Authors: Vaughn Heppner
The driver must
know I’m coming
.
His momentum was too much for him to stop in time.
So Maddox dropped, lying down on the floor. As he did, the air-van’s machine guns blazed. Heavy rounds shattered the walls, breaking plaster, vases, the couch, paintings, a piano and various mementos from past missions.
With his head down,
with dust, pieces of plaster and piano splinters striking his hair, Maddox fired blindly at the van. A second later, he realized how seriously outgunned he was. He could only believe he was still alive because the other had forgotten to link the machine guns with the radar.
Maddox slithered backward.
Machine gun bullets now began chewing the floor where he’d been. Spouts of destruction raced at him as the rounds tore synthi-wood flooring and the concrete underneath. He rolled frantically to the left. The flooring splintered beside him where he’d just been, slivers pelting his ribs, sticking in his skin.
Some of his famous cool began to reassert itself.
I’m dead if I don’t think
.
With deliberation, Maddox lifted the Khislack, using the targeting computer. He fixed on the van and fired three rapid shots. The titanium-jacketed rounds would easily slice through the walls, striking the van’s armored windshield. Likely, the rounds couldn’t penetrate
that immediately. He would have to hammer his way in. Maddox knew he didn’t have the luxury of time to do that. Those three shots were only an attempt to rattle the driver. He’d done it once already tonight with the tumbler. Maybe this would give him the margin he needed to escape.
After the third trigger-pull, Maddox was up and running. The machine-gun rounds had already
shattered his main door. Lowering a shoulder, Maddox smashed through the remains, cutting his naked skin.
That didn’t matter. Getting deeper into the building did. How badly did the hunter want him? The driver
must realize he had broken all kinds of alarms. If he waited around too long, the police would catch him or worse, Star Watch Intelligence.
T
here’s only one person I can speak to about this
.
As Maddox reached the inner stairwell, he knew what he had to do.
After making a report of the attack to the police and
Star Watch Intelligence, Maddox hurried to headquarters. He slept fitfully that night in an extra room, showered in the morning and ate a light meal of nuts, cheese and orange juice.
By
9:10 AM, he stood before Brigadier O’Hara’s desk.
“I just heard about the attack,”
the Iron Lady said. “Nerva moved faster than I anticipated.”
Maddox stood at attention, nodding slightly
, wearing a spare uniform he kept in his locker here.
“Sit,” O’Hara said. “You’re straining my neck making me look up at you.”
“Ma’am, I prefer to stand telling you this.”
“Tell me what?”
Maddox hesitated. This was harder than he thought. He didn’t care for extended introspection. He saved his logic for solving cases, for beating the competition. As he stood before the brigadier, he realized the Star Watch had become his family. His first family had proven to be a sham. He believed in the Star Watch, in protecting people through his actions. He was good at what he did. It gave him a purpose, something larger than himself. By speaking now, he jeopardized that. Yet, by staying silent, he possibly aided the enemy, keeping needed information to himself instead of passing it along to help the Star Watch defeat the New Men.
“Ma’am, this is…this is difficult
for me.”
“Do sit down, Captain, and dispense with the dramatics.
If you have something to say, simply say it.”
Maddox hesitated before sitting on the edge of the chair
with his back stiff.
“Ma’am, I’m not sure you should trust me.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Well, well, this is a surprise. What have you done now, Captain?”
“I have done nothing. It’s what was done to me.”
“Do you mean this latest attack?”
“No. I mean—” His lips grew numb, and he found it impossible to utter the words.
This is ridiculous. Why can’t I just come out and say it? Because I’m afraid
, he realized.
That’s funny. I’ve spent my entire life ignoring fear, showing others it is a foreign emotion to me. Yet, now I can’t tell the brigadier the truth because I’m afraid of what she’ll say
.
“If you’re quite through…” she said. “We have important matters to discuss.”
“Ma’am, I have been compromised.”
“You have?” she asked. “When?”
He actually felt lightheaded. No. This wasn’t going to happen to him. With a scowl, he concentrated before speaking slowly. “I was compromised at my conception.”
He expected her to make a soft snort of derision, to wave her hand in dismissal. Instead, her eyes seemed to light up. He wasn’t sure, but the corners of her mouth twitched as if she attempted to contain a smile. That didn’t make sense.
