The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven & Larry Niven

Author:Larry Niven & Larry Niven [Niven, Larry]
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Space Opera, American, Romance - Historical, General, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Fiction - General, Fantasy, Adventure, Historical, Romance: Historical, Fiction, Short Stories
ISBN: 9780671795740
Publisher: New York : Pocket Books, [1994], c1993.

"Well, that's pretty explicit," Freddy said. He typed quickly on the control console. "Glenda Ruth, I think you should include something in your code so they can be sure its you. That message wasn't friendly at all."

"All right." She connected the interface cable into her computer and scribbled. "Clementine, code that with my private key."

"Yes, dear."

"I wonder about this," Glenda Ruth said. "That message sounds pretty positive."

"You think something has happened?"

"I don't know, but I bet we don't have long to wait." The reply came four minutes later:

HECATE THIS IS INSS AGAMEMNON, REQUEST YOU RENDEZVOUS

WITH US IMMEDIATELY. VECTORS FOLLOW. WE HAVE MESSAGESFOR THE HON. GLENDA RUTH FOWLER ELAINE. BALASINGHAM."

Freddy's fingers played. She'd seen him more tense, his fingers moving faster, during a Sauron Menace game. . . when the penalties for mistakes weren't so high. "Not far. We can be there in ten minutes. Glenda Ruth, I can't find a blinker'

"A what?'

"Normally they'd give us a laser spot to follow. This close, with lOOx mag, I should see something that big directly. . . unless the Langston Field is up. Nice that we were expected, though. And it's a request, at least so far."

"They've gone stealth," Glenda Ruth said. "And no comment regarding Sinbad or my brother. Freddy, I think it's happened. The Moties are loose."

"Uh-huh." He tapped at console keys. "ACCELERATION WARNING.

Stand by for half-standard gravity."

*

*

*

"The Fyunch(click)s of humans were very diverse," Eudoxus said, "and so were their various fates. Captain Roderick Elaine's went mad. Sally Fowler's remained sane enough to advise, but was rarely considered trustworthy. Jacob Buckman's never had a problem. Chaplain Hardy's played abstract intellectual games; even some of the Masters found them interesting. Kevin, yours won so many arguments that she was made a teacher, but always under supervision'

"Flattering," Renner said. "Did you meet her?"

"No. I know these things due to observations by Horace Bury's Fyunch(click). That individual—shall we call her Bury-One? She was young, male, when he studied Horace Bury."

"After MacArthur's departure he saw a ruinous war shaping itself. He made some efforts to avert it, then to shape any kind of refuge for knowledge that would be lost. When these attempts had clearly failed, Bury-One left her Master. With a tangle of alliances and bluffs collapsing about her, she built and provisioned a spacecraft, reached the asteroids, and announced that her services were for sale

Eudoxus waited patiently through Kevin Renner's laughter. Others were laughing, too, and even Bury was smiling in. . . pride?

Presently Renner said, "I take it your Medina Trading—"

"No, Kevin, Medina hadn't the wealth or position by then. A

civilization we will call Byzantium won the bidding among those who could not be driven off or barred by distance or shortfall of delta-vee."

Chris Blaine was listening patiently, taking it all in and giving nothing. Joyce huddled in one corner of the bridge, whispering frantically into her recorder. Bury was smiling, enjoying Kevin's discomfiture. Bury had played this game before.

None of Renner's crew were going to be any help at all unless one of Cynthia's agonizing massages could put him back together, sometime in the indefinite future.

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