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to owe him? What did he owe him?
"This Delta person. It must have been a terrible strain on him to have so
much power. So much responsibility. In a way, I guess you'd have to feel
sorry for him."
Korkal stared at him in dumbstruck wonder, rocked to his core by Jim's
unexpected insight. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew: standing before
him in the shape of a sixteen-year-old Terran boy was the most important
secret in the galaxy.
He stuttered as he spoke. "Y'y'yes... I suppose you would. You'd have to
feel sorry for anybody with a burden like that." And he thought of something
else, something so frightening he'd concealed it even from himself. Something
he'd first thought of long before, and just as quickly suppressed.
What if Terra was a Leaper culture? Could it be that this boy... ?
Out beyond the tough hide of the tube, the stars began to curdle. One by one
the haloed lights winked out. A vast and deadly pall unfurled across wide
space and finally, muted in the distance, the mournful frantic hooting of
alarms.
I'hargos," Korkal said. He began to run.
se everything. Destroy them," Thargos had when he brought news of the
discovery of Korkal's ship, Hunzzan captain intended to do just that.
He would more confident if he'd been able to summon help from Hunzzan
Navy, but time was of the essence. Still, he a battle cruiser, whose power
was, by less advanced impossible to comprehend.
Korkal's standards were advanced enough, but his not been designed for all-out
war. And the captain knew he the greatest of all combat advantages: surprise.
So while he have harbored a few small doubts, on the whole he felt confident
as he readied the full power of his ship's grav-beams that ripped and tore,
the great armored flung on waves of jump-distortion, the old but potent array
laser banks, the field distorters that warped space
When all was ready he settled himself into his seat in the bat control room
and stared for a moment at the tiny speck centered in the huge holographic
screen before Inwardly he counted down and when he reached zero he one hand
and let it fall.
"Fire at will."
K orkal sat in his own command seat as the alarms died down. Overhead, beyond
the great dome, Jim could see a few remaining stars glowing like embers in
ashes. He tried imagine what force could so alter the very
structures of space miserably. All he knew was that he was scared. He had
death before, but now he knew each time was different. there was no way to
become insulated against that particuterror when life itself hung in the
balance.
that... is it?" he asked.
"Sit in that seat there," Korkal said. "Push that top right button on the
arm. That will strap you in. The ride may get bumpy." "What happened?" dim
asked when he finished. There were no actual straps.
He felt some soft yet unyielding force press him down against the seat.
Thargos found us, of course." A hazy force field of some kind now arced
across the back of Korkal's head. Beyond him, dim saw similar fields, except
they enclosed the entire skulls of the rest of the crew.
The vast room remained as silent and still as ever. The contrast with the
twisting light show beyond the dome was eerie and unsettling.
Jim watched as Korkal leaned back, eyes rolling out of focus. He was reminded
of the way Morninglory and Chip had looked when they'd entered the virtual
realm of data space for the battle tat had killed them. It wasn't a pleasant
memory. He didn't like the parallel at all.
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"Is it... too late?"
Korkal turned to him. "Foo late? Maybe. That's a Hunzzan bat tie cruiser on
our tail. It's much more heavily armed than we are. I've read some of your
history. One of the ancient rulers on Terra once said, alk softly and carry a
big stick." Thargos likes to follow the same axiom, but I don't. I'd rather
walk even more softly. So this ship can't survive a straightforward battle
with Thargos, but with any luck we won't have to. His ship is designed to
hurt you. Mine is designed to sneak by you. Now leave me alone for a while.
I'm about to get as sneaky as I know how."
What followed was rapid, incomprehensible, and not reassuring. Nothing
changed in the great silent chamber, but beyond the dome, things began to
shift rapidly.
Shortly after the misty force field extended itself to cover Korkal's head,
the final few stars winked out. Then the quality of the dark itself changed.
It had been gauzy and vague, almost Smoke. Now it became a hard black
emptiness that sucked at Vision. Jim blinked. This new dark made his head
ache.
But it held for a few seconds only; then with no warning except a slight
flicker, as if a holoscreen had suffered some hiccup in its innards, all the
stars blazed forth again. This time there were halos.
A moment later something very fast and broad across the fields, then
everything turned first orange, then purple, then black again.
Jim felt the ship itself judder, a hard, jolting sensation. alarms burped
on,. then off again. The stars had reappeared. couldn't be certain, but
their patterns looked different.
This went on for some time. Finally, when Jim had begun learn that even being
in the midst of a fight for one's own might become boring, he heard Korkal
sigh.
Beyond the dome all the stars, now with halos again, seemed be dancing in
little stutter steps.
"Up with you, boy. Get out of that seat."
"Huh? What's going on?"
Korkal's features reappeared as the field around his head demy vanished. "We
were lucky. They didn't kill us with their try, and
I've been keeping ahead of them since then. very good. Better than
I'd expected, better than I'd hoped. So is where you get off."
"Get off? What are you talking about?"
"Jim, we don't have much time. I'm about two jumps right now, but that isn't
enough for any guarantees. I told mother I'd do my best to protect you. So
that's what I'm going do. We are not far from a neutral planet called
Brostach. I'm to put you off in a one-man lifeboat. Then I'm going to wave
my arms real wide at Thargos and take off in the opposite direction, With any
luck he won't even notice what we've done. He'll keep on after me. And
you'll be safe."
Jim discovered that the restraining field had vanished. He stood up.
His thighs ached and his eyes felt hot. Deep in his stomach the knot of fear
still tightened. "What about you?"
"What about me? This is my job, Jim. To make decisions this."
"But if he catches you, he'll kill you. Won't he?"
"First he has to catch me."
Jim shook his head. "Sorry. I'm not leaving you to risk your life for me."
Korkal's voice hardened. "I'm not giving you any choice in the matter.
You can either board that lifeboat on your own two legs or be carried aboard.
Your choice." He paused. "That's the only choice, Jim. I'm not giving you a
larger one."
Jim felt his fists tighten. Once again memories of Morninglory and
Chip washed over him. He had sworn to himself, as his two friends yanked
their own death from the burn trig sky down on their heads, that he would
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never again leave someone else to fight for him while he escaped unscathed.
sworn it.
So why did he feel this kernel of relief, right in the middle of that knot of
terror?. A cheap, sly kind of relief that the decision was not his, that
Korkal was not giving him a choice. Not forcing him to test the strength of
his own vow.
I'll walk," he said.
Something in his voice brought Korkal's head up. "Jim, there's no dishonor.
You aren't abandoning me. This is my choice, and it so
'happens I'm in the position to do the choosing. The next time may be [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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