Man-Kzin Wars V by Larry Niven (people reading books txt) 📕

"Good, uff, Navigator. Uff. Continue."

Nyawk-Captain ran full out, stretching his long muscles. At full extension, his forward-reaching claws just grazed the rack that held the brainbox of their long-range starfixer; his hind claws ticked against the panels of the weapons locker. He was exercising in a variable gravity field that could be rippled to simulate ground passing under his pads. At present, the field was going under him at twice his own body length every second. He had to stretch to keep up—or be shoved back into the locker.

"We are definitely seeing two contacts, not one with a reflection," Navigator said. "The brighter return is the smaller—an absolute return of all radiation. That would indicate an infinite density, which I cringe to propose to you."

"How big is this infinitely dense source?"

"Small, Nyawk-Captain. No bigger than a kzin's torso."

"And it orbits a star—is it dead star matter itself?"

"No, sir. It does orbit a star, but on a planet. I now have a layered return shadowing this planet's lithosphere and iron core. The object is on the surface, or near to it. The second contact—"

Nyawk-Captain growled him to silence. He then reached out in his stride and killed the gravity field, ending his run on a single, four-footed pounce into the middle of the exercise area. The cabin steamed with the heat of his exertions—but neither of his crew members would dare complain.

Navigator held the thought and obeyed silence while his captain stretched in place and considered the implications of that hard return.

Infinite density. Small volume. But not enough mass to push the object deep into the planet's gravity well. Those observations could lead to only one conclusion: a Thrintun storage container, protected by its own time-warping field.

Honor and glory a full name and heirs, the personal friendship of the Riit, all would go to the discoverer of such a box. The artifacts concealed in those few that the kzinti had found in the past often yielded good weapons—or the clues to improving their own armaments.

Navigator and Weaponsmaster would be having similar thoughts, Nyawk-Captain realized. It was time to distract them.

"Continue," he grunted.

"The second contact is bigger, but not as dense. It presents a volume suitable for a ship's hull—a small one, but still capable of supporting a crew, drive systems, and weapons. I hypothesize it is a Leaf-Eaters' hull, such as they make as gifts to the humans."

"Is it near the other object?"

"Almost on top of it."

Nyawk-Captain casually ran a foreclaw into his mouth, probing the gaps between his teeth. It was a habit his father would not approve of, but it relieved stress while he thought.

"Shall we alter course, sir?" Navigator prompted.

Nyawk-Captain growled him into silence.

The Last Fleet followed Cat's Paw with a lag of ten days and a leeway of two days. Those two days were calculated to allow Cat's Paw to make minor course corrections, take evasive action, and conduct a brief survey of Margrave's defensive positions before Nyawk-Captain began his attack run against the system. The ten days would allow the human forces time to reach their maximum dispersal, following the near-simultaneous attacks by Paw and the other outriders, before the fleet struck behind him.

Timing was everything—but Nyawk-Captain knew he operated within a window of opportunity, not under split-second coordination . . . And what an opportunity was now presenting itself!

He could, of course, contact the Last Fleet and request a delay in the planned attack. He would ask for enough time to allow him to alter course, stop, and retrieve the Thrintun box. A few days at most. But then, Nyawk-Captain would be honor-bound to explain his reasons to Lehruff, who was the commanding admiral. And Lehruff would want to share in the discovery.

Of course, if he could move in and get out quickly enough, Nyawk-Captain might retrieve the box and still make his rendezvous with Margrave well ahead of the fleet. All honor and glory would then come to him alone, when he eventually produced the Thrintun artifacts. His two crew members, being subordinates and inferiors in rank, would defer to him on the discovery. He might even share with them for form's sake—a sixteenth of the value for each would be a graceful gesture.

Of course, if Nyawk-Captain contacted Lehruff, he would also have to report the General Products hull that lay in close proximity. It was one hull only and not a large one; such a vessel had low probability of preceding and leading a massive attack by the Leaf-Eaters and their human puppets. Yet that was how Lehruff might read it. He would then want confirmations. Analyses. Councils of war. He might even send other ships to investigate the contact. Reason for delay. And an excuse to take the prize from Cat's Paw.

More likely that hull belonged to a lone prospector. Some renegade Leaf-Eater or human looking for wealth, mineral or otherwise, far beyond human Space. And finding it. Nyawk-Captain had to allow for the possibility of a fight. But it would be a short one. It would be over and Cat's Paw would be away in less than two days—their established margin for error and reconnaissance.

He would chance it.

"Alter course, Navigator. . . . Let us investigate this Leaf-Eater's hull which stands between us and victory."

* * *

"Jared!"

Cuiller raised the radio to his mouth without even breaking stride. "Right here, Hugh."

"It's eating the ship." The voice was so faint and breathy that Cuiller thought he must have missed part of the transmission.

"Say again, please."

"The Bandersnatch is eating our ship." Jook's words were louder and more distinct that time. Still crazy, though.

"Wait one, Hugh," the commander said, He turned to his weapons officer. "You hear that?"

Gambiel shook his head. "Heard it, but I don't believe it."

"How would a Bandersnatch eat the hull?" Krater asked.

"It's got a rudimentary mouth scoop," the Jinxian answered, "with a pretty solid rasp inside, like a snail's tongue. It can secrete digestive juices, too. But I don't know why it would want to."

"Eat a General Products hull?"