"Well, look here: The gunners would have had to be awake when the
_aJ's_ were fired. All right; that means they tracked the Enlissa ship,
then cut in the automatics to fire the _aJ's_. They must have missed,
because the Enlissa used the mindjammer _after_ the _aJ's_ were fired.
"But if that's so, then why didn't the Enlissa ship capture the
_Killiver_?"
It was a good point. Roysland frowned and turned the thing over in his
mind. A spaceship is expensive--hellishly expensive; the cost of a
fleet of seagoing battleships is nothing in comparison. So you don't
waste ships, even the enemy's. The whole object of a space battle
is to destroy the enemy crew without destroying the ship. Even a
badly-damaged interstellar vessel is worth saving.
The _Killiver_ was in excellent condition. If the Enlissa ship were
still in good shape after the battle, why hadn't they taken the
_Killiver_?
"The only thing I can figure," Gowlan said, "is that the Enlissa ship
fired their mindjammer just after the _aJ's_ were fired--almost at the
same time, you might say." He grinned. "Sure. That's what must have
happened."
Roysland nodded. "It looks like the only explanation," he agreed. "That
is, except for one thing."
"What's that?" Gowlan wanted to know.
"Why has the same coincidence occurred in three different battles, in
widely separated parts of the galaxy?"
Gowlan's face lost its self-satisfied look. "Yeah," he said softly.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Kick that around a while," Roysland said, grinning. "If you come up
with anything, let me know."
* * * * *
Roysland Dwyn spent the next two days sitting in his office with his
feet on his desk, leaning back in a chair that creaked ominously with
his weight. The only interruptions were for food and sleep--except when
one of his staff called in with new data, which was rare.
He got one call from Milford. The microwave business that the general
director suggested had shown some promise of snapping the stricken
crews out of their apathy. Some of the men were improving rapidly,
and others more slowly; but all of them were showing some positive
response to the treatment.
On the afternoon of the second day, he got a call from Eckisster. The
old man didn't look particularly jovial. His image solidified with a
scowl on it. "What have you got on this microwave business?" he snapped.
Roysland lifted his big boots off the desk and leaned forward
leisurely. "Nothing."
"You'd better get something fast," the general director said. "They're
attacking shipping now, and they're well within the periphery."