Everywhere, broken fighting ’bots lay entwined with alien pincer skeletons. Clearly, it had been an epic boarding battle fought without quarter to the death.
“If you hadn’t linked with the medical creature,” Valerie told Dana, “we wouldn’t know who invaded and who had defended.”
As they began to retrace their steps, Maddox shouldered his repeater. The others had already put away theirs. It didn’t seem anything remotely alive had survived the many centuries. The starship was in effect empty, a Flying Dutchman of the space ways.
During the sweep back, they explored side hatches, possible weapon storage rooms and finally found the engine area. It was vast, with more of the dead on the floor and crusted slime on the plates.
Big broad metal-colored cylinders hummed with energy. Blue electrical currents flowed between the narrow structures on top of the cylinders. What might have been control panels to the side showed a bewildering set of Christmas lights that blinked in undecipherable sequences.
“Here is the evidence,” Meta said with awe in her voice. “The engines are running. Do you know how incredible that is?”
“Are they a type of fusion reactor?” asked Maddox.
“No,” Dana said. “That wouldn’t be my guess.”
“What would be?” asked Maddox.
“Antimatter,” the doctor declared.
“Do you agree, Meta?” asked Maddox.
“That’s far above my pay grade, Captain,” the Rouen Colony woman said.
“Supposing we can figure out how to control the vessel,” Keith said. “How do we fix the starship if she takes hits? The Commonwealth doesn’t have antimatter technology.”
“First things first,” Dana said.
“We’ve just gotten our first break,” Valerie chimed in. She was studying her device. “The air is breathable and warm enough here for us to take off our helmets. I think the engines heat this spot.”
Inside his helmet, Maddox exhaled sharply. He was the leader. He would test the lieutenant’s theory in order to make sure it was safe for the others. Reaching up to remove his helmet, he found Meta holding his arm, keeping him from it.
“Just a minute,” the Rouen Colony woman told him.
Maddox raised an eyebrow.
“Meta is right,” Dana said. “We must practice caution. Don’t do anything hasty, Captain. We’re on an alien vessel, a running starship from an era six thousand years ago. It’s reasonable to expect odd dangers. We must think through each of our steps before we try them.”
“You have a point,” Maddox said. “But if some of the basics don’t work, we’re dead anyway. This is one of them.” He shook off Meta’s restraining hand and twisted his helmet. Air hissed as he pulled off the metal. The pressure was greater in their suits than in the ship.
Maddox sniffed experimentally. The alien odors made him scowl. The chamber stank, although there was the smell of ozone mixed in that he didn’t mind. He drew a lungful through his nose, held it and exhaled. Then, he glanced at the others staring at him.
One part of Maddox wanted to drop onto the deck as if stricken. This would be the perfect moment for a joke. He refrained from that, however, smiling instead to show them everything was okay. “Let me breathe this stuff for a while. Then another of you can try it. Until then, you can watch me eat.”
He chose a packet of frozen hamburger patties. His rumbling stomach made no protest. Ripping open the fiber, he began to chew the cold hard particles.
A moment later, he heard popping noises and hisses of air as several of the others removed their helmets. Soon, the sound of chewing interrupted their search and thoughts.
Maddox had tasted better, but this was one of his most satisfying meals. He’d been ravenous.
Shortly thereafter, they began exploring again. They had to find the bridge, and then see if there was some way to figure out how to operate the starship.
It proved strange. The sentinel possessed large curving corridors that could have handled elephants. Then there was a spider web of tubular links so small Maddox’s shoulders brushed both sides as he negotiated one.
“Did the aliens have various sized individuals?” Dana asked.
“The small tubes give me claustrophobia,” Keith said.
They searched for hours, and found no evidence of a bridge or a living soul onboard.
“Now we know for a fact the vessel is fully automated,” Valerie said.
They were back in the antimatter engine chamber, breathing the tainted atmosphere.
“I keep thinking I’m forgetting something,” Dana said. “I’m so tired, though. It’s making it hard to deliberate.”
“You do look strained,” Meta told her.
Dana rubbed her eyes, saying, “Believe me, I feel it.”
“Go to sleep and regain your energy,” Meta said. “You’ve been through a lot today. We’ll keep watch.”
Dana shed the rest of her vacc-suit and wadded up an extra shirt, using it as a pillow. She closed her eyes and soon began to snore softly.
Unlimbering the repeater, Maddox took the first watch. The others, following Dana’s example, faded into slumber. The endless hours of preparation, the shuttle horror and searching through the monstrous vessel had tired everyone out.
After watching the others fall asleep, Maddox suppressed a yawn. His limbs ached with fatigue. His turn would come soon enough. Rubbing his arms, he looked around. On impulse, he approached one of the cylinders towering over him, listening to its constant thrum. Had the mixing of matter with antimatter taken place throughout the six thousand years? How had Professor Ludendorff come to his conclusion of the exact passage of time? Ha. What could this starship really do anyway? Would it be a match for the New Men? Maybe their advanced beams would cut this vessel down to size just as it had done to Admiral von Gunther’s battle group.
There were many imponderables, he realized.
Maddox turned back to his crew laid out on the floor. They’d shoved the skeletons and robots aside and brushed away the crusted slime. Gray decking showed there now. It vibrated slightly from the engines.
The captain walked back and forth to keep awake. After all this time, he had actually done it. Well, they all had. What a disparate crew: Lieutenant Noonan, Ensign Maker, Sergeant Riker, Meta and Doctor Rich. They had found the haunted star system and boarded the ancient vessel just as Brigadier O’Hara had planned. It had been a team effort, and what had it gained them and gained humanity?
So far, we haven’t helped the Commonwealth of Planets in the slightest. We have to get this relic back to Earth. Our best scientists will have to go over the artifact and see what new technologies we can reverse engineer from it.
Maddox became thoughtful. That wasn’t going to happen unless they could make this thing run under their control. Even then, it would be an iffy proposition. Could the ship enter the star’s photosphere to use the tramline? Did this craft have a Laumer Drive or something equal to one?
Stretching his back, Maddox wondered if—
He stiffened with alarm. Something small and bright darted to his right. Whirling to face it, he aimed the heavy repeater at…
A blinking spot on the deck the size of his hand slowly moved toward him. With sick fascination, he watched it near. Fear bubbled and a panicked shout nearly erupted. Horror crawled up his back—the starship wasn’t empty after all.
He looked up at the ceiling, but couldn’t spot an aperture pouring out the light. At the last moment, he heard a scape of metal against metal from behind. Maddox began to turn. Mist hissed into his face, some of which he breathed. He caught a glimpse of a metallic construct, a robot, with a nozzle aimed in his face. The mist had come from it. Maddox finally held his breath, but it was too late. The chamber spun.