Pawn’s Gambit Read Online Free PDF Page A

Number 81 should be our last boat. Fifteen minutes before we arrive I want you to go down and prep it. We’ll want to cut out the minute the Origami ’ s in position.”
    â€œRoger.”
    Conversation lapsed. It felt strange, Chandra thought, to be deliberately running towards a collision: strange and frightening; It brought her back to her first driving lessons, to her father’s warnings that she was never, never to race a monorail to a crossing. He’d hammered the point home by showing her pictures of cars that had lost such contests, and even now she shuddered at the memory of those horrible tangles.
    And it was her father himself who had authorized this. She wondered how he was feeling right now. Worse than she was, probably.
    Strange how, in the pictures, the monorail never seemed particularly damaged. Would it be that way this time too? She had no desire to kill any of the aliens aboard that ship if it could be avoided. This mess wasn’t really their fault.
    Six minutes. … She hoped like hell the Intruder hadn’t changed course.
    Captain Mahendra’s hands rested lightly on the Situation Room’s communications board, showing no sign whatsoever of tension. General Carey watched those hands in fascination, wondering at the man’s self-control. But, then, Mahendra didn’t have a daughter out there racing the ultimate monorail to its mathematical crossing.
    Mahendra turned from the board, taking off his headphone, and Carey shifted his gaze to the captain’s face. “Well?”
    â€œChaser Six reports both the Intruder and the Origami still on course: Chasers Eight through Thirteen are still picking up lifeboats. Almost all the passengers are back; about three-quarters of the crew are still out there.”
    Carey nodded. “How long will the Origami have before impact?”
    â€œFrom now, three hours twenty minutes. Once in place, about six minutes.”
    Carey hissed softly between his teeth. “Pretty slim margin.”
    Mahendra frowned. “Should be enough, General. Those boats can handle two gees for ten minutes or so before running their tanks. Even if you allow them three minutes for launching, they can get—oh, three hundred kilometers out before impact. That should be a relatively safe distance.”
    â€œI suppose so.”
    â€œYou seem doubtful,” a new voice cut in from behind him. Carey turned to discover Du Ballay had come up, unnoticed, and was standing at his shoulder.
    â€œI’m concerned about those still aboard that ship,” the general growled. “They’re civilians and shouldn’t have to go through this.”
    â€œI agree.” Du Bellay paused. “I, uh, looked up the Origami ’ s registry data. The captain is listed as a Chandra Carey.”
    He stopped without asking the obvious question. Carey answered it anyway. “She’s my daughter.”
    â€œYour daughter, sir?” Mahendra asked, eyes widening momentarily. “I’m sorry; I didn’t know.” His fingers danced over keys; numbers appeared on his screen. “Sir, we could pull a tachship off of the Intruder’s path and have it waiting to pick up Captain Carey when the Origami reaches position.”
    â€œNo. We’ve only got three tachships left on chaser duty and I’d rather leave them there. Chandra’s good, and I know she thinks highly of her crew. The best thing we can do for them is to keep feeding them good data on the Intruder’s course.”
    â€œWhat about sending one of the tachships that’s on lifeboat-pickup duty?” Du Bellay suggested.
    â€œThose boats don’t carry all that much food and air,” Carey said, shaking his head. “The Origami dropped a lot of boats, and some of them are getting close to the wire. Tachships can’t carry more than a single lifeboat at a time, and with all civilian craft officially barred from the area we’re going