The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order Read Free

prepared to discuss
the nature of the operation here, except to repeat that it’s covert. For now,
the important point is this. There’s going to be fallout.
    “I have
no idea what kind of fallout. I can’t know. There may be survivors.” Morn
Hyland may survive — “Our people, or illegals on the run. Or there may be a
full-scale Amnion retaliation.”
    Borrowing
Warden’s conviction because she had so little to spare of her own, Min
concluded, “Whatever it is, we’re going out there to deal with it.”
    The
bridge crew stared at her. They had all turned their stations toward her. From
their g-seats — command and communications in front of her, engineering and
data off to the sides, scan and helm and targ apparently hanging upside down
over her head — they studied her in fear or anger or despair or plain numb
weariness, as if she had just instructed them to commit suicide.
    For a
moment Dolph lowered his eyes. When he raised them again, they seemed oddly
naked, as if he had set aside some of his defences. “Permission to speak
frankly.”
    Just
for an instant Min wondered whether she should refuse. Then she decided against
it. By some standards, disagreements — not to mention hostility — between
commanders was bad for discipline. On the other hand, Punisher was his
ship: the tone which either inspired or dismayed his people was his to set, no
matter what she did. She was willing to trust his instincts.
    She
nodded once. “Please.”
    He
shifted his posture as if to launch his voice at her from a more stable
platform. “Then let me just ask you, Director Donner,” he said in a tone of raw
outrage, “if you are out of your incorrigible mind. Don’t you read reports anymore? Haven’t you got a clue what we’ve just been through? Or maybe
you think dodging matter cannon fire and asteroids alone for six months is some
kind of holiday. You sent us out to Valdor to do a job which would have been
too much for five cruisers. We’re lucky to get home limping instead of just
plain dead.
    “We’re
short-handed here. That was in the reports, too. Some of my people are
drifting around Massif-5 in caskets . We’ve got holes and hydraulic leaks
and a scan bank with no wiring. But never mind that. After what we’ve been
through, we can stand a few minor inconveniences. We’ve got worse problems.”
    His
voice was harsh enough to hurt Min’s ears, but she knew from experience that he
still had plenty of volume in reserve. For the sake of her personal comfort,
she hoped that he didn’t use it.
    “Have
you listened to this ship yet, Director Donner? Or have you forgotten
what internal spin displacement sounds like? Have you forgotten what that kind
of displacement can do to a warship? In case you’ve been spending too much time
behind your desk and not enough on the firing line, let me remind you. If the
bearings go and internal spin freezes before we can shut it down, centrifugal
inertia is transferred to the whole ship. The whole ship starts to spin — which
is a nightmare for scan and helm, never mind targ. Punisher isn’t made
for that kind of manoeuvre. And if we start to spin like that in the belt — or
in combat — then you can kiss your hard ass good-bye along with all the rest of
us.
    “This
is all crazy, Director Donner. How many warships have we got now? Fifty? Fifty
cruisers, destroyers, gunboats, and full battlewagons? Do you expect me to
believe they’re all unavailable for this job? That not one of them is in
reach?
    “If
that’s true, let Com-Mine Station do it, whatever it turns out to be. Hell on
ice, Director, they’ve got enough in-system firepower to slag three ships
like this. Let them police their own goddamn belt for a few more hours.
    “ We are in no shape for this.”
    For
reasons which she had never tried to explain to herself, Min often liked her
officers best when they were angry at her. Perhaps because she understood
Captain Ubikwe’s indignation and approved of it, or