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"We will not release the eggs until we enter the cloud. Hail the Orion ship
again." The channel was reopened.
"Captain Eworl, we are anxious to comply with your request. How can we best
surrender?"
"Veer away from the gaseous cloud that lies directly in your course," Eworl
said.
"Unfortunately, your attack has disrupted our navigational instruments. But if
you can give us one minute, we should have them repaired."
The alien paused before answering. "In one minute you will be in the cloud.
That is not acceptable to us."
"Their energy beams are being recharged," Pareen warned.
"Our instruments are coming back on line now," Sarteen said hastily. "We are
implementing a turn." She signaled to Pareen to close the hailing frequency
and spoke to him, "Fire ail our retro rockets simultaneously."
"They'll cancel each other out," Pareen said. "We will still enter the cloud."
"Yes. But it will look like we're trying."
Pareen nodded. "Firing retros. Twenty-eight seconds to cloud-contact."
"Are they still preparing to fire?" Sarteen asked, hearing the roar of the retros
firing.
"Yes."
"With our shields down, can we withstand the run through the cloud?"
"It's questionable," Pareen said.
"Reopen hailing frequencies." Her order was obeyed.
"Captain Eworl, in an effort to comply with your instructions, we are going to
use an auxiliary power source. Please stand by. Captain Sarteen out."
"What auxiliary power source is that?" Pareen asked.
Sarteen shrugged. "I will say anything at this point."
She gripped the arms of her chair. "Give me a countdown on entry into the
cloud."
Ten nine eight seven ''
"Prepare to release the eggs," Sarteen said.
"Six five They are locking their energy beams on us! We don't have time to
"
"Wait the four seconds!" Sarteen screamed back.
The seconds passed. They would have done so even if they had been destroyed.
Yet the alien beams did not strike. Sarteen was still alive and breathing when
the first wisps of the cloud rocked the Crystal. Her eyes locked with Pareen's
and she nodded.
"Releasing the nanoeggs," he said, pushing a button.
For a moment nothing changed. The eggs were too small to be seen over a
distance of any kind. That was the beauty of them. They were virtually
undetectable, especially inside the cloud. Their main viewing screen was now
turned solely toward the Orion ship.
Without warning the Orion ship turned a brilliant white. Everyone on the
bridge yelled in delight.
"Did they explode?" Sarteen shouted out, not waiting for the glare of the bombs
to subside. Pareen stood hunched over his instrument panels.
"Their ship hit several of the eggs" he said. "It did not explode, but the Orion
vessel appears damaged. They have ceased accelerating."
The hull of the Crystal protested as they plunged deeper into the cloud. The
lights flickered once more and the bridge rocked. "How are we doing?" Sarteen
asked.
"Not as bad as it sounds," Pareen answered. "We'll be past it in ten seconds."
His prediction proved accurate. The pressure on the hull stopped as the glare
from the bombs subsided. Finally they were able to see the Orion ship. It had
been seriously damaged; an entire fin had blown off and the region from which
the aliens fired their mysterious energy beams was a mass of charred
wreckage.
As Pareen had announced, their engines had cut off. As the minutes passed it
became obvious they were falling back. Sarteen breathed a sigh of relief. But
they were not safe yet.
"How long until we have enough velocity for a hyperjump?" she asked.
"At our current rate of acceleration," Pareen said, "two hours, one minute."
"Does the alien vessel have shields up?"
"No."
"What if we divert all power to our disrupters?" Sarteen asked.
"With our damage, we would be forced to cease accelerating for over an hour. I
don't recommend it" Sarteen pondered, swinging back and forth between her
choices.
She was tempted to finish off the Orion ship while they had the chance. Yet she
was also concerned about putting as much distance between them as possible.
It was not necessary to destroy the enemy. The Crystal only needed to escape.
Logic said as much. Pius she could divert all their power to their weapons and
still not destroy the Orion vessel.
Standing, she paced back and forth in front of her seat, Pareen watching her.
"If we turn off our engines," he said, "we'll drift with them, at least until we
build up enough power to restart our engines."
"Can we fire one shot of our disrupters and keep the engines going?"
