Man-Kzin Wars XIV Read Online Free PDF Page B

appeared miffed.
    “The two humans who took it came to see me and showed it to me.”
    “Why did they show it to you?”
    To those who knew how to tell, Vaemar looked slightly uncomfortable. “They wanted to know if I thought it should be made public out of fear that it might damage man-kzin relations.”
    “And what did you say?” Stan asked.
    “I told them that complete openness between us is the only basis for the trust both species need if we are to live together on this world,” Vaemar told him reluctantly. It was true enough, he told himself , but it sounded too good and virtuous . Kzin didn’t like feeling virtuous. It tended to go with self-deception, a very bad habit for a warrior.
    “So, you told them to go ahead and give it to the media?” Stan asked.
    “I take it that they would want to sell it to the highest bidder, not give it,” Vaemar explained. Stan changed the subject hurriedly.
    “It was obviously important for us to know about this tragedy, and the kids deserved some sort of reward for their enterprise. And did you think it was likely that the Valiant was shot down by a kzin warship?”
    “It was the simplest explanation, of course, but it was a little puzzling that it had got so close. Most of the Earth ships trying to run the blockade were detected way out in space. There were few kzin resources so close to the planet beyond aircraft and satellite defense. But I now know that it was not a kzin satellite or aircraft. I have had the surviving records checked, and they show no sign of any strike from space defenses at a spacecraft at that time.”
    “Then what could it have been that brought it down?”
    Vaemar looked thoughtful. “The most likely explanation is that it was wounded but not destroyed out in space. Since we do not know exactly when the Valiant crashed, we cannot say with confidence that this did not happen. A kzin commander might have thought he had destroyed a vessel that he had only injured. However, that particular error seems to have been more common in human than in kzin record-keeping. But there were not many blockade runners at around that time. A close examination of the ship and its log would go some way to resolving the matter. There would be records of when it left Sol System, but they would only give an estimated time of arrival. It might have slowed or been diverted for some reason.
    “There were countless minor skirmishes in space of which no records were kept. One of my earliest memories is of my Honored Sire’s rage when the Man’s Bone-Shredder disappeared. There were many such. Our capital ships travelled in squadrons—’prides’—as we called them, or fleets, but there were a variety of smaller ships travelling alone on innumerable tasks. Perhaps one met the Valiant , though I think that is unlikely.”
    “Why, sir?”
    “Space is too big to make chance encounters likely. Especially with modern detection technology.”
    “Indeed. Yet they have happened. Especially near planets. And what other possibilities are there?”
    “There is always the possibility of a freak accident. Even a meteor impact, for instance. Although that would seem most improbable given modern meteor-defenses. But the Wunderland System is cluttered with junk, of course. And again, an examination of the wreck might provide evidence on this point.”
    “You are a qualified space pilot. Is there any other explanation that you can think of?”
    Vaemar thought hard, but he couldn’t see any way to avoid this.
    “There is the possibility that the KzinDiener fired missiles at it. There was a group of very enthusiastic collaborators who had some weaponry. They were not under very strict control; they had been passed as loyal by telepaths. Eventually their armaments would have had to be replaced, and the kzin commander would have found out that missiles had been launched. The missiles would have been numbered, of course, but if this happened just before the truce, then it might have