Man-Kzin Wars XII by Larry Niven (books you have to read .TXT) 📕

He turns to me. “How's it going?”

“What do you need?” I whip back. He seems hurt by my shortness, so I back off a bit. “Sorry. I have a lot of work to do.”

“No worries,” he smiles. It lingers a little too long, making me a bit uncomfortable. “Can we set up a Breekbal game between the Genesys and you guys?”

His question catches me off guard. What is he getting at? So many drones have died playing Breekbal; why would he risk injuring any of the Genesys? I turn and walk toward the playing field. “Why do you want to play? It's not the best time with all the attacks.”

“I need them to learn to work as a team. I thought this would be a good way to do that,” he answers.

“None of us have played since we were brought back.” I stop in the middle of the field. If any of the Genesys did get injured, they would have to delay the Ragnarok. “I suppose it could be good for morale.”

“Awesome!” He's excited. “Would we be able to do teams of twelve instead of ten?”

“Sure. When?” I grab a couple of pieces of rubble from the ground, tossing them away from the field.

“After our classes tomorrow,” he replies.

“Fine.” That's much sooner than I would like, but the less time he has to prepare, the better our advantage. I head over to one of the holes in the field that serve as a goal and take a quick look to see its state. “Anything else?”

“Actually, yes. I was hoping you could help me with something more important, but you have to promise to keep this to yourself.” He pulls me close to make sure I'm the only one who can hear.

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Yeah?”

“So, there is a group of scientists who are planning to sabotage Rene's plans,” he divulges.

“Really?” How much does he know? Does he know that I'm involved?

He continues. “Last night, I saw two of the scientists meeting outside, on the opposite end of the compound, by the library. I was hoping you could maybe have the drones—”

“Don't call us that.” I cut him off. I'm not one of them anymore.

“What?” He's caught off guard.

“We are Integers. Drones makes us sound like we are incapable of our own thoughts,” I explain.

“Okay, sorry.” He backs off. “Well, I was hoping the other Integers could let you know which scientists have been meeting, and then you could tell me. Don't tell them why they are gathering this information, though.”

I study him over. He doesn't know much yet, but he will find something eventually if he keeps poking around. Maybe he'll back off on his investigation if I tell him I'll help. “Yeah, that's fine. I'm afraid many of us don't know the scientists by name, though.”

“That's okay. A description will be enough. We have a database of pictures that we can reference.” His enthusiasm is unsettling.

I still care about Atom, but he is in the way of my survival and that of countless others. If he remains in my way, I will move him by any means necessary. I put my hand on his shoulder and smile. “I'll see you tomorrow, buddy.”

He smiles back. “Yes you will.”

I run off to my quarters to explain the plans to 13. He sees me coming, and I point to him to meet in my room. He enters the door before I get there, and I shut it behind me.

“What was that about?” he asks.

“Do you remember how to play Breekbal?” I dive in.

“Of course. Get the ball into the other team's hole by any means necessary. First to three wins.” He smiles with pride. “Why?”

“Atom want to play a game tomorrow. All of the Genesys against us.” I'm trying hard not to let my thoughts get ahead of me.

“Aren't there twelve of them?” He sits on my bed. At this point, he's spent more time on it than I have.

“Yes, we'll add two more to our team.” I press on, “I'm guessing that the other Integers haven't played Breekbal, since I never saw a game at the stadium.”

“Nope. Lucie never let us. That field in the middle would have been great, though.” His thoughts drift off.

I pull him back. “Okay. This is what I need you to do. Pick the ten you feel will pick the game up quickly and be the most aggressive. I want you to take them out to the field for the rest of the day and train them. Teach them the best strategy.”

13's eyes light up. “Oh man, this is going to be a lot of fun. What about the others?”

“Tell them that I will have a mission for them to do during the game.” I stand and head for the door. “Right now, I need to take care of a couple of things.”

“Okay.” 13 walks out of my room with me and heads deeper into the building to collect the other Integers.

I head out of the building and away from the barracks. I want to take a closer look at various parts of the compound to get more familiar with the territory. More specifically, the area Petros marked as the hangar. If I'm right about what I find in there, I can get everyone to focus their attack on the hangar, and we can at least delay the Ragnarok.

When I reach the fenced-in area and take a closer look, I see a small gap around the perimeter. The ground must open up to let what I believe to be the escape Flyz for the Genesys out. I need to find a way in, to confirm this. If we can destroy those, then the Genesys have to stay at this compound, and Dr. Anfang can't set off the Ragnarok.

I double back through the barracks toward the part of the compound that the Flyz landed on when we returned from Nairobi. That part of the field has a ramp that leads