Afterward, with Kellys head resting on his chest, he wondered how long he dared remain here, how much he should permit himself to relax. He badly wanted to remain in the small tubelike room scented with the odors of clean sheets and the distant undertaste of disinfectant, to close his eyes, and to let the muscles bruised with high gravities relax into the mattress under the light weight of half a gravity. And he wondered how many of the other recreational tubes on the ship were occupied at that moment, with other crew celebrating their escape from death.

  It wasnt a call from Command that brought him to full alertness, but a nearby crash, a sound like the contents of an overfull closet spilling out. A crash that was followed immediately afterward by a long, bellowing laugh.

  Well. This wasnt supposed to happen.

  Martinez dressed, left the tube, and followed the laughter to the captains cabin, where he found Zhou and Knadjian, along with their partner in crime, Ahmet. All three were stinking drunk on the captains liquor, and Zhou was sprawled on the floor, far beyond speech or movement.

  Hey there, Lieutenant! Ahmet said with a wave. Come join us!

  Sex wasnt the only form of celebration, Martinez reminded himself.

  At Martinezs orders, theyd broken into everything in search of the captains key, and that apparently included the captains liquor store. Once released from duty for a meal, theyd made their way back to where they knew they could drink themselves into a coma.

  Martinez paged Alikhan. Get these people to couches, strap them in, and make sure theyre not in a position to touch a single control, he said. Then find every bottle of liquor on this ship, give it to the cooks, and see that its put under lock and key.

  Very good, my lord.

  That includes the stuff in my cabin. And in Garcias.

  Yes, my lord. Ill be there directly.

  Martinez rejoined Kelly briefly, and found her dressed and pulling on her shoes. He gave her foot a grateful squeezeleaning into the tube, it was the only part of her he could reachand thanked her, with all the sincerity he could muster, for joining him.

  Its not like I didnt have fun, she said.

  Martinez returned to Command, waited the few moments it took Kelly to return, then ordered everyone into vac suits for some sustained acceleration. It was best to put distance between them while the Naxids were inactive, he thought.

  It took ten minutes or so for the three inebriates to be stuffed into their suits and strapped down, and a little longer for the cooks to secure the galley. Then Martinez ordered increased acceleration, to four gees this timehis tummy, he realized,was a little full for six gravities to sit on it.

  Hours passed. Martinez spent his time obsessively studying the displays, watching Magarias ring on its slow rotation about its planet, speculating about the Naxids lack of activity.

  My lord, Tracy reported from her station. Judge Kybiqhas increased acceleration.

  Kybiqwas the cruiser that Fanaghee had placed en route to Wormhole 1, blocking Coronas escape to Zanshaa.

  Heading for the wormhole? Martinez asked as he paged through the various displays to find the one that showed Kybiq.

  No, my lord. Its heading is for Barbasthe planet next out from Magaria, a sort of failed gas giant, huge, with a solid core and an atmosphere of furious storms. At the moment, its orbit placed it nearly between Magaria and Wormhole 1, which led to the most direct route to Zanshaa. For the next several months Barbas would be convenient for a slingshot maneuver, by which traffic outbound from Magaria would pick up speed by slinging themselves around it en route to the wormhole.

  Any alteration in course?

  No, my lord.

  Martinez found the Judge Kybiq on his display, and as he stared at it, he felt a nervous little suspicion begin to grow in his mind. Why was the Naxid cruiser increasing its speed for the wormhole? Why was it suddenly so urgent to head to Zanshaa?

  A few minutes with the plotting computer confirmed his suspicions. Kybiq had been accelerating out of Magaria for three days, and it was traveling faster than Corona even though its accelerations hadnt been quite so brutal. It was possible that the cruiser could swing around the near side of Barbas and hurl itself for Wormhole 1.

  It was equally possible, and a good deal more probable, that Judge Kybiq could make a slight, last-minute alteration of course, then slingshot itself around thefar side of Barbas and head for Wormhole 4 and an interception of Corona.

