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but if Hammer of :: called her on the net while she was away he might catch on that she was up to
something.
The two Swords approached each other, and again she watched compulsively. While she hated this
destruction and loss of sapient life and the emotions it roused in her, she was nevertheless fascinated
by the competitive aspect. All sapient species were highly competitive, she thought; that was how they
got to be sapient. Every Spherical species lusted for death and glory, however much individuals
disguised it with the veneer of civilization. If even an old neuter like herself felt the urges, what of the
young males?
The hostage Sword fired first. Melody had learned to interpret the flash on the globe. It could not be a
direct glimpse, for that would mean the laser had struck her own ship; but there was always some trace
leakage and refraction that the instruments could pick up and amplify. Lasers were designed to diffuse
with distance, so that those that missed their targets were not a menace to other ships of their own
fleets. Missiles were also detonated or defused automatically after a certain number of minutes, for the
same reason.
The hostage bolt missed. Now the Four of Swords fired -and scored. There was a bright splay of light
as the globe amplified the reflecting beam. But though struck, the hostage was not dead. The trouble
with lasers, she realized, was that unless they struck a vulnerable section, they didn't do much damage.
It took several scores to put away an opponent, and in that time the enemy might reverse the advantage
by a good or lucky shot of his own.
So there really was no inherently superior weapon, she concluded. The lasers had speed and range,
being impossible to avoid or intercept, but no punch. The missiles had plenty of punch, but could be
dodged or triggered prematurely. The magnetic fields were fast and could not be avoided, but their
range was short. So it all came out even, with a good sharp ship of any type able to overcome a sloppy
one of any other type. Chance was a considerable factor. Ideally, ships should fight in sets, with a
Sword to snipe long distance and an Atom to handle any enemy ship that tried to move in close, and-
but that led right back to the present mixed-composition fleet.
The two Swords were very close now, within a thousand miles of each other. Both were firing and
scoring, but neither was disabled. In moments one of them would die, though both had been built in the
shipyards of Sphere Sol and were crewed primarily by Solarians. Whoever won, Solarians would die.
Friend was killing friend.
Suddenly her sickness of it all overcame her. "Call it off!" she cried aloud. "I can't stand this ritual
slaughter!"
But Skot was away on his assignment, the Knyfh officer had other jobs, and the net was off. She was
talking to herself. Her hand went out to activate the net-and she saw the hostage ship explode. Its air
gouted out. Though the hull remained almost intact, the ship was dead.
Then the same thing happened to the Four of Swords.
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Both had been destroyed... seconds before she had been able to call a halt. "Damn my indecision!" she
cried, gritting her teeth. Her host's leg started hurting again, and she felt very tired.
Now she activated the net. "Melody of Mintaka here," she said. "Terminate the contests of champions.
Abate truce."
The sixty-six-thirty-three ratio of hostage to loyal ships had shifted to sixty-one-thirty-one; an
improvement, but still highly disadvantageous. Would the Andromedan command have gone along
with the one-to-one battles much longer?
"Truce terminated," Hammer of :: said. "Intergalactic Conventions not in force."
Skot hurried up. "I have the volunteers. What's this about terminating the truce?"
"We are about to get down to the real combat," she told him. "In fact, let's give our project a code
name, so we don't have to risk enemy interception of the details. Call it... call it the Lan of Yap."
Skot looked at her strangely. "I don't even know what the program is."
"That's all right. Transfer over to the Ace of Atoms and tell Captain Mnuhl to implement the Lan of
Yap. He'll understand."
Skot hesitated, then departed again. But Melody's eyes were still fixed on the two drifting, leaking
hulks, the Swords of Sol. She shook her head. What a waste!
Chapter 16 Lan of Yap
*progress report*
:: proceed ::
*the following segments have fallen: lodo, bhyo, fa¿, novagleam progress in freng and thousandstar
continued resistance in qaval, etamin, knyfh and weew*
:: knyfh and weew I comprehend they are center galaxy cultures, sophisticated lodo is a surprise I
thought it would be another center of resistance, and perhaps bhyo too instead we encounter trouble in
the lesser regions! what is there about qaval and etamin? ::
*they are centers of the cult of tarotism, said to have originated in etamin prior to the first war their
spheres orient on tarot symbolism, and the name of qaval derives from qabalah*
:: does this cult study transfer science? ::
*not as such but it makes use of animation*
:: that relates prepare reserves ::
*POWER*
:: CIVILIZATION ::
"That's some strategy!" Skot said as he returned. "Mnuhl gave me the details."
"I thought he would," Melody said. "Now let's review. Each Knyfh ship has a long-range transfer unit
aboard, but three of the four Atoms stayed loyal, and the fourth was destroyed in single combat. So the
chances are they can't do it back to us."
"They would have removed the transfer unit to another ship before risking it in single combat," Skot
pointed out. "Mnuhl says it would have to be on one of the two Mintakan vessels, as Knyfh transfer
units do not operate outside an Atom-type ship. Something about the magnetic fields-"
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"May my Sphere by sundered by a sour note!" Melody swore. "I'd like to get into one of those ships
and find out what happened."
"Mintakan Atoms are pretty much like other ships of the fleet," Skot said mildly. "They even have a
few magnets. Some spheres won't touch magnets, but Mintaka feels they go well with the type of ship.
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