As Brim watched, the ship began to swivel around until it pointed directly at the cargo ship's hull amidships. Suddenly, there was movement on the port side of its narrow, knifelike bow plate as one of two rectangular doors opened inward. Moments later, the ship began to glide backward until it was perhaps half a c'lenyt distant.
"She's going to put a torpedo into us even before this blasted hull collapses in on itself,"
Brim muttered through clenched teeth. "And there's no way we can get down to the launch in time to do anything about it." Then he shook his head and pounded a fist on the Hyperscreen ledge. "Barbousse," he shouted. "Get that KA'PPA going now. Maybe we can still do the Leaguers a little damage...."
"Aye, sir," Barbousse said, jumping for the communications console. Moments later, when Brim arrived at the rear of the bridge, the KA'PPA gear was already humming while Ursis furiously hammered a two-fingered description of the Leaguer ship into its buffers.
"Get ready to send this," the Bear warned. "I may be about to meet my esteemed ancestors, but until then I still have the fastest two fingers in the galaxy."
"The Leaguers'll see our KA'PPA rings go out for sure, Lieutenant," Barbousse warned.
KA'PPA transmissions-the only known technique of nearly instantaneous communication at galactic distances-began as a series of glimmering rings that expanded from the antenna like waves from a pebble tossed into a calm pond. In the darkness of outer space, they were hard to miss.
"So they see," Ursis said, shrugging phlegmatically. "They will send their torpedo one way or another. But with the special cargo we have below, at least we shall have the satisfaction of knowing that the Leaguers will go up with us...." He rapidly keyed another few symbols, then turned to Barbousse. "Ready to send," he said.
"Aye, sir," Barbousse responded, reaching for the transmission key.
"Wait!" Brim exclaimed suddenly. "I think they're shutting the torpedo doors."
"Sweet thraggling crag wolves," Ursis roared, seizing Barbousse's arm at the last possible click. "Now what?"
"I don't know," Brim said, his heart thumping as if it were about to burst through his chest.
"But they're now closed completely."
"Hmm," Ursis rumbled thoughtfully. "I wonder..."
"What?"
"Perhaps our friends in the Leaguer ship have now calculated how soon Providential will crash into the gas giant behind us."
"Voot's beard! I'll bet that's it," Brim exclaimed. "So far as they're concerned, we're not worth a torpedo. Old Zebuton Mu down there will soon reduce us to subatomics free of charge."
"Which, of course, it will," Ursis said, looking at his timepiece. "We don't have much more than a half metacycle before the Leaguers will be quite correct." He turned to Barbousse.
"From the sounds of the hull, perhaps you should retain that KA'PPA buffer I entered. We may yet need it...."
"Aye, sir," Barbousse agreed.
"He's on his way back again," Brim wanted from the Hyperscreens.
"Excellent," Ursis said. "Perhaps he will tire of looking at as soon and leave. We dare not move the ship while he is still in the vicinity-otherwise, he will decide to use those torpedoes quickly."
While Brim watched, the bender pulled in close to starboard, then made a quick circuit of the ship and ended up once more alongside-this time no more than sixty irals from the bridge wing. Now he could clearly see the rows of protective devices lining the enemy's hull.
Each was rectangular in shape and divided into six quadrants with a tiny ruby light that pulsed at the intersection of the dividers. And on the bridge-behind the protective grid-he could see men shading their eyes and looking through the Hyperscreens. They were pointing at him. "We've been spotted!" he warned.
Ursis sauntered up and joined Brim at the Hyperscreens. "Indeed?" he said, peering out at the other ship. He snorted, "Not only have they spotted us, they are laughing at our plight-perhaps by now they have heard the hull creaking with their own ears."
"Sweet Universe!" Brim swore. "They are laughing, the bastards! The absolute bastards!" Then he snapped his fingers. "But it also means that they missed the launch on their flyby inspection!"
"Apparently so," Ursis said calmly. "One hopes, however, that they don't remain to watch us burn."
"Something like that could ruin the whole afternoon," Brim grumbled, nodding his head.
"Friend Barbousse," Ursis said while the deck vibrated under their boots, "switch on the N-ray mains. I have an idea."
"N-ray mains are on. Lieutenant," Barbousse reported presently.
"Thank you," the Bear said, turning to Brim. "Now, Wilf Ansor, you and I are going to wave at them as if we expect to be saved. Are you ready?"
Brim raised his eyebrows. "You mean you want me to wave to those bastards? What if they actually decide to help us?"
"Judging from the size of their starship," Ursis shouted over a renewed attack of cracking and groaning, "I'd be willing to bet a Sodeskayan dascha they simply don't have enough room on board."
"You've got a point," Brim conceded. "All right, come on, Utrillo, let's all wave...."
In the next few moments, the three comrades desperately waved their arms and pointed at the roiling photosphere of Zebulon Mu only a few thousand c'lenyts below them. They couldn't have been more clear if they'd been able to call for help in the Leaguer's native language of Vertrucht. And the Leaguers continued to laugh....
At length, the ugly little ship went spectral again-although she still remained quite visible in the powerful illumination of Providential's N-ray systems.
Brim and Ursis stopped waving immediately. "Do you suppose he knows we can still see him?" Brim asked rhetorically.
"I doubt it," Ursis answered. "But that, is probably of small consequence to them. I am sure that they also think that our KA'PPA system is nonoperational. Otherwise, we would have sent a warning message by now-which they could have seen going out. Is this not so?"
Brim grinned. "Sounds right to me," he answered, turning back to the Hyperscreens in time to see the little ship accelerate away and quickly discorporate into true spectral mode as it outran the effect of Providential's N-ray system. "She's gone," he said in a sudden wave of relief.
Ursis was out of the COMM console in a matter of dicks. "Send the KA'PPA immediately, friend Barbousse," he rumbled as he strode hurriedly to the systems console.
"We have so far only avoided one of the dangers facing us," he added, raising a titular index finger next to his ear. "Now we must remove ourselves from the menace of this xaxtdamned star before we become the infinitesimal kernel of a large stellar flare."
"The antigrav systems are now ready for flight," Ursis rumbled only cycles after returning to his console. "Wilf, you may power up your flight controls at any time."
"She's ready to move," Brim replied, throwing all the flight switches with one sweep of his hand. Suddenly, the deck began to throb under his feet with a reassuringly steady beat as the generators coupled to their mains. He switched on the autopilot, and with renewed creaking and groaning the abused hull of the merchantman obediently oriented itself to the galactic disk. Moments later, steering engines struggled to align the ship along a vector that would produce Brim's desired course while countering the savage gravity outside. "All right, Nik, slow ahead both...."
"Slow ahead both."
The ship began a cacophony of protesting creaks and groans, often vibrating so badly that Brim could hardly see the instruments before him. Aft, however, a haze of green streaming away against the glare from the star boded well for the state of the propulsion gear. "Looks like we're moving," Brim whispered, half afraid to speak. "Quarter speed ahead, both."
"Quarter speed ahead, both."
Soon, the ship began to steady on course and the vibrations settled considerably. "She's balancing," Brim said with a happy grin. "Listen-the hull's not creaking so badly. Let's have half speed ahead and see if we can't make some distance."