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Disk?"
"Polarians think in terms of circularity. All ships must spin at the rate of one revolution every five and
a half Solarian minutes in order to maintain gravity at the comfortable level in the officer's section.
Slower for the Disks, of course, as they have larger diameters, but the principle's the same. "If that spin
is changed-"
"All hell breaks loose!" Melody finished. "How ingenious!"
"Circular," Skot corrected her with a smile.
Melody looked around. The six human-hosted Knyfh officers were at the consoles, looking as
competent as ever. She had little idea what they were doing, but she felt reassured. She returned to the
globe. "But how can one ship change the spin of another?"
"Several ways. Generally, by anchoring a missile to the hull. A missile on a long line can exert
considerable torque. Several can wreak havoc. The gravity changes make things fly about, and the
crew gets sick, the instruments malfunction...."
"I can imagine. Trust Polaris to think of something like that."
The two ships came together. The Scepter, having expended two missiles in the first encounter, was far
more cautious this time. "They have only six missiles," Skot explained.
"I told you!" Yael exclaimed. "A six-shooter!"
Melody closed her eyes. "I've doomed my friend the Drone of Deuce to destruction, then. Even if he
wins every match, when he runs out of missiles-"
"Can't ever tell. Canopians are pretty sharp, and they have nerves like tungsten. Maybe the other ship
will run out of ammunition too, and it'll be a standoff."
A standoff. Was there a possibility there for stopping the hostage fleet? Get them all to use up their
ammunition uselessly? How?
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Melody liked this situation less as she came to know it better. Yet the alternative was to throw all her
ships into the fray against twice their number. To replace single slaughter by mass slaughter.
The Disk fired. The Scepter maintained course, not even firing back. "He's trying to intercept the
anchor," Skot said. "I don't think that stunt will work again, though."
The Disk fired again. Now the Scepter jetted-but not evenly. Instead of moving out of the way, it began
to turn end over end. "Something's wrong!" Melody cried.
"Drive malfunction," Skot agreed. "That's unusual in a Canopian ship; they're finicky about details. But
those chemical boosters are tricky when they're hot. Only one side came on."
The Scepter shook. It was only a token, magnified by the imaging mechanism of the globe, but it
loomed like a planetquake to Melody's nervous eyes.
"He's anchored!" Skot cried as if feeling the shock of contact himself. "And he never even fired back!"
The Scepter shook again.
"Second anchor," Skot said gloomily. "That's the end."
The Canopian ship twisted in space, tugged by two missiles on strings. The Disk moved in close. "But
the ship has not been destroyed," Melody said hopefully.
"They'll set hull-borers on him, or inject poisonous gas," Skot said. "A ship anchored is a ship
vulnerable. The Scepter will yield in a moment; pointless to stretch out the agony."
Then the Disk exploded.
Melody and Skot both gaped. "What happened?" Melody demanded to know, staring at the fragments
of ship spreading outward.
Skot shook his head. "Sabotage, maybe. I can't figure-"
Something clicked in Melody's mind. Sabotage....
A Knyfh looked up from his console. "The anchors fastened on opposite sides of the Scepter," he said.
"Their vectors canceled out. A very pretty maneuver on the part of the Canopian."
"That single jet!" Skot exclaimed. "That was deliberate! To twist the ship so that the anchor misplaced.
It seemed like a malfunction...."
"So the Drone won with a single missile this time," Melody said wonderingly. "But he's playing it
extremely close!"
"He has to. With three missiles left, and the entire fleet of Andromeda before him...."
But now the hostage fleet's sole Knyfh Atom came out of the enemy cluster. Melody sighed. "Poor
Drone... I have sentenced him to death."
"We have the right to recall him; he has fought two battles," Skot pointed out.
Melody activated the net. "Deuce of Scepters, you have completed your assignment. Retire from the
field."
"Message declined," the Drone replied.
Skot stretched his mouth in a way that certain Solarians had to express mixed surprise and respect.
"He's staying in the lists! That must be some entity!"
"He is that," Melody agreed. "I suppose technically this is mutiny, but I'd hesitate to call it that. I have
a personal interest in his welfare, and I suppose he feels he owes me something. We'll just have to let
him perform. He certainly has done well so far."
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The Atom and the Scepter drew close together. This time the Scepter fired first.
"He doesn't dare get within magnetic range," Skot explained.
"True," a Knyfh officer agreed. The involvement of a Knyfh ship seemed to have excited their interest.
The Knyfh contingent had the best record for loyalty in this fleet-another testimony to the formidability
of the segment.
The Atom narrowed the distance, unaffected. "Its repulsive magnetic force makes the missiles shy
away," Skot said. "You have to get very close to score with a physical missile on an Atom-and then
you're in its power if you miss."
The Scepter fired again, without effect. "Only one chance left," Skot said. "If the Scepter can loose a
missile just as the Atom starts its pull-phase-there!"
The ships drew together more quickly. Then suddenly they reversed. There was an explosion. "The
Atom out-timed him," Skot said sadly. "The missile didn't make it before the field reversed. Now
Knyfh will shake Canopus apart."
Sure enough, the two ships drew together, then apart, then together again. "But the Atom is shaking
itself as badly as its opponent," Melody said.
"The Atom is constructed to take it," Skot said. "That nucleus and shell system, cushioned by
magnetism-you could just about throw it against the wall and it would bounce."
"Like Slammer," Melody said gloomily, and the magnet bobbed behind her, thinking she was
addressing it.
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