“Can you be more precise?” she asked.
“I was adopted,
ma’am.”
“Oh
, I see.”
“I don’t think you do. My mother barely made it to Earth on a Spacer liner.”
“You’re adopted, you say. I’m assuming you searched for your real mother.”
Maddox told O’Hara about his search, how it led to Brisbane in the
Windsor League. There, his mother’s trail had dead-ended.
“I wonder if I should inform you,
” the brigadier said, “but you’re not the only person with adopted parents.”
“Right,” he said. “But I am the only one with a New Man for a father.”
All humor, hidden or otherwise, evaporated from the brigadier’s face. The light in her eyes became hardened intensity. She sat forward, studying him.
“Why do you say such a thing?” the brigadier asked.
“Ma’am, you wondered yesterday how I could parry Caius Nerva’s viper stick stokes. I believe the answer lies in my heightened abilities.”
“I see. You’re quite proud
of yourself, are you?”
“No,
ma’am.”
“You’re not a proud man, Captain Maddox?”
He considered the question. “You are correct. I am proud to a degree. I think a good Star Watch officer should be.”
“Do you believe—?”
“Brigadier, I haven’t come here lightly. I might even say this is painful to me. I have found certain differences in myself. They are not startling, but they have given me an edge at times.”
“Why tell me
this, and why tell me now?” she asked.
“It should be obvious
,” he said. “The New Men have infiltrated our domain. After Lieutenant Noonan’s report yesterday, someone with their blood will become suspect. Before intelligence runs me down like a dog, I thought to tell you my suspicions.”
“Given your allegations to be true,
” the brigadier said, “we might lock you away.”
“Yes,” he said.
“I realize that.”
O’Hara leaned back in her chair, steepling her fingers as she studied him. “You
’re certain you’re a New Man? There are no doubts?”
“
I’m not one hundred percent certain, no. It’s simply that, given the evidence, it seems like the most logical possibility.”
“Yes, I suppose it might
, at that.” O’Hara put her hands on the desk. “Sit back, if you would. You’re making me nervous perching on your chair like that.”
Maddox slid back, placing his forearms on the rests as if he expected cuffs to appear and lock him down.
“Captain Maddox, since you feel so inclined to share your suppositions with me, I will tell you a secret few know. It has weighed heavily on me and a few others for many years now.”
She rocked slightly. “Starting t
wenty-five years ago or so, certain events began to take place that troubled a few of those in the highest ranks of the Star Watch. How old do you think I am, Captain?”
“I wouldn’t care to guess.”
“Nevertheless, do so, please.”
“
Hmm, you must be in your fifties, ma’am.”
“Which means you believe I’m in my sixties,” she said. “If you add several decades to that
number, it would be right.”
The answered surprised him.
“You’ve taken the Methuselah Treatment?”
“Just the initial procedure,” she said. “The
Star Watch cannot afford more. Besides, there are serious drawbacks to those who become too old. I am nearing my retirement age. We have decided that ninety-five should be the cutoff point.”
“I had no idea.”
“Good. That means few others will have either.”
“I also don’t understand why you would tell someone like me.”
“I’m getting to that,” O’Hara said. “I’ve been around for some time. That’s my point. I’ve seen these reports gather.”
“What reports?”
Maddox asked.
“The special ones that have made us uneasy for the last
two decades,” she said. “At first, they appeared random. Then, they coalesced into a pattern. We couldn’t see the pattern at the time, mind you, just feel it tightening around us.”
“Us,” Maddox said, “as in
the Commonwealth of Planets?”
“No. Us as in the Oikumene.
I have spoken with the top Windsor League intelligence people, although I haven’t had those conversations with my Wahhabi or Spacer counterparts. We now believe these hidden maneuvers were the work of the New Men. It is my belief that they were laying their groundwork.”
“For an invasion?” asked Maddox.
“We don’t know that part yet, but it’s possible. Let me rephrase. After the lieutenant’s story, I’d say it’s likely.”
“By ‘we,’ you mean
Star Watch Intelligence?”
“
No,” O’Hara said. “Several Windsor League officers, the highest ranks here and a few people above us.”
“Clearly, the New Men have invaded
the Oikumene,” Maddox said.
