The Gripping Hand

by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

  "Kevin, what is it?" Joyce demanded.

  "Not enough data."

  "There's more," Freddy said. "A whole sparkling field of drive lights at maybe sixty million klicks, all of 'em between us and Agamemnon."

  "They've cut us off," Joyce said.

  "That they did," Freddy said. "Skipper, I've got four minutes integration on them now. They're showing a decreasing redshift and no drift."

  "Thrust?"

  "Close enough to three standard gee."

  "Bound to be Warriors."

  "All redshifted?" Joyce asked. "That means they're going away from us."

  "Decreasing redshift," Freddy said. "Going away, but they're thrusting toward us. An airplane would be turning around, but you can't do that in vacuum."

  Renner touched the intercom buttons. "Omar, have you been following this?"

  "Yes, Commodore."

  The Motie's voice conveyed weariness, confusion, and determination at the same time. Never off duty, Renner thought. "Watch. That group I just marked. That's the main body of the Khanate fleet. Best estimate is that their Warriors were going all out toward Agamemnon and the Jump point to New Cal until the Masters popped through."

  "That is reasonable."

  "Okay. But now the Masters are all moving away from the Sister, and the Warriors are slowing, probably coming back. What are they likely to think they're doing?"

  "The Warriors are swarming back to defend the Masters from us. The Masters have many options. Their target may be a place of hiding, perhaps the comets around the brown dwarf star. They seem to have given up the Jump point out of the system. Something has convinced them that your defense at the Jump is too formidable."

  "Jennifer," Freddy said. "She must have convinced them."

  "Those bombs did not weaken her arguments," Omar said. "Whatever else you have done, you have shown that you are willing to expend resources."

  "Resources to burn," Joyce said. "Which we quite literally—"

  All the screens whited out. Kevin moved two dial displays, in haste. The screens dimmed to a scattering of laser-green points. Sinbad was under attack.

  "Whatever. Now what's happening?" Renner mused. "Omar, that Warrior fleet is aimed right at us. Or at the gate back to the Mote system. Which is it?"

  "Why not both?"

  "Both."

  Omar and Victoria conferred briefly. Then Omar said, "If we threaten the Khanate Masters, they will attack us, of course. But consider this. If they have abandoned the notion of forcing their way past Agamemnon, then the Khanate may have instructed their Warriors to return through the Sister to prepare a path of safety for their return to Mote system."

  "They're giving up?" It was the first time Glenda Ruth had spoken since the battle.

  "Perhaps." Omar shrugged. "Or they may attack Medina, to soften our power for later negotiation. Or something else. This is a matter for military strategy."

  Victoria said, "They'll kill or capture the humans if they can. If your Empire has only the Khanate to negotiate with, any contract would favor the Khanate."

  "Bet?"

  Victoria answered in Motie. Glenda Ruth laughed as their speech became faster and faster. She said, "Uncle Kevin, they're betting! Descendants for their Masters! Victoria's giving four to one—"

  "Later, Glenda Ruth. Omar, it looks like their whole fleet of Warriors is coming straight at us."

  The cabin went dark. "I've found Agamemnon," Freddy reported. "I'm beaming your message again."

  "Good. Very good. Now we've got to get out of here. Suggestions?"

  No one answered. "Freddy, turn us around. Get us on

  course to go back through the"—hell—"through the Sister."

  "Through the Sister. What thrust?"

  Renner let the computer work for a moment. "That's a god-awful amount of radiation they're aiming at us. If it keeps up, we'll have to duck. What are they trying to do?"

  "Kill us?" Freddy suggested.

  "Well, if they can, but what else?" Renner studied the screens. If the Motie fleet continued on course, it would get to the Sister in about twenty-five hours. Another moment of indecision. Then, "Keep it reasonable. Say point three for now." The Field was dull red. Not bad, but they'd be bathed in that green laser glare for hours to come. "I want to see what those Warriors will do."

  "What of our ships?" Omar asked.

  "I'll keep Atropos," Renner said. "Have all your Motie ships reinforce Balasingham. Look, he's going to be a bit wary of them."

  "We have discussed this," Omar said. "Our ships will position themselves to aid your warship without threatening it."

