Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2) - David Brin Page 0,165
heading southward, toward usss!”
Gillian couldn’t make herself feel too bad about drawing fire away from Tom’s position. It was only returning his favor, after all.
“All right. You choose a trajectory. I want to head out east on the ecliptic, just as soon as that second fleet finishes turning toward the longboat.”
Tsh’t warbled an impatient sigh. “Aye, sir” She swam to the pilot’s position and conferred with Lucky Kaa.
111
Tom
He raised his head above the surface of the pool where he had taken refuge.
Where had everybody gone, all of a sudden?
Minutes ago the sky had been ablaze with pyrotechnics. Burning ships were falling out of the sky, right and left. Now he caught sight of a few stragglers, high in the distant sky, speeding southward.
It took him a moment to come up with a guess.
Thanks, Jill, he thought. Now give ’em hell for me.
112
Takkata-Jim
Takkata-Jim spluttered in frustration. He was so busy there wasn’t time to work on the fire controls. Desperate, he sent impulses shutting down whole blocks of computer memory. Finally, something worked. The weapons system turned off.
Frantically, he made the ship roll left and applied full thrust to escape a spread of torpedos.
The two fleets were coming together quickly, with him in between.
Takkata-Jim intended to dive into the second fleet and stop behind it, conveying by his actions what he couldn’t say by radio, that he was seeking protection.
But the controls wouldn’t respond! He couldn’t correct from his last evasive maneuver! He must have shut down too much memory!
The longboat streaked outward at right angles to the converging fleets, away from both of them.
Both armadas turned to follow.
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Streaker
“Now!” she said.
The pilot needed no urging. He had already been adding momentum. Now he applied full power. Streaker’s engines roared and she left the atmosphere on a crackling trail of ionization. The acceleration could be felt even through stasis, even inside the fluid-filled bridge.
The gray sea disappeared under a white blanket of clouds. The horizon became a curve, then an arc. Streaker fell outward into an ocean of stars.
“They’re following us. The skirmishers from up north.”
“How many?”
“About twenty.” Tsh’t listened to her neural link for a moment. “They’re strung out. Except for a fairly big group at the rear, hardly any two of them seem to be of the same race. I hear shooting. They’re fighting each other even as they chase us.”
“How many in that final bunch?”
“Um … ssssix, I think.”
“Well, let’s see what we can do when we stretch our legs.”
The planet fell behind them as Lucky Kaa sent Streaker accelerating in the direction Gillian had chosen.
Beyond Kithrup’s horizon, a great battle had begun. Her path kept her hidden by the planet’s bulk for several minutes. Then they came into view of the conflagration.
A million kilometers away, space was filled with bright explosions and hackle-raising shrieks that feebly penetrated the psi-screens.
Tsh’t commented. “The big boys are fighting over Takkata-Jim. We might even make it out of the system before the major fleets could catch up with usss.”
Gillian nodded. Toshio’s sacrifice had not been in vain.
“Then our problem is these little guys on our tail. Somehow we’ve got to shake them off. Maybe we can do a dodge behind the gas giant planet. How long until we can get to it?”
“Hard to judge, Gillian. Maybe an hour. We can’t use overdrive in system, and we’re carrying a lot of excess mass.”
Tsh’t listened to her link, concentrating. “The ones on our tail have mostly stopped beating on each other. They may be damaged, but I think at least two of the lead ships will catch up with us about the time we reach the gasss giant.”
Gillian looked at the holo tank. Kithrup had shrunk to a tiny ball in one comer, a sparkle of battle beyond it. On this side a chain of small dots showed Streaker’s pursuers.
In the forward tank a shining pastel-striped globe began to grow. A huge world of frigid gas, looking much like Jupiter, swelled slowly but perceptibly.
Gillian pursed her lips and whistled softly. “Well, if we can’t outrun them I guess we’ll have to try an ambush.”
Tsh’t stared at her. “Gillian, those are battleships! We’re only an overweight Snark-class survey ship!”
Gillian grinned. “This snark has become a boojum, girl. The Thennanin shell will do more than just slow us down. And we may be able to try something they’ll never expect.”
She didn’t mention that, given a chance, she wanted to hang around this system a while, in case of a miracle.