Opal Stone came into the cockpit. She’d cleaned herself up, replaced her blood soaked clothing with a utilitarian jumpsuit. She looked tired but something had changed, a tension had left her face, and I realized that it had always been there.
“Let me look at that.” She took the cockpit medpack from its clips and fussed over my wounded shoulder with saline and sterile swabs and sprayskin. I’d forgotten all about it. It wasn’t bad, but it began to throb painfully as the adrenaline wore off.
She was very beautiful. I let her keep fussing, watching the eternal stars. The future was out there.
ABOUT THE CREATOR AND AUTHORS
Larry Niven, New York Times bestselling author and multiple award-winner, is author of the Hugo and Nebula Award winning Ringworld, a novel recognized as a milestone in modern science fiction. Like Ringworld and its sequels, The Ringworld Engineers and The Ringworld Throne, the Man-Kzin books are part of the Known Space series, one of the most popular SF series of all time.
Paul Chafe is an infantry officer in the Canadian Forces Reserve, has served with four regiments, and has one son, Christian, who is 12. He has been a frequent contributor to the Man-Kzin Wars series, including his recent novel for Baen, Destiny’s Forge, and has begun a new series for Baen with the novel Genesis. His website is available at http://paulchafe.com.
Hal Colebatch lives in a suburb of Perth, Australia, where he practices law. His recent book, Blair’s Britain, was selected by the London Spectator’s Taki as a book of the year. In addition to his earlier stories in the Man-Kzin saga, he has written mainstream fiction, biographies, plays, poetry, and several hundred articles. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science, and has been an advisor to two Australian Federal Ministers. He is married and has two stepchildren.
Matthew Joseph Harrington, son of historian Joseph Daniel Harrington, was born at the US Naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, in 1960. He lives in California with fantasy artist Valerie Shoemaker and their six cats. He was educated in the US public school system, but has recovered. He is a new author—still all shiny.
Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin Wars - XII Page 31