"FWLS41" - читать интересную книгу автора (A Future We'd Like to See)

had given before... maybe he had come to his senses, decided to
act normal for a change. I could only applaud a change like
that, a change back to normal trader tactics.

I clicked on my tractor beam, drawing his ship in.

I couldn't believe my luck. He was falling back into a
pattern I could recognize, a pattern I was familiar with. I was
going to score. I was going to redeem myself. I was walking
directly into an incredibly obvious trap.

That last thought passed three thoughts before it finally
registered. Sure enough, according to my scans, he was powering
up some fiendishly nasty gun.

I cut the tractor beam and tapped escape velocity for a
millisecond. Energy crackled from his guns, zipping through the
space I used to occupy. I swerved and fired at his backside.

"Not bad!" he said, overriding my security programs again.
"You're not as dumb as you seem."

He clicked off, and swerved around for an attack run.

Okay, this can be handled. I just need to pick a tactic
that works when the enemy is rushing headlong at you--

But wait, he wasn't rushing headlong. No, he had pulled
upwards, zooming right by my ship. Perfect! I could turn with
my superior engines and blast his backside before he could react.

I started to turn around to face him when the torpedoes
impacted on my shields.

Various systems screamed bloody murder. The shields folded,
defense panel spewing out sparks of surrender. How could he have
turned around and locked a weapon on me that fast?

I checked the scanner. He didn't turn around. He just used
a weapon that aimed backwards. Who the hell mounts launchers the
other way around?!

A second rocket slid under the glass of the cockpit,
impacting on the hull below. More shakes, more warnings.

I was going to have to do something I swore I'd never do.

Bail out.

*