The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) (25 page)

“But then you might be…” Keith didn’t finish his thought.

Maddox did it for him. “Then I might be half New Man, is what you were going to say.”

“I suppose it was. And look at you, sir. You’re better than the rest of us at everything.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Isn’t it?” Keith asked. “Is that an honest answer, sir?”

“Ludendorff is a genius. I can’t do what he can.”

“So our very best regular human can match you. That doesn’t mean much for the regular person.”

“You pilot a jumpfighter better than I do. Doctor Rich—”

“I shouldn’t have said anything, sir. I just keep remembering how you came into my bar in Glasgow over a year ago. You intimidated my people. Remember how I called you a tiger and my bone-breakers junkyard dogs?”

“I remember,” Maddox said.
Why had Dana gone and shot her mouth off?

“I was closer to the truth than I realized, sir.”

It was time to put an end to Maker’s line of reasoning. They had to work together, meaning his people had to trust him.

“Second Lieutenant,” Maddox said. “If you hate me because of what I am, I can’t do anything about that. I didn’t have any say in my birth. I was born just as you were, only I never knew my mother or father. I made do in the world, just like you. I play the cards I’ve been dealt, just like you. We fight under the Star Watch banner together. I want freedom for everyone. What do you want?”

“To get out of here and stretch my legs on a planet,” Keith said.

“I’d agree to that.”

“After that, I want to beat these New Men.”

“Then don’t pick a fight with me or hold a grudge.” Maddox said. “We’re on the same side. Worry about what happens with the New Men after we win the war. Until that time, staying alive will probably engage all your resources and mine as well.”

“Aye, that’s good advice. I hope you don’t hold my words against me, sir.”

“You’re being honest, Mr. Maker. I like honest. It lets me know where I stand.”

“I like honest too, sir.”

Maddox was tired of the topic and tired of Keith’s hints. He hated this part of himself. He didn’t want to be half New Man. He didn’t want to be a genetic freak, created in a gene lab. But if that’s what he was…well, he would use it to defeat the enemy. First things first had always seemed like the best advice in the world.

I’m sick of having all this time to think. I want to get down onto Wolf Prime and start doing. The ace is right about that
.

“It’s time to use another fold,” Keith said.

“Then I’d better wake Dana,” Maddox said. “Just a minute.”

***

Twelve hours later, the jumpfighter neared its destination of Wolf Prime. They only needed to use the fold one more time to get there.

Far away in the outer system, the star cruisers closed in on the Laumer-Point. The ancient starship still increased velocity. The enemy vessels were braking. Soon, the star cruisers would be within beam range of
Victory
.

“Why doesn’t Galyan use his star drive?” Dana asked. She was crouched in the aisle, staring up at the screen.

“He’s cutting it close,” Maddox said.

“That’s foolish,” Dana said.

“I don’t know,” Keith said. “It’s giving us more time before the star cruisers head back to us.”

Dana’s features were pinched. “I feel like I should be thinking of something. It’s out there orbiting my consciousness, but I can’t bring the thought close enough to articulate. There’s something not right here. I can feel it.”

“I’m switching views,” Keith said, tapping a control.

The star cruisers disappeared as the screen showed Wolf Prime again. The planet was a white world full of ice and snow, with ninety-eight percent the Earth’s mass. A few miners down there dug for thorite, a strange substance with similar qualities to the weed found deep in New Australia’s oceans that was used to manufacture the Methuselah Treatment. The Methuselah People hadn’t truly begun exploiting thorite, though. Wolf Prime was a frontier world in more ways than one.

The first mine had been sunk less than ten years ago. The conditions on the surface made it a hell world. Opening new mines was incredibly daunting. There was another group of pioneers on the surface, slarn trappers. The vicious slarns made it a precarious existence. The fur was the most luxurious in the Commonwealth, better than scientifically manufactured thermal clothes. On many worlds, slarn furs were the highest status symbols a person could wear. It took hardy trappers to go after the vicious snow beasts, men who liked a challenge and wanted riches in a relatively short time.

Despite the trappers crisscrossing the icy planet and the newly opened mines, Wolf Prime only possessed a single spaceport with five known towns.

As Maddox thought about it, controlling the miners should have been an easy proposition for the New Men. The trappers were another breed. They roved over the surface in their ice-haulers and lived in igloo-like constructions. Many trappers spent a year or more collecting furs before heading to the spaceport to sell.