"No."
"Do we have definite life signs coming from their ship?"
Pareen checked his instruments. "Yes. Many of them are still alive."
Sarteen stared at the screen. "I do not trust their captain."
"For all we know, he's dead," Pareen said.
She shook her head. "He's alive. We have hurt him, but he's eager to fight
again."
"You don't know that."
"I do." She closed her eyes. "I feel him watching us."
"We need only two hours at our current rate of acceleration," Pareen counseled.
"Then we will be free of the solar system."
Sarteen took a deep breath. What she did now would determine whether a
portion of humanity survived as a free people or not. Her head said to escape;
her heart wanted to fight. She didn't know which was wiser. Feeling the eyes of
the crew on her, she slowly opened her own.
"Continue to accelerate," she said softly. "Let us pray that I am wrong, and that
he is dead."
*****
Once again I stopped writing because I wasn't sure what would happen next.
Plus I was tired. Six in the morning would come too soon. Glancing at the
clock, I saw that I had only another hour to sleep before the alarm went off.
Why was I writing like this in the middle of the night? It was insane, with
everything else I had to do. Yet I didn't begrudge the lost sleep. The story
intrigued me.
The more time I spent with Sarteen, the more I knew her and respected the
tremendous burden that had been placed on her. Her last decision, however,
had been a mistake. After licking his wounds, the alien captain would come
after her again. And he wasn't a nice guy.
After backing up what I had written on the hard disk onto a floppy disk, I
turned off the computer and stumbled in the direction of my bedroom. Out of
the corner of my eye, I noticed Jacob sitting up on the couch.
"Jacob," I said softly. "It's just me. Do you need to use the bathroom? I can
help you to it."
"No, thank you," he said in a sleepy voice. "I don't need to go. I just heard some
noise and got nervous."
I went over and sat beside him on the couch. He wore a white T-shirt and dark
sweat pants. A shaft of moonlight peeped through the curtains; his glass eyes
glistened in the pale glow like large hailstones.
"I'm sorry I woke you," I said. "I was writing."
"Is it daytime?" he asked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
"We will not release the eggs until we enter the cloud. Hail the Orion ship
again." The channel was reopened.
"Captain Eworl, we are anxious to comply with your request. How can we best
surrender?"
"Veer away from the gaseous cloud that lies directly in your course," Eworl
said.
"Unfortunately, your attack has disrupted our navigational instruments. But if
you can give us one minute, we should have them repaired."
The alien paused before answering. "In one minute you will be in the cloud.
That is not acceptable to us."
"Their energy beams are being recharged," Pareen warned.
"Our instruments are coming back on line now," Sarteen said hastily. "We are
implementing a turn." She signaled to Pareen to close the hailing frequency
and spoke to him, "Fire ail our retro rockets simultaneously."
"They'll cancel each other out," Pareen said. "We will still enter the cloud."
"Yes. But it will look like we're trying."
Pareen nodded. "Firing retros. Twenty-eight seconds to cloud-contact."
"Are they still preparing to fire?" Sarteen asked, hearing the roar of the retros
firing.
"Yes."
"With our shields down, can we withstand the run through the cloud?"
"It's questionable," Pareen said.
"Reopen hailing frequencies." Her order was obeyed.
"Captain Eworl, in an effort to comply with your instructions, we are going to
use an auxiliary power source. Please stand by. Captain Sarteen out."
"What auxiliary power source is that?" Pareen asked.
Sarteen shrugged. "I will say anything at this point."
She gripped the arms of her chair. "Give me a countdown on entry into the
cloud."
Ten nine eight seven ''
"Prepare to release the eggs," Sarteen said.
"Six five They are locking their energy beams on us! We don't have time to
"
"Wait the four seconds!" Sarteen screamed back.
The seconds passed. They would have done so even if they had been destroyed.
Yet the alien beams did not strike. Sarteen was still alive and breathing when
the first wisps of the cloud rocked the Crystal. Her eyes locked with Pareen's
and she nodded.
"Releasing the nanoeggs," he said, pushing a button.
