The Voyage of the Star Wolf

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Authors: David Gerrold
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I’m not arguing for inaction. The circumstances are doing that.”
    Leen grumbled something in reply. “Just so you know how I feel.” His angry expression relaxed. He’d had his say.
    â€œRelax, Chief. We’ll get home—and we’ll get even too. I promise. How much longer till the mass-drivers can be fired?”
    â€œTwo days, maybe three.”
    â€œAll right—as soon as they’re calibrated, I want you to ready a scanninglens. If the G-scanners don’t show anything, we’ll risk a longer look. And if that’s clean, we’ll talk about a run for home.”
    â€œAny time you want to say go, I can have the singularity online in less than an hour. The fluctuators are the best-shielded equipment on the ship. We’ll just check their alignment and—”
    â€œSlow down, Chief. Let’s worry about our oxygen consumption first. It’s hard to breathe a fluctuator.” Korie dragged Leen back to the holographic display table where Li and Hodel were running a low-level simulation. “All right, let’s do a status check. Chief says he can have the engines online in less than a week. Astrogation, can you be ready?”
    Hodel considered it. “Without HARLIE I have to do it all on work stations. Don’t expect realtime corrections, but I can get you where you want to go.”
    â€œLi, what about weapons? Do we have any defenses?”
    Li shook his head. “Same situation. No real-time targeting. Without HARLIE, we’re firing blind.”
    Korie glanced over to Leen. “Just as I thought. The torpedoes are more valuable for the liquid oxygen.” To Hodel and Li, he explained, “Chief Leen thinks I’m being too cautious. What do you guys think?”
    Hodel shrugged. “We could get the ship running again, we have the skillage, but how efficient she’d be—I dunno. If there are Morthan cruisers patrolling this area, forget it.”
    Li was still turning the idea over in his head. “Much as I’d like to get in a couple licks, Mr. Korie, I wouldn’t even want to try it without HARLIE.” He reached across himself and scratched his shoulder thoughtfully. “With HARLIE, maybe. HARLIE’s the best tactical advantage we have. You’ve read the analyses—the Morthans are maybe a century behind us in sophisticated electronics. That’s why they have to build so big just to accomplish the same thing.”
    â€œUnfortunately, that also gives them the brute force advantage,” Korie said. “We outsmarted ourselves. Our technology is so sophisticated and so advanced, we don’t build our ships with the same power anymore. There’s the real mistake. We thought the implied strategic advantage of the HARLIE series would give the enemy pause, make him think twice before launching an offensive. We were very very wrong.”
    Hodel cleared his throat and spoke softly. “I guess we’re going to have to find out just how good the HARLIE series really is, aren’t we? He’s our secret weapon. Let’s use him. Let’s see how good he is.”
    Korie looked from one to the other. “What if I bring him back online prematurely and he goes into irreversible amputation trauma? Then we’re doubly screwed.”
    â€œWe can run this ship without him,” said Hodel. “We’re already doing it. We couldn’t be any worse off—and who knows? Maybe he’ll work like he’s supposed to. Maybe he could be an advantage, if you give him the opportunity.”
    â€œThe opportunity . . .” Korie echoed the thought. “There is that. He’s as much a member of this crew as anyone. I suppose he’s entitled to the same consideration. Let me think about this—”
    Leen touched Korie’s shoulder and spoke very softly. “It’s not right to keep him dead, Mr. Korie. He’s not like the others . . .”
    â€œI

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