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Bors shrugged. Suddenly he found that he, too, drearily accepted defeat. There was no more hope of accomplishment. There was nothing to be achieved. He would serve no purpose by straining against the impossible. He said tiredly, "I'll agree that Talents, Incorporated cost the Mekinese one cruiser." "A trifle," said Morgan, waving his hand, "mere soupçon of accomplishment.
For a full minute after the enemy ship's disappearance, Bors sat rigid, his hands clenched, facing the disaster the escape of the Mekinese constituted. Sweat appeared on his forehead. Then he pressed the engine-room button and said evenly, "Prepare for standard overdrive, top speed possible." He swung the ship.
We don't want to turn anything over to the Mekinese after all, no matter what the king has commanded, once the fleet had lifted off, there can be no punishment if we destroy our planes and blast our equipment! Will you give us an unofficial " Bors broke in quickly. "I may be able to give you a chance at a Mekinese cruiser.
The general order for the Mekinese fleet had been picked up, and the fleet of Kandar seemed to have gone mad. The flagship tried to fight in orthodox fashion, for a time. It depended on the attraction its missiles had for Mekinese to keep it in space.
They knew that there was a fleet in being which had fought and annihilated a Mekinese task-force many times its size. To the Captain, their knowledge was undiluted catastrophe!
A ship-voice murmured, "Low-power overdrive in circuit, sir." He watched the screen. The Mekinese missiles accelerated at a terrific rate. They left their parent ships far behind. They were a third of the way to the drone-fleet and the Liberty before Bors spoke again. "Launch and inflate another target-globe," he ordered drily. "We could speak for the king since he was late.
Again she showed on the Mekinese screens. The Mekinese could not believe their instruments. A ship which fled in overdrive could not reappear like this! Having vanished and reappeared once, it could not duplicate the trick. Having duplicated it.... There was more, and worse. The Horus missiles were not being intercepted.
He said, "Fire one!" when the Mekinese would be just about planning to turn their electron-telescope upon it. A missile leaped away from the Isis. It went off at an angle, and it curved madly, and the instrumentation of the cruiser could spot it as now there, now here, now nearer, and now nearer still.
There is no point in further discussion. The fleet will take off immediately." He rose from his seat. The bearded man protested, "But the Mekinese aren't here yet! They won't arrive until day after tomorrow!" "You're using Talents, Incorporated information," objected Bors. "And it is wise for the fleet to move off-planet at once! You are reasonable men. Too reasonable!
The men of the space-boats had said they were pirates. The people of Garen felt no animosity toward pirates. They only hated Mekinese. Out in space, missiles hurtled away from the small ship Isis. They did not plunge directly at the battleship. They swung crazily in wide arcs. The already-launched Mekinese missiles swerved to intercept them. They failed.
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