The Ninety Trillion Fausts by Jack L. Chalker

Author:Jack L. Chalker [Chalker, Jack L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780671578305
Publisher: Baen Books

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A HELL OF A MESS

THE CAPTAIN CAME FORWARD IN A HURRY. “Transfer command to me and get back there, both of you! Strap in, take sedatives, anything you want! Just move!”

They immediately saw his point, although they didn’t like it, and Josef and Modra immediately moved to the rear. Gun Roh Chin slid into the seat, strapped in, and put on the command helmet, which was so large for his head that it almost rested on his nose. At this point, he didn’t care.

Another series of alarms sounded, and the screens showed at least a dozen fighters now launching from the cruiser, which kept a steady station just barely inside the Exchange border. Clearly, though, the fighters had no such restrictions, not here, in this desolate area of space.

Chin reached up and threw the manual contacts that sent the ship into combat mode. Although he had no intention to fight, this had the effect of putting the entire system on ready alert and at one and the same time dividing the frigate into separate sealed compartments. No matter what happened back there, nobody could get to him now unless he allowed it, or was unable to prevent it.

“Brace yourself,” he said through the intercom. “I’m going in!”

The ship did not respond, and the instruments registered a series of shots hitting very near him. For a moment he was confused, trying to figure out what was wrong, when it hit him. He was too excited, too tense. Think in Mycohl, he told himself. Calm down and think in Mycohl!

The ship surged forward and he felt the slight vertigo and shimmering of the vessel as it went into subspace.

By the gods I’m right in the middle of the stuff! He felt the tingling and slight dizziness and had a sudden feeling of nausea, but he ignored all those and pressed full speed in toward the Mycohl. He couldn’t help imagining what this was putting them all through back there and he just wanted to get them out.

Speed, course, heading, all were correct, but the seconds ticked on. How much of this stuff could there be here? It just couldn’t be this thick!

And, almost immediately, he realized that what he was thinking was correct. They weren’t in that wall any more; one of the damnable things had latched on to the ship!

“Think, Chin! Think!” he said aloud, angry at himself for not foreseeing this despite the small amount of time he’d had to prepare. What was something that would get it off? His eyes scanned the instrumentation, some of which was unfamiliar to him and little of which had any coherent legends in any language. One, however, caught his eye because he understood from the measuring unit what it had to be. Air pressure! But the others wouldn’t be sealed in their suits. Particularly not now. How long had it been? By the gods of his ancestors! Minutes, at least!

The devils with it! If he didn’t get that thing off the

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