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me you must believe what you’re saying. Otherwise, I would take it as a silly hoax.”
    “Let us be frank, Professor. Gorgon couldn’t have timed Victory’s appearance near a spatial anomaly. I suspect you did all this so Per Lomax could board the ghostly vessel.”
    “You should explain what you mean,” Ludendorff said. “I can make nothing of these strange allegations. What ghostly vessel are you referring to?”
    Maddox gave the professor a quick rundown of the magnetic storm, the ghostly vessel, the hole, the last pulse and the jumpfighter winking brightly near the strange craft before it disappeared.
    “You have me at a grave disadvantage,” Ludendorff said. “These things are fantastic and inexplicable. I can do many things, but I am not a techno-wizard able to conjure explanations out of the air.”
    Maddox decided to try one more time. “Why did Gorgon free Per Lomax?”
    “I have no inkling, Captain. The idea seems as preposterous as your shots against me.”
    “You’re lying.”
    Ludendorff scowled thunderously. “You young pup ! I demand an immediate apology. How dare you accuse me so slanderously, especially after stunning me twice?”
    “That is how you should react if you were innocent,” Maddox said. “I applaud your performance, Professor, but I do not accept it as legitimate.”
    “After all that I’ve done for you and Star Watch, this is how you repay me?”
    “You’re welcome,” Maddox said.
    “What?”
    “I am repaying your former help by letting you live. Otherwise, I would have already killed you as a dangerous traitor.”
    “Bah!” Ludendorff said. “What nonsense. You’re one of Brigadier O’Hara’s coldblooded hounds. I know your type. You think you know everything. If I—”
    Maddox raised the stunner for a third shot.
    The professor fell silent.
    “You’ve clearly decided to maintain a role of innocence,” Maddox said. “That leaves me with no choice. Good day, Professor.” The captain backed toward the door.
    “Wait,” Ludendorff said.
    Maddox paused, with the stunner aimed at the man.
    “You haven’t told me who killed Sten.”
    “That’s true, I haven’t.”
    “I see. You want to play it that way, leaving me in the dark. Am I under arrest?”
    “Good day, Professor.” Maddox backed away, slipping through the hatch and closing it. “Galyan,” the captain said. “Lock the professor’s hatch, and keep it locked until I say otherwise.”
    The lock clicked shut.
    “What did he say, sir?” Riker asked.
    Maddox stared at the hatch. He had purposely told Ludendorff as little as possible. The man was too bright. The less the professor knew, the less he could use in some devious manner later.
    Finally, the captain held the stunner butt-forward to Riker. The sergeant hastily drew Maddox’s gun, and they exchanged weapons.
    “The professor claims innocence,” Maddox said.
    “Do you think he is?”
    “Most certainly not.”
    “Could you be wrong, sir?”
    “That is what I want to determine. Come with me, Sergeant, and be ready to draw and fire at my command.”
     

-5-
     
    Maddox located Doctor Dana Rich in the main engine room. Giant cylinders of antimatter cyclers purred smoothly.
    “Captain,” Dana said, turning to greet him. Riker remained outside in the annex.
    Doctor Rich wore a white lab coat, with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was older than Maddox and beautiful by any standard, with brown skin and dark eyes. Born on Earth in Bombay, she had emigrated to the Indian Brahma System long ago.
    The doctor had a checkered history involved with the Brahman secret service against the Rigel Social Syndicate of a neighboring star system. Dana had been a clone thief, caught by Star Watch and sent down to Loki Prime, the worst of the prison planets. Maddox had rescued her because he’d needed her services. For what she had done to help bring back Victory from the Beyond, Star Watch authorities had pardoned her of all crimes.
    She