For a moment nothing changed. The eggs were too small to be seen over a
distance of any kind. That was the beauty of them. They were virtually
undetectable, especially inside the cloud. Their main viewing screen was now
turned solely toward the Orion ship.
Without warning the Orion ship turned a brilliant white. Everyone on the
bridge yelled in delight.
"Did they explode?" Sarteen shouted out, not waiting for the glare of the bombs
to subside. Pareen stood hunched over his instrument panels.
"Their ship hit several of the eggs" he said. "It did not explode, but the Orion
vessel appears damaged. They have ceased accelerating."
The hull of the Crystal protested as they plunged deeper into the cloud. The
lights flickered once more and the bridge rocked. "How are we doing?" Sarteen
asked.
"Not as bad as it sounds," Pareen answered. "We'll be past it in ten seconds."
His prediction proved accurate. The pressure on the hull stopped as the glare
from the bombs subsided. Finally they were able to see the Orion ship. It had
been seriously damaged; an entire fin had blown off and the region from which
the aliens fired their mysterious energy beams was a mass of charred
wreckage.
As Pareen had announced, their engines had cut off. As the minutes passed it
became obvious they were falling back. Sarteen breathed a sigh of relief. But
they were not safe yet.
"How long until we have enough velocity for a hyperjump?" she asked.
"At our current rate of acceleration," Pareen said, "two hours, one minute."
"Does the alien vessel have shields up?"
"No."
"What if we divert all power to our disrupters?" Sarteen asked.
"With our damage, we would be forced to cease accelerating for over an hour. I
don't recommend it" Sarteen pondered, swinging back and forth between her
choices.
She was tempted to finish off the Orion ship while they had the chance. Yet she
was also concerned about putting as much distance between them as possible.
It was not necessary to destroy the enemy. The Crystal only needed to escape.
Logic said as much. Pius she could divert all their power to their weapons and
still not destroy the Orion vessel.
Standing, she paced back and forth in front of her seat, Pareen watching her.
"If we turn off our engines," he said, "we'll drift with them, at least until we
build up enough power to restart our engines."
"Can we fire one shot of our disrupters and keep the engines going?"
"No."
"Do we have definite life signs coming from their ship?"
Pareen checked his instruments. "Yes. Many of them are still alive."
Sarteen stared at the screen. "I do not trust their captain."
"For all we know, he's dead," Pareen said.
She shook her head. "He's alive. We have hurt him, but he's eager to fight
again."
"You don't know that."
"I do." She closed her eyes. "I feel him watching us."
"We need only two hours at our current rate of acceleration," Pareen counseled.
"Then we will be free of the solar system."
Sarteen took a deep breath. What she did now would determine whether a
portion of humanity survived as a free people or not. Her head said to escape;
her heart wanted to fight. She didn't know which was wiser. Feeling the eyes of
the crew on her, she slowly opened her own.
"Continue to accelerate," she said softly. "Let us pray that I am wrong, and that
he is dead."
*****
Once again I stopped writing because I wasn't sure what would happen next.
Plus I was tired. Six in the morning would come too soon. Glancing at the
clock, I saw that I had only another hour to sleep before the alarm went off.
Why was I writing like this in the middle of the night? It was insane, with
everything else I had to do. Yet I didn't begrudge the lost sleep. The story
intrigued me.
The more time I spent with Sarteen, the more I knew her and respected the
tremendous burden that had been placed on her. Her last decision, however,
had been a mistake. After licking his wounds, the alien captain would come
after her again. And he wasn't a nice guy.
After backing up what I had written on the hard disk onto a floppy disk, I
turned off the computer and stumbled in the direction of my bedroom. Out of
the corner of my eye, I noticed Jacob sitting up on the couch.
"Jacob," I said softly. "It's just me. Do you need to use the bathroom? I can
help you to it."
"No, thank you," he said in a sleepy voice. "I don't need to go. I just heard some
noise and got nervous."
I went over and sat beside him on the couch. He wore a white T-shirt and dark
sweat pants. A shaft of moonlight peeped through the curtains; his glass eyes
glistened in the pale glow like large hailstones.
"I'm sorry I woke you," I said. "I was writing."
"Is it daytime?" he asked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]