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galaxy, wherever they stsedfro watchers throughout the
before their screens. A beautiful yacht made more so by its
tasteful striping of mauve and beige melting softly into each
other, courtesy of Hojatocorp,
 RACE ACROSS THE STARS 145
it was still the favorite. Even those who bet against the Don
appreciated his ship.
Kalahari Cuw's Disc & Bud took unofficial honors for
Most Garish, with no contest. It had an Aglayan name but an
Outreacher sponsor: Frag-Gear Unlimited, makers of raiment
for spacefarers. The paint job could not truly be called a
pattern since its use of seemingly every conceivable color left
no room for repetition.
Last of all came Sunmother.
Both its captain and its colors had been under wraps
all week. Its sponsor, TMSMCo, had gone to great expense to
shield the ship from the view of the curious. The company
colors were no secret, but keeping the full effect hidden until
the outset of the Race had been a daring commercial ploy.
Now aficionados gasped as the graceful diamond-flake glo-
azure hull slid into view.
TMSMCo had guessed aright: heady enthusiasm
produced by the moment upped bets still further.
No one was prepared, however, for Sunmother's
making the most dramatic start ever seen in the Five-Year
Race. The sparkling sky-hued ship ignited and slid out of
Andorian space as had all the rest. Then, just crossing the orbit
of Andor's Powersat 1, a good twenty minutes sooner than
anyone (racer or otherwise) had ever dared, Sunmother
popped into tachyon conversion and disappeared from
viewscreens.
"Musla's mother!" Trafalgar said, with a hand on his
lurching stomach. "If this doesn't send 'em redshifting to the
betting terminals. . . !"
"They'll be laying bets whether we accidentally went
City or not," Cinnabar said. "Really, Quindy, that one
surpassed your own best. At this rate we'll be out of T-SA in
five days."
"Three," Quindy said, "or I'm doing something
wrong...
Trafalgar and Cinnabar looked at each other, and
swallowed.
146 JOHN CLEVE
"This is just mumsy stuff anyway," Quindy said. "The
real fun starts when we go free-style."
"Think you can recall most of your cassettes, Quin?"
Trafalgar asked.
"Not even gonna try. I've never attempted to run most
of this route at top speed anyway, although I have scraped
around the Maelstrom before. I've got some whole new
ideas."
"Oh wonderful," Trafalgar said.
"I can hardly wait," Cinnabar said. "I wish I'd left my
stomach back at HQ with the cassettes."
Three days, and Sunmother emerged from the school
course. It had started last; it began the freestyle portion in
first position.
Not far behind came Don Arecibo. Kalahari held fourth
place and Ulf fifth with no help from dirty tricks. He learned
fast, and what he had learned from Quindy and Manjanungo
was Daring. His reckless conversions would have terrified his
crew halfway to mutiny had he let any lack of confidence
show. He did not. That was another lesson he had learned
early.
After an unspectacular but workmanlike piece of
piloting, the phantom Captain Emery's GMIDUF2 exited the
Tri-System Accord in last place. Ninth.
The Race no longer had a tenth entrant.
"Did you hear about Windrammer, Captain?" Whitey
asked.
"Windrammer!" Kalahari answered. "I've heard
enough about that ship and its dam' cherry pop to last two
lifetimes. I hear the Kosmic Klown Khorus singing in my sleep:
Lah-nuh-tee-un Chair-y, the 'farer's ree-leeef. . . ' What about
it?"
"Windrammer' s out of the Race. Didn't even finish
school."
 RACE ACROSS THE STARS 147
"What the vug happened?"
"Breakdown or equipment failure of some kind. The
news is incomplete. The impression I got was that their
SIPACUM was fobbied somehow."
"Impossible," Kalahari said. "A SIPACUM in thumbsup
condition, running a near-space course? How? Drive, maybe.
You must be mistaken. How could he slice up his SIPACUM?"
"Computer traumatizer, sir. Bonded itself to
Windrammer's hull and gorged SIPACUM with false scrute.
Captain Chane couldn't tell which end was up and so "
"Dammit, Lemble, I know how a lamprey works!" the
voice from the comm said impatiently. "I want to know how it
got there."
"Looks like sabotage, sir," the harried Lemble said.
Even though his superior could not see him as he spoke into
his wrist comm he held his trim body unconsciously erect. He
had never had to report to anyone at this level before.
"Sabotage," the comm voice said drily. "Grabbles,
Lemble, I was sure Captain Chane must have put it on his own
ship."
Lemble closed his eyes in self-disgust. "Sorry, sir. Just a
little nervous, I guess."
"Stop calling me 'sir' and use the code name you were
told. Whoever told you I was a 'sir' anyway? My voice could be
scrambled. If you' re going to assume things, Agent, at least
don't let on what you assume."
"Pository, ah, Cougar. I, um, it must have been one of
the other entrants who used the lamprey on "
"There you go again," the voice called Cougar said.
"Pos, Cougar. Sorry again. Shall we investigate at this
end and try to stop whoever did it before they can hit anyone
else?"
148 JOHN CLEVE
"Pos, neg, and it's too late."
"Grunt?"
"Yes you should investigate. No you shouldn't stop
whoever did it. And they've probably already hit other ships. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]