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Bound Odyssey by Michelle Polar

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.Misaligned drive, no surprise after the colony ship had spent three centuries doubling as an orbital station.It was a miracle that the engines functioned at all, and a tribute to the engineers of the Central Worlds.A doubleTHE Cm- WHO FOUGHT23miracle that they were holding up under the unnatural stress of maintaining subspace speeds past redline for so long.Guiyon's doing."We will just have to economize on oxygen," Amos said firmly."Stop breathing?" the technician asked."Coldsleep," Amos replied."That will cut down our consumption by at least half.A small crew can manage the ship.It was designed so.Guiyon could run it alone, if need be."Sweat from more than the exertion of crawling along disused passageways glistened on the man's brown skin.Amos forced himself to breath normally as he walked back to the command deck.His chest felt heavy but it was impossible to detect any COg buildup yet Purely psychological, he told himself sternly."There is no chance of repairing the machinery," he said to the assembled command group.A few of them grunted as if struck."At the current rate, we will exhaust the available air supplies two-thirds of the way to our destination.""Why was the ship not properly maintained?" some- one half shouted."Because this was an orbital station with unlimited supplies and an algae tank!" Amos snapped, then brought himself back under control.Of necessity, they had had to dump the excess water in the tanks.Too much mass to haul when speed is essential."We lost more supplies, too, when the enemy hulled us.""This is our situation," he said, deliberately calm."We have to deal with it.A hundred lives and the fete of Bethel depend upon it"They aU nodded.There was no way the Kolnari fleet could have been kept secret, even in backwaters like the Saffron system, if there were any witnesses after they left a world.Given time on Bethel, they would hide their tracks the same way.24Anne McCaffrey & SJVf.Stirling"What.what about coldsleep?" Rachel said, lick- ing her Hps."A possibility presently to be considered," Amos said."Giriyon?"The brain's voice sounded inhumanly detached as always.There were four centuries of experience behind him, and abilities no softperson could ever match.Amos shuddered slightly.Abomination was the most charitable term the Faith used for such as he.Con- trol yourself, Amos chided.Guiyon rescued us all.He is our onfy hope.The stress was bringing back archaic fears."Marginal," Guiyon said."Possible.We should con- centrate all the personnel in one or two compartments, pump the atmosphere from the others back into reserve, and begin coldsleep treatments immediately." He paused."We are not properly equippedNinternal temperature control is very uncertain.There is a risk of substantial casualties.""Do it," Amos said, with the ring of authority in his voice.He could sense the others relaxing.The menace was still there, but someone was taking steps.Now, if onfy I had an authority figure, he thought wryly.I suppose the responsibility has to stop somewhere."And may God have mercy upon us.""Amen."Amos waited until the others had filed out to begin reorganizing the hundred-odd refugees."The enemy?" he asked softly."Four ships," Guiyon replied."One turned back, I think, with engine problems N there were discon- tinuities in its emissions.The remainder are gaining slowly.I am running the engines over the specifications as it is, but they were never designed for this sort of usage.My estimate is that we have escaped so far because the Kolnari ships are carrying extra fuel mass and suhtight maneuver engines.They are also not red- lining their propulsion systems."THE CITY WHO FOUGHT25"Will we have enough lead-time to reach Rigel Base?""That is impossible to calculate," Guiyon said.His voice was slowly taking on an extra tinge of animation, like a piece of rusty machinery that turned more smoothly when warmed up after long disuse."Too much depends on intervening factors N mass density in the interstellar medium, the enemy's actions, and what awaits us.We still have several possible destina- tions, but there may have been changes since the last update.My data is very old.""As God wills," Amos said reflexively."Indeed."The data-input jumped and fizzled through the jury-rigged inputs.Pain jagged along Guiyon's nerves in sympathy with the overstressed fabric of the ship.Anxiety ate at him as sector after sector went blank, a spreading numbness like leprosy.Behind him, the rosette of pursuing Kolnari ships was mostly hidden by the blaze of his own drive ener- gies.The sleeting energetic particles of their beam-weapons were not probing and eroding at the drive coils of the ancient, crumbling vessel.Ghost memories of the ship when it was young and strong haunted him, confusing his responses.His own nutrient and oxygen feeds kept slipping past redline, and each time the emergency adjustments took longer to swing the indicators back [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]