Free The Lost Patrol by Vaughn Heppner

couldn’t let it go. “I never knew that Spacers were superstitious.”
    “We’re not,” Shu said. “We are the most rational race in Human Space, practical in the extreme. If we have developed certain of our senses that the rest of humanity has continued to let atrophy—”
    “Can you be more specific regarding the danger?” Maddox asked, hoping to nip the verbal fight in the bud.
    “You don’t really believe her, do you?” Meta said.
    “It’s not a matter of belief,” Maddox said, “but of testing a theory. Let us see what she predicts and compare it to what happens.”
    Meta glanced from Shu to Maddox before concentrating on her controls once more, bringing the shuttle closer to the hangar bay.
    “Why won’t you believe me?” Shu asked the captain.
    “Who says I don’t?”
    “You’re boarding the hauler,” the Spacer said. “I have warned you not to board it.”
    “Precisely,” Maddox said. “If this tainted evil exists, I want to find and interrogate it.”
    “That is rash,” Shu whispered.
    Maddox made a bland gesture. “I am di-far . Could you expect any less from me?”
    Shu’s brow wrinkled. “I had not thought of it that way.”
    Meta rolled her eyes, tapping the controls harder than seemed necessary. The shuttle also seemed to head down faster toward the hangar bay than seemed prudent.
    Maddox buckled in. Riker said the hauler was secure. Galyan hadn’t found any hidden agents, and the AI had used the hauler’s own security systems to run the checks. Yet, Kane had once come to Earth on a Cestus hauler. The trick would be tracking down the hidden controller in its own lair, always a dangerous prospect.
    Maddox glanced at Shu. Could she truly sense things? Was she like the Visionary? Shu had claimed a different bloodline. Did that make any difference? What could a Visionary really see anyway?
     

-11-
     
    Maddox spoke with Riker on the Marius III’s bridge. The captain had seven Marines and Meta in combat armor, along with Shu, Riker and himself in vacc suits.
    “Galyan hasn’t spotted anything unusual since the robot suddenly activated,” Riker reported.
    “What about the radiation leakage earlier?” Maddox asked.
    “Vanished,” Riker said.
    “The signature was meant to lure you here,” Shu said.
    They spoke with their visors shut, even though regular air cycled through the chamber. It might have been a needless precaution, but the captain had insisted.
    Maddox eyed the suited Shu, the open hatch and the corridor beyond. “Galyan, are you monitoring the situation?”
    “I am,” the AI said.
    “Do you sense any movement within the Marius III ?”
    “Negative.”
    “You know,” Meta said. “I rode with Kane in a hauler like this. We stayed in a hidden chamber and slipped out unnoticed in a shuttle. That was near the Xerxes System. Maybe there’s another chamber like that in the Marius .”
    “I would have discovered such a chamber,” Galyan said, “as I have full access to the hauler’s security cameras and to the Marius’s specs. There is no such hidden location in this hauler.”
    “What if the builders kept a hidden spot like that secret from the hauler’s computer?” Meta asked.
    “I can begin a full scan of the ship to double check,” Galyan said.
    “Yes,” Maddox said. “Do it.”
    “Scanning…” Galyan said, “Scanning…”
    Shu jerked around.
    Maddox noticed. So did Meta.
    “Captain!” the small Spacer said. “There is grave danger here.” She ran and then dove in front of Maddox.
    From the outside corridor, a blot of energy appeared. It sped at the captain. Shu 15 intercepted the shot with her body. The blot of force sizzled through her vacc suit, blowing a hole in it and knocking the small Spacer backward so she rolled across the deck.
    Sergeant Hank Towns reacted, opening up with his suit’s autocannon. A second later, the other Marines did likewise. Some of the shells shredded portions of corridor. A few slammed against something