How will it happen?
Until this moment, Maddox had seemed to lead a charmed life. That was pure deception, though. The captain lived dangerously. At times, Meta wondered if he sought such assignments because of the demon riding in his soul. The captain loathed his dual nature. The idea of being part of an experiment, a hybrid—
“The shuttle has landed and oxygen has returned,” Valerie said. “You can enter the hangar bay.”
Meta opened her eyes, staring at the comm-unit. “You’ll tell me the minute you hear something, good or bad, okay?”
“I’ll do that,” Valerie said.
“You promise?”
“Meta, this is me. I keep my word. I’ll tell you the minute I know something about the captain. I’m sure he’s all right.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Meta said. “You’re not sure.”
“Okay,” Valerie said, in a softer voice than before. “I’m worried just like you.”
Meta closed her eyes again. There it was. Just like her, Valerie must realize Maddox had died in the nuclear blast. He’d headed for Nerva Tower, and that had been where the heart of the explosion had occurred.
Meta opened her eyes as she slid the comm-unit into a pocket. Putting her hands on the floater, she activated it. The thing lifted off the floor. Meta opened the hatch, pushing the floater into the vast hangar bay.
A Star Watch hauler shuttle rested in the center of the chamber. It was bigger than the shuttle Maddox and Keith had left in. Those things were the workhorses of the fleet.
Meta frowned to herself. If Maddox was dead…what will I do now?
The captain had loved her…hadn’t he?
Don’t think of him as dead until you know for sure.
Meta nodded. Sometimes, she didn’t think the captain loved her enough. He liked her, certainly. The man loved to lay with her. But she didn’t feel as if Maddox needed her, couldn’t function without her. His work engaged him too heavily. He was always thinking about his mission, always plotting, planning…
He could be dead. You’re supposed to think well of the dead, not complain about them.
Maybe she was seeing Maddox as he really was for the first time. Kane had been like ice, but there had been a secret need in his eyes. The Rouen Colony man had pretended not to need her, to be impervious to her charms, but she could tell it had been otherwise.
Why didn’t I see this before?
Meta shook her head. Because the brute Kane had kidnapped her and hauled her halfway across the galaxy, that’s why. He had been a pig, always knocking her down. There hadn’t been any love in Kane, but lust, greedy desire to use her body.
I love Maddox, and he’s dead. He must be dead. No one survives a nuclear blast.
She would have to move on.
Meta sneered at herself. She was moving fast. Was it a survival mechanism? She had to protect her heart, right. She had been through so much in her life. Besides, Maddox had blown hot and cold with her. He—
The rear entry hatch lowered on the hauler-shuttle. The crew must want her to take the item back there for them. What a bunch of lazy shirkers.
Meta almost pulled out the comm-unit to ask Valerie if she’d learned anything more. What would Victory do now, what would Galyan do with Maddox dead? Would the Adok AI remain loyal to Star Watch, or had the alien computer been loyal to the person of Captain Maddox?
We’re going to need Galyan against the doomsday machine.
Meta glanced at the silver egg on the floater. Star Watch HQ had called up after the blast. They wanted the Builder egg in order to get ready for the doomsday machine. Maddox had spoken at length with Brigadier O’Hara and the Lord High Admiral. With Ludendorff’s help, Star Watch would use the egg to defeat the ancient planet-killer. At least Maddox’s last mission would have helped to save the Earth.
The former assassin peered at the object, shivering with dread. Inside the egg was a bionic Swarm creature. Was it anything like the horrible medical creature they had fought just before boarding Victory for the first time? That seemed like a lifetime ago. Now, Builder pyramids transferred her a hundred light-years in a jump, ancient drones used fusion beams just like the enemy’s star cruisers and—
Meta bit back a sob. She wasn’t going to cry yet. She didn’t even know whether Maddox was dead or not. He could have pulled off another of his miracle finishes. The microwave beam attack hadn’t killed him. Maddox had fired a missile at treacherous space marines in the Geneva Spaceport—
How many secret assaults could Maddox fight off? He must have died in Monte Carlo. How did one dodge a nuclear blast?
“I want to go home,” Meta whispered to herself. She was already sick of Earth with Maddox gone.
Embroiled in her thoughts, Meta pushed the floater up the ramp into the nearly empty cargo hold. She didn’t stop to call out. Instead, she kept walking.
Poor Maddox had played his last card. He had been good, one of the best. But in the end, he had fallen to the Methuselah People or one of the clever agents of the New Men. How was Star Watch supposed to beat a superior foe that had access to better tech?
Meta heard a whirring noise. She blinked and looked back. The ramp she’d walked up was closing.
“Hey,” she said. “I’m still in here.”
Meta looked around. The cargo hold was empty except for several big crates. The deck plate under her feet shivered. The engine had come online.
“Hey, can anyone hear me?” she shouted. “I’m still in here. You’re supposed to wait until I’m gone before you lift off.”
There was no answer.
“All right, enough of this,” Meta said to herself, scowling. She pulled out her comm-unit, using her thumb to press the ‘on’ switch. It didn’t matter because nothing happened.
Meta shook the comm-unit. “Don’t tell me the battery is dead.” She adjusted a dial.
“Hello, Meta,” a deep-voiced man said.
Meta looked up, and her jaw dropped. This couldn’t be happening.
“Kane?” she asked.
The man wore a silver suit like a blasted New Man. He had the same bulk as before with his square head and gray hair. The man was massive. She knew the futility of fighting against him hand-to-hand.
“How are you here? You’re supposed to be—” Meta spun around, sprinting for the still closing ramp. If Kane was here, the enemy was pulling a fast one. She couldn’t believe this.
A stunner purred behind her. Meta felt the bolt slam against her back. It propelled her off her feet. She thudded onto the vibrating deck plates. From on the floor, Meta watched the ramp seal shut.
“This is a delightful surprise,” Kane said in his deep voice. “I had no idea you, personally, would bring the egg.”
“What…?” she whispered. Vaguely, Meta was aware that Kane knelt beside her.
“When I saw you walking across the hangar bay floor, I asked the dominant if I could keep you. He shrugged, which means yes.”
“Kane,” she whispered. It was hard to think past the stun effect.
“The Earth is doomed,” Kane said. “Leaving with me gives you life. You have the genes of a Rouen Colony worker. We are the beginning process, Meta. For thirty years already, the Throne World has taken the weak clay of humanity and molded it into a superior form. I’ve just learned that soon, throughout Human Space, there will be more Rouen Colonies, turning out better people like you and me.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispered.
“I want you, Meta. I will have you. Oran Rva has consented to it.”
With seemingly rusted muscles, Meta turned her head. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out Kane’s square head.
“The commander of the invasion armada—”
“Is here in the shuttle,” Kane said. “You’ve brought the last component for a glorious task. If you had been an inferior, I couldn’t have kept you. Now, as my reward, I will keep you for my own. I have wanted to make love to you for some time.”