“How would you know that?” Maddox asked.
Meta smirked. “Per Lomax wanted me to join him, you know?” Her features screwed up and she shook her head. “I wanted to go. It would have been the adventure of a lifetime. That’s what’s eating me up inside. I yearned to join Per Lomax. Yet, I love you. So why did I want to go with him?”
Maddox said nothing, the objective, Intelligence officer side of him overpowering his lover side.
“It’s because of what the teacher did to me on the damned star cruiser!” Meta shouted. “The teacher invaded my mind. He twisted it. I’m damaged goods. I’m untrustworthy! I’m—”
Maddox pulled Meta to her feet, hugging her. She clung to him, resting her forehead in the hollow of his throat.
Finally, she looked up. There were tears in her eyes. He touched her cheek. With a thumb, he wiped away a tear. A moment later, he pressed his lips against hers. They kissed…
When they finally parted, he held her hands as she sat on the bed. Her robe slipped open. He looked at her charms. Shyly, she pulled a hand free and closed the robe, her fingers tightening around the silk.
“I killed Sten Gorgon,” Meta said, as she stared into nowhere. “I’m…sorry I did. I knew him a little. He was always telling jokes. The professor liked him.”
“Why did you kill him?” Maddox asked quietly.
“You’re smart. You should already know the reason.”
“Maybe I do,” Maddox said.
“So tell me.”
“I’d rather hear it from you. As smart as I am, I’m wrong sometimes.”
Meta turned her head, and her words became monotone. “Right after the jump, after my heart stopped thumping and I could see normally again, I exited my room and hurried for the holding cell. The corridor lights began flickering. I heard the warning about a magnetic storm—and then the intercom system went down. I tried my comm-unit, but only got static. I knew something bad had happened so I increased my pace. That’s when I heard them.”
“Heard who?” Maddox asked.
“Sten Gorgon was telling Per Lomax things.”
Maddox’s eyes shined with interest. “Like what?” he asked.
Meta slid her gaze to Maddox before her eyes darted elsewhere. “I don’t remember what they said.”
Maddox didn’t press, but filed the information away for later.
“As I heard their voices,” Meta said, “something happened in my mind. I could feel a door opening in it. I knew I could help Per Lomax. The next thing I remember, I stood before them. Gorgon stopped short. The New Man studied my eyes. Then, the oiliest smile I’ve ever seen slid onto his face.”
Meta shivered. “I remembered the smiles Baron Chabot used to give me back on, back on…”
“The Rouen Colony,” Maddox said.
“Yes,” Meta whispered. “Because of Per Lomax’s nasty smile, the door in my mind began to close. I think Per Lomax knew that. He whispered to Gorgon. The slarn trapper went for his knife. I charged and hit him harder than I’ve ever hit anyone. Sten catapulted off his feet and slid along the floor. I knew he was dead. My fingers hurt like Hell.”
“And?” Maddox asked.
“Per Lomax told me to follow him on his quest.” Meta shook her head. “I can’t remember after that. I refused to join him. The bastard spoke words that did something to my mind. I headed back to my room. I remember weeping and arguing with myself.”
Meta stopped. She looked up with agonizing eyes. “What’s wrong with me? What did the teacher do to me on the star cruiser?”
Maddox hugged her once more as a terrible anger burned in his chest. He was going to make the New Men pay for trifling with Meta. The enemy used humans the way others used shoes or credit cards.
Her arms tightened around him.
Maddox held her for a time before releasing her, guiding her back to the bed.
Why had Gorgon helped the New Man? What had the slarn trapper told Per Lomax? Had he worked alone or had he worked in conjunction with Professor Ludendorff?
Maddox put his hands on Meta’s shoulders. “You should sleep. You’re tired. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Don’t leave.”
“I don’t want to, but I must. I need answers.”
Meta searched his eyes, finally nodding. She let her robe slide off and twisted under the covers, pulling them up to her chin.
Maddox bent down to kiss her on the forehead. Her arms burst out from under the covers, clutching his head, pulling his lips down onto hers.
“Good luck,” she whispered when he pulled free.
Maddox nodded, watching Meta close her eyes. Then, he headed for the hatch. The professor loved having his mysteries. Maddox distrusted that about the man. It was time to confront Ludendorff and find out just who he really was.
-4-
“Captain,” Riker called.
The two of them marched down the corridors toward Professor Ludendorff’s quarters, with the captain in the lead.
“Hmm,” Maddox said.
Riker hurried even with the captain. “If Gorgon aided Per Lomax, wouldn’t it stand to reason that Ludendorff knew about it?”
“So?”
“So the professor has another slarn hunter with him and two archeologists,” Riker said. “These aren’t your regular run-of-the-mill archeologists, either, but hardy survivors of Wolf Prime. A case could be made that Professor Ludendorff is one of the most dangerous men alive.”
Maddox silently agreed with that. Yet, he said, “Without the professor, Star Watch wouldn’t have Victory. Ludendorff also rid Galyan of the ancient Swarm virus and helped fix the disrupter cannon that freed the Fifth Fleet.”
“I don’t dispute any of that, sir. My point is that Gorgon was Ludendorff’s man, one of his bodyguards, if you ask me.”
“A judicious guess as to Gorgon’s real purpose,” Maddox admitted.
“So it all boils down to this, sir. If Gorgon acted under the professor’s orders, the question becomes: why would Ludendorff help Per Lomax escape?”
“That’s what we’re attempting to find out.”
“Are we, sir?”
“State your objections plainly, Sergeant. Precision is critical in these matters.”
“If Gorgon worked under orders from Ludendorff, that means the professor aided humanity’s worst enemy, one of the New Men. It could be we’re walking into a trap. Now, I’m aware you’re not worried about four suspects against the two of us. But you should be as Ludendorff is possibly more dangerous than yourself, sir.”
Maddox halted. Trust the sergeant to play the odds. Riker made good points. “Galyan,” he called.
A few seconds later, the holoimage appeared before them.
“Where are Professor Ludendorff and his three remaining assistants?” Maddox asked.
Galyan stood motionless before responding. “Each of them is in their separate quarters.”
“Those are next to each other, yes?”
“Yes,” Galyan said.
“Lock the hatches. Under no circumstances are you to open any of them except at my command.”
“It is done,” Galyan said. “The hatches are locked.”
“How is your search for Per Lomax going?” Maddox asked.
“I have gone through sixty-four percent of the hidden areas of the ship.”
“Report to me the instant you’re finished,” Maddox said.
“Yes, Captain.”
“Also, at my command—although you don’t need to appear—unlock the professor’s hatch for me.”
Galyan nodded, waiting for further instructions.
“That will be all for now,” Maddox said.
Without a sound, the alien holoimage vanished.
The two Star Watch operatives continued down the corridor.
“Why do you think Ludendorff would help a New Man escape our custody?” Riker asked.
Maddox had been wondering just that. “The professor is an enigma. I suspect the reason would be something neither of us presently expects it to be.”