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Authors: Stephen W Bennett
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of military hardware. “What chance do we have of knocking out the two
lead missiles?” he asked.
“Poor,” Mirikami admitted. “Even if we can stay locked on
them. Our system wasn't designed to hit targets that accelerate on their own.
Rocks move on ballistic tracks at a constant velocity, while a missile is
armored, and defends itself by being reflective and spinning, twisting and
altering acceleration. Only our own ship’s acceleration is included in tracking
computations of orbiting debris. Jake will attempt to calculate the needed
adjustments as changes are detected and feed the corrections to the targeting
computer. We have to keep the beams and lasers on track long enough to try to
penetrate the armor that I assume they have, or damage something in their
guidance system. Neither possibility is likely.”
“Can we dodge at the last moment? If they're moving that
fast, perhaps we can sidestep enough before they can adjust.”
“I doubt it, but I was going to give it a try anyway. With
weaponry this sophisticated and expensive, they surely don’t need a direct hit.
A small nuclear warhead would have to miss by over a kilometer for our hull to
survive. I don't know if these contain nukes of any size, of course. If we
can't disable them, I'll try one final kick to push us as far as possible from
their paths as they get close.”
“Is there anything I can help you do?” He was thinking of
the fact that Mirikami was working alone. Dillon wanted badly to do something.
Anything, besides waiting for fate to catch up to him.
“Pray to the quantum gods for a Jump tac” Invited Mirikami.
He raised the protective covers and threw the two switches that armed the
particle beam systems, the lasers having been in Jake's control since re-entry.
“Jake has his firing command. I've just released the interlocks to permit
automatic firing when they come into the range where we can achieve the
sharpest focusing.” Referring to his display, “That will be in a little over
three minutes.”
Mirikami keyed the acceleration alarm and switched on the
intercom. “Attention, Please. Attention. This is Captain Mirikami. We are under
missile attack by unknown forces. We are attempting to evade the missiles long
enough to capture a minimum Jump tachyon, and leave the Newborn system. There
will be a minute of much higher acceleration than the previous four gravities
sometime within the next few minutes. If you have not reached a couch yet, or
are not lying down, your life may well depend on your doing so. If you can,
remove your shoes, empty your pockets, and loosen tight clothing. But do it
fast. You have just two minutes to return to a prone position. The ship's
computer will inform you when two minutes have elapsed. Listen for the
acceleration alarm just before we start thrust.
“That goes for us too, Doctor Martin,” as he kicked off his
shoes and unfastened and dropped a utility belt.
Dillon was pulling off his second boot when a barefoot
Noreen burst from the stairwell onto the Bridge. Looking winded, she barely
gave Dillon a glance as she threw herself onto her couch. “Who are they?” she
asked, between gasps for air, “Jake didn't say.”
“Don't know,” Mirikami spoke in curt sentences. “Made no
transmissions. Impossibly fast. Clearly, the strategy is to hit us before we
catch a Jump tac. Looks like it will work. Willfem's installing a shunt on the
second field's regulator. If done in time, I'm pre-programming a last ditch max
thrust right now. See if we can sidestep the first two, gain some time.”
“Thought so..., Jake told me most of it.” She was struggling
to regain her breath, speaking between gasps. “Kicked off shoes in stairwell.
... 'Fraid I'd be there when you did it. ...Couldn't risk lift, ...ran up from
deck three. ...Hi Dillon!” She tossed the words at him without turning.
He was about to offer details that Mirikami had omitted as
the Captain punched in instructions. Then he recalled she
lead missiles?” he asked.
“Poor,” Mirikami admitted. “Even if we can stay locked on
them. Our system wasn't designed to hit targets that accelerate on their own.
Rocks move on ballistic tracks at a constant velocity, while a missile is
armored, and defends itself by being reflective and spinning, twisting and
altering acceleration. Only our own ship’s acceleration is included in tracking
computations of orbiting debris. Jake will attempt to calculate the needed
adjustments as changes are detected and feed the corrections to the targeting
computer. We have to keep the beams and lasers on track long enough to try to
penetrate the armor that I assume they have, or damage something in their
guidance system. Neither possibility is likely.”
“Can we dodge at the last moment? If they're moving that
fast, perhaps we can sidestep enough before they can adjust.”
“I doubt it, but I was going to give it a try anyway. With
weaponry this sophisticated and expensive, they surely don’t need a direct hit.
A small nuclear warhead would have to miss by over a kilometer for our hull to
survive. I don't know if these contain nukes of any size, of course. If we
can't disable them, I'll try one final kick to push us as far as possible from
their paths as they get close.”
“Is there anything I can help you do?” He was thinking of
the fact that Mirikami was working alone. Dillon wanted badly to do something.
Anything, besides waiting for fate to catch up to him.
“Pray to the quantum gods for a Jump tac” Invited Mirikami.
He raised the protective covers and threw the two switches that armed the
particle beam systems, the lasers having been in Jake's control since re-entry.
“Jake has his firing command. I've just released the interlocks to permit
automatic firing when they come into the range where we can achieve the
sharpest focusing.” Referring to his display, “That will be in a little over
three minutes.”
Mirikami keyed the acceleration alarm and switched on the
intercom. “Attention, Please. Attention. This is Captain Mirikami. We are under
missile attack by unknown forces. We are attempting to evade the missiles long
enough to capture a minimum Jump tachyon, and leave the Newborn system. There
will be a minute of much higher acceleration than the previous four gravities
sometime within the next few minutes. If you have not reached a couch yet, or
are not lying down, your life may well depend on your doing so. If you can,
remove your shoes, empty your pockets, and loosen tight clothing. But do it
fast. You have just two minutes to return to a prone position. The ship's
computer will inform you when two minutes have elapsed. Listen for the
acceleration alarm just before we start thrust.
“That goes for us too, Doctor Martin,” as he kicked off his
shoes and unfastened and dropped a utility belt.
Dillon was pulling off his second boot when a barefoot
Noreen burst from the stairwell onto the Bridge. Looking winded, she barely
gave Dillon a glance as she threw herself onto her couch. “Who are they?” she
asked, between gasps for air, “Jake didn't say.”
“Don't know,” Mirikami spoke in curt sentences. “Made no
transmissions. Impossibly fast. Clearly, the strategy is to hit us before we
catch a Jump tac. Looks like it will work. Willfem's installing a shunt on the
second field's regulator. If done in time, I'm pre-programming a last ditch max
thrust right now. See if we can sidestep the first two, gain some time.”
“Thought so..., Jake told me most of it.” She was struggling
to regain her breath, speaking between gasps. “Kicked off shoes in stairwell.
... 'Fraid I'd be there when you did it. ...Couldn't risk lift, ...ran up from
deck three. ...Hi Dillon!” She tossed the words at him without turning.
He was about to offer details that Mirikami had omitted as
the Captain punched in instructions. Then he recalled she
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