There was one other group, the smallest of all. Men and women funded from scientific communities had come to Wolf Prime as archeologists. The ice world had a reputation of holding the most alien artifacts in the Commonwealth. Most of those artifacts were etchings in deep underground caves. The second most plentiful were strange ceramic tools that made no sense to anyone as far as function.

Back on Earth, Maddox had read up on everything he could about Wolf Prime in Star Watch Intelligence files. The snow world had a few communication satellites in orbit, but that was it. Wolf Prime didn’t have any defensive hardware. Instead, it had tough citizens trying to turn a credit at some of the hardest jobs out there.

Wolf Prime also had some of the worst storms of any planet where humans lived in the open. Freak winds meant it was dangerous to use aircraft. Sometimes, it was too treacherous for shuttles or rockets to land. Most travel down there occurred the old-fashioned way, across the surface on foot or in a tracked vehicle.

Why then would the New Men have orbited the world with five star cruisers? There was a reason. Could it have been simply to catch
Victory
? Maddox wondered about that.

“Let’s get started,” Keith said.

The ace’s words jolted Maddox out of his reverie. Keith took out another hypo and injected himself with a second Baxter-Locke shot.

The small man flexed his right hand several times. “Repeated injections doesn’t feel so good,” he said.

“We’re all crying for you,” Dana said.

Keith chose to ignore the remark. Instead, something on his panel flashed red. “Let’s look at the Laumer-Point another time.”

Wolf Prime disappeared from the screen. In its place was a bright dot. The computer had enhanced the jump point. Five red triangles headed for it. A big blue triangle was farther away from the Laumer-Point. Suddenly, the blue point flashed several times. Then, it disappeared.

Keith laughed. “Looks like Galyan finally got nervous.
Victory
jumped out of danger.”

Maddox heaved a sigh of relief. He’d been getting worried. One never knew what trick the New Men had up their collective sleeve.

“Are you ready for our last fold?” Keith asked the others.

Neither Maddox nor Dana answered.

“Right,” Keith said. “Here we go.”

Soon, the engine roared, and the process struck as it had too many times already this voyage.

When Maddox’s vision returned, he saw Wolf Prime. The planet filled the screen. They were closer to it than the L5 Lagrange Point around Earth.

“I don’t know how long we’re going to have down there,” Keith said. “It will depend on whether any star cruisers return.”

“Some will,” Maddox said. “We should figure on it happening.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Keith said. “So, I’ll wait to brake until we’re even closer to the planet. That should mask our exhaust from them in the outer system.”

“Sounds right,” Maddox said. “Dana, if you can communicate with Ludendorff, now is the time to try.”

She opened a briefcase and took out a bulky communicator. “The professor is one of the most paranoid people I know,” Dana said. “Since the New Men have been here, he might suspect they’ve captured me and forced me tell them everything I know. He might not answer even if he knows it’s me.”

“I understand,” Maddox said.

Dana switched on the communicator. “I’m using a scrambled code, but who knows. It’s more than possible the New Men can crack it.” With her thumb, she depressed a switch, “Athena calling Zeus. We have the albatross to fly the ancient mariner to a new land.”

“You’re Athena?” Maddox asked.

“Hatched from the brow of Zeus, as the professor would like to say,” Dana said with a laugh.

She depressed the comm switch again, repeating the phrase. Nothing happened. No one answered.

“Do it again,” Maddox said.

“It’s no good,” Dana said.

“He could be on the other side of the planet,” Keith said.

“Try one more time,” Maddox said. “If you look over there,” he told Keith, “you can see that at least one of the communication satellites is still up. Maybe he can hear us on the other side.”

“What if the New Men left something on the surface to track incoming messages?” Dana asked. “Ludendorff might know about it, and we’re walking into a trap.”

Maddox thought about that. Finally, he nodded. “You’re right. We’re going to have to find him the hard way now.”

“It’s time to brake,” Keith said. The planet was growing larger by the second, the clouds and visible continents beginning to take on texture.

“Right,” Maddox said. “Do it.”

The ace maneuvered the tin can so its exhaust port aimed at the planet. “This is going to get rough for a while.”

The Gs slammed Maddox against his acceleration seat. The captain looked over at Dana. Her screwed-up features said it all.

“Hello,” Keith said, his voice rising. “This isn’t good.”