“Are they invading?
Are you sure?”
“What do you call the conquest of Odin, Horace and Parthia?”
Maddox asked.
“It could be conquest. It could be extermination. It could be assimilation.”
“What does the last part mean?”
“Let me lay my cards on the table,” the brigadier said. “
After much research, we believe the New Men are the result of genetic experiments. Nearly one hundred and sixty years ago, some colony ships from the Thomas Moore Society headed for deep space. They were peopled with utopians, those certain they could perfect humanity. Now, we can’t be sure, but the majority of us in the know believe the Thomas Moore Society colonists were the genesis to the New Men. Among the utopians was a group who wrote that the easiest way to achieve their dream was to modify man. Could they have gained the ascendency out there in the Beyond? Did they practice simple genetic selection or experiment with gene-splicing? Did they use the scientific techniques we have to produce better tomatoes or hybrid wheat and transform people?”
“I have no idea
,” Maddox said. “Why do the New Men have golden skin?”
“Maybe as a mark of their superiority?” the brigadier said, “maybe because they settled a world with a hot star.
I don’t know.”
“What d
id you mean when you said assimilation earlier?”
“Taking the conquered people and selecting those with superior genes for breeding. That is one idea. There are others more repugnant.”
“Such as?” Maddox asked.
O’Hara fixed her gaze on
him. “Maybe they place a fertilized gene-modified egg into a captive woman’s uterus. The captive becomes a breeder for the New Men, a brood mother, if you will.”
Maddox’s eyes widened. “Do you think that’s what happened to my mother?”
The brigadier shrugged.
“How can you be so calm about this?” he asked.
“Please, Captain, use your intellect. Even though you’re our youngest, you’re also our best operative. Lately, however, you have become far too emotional. I want my former star officer to reappear for duty.”
Maddox and the brigadier stared at each other for a long moment. She looked away first. Slowly, the truth dawned on him.
“You’ve known about my mother for some time,” he said. “In fact, it’s likely you covered her trail in Brisbane.”
“Likely?”
the brigadier asked.
“You did cover it.”
She nodded. “Why did we do so?”
“Because
the trail led into the Beyond,” he said. “You wanted time to figure this out. That meant you couldn’t have people going about it half-cocked, giving away the game that you knew.”
“Good. You’re thinking again. It’s about time.”
“Where in the Beyond did the trail lead?” Maddox asked.
“
That
we don’t know,” she said.
“What do you know?”
“After listening to Lieutenant Noonan’s story, it appears we didn’t prepare well enough. Oh, we have a far larger Fleet, given the level of peace before the invasion. It’s possible our enemy recognized our awareness. In fact, now I believe that is a certainty. We have battled their agents in secret, but they are impossibly clever. Yes, we’ve won a round or two, but they have outmaneuvered us time and again. Their abilities are terrifying. Some of us have begun to wonder if there’s any hope for humanity.”
“I have two questions,” Maddox said. “Why have you let me run free until now, and why are you telling me this?”
The brigadier smiled. “I’ve known about you a long time, Captain. I have championed your cause against some who seriously distrust you. We haven’t told you any of this because some among us fear you. Some doubt your loyalty, after yesterday’s story, more than ever. But this should be made clear to you. Until we actually capture a New Man and test his DNA, and then compare it to yours, we can’t know for certain that you have their blood.”
“But—”
“Your skin isn’t golden,” the brigadier said. “You have Caucasoid pigmentation and features. Yes, you have some heightened abilities. Does that mean you’re one of them?”
“It means I
’m a half-breed.”
“I don’t like the term, Captain.”
“Nevertheless—”
“Don’t mistake a possibility for an actuality
,” O’Hara said. “And even if you have half of their genetics, so what? Why does that make such a difference as far as your loyalty goes?”
Maddox
digested her words. “Tell me this then. Why did my mother’s trail lead into the Beyond? What was she running from?”
“At this point, we simply don’t know.
Therefore, you shouldn’t let possibilities bother you.”
He wanted to grab at this hope.
Maybe I’m not part New Man
. Then reality, at least as he saw it, resettled in his heart.
Yet, what other explanation is there? What has the highest probability? That I’m a half-breed: a genetic experiment that got away from the New Men
.