Fate Of Worlds Omnibus by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner

Author:Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction - Space Opera, Fiction - Science Fiction, Niven, American Science Fiction And Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Space Warfare, Space Opera, General, Science Fiction, Science Fiction - General, Larry - Prose & Criticism, Fiction, High Tech
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

26

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Thssthfok strode about his cell, his eyes in constant motion.

His only value to his captors was the information he might give them—and he was determined to give them nothing useful. He could serve the Pak by escaping. Or by dying.

That he continued to study the cell was misdirection, for surely his captors watched through hidden sensors. He had long ago completed an inventory of useful materials. For sophisticated parts, the repair kit he had palmed from a pocket of his armor. To fashion into structural elements, bolts and brackets from the empty shelving units, and parts from the latching mechanisms within the empty cabinets. From the corners and recesses of the room, scraps in endless variety, all individually innocuous, the sign of a room hastily emptied. To run what he would build, the magnetically coupled wireless power transmitters recessed into the walls. And for the privacy in which to construct—whatever—the empty storage units themselves, their interiors invisible to watchers.

Like the briefly glimpsed air lock, every mechanism in this prison was straightforward in function, designed for a single obvious purpose, and profligate in its use of materials. His captors, like the Drar, must be a young race, their worlds all but unexploited. He could fashion many things from the components at his disposal, and what he would make—multipurpose, tiny, frugal in its use of resources—might go unnoticed among such primitives.

The situation was clear. He would escape and take charge of the ship. He would, if possible, take prisoners for the information they might provide. If their capture proved impractical, the ship itself would reveal much—

An eruption of noise: complexly modulated, unintelligible, not altogether unpleasant. Speech. It came from a tiny grille high on an interior wall, and Thssthfok added an audio transducer of unknown type to his list of building materials.

He saw flashes, roughly synchronized to the sounds, at the entrance into his cell. From the rectangular display device still attached to the inset window of the hatch. An image of his battle armor and a sound burst. An image of his captor’s spaceship and another sound burst. An image of Thssthfok himself—and silence.

“Thssthfok,” he offered.

And so the language lessons began.

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