“Do we know anything about the men?” Maddox asked.

  Galyan proceeded to tell them what he’d found regarding their professional lives and their histories at school.

  “No,” Maddox said. “We’re approaching this wrong.”

  “Is that an intuitive thought, sir?” Galyan asked.

  Maddox grunted, which could have meant anything. He was staring at the holoimages of the two remains. “You’re saying these were human remains?”

  “Yes, sir,” Galyan said. “Further analysis showed that from the police forensic reports.”

  Maddox pinched his lower lip. “Tell us more about the composition of the remains.”

  Galyan’s eyelids flickered. Then he gave the composition of each, both exactly the same, it turned out.

  “How odd,” Ludendorff said. “Notice that the remains are missing water, all kinds of substances that could relate to electric processes in the body.”

  “That is interesting and possibly telling,” Galyan said.

  Maddox studied the holographic images. “You say both men died in Lyon, one in an apartment and one in a house?”

  “Yes,” Galyan said. “They also died a week apart.”

  Maddox’s head snapped up. “Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

  “I am getting to the various facts,” Galyan said.

  “Of course,” Maddox said. “Is there anything else you want to add?”

  “The police have uncovered the activities of each man the night he died,” Galyan said. “Strangely, there are records of each man having been on a dance floor of a nightclub. Let me see…”

  Once again, Galyan’s eyelids fluttered before he said, “The two danced with an extremely beautiful woman, apparently the same one.”

  “Do you have a picture of this woman?” Ludendorff said.

  “Hmm, I should have already thought of that,” Galyan said. “Let me check. I don’t have any copies. I’ll roam through the police report computers.”

  By using Victory’s sensors and devices, Galyan soon extracted photos that various cameras had taken in the nightclubs. With a wave of his fingers, he displayed the holoimage pictures on the wall.

  “Venna the Spy,” Maddox said. “I remember her from the Library Planet when we went there the first time.”

  “This is most curious,” Ludendorff said. “Venna the Spy means Spacers.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said, “Spacers.” He turned to Galyan. “That’s wonderful detective work. Venna the Spy, a phase ship, and these horrific deaths indicate Spacer Intelligence killed the Lord High Admiral and Brigadier Mike Stokes. Is Venna still on Earth?”

  “I have not seen any photos of her except from these nights and in these establishments. Let me recalculate.” Galyan searched many databanks, centering on the city of Lyon. Through an odd set of circumstances, he did not discover that Venna was asleep in an apartment complex. There were reasons for that, none of which Galyan knew. Venna had taken extreme precautions regarding security cameras except while on the dance floors.

  “No sir,” Galyan said. “There are no signs of Venna or a phase ship.”

  Maddox nodded. “If I remember correctly, and I do, Venna teleported directly from the Supreme Intelligence’s chamber on the Library Planet and fled onto a Spacer vessel. Now the Spacers have a phase ship. I believe this combo will strike again soon. I need to take Becker to Lyon and hunt for Venna there.”

  Maddox’s nostrils flared. “I congratulate you, Galyan, but I don’t want you to stop at this. I want you to scour every databank, and I want you to correlate and tell me immediately whatever you find.”

  “Even if you are in your bedroom, sir, and engaged in, ah, certain activities?”

  “Use discretion under certain circumstances,” Maddox said.

  “You can count on me, sir,” Galyan said.

  “I am counting on you. Well, Professor, what do you think about all this?”

  “That Galyan has done a splendid job as you said. Those weird remains, if I were to guess…I’d say some kind of alien energy fed off the two men. If Venna danced with them each night, I conclude she was seeking a certain type of man to use them.”

  “What type of man?” Maddox said.

  “If we knew, we would know the answer to much of this,” Ludendorff said. “Let me think. Ah. Perhaps different types of men exude different types of energy. Galyan, tell me, were either of the men noted for anything extraordinary?”

  Galyan’s eyelids flickered. “Yes, both were extraordinarily energetic.”

