The Man-Kzin Wars 01 by Larry Niven

doesn't want to . ”
    “ I certainly do not. Someone has to stay and ... try to repair the harm your lunacy will have done. ”
    “ I figured you would. But I supposed you, of all people, would have a better hold on kzin psychology than you're showing. You ought to know they don't resent an opponent giving them a proper fight. Fighting's their nature. Whoever surrenders becomes no more than a captured animal in their eyes. Dorcas and I aim to put some high cards in your hand before you sit down at their poker table. A spacecraft on the loose is a weapon. The drive, or the sheer kinetic energy, can wreck things quite as thoroughly as the average nuke. Come worst to worst, we might smash a boat into their base at several thousand kp h. The other boat might take out their ship and leave them stranded; I've a hunch they've kept just a single hyperdrive vessel, as scarce as those must still be among them. Yah, going out like that would be a sight better than going into the stewpot. Kzinti like long pig. ”
    Yoshii brightened. He and Laurinda exchanged a wonder-smitten look. Carita whooped. Tregennis smiled faintly. Ryan went oddly, abruptly thoughtful .
    Markham gnawed his lip a moment, then straightened in his chair and rapped, “ V ery well. I do not approve, and I ask the crew to refrain from this foolishness of yours, but I cannot stop you. Therefore I must factor your action into my calculations. What terms shall I try to get for us? ”
    “ F reedom to leave, of course," Dorcas responded. “ L et Rover retreat to hyperspacing distance and wait, while the kzinti withdraw too far to intercept our boats. We can verify that on instruments before we come near .
    We'll convey any message they want, or even a delegate. ”
    “ T here could be a delegation on board, waiting," Ryan warned. Tregennis stirred. I will remain behind," he said .
    Tears sprang into Laurinda's eyes. “ O h, no!" she pleaded .
    He smiled again, at her. I am too old to go blatting around space like that. I would merely be a burden, and quite likely die on your hands. Not only will I be more comfortable here, I will be an extra witness to the bona fides of the kzinti. Landholder Markham alone could not keep track of everything they might stealthily do. ”
    “ I t will show them there are two reasonable human beings in this outfit, ” the Wunderlander said .
    “ T hat might be marginally helpful to me. Anyone else? ”
    “ S peaking," Ryan answered .
    “ H uh?" broke from Saxtorph. “ H ey, Kam, no. Whatever for? ”
    “ F or this," the quartermaster said calmly. “ H aven't you thought of it yourself? The boats will be on the move, or holed up someplace unknown to the kzinti. They can only be reached by broadcast. Planar broadcast, maybe, but still the signal's bound to be down in the milliwatts or microwatts when it reaches your receivers-with the sun's radio background to buck .
    Nothing but voice transmission will carry worth diddly. Given a little time to record how the humans talk who were left behind, the kzinti can write a computer program to fake it. 'Sure, come on back, fellows, all is forgiven and they've left a case of champagne for us to celebrate with.' How're you going to know that's for real? ”
    Dorcas frowned. “ W e did consider it," she told him. “ W e'll use a secret password. ”
    “ W hich a telepath of theirs can fish right out of a human skull, maybe given a spot of torture to unsettle the brain first. Nope, I know a trick worth two of that. How well do you remember your Hawaiian, Bob? You picked up a fair amount while we were in the village. " Ryan laughed. “ T hat worked on the girls lik e butter on a toboggan slope. ” Saxtorph was a long while silent before he answered: “ I think, if I pr acticed for a few days, I think ... enough of it... would come back to me. ”
    Ryan nodded. “ T he kzinti have programs for the important human languages in their translators, but I doubt Hawaiian is included. Or