The helmsman starts counting off missile collisions. “Two down. The score is sixteen to eighteen. One more, and another. “Fourteen to sixteen. We’re still two up.”
“I hope those two will be enough. That was our last shot—”
Brandt has not said anything through the entire battle. Now he turns and looks at Korie. He steps close and lowers his voice. “If you knew this was going to happen, Mr. Korie—why didn’t you tell me?”
Korie returns his accusing look with steady eyes. “I don’t think you would have believed me, sir. I’m sorry. There are a lot of things I did that I wish I hadn’t had to.”
The helmsman: “Four and six—oops. Three and five. No, make that three and four. One of his birds took out two of ours.”
“If he can do that once more, we’re dead,” says Barak grimly.
“Not dead, just stalemated again. Except now we know for sure that he’s out there.”
“One and two . . . and there they go. One left! And it’s ours! And closing!”
“Go, baby, go!”
“Mr. Leen—you can unwarp whenever you’re ready. Shut your engines down and recalibrate for long-range scanning, please—”
Before Korie can finish the sentence, the helmsman reports, “We’ve lost our scan—to a sudden field-overload!”
Korie, Brandt and Barak exchange glances. “It could have been the missiles,” says the captain.
“But not very likely,” responds Korie. “A missile warp is much too small. You have to be right on top of its collapse for it to blow your scan.”
“It could have been a cumulative effect.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Uh—”
“Neither do I.” Korie grins. “I think maybe—” He looks to Barak. “Al?”
“We were closing on him—” His eyes are bright.
“Anyone else?” Korie looks around the room. He is surrounded by hopeful expressions.
“I think—” He hesitates, then shouts out loud, “I think—we got him!”
And then everybody is shouting, cheering, yelling, whistling, stamping, roaring, laughing, slapping each other’s backs and butts, hugging each other and jumping up and down and—
“Hey! Hey! Hey!—Hold it!” That’s Barak hollering. “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! It hasn’t been confirmed yet! We have to confirm it!”
The shouting dies away. Confused glances ricochet back and forth.
Korie looks to Barak. “You’re right.” And then he grins. “But I think I’m the one who should be demanding the proof now.” For once, the laughter on the bridge is almost good-natured.
Korie remembers something. He turns and looks at Brandt, standing glumly alone and thoughtful in the center of the bridge. He hands the microphone to his captain. “Sir? Do you want to direct the search for debris?”
Brandt looks at the proffered mike, then at Korie—
There is only the tiniest discontinuity as the Burlingame unwarps.
—then at the mike again. “You’ve done a fine job, so far, Mr. Korie. You may continue.”
“You are the captain, sir. I believe this is your privilege. To confirm the kill.”
“It was your kill, Mr. Korie.”
“Sir? I’d be honored to have you confirm it.” He meets Brandt’s gaze with his own. “Please?”
Brandt takes the mike reluctantly. “I know why you’re doing this, Korie. I’m beginning to figure you out.”
“Yes, sir—if you say so.”
The communicator beeps. “Well? Did we get him? Come on, what’s the story?”
“Stand by, Cookie,” says Brandt. “We’re going in for a look with broom and dustpan.”
“I just want to know if I should break out the champagne?”
“Stand by.” The captain switches off with a gentle smile. Brandt looks to his first officer. He moves to take his proper position in the Command and Control Seat. “Mr. Korie, we’ll schedule a full debriefing at eleven hundred hours tomorrow morning. But there’s really only one thing I want to know.” He looks at Korie shrewdly. “We have one man in the brig, another in sick bay with multiple injuries, and a body in the morgue. Was it worth it?”
“Sir.” Korie straightens almost to attention. “It hardly matters whether it was worth it or not. That was the price. And we never had any choice.”
“That’s hardly a satisfactory answer.”
“I’m sorry, sir—would you prefer I say something more to the effect of ‘Next time, suckers, maybe you’ll believe me’?”
“To be quite honest—I’d be afraid to disagree with you again.”
“Except—” Korie says, and there is not the slightest hint of a twinkle in his eye. He says it straight-faced, “Next time, I might be wrong.” (And I’m glad you don’t know the errors I made this time.)
Brandt nods thoughtfully. “As soon as we confirm the kill, Mr. Korie, there’s one thing I want you to do.”
“Sir?”
“You give the order to go home.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
FORTY
Violence is the last word of the illiterate. Also the first.
—SOLOMON SHORT
More from the David Gerrold eBook Series
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The complete story of one of Star Trek’s most popular episodes:
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THE VOYAGE OF THE STAR WOLF
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The first work in David Gerrold’s Star Wolf trilogy, this tale pits the human members of the Star Wolf space vessel against the superhuman Morthan crew. Captain Jonathan Korie, hampered by the loss of most of the human fleet to the Morthans and a nearly disabled ship of his own, faces the Morthan threat driven by the need for survival and the desire for revenge. A classic of military science fiction, the Star Wolf trilogy combines rapid action with powerful studies of military character.