  “There you have it,” Ludendorff told Maddox. “I suggest the men possessed subtle differences of energy compared to others. Venna sought them out, using her beauty as a lure, at least to Spacer Intelligence way of thinking, to their useful deaths.”

  Maddox became thoughtful. “If you’re right, Venna lured them just as she did the Emperor of the New Men, and I recall my Uncle Ural saying he found her intoxicating. So then, now we know more.”

  “Should we tell Star Watch what we have discovered?” Galyan asked.

  Maddox shook his head. “They might give the game away too soon with their blundering. We want to capture Venna and the phase ship. To do that, we have to get our hands on her.”

  “Agreed,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox noticed that Ludendorff was fixated on Venna’s holographic images. Was the old goat smitten by her beauty? Ludendorff would not be the first. Venna was indeed beautiful.

  Maddox shook his head. Venna was nothing compared to his wonderful Meta. Then he had an idea. I’m going to bring Meta along. If anyone can deal with the Spacer spy, it will be Meta.

  -17-

  Maddox, Meta, and Becker came down in the tin can. They landed at an airport near Lyon and took an air taxi to the city.

  They all wore hats. Becker’s covered his abnormally large cranium. Maddox and Meta’s hats hid the silver headbands, which hummed softly.

  Meta kept a firm arm around Becker’s waist, propping him up and helping him walk. His weak muscles could not easily support his dense, oversized brain.

  Maddox didn’t want to help Becker around like that in public. Becker didn’t want that either. It was obvious by his reactions that Becker enjoyed Meta’s proximity.

  Maddox kept interrupting that joy by asking, “Do you sense anything yet? How about now?”

  “I’m searching,” Becker said, “but this takes time. I have to enter each mind and sift through the memories before I realize they are of no use.”

  Becker didn’t add that he often zipped into the mind of an exceptionally pretty girl and rifled through her most erotic memories. He enjoyed those, especially while Meta held him. That was part of the contentment on his face. If he couldn’t practice sexual enjoyment of women yet, he could at least enjoy their proximity and lewder thoughts.

  In such a manner, the trio continued through Lyon. The nightclubs would be opening soon. They would go to them at that point.

  Galyan, meanwhile, was searching all the face recognition systems, particularly centering on Lyon, France Sector. Unfortunately, Venna was anywhere but in Lyon. There was a reason for that by the name of Senior Dax.

  Earlier, Dax had spoken with Mu 11 in a subterranean chamber while aboard the phase ship. They agreed Star Watch would have found evidence that pinpointed Lyon as the key place. Thus, it was time to change the venue.

  Venna was presently in Basel, Switzerland Sector, closer to Geneva than before. Even now, dressed to kill, she was sauntering into a nightclub.

  Dax was on the surface, while Mu 11 remained underground in the phase ship. Dax had decided to watch, and if needed, run interference for Venna.

  This assassination was critical; the target was the Iron Lady, also known as Brigadier Mary O’Hara. She was Captain Maddox’s grandmother. To kill her would surely drive a dagger of anguish into the breast of Captain Maddox. It might even unhinge him. It would certainly wreck whatever combination had supported Maddox in Star Watch when added to Cook and Stokes. Perhaps others would see that if they helped Captain Maddox, they would die.

  This kill would be the accumulation of a powerful assassination assault. It would have repercussions in two spiral arms. Certainly, Star Watch would be shaken to the core by these deaths. Certainly, Maddox would lack his former verve, energy, and authority.

  From within the nightclub, Dax continued to watch Venna. He wore his senso mask, a hat, sunglasses, and a long trench coat. He sipped alcoholic drinks as he waited in the shadows. Here people danced with intensity, and men and women mingled. Drinks exchanged hands, as credit cards passed back and forth.

  Venna returned from the ladies’ room. She was marvelous, having added to herself.

  The woman’s allure stunned Dax. She wasn’t the same species as him, although he was humanoid. But he’d lost his sex organs in a terrible fire years ago. Even so, the way Venna moved magnetized eyes. She was so sinuous and supple, and sauntered in her high heels in such a seductive manner.

