《Gimmick 》作者：- Katherine MaClean【EPUB】

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GIMMICK BY KATHERINE MACLEAN When an individual thinks hell lose the fight he runs. When he thinks he can win the fighthe attacks. And neither one of these actions really requires thinking. But theres nothingso effective as a complete and total stalemate to induce cogent rational thinking Illustrated by Vidmer A distant boom rattled the corridor. Bob Calland passed the ammunition and sucked a cut fingertired and sweaty his arms aching from the weight of the small heavy space torpedoes. Hewondered briefly if he should recommend that torpedoes have rough sides for gripping and thenhad the further precise thought that whatever his answer to such problems they would notappear on a report. Any ship whose loading system was cut in the first enemy blow was not goingto survive. That included him. It was amusing that the small spaceship had come out merely to target test a new homing rocketthat was supposed to be effective against the evasive speed of Furry ships. In the stories itwas inventions which saved everything at the last minute. The loading stopped inexplicably and he straightened and stood breathing deeply counting theprobable time left to the crippled ship. It was very little. quotTime to invent another gizmoquot said Calland and laughed hysterically for five minutes at theend of which time the badly disco-ordinated loading system resumed flow and he passed some moreammunition. The air pressure began to drop and the hollow boom of slamming air-compartment walls camecloser. The spaceship was being carved apart its insides opened out to the airlessness ofspace. Ten minutes later it was all over. Bob Calland found himself in the dark with a feelingof falling slowly from a great height which slowly became the familiar sensation of weightlessfloating. The ships spin had stopped somewhere in a dimly remembered interval of jolts anddizzy spinning of walls with the lights flickering on and off and tremendous bewilderingnoise. The air was thin but it was