Pawn’s Gambit Read Free Page B

Carey judged, were more reflex than true objection—the archaeologist looked as uneasy as everyone else.
    â€œNo?” Nordli shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the Intruder is threatening us with massive destruction. We must stop him.”
    Wu-sin stirred. “Executor Nordli, you’re proposing what amounts to an act of war against another intelligent species. A decision of that magnitude must be approved by the full Solar Assembly at least; ideally by all the colonies as well.”
    â€œThere’s no time to consult the colonies,” Nordli said. “As to the Assembly … you have two hours to get their approval.”
    â€œAnd if I can’t?”
    â€œI’ll go ahead without it.”
    Wu-sin nodded grimly. “I needed to know where you stand. I’ll get their approval.” He rose, bowed, and left the room.
    Nordli turned to Carey. “General, how do we proceed?”
    Carey let his eyes sweep the others’ faces as he thought. They were all on Nordli’s side, he saw: Du Bellay, like himself, only because there was no other choice. How many lives were they planning to snuff out?—innocent lives, perhaps, who may not realize what they were doing? “The trouble, Mr. Executor, is that the Peacekeeper forces really aren’t set up for this kind of threat.”
    â€œYou’ve got nuclear missiles, don’t you? And ships to deliver them?”
    â€œThere are two problems. First, hitting the Intruder would be extremely difficult. A shot from the side would probably miss, alerting them as to our intentions. A head-on shot would hit, all right, but the extremely high magnetic fields it would have to penetrate would almost certainly incapacitate any missile we’ve got. And second, there’s no guarantee even a direct hit would do any good. Just because they don’t have FTL drives doesn’t mean they’re primitives—only that their technology developed along different lines. And don’t forget, that ship is designed to bore through the edge of a star at nearly lightspeed.”
    â€œThere’s one further problem,” Dr. Roth spoke up. “Disabling or even disintegrating it at this point wouldn’t help us any. The fragments would still hit the sun, with the same consequences.”
    There was a moment of silence. “Then we have to stop or deflect it.” Evelyn suggested. “We have to put something massive in its path.”
    Nordli looked at Carey. “General?”
    Carey was doing a quick calculation in his head. “Yes, either would work. Slowing it even slightly would send it through a less dense region of the photosphere. Assuming, of course, that he stays with his present course.”
    â€œWhat can we put in his path?” Nordli asked. “Could we tow an asteroid out there?”
    Carey shook his head. “Impossible. As I pointed out, he’s far off the ecliptic plane. Moving an asteroid there would take months.” Even as he spoke he was mentally checking off possibilities. Tachships were far too small to be useful, and the only heavy Peacekeeper ships in the System were too far away from the Intruder’s path. “The only chance I can see,” he said slowly, “is if there’s a big private or commercial ship close enough to intercept him a good distance from the sun. But we don’t have authority to requisition nonmilitary spacecraft.”
    â€œYou do now,” Nordli said grimly. “The government also guarantees compensation.”
    â€œThank you, sir.” Carey touched an intercom button and gave Captain Mahendra the search order.
    There was a lot of traffic in mankind’s home system, but the Peacekeepers’ duties included monitoring such activity, and it was only a few minutes before Mahendra was back on the intercom. “There’s only one really good choice,” he reported. “A big passenger