The Star Fox by Poul Anderson Page A

his guitar and began to sing softly:‘
Morgenrot, Morgemot
—’ Heim wondered what that was, until he remembered the old, old Austrian cavalry song:
    Morning red, morning red,
    Wilt thou shine upon me dead?
    Soon the trumpets will he blowing,
    Then must I to death be going,
    I and many trusty friends!
—
    But it wasn’t really sad, it had been chorused by troops of young merry men as they galloped with sunlight wild on banners and lances.
    He laughed aloud. ‘Hey! An idea. There were exactly thirteen points in Coquelin’s speech. I wonder if he did that on purpose?’
    None answered, except the plangent strings. He gave himself to thoughts … Lisa, Connie, Madelon, Jocelyn…. Earth and Moon lay far behind.
    ‘PCA-SN
Neptune
to cruiser
Fox II
Come in,
Fox II
.’
    The voice rocketed them from their scats. ‘Judas,’ Penoyer whispered, ‘that’s a blastship.’
    Heim checked the radar tapes. The one paralleling us. She’s gone to an interception course. And if they use English on us, when we’ve got a French registry, they know—’ He bit his lip and settled before the com relay console. ‘
Fox II
to
Neptune
,’ he said. ‘We read you. The master speaking. What’s on your mind? Over.’
    ‘This is Rear Admiral Ching-Kuo, commanding
Neptune
. Cease acceleration and stand by to be boarded. Over.’
    Sickness fountained in Heim. ‘What do you mean?’ he blustered. ‘We have clearance. Over.’
    ‘You are suspected of illegal intentions. You are ordered to return to Earth orbit. Over.’
    ‘Have you a warrant? Over.’
    ‘I will show you my authorization when I board, Captain. Over.’
    ‘That’ll be too late, if you don’t have any. Establish video contact and show me now. Otherwise I am not bound to obey. Over.’
    ‘Captain,’ said Ching-Kuo, ‘I have my orders. If you do not follow instructions, I shall be forced to fire on you. Over.’
    Heim’s gaze flew among the stars.
No, no, no, not this! Another hour and we’d have been away!
    One hour!
    A flaring went through him. ‘You win, Admiral,’ he said; it sounded like a stranger talking. ‘Under protest, I yield. Give us time to compute a velocity-matching vector and we’ll meet you. Over and out.’
    He slammed down the switch and opened the intercom to the engine room. ‘Captain to chief engineer,’ he said. ‘Are you there?’
    ‘Indeed,’ Uthg-a-K’thaq belched. ‘All is satiswactory.’
    ‘No. Somebody’s uncorked the bottle on hell. There’s a blast-ship which says if we don’t stop and surrender, he’ll shoot. Prepare for Mach drive.’
    ‘Captain!’ Penoyer yelled. ‘This deep in the sun’s field?’
    ‘If the sync is perfect, we can do it,’ Heim said. ‘If not … we’re dead, no more. Uthg-a-K’thaq, do you believe we can?’
    ‘
Gwurru!
What a thing to ask!’
    ‘You overhauled those engines yourself,’ Heim said. ‘I trust you.’
    Vadász’s guitar shouted at his back.
    For a moment the intercom bore only the throb of machines. Then: ‘Cawtain, I am not God. Wut I think the chance is good for us. And I trust you.’
    Heim opened the general intercom. ‘Now hear this,’ he said; music raged around the words. ‘All hands stand by for Mach drive.’
    Penoyer clenched his fists. ‘Aye, aye, sir.’
    The drone from aft rose until it was the noise of gales and great waters. Space twisted. Stars danced in the viewports.
    Long ago, Ernst Mach of Austria
(‘Morgenrot, Morgenrot
—’) had held the key. Nothing exists in isolation. Inertia has no meaning without an inertial frame of reference: which must be the entire universe. Einstein showed inertial and gravitational mass are the same. But as for the phenomena themselves—Gravitation is describable by equations of a warped space. Inertia is, then, an inductive effect of the cosmic gravitational field on mass. If your gravitrons can bend space, not the small amount needed for lift and thrust, but through a closed curve, your ship has no resistance