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Clearly, they had utter faith in Earth space protecting them as long as they didn't profane its peace by
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offering violence. It was pure mysticism that D.G. would have scornfully derided had he not shared the
conviction himself.
He moved back into focus. It had been a fairly long wait, but there had been no signal from the other
side. They had shown exemplary patience.
"Captain Baley here," he said. "I wish to speak to Commander Lisiform."
There was not much of a wait. "Commander Lisiform here. May I have your answer?"
D.G. said, "We will deliver the woman and the two robots."
"Good! A wise decision."
"And we will deliver them as quickly as we can."
"Again a wise decision."
"Thank you." D.G. gave the signal and his ship Jumped.
There was no time, no need, to hold one's breath. It was over as soon as it was begun-or, at least, the
time lapse was insensible.
The word came from the pilot. "New enemy ship position fixed, Captain."
"Good," said D.G. "You know what to do."
The ship had come out of the Jump at high speed relative to the Auroran vessel and the course
correction (not a great deal, it was to, be hoped) was being made. Then further acceleration.
D.G. moved back into focus, "We are close, Commander, and on our way to deliver. You may fire if
you choose, but our shields are up and before you can batter them down we will have reached you in
order to make the delivery."
"Are you sending a lifeboat?" The commander moved out of focus.
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D.G. waited and the commander was back, his face contorted. "What is this? Your ship is on a collision
course."
"It seems to be, yes," said D.G. "That is the fastest way of making delivery."
"You will, destroy your ship."
"And yours, too. Your ship is at least fifty times as expensive as mine, probably more. A poor exchange
for Aurora."
"But you are engaging in combat in Earth space, Captain. Your customs do not allow that."
"Ah, you know our customs and you take advantage of them. -But I am not in combat. I have not fired
an erg of energy and I won't. I am merely following a trajectory. That trajectory happens to intersect your
position, but since I am sure you will move before that intersection movement arrives, it is clear that I
intend no violence."
"Stop. Let's talk about this."
"I'm tired of talking, Commander. Shall we all say a fond farewell? If you don't move, I will be giving up
perhaps four decades with the third and fourth not so good, anyway. How many will you be giving up?"
And D.G. moved out of focus and stayed out.
A beam of radiation shot out from the Auroran ship tentative, as though to test whether the other's
shields were truly up. They were.
Ships shields would hold against electromagnetic radiation and subatomic particles, including even
neutrinos, and could withstand the kinetic energy of small masses-dust particles, even meteoric gravel.
The shields could not withstand larger kinetic energies, such as that of an entire ship hurtling at it with
supermeteoric speed.
Even dangerous masses, if not guided-a meteoroid, for instance-could be handled. A vessel's computers
would automatically veer the ship out of the way of any oncoming meteoroid that was too large for the
shield to handle. That, however, would not work against a ship that could veer as its target veered. And if
the Settler ship was the smaller of the two, it was also the more maneuverable.
There was only one way that the Auroran ship could avoid destruction
D.G. watched the other ship visibly enlarging in his viewing panel and wondered if Gladia, in her cabin,
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knew what was going on. She must be aware of the acceleration, despite the hydraulic suspension of her
cabin ~ and the compensatory action of the pseudo-gravity field.
And then the other ship simply winked out of view, having jumped away, and D.G., with considerable
chagrin, realized he was holding his breath and that his heart was racing. Had he had no confidence in the
protecting influence of Earth or in his own sure diagnosis of the situation?
D.G. spoke into the transmitter in a voice that, with iron resolution, he forced into coolness. "Well done,
men! Correct course and head for Earth."
16. THE CITY
Gladia said, "Are you serious, D.G.? You really intended to collide with the ship?"
"Not at all," said D.G. indifferently. "I wasn't expecting to. I merely lunged at them, knowing they would
retreat. Those Spacers weren't going to risk their long, wonderful lives when they could easily preserve
them."
"Those Spacers? What cowards they are."
D.G. cleared his throat. "I keep forgetting you're a Spacer, Gladia."
"Yes -and I imagine you think that that is a compliment to me. What if they had been as foolish as you-if
they had shown the childish madness you think of as bravery and stayed in place? What would you have
done?"
D.G. muttered, "Hit them."
"And then we would all have died."
"The transaction would have been in our favor, Gladia. One crummy old Trader ship from a Settler
world for a new and advanced warship, of the leading Spacer world."
D.G. tipped his chair back against the wall and put his hands behind his neck (amazing how comfortable
he felt, now that it was all over). I once saw a historical hyperdrama, in which, toward the end of the war,
airplanes loaded with explosives were deliberately flown into much more expensive seaships in order to
sink them. Of course, the pilot of each airplane lost his life."
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"That was fiction," said Gladia. "You don't suppose civilized people do things like that in real life, do
you?"
"Why not? If the cause is good enough."
"What was it, then, you felt as you plunged toward a glorious death? Exaltation? You were hurtling all
your crew toward the same death."
They knew about it. We could do nothing else. Earth was watching.
"The people on Earth didn't even know."
"I mean it metaphorically. We were in Earth space. We could not act ignobly."
"Oh, what nonsense! And you risked my life, too."
D.G. looked down at his boots. "Would you like to hear something crazy? That was the only thing that
bothered me."
"That I would die?"
"Not quite. That I would lose you. -When that ship ordered me to give you up, I knew I wouldn't-even if
you asked me to. I would gladly ram them instead; they couldn't have you. And then, as I watched their
ship expand in the viewscreen, I thought, "If they don't get out of here, I'll lose her anyway, and that's
when my heart started to pound and I began to sweat. I knew they'd run, and still the thought-" He shook
his head.
Gladia frowned. "I don't understand you. You weren't worrying about my dying, but you were worried
about losing me? Don't the two go together?"
"I know. I'm not saying it's rational. I thought of you rushing at the overseer to save me when you knew
it could murder you with a blow. I thought of you facing the crowd at Baleyworld and talking them down
when you had never even seen a crowd before. I even thought of you going to Aurora when you were a
young woman and learning a new way of life-and surviving. -And it seemed to me I didn't mind dying, I
just minded losing you. You're right. It doesn't make sense." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]