The Voyage of the Star Wolf by David Gerrold Read Free Book Online Page A

And that doesn’t allow any margin for the mass-drivers. I don’t see any way around it, we’re going to have to use the singularity sooner or later.”
    â€œI know,” said Korie. “But I want to hold off as long as possible, and I want to minimize any use of it. We give off G-waves, they’ll find us. Right now, if they’re tracking us, all they see is a derelict.” He hooked one leg around a stanchion to keep from floating away. “We can survive without gravity. We have three months of food. We can ration our water. Our big problem is air.”
    â€œCan’t use the osmotics,” said Leen. “Not without the gravitors. And that’s more G-waves. Y’know, if we could take a look-see, find out if there’s anything hostile in range, we could control our radiations, keep them below the noise level . . .”
    Korie shook his head. “Not yet. I don’t want to risk opening up a scanning lens yet. Maybe in a week. Even a lens might give us away to the Dragon Lord . We just don’t know how accurate her vision is. I have to assume the worst.”
    Leen grunted. “You’re not making this very easy for me.”
    â€œI’ve been thinking,” said Korie. “We could go to aeroponics. String lights and webs in the shuttle bay, in the inner hull, maybe even in the corridors and the keel. We could use irrigation stems. Start out with Luna moss, take cuttings every two days. In fourteen days, we should be able to increase the volume 64-fold.”
    Leen didn’t answer. He just swiveled back to his screen and called up a set of extrapolations. “It’ll be at least a month before you’re getting significant oxygen production, even if you could double volume every two days. Which I don’t think you can.”
    â€œA month might work,” said Korie. “Just barely. It lets us keep our head down.”
    â€œIt’s going to be messy.”
    â€œWe don’t have a lot of choice in the matter. We’re going to have to go to aeroponics sooner or later anyway. We have food for three months. We might make it on half-rations, but that’s only a stay of execution, not a reprieve. What if it takes longer than four and a half months to get home? Let’s start laying in our crops for the winter.”
    Leen made a noise deep in his throat; it sounded like a growl of disapproval. “Sounds like a lot of busy work to me. We’ve got more important things to do.”
    â€œNo, we don’t.” Korie cut him off. “As long as we drift, we’re safe. We look like a derelict. The longer we can drift, the more convincing we are. This isn’t busy work—this is work that will guarantee our survival.”
    Leen didn’t look convinced.
    Korie shrugged and admitted, “Yes, all right. It’ll give the crew a challenge they can accomplish. But they need that right now.”
    â€œI think we’d all much rather put a missile up the tail of the Dragon Lord .”
    â€œYou tell me a way we can get close enough to do that and I will. Otherwise, my job is to bring this ship and her crew safely home.”
    â€œYou want my opinion? Let’s just fix the engines and go.”
    â€œI always want your advice, Chief—”
    â€œBut—?”
    â€œâ€”You know the ship better than anyone. But I know what we’re up against. The Morthans aren’t stupid. This wasn’t just a hit-and-run raid. This was a full-scale attack. If I were a Morthan commander, I’d be cruising the area right now, hunting for hiders like us.”
    â€œI don’t like hiding,” grumbled Leen.
    Korie shrugged. “It’s not my favorite thing either. But we don’t have the resources to do anything else right now. String the webs, Chief. Let’s get that started. Then, I want you to build a passive G-scanner and let it run.”
    â€œThere’s no accuracy in