Torchship Read Online Free PDF Page B

AND MANEUVER. ACCELERATION AND MANEUVER IN THIRTY SECONDS.
STRAP IN. THIS MEANS YOU, GUO. THIRTY SECONDS.”
    Mitchie grabbed a pair of
sliders for a quick calculation on the pilot station’s mini-plotting board. She
ignored Bing’s voice coming from the captain’s comm. He barked back, “Just tell
them it’s pirates.”
    The thirty seconds were up. Mitchie
fired the torch. Fives Full leapt forward at ten gravs. Hopefully
everyone’s strapped in , she thought. She fired the pitch thrusters to bring
the nose down. A second firing stopped the ship pointed straight at the rings.
She pressed the converter room intercom button. “Guo, can I get forty gravs for
a few minutes?”
    The mechanic wasn’t fazed by
the request, but his tone made it clear he wondered what the sudden emergency
was. “Maybe a few seconds. We barely started cooling off from the last leg. Run
too hard and we’ll bust the thermal limits.”
    “Okay, I want a few minutes
of high accel, as much as you can give me, then probably a couple hours of
running at ten gravs.”
    “Damn. What–okay. You can
have four minutes of twenty-five gravs.”
    The captain entered the
conversation. “Mr. Kwan. Ignore the yellow limits. We are going to red-line all
parameters until further notice.”
    The intercom stayed silent
long enough for a few syllables to go by. Then Guo Kwan answered. “Aye, aye,
sir. Stand by.” They heard a slide rule clicking. “You can have thirty-two
gravs for six minutes.”
    “Perfect! I’ll try to not use
it all,” Mitchie promised. That made turnover time easy enough to do in her
head.
    “They noticed,” said the
captain calmly. The kidnappers’ ship was close to out of sight now, until it
lit off its torch with a bright blue glare.
    The ship-to-ship radio
sounded. “ Fives , where the fuck do you think you’re going? We have three
times your accel and twice your delta-V.” Schwartzenberger contemplated the
transmit button and decided to let them wonder.
    Mitchie left the torch on as
she flipped the ship end for end. Every bit of in-plane velocity would help. Once
the maneuver finished she took the ship to Guo’s limit. She sank back into her
cushions. The couch was fully reclined. She focused on the chronometer, trying
to ignore the ship growing in the cockpit window.
    “You’re right,” said the
captain. “He’s autopiloting. Missed your turnover. He went to max accel to
compensate, then went ballistic. Over a hundred gravs must’ve hurt enough to
make him hit the emergency switch. Now he’s at forty-five gravs but still going
to overshoot.”
    “Let’s see how many more
mistakes he makes, sir.” Mitchie grinned. She’d never gotten to red-line a ship
before. Might never get to again.
    The end of the 32-grav burn
zeroed their southward velocity as they entered the densest part of the middle
ring. Fives Full now paralleled the chunks of ice in their orbits–but at
ten times their speed. Mitchie aligned the ship to the right of the velocity
vector. Enough yaw would keep them in the ring even at ten gravs acceleration.
    Both eyeball and radar
confirmed the gap she’d aimed for was empty. Mitchie looked ahead and nudged
the ship north to pass close over the rock in her path. She kept switching
between looking at the radar scope and the window. The echoes displayed by the
primitive radar depended more on the shape and composition of objects than
their size. Not that her eyes were foolproof. They were on the sunward side of
Kronos. If the chase lasted until they went into the planet’s shadow she’d have
to leave the ring. Best if they solved this before then. She yawed thirty
degrees to the left then forty to the right to weave among the next few rocks.
    “He’s back,” said the
captain. “In plane with us. Not in gun range yet.” Mitchie kept maneuvering. Pitch
down, yaw right, pitch up. “Ha!” Schwartzenberger burst out. “He’s still on
autopilot. He set it to follow. It’s matching us turn for