The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dogfight--1973, by Dallas McCord Reynolds

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Title: Dogfight--1973

Author: Dallas McCord Reynolds

Release Date: September 8, 2009 [EBook #29940]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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DOGFIGHT--1973

_By
Mack Reynolds_

Flying at 1600 m.p.h. you act with split-second
timing after you sight the enemy. And you're allowed
only one mistake--your last!

My radar picked him up when he was about five hundred miles to my
north-northeast and about forty-five miles above me. I switched the
velocity calculator on him as fast as I could reach it.

The enemy ship was doing sixteen, possibly even sixteen and a half. I
took the chance that it was most likely an Ivar Interceptor, at that
speed, and punched out a temporary evasion pattern with my right hand
while with my left I snapped an Ivar K-12 card into my calculator along
with his estimated speed, altitude and distance. It wasn't much to go on
as yet but he couldn't have much more on me, if as much; inwardly I
congratulated myself on the quick identification I'd managed.

He was near enough now for my visor screen to pick him up. At least he
was alone, that was something. My nearest squadron mate was a good
minute and a half away. It might as well have been a century.

Now, this is what is always hard to get over to a civilian; the time
element. Understand, it will take me a while to tell this but it all
took less than sixty seconds to happen.

He had guessed my evasion pattern already--either guessed it or had some
new calculator that was far and beyond anything our techs were turning
out. I could tell he'd anticipated me by the Bong-Sonic roll he slipped
into.

I quickly punched up a new pattern based on the little material I had in
the calculator. At least I'd caught the roll. I punched that up,
hurriedly, slipped it into the IBM, guessed that his next probability
was a pass, took a chance on that and punched it in.

I was wrong there. He didn't take his o