That being the case, most visitors had no choice but to don their space suits or wait for a pressurized crawler to pick them up. Doug Douglas didn't need oxygen, not much anyway, and knew his body could function in a hard vacuum - a fact that had saved his life once in the past. Sophie had no such advantage, however, and was forced to wear a navy issue space suit. It was a little too large, but not enough to matter. She sealed herself in and followed her uncle through the lock. A luggage laden autocart trailed behind. Organized chaos ruled the repellor-blackened flight deck. Space suited biological bodies rushed to deal with newly arrived ships, robot hoses nosed their way into receptacles, and two person maintenance sleds flew over their heads. A pathway that consisted of two parallel yellow lines zigzagged across the enormous deck, terminating in front of a well marked hatch. The words "Many minds but with one purpose" had been inscribed over th

Xian Karrh knew he had been dismissed and was happy to go. The dinner, a formal affair scheduled for end of work the following day, was a diplomatic must. "Yes, I'll be there"."Excellent", the senator replied. "I'll see you then". A worker drone escorted Xian Karrh to the hatch. It opened, and he stepped outside. The corridor was crowded, and traffic pulled him along. Nothing had been gained, or had it? Why would the Midvalians be interested in Dodvalian planets? Didn't they have enough already?It was an interesting question, and one he would endeavor to answer.  * * * The private dining room, which was just right for the intimate dinners that Maricolt Rackoon liked to host, was paneled in Vorthillian walnut. The wood gleamed from frequent oiling and matched that of the long, formally set table - most of which was obscured by what seemed like acres of white linen. The President smiled cordially as he ushered his guests into the

The fact that the target continued to appear then disappear was somewhat annoying, but wondrous nonetheless. Numbers scrolled down the right side of the screen. They provided air speed, air temp, and grid coordinates. Gradually, as part of each loop, Margaret caught sight of the dry rivet bed and the long line of sandy colored cyborgs, and felt the excitement start to build. Here it was! The one thing any self respecting officer would give her right tit to get - first class, grade A, no doubt about it intelligence. The major reached for her wallet, pulled it out, and selected a fifty. "Here you go, Sergeant. You said the blasted thing would work, and you were right. This should cover the bet". Oko made a show of holding the bill up to the light before tucking it away. "Let's kick some ass, Major. I've got some drinking to do!"  * * * Their was an artificial roar as the multiple rocket launchers fired their 122mm rockets in salvos of fo

It was Walker who first realized that they had won - if such a term could properly be used in connection with a force that had suffered more than fifty percent casualties. The first indication was a slackening of fire, followed by less contact, and more activity from Salom's fighters. While the aircraft had made short work of the planes sent to support the rebel advance, and destroyed the majority of their support vehicles, they were of limited value where ground support was concerned. Worried lest hit pilots bag some friendlies, the wing commander ordered them to wait. What he needed was a break. It came when the smoke started to clear and the rebels tried to run.  * * * A weapons platform took a direct hit from a five hundred pound bomb. It ceased to exist and pieces of sharp edge metal fell like rain. They rattled across the hood, killed the top gunner, and buried themselves in the sand. "Red Dog Three to Red Dog One. Where

Every now and then, every other cycle or so, the Hoon liked to tour the fleet. The easiest way to accomplish that was to choose two or three hundred of the more than twenty thousand surveillance devices at his disposal and spend a tenth of a second on each.Though once routine, the excursions had been more rewarding of late, ever since the soft body had gone forth to "peach the gospel" - the essence of which seemed to consist of blocking thoroughfares, praising the supreme intelligence known as "God", and seeking "converts", which is to say semi autonomous units willing to listen to the human's rantings.The entire process seemed like a waste of time and resources except for one thing: interspersed with the nonsense regarding God was a good deal of anti Thraki rhetorics. And, like it or not, the Artificial Intelligence had no choice but to support sentients that shared the same mission it had which was to find Thraki and kill them.Still, the Hoon had encountered a consider