Read Pawn’s Gambit for Free Online

Only then did she glance at the chrono.
    Ninety seconds to impact.
    Next to her, Goode sighed. “I don’t think we’re going to make it, Chandra,” he said, his voice more wistful than afraid.
    Chandra opened her mouth to say something reassuring—but it was the radio that spoke. “Avis T-466 to Origami lifeboat; come in?”
    A civilian tachship? “Lifeboat; Captain Carey here. Listen, you’d better get the hell out of—”
    â€œI know,” the voice interrupted. “I eavesdropped a bit on your problems via radio. You’re running late, but I’m right behind you. Kill your drive; I think I’ve got time to grapple onto you.”
    Chandra hadn’t bothered to look at the ’scope yet, but even as she killed the drive Goode was pointing at it. “There he is. Coplanar course, intercept vector, two-five gee. …” The blip changed direction slightly, and Chandra realized suddenly that an amateur was at the controls.
    Goode realized it, too. Muttering something, he jabbed at the computer keyboard, kicking in the drive again. “Tachship, we’re shifting speed and vector to match yours at intercept; just hold your course,” he called. “You’ve got standard magnetic grapples?”
    â€œYes, and they’re all set. Sit tight; here I come.”
    The seconds ticked by. The blip on the scope was coming up fast . . . and then it was on top of them, and the lifeboat lurched hard as the grapples caught. “Gotcha!” the radio shouted. “Hang on!”
    And with seconds to spare—
    The universe vanished. Blackness filled the viewports, spilled like a physical thing into the lifeboat. For five long seconds—
    And the sun exploded directly in front of them, brighter than Chandra had seen it for weeks. A dozen blips crawled across the ’scope, and the lifeboat’s beacon-reader abruptly came to life, informing them they were six thousand kilometers north-west-zenith of Earth’s Number Twelve navigational beacon.
    Beside her, Chandra felt Goode go limp with released tension. “Still with me?” the radio asked.
    â€œSure are,” Chandra said, wiping the sweat off her palms. “I don’t know how to thank you, Mr.—?”
    â€œDr. Louis Du Bellay,” the voice identified himself. “And don’t thank me yet. If what you did out there didn’t work, there’s a worse death coming for all of us.”
    Chandra had almost forgotten about that. The thought sobered her rising spirits considerably. “You’re right. Can you get us into contact with Peacekeeper HQ? We need to report in.”
    â€œI can maybe do better than that. Come aboard and we’ll find out.”
    They were given special priority to land, and a car was standing by for them at the field.
    General Carey was waiting outside the Situation Room. “I ought to pull your pilot’s license for going out there against specific Peacekeeper orders,” he told Du Bellay half-seriously, even as he gave his daughter a bear hug. “If Mahendra hadn’t confessed to helping you get hold of that tachship I probably would. But he’s too good a man to lose to a court-martial. Let’s get inside; the Chasers have been reporting in for nearly twenty minutes.”
    Mahendra looked up as the group approached. “Captain Carey and Officer Goode? Congratulations; it looks like you’ve done it.”
    Chandra felt a lump the thickness of ion shielding in her throat. “We slowed him?”
    â€œNo, but you deflected him a couple hundredths of a second in the right direction.”
    â€œConfirmed?” General Carey asked sharply, as if not daring to believe it.
    â€œConfirmed, sir,” Mahendra nodded. “He’ll be passing through the upper solar chromosphere instead of deep into the photosphere. We’ll get some good flares and a significant radiation increase for