The Lost Patrol Read Online Free PDF

I’m about to do.”
    “The captain has twenty seconds left,” Galyan said.
    “That’s a pity,” Keith replied. “It means I have no margin for error. I have to do it right the first time. Come on, Keith, this will be a piece of bloody cake, eh?”
    He pressed a switch, and with a hum, the jumpfighter’s special mechanism activated. One second, the tin can was in near-orbital space less than ten kilometers from Victory . The next, the jumpfighter appeared in Earth’s lower atmosphere, barely above the deck of Normandy.
    Keith blinked once, twice—“I see him,” he said. Maddox was on the screen, falling toward the jumpfighter.
    “You are too close,” Galyan said. “He will impact too hard.”
    “Wrong, boyo, I’m perfectly positioned.”
    Keith’s fingers played over the controls. The jumpfighter shook badly in the dense air. Smoke poured out of one of the panels. A loud screeching noise told Keith he couldn’t stay here long.
    On camera three, Keith watched Maddox. The captain fell toward the jumpfighter. The lieutenant had made a perfect fold. That didn’t happen often. He couldn’t just let Maddox hit the tin can, though.
    The jumpfighter began to fall itself. Keith had to catch Maddox as softly as possible. Then—
    The jumpfighter shuddered worse than before. A red alert began to blare in the cockpit.
    “Bloody hell,” Keith said. With roving fingers, he checked the fighter’s systems.
    The tin can shook horribly again. A warning klaxon told Keith he had a hull breach. What could cause—
    “You are under attack,” Galyan said through a speaker.
    “By whom?” Keith shouted.
    “A craft has maneuvered above you,” Galyan said. “It is firing autocannon shells into your jumpfighter. Lieutenant, you must fold back into space or the attacking craft will destroy you”
    “I’m not leaving without the captain,” Keith said.
    “He is no longer your concern.”
    “Wrong, mate. The man saved my life. I owe him everything. I don’t care what I have to do to get him—”
    “The new craft is taking the captain,” Galyan said, interrupting.
    “What?” Keith asked.
    “The craft has grabbed the captain.”
    “How did it do that?” Keith asked.
    “My analyzer suggests with a gravity beam,” Galyan said.
    “Star Watch doesn’t have gravity beams.”
    “The situation has becoming increasingly perplexing,” Galyan said. “Lieutenant, you must fold and return to Victory . I have alerted Star Watch. Atmospheric fighters are on their way.”
    “Great, just great,” Keith said. “I’m heading back upstairs. But if those blokes hurt the captain—”
    “Those are my sentiments also,” Galyan said. “This is far from over.”
     

-5-
     
    Maddox saw the jumpfighter materialize below him. It told him that Galyan had reacted swiftly after the android had cut his communications with Victory .
    Still, using a tin can in the deepest atmosphere was risky. No doubt, Keith had piloted the craft. Even so, the percentages would have been against the lieutenant. That Keith—if it had been him—had almost pulled it off showed once again the young man’s extreme piloting skills.
    Maddox felt himself rise as he headed toward a circular belly hatch in a large airship. A few seconds ago, as he’d dropped toward the jumpfighter, he’d become aware of a shadow. Then, autocannon shells had hammered the tin can. That’s when the gravity beam had caught him. Maddox was familiar with such a ray, as one had caught him on the Builder Dyson sphere over a year ago. Did that mean the airship, or the people who ran it, had access to Builder technology? That seemed likely. Did they control the androids? Maddox gave that a high percentage as well.
    He slid up through the circular hatch and gently landed on his feet inside a large chamber. The opening he’d come up through slid shut.
    Two short and slender men stepped forward. They wore blue uniforms that fit tight around the throat, dark goggles over their