The Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven

Author:Larry Niven [Niven, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-01-13T21:00:00+00:00

19

They left Tregennis at the foot of the glacier, making a cairn for him where the ancients were entombed. “That seems very right,” Laurinda whispered. “I hope the scientists who come in the future will—give him a proper grave—but leave him here.”

Saxtorph made no remark about the odds against any such expedition. It would scarcely happen unless his people got home to tell the tale.

The funeral was hasty. When they hadn’t heard from their boat for a while, which would be a rather short while, the kzinti would send another, if not two or three. Humans had better be well out of the neighborhood before then.

Saxtorph boosted Shep inward from Tertia. “We can get some screening in the vicinity of the sun, especially if we’ve got it between us and Secunda,” he explained. “Radiation out of that clinker is no particular hazard, except heat; we’ll steer safely wide and not linger too long.” Shedding unwanted heat was always a problem in space. The best array of thermistors gave only limited help.

“Also—” he began to add. “No, never mind. A vague notion. Something you mentioned, Kam. But let it wait till we’ve quizzed you dry.”

That in turn waited upon simple, dazed sitting, followed by sleep, followed by gradual regaining of strength and alertness. You don’t bounce straight back from tension, terror, rage, and grief.

The sun swelled in view. Its flares were small and dim compared to Sol’s, but their flame-flickers became visible to the naked eye, around the roiled ember disc. After he heard what Ryan knew about the asteroid tug, Saxtorph whistled. “Christ!” he murmured. “Imagine swinging that close. Damn near half the sky a boiling red glow, and you hear the steam roar in its conduits and you fly in a haze of it, and nevertheless I’ll bet the cabin is a furnace you can barely endure, and if the least thing goes wrong—Yah, kzinti have courage, you must give them that. Markham’s right—what you quoted, Kam—they’d make great partners for humans. Though he doesn’t understand that we’ll have to civilize them first.”

Excitement grew in him as he learned more and his thoughts developed. But it was with a grim countenance that he presided over the meeting he called.

“Two men, two women, an unarmed interplanetary boat, and the nearest help light-years off,” he said. “After what we’ve done, the enemy must be scouring the system for us. I daresay the warship’s staying on guard at Secunda, but if I know kzin psychology, all her auxiliaries are now out on the hunt, and won’t quit till we’re either captured or dead.”

Dorcas nodded. “We dealt them what was worse than a hurt, a humiliation,” she confirmed. “Honor calls for vengeance.”

Laurinda clenched her fists. “It does,” she hissed. Ryan glanced at her in surprise; he hadn’t expected that from her.

“Well, they do have losses to mourn, like us,” Dorcas said. “As fiery as they are by nature, they’ll press the chase in hopes of dealing with us personally. However, they know our foodstocks are limited.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.