  Horace Bury's voice trembled with exhaustion, but there was triumph, too. "Mercy of Allah! Kevin, we have sent our message to the Empire, and the Khanate has turned back. We have fulfilled our mission, whatever happens. Now we survive if Allah wills it."

  "We may have fulfilled the mission," Kevin said. "It all depends on that Khanate Warrior fleet. We don't know what they're going to do, and as long as they're in this system, they're dangerous. They could still batter their way past Balasingham." Renner studied the screen again. "Well, as long as they're chasing us, they're not doing that. If they're back in Mote system, they're for sure not doing that. Maybe we can lead them there."

  "Good," Bury said.

  Kevin thought, Can you take another Jump? and didn't speak. What if he said no? "I'll tell Rawlins."

  "My viewers may not understand," Joyce said. "I'm not sure I understand. First we come through to the red dwarf system. Then we fight. We win. Now for the past four hours we've been slowing down, and we're headed back the way we came." She looked at her screens, noted the yellow glow of the Field. Sinbad was under continuous attack.

  "It's all part of the same battle," Freddy Townsend said.

  "The important thing is that the Khanate fleet is moving toward the Sister, not going after Agamemnon," Glenda Ruth said. "We have to keep them heading toward us."

  "But are they after us, or would they go back to the Mote anyway?"

  "It doesn't matter, Joyce," Victoria said. "Anything that gets them back into the Mote system."

  "So we're bait," Joyce said. "I guess that wouldn't be so bad—but to be bait when you don't even know it's you they're after!"

  "They're after us," Freddy said.

  "How can you be sure?" Joyce demanded.

  "If they're not, they're sure wasting a lot of energy," Freddy said. "They can't spare the fuel. I think it's this way. If they can kill us, they won't go through, but if we run through, they'll follow us. Glenda Ruth?"

  "Best bet," Glenda Ruth said.

  Joyce said, "And there you have it."

  "Situation unchanged, Commodore," Rawlins said. "They haven't tried to intercept the allied ships we sent to reinforce Balasingham. It's us they care about, all right, and there's too many to fight. Our only chance is to run. I suggest we increase acceleration. The less of this fire we take, the better chance we'll have once we're through."

  "Agreed. Take it up to one point five gee."

  "One point five, aye, aye." Rawlins's image turned away for a moment.

  "Once we're stabilized in the Mote system, thrust along this vector," Renner said. There was a twitter of data. "And I had the Moties record some orders. You'll recover before we do. Send these messages to Base Six as soon as you can."

  "Messages to Base Six. Aye, aye."

  "Keep the comm link," Renner said. He sighed and touched the intercom buttons. "Stand by for increased gravity. One point five gee." He touched another button. "Horace—"

  "I will survive."

  "Yeah. If they keep that beam on us too long—"

  "Kevin, you will do what you must do."

  Renner had been at work. Sailing Master aboard MacArthur, Bury's pilot for thirty years: this he could have done in his sleep. "Horace, can you take one point seven gee for eleven minutes?"

  "Yes, of course, Kevin."

  Of course. The danger to Bury wasn't from another i
ncrease in thrust, but from Jump shock. "Townsend, do it."

  Ali Baba's eight kilograms hit him in the chest. The pup cried, "No, Kevin! Not again!"

  "Here, Ali Baba," Bury said, and the Mediator went, fearfully.

  Freddy said, "Aye, aye. Done. Any margin of error there?"

  "We'll be violet when we go through the Eye."

  Freddy shuddered.

  The Engineers were up and crawling; the Mediators watched. Kevin bit back his questions and presently understood. The Moties had Cynthia's couch disassembled and were putting it back together next to Bury's water bed. That crowded Glenda Ruth, so they had to move her couch before they could return to their couches and collapse.

  "Commodore? I've got the Master ships' target. It's the brown dwarf. Maybe they expect to take cover in the ring."

  "Once they kill us."

  Cynthia had finished her exercise set in the kitchen space. The view through the window was a uniform cheerful green.

  * * *

  On the enlarged screen that the Watchmakers had finished erecting, one blazing point reached the Sister and disappeared without exploding. Then the second. Jennifer heaved a great sigh of relief. "They're through," she said.

