I set the gravity-plates for the greatest possible acceleration
forward and added the stern rocket engines for narrow-angle
maneuvering.
With gathering speed we plunged directly for the oncoming enemy ship.
6
"But there's something wrong, Drac."
"We've got grade five acceleration."
Grantline had joined us in the control turret. "How far would you say,
at a rough guess, that ship is from us now?"
"Thirty thousand miles; about that." Drac scanned his page of
calculations. "Impossible to gauge with any exactness; they change
their pace so often and I can't figure out how large the damn thing
is."
"Say they've got a forty thousand velocity; added to our ten, that's
fifty."
"And we're accelerating. In half an hour we'll be within range."
"But there's something wrong," I persisted.
For several minutes now I had been aware that the _Cometara_ was
acting strangely. A sluggish response to the controls, I thought, but
when I called engine chief Franklin, he had not noticed it. Yet I was
certain.