The Gripping Hand

Bury was too still. "Cynthia!"

She was already loose, pulling herself against him, fingers on his throat. "No pulse."

"Do something. Sorry, of course you will." The drive test lights blinked green. Re

"Aye, aye. Acceration. Stand by."

"Sinbad, this is Atropos."

"Blaine. Good. Situation unchanged as of our Jump time."

"Unchanged as of your Jump time. Acknowledged, sir."

"Report."

"Yes, sir. We're broadcasting on Fleet hailing frequencies. Nobody's shot at us yet. That may be a good sign."

"Not shooting, but not answering."

"No answer yet, Commodore."

Where the hell was Weigle and the Crazy Eddie Squadron? Silly question. Weigle could be anywhere. "Keep trying. We'll hide behind you when we get there."

"Right. I'll leave the cha

More movements behind him. Cynthia had reattached the medical systems to Bury. He thrashed suddenly, and quieted. Electric shock. Still dead. Skeletal metal arms lifted from the box, for the first time in Kevin's memory, and began to work on Horace Bury.

Ali Baba howled in terror.

"Victoria. Glenda Ruth. Anyone," Kevin shouted.

"Yes, Kevin." Re

Not Omar's fault. Re

"Stand clear!" Cynthia shouted. "Glenda Ruth, take Ali Baba! Clear!" Horace Bury thrashed again. Once more.

Glenda Ruth made crooning noises. The medical-panel lights glowed, but no sign of heart or brain activity. Dead panel, or- Glenda Ruth said, "Kevin, Cynthia, my God, stop! He's dead!" You never know- Kevin bit it back. She would know.

They were alongside Atropos now. Townsend matched velocities. "Stay alongside," Re

"Sir?"

"I'm changing the plan. If I'm going to use the Flinger at all, it'll have to be before we build up too much heat, so we'll stay alongside you for the first phase of the battle."

"Yes, sir?"

"Keep relaying data."

"Aye, aye, sir. Data relay set," Blaine said.

"Got it. Any luck contacting the Fleet?"

"Not yet. Any further orders, Sir?"

Re

They saw through the eyes of Atropos. A black dot popped into place, then another, then two more. A green thread from Atropos to one of the intruders. The intruder's Field flared, expanded.

"It's working," Re

"Could they have done what you did?" Joyce asked. "Got their Engineers to rebuild it?"

"Omar?"

"No data. I would not have thought of it."

More black dots. "Freddy, stand by the finger. We'll aim for the center of the cluster."

"Right."

The black dot expanded, ran through colors, and vanished. Atropos's green thread moved to another ship.

"Atropos."

"Aye, aye, Commodore."

Not Blaine. "Tell your skipper we'll commence firing when we have twenty-five targets. Watch the data link for exact time."

"You will fire when you have twenty-five, that's two five, targets. Observe data link for exact time. Aye, aye, sir."

Joyce's camera was ru

"We've got another edge," Re

"In short, we can stay alive a long time."

"We may need to," Freddy said. "Twenty-four."

"Load."

"Erecting the Flinger. Loading. Wow, it's warm out there. Fire. Retracting the Flinger into the Field."

A timer began on Re

A bright star within the star. Twenty black dots expanded, stretched, added their stored heat to the white glare. Green lines converged on another. It flashed and was gone.

And thirty more ships appeared.

"Stand by Flinger," Re

Scattered across a brilliant orange sky were sixty to seventy colored balloons. The eye couldn't tell their distance: sizes varied too widely. Most were red. Fewer were orange, and those faded into invisibility until they grew hotter. A handful were green and blue, inflating as their temperature rose, until one or another made a brief nova. It was a kindergarten astronomy class, the stars colorcoded to their places on the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram.

"Three. Two. One. Bingo," Freddy droned.

Another flare. Red and yellow bubbles inflated suddenly, green, blue, flashflashflash.

"How many is that?" Joyce demanded.

"Counting what Atropos bagged, over a hundred."

"Should we be cheering? Sorry, Glenda Ruth."

"It's all right. They're only Warriors. To the Moties they're valuable property, but-"

"Retracted. Seven warheads left," Freddy said. "Timing's about right, we'll be too hot to use it pretty soon. Captain, I have to say this is easier than I thought it would be."

"Too easy," Re

"Rawlins here."

"This was Group A, agreed?"

"Yes."

"I think it's time to get the hell out of here before the B group arrives."

"Agreed. What course?"

"Out of the star. Head for the Jump point to New Cal. I'll lead. And keep calling for the Fleet."

"To New Cal. Damn right we'll keep calling! Acceleration?"

"Two gee's?"

"Good enough."

"Here they come!" The Atropos talker was shouting. "Hundreds of them!" Then in a calmer voice, "Sinbad, this is Atropos. Enemy fleet coming through the Alderson point. The count is three hundred ships. We are firing torpedoes."

"Maybe this would be a good time to use our last loads," Townsend said.

"I hate to fire ourselves dry, but, yeah." Re

"Atropos, designate us a target group, please."

The screen jumped, and a ring appeared indicating a cluster of ships moving together at high velocity away from the Jump point. Other ships were appearing every second.

"Hail Mary," Freddy Townsend said. "Okay, I've got a solution...erecting... on the way. Eighty-nine seconds." The timers began the countdown. "Of course you know we can't fight all those ships."

"All true," Re

"They're not going to give up," Joyce said. "Omar, Victoria, can't they see they've been defeated? It won't do them any good to destroy us now!"

"They have their orders," Glenda Ruth said. "Victoria, do Warriors ever question a Master's orders? Joyce is right, this can't do them any good, not now. Whatever they do to us, they get back to the Mote overheated and out of fuel, and the Alliance fleets will be waiting. Do they know that?"

"They know it better than you," Victoria said.

"And they have their orders." Glenda Ruth shuddered.

"I think it is more than that," Omar said. "If they return, it will be the first time that Mote ships have done that. Many neutrals will join them just for that reason. And if a sizable group comes over to them-"