  Terry squeezed her foot. She reached around to pat his cheek. "How are you doing?"

  "Healing. You?"

  "Just waiting. Harlequin's up front getting battle data. Should I really stop talking, or try to talk them into something?"

  "Talk. They'll read you anyway."

  But it was over an hour before Harlequin rejoined them. "The Sister hides your ships for the moment," he said. "We did not expect they could survive our barrage."

  "That's another thing about resources," Jennifer said. "Our ships are bigger, better defended, more powerful."

  Harlequin laughed in great amusement and some scorn: Freddy's laugh. Harlequin must have had it from Pollyanna. "Another thing about our breeding problem: our ships are more numerous by far! Jennifer, our intentions are not your concern. We will discuss strategy. These two ships—"

  "I must stop listening—"

  But the Mediator's big left palm was out, pause a minute, while the Warrior spoke.

  They finished. Harlequin said, "Jennifer, we sent most of our Warriors to chase your two Empire ships down, under the command of our junior Master. Medina's lizard-raping Warriors managed to destroy that command ship as they passed, but our Warrior ships are nearly untouched. They will follow your Empire-built ships through the Sister to Mote system. They can't hide, Jennifer, their drives are too peculiar."

  In fact, the blue sparks of the Warrior ships' drives were disappearing even as Harlequin spoke. Other, larger sparks had flown past: the Khanate Master ships were on their way to Bury's Star. "Where will your Masters hide?"

  "In the rocks. Does it matter? We've given up hope of bursting through the other bridging point into your Empire. We must wait until our Warriors report success at the Mote."

  "You intend to kill us all?"

  "Yes. Your ships will have the advantage in the first instants because they will go through first and recover first

  from the shock. Unless humans tolerate the shock worse than we do?"

  Jennifer laughed.

  Harlequin frowned. "No? We watched you. You recovered very slowly."

  "Harlequin, I'm half-dead of fatigue. Poor Terry's half-dead, period." An instant later she could have bitten her tongue off. Too late: Harlequin was leaping aft.

  Terry's hand closed on the Motie's ankle and yanked him backward. Jennifer shrieked, "Kill him! Kill him, Terry!"

  The Warrior was arrowing toward them.

  Terry's arms closed around the Motie's head and shoulders. He twisted. "Dammit!" he muttered, and set himself and twisted much harder. The lopsided head turned with a pop like a branch breaking, and then the Warrior was wrapped around Terry like strangler vine, with his gun in Terry's ear.

  Terry let go. Harlequin floated loose, still screaming thinly.

  Under the Warrior's gun, they watched the Doctor pull and twist the Motie's head back into place. Harlequin's screaming died to a moan.

  "No good," Terry said. "I forgot. No vertebrae, just that kind of handle that connects the skull to the shoulders. I only dislocated it, and the spinal cord isn't even in it, it's underneath. He'll talk."

  "Jump shock. It hurts them much worse than it hurts us. They didn't know it."

  "Yeah. But that was the last Warrior ship going through. I'm right, aren't I, Jennie?"

  Jenny looked. "Yeah. Those other lights are all big Master ships, and they're all past the Sister."

  "Hah. Slowed Harlequin down just enough. Now their whole Warrior fleet is in Mote system chasing down Sinbad and Atropos, and no Master to tell them different. Isn't that interesting? I wonder what a Navy man can do with that."

  "We may not live to see it."

  "Jenny, that took everything I had. If they decide to shoot me, don't bother to wake me." Terry's eyes closed.

  8

  Stern Chase

  Retreat, hell! We're just attacking in the opposite direction!

  —U.S. Marine Corps commander,

  Changjin Reservoir, Korea

  I'm just too damned old for this. Renner gradually became aware . . .

  . . . Cynthia was swearing in a loose-lipped mumble. Her body covered Bury's, obscenely, kissing . . . breath for him, squeeze his rib cage closed, blow into his mouth, squeeze . . .

  Freddy said, "Atropos calling."

  "Put'm through . . . Hello, Rawlins."

  "Commodore, you're a flawless diamond on black velvet. Brilliant blue-white."