  The navplot computer did the math. Depending on how fast Kybiq accelerated, it would be three to five days before it could make its slingshot, and then another eight or ten days before the interception. Martinez plotted the worst-case scenario. How hard would he have to accelerate to beat the cruiser to the wormhole?

  Not bad. To beat the Kybiq by half a day, even if the cruiser advanced at chest-crushing acceleration, Corona would only have to average a constant 3.8 gees for the next fourteen days. He was exceeding that now, and hed set the pace before he even knew he was in a race.

  He didnt want the Naxids to know he was on to their trick, however, so for the next three days he kept to a regular schedule: accelerating a steady four gees except during mealtimes, when he reduced to a single gravity; with occasional, regular bursts of up to six gees three times a day, for half an hour each time. His body ached, and his ligaments made popping and crackling sounds whenever he moved, but Coronas crew was staying the course, if not precisely thriving.

  By the time Kybiq screamed through its turn around Barbas, subjecting its suffering crew to accelerations in excess of eleven gravities while it was in the planets gravity well, Corona had a comfortable lead, and Martinez pulled even farther ahead by increasing the duration of the six-gravity bursts. Kybiq increased its acceleration, but Martinez was able to increase his own proportionally in order to maintain his leadno matter what the cruiser did, it was going to lose the race, and Martinez took what comfort he could from the knowledge that however much he and his people were suffering, the Naxids sufferings were worse.

  The acceleration was a dreary grind, however. His body ached and his mind felt dulled. His sleep was uneasy, with suggestive and distasteful dreams, and his waking hours filled with the leaden weight and unwashed stench of his own body.

  Martinez knew the Naxids had surrendered the race when they opened fire again. The ships around the ring station fired 190 missiles, and then, sometime later, Kybiq fired two salvos of thirty-two each and then cut its acceleration, giving up the race officially. The barrages were well-planned this time, each missile taking a separate track to converge on the Corona, from many different angles, within the space of about an hour. By the time they encountered the runaway frigate, theyd be traveling much faster than attacking missles had on the first day, and would be much more difficult to hit.

  Martinez had over two days in which to plan his defenses. He, Kelly, Alikhan, and other technical-minded crew conferred, ran simulations, conferred again. Martinez began firing his defensive barrages when the missiles were five hours out, and the results simplified things when it came time to use the lasers.

  By this time he was too tired to care much how it all turned out. The wild elation of the first days escape had faded beneath the relentless crush of gravity, and it seemed that death would be a release from weariness and the constant struggle simply to breathe. The display filled with a confusing overlay of explosions and clouds of deadly radiation. He and Kelly and anyone who felt qualified crewed one of the defensive lasers, with the rest turned to automatic: Corona was surrounded with its own spiderweb of light, each radial line terminating in an explosion. When in doubt, Martinez launched missiles.

  The fight went on for hours while the Naxid missiles vanished one by one in sheets of flame and fountains of angry gamma rays. More missiles flew through the expanding, opaque clouds, and had to be located and destroyed. Coronas powerful radars hammered out, trying to locate the dodging, weaving parcels of deadly antimatter. The missiles crept closer and closer. Countermissiles leaped off the rails. Lasers flashed in the darkness. Martinez fired, wiped sweat from his eyes, and sought wildly on the displays for another oncoming warhead, certain that he was missing somethingbut then he heard a tired whoop from Kelly, who was looking at him with a faded version of her once-brilliant smile, and he realized hed won, that the missiles were finally gone and that he and the Corona were free.

  He ordered the ship to decelerate to half a gravity and that a meal be served. He further ordered the spirit locker opened and gave everyone, even his three troublemakers, a shot of their favorite poison. They cheered him; wearily, but they cheered him. Exhausted pride glowed in his breast at the sound of their massed shouts.

  There was no question of a recreational with Kelly: they were both too weary.

  Fifteen days and four hours after departing Magaria station, Corona entered Magaria Wormhole 4 and made an instantaneous transit to the Paswal system. The frigate had twenty crew counting her lieutenant commandant, and thirty-one missiles left. She was traveling just short of twotenths of the speed of light, and could expect to dock at Zanshaas ring in about another month, depending on how hard Martinez wanted to press her acceleration and deceleration.

