Starplex

Keith raised his hands. "It's just that-"

"The work was done perfectly," said Rhombus, "but this ship's designers never thought we would be in a battle."

"Sorry," said Keith. "Lia

"There is no procedure," said Lia

"Can the water be contained with force fields?" asked Keith.

"Not for long," said Lia

But each cubic meter of water masses a full ton; nothing short of the ship's external forcefield emitters could hold back that much pressure, and even if Gawst hadn't overloaded those, there's no way to aim them inside the ship." "If you turn off the artificial gravity in the central disk and on all decks below it, at least the water won't flow down," said Thor.

"Good idea," said Keith. "Lia

"Security override," said PHANTOM's voice. "Command disallowed."

Keith shot a look at the PHANTOM camera pair on his console. "What the — ?"

"It's because of the Ibs," said Rhombus. "Our circulatory system is based on a gravity feed; we'll die if you turn off the gravity."

"Damn! Lia

"Begin doing that. And get all dolphins out of the ocean deck — but tell them to stand by with breathing apparatus, in case we have to send them below into the flooded areas."

"If you evacuate starting from deck seventy," said Thor, "you can turn off the gravity there first, and work your way "That won't make any difference," said Lia

"What about electrical shorting?" asked Keith.

"I've already shut off the electrical systems in flooded areas," said Lia

"If the ocean deck were to drain completely, how much of the lower decks would it fill?" asked Thor.

"One hundred percent," said Lia

"Really?" said Keith. "Christ."

"The ocean deck contains six hundred and eighty-six thousand cubic meters of water," said Lia

"Excuse me, but I think the PDQ is in trouble," said Rhombus, gesturing with one of his ropes toward part of the holographic bubble. Two Waldahud ships were converging on the Starplex probeship, lasers crisscrossing.

Keith's eyes darted between the holo display and the monitor on his console showing the progress of the flooding.

"Wait," said Rhombus, "the Dakterth is coming up on the stern of the two ships attacking the PDQ. It should be able to draw their fire."

"How are the evacuations coming?" asked Keith.

"On schedule," said Lia

"No; it's just an internal breach."

"How watertight are our interior doors?"

"Well," said Lia

"What genius thought of that?" asked Thor.

"I think he helped design the Titanic," muttered Keith.

The ship rocked again, heaving back and forth. In the holo display, a cylinder carved out of Starplex's central disk, ten decks thick, was tumbling against the night.

"Gawst has cut out our number-two generator," reported Lia

A burst of light caught Keith's eye. The Dakterth had severed the engine pod from one of the Waldahud ships that had been firing on the PDQ. The pod pinwheeled away. It looked as though it was going to crash into the cylindrical core that had been cut from Starplex, but that was only a trick of perspective.

"What if we vent the water out into space."?" asked Rhombus.

"We'd have to cut our own hole into the ocean deck to do that," said Lia

"Where would be the easiest spot?" asked Keith.

Lia

Behind it is the engineering torus, of course. But right at that location, the torus contains a filtration station for the ocean deck.

In other words, it's already filled with water right up to the back wall of the docking bay, so you'd only have to carve a hole in the bay's wall to get water to pour in."

Keith thought for a moment. And then it hit him. "Okay," he said.

"Get someone with a geological laser down to bay sixteen right away."

He turned to Rhombus. "I know the Ibs need gravity, but what if we cut the artificial gravity, and spin the ship instead?"

"Centrifugal force?" said Lia

"Yes. So?"

"Well, and each deck is cross-shaped, so the apparent force of gravity would increase as you went farther out into each

"But it would also keep the water from flowing down the central shaft," said Keith. "Instead, it would be trying to press against the outer walls of the ocean deck. Thor, could you set up such a spin using our ACS thrusters?"

"Can do."

Keith looked at Rhombus. "How much gravity do you Ibs need for your circulatory systems to work?"

Rhombus lifted his ropes. "Tests have suggested that at least one eighth of a standard-g is required."

"Below deck fifty-five," said Lia

"But that's only fifteen floors that have to have their Ibs evacuated instead of forty," said Keith. "Lia

"Will do."

"People should probably vacate the rooms at the ends of each arm, because of the windows," said Lia

"Why?" asked Keith. "They're transparent carbon composite; they won't break even if people are standing on them."

"Of course not," said Lia

Keith nodded. "Good point. Pass on that advisory as well."

"Will do."

The holographic head of Longbottle aboard the Rum Ru

"Polluted waters we are in. Engines overheating."

Keith nodded at the holegram. "Do what you can; if necessary, head away from us. Maybe no one will follow you."

Starplex rocked again. "Gawst has started carving into the central disk beneath our number-three generator," said Rhombus. "And a second one of his ships is carving in from the top of the disk, right above generator one."

"Start spi

The starfield holegram began to rotate. The ship reeled again. "That took Gawst by surprise," said Thor. "His lasers are skittering across the entire undersurface of the central disk."

Lia

"Show me."

A frame appeared around part of the starfield holegram — now spi