35 Hours Later, Roche System
The hyperspace trip had been uneventful, like almost every such trip Cortex had ever taken, and in comparision to what was coming up with the Verpine was actually quite boring. Cortex knew how much was riding on his successful negotations with the intellegent insect race. The crew of the
Fire had been most accomidating, treating Cortex and Cleivge to full, ship wide tours, time in the ships simulators and a luscious meal of real food from the ships exstensive stores. (it was a patrol vessel and thus was designed to be able to stay cruising for a great lenght of time without resupply) Cortex had spent some time strategizing, staring out at the swirling blue of hyperspace, and contemplating what was going on.
He was begginning to think that he might be over estimating the worth of the Verpine to the Alliance- they might be important but they were not as essential as he kept making them out to be. In retrospect his worries and qualms were probably all uneccessary- the chances that the Diversity Alliance would be perceived as threat; no merely even known to exsist by a major galactic power was unlikey. His worrying was for naught; Roche was important, but not nearly as critical as he was making it out.
"Mr. Chairman come look at this."
The
Fire's approach was slow and non threataning, as to not alarm the Verpine. Still the sheilds and turbolaser batteries were charged to full power, for an asteroid field was quite a dangerous place for any ship to be travelling, and in the Roche asteroid field, where planetoids that were as big as the
Fire or larger, the threat of being crushed was verl real.
Cortex walked over to the
Fire's Captain who had bidd him ove to the large bridge viewport. Two shining metalic asteroids were hurtling toward each other at breakneck speeds.
"There's an impromptu pool going on between the sensor and weapons crews- both have been tracking these two for about 5 minutes."
Cortex allowed himself a little chuckle- the atmosphere on the ship allowing him to be informal. Betting on a pair of asteroids was not something you got to see everyday.
"So hows it work- this pool I mean."
The captain gave Cortex and apprasing look and said,
"Well sir, whichever asteroid destroys or dislodges the other from its path is the 'winner'. If they are both destroyed or both change directions its a draw."
Cortex's face narrowed, a look of intrest on his face.
"Well isn't it obvious what will happen- I mean with your sensors you can easily tell which asteroid is larger and which one has a higher velocity. It really simple math, maybe add a little geometry and it all figured out."
It was the captain's turn to smile.
"Sir, things are never what they appear. Just because one rock is larger or traveling faster does not mean its a sure victory- you have to understand that a pure metal asteroid is very uncommon, and although many asteroid have a metallic covering, their inards are tough but relativly brittle rock. The large the asteroid, the lower the chance its pure metal. Plus you have to understand that some asteroids are more/less stable than others, with structral flaws and other imperfections, less so on a pure metal asteroid but still a chance. No sir, all the math in the galaxy can't tell you which of those two is destined to survive the collision."
Cortex let this sink in and stared outthe bridge viewport at the asteroids who were careening at each other, growing in size as the grew closer to the
Fire . Cortex began to see that although both appeared to be completly metallic, one was notciable larger than the other, though not by a large margin. The
Fire's central computer suddenly began giving a countdown, with a mix of asteroid stats. (Amaer realized this was ot authorized when the ship's commander whirled around to see who had tampered with the the computer- but no one seemed to be out of place, so he shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the viewport.)
The computer told the crew that the asteroid were moving at the same approximate speeds, the larger one moving marginally slower, and were on a direct head on collision course. The countdown began in earnest, and the crew began a furry of l;ast minute enrties and exits from the pool, along with side bets- quite undisciplined, but their were no reprimands. And then the final countdown began:
6....5....4....3....2.....1....
The explosion was some distance from the ship, but still a sight to see. The kinetic energy involved had created quite an explosion, and a huge cloud of sparks and dust. The crew waited with baited breathe, as a shockwave began carrying the remnants of the loser away, to see which asteroid had emerged the victor. Then quite suddenly, moving considerable slower, but still in a straight path was the smaller asteroid.
A combination of cheers and boos coursed across the bridge, as credit chips and pay slips changed hands ina furry of activity. Cortex smiled as he waited the metallic asteroid fly on, amid quite a bueatiful shockwave that was hitting the
Fire's sheilds and illuminateing for a second before dissapaiting. He found the situation quite parallel to his own, and saw the asteroid as his future- flying staright on....
M<eanwhile the captain began to restore order, and the bridge returnd to a murmur of conversation. The captain jarred Cortex from his thoughts with a message.
"Time to go- we're being hailed by a Verpine collective..."