  "Flattering. Ss'a quote?" From a historical novel, The Taking of Serpens Peak, just before the ship exploded. "Any threats here?"

  "We're clear. Bandit Group One-Two-Three pulled well back from the Medina ships. East India is still holding the Crazy Eddie point for us, but not with enough ship to defeat what's coming here. Byzantium hasn't got here yet. Nobody's shooting at us. What's our move?"

  Renner's eyes were properly focusing now.

  "General order: Make for the Crazy Eddie point. Keep station with Sinbad. Are we in communication with the Motie fleet?"

  "Yes. I'll relay."

  Bury was trying to sit up. Cynthia braced him.

  Renner didn't recognize the Motie on-screen. A young Mediator, presumably male. "Commander Rawlins has informed us that a large Khanate war fleet, too large for our power, will arrive here through the Sister within the hour," the Motie said. "I am ready to convey your instructions to our Master."

  "Avoid combat with the main fleet," Renner said. "Preserve your power, but we want you to take out any command ship that comes through. We expect the main Khanate fleet to chase us. As long as it does, leave it alone, but we don't want that fleet to get new instructions.

  "Same for the Jump point. Make it expensive to go back through the Sister. Their main war fleet can do anything it wants to, and you can't stop them, but you can stop them reporting back to the Masters on the other side with anything short of a real battle group. Do that, please."

  "Instruction received. Stand by for acknowledgment."

  What else? "Townsend, get us moving toward the Crazy Eddie point. Cynthia, how much can he stand?"

  "Pulse is strong."

  "Anything," Bury said. "Kevin, do what you must. It is now in the hands of Allah."

  "Yeah." And I think I'm too old for this. "Run up to one gee, Townsend. There's a stunt I want to try."

  The communications screen lit again. "Your instructions will be obeyed," the Mediator said. "We will do what we can."

  "Thank you. Rawlins, you stay with us."

  "I can boost harder than you can."

  "I thought of that, but no. I need you with us."

  "You're assuming they're sending their whole fleet."

  "I sure hope so," Renner said. "The warships anyway." His last observation in the red dwarf system was of the Master ships making for Bury's Star at low thrus
t. It didn't look as if they'd be coming back to the Mote system soon. And as long as the Warriors were chasing Sinbad—

  "We're bait," he said to no one in particular.

  After Rawlins rang off, Renner looked around his ship. Horace was breathing by himself, eyes open, jaw slack, full of funny chemicals. Borloi extract, no doubt: no prohibition in the Koran against borloi. It was amazing that he could talk at all.

  Freddy had recovered from Jump shock with stunning speed. Renner resented that. Glenda Ruth Blaine still looked as if she'd been blackjacked. The Moties were worse off, still keening in pain and angst. That couldn't last. Renner needed them.

  The Empire ships fell toward the Crazy Eddie point at zero gee, following forty-five minutes of thrust. Renner couldn't tell them how long that would last. Cynthia was leading Horace Bury through a program of stretches. Joyce was preparing a sketch lunch. Nobody had ever asked if the reporter could cook. She could.

  Telescopes aboard Atropos, then aboard Sinbad, observed small hot ships emerging through an invisible hole at high velocity and high acceleration. They dimmed, reducing thrust while they sought their targets. Presently they flared and moved at low acceleration toward the position of Bandits One-Two-Three.

  "It worked."

  "Why are you whispering? Call Atropos."

  Freddy cleared his throat. "Yessir."

  "They can't have taken time to refuel," Renner told Rawlins. "They're burning fuel they can't spare. Which means we can beat them to the Crazy Eddie point at anything above one point one gee."

  "If they chase us."

  "Yeah. Assume they will."

  "Then their best bet is to take it easy," Rawlins said. "A stern chase is a long chase. Easy to use all your fuel in the chase and have none for the battle. Of course, they won't know where you're headed." Pause. "Or if they do figure it out, they won't know why."

  "Okay. All we have to do is make sure they don't cripple us. I want to beat them to the Crazy Eddie point, but not by much, and I want to make sure we have plenty of maneuvering fuel when they catch up to us. Meanwhile, maintain your watch. You, too, Freddy. I want to know instantly if large ships with cooler exhaust and lower acceleration come through."