maddox.

  “What were you going to say?” demanded Ludendorff. “Were you going to say Maddox didn’t jump? That I’m more jumpy than the captain? He has reflexes like a cat, and yet I’m the one who’s jumpy?”

  “Calm yourself,” Maddox said. “I saw Galyan out of the corner of my eye.”

  “Oh, fine, fine,” Ludendorff said. “You’re all so wonderful, aren’t you?”

  “Professor, I can come back later,” Galyan said.

  “Never mind that,” Maddox said. “I told you not to bother us unless you had something important to tell us. Now, what is it?”

  “You are correct in your assumption, sir,” Galyan said. “I have finally discovered an overlooked report, two of them, in fact. It is regarding the remains, strange remains found in an apartment and a house.”

  “Oh,” Maddox said.

  “If you will allow me to elaborate…” Galyan said.

  “Yes, yes, of course you may elaborate,” Ludendorff said. “You made me jump. I’m sure you got your jollies off on that, you freaky little AI.”

  “Really, Professor,” Maddox said. “There’s no need to insult Galyan. He’s only doing what I asked.”

  “Oh, take his side, will you?”

  “If it’s any consolation,” Maddox said, “I would have likely jumped like you, except I saw Galyan a second before he spoke. I did start, but you must have missed it.”

  Ludendorff glared at Maddox until he threw his hands into the air. “Forget it. I’m not high-strung. It doesn’t bother me. I’m just trying to make you feel better.”

  “Of course,” Maddox said. “I understand.”

  “Well, don’t be so understanding all the time,” Ludendorff said. “Get on with it, Galyan. What do you want to tell us? My time is valuable. I can’t afford to waste it on endless chitchat.”

  Maddox wondered what was really bothering Ludendorff. This was excessive. Could Becker have tried to invade Ludendorff’s thoughts and partly succeeded despite the silver band and box? That warranted some investigation. Otherwise, Ludendorff’s complaints didn’t make sense.

  Galyan projected a holoimage graphic, showing the photographed remains of a once Berber salesman from the Atlas Mountains in North Africa, and a dancer from Stockholm in Sweden Sector.

  “These don’t look like human remains,” Ludendorff said.

  Galyan showed both holoimages side by side. Each showed crisp, almost tree-like charred remains.

  “Where were these found?” Maddox said.

  “In two different places in Lyon, France Sector,” Galyan said.

  “Say,” Ludendorff said, “Lyon isn’t that far from Geneva.”

  “There could be places much further,” Galyan said. “But there are others closer.”