Ascending - James Alan Gardner [50]
Apparently, the four ships which had accosted us earlier were not the only ones sent to Melaquin. One more ship must have been dispatched hours behind its companions, on its way from New Earth to my planet. Since Starbiter was headed for New Earth now, we must be traveling in the same space lane…or at least close enough that the navy ship had heard our attempt at sending a message. They could have detected our “hiccup” and shifted to a course that would let them check the source of the broadcast.
“We are saved,” I announced.
“What do you mean?” Uclod asked.
“There is a navy baton-ship coming straight for us. The Shaddill will flee again, for they are terrible cowards…and since we are faster than human vessels, we can outrun the baton anytime we choose.”
“You’re a hell of an optimist.” But Uclod did not sound as gloomy as his words suggested—he too must have welcomed any prospect of eluding the stick-ship. Given a choice between our Shaddill pursuers and the Technocracy navy, who would not prefer the humans? Better the villain you know than the one you do not…and also I was smarter than humans, which allowed us more chance of escape.
“Oar’s right,” said Lajoolie, “there is an Outward Fleet ship. Calculating coordinates…”
“I don’t need numbers,” Uclod interrupted. “Just tell me who gets to us first.”
“Almost a dead heat,” Lajoolie answered. “The human ship is coming straight at us, and we’re aiming straight at them. The gap will close fast. But the Shaddill are right on our tails.”
Without thinking, I checked on the stick-ship. It was very most close indeed; in the minutes since I made up my mind not to look at them, they had crept steadily nearer. Now they loomed directly behind us—a great wall of bramble blocking our entire rear view.
“Beware,” I said to my companions. “This is the distance at which you were flashed unconscious.”
“Not true, toots,” Uclod replied. “You’re seeing through long-range scanners now—the Shaddill are still a million klicks away, and I’m hoping their weapon can’t shoot that far. Even so, I’ve decoupled the wife and me from Star-biter’s neural feedback. We can still see, but we aren’t feeling anything. Let’s hope that keeps us awake.”
I turned to the front once more and saw the navy ship had grown considerably since my last peek at them. If they possessed long-range scanners like Starbiter, they must see both us and the stick-ship…which meant the stick-ship could also see them. Any moment now, the Shaddill would flee like the cowards they were.
But they did not. They kept coming, lumbering up slowly; and one of the sticks began to reach for us, the same long mouth that had tried to swallow us before.
“They are attempting to snatch us!” I cried.
“They can’t,” Uclod said, “they’re still too far away. Long-range scanners, remember? Things appear closer than they really are. But,” he continued, “the Shaddill are getting ready for something. Maybe they think they can swoop in and gobble us before the navy ship can react.”
“Maybe they intend to seize the navy ship too,” Lajoolie said.
“Ooo, that’s an unpleasant thought,” Uclod said. “It’d mean they’re so desperate to keep us quiet, they don’t mind antagonizing the entire Technocracy.”
“The Technocracy would never find out,” Lajoolie told him. “The Shaddill are still jamming all signals in the region, so the navy can’t report what’s happening. If we both get grabbed, we’ll disappear without a peep.”
“Ouch,” Uclod said. “And by the time the fleet sends another ship to investigate what happened to this one, the Shaddill will be long gone—dragging us with them.”
“Is there nothing we can do?” I asked in outrage.
“If you’ve got ideas, I’d love to hear them.”
“Do we not have some means of attack? A weighty object we could hurl at the stick-ship?”
“Only ourselves,” Uclod replied dryly. “If you’re aching to be a martyr, we could ram the Shaddill at top speed. We might even take out something