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"Would you like to clarify what you mean, Cadet Gerswin?"
"Yes, ser."
"Please do so."
"Ser, I wasn't going to question the distinction. Not sure now. Text indicates
costs of war almost always outweigh the gains. Doesn't say that, but the numbers
seem to-"
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r r
"What numbers. Cadet Gerswin?"
Gerswin repressed a sigh. "Looked up military budget differentials,
reconstruction costs, death benefits ..."
"I'll accept that for purposes of discussion. Are you saying that the costs to even
the victor outweigh the quantifiable benefits?"
"Yes, ser."
"Aha. Cadet Gerswin is suggesting that since the costs of war outweigh the
benefits, no wars have a logical basis. A novel approach. Any takers?" Major
Gonnell surveyed the hall again, his metal support skeleton swiveling him from
side to side. "Any dissenters?"
Another sweep of the room followed.
"I see. Cadet Gerswin's suggestion is so novel none of you have considered it.
Very well, your first submission, due in five days, is: 'Wars Have No Logical
Basis.'
"The submission must be a proof, although documented anecdotal material
may be used, and you must take a definite position. Any submission which fails to
support or refute the illogicality of war will be failed."
The major surveyed the class once again before concluding in his rasping
squeak, "Section dismissed."
"Ten'shen!"
The cadets snapped out of their seats to attention as the major departed.
Chapter XIV
"All hands! All hands! Stand by for jump! Stand by for jump!"
Gerswin laid back in his couch, made sure the webbing across his chest was
tight, although there was scarcely any chance that it would be needed. As a
second class cadet, he had no permanent duty assignment. Consequently, he had
no station from which to watch the jump.
Only Tammilan had managed that, and only because the Fordin's number three
navigator billet was unfilled. The missing officer had stepped in front of a lift
loading a cargo shuttle less than an hour 'before orbit break. While the
emergency releases had stopped the lift in time, not all of the weapon spares had
been securely fastened, and the junior navigator was now recovering from
multiple fractures in the I.S.S. medical facilities at Standora Base.
Gerswin waited for the blackness that filled the ship during the jump itself, that
and the accompanying distortion. Supposedly, the jumps were instantaneous, but
the longer the jump, the longer the subjective feeling of blackness and
disorientation.
While Gerswin had been on a jumpship before the Fordin, this tour was his
first trip since learning enough to understand what a jump really was. The
upcoming jump was only the third since the cadets had boarded the Fordin off
Alphane, using the Academy's shuttles to reach the cruiser.
The battlecruiser was headed for quarantine duty in the New Smyrna system,
along with two other cruisers and two corvettes.
"Jump!"
BRrrinnngggg!'!'!'!
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r r
The jump alarm seemed to stretch out through the darkness like an organ
reverberating in slowtime.
With his third jump, Gerswin could see that the blackness was not uniform, but
a swirl of differing blacks, as if each had a different shape and depth.
Just as suddenly as the darkness had dropped over the colored plasteel
corridors of the cruiser it was gone.
Gerswin unstrapped, checked his uniform, and scurried out of the closet-like
room he shared with Tammilan. Since he was now assigned to the Gunnery
department that was where he headed, down the corridor to the spool and in two
layers to the central spoke.
No sooner had he entered the Gunnery operations center, with its spark
screens and representation plots, than a voice boomed out.
"Cadet Gerswin!"
"Yes, ser."
"What is the maximum effective range of a Mark II?"
Gerswin braced himself. Lieutenant G'Maine, the junior of the three Gunnery
officers, always tried the question on unwary cadets, or so Tammilan had told
him.
"There is no effective range for a Mark II, ser, since there is no Mark II, ser."
"A smart cadet. Tell me, Mr. Gerswin, the difference between the calibration
technology used in the tachead rangers and the EDI detectors."
Gerswin wished the lieutenant would quit booming out questions, but he
remained at attention beside the detector console.
"Tacheads have no rangers; calibration is independent and based on mass
detection proximity indications. EDI tracks are actually a flow ratio compared
against background energy flows."
"A really smart cadet! Can you tell me, Mr. Gerswin, the power flow managed
by this center at full utilization?"
"No, ser."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't know, ser."
"And why don't you know-" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]