  From his location in back, Dax watched her track and zero in on a shorter individual. This man was not tall or lithe, but frankly a little chubby and overdressed in silky garments. Yet, there was an obvious extra vitality to him. Even though the man had a bevy of beauties around him, he grinned like a wolf as Venna sauntered near. He flicked his fat hands and made the others shoo.

  Venna finished the approach in her most provocative manner. He reached out and grasped both her hands, setting her on a high stool at the high table at which he sat. He ordered drinks, leaned across the table and spoke to her. Venna smiled, soon applying lipstick.

  Dax noted how she aimed the device at the man to see if he had the right energetic level. He must have, for Venna slipped off the stool and tugged him onto the floor. They danced. For such a pudgy, squat fellow, he moved with acrobatic grace. He didn’t match Venna, but if anyone could have, it was the squab of a man exuding vibrant energy.

  The night wore on. Dax waited. As a cyber, he had learned the real art of patience. He began to concentrate on the main door. Finally, Venna and her chub walked out the main door and entered a taxi, flittering away.

  Dax was on high alert. Should he return to the phase ship? He continued to watch and scan instead. Where was Captain Maddox? What was Star Watch doing? Why had they not discovered Venna? The assassination seemed so brazen to Dax.

  Maybe they were getting away with this because of how the Commonwealth was structured. It was so much more open and less regimented than society on Loggia or on any other planet controlled by the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. There was freedom here.

  Dax found it intoxicating.

  The cyber shook it off. He scanned, and then he left the nightclub and hurried toward a back alley. It was time to leave, time to return to the phase ship.

  Would Venna assassinate the Iron Lady? That was the pregnant question tonight.

  With that, Dax opened channels with the phase ship and teleported away.

  -18-

  Maddox stopped suddenly and felt a shiver across his shoulders. He knew the signs. That was his intuitive sense kicking in. It was odd that he should feel the intuitive sense while wearing this silver headband and box.

  “Go on a little way,” Maddox said.

  Becker and Meta stared at him.

  Then Meta nodded. “This way. Maybe you would like a drink or some other refreshment.”

  “Yes,” Becker said. “I am tired. I could use a drink.”

  Maddox watched them until the two rounded a corner and disappeared from view. He took off the headband. It was possibly a dangerous risk being this close to Becker. Maddox had worn this thing for days and nights on end.

  With it off, Maddox felt his intuitive sense more powerfully. A thunderous ping in his head let him know the Iron Lady, his grandmother, was in danger. But how or in what form of danger?

  Maddox jammed the headband back on as he felt the slightest nudge. He was sure the nudge meant Becker. He pivoted and ran after them.

  Maddox raced around the corner and up to Meta, snatching her free hand. “We have to go. Now!” he said.

  Neither questioned him. They saw his face and heard the urgency in his voice. All three ran to the edge of the street where Maddox hailed an air taxi.

  They jammed into the vehicle as Maddox shouted at the driver, “To the spaceport, hurry!”

  “What happened?” Meta said.

  Ignoring Meta, Maddox turned to Becker who sat between them. “If you try to slip into my mind again, the deal is over.”

  “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Becker stuttered.

  “You must have understood I was staying back to slip off my headband. Or maybe you just hoped I would. I felt a tendril of your thought. No! Don’t lie, Becker. Don’t lie unless you want to die here and now.”

  Becker gave Meta a pleading look, seemingly seeking comfort from her.

  She didn’t give him any.

  The taxi driver looked worried as he glanced in the rearview mirror.

  “All right,” Becker said, turning from Meta with her stoic features. “I was curious what you were doing. It was the faintest tendril, as you called it. I saw you have telepathic abilities in your own right. You’re not defenseless even without a headband.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. He pulled out a communicator. “Keith, are you ready to lift off?”

  “I can be in thirty seconds,” Keith said.

  “Fire up the fighter,” Maddox said. “We have to get up to Victory as fast as possible.”

