Man-Kzin Wars XIII-ARC (55 page)

“Okay, Yearrl might be beyond telepathic tampering, but he’s not above manipulation. The captain of the
Sun Wukong
is close enough to mess with.”

“I don’t follow . . . You wish to sway an ally into attacking a kzinti warship? That’s madness!”

“No, the
Sun Wukong
’s captain is already nervous. I can use that to push him to speed up just a bit. Get his ship away from the constraining mass of p Eridani and into the safety of hyperspace.”
Varsha stroked the part of Captain Garcia’s mind that informed his forebears to hide from Iberian cave lions during the last glacial maximum.

One of the elephantine creatures began a light, anxious trot and at once an almost imperceptible crackle in the grass moved in closer toward it. Sensing danger, the dumb animal picked up its pace.

“They’re feeding off each other!”

“Exactly. Yearrl-Captain’s primal instincts are telling him that the animal that shows fear is the weaker prey. His logic is telling him that the ship that’s trying to run must harbor the fugitive. The closer he gets, the more
Sun Wukong
reacts.”

The prehistoric scene melted away and Bobcat was still hooked up to the beeping medical machine. The little kit curled up in his lap. Varsha pointed to the display showing the
Devourer of Monkeys
gravitating toward the
Sun Wukong
, which was now ahead of them by many AU and entering the system’s heliopause.

I Love Lucy
’s own hyperspace shutters began to slide across all windows. Before the stars were completely blotted out, they saw the
Sun Wukong
, followed by the
Devourer
, wink out of Einsteinian space. Bobcat and Varsha simultaneously exhaled. Soon after, they felt their own ship slip into hyperspace.

She patted his good shoulder, where her hand had comfortably rested the entire time, then let the pontoon bridge collapse between them. “Alright, the chief engineer’s ice box is over in the second half of this ship near the hyperdrive. I’m going to sleep now before our rapport does become permanent and demonic.” She smiled slyly. “What’re you going to do when you get to where you’re going?”

“Thrust this last dose of
sthondat
drug into my arm and give a telepathic cry for help like no other. A planet of telepaths, even latent ones, won’t be able to ignore it.”

Unless they’ve been reduced to inbred idiots by two hundred years of isolation,
she thought, but kept it to herself. Instead she picked up the slumbering kit. “Here, I’ll put this little warrior to bed next to his mother.”

“Why don’t you join us? You make a truly worthy companion.” He tried to turn, but the autodoc numbed his entire left side.

“I lack your faith. Besides, I’ve always wanted to retire on Canyon. That’s why I telepathically maneuvered my boss back on Earth to transfer me.”

He leaned back in his command chair. “Treat it better than I did.”

She left Bobcat to heal.