BO17-07 537 F 003 336-34ch-OCR-cropped nf nb 1.15 by Michael Moorcock

Author:Michael Moorcock [Moorcock, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CORSAIRS OF THE

SECOND ETHER

(cont.)

Warwick Colvin, Jr.

THE STORY SO FAR:

Having at last followed the swipling swarm through the unpredictable scales between planes and arrived at Ko-O-Ko, the Lost Universe, captain billy-bob begg and her famous chaos engineers are prevented from returning to the First or Second Ethers by the activities of ayesha von abdul, protectress of the Lost Universe, and her ruffianly slip- ling Corsair allies. Only seven other ships were successful in pursuing the swipling swarm all the way to Ko-O-Ko, including those of captain quelch; of sterling, Second Beast of the skipling folk; of ra, First Beast of the skimlings and of the parasitically held renegade ship of big ball and his unwelcome ally kaprikorn schultz, Banker to the Homeboy Tong. Two other ships are known to have reached Ko-O-Ko, but are at present unaccounted for. Although Captain Billy-Bob has tried to warn Ayesha von Abdul that her army of sliplings means no good to the Lost Universe, the Protectress refuses to listen, even after she has declared her faith in the common Great Mood and found true love . . . There seems no saving her, but then Captain Quelch suggests a meeting between himself and Kaprikorn Schultz, with a view to taking control of the slipling horde and conquering Ko-O-Ko in the name of the Singularity. There is nothing for it, Captain Billy- Bob decides, but to attempt the dangerous maneuver known as the “scale-flip.”

Her crew of famous Chaos Engineers are unanimous. It will mean a wild dive through to the old Mars station and an attractor so familiar the ship might just flow to like and reorganize in natal space. It worked once before, in the tale of the Mandelbrot Sidestep, but everyone had known it was the purest luck, and it would be purest luck once again, should they survive. Captain Billy-Bob is about to give the order when suddenly, blotting the fore-screens, Captain Quelch’s The Linear Bee appears, casting a significant shadow into the equation. But can Captain Billy-Bob stop the progress in time?

Now read on . ..

Chapter One Thousand and Fourteen

Hard A-Stern on a Rogue Branch

Captain Billy-Bob Begg strides through the instrument conference carrying with her the shadows and dimensions of all her adventures. Some now argue she has skipling blood. Her outlines leap in and out of her surrounding aura—faces, shapes, colors, gestures, long forgotten. Her helmet boils with fractal dust normally left behind in any scale jump and she is contemptuous of disapproval (“They’ll never take me or my ship to Reality Dock!” she swears) as she bleeds her screen to her enemy’s coordinates, so familiar she makes no conscious computation. And there is the face of the Original Insect, whimsically superimposed upon the haggard, hatchet features of Captain Horace Quelch, still not entirely certain if he can afford to gloat just yet.

“Marm?”

“Horace!” burbs the revered Main Type of the Now The Clouds Have Meaning. “You’ll let us pass, I hope, for all our sakes.”

“Singularity is the only commonality I recognize, marm.

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