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This classic work of science fiction is widely considered to be the ultimate time-travel novel. When Daniel Eakins inherits a time machine, he soon realizes that he has enormous power to shape the course of history. He can foil terrorists, prevent assassinations, or just make some fast money at the racetrack. And if he doesn’t like the results of the change, he can simply go back in time and talk himself out of making it! But Dan soon finds that there are limits to his powers and forces beyond his control.
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In this sequel to Under the Eye of God, David Gerrold’s classic space opera continues.
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Only an endless space war could have produced the Roger Burlingame. A war that had caused Earth to turn starships into instruments of total destruction. A war that had so drained Earth of resources that the Roger Burlingame was kept in service long after it should have been scrapped.
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THE WORLD OF STAR TREK
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They said it couldn’t be done! A science fiction show on national television? The network didn’t believe it would work. It was the 1960s. Would the public accept a non-human hero with demonic pointed ears? A black female lieutenant? Impossible!
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David Gerrold takes you on a tour of alternate universes . . . universes where Santa Claus isn’t nice and the best man is actually elected president; where Ronald Reagan and Gregory Peck command the plane carrying the first atomic bomb and John F. Kennedy stars in the hit show Star Track, where Franz Kafka doesn’t write fiction and the Devil holds educational seminars. Introduction by Mike Resnick.
WHEN HARLIE WAS ONE
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HARLIE is the first self-aware intelligence engine. But instead of answers, he has questions—too many questions, and most of his questions have no answers at all.
First published in 1972, When HARLIE Was One was immediately hailed as a groundbreaking debut novel, examining the most fundamental question of all: What does it mean to be human?
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Read. Enjoy. Be inspired.
CHILD OF EARTH
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Want to visit another world? It might not be as easy as you think.
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In the first installment of David Gerrold’s Sea of Grass trilogy, Child of Earth, Kaer’s family expected to assimilate into Linnean society undetected after becoming accustomed to the harsh climate and relatively primitive culture in the training dome—a synthetic Linnean environment designed to prepare Earthlings for emigration to the new world. But a sudden uprising on Linnea changed everything. After a band of religious zealots known as the Hale-Stones, former Earth residents living on Linnea, began outing other Earthlings and disrupting Linnean society in order to convert them to Earth’s Christianity in place of the Linnean religion, Kaer’s family was stuck in limbo.
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THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
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The Morthans were physically and mentally superior. Descended from humans, they were now, literally, “more-than” human . . . and considered the human race to be little better than animals. They would stop at nothing to conquer the remaining human-controlled worlds.
Docked for repairs after a harrowing battle with a Morthan ship, Jonathan Korie and his crew discover they have a Morthan imp aboard—a Morthan weapon so quick they have no chance of catching it, so clever they have no hope of outsmarting it, and so deadly they have no choice but to try.
Includes introduction by Spider Robinson.
BLOOD AND FIRE
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The Morthans were physically and mentally superior. Descended from humans, they were now, literally, “more-than” human . . . and considered the human race to be little better than animals. They would stop at nothing to conquer the remaining human-controlled worlds.
Formerly a never-filmed script for Star Trek: The Next Generation, this conclusion to the Star Wolf trilogy finds Executive Officer Korie and the crew of the Star Wolf answering a distress call from a mysteriously lifeless ship. On board the Norway, they discover half-wave, half-particle clusters of golden light—and a dead man. The lights are the energy form of bloodworms, a fatal infestation that feeds off the energy of living bodies, which scientists on the Norway have developed for use in the Alliance’s war against the Morthans. Officer Korie’s struggle between his conscience and his desire for vengeance will determine not only the safety of the Star Wolf, but the fate of the enemies he’s sworn to destroy.
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SPACE SKIMMER
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Mass is humanoid, but genetically evolved to cope with greater pressures,
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His companions are equally diverse, differently evolved, and most unsuitable—to him and to one another. Each live on a separate plane—they had grown on separate worlds.
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CHESS WITH A DRAGON
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The Galactic InterChange is the greatest discovery in history. Through the InterChange, humanity gains access to the combined knowledge of all the worlds and all the races of the galaxy. For librarians, scientists, doctors, teachers, and anybody interested in the spread of knowledge, it’s a field day. Just find something intriguing on the menu and request a copy—so simple, so exciting!
Until the bill arrives.
It’s the greatest bill in history, and humanity has no way of paying it off. No way except one—indenture. Being slaves to aliens doesn’t sound like much fun.
Yake Singh Brown is the man who has to negotiate the deal for humanity. It’s the toughest assignment he’s ever faced, like playing chess with a dragon—all he has to do is figure out the rules of the game before being eaten.
In the tradition of Douglas Adams and Piers Anthony, David Gerrold, the writer who created The Trouble with Tribbles, pits Earth’s most daring diplomat against the scheming—and hungry—races of the rest of the galaxy, with hysterical results.
Starhunt: A Star Wolf Novel Page 26
