The Lost Swarm by Vaughn Heppner

Author:Vaughn Heppner [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-28T22:00:00+00:00

-17-

Valerie felt better, but not ready to begin thinking about what to do with the darter. Keith had listened to the story and told her he didn’t remember a thing. He agreed that the professor was a thorough villain.

They both ate and drank. Now, they sat in Keith’s room, deciding what to do with Ludendorff.

“We should kill him,” Keith suggested.

“I’m not a murderer. Besides, the captain might need the Methuselah Man’s knowledge.”

“Don’t you think keeping him a prisoner is too dangerous for just you and me?”

“Not if we put Ludendorff in a stasis tube.”

Keith nodded. “I like the idea, but will it damage his brain if we put him in one while he has a concussion?”

“I have no idea. But he’s going in there now.”

“Let’s do it,” Keith said.

***

The two of them carrying the inert professor took some work. Finally, though, they slid the professor inside a tube and sealed it.

“Do you know how to work one of these things?” Keith asked.

“I have an idea.”

“I have one, too,” Keith said. “It may be a bad idea, though. So you have to agree to it one more time.”

Without hesitation, she nodded. There was no way she wasn’t going to do this.

“Let’s wake the professor and tell him to explain why he did this,” Keith said.

“Why? He’ll just lie.”

“That’s why we’ll tell him that if we believe him, we’ll free him. First, he’ll have to swear not to do anymore of his stunts while we’re aboard the darter.”

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked, eying Keith closely.

“No, we’ll lie straight to his face. Don’t worry. I’m not letting the ancient snake run free in here.”

Valerie smiled tiredly. “We’ll pay him back in his own coin. I like it. First, we’ll have to figure out how to operate the stasis tube. Then, we’ll wake him up.”

***

They stacked the destroyed androids in the back of the chamber, including the Keith android from the control chamber. Then, they tested the stasis-tube controls until they figured out how the machine worked.

“Say, wasn’t I naked in there?” asked Keith.

“So?”

“Pull him out. We’ll strip him like he did me.”

They did just that, pushing a naked Ludendorff into the tube afterward.

“Now we wake him,” Valerie said.

“Let’s do it.”

They used a stimulant from a medical bag. Both of them knew a stimulant might harm a man with a concussion. Neither said anything, maybe believing that if they kept quiet, it wouldn’t bother them later if the Methuselah Man suffered. After injecting the stim, they sealed the tube.

Valerie stood on one side, Keith on the other. They opened a comlink and kept a flow of fresh air going. In time, Ludendorff’s eyelids fluttered. He winced several times as if his head hurt, and his left eyelid drooped.

Valerie wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, but she felt guilty. If she’d induced brain damage… It was one thing dreaming about revenge, and another actually taking it. Did Maddox or Ludendorff feel guilty after taking revenge? She’d have to ask the captain. Probably he’d just reprimand her for asking.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.