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Vibradarts. For protection, each ship erected a defensive network of quarkian shields. If
these collapsed, as ultimate- ly they must for any cruiser, then actual boarding might
follow-hand-to-hand combat as vicious and merciless as any known since the dawn of
for- mal warfare. Tedric had already decided he would not permit this last to occur. If the
shields fell and left the Eagleseye vulnerable before he completed the maneuver upon
which hinged any hope of per- sonal victory, he would surrender immediately. He could
carry the pain of failure and defeat, but the deaths of too many innocents would be
much harder to bear.
Tedric watched as a brilliant yellow bolt of fire burst from the side of the Wy@zl cruiser.
Seeing this and knowing it represented only the opening volley in a concentrated
heatray assault, Tedric commanded, "Return their fire." He knew full well the relatively
impotent weapons of the Eagleseye had no chance of penetrating the sophisticated
Wykzl shields. Still, it was necessary, for his own
men as well as the enemy, to keep up the pretense of trying. "Hit them with everything
we've got."
"Bow and stern, as before, sir?" asked the tech- nician who controlled the guns.
"No," Tedric said. In the initial engagement, he had directed his beams without effect at
the most at-, vulnerable points of the Wykzl's shields. "Run a sweep. Hit everywhere."
"We'll never break through that way," Nolan said.
Tedric shook his head. "I'm more concerned with keeping them busy."
The viewscreens showed a stunning display of brilliant color. There were white stars,
blue tractor beams, yellow heatrays, black space, scarlet shields.
"The hull is heating up already," Nolan said, pointing to the center screen. "The shields
must have been damaged during the first attack."
Tedric asked the technicians, "Can either of you men give me a reading on how long we
can last without burning up?"
"I'll get it," said the technician. Tedric made an effort to recall their names. The
astrogator was Es- sell. The other was Deekay. This was Deekay. The names of
creatures with identical features were dif- ficult to remember.
Deekay punched some buttons on the panel in front of him. "Sixteen point fourteen
common minutes. Barring further deterioration in the shields."
Tedric felt no hope on that point: the shields, now that they had been penetrated, would
surely continue to weaken progressively. The sixteen
minutes, in practice, could not be much more than another ten. He turned to the
astrogator, Essell. "What about 2X49? When will we reach our lock- ing point?"
"Fifteen point twenty-seven at our present rate. I activated the lock as soon as the first
tractor beam caught us.
"We'll have to increase power and hope they don't catch on to the maneuver."
"I have increased power. We're at maximum thrust now."
"And that's as fast as we can go?@l
"The Wykzl tractor beams are stronger than they ought to be. They've had a hundred
years to work on them. We can't expect all our facts to be up to date."
Tedric frowned and looked back at the center screen. He studied the rippling red hot
surface of the hull and thought it might be best to surrender now. The technicians
couldn't be wrong. Figures did not lie. The Scientists' plan had fallen short be- cause of
a single miscalculation: the Wykzl were stronger than anyone had known.
A hand touched his shoulder. Tedric turned and found himself staring eye-to-eye with,
of all people, Captain Maillard. "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation with the
technician."
"Well, it is your ship, sir."
"That's not what's important now. I just had a thought. AmI correct in deducing that it's
your desire to lure the Wykzl into a certain sector of space and that because of the
deterioration of the shields you will be unable to do so?"
Tedric nodded. "You see, I thought we'd be able
to do it quicker, pull them through space on their own tractor beams. I was wrong. I'm
not only a mutineer, I'm a failure at it." He didn't know why he felt the need to justify
himself to this man, but maybe that wasn't the point. He was justifying himself to himself
and that was still important to him.
But Maillard seemed less concerned with Tedric's mistakes and more interested in his
facts. "But the difference is only a few minutes, correct?" "A few minutes or a few
centuries. If the shields fall and the hull is burned, it doesn't matter what time the
calendar says."
"I think it does matter."
"Just what are you getting at?"
"Simply this. I'm an officer in the Imperial Navy. I've made a study of past battles, partici-
pated in a few of my own, and learned something of the tactics of space warfare. And
there is a cer- tain maneuver. It was used during the war for just the purpose you
envision: to draw another ship through space by its tractor beams without sever- ing the
connection."
"Well, what is it?"
"A spin. Turn the ship over and over, bow to stern. The motion weakens the tractors and
allows an increase in mutual velocity. If you can spin the Eagleseye as I've described,
you ought to reach your locking point before the shields fall."
Tedric looked at the technicians. "Well, is it pos- sible?"
Deekay was already punching his control panel. He looked up at Tedric. "It may be."
"Then let's do it. Let's spin."
"What about the gunners? Should we continue to fire our heatrays?"
"Yes. It'll have to be a diversion. I still can't af- ford for the Wykzl to guess what we're
doing. We have to keep them busy."
"Firing during a spin can be dangerous," Maillard said. "You may end up slicing your
own ship in half."
"We'll have to risk it."
"I can't delay another minute," Deekay said. "I
have to know your decision now."
Tedric consulted only with Nolan. When Nolan finally nodded his assent, Tedric said,
"Give the orders. We're going to try a spin."
There was no doubt inanyone's mind when the maneuver began. Even here in the core
of the great ship, Tedric felt the change. Normally, the Eagleseye rotated along its
horizontal axis at a ve- locity designed to create a feeling of Earth standard gravity
aboard ship. Now, spinning vertically as well as horizontally, the ship lost this artificial
re- straint. Objects floated through the air. Captain Maillard lost his balance and
sprawled on the floor. In two of the viewscreens, the blanket of sur- rounding stars
whirled madly past. Tedric gripped the wall in front of him and held firm. It had to work-it
must.
"Are we maintaining our lock?" he asked the astrogator.
"It's firm, sir," said Essell.
"And our rate."
"It's increasing."
"Can you give me an estimate?"
"Six point fifteen."
"Till locking point?"
"Yes, sir."
Tedric refused to feel any measure of triumph. There was a possibility now, a chance of
winning out, but it was far from settled. Would they figure out now what was happening? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]