Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [47]
Paul sighed. “Thats pretty much what I thought you were going to say, he muttered under his breath. He flipped a switch on his chair console, opening an intercom channel to the engine room. “Mom, Im going to need all the speed you can give me.
“You dont seriously expect to outrun that monster, do you, son? Rianna said, evidently having already monitored the developing situation from her station.
“Weve got a better chance of doing that than we do of winning a straight fight, Paul said. Even though his brother had persuaded him of the wisdom of upgrading the Horizon s weaponry during his last visit more than two years earlier, a Klingon battle cruiser was nowhere near as easy to dissuade from using force as was your garden-variety pirate ship.
“All right, son, Rianna said. “Ive got my hand on the throttle. You just give the word.
“Consider it given. Charlie, take us back down into the gravity well of the system we just left, pedal down all the way. Maybe we can lose em in one of the asteroid fields.
“Hang on to your butts, Charlie said again as he entered the appropriate commands. Paul felt his stomach lurch once more as the freighter accelerated and the inertial dampers again took a few microseconds to catch up. His lunch seemed to desire escape nearly as urgently as he did, but he somehow held on to it until the mercifully brief peristaltic impulse passed.
“Nora, send a distress signal, Paul said once hed found his voice again. He knew that transmitting a Mayday via ordinary EM-band radiothe only option available with the subspace gear still downwould be about as useful as waving semaphore flags. But he had to do something .
“Its no good, Nora said, shaking her head in evident frustration. “Theyre jamming us!
“Then launch the log buoy, Paul said, swallowing hard.
“Done, Nora said a moment later.
Paul felt a subtle change in the vibrations coming through the deck plates. Something wasnt right.
At the helm, Charlie seemed to be beating back panic, but only barely. “The helm just went dead. Navigation is completely offline.
Pauls heart raced. “Did the log buoy get away?
Nora slammed her fist down on her console, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath as though struggling to compose herself. “Afraid I cant tell. My station just went down, too.
Darkness suddenly enfolded the bridge. Paul heard a brief chorus of startled cries and gasps.
“Life support, too, Charlie said. Only then did Paul notice the sudden total absence of the ubiquitous background hum of the air-circulation fans.
Paul fumbled for the intercom controls. “Engine room! Mom! Nothing. Despite the failure of the helm and just about everything else, the ever-present aural backdrop created by the warp engines was gradually intensifying.
Then an eerie but welcome reddish glow slowly began to suffuse the chamber as the battery-powered emergency backup circuits dutifully yawned, stretched, and began to wake up.
“At least somethings still working, Paul said.
“We still dont have any control over anything up here, Juan said, speaking from the gloomy shadows near one of the port stations.
The vibration in the deck plates shifted yet again. Paul knew the ship was accelerating.
“Were still generating warp power, Nora said.
The deck rattled and vibrated. The effect was very different from anything he had ever experienced before. More powerful, and more out of control. Deck segments slammed into one another like a planets tectonic plates suddenly cranked into absurdly fast motion, a billion years crammed into a few fleeting heartbeats.
“Wed better get the escape pods ready, he said, raising his voice to be heard above the din. “Just in case.
Charlie entered a command, checked a readout, then cursed. “Not functioning.
Why doesnt that surprise me? Paul thought, struggling to remain calm, or at least to sound that way the next time he spoke. “Nora, get that viewer back up. I need to see what that Klingon ship is up to.
“Working on it, she said,