Since the ion storm and sighting the fifty-kilometer mystery vessel several days ago, they had raced even faster for Earth. At Maddox’s orders, they waited a shorter duration between Laumer-Point jumps and the use of the star drive. The accelerated travel schedule had left everyone exhausted and irritable from too much Jump Lag too quickly.
Maddox stirred on his command chair. He breathed deeply, stretching his chest muscles. A minute later, he moved his jaw. It felt as if someone had punched him in the face. He might have to wait several hours before the next jump. If he felt this badly, the others must feel even worse.
Valerie had been moving sluggishly for the past few minutes. Now, she straightened, tapping her panel with greater purpose. She stared at her board for some time.
“Trouble?” Maddox asked.
Valerie swiveled around. Her eyes were red-rimmed from lack of sleep. Keith had been sick for the last few days, meaning the lieutenant had double duty.
“The professor must still have access to the AI,” Valerie said. “That’s the only way I can explain this.”
“Explain what?” Maddox asked.
The lieutenant tapped her panel. A star chart appeared on the main screen. It showed the Commonwealth Laumer-Point routes, a bewildering array of bright dots and red jump routes. Another tap against the panel took a small section of the chart, expanding it as the rest disappeared. With a quick manipulation, Valerie highlighted the Nicholas 89 System.
“We should be in this star system heading on this route.” The lieutenant highlighted a series of tramlines that led to the edge of the screen. “The path eventually leads to Earth. Instead, we’re here,” she said, tapping the panel again.
The Nicholas 89 System and star route went dim as the QV-7 System brightened on the chart.
Maddox frowned at the screen. “You’re saying we’re not in the right star system?”
“Correct,” Valerie said. “If you’ll notice, QV-7 is nine light-years from Nicholas 89 where we’re supposed to be.”
“That means we didn’t change course in one jump.”
“That’s right,” Valerie said. “We’ve be using the star drive for the last three transfers, making a three light-year jump each time.”
Maddox studied the chart. Although it was only a nine light-year difference, the direction of travel was like a right turn. The Laumer Drive tramlines from QV-7 lead away from Earth.
“Galyan had to have changed the coordinates after I entered them into the star drive for three jumps now,” Valerie said.
“The AI must have also tampered with your earlier sensor readings, too.”
“Agreed,” Valerie said.
Maddox pressed a button on the arm of his command chair. It was time to clip Ludendorff for good. “Sergeant,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Riker replied several seconds later.
Before Maddox could order the man to meet him near the professor’s quarters, the captain snatched his hand away from the control. The plate on the armrest had become unbearably hot.
“Captain!” Valerie shouted.
Maddox looked up. The lieutenant sat frozen in place, stiff and unmoving, her eyes wide with fear as she stared past him.
Maddox whirled around.
Ludendorff stood just inside the hatch. The man’s bald dome looked slick, and he panted heavily as if he’d been sprinting. He held a flat device with one hand, the other fiddling with the controls on it.
With an oath, Maddox reached for the gun under his jacket. He jerked his hand away from it. The handle was red-hot.
Maddox slid off the chair, charging Ludendorff, hoping to take him down before the professor could finish with his device.
“I’m afraid not,” Ludendorff said, tapping his gadget.
Maddox slammed into an invisible force field, his face striking against it. The field tightened, wrapping around him. The invisible web against his face disappeared, however, allowing him to breathe. But he was trapped, at the mercy of Ludendorff. The same thing must have just happened to Valerie.
“Don’t be alarmed, Captain,” the professor said smoothly. “This is a mere precaution. I can’t allow you to shoot me, after all.”
Maddox’s mind churned. Galyan must have been allowing the professor to monitor them. The older man looked winded. He must have burst out of his quarters once he realized Valerie had discovered the flight deception.
“This is alarming,” Maddox said in an even voice. “First, you freed Per Lomax several days ago. I put you in confinement, which you’ve apparently rejected. Now you’ve hijacked Victory. What I don’t understand is why you helped us during the Battle of the Tannish System. It’s clear you’re an enemy agent, a deep plant.”
“Your conclusion is quite wrong,” Ludendorff said. “I don’t fault you for that, as you’re unaware of the greatest danger to humanity in a millennium. I’d hoped to forestall the problem on the sly. I truly hate taking direct action like this. But, now I’m afraid I must.”
“You’re claiming there’s something worse than the New Men?” Maddox asked.
“Oh, much worse, I assure you.”
Maddox considered that. “And it has something to do with the ghostly vessel Valerie and I saw in the ion storm several days ago?”
“Oh, yes, quite,” the professor said.
“You’re admitting, then, that you timed the starship’s appearance with the ion storm, freed Per Lomax and sent the New Man to it in the jumpfighter?”
“Yes,” Ludendorff said. “I freely admit it. I had a key of great antiquity. I gave it to the New Man, which allowed him entry to the doomsday machine.”
“You gave our enemy a doomsday machine?” Maddox asked.
“Of course not,” Ludendorff said. “It was a one-way mission with no hope of return. Per Lomax would gain entry to the control chamber and turn off the machine. Doing so, though, would cost him his life.”
Maddox studied the professor, trying to determine if the man was mad. “Why would Per Lomax turn off this doomsday device for you? Why not take control of it?”
“Not for me,” Ludendorff said, “but for his people, for the Throne World and maybe even the race of New Men.”
“Here we go again. You want to help our enemy?”
“I don’t want to commit genocide against them,” Ludendorff said. “But that’s neither here nor there at the moment. The planet-killer is…is beyond our science. Shutting it off was the easiest expedient.”
“Doomsday machine, planet-killer,” Maddox said. “Why do you call it that? It was a big ship, I grant you. What you’re suggesting…”
Ludendorff looked away. After a time, he moved farther onto the bridge, past Maddox.
The captain strained to move but found it impossible, leaving him winded. The invisible web was strong. He managed to crane his neck, though. The professor laid an unconscious lieutenant onto the deck plates.
“What did you do to her?” Maddox demanded.
“Don’t fret. I merely used a property of the web field to put her to sleep. She’s fine. And this is better all the way around, believe me. I don’t want to have to scrub her mind later so she forgets what she heard.”
Scrub her mind. Ludendorff had used the term before, referring to what the teacher had done to Meta aboard the star cruiser in Wolf Prime orbit.
Ludendorff sat down in the command chair, facing Maddox.
“You have questions,” the professor said. “I understand. Let me explain concisely and quickly to save us time. The planet-killer you saw in the ion storm has already destroyed all life in the New Arabia System. That means it has destroyed the home system of the Wahhabi Caliphate. I believe the machine has also been set to destroy the capitals of the Windsor League and the Solar System, specifically, Earth.”
Maddox struggled to understand. “You said Per Lomax attempted to turn off the planet-killer. Who turned it on?”