  Right now he didnt want to press anything. He sent his report via comm laser to the wormhole relay station on the far side of the system, showered himself clean, reduced gravity still further, to a tenth of a gee, and floated to sleep in his own bed for the first time since hed stolen Corona, fifteen days ago on the Festival of Sport.

  * * *

  TWELVE

  « ^ »

  Captain Lord Richard Li was a witness to the moment that saved Zanshaa and the Home Fleet. Fleet Commander Jarlath, trying to get to the bottom of construction delays at the ring dockyard, had called a meeting of dock administrators, civilian contractors, and the officers of ships building and in refit, but his temper rose at the vague answers he received from the administrators and the contractors.

  Do you know your own business or not? Jarlath finally demanded. The fur on his face stood erect, obscuring his facial features beneath the bristle and making him look like a hairbrush with two huge shaded eyes. The slight lisp, caused by his having to speak around his fangs, became more sinister than comical. Why have the estimates been exceeded for Destiny and Recovery? Why can I receive no firm date for the completion of work on Dauntless and Estimable?

  No firm dates or answers were given.All these things sort of depend on other things was the best answer the commander of the Home Fleet received, which happened to be the same answer Lord Richard had been getting since his appointment. His ship was full of noise and workmen, the stink of hot metal and the booming rumble of steel wheels on the big slabs of plastic temporary flooring, but nothing seemed to be any closer to completion than the day hed arrived.

  Lord Richard had been receiving hints of impatience from the private firm hed hired to decorate the officers suite, to install his new hutch, cabinets, and bar, to lay in his bathroom the lovely rough slate tiles that Terza had chosen for him, and to paint the hull, pinnaces, and missiles in his personal colors, a sublime burgundy red accented subtly with stripes of purple. The firm couldnt start until the rebuild was finished, and now they were making ominous noises to the effect that if these delays continued, they might have to postpone work for months due to other commitments.

  This was far too alarming. Lord Richard had thought the new fleetcom ought to have some idea how his dockyard was run. I simply dont have the seniority to get so much as a single answer from these people, hed told Jarlath. But theyll have to answer to you.

  Now he watched as the commander of the Home Fleet discovered that he didnt have the seniority either.

  Im calling in the auditors! Jarlath snarled as he walked down the rim road to the skyhook terminus. Theres got to be thieving going on. Its only pride in the service that keeps me from calling the Legion of Diligence!

  Jarlath made an eye-catching picture as he stalked down the rubberized roadway. He had bleached his fur white in order to avoid the heat of formal mourning garb, and was dressed only in white trunks and a vest, both piped with service green and heavy with badges of rank. His powerful legs and broad haunches propelled his round-bottomed body with purpose and energy, all now directed toward clearing up the mess in the dockyards.

  Lord Richard Li had reason to feel pleased with himself. He was already picturing to himself the bath aboard Dauntless, the slate tile, the gleaming fixtures of porcelain and copper, steam rising from the scented water as he lowered himself into the tub&and then Jarlath saw Senior Squadron Commander Elkizer, and brought Lord Richards pleasant fantasy to an end.

  The leader of the Naxid heavy cruiser squadron stood with a group of officers and senior enlisted personnel before the massive airlock door that led to Jarlaths own flagship, Glory of the Praxis. Elkizer gestured at the airlock, his chameleon-weave jacket flashing the red-on-black patterns of his beaded scales.

  Jarlath saw his subordinate and marched toward him. One of the Naxids saw the fleetcom coming and alerted Elkizer, and Elkizers four-legged body spun in place, two legs advancing forward, two in retreat, and then braced to attention. One last pattern flashed on the chameleon-weave jacket. Jarlath paused in surprise, then put his head down and marched to Elkizer again.

  What do you mean, dupe? he asked.

  Lord Richard was surprised at Jarlaths words, though his surprise was nothing compared to that of Squadron Leader Elkizer, who swayed backward in astonishment, his back bent like a bow. I beg your pardon, Lord Fleetcom, he managed. I did not use that sign.

