She didn't mention that, given a chance, she wanted to hang around this system a while, in case of a miracle.
"Have all loose objects been secured?"
"Sstandard procedure. It's been done."
"Good. Please order all crew out of the central bay. They're to strap themselves in wherever they can."
Tsh't gave the order, then turned back with a questioning look.
Gillian explained. "We're slow because we're overweight, right? They'll be shooting at us before we reach the cover of the gas giant, let alone overdrive range. Tell me, Tsh't, what's making us overweight?"
"The Thennanin shell!"
"And? What else?"
Tsh't looked puzzled.
Gillian hinted with a riddle.
* Living touch
The substance of motion -
* Like air, forgotten
Until it's gone! *
Tsh't stared blankly. Then she got it. Her eyes widened. "Pretty tricky, yesss. It just might work, at that. Still, I'm glad you told me. The crew are going to want to wear the right apparel."
Gillian tried to snap her fingers in the water, and failed. "Spacesuits! You're right! Tsh't, what would I do without you!"
114 ::: Galactics
"The side battle amongst all the remnant forces seems to have moved away from the planet," a Paha warrior reported. "They are streaming away from Kithrup, chasing a rather large vessel."
The Soro, Krat, finished paring a ling-plum. She fought to hide the nervous tremor in her left arm.
"Can you identify the one they pursue?"
"It does not appear to be the quarry."
The Paha tastefully ignored the fleet-mistress's obvious wave of relief on hearing this. "It is too large to be the Earth ship. We have tentatively identified it as a crippled Thennanin, although… "
"Yes?" Krat asked archly.
The Paha hesitated. "It behaves strangely. It is inordinately massive, and its motors seem to have a quasi-Tymbrimi tone. It is already too far to read clearly."
Krat grunted. "What is our status?"
"The Tandu parallel us, sniping at our flanks as we do theirs. We both chase the Earth scout. Both of us have ceased firing at the boat except when it gets too close to the other side."
Krat growled. "This vessel leads us farther and farther from the planet — from the true quarry. Have you contemplated a scoutship whose very purpose may have been to accomplish this?" she snapped.
The Paha considered, then nodded. "Yes, Fleet-Mother. It would be just like a Tymbrimi or wolfling trick. What do you suggest?" '
Krat was filled with frustration. It had to be a trick! Yet she couldn't abandon the chase, or the Tandu would capture the scoutship. And the longer the chase went on, the worse the attrition on both sides!
She threw the plum across the room. It splattered dead center on the rayed spiral glyph of the Library. A startled Pil jumped and squeaked in dismay, then glared at her insolently.
"Transmit Standard Truce Call Three," Krat commanded with distaste. "Contact the Tandu Stalker. We must put an end to this farce and get back to the planet at once!"
The Tandu Stalker asked the Trainer one more time. "Can you arouse the Acceptor?"
The Trainer knelt before the Stalker, offering its own head. "I cannot. It has entered an orgasmic state. It is over-stimulated. Operant manipulation does not achieve success."
"Then we have no meta-physical way to investigate the strange chase behind us?"
"We do not. We can only use physical means."
The Stalker's legs ratcheted. "Go and remove your head. With your last volition, place it in my trophy rack."
The Trainer rasped assent.
"May the new one I grow serve you better."
"Indeed. But first," the Stalker suggested, "arrange to open a talk-line with the Soro. I shall sever the leg I use to talk with them, of course. But talk to them we now must."
Buoult bit at his elbow spikes, then used them to preen his ridgecrest. He had guessed correctly! He had taken the last six Thennanin ships out of the battle between the Tandu and Soro, and arrived at the planet in time to join a long chase. Ten ragged ships were ahead of him, chasing an object that could only dimly be made out.
"More speed," he urged. "The others are uncoordinated. While the Tandu and Soro chase a ruse, we are the only fair-sized squadron in the vicinity! We must chase!"
Far ahead of the Thennanin, a Gubru captain ruffled its feathers and cackled.
"We catch up! We catch up with the lumbering thing! And look! Now that we are near, look and see that its emanations are human! They fly inside a shell, but now we are near and can look and see and catch that which is inside that shell!
"Now we are near, and will catch them!"
Failure was still possible, of course. But total defeat would be unpermissible.
"If we cannot catch them," it reminded itself, "then we must make certain to destroy them."
115 ::: Streaker
The gas giant loomed ahead. The heavily laden Streaker lumbered toward it.
"They'll expect us to dive in close for a tight hyperbolic," Tsh't commented. "It's generally a good tactic when being chased in a planetary system. A quick thrusst while we're swinging near the planet can translate into a major shift in direction."
Gillian nodded. "That's what they'll expect, but that's not what we'll do."
They watched the screens as three large blips grew and then took form as solid figures — ships with ugly battle-scars and uglier weapons.
The great bulk of the planet began to intrude even as the pursuing ships grew larger.
"Are all fen secured?"
"Yesss!"
"Then you choose the time, Lieutenant. You have a better feel for space battles than I. You know what we want to do."
Tsh't clapped her jaws together. "I do, Gillian."
They dove toward the planet.
"Sssoon. Soon they'll be committed…" Tsh't's eyes narrowed. She concentrated on sound images, transmitted by her neural link. The bridge was silent except for the nervous clicking of dolphin sonar. Gillian was reminded of tense situations on human ships, when half the crew would be whistling through their teeth without ever being aware of it.
"Get-t ready," Tsh't told the engineering crew by intercom.
The pursuing ships disappeared briefly behind the planet's limb.
"Now!" she cried for Suessi to hear. "Open the rear locks! Activate all pumps!" She swung to the pilot. "Launch that decoy probe! Hard lateral acceleration! Apply stasis to compensate all but one g rearward! Repeat, allow one gravity rearward in the ship!"
Half the control boards in the bridge sprouted red light. Forewarned, the crew overrode safeguards as the contents of Streaker's central bay flew out behind her into the vacuum of open space.
The Gubru captain was concerned with a Pthaca ship encroaching on its lead. The commander contemplated maneuvers to destroy the Pthaca, but the master computer suddenly squawked frantically for attention.
"They have not done that!" the captain chanted as it stared in disbelief at the display. "They cannot have done such a thing. They cannot have found such a devilish trap. They cannot have…"
It watched the Pthaca ship collide at a large fraction of light speed with a barrier that had not been there minutes before.
It was only a diffuse stream of gas particles, drifting in their path. But, unexpected, it met the Pthaca warship's screens like a solid wall. At a fair fraction of light speed, any barrier was deadly.