Maddox looked up at the screen. He saw it right away. A spaceship appeared from around the edge of Wolf Prime. That would imply the craft had waited on the other side of the planet. At almost the same moment, a second ship appeared.

“What are those?” Maddox asked.

“Increasing magnification,” Keith said. The image shifted, and Keith cursed profoundly.

Maddox’s eyes widened. Those were star cruisers, two of them. He recognized the triangular shape. Had their calls down to the planet given them away?

“But we saw all the star cruisers leave orbit,” Dana objected. “Five star cruisers headed to the Laumer-Point. Were there
more
New Men here all along?”

“Maybe,” Maddox said. “Or maybe they used decoys as they headed out-system, only going with three but making it seem like five.”

“But that means—” Keith said.

“That they saw us from the very first,” Maddox said, interrupting. “Galyan was right. We thought to outmaneuver them. It’s clear, the New Men have tricked us into showing our hand.”

“Emergency maneuvers!” Keith shouted. “Hang on, mates. This is going to get even rougher.”

The engine whined at full throttle.

“Hurry,” Dana said. “Use the fold! Move!”

“I’m building up power as fast as I can,” Keith said. “It’s still going to take a few seconds to start.”

Maddox didn’t think they were going to get those seconds. Even as the jumpfighter revved to make a fold, a sensor growled, indicating enemy radar lock-on. A second later, a beam speared at them from the nearest star cruiser.

-25-

The world went white for Maddox, an intense brightness that seemed to burn out his vision. Then the grossness of folded space struck. The captain groaned, feeling as if someone clawed out his insides.

From some place far away, a klaxon blared. It seemed as if an age passed. Then the sound increased until it pulsated with noise, with incredible immediacy. It told Maddox he was still alive, unless the afterlife was weirdly like the one he’d just left in a beam blast. Human shouts penetrated his consciousness, but he had no idea what they meant or why.

For a time, Maddox endured the loud pain. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and the worst headache of his life put splotches before his vision.

“He’s conscious.” That sounded like Dana Rich.

“We barely made it, sir.”

“He can’t understand you,” Dana said.

“What’s wrong with him?” Keith asked.

“It doesn’t matter. Can you get away or get us onto the planet?”

“I’ll have to use another fold,” Keith said. “And I need to bleed off velocity first. We’re moving too fast to land anywhere yet.”

“Then do it!” Dana shouted.

“Right you are, love,” Keith said.

Maddox sat in his seat. By degrees, he realized he was in a jumpfighter above Wolf Prime. Why weren’t the star cruisers firing at them? That didn’t make sense. The New Men had targeted the tin can. They should be dead. He—

G forces slammed Maddox against the chair. It made his head split open so the gray matter squirted out—at least, it felt as if that had happened. Maddox reached up, half-expecting to feel an axe-head embedded there.

“Sir,” Dana said.

Maddox shook his head, and groaned. The pain…he doubled over and vomited on himself. It was disgusting.

The vomiting helped, though. It reduced the headache to a throbbing migraine. He could see a bit more. That meant the splotches had diminished in size. The inside of his mouth felt vile.

“Drink this,” Dana said.

Maddox felt a bottle shoved into his right hand. He raised the bottle, squirting water into his mouth. He gulped and gulped more. He must be dehydrated. So, he kept on drinking until all he squeezed was air.

Wolf Prime jiggled before him on the screen. Maddox tried to understand what that meant.

“The star cruisers…” the captain whispered.

“A beam struck us as we folded,” Dana said. “It burned out some systems, but we’re still alive.”

“We used a fold?” Maddox asked.

“Right through the planet,” Dana said. “Keith took a leaf out of your tactical book.”

Maddox tried to absorb the words. Oh, right, what he had done against the New Men out in the Beyond. Only, he had jumped through a star, not just a planet. Still, that made sense why they had survived. The star cruisers would have to circle the planet to reach them.

“How long until they reappear?” Maddox asked.

“Get ready,” Keith said, hitting a switch. “We’re jumping through the planet again, going where they’re leaving. If we do this right, they won’t know what we did for a while.”

The agony started all over again for Maddox. He thrashed in his seat. He was done with spaceships and folds of any sort. He wanted to remain an Intelligence officer on Earth. Forget these kinds of adventures. No more, never again.

“I’ve finally bled off enough velocity,” Keith said. “We’re going down this time.”