  Jarlath bobbed his furry head as he loomed over Elkizer. The bobbing wasnt a nod of affirmation, but a kind of triangulation used by his nocturnal, carnivorous species to fix the precise location of their prey.

  My lord, I spent three years at the Festopath Academy, where Torminel and Naxids shared a dormitory, Jarlath lisped. Believe me when I say that during those three years I learned every disrespectful idiom in the Naxid vocabulary, a fact that aided me greatly when I served as Lord President of the Academy a few years ago. His lips peeled back from his fangs. So kindly explain to me what you meant when you flashed, Silence, the dupe approaches.

  Elkizer was frozen for a long moment before he managed to speak. My lord, he said, I must insist. I did not use that sign.

  What sign was it, then?

  There was another long silence while Elkizer searched his thoughts. The sign can also mean lawn, he said finally.

  True. So what did you mean by the lawn approaches?

  Elkizer tried another path. I meant no disrespect, my lord.

  Jarlaths tone was savage. To me? Or to the lawn?

  Lord Richard watched the confrontation in awe, his nerves urging him to fight or fly. The Naxids were descended from predators who ran in packs, but the Torminels had once been solitary, nocturnal hunters of the heavy forest, pugnacious, persistent, and utterly fearless. Lord Richard thought Jarlath had been angry before, confronting the dockyard superintendent, but now it was clear that Jarlath had barely scratched the surface of his rage.

  May I never piss this one off, Lord Richard thought.

  For the first time, Jarlath seemed to notice the crowd of Naxids behind Elkizer, the unusual mixture of high-ranking officers and senior noncoms. What are these folk doing here? he demanded. What is your purpose?

  My lord, Elkizer said, its an orientation tour. For new personnel.

  Jarlath panned across the party with his huge shaded eyes. I see Junior Squadron Commander Farniai, who has been with the Home Fleet for six years. And Captain Tirzit, who was once second officer here at Ring Command. Captain Renzakyoure on your second tour here, are you not? His huge eyes swung back to Elkizer. Im surprised that these officers require orientation to a ring station theyve inhabited for so many years.

  My lord, its the others, Elkizer said quickly. We are orienting&these others.

  Petty officers? Jarlath said. Constables? He did the head-bobbing again, zeroing in on Elkizers throat. Please surrender the impression that I am your dupeor your lawn. What are you really doing here, Lord Commander?

  During the long silence that followed, it became clear to Lord Richard that Elkizer had fired all his ammunition and had nothing left in the shot locker but rust and scale.

  My lord, we mean no disrespect, Elkizer finally said. We thought you would be in the Commandery.

  All Jarlaths white-bleached fur stood on end, burying once more his facial features, and hesqualled the high-pitched yowl his prehistoric ancestors had used to freeze their victims while they pounced. Lord Richard was aware of personnel a hundred paces around stumbling with shock at the sound and turning to stare.

  No disrespect! he screamed. By this vilemendacity! By this assembly, which you refuse to explain! By sneaking around behind my back, while you thought I was in my office on Zanshaa! Jarlath raised a heavy white fist. You are up to something, my lord.

  Elkizers black-on-red eyes rolled. My lord, I

  I dont care for another of your pathetic explanations, Jarlath said, even if this time its the truth. It is clear to me that you and these otherindividualsare involved in this scheme, whatever it is, because you have too little with which to occupy your time. Therefore your squadronand that of Squadcom Farniai herewill depart the ring station at 1701 today in order to participate in maneuvers. Which will begin with a six-gravity acceleration toward Vandrith, followed by a slingshot maneuver and a full series of war games between your two squadrons, all of which will be designed by my staff for maximum stress on all ship systemsthe crew in particular.

  My lord! Elkizer said. We have crew on liberty!

  Recall them! They have four hours to report. Jarlath bared his fangs again. Get moving!

  The Naxids began backpedaling, their booted feet beating at the roadways rubberized surface while their trunks remained erect.