On Thu, 7 Feb 2002, Jim Sharkey wrote: > >Tom looked out the port view screen on his escape pod. He noted that > >it was a dark and story night. > > But then, every night on Kithrup had been a dark and stormy one, since > they had hidden here so long ago. He looked over at Credieki's battered > form, wishing there was more he could do for his friend. If Gillian was > there, maybe she could have helped . . . but best not to think of her. He > had to get off this tinny waterworld, and soon. The others were depending > on him.
[This is a little more sudden than I expected, but what the heck! -msl] Dennie interrupted Tom's musings by thrusting a strip of dried Gubru in his face. "I am NOT eating this." Tom masked his irritation. "Dennie, somehow we have to find a way to make five wormhole jumps in a skiff not designed for hyperspace travel. We have to provision ourselves for the trip, and we need to save our emergency stores for a last resort. Waste not, want not." Dennie sniffed, "We're going to *want* regardless." "True." Tom Orley ran his fingers through his beard. The silky texture still felt strange to him. "But here's our immediate problem. Floating between us and Kithrup's sun are the remnants of a dozen battle fleets. At first thought, this would be an ideal time to forage among the wreckage for supplies and parts...." "But...." "But, there's the danger of setting off spoilsport bombs and unstable engine cores, among other things. Plus, it won't be long before pirates, salvage ships, and scouts are crawling all through this system looking for junk and news, and we don't want people to know we're here. "And there's another thing. Assuming Streaker escaped past the first jump point, it doesn't matter very much to Earth if we get home or not. But we must not be captured, period. We know too much." Tom shrugged. "So, if we stop to salvage the wrecks for parts, we run a high risk of capture, which mustn't happen, but if we don't do some scavenging, our hopes of making past, or even through, the first wormhole are practically nil." "Right. Any thoughts?" Dennie frowned. "Let's all talk about it. When the going gets tough, the tough call a meeting." ----------------------------- Marvin Long Austin, Texas