“A jump?” Maddox asked in a pained voice.

“I doubt my tin can will ever fold space again,” Keith said. “The sequencer is burned out. If we get down onto the surface, we’ll be stranded there until we find another ride up.”

“I have it!” Dana shouted.

“What?” Maddox said.

“I’ve been calling again,” she said. “Ludendorff just answered.”

“By voice?” Maddox asked.

“By implication,” the doctor said. She read out planetary coordinates. “He sent them by Morse code.”

“How do you know it’s him?”

“It is, I know it,” Dana said. “Can you land there?” she shouted at Keith.

“We’re about to find out,” the ace said as he made course adjustments.

The jumpfighter headed down toward the atmosphere at an angle. The star cruisers would eventually make another orbital circuit, searching for them. The question was, who would win the race. If they could get down in time, could they hide from the enemy?

“This reminds me of Loki Prime!” Keith shouted. “Those were the good old days, eh, sir?

No
, Maddox thought to himself. The good old days were back on Earth as he trailed enemy spies.

“Are we headed for Ludendorff?” Dana asked.

“I put in the coordinates,” Keith said. The highest clouds seemed to rush toward them. “Now, hang on, mates, this is the test.”

The tin can struck the upper atmosphere, and the jumpfighter began to shake. The idea of using a space fold to get down onto the surface had been thrown out the window. They would have to fly down in a craft never meant to do that.

“Do we have gravity chutes?” Dana shouted.

“We have one around us,” Keith said. “I don’t know if the cabin can carry the weight of all three of us. There’s another problem, though. It’s frigid down there. How do we survive out in the open, sir?”

“We have to hope Ludendorff reaches us,” Dana said.

The jumpfighter went down, plunging faster than the tin can could take. The shaking became ominous. Then an explosion occurred in the back of the machine. Flames roared into life. They could hear them past the bulkhead.

That snapped Maddox out of his delirium. Reality sharpened. “Brake as much as you can,” he said.

“Glad to have you all the way back, sir,” Dana said.

Maddox ignored her, focusing on the problem. The shaking made it almost impossible to talk.

Keith used all his considerable skill. The screen blurred, but it showed the expanding world in a shivering panorama. The stars had disappeared.

Another interior explosion produced electrical smoke that floated through the cabin. The acrid smell stung Maddox’s nose. He began to cough. So did Dana and then Keith.

“It’s no good,” the ace said. “The jumpfighter is going critical. We have to bail.”

“Can we use the gravity chute from this height?” Dana asked.

Keith slapped a switch, but nothing happened other than the worst rattling in Maddox’s life. The pilot struggled up from his seat, grabbed a lever in the ceiling with both hands and pulled. The lever wouldn’t move.

“Help me!” Keith shouted.

Maddox unbuckled, stood and tried to help. The shaking threw him against a bulkhead so he crashed hard against his shoulder. Gritting his teeth, Maddox pushed off and lunged at the lever, grabbing it in passing. With a hard yank, the captain moved it a centimeter.

“More!” Keith roared.

Tightening his hold, Maddox pulled one more time, with the ace helping him. The lever moved all the way.

“Buckle in!” Keith screamed. “Buckle in!”

Maddox fell back into his seat. The belts flopped like angry eels. Grabbing them, he clicked them together. Then he grabbed Dana, yanking her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and held on.

At that moment, metal grinded and smoke poured into the compartment. The sound of shrieking titanium dominated everything. The compartment broke through the jumpfighter, shedding useless material. The engine no longer screamed. There was just the cabin, a gravity chute now, plunging toward the planetary surface.

“Well?” Maddox shouted. “Now what happens?”

“We’re headed down in a controlled descent,” Keith yelled back. “We just might make it, mate. This is our luckiest day ever.”

Even as the ace said that, another explosion made the cabin shudder. The entire compartment flipped. Dana screamed. Maddox tightened his hold. If he let go of the doctor, she would fly around inside the cabin, likely breaking bones or possibly killing herself.

The rotating worsened, becoming spinning, faster and faster. The increasing G forces began draining the blood from Maddox’s brain. His eyelids fluttered, and his grip weakened.

“No,” he whispered.

The captain heard the strangest thing of all then. A man sang in a strong voice. A moment later, Maddox realized Keith Maker belted out a drinking song. Maybe the ace did it to give himself courage. As Keith sang, his hands roved over his smoking controls.

