The gripping hand by Larry Niven; Jerry Pournelle

Author:Larry Niven; Jerry Pournelle
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction - Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Romance: historical, Space Opera, American, Romance - Historical, Fiction, Romance, Science fiction, Science Fiction - General, Fantasy, Adventure, Historical, General, Short Stories
ISBN: 9780671795740
Publisher: New York : Pocket Books, [1994], c1993.
Published: 1994-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

6 Hostile Takeover

Power consists in one's capacity to link his witt with the purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation.

- Woodrow Wilson

The great black blot must be Agamemnon. It was twenty klicks away and drifting closer, dead slow. Three much smaller ships were clustered nearby. Freddy expanded the view

"Alien," he said.

"Moties," Jennifer Banda said. Her grin was enormous, red mouth and white teeth in a dark face lit only by starlight from the viewport. "Glenda Ruth, they look like the ships your father saw. At least, that one does. Those others ..."

That one had a crude look. Most of it was a spherical tank. Forward, a smaller, more elaborate container (a cabin?) bristled with sensors; it looked as if it could detach. Aft was a fat doughnut and a spine like a long, long stinger, a magnetic guide for a fusion 11am e

A second had a similar spherical tank and a smaller cabin, plus a tube that might be a cargo hold. A third was all tori and looked as if it would spin for gravity, but was attached to a round bottomed cone ... , a lander?

"All different," Glenda Ruth said.

"Will the Navy let us talk to them?" Jennifer asked.

"I don't see why not," Freddy said.

"HECATE THIS IS AGAMEMNON, OVER."

"Frederick Townsend here. Centering communications beam. Locked on. Over."

"Locked on. I'm Commander Gregory Balasingham, Mr. Townsend."

"I take it the Moties have got loose," Freddy said.

"I wouldn't put it that way. There's a new Alderson path from this system to the Mote, but no Motie ships have got past us here."

"So far as you know," Glenda Ruth said.

"I see three ships of three radically different designs," Glenda Ruth said. "The message here is that you can't predict what they'll send next, Commander. Maybe something with a light sail and crew in frozen sleep. Maybe anything. And of course you didn't see all the ships that came through."

There was a long pause. 'Miss Blaine, we have a recorded message for you."

"Thank you."

"Stand by to record."

"Standing by," Freddy said. "Got it. Thanks."

"Commander, can we talk to the Moties?" Glenda Ruth asked. Another pause. "Yes, but I want to listen in."

"That's all right," Glenda Ruth said. "Maybe you'll hear something I haven't. We don't have a lot of time."

"I'll connect you after you've read your message."

"Thank you. We'll call you back," Freddy said. "Give us half an hour. By the way, what time are you on?"

"It's seventeen fifty-two here."

"Thank you, we'll synchronize." Ship's time for Hecate was 1430, early afternoon. They'd been on a twenty-four-hour ship's day since they left Sparta. "Commander, would you or any of your officers care to join us for dinner?"

"Thank you, Mr. Townsend, hut we're on general alert here. For all we know, there may be a fleet of Motie warships bearing down on us."

"Oh. Yes, of course. Thank you. Half an hour, then."

"Not much here," Glenda Ruth said. Chris says the Moties came through, seven unarmed ships. One - hah."

"Hah?"

"One asked for Horace Bury, First thing they said.

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.