  “C-Captain,” Becker stuttered. “I can’t use the fold function, remember? If you want me on Victory to help, I can’t do it after a fold. My brain can’t take it. I may even be worse off than the first time.”

  “I know,” Maddox said. “That’s why we’re rushing. Driver!” he shouted. “Put some speed into this.”

  The urgency and not so hidden threat in Maddox’s voice caused the driver to fly the air car faster, zooming above the designated route.

  They flashed over industrial buildings and a large park with trees, racing for the spaceport in the distance. Warning beacons spread across the path.

  “Go over them,” Maddox said.

  “Sir, the driver said. “That’s illegal. Look at the warning signs. I could be targeted and shot down.”

  “You won’t be. It’s cleared.”

  The driver twisted around to stare at Maddox. Maddox showed him a special ID. The driver stared into Maddox’s face.

  “You have clearance,” Maddox said. “This is a national emergency.”

  The driver swore in another language, squeezed his eyes shut for a second and opened them, flying over the beacons and straight onto the space field.

  Galyan had already short-circuited the security measures. No sensors locked onto the air car and thus no guns fired. There was no alarm so no armed personnel ran out to try to intercept them.

  “That one,” Maddox said, pointing.

  The driver swore again in his native tongue, landing beside the tin can, doing so with a screeching jar.

  “The new Lord High Admiral isn’t going to like this,” Meta said.

  “Screw him,” Maddox said. “I don’t care.” He ripped out several high note credit bills and pressed them against the driver’s nearest shoulder.

  The driver grabbed them, and his eyes widened in shock as he looked at them.

  Maddox was already sliding out. “Run!” he shouted.

  Maddox and Meta grabbed an upper arm each and picked Becker up as if he were a child, sprinting for the fold fighter.

  “Cradle your head,” Maddox shouted.

  Becker did so, covering it with his skinny arms.

  Maddox and Meta raced through the open hatch and thrust Becker into the nearest crash seat, securing him. Then both jumped to their seats, buckling in.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Maddox said.

  “Hang on, mates.” Keith had been clicking switches as the hatch shut with a clang.

  The fighter powered up with a purr, lifting off the tarmac and slowly starting to move forward.

  “Give it everything,” Maddox said. “We’re already out of time. Becker, is your head securely against the rest?”

  “Yes,” Becker said, who pressed his head back. “What’s happening? You’re not going to fold, are you?”

  “No folding, Mr. Maker,” Maddox said. “But we have to get to Victory now. It is utterly urgent. It could already be too late.”

  “I hear you, mate. I’m on it.”

  The fighter had already been accelerating. Now, the nose tilted upward and the afterburners kicked in. Like a rocket, the fighter roared up into the heavens, heading for Victory as it gained speed.

  Galyan appeared.

  “Go watch my grandmother,” Maddox said. “Use whatever electronic means you can if that thing should appear near her. Stop it or slow it down at least.”

  “You think the strange entity creature will go after Mary O’Hara on Victory?” Galyan said.

  “Yes!” Maddox said. “We wouldn’t be doing it this way otherwise. Now go!”

  Galyan disappeared.

  ***

  At the same time, somewhere in Basel, Switzerland Sector, Venna was already lifting the lid to her Phantasma Synth Crystal box.

  The pudgy fellow wasn’t quite as eager or energetic as the others had been regarding the box. Venna slipped off a shoulder of her gown and made a pouting kiss. That still didn’t do it. She approached him and kissed him on the mouth.

  Instead of luring him closer, the man stepped away from the box as if suspicious.

  “What’s going on?” he said. “What’s the meaning of that?”

  Venna smiled seductively.

  He eyed her more closely. “Why have you zeroed in on me, anyway? You could have had anybody. Why did you come to my table?”

  “Don’t you know why?” Venna whispered in her most seductive manner.

  “That’s what I’m trying to ascertain. I don’t like your box. There’s something off with it.”

  “Really? The crystals are an aphrodisiac. Try them. You’ll love it.”

  “They don’t look like aphrodisiacs,” he said.