More explosions occurred. They sounded as if they came from outside the cabin. Incredibly, the spinning lessened and the G forces became endurable. What had Maker done? Something to counteract the cabin’s spinning?

Maddox’s brain throbbed, but he tightened his hold around Doctor Rich. The cabin rotated slowly, finally stopping altogether as they plunged upside-down toward the surface.

“Turn us over!” Maddox shouted. “Use the gravity chute to do it.”

“It’s burned out!” Keith yelled back. “I used it to stop the spinning. Now, it’s a pile of junk.”

“We’re plunging toward the surface.” Maddox said. “We’ll crumble as we hit.”

“Listen to me, sir!” Keith shouted. “We’re going to have to eject. The chairs have parachutes, old-fashioned ones that will slow our decent so we’re floating.”

“Will the parachutes work in the freezing cold? What if there’s a storm?”

“If, if,” Keith shouted. “You have to don your thermals in here. So does Dana. If you can grab your rifle case, all the better. We’re not going to survive if we’re not warm enough. You have ten seconds, sir. No, make that nine.”

“Dana?” Maddox shouted. “I’m getting up, so you must grab the seat.”

As Maddox squirmed, the doctor shifted and took a death grip on the chair. In those few seconds, Maddox moved with controlled fury and precision. He had do this right the first time, as he wouldn’t get another chance. As the cabin plunged toward the surface upside-down, Maddox ripped open the suitcase and donned his thermal wear, tucking his boots inside the heavy jacket. He grabbed Dana’s case, but didn’t have time to get his rifle. In the last second, he put on his frost mask, which covered his mouth and nose, and he slid on a pair of antiglare goggles.

Maddox had no idea how he managed to buckle back onto the seat. He put the straps over the doctor so they were like one.

“Hold onto the case,” he shouted into her ear.

Dana did before screwing her eyes shut.

“Now!” Keith shouted. “I’m ejecting us now.”

While grinding his teeth together, Maddox readied himself. A violent explosion tore open the cabin’s canopy. With a boom, Maddox’s seat rocketed downward, propelled at the approaching surface. The cabin was supposed to be aimed up. Under normal conditions, the rocket shot would have easily thrown them clear of the falling object. Now, they roared down ahead of the cabin. Would it plunge against the parachutes?

The seat swayed as they aimed at the planet upside-down. Fortunately, a computer program ignited a blast, righting them. Maddox craned his head up to see the situation. The cabin broke apart into several large pieces. Some of those pieces appeared to fall straight down at the chair.

At that moment, white fabric burst free. It blossomed overhead, filling with frigid air. A thunderous clap and a jerk told Maddox the parachute slowed their descent.

The captain kept staring up at the “silk” waiting for junk to tear through it.

The compartment pieces flashed past uncomfortably near. Maddox watched them gain terminal velocity. Nothing so far had ripped through the parachute.

His headphones crackled. Maddox thought he heard words, but he wasn’t sure. An impulse caused him to look far to his right. He saw a seat and parachute. Second Lieutenant Maker waved to him.

“I’m f-freezing,” Dana said past chattering teeth.

Maddox rubbed her vigorously. She hadn’t been able to don her thermals, or put on her frost mask or goggles. Everything was in the suitcase. Until the chair landed, she would have to endure the cold.

Maddox was afraid she might freeze to death, so he kept rubbing, trying to use friction to give her a modicum of heat. He wanted to tell her not to breathe too deeply. Sometimes, in the coldest winds, there were ice crystals that would quickly destroy one’s lungs.

The bitter cold descent lasted too long. Maddox tightened his hood and made sure not to stare at the star. The Wolf star shined too brightly in the heavens, although it failed to give sufficient warmth. The sunlight reflected off the white surface below. In some places, the snow reflected with a multi-chromatic color.

“Keep your eyes shut,” Maddox shouted into Dana’s ear.

The seat jerked, causing Maddox to look up. The fabric overhead looked sodden or maybe it had begun to ice up. Would the parachutes hold long enough for them to land?

The next several minutes were marked with anticipation. To the right, an icy blue surface faded into the distance. It must be a frozen lake. Skeletal trees—a forest of them—were to the left. They had sponge-like growths and would be incredibly hard. In the short summer, which came every third year—the shortest part of a highly elliptical orbit and nearest the star—the sponges would become soft.