Destroyer of Worlds (48 page)

Could
one Pak alone conquer that world? What he could infer of their
technology made that uncertain. But certainly he would fail if he did not try. He would plan on success, and find out when he arrived.

So: They could build him a ramscoop—maybe even a hyperdrive—in only a few years. With severe rationing, possibly even before he died for lack of tree-of-life root. Maybe the planet would even grow tree-of-life.

If he could get there.

 

THSSTHFOK FINALLY KNEW
why the ship had released him from stasis. Enough deuterium remained to complete repairs. And to cross the final distance. And to shed his velocity and land.

Pick any two.

While he studied the capabilities of his ship, surveyed his destination, and assessed his options, the demands of the pressure-retaining force field moved him perilously close to having energy for only
one
of three.

He climbed into a rescue bag and turned off the force field. Energy consumption slowed to a trickle. Oxygen in the rescue bag would sustain him for half a day-tenth.

He spent half that time, his hands clumsy through the tough material of the rescue bag, reconfiguring the force-field generator. Rather than gently holding air within a large volume, the device would thrust—hard!—in one direction.

He spent the rest of his time calculating and refining exactly how and when to apply that thrust. With a single shove, he had to reach the solar system, then reach the habitable planet, hitting the atmosphere at just the right angle, and then—now reaching the resolution limit of his telescope—come down on land. The only workable solution involved a looping trajectory through the solar system, with two gravity assists from other planets.

Were his sensors precise and accurate enough for this calculation? There was one way to find out. Choking on his own stale breath, his fingers tinged blue with hypoxia, he set the navigational controls.

Uncontrolled landing. Broken ship. No air.

None of that mattered in stasis.

As the launch timer approached zero, as Thssthfok reached out to activate the stasis field, his final, hopeful thoughts were of his family.

 

LARRY NIVEN
has been a published writer since 1964. He has written science fiction, fantasy, long and short fiction, nonfiction, children's television, comic books, and stranger stuff. His books, including many collaborations, number somewhere around sixty. He lives in Chatsworth, California, with Marilyn, his wife of forty years.

 

EDWARD M. LERNER
has degrees in physics and computer science, a background that kept him mostly out of trouble until he began writing fiction full-time. His books include
Probe
,
Moonstruck
,
Fools' Experiments
,
Small Miracles
, and the collection
Creative Destruction
. His previous collaborations with Larry were
Fleet of Worlds
and
Juggler of Worlds
. Ed lives in Virginia with Ruth, his wife of a mere thirty-eight years.