(eng) L. E. Modesitt - SA by The Eternity Artifact

Author:The Eternity Artifact [Artifact, The Eternity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

40

Goodman/Bond

On fourday, Chief Stuval sent me up to the shuttle bay with a slider to pick up some diagnostic equipment the shuttle mechs had borrowed.

A mech appeared from somewhere. His namestrip read KLEZEK. “You the armory tech?”

“That’s right Bond. Chief Stuval sent me up to get the diagnostics…”

“They’re over in the insulated subbay there, past the shuttle.”

Three people stood just inside the lock, wearing space armor, but not hehnets. Two were shuttle pilots. The taller one’s armor was stenciled LIEUTENANT CHANG. Even in armor, she had a good figure, blonde, make a good wife on looks. The other was Lieutenant Braun. Her face was like a porcelain doll, till you got close and realized she was made of endurasteel.

“Are all pilots women?” The man wore the bulkier general armor of the expedition scientists. Those suits fit only roughly and were uncomfortable. He had a temp tag—FTTZHUGH.

“Not all, Professor,” replied Braun. “Lieutenant Lerrys is a very good pilot.”

“Not many people have the skills,” added Chang.

“Need spatial orientation senses, and more men have those than women. Also need the ability to integrate multiple details and coordinate them simultaneously.”

“That’s where most of the men fail,” Braun said.

“What about combat?” asked the professor. “Don’t men have an edge in ferocity?”

Both lieutenants laughed.

I smiled as I edged the slider past the three. I didn’t feel like smiling at the bitches.

“The Second Arm War proved that was a canard,” Braun said. “Covenanters went after the League… Old Earth… I’m sure you know that. The League’s pilots were eighty percent female. The Covenanters were one hundred percent male. Do you recall what happened?”

“The League destroyed all the Covenant fleets. How much of that was skill, and how much was due to the equipment?”

I was glad the professor asked that. I kept listening as I moved the slider past the stem of the shuttle and toward the insulated subbay the mech was opening.

“None.” Chang laughed. “Every bit of equipment that the Covenanters had was newer and better than the stuff the League had. Only significant difference was the pilots.”

She was lying. Old Earth had far more wealth and equipment than we’d had, far more. I tried not to frown as I eased the slider toward the open area between the shuttle and the subbay.

“Surely, in all the years of history, the male hunter-killer—”

“Men are better at killing in packs, and they’re frigging better as commandos and suicide hunters,” Chang interrupted. “They can focus on one thing. In space combat you have to handle multiple inputs.”

“Every woman knows that most men are single-minded,” added Braun.

The lieutenants laughed again.

“You may have a point.” The professor smiled, politely.

“You’d better go back to the ready room, Professor. I need to finish a preflight.”

“I will. Thank you.”

The professor moved away. He didn’t look much like a professor, not to me, even in the overlarge armor. For all his manners, he looked more dangerous than the two bitches. I’d like to have gotten each one of the women alone—for a long time. Then they’d have seen what a good man could do.

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