SFFS 1/2/2014

This is my snippet this week for SFFSat. SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. Please also explore the other blogs that are part of this set - you can find the information here. 

 Poisoned Ice   part 4

This is the fourth part of a science fiction short story.  Anton is in trouble; his spacecraft has been poisoned, and he can see no prospect of surviving.

Anton gazed through the thinning viewport at the Svenskites around Emerald. The few unfortunate enough to be near the ship were also dying, victims of the same dose that was murdering his ship, but most were still healthy. 

 

Emerald's now tortured song was getting appreciably weaker. The ship had little time left. Anton swore, and found himself wondering if he could boost the comm laser to turn it into a weapon. Maybe he could take the pirate with him. He glanced instinctively at the power readouts, even though he knew the idea was crazy. Yes, he had the energy: but comm lasers were designed so that they could not cause any injury to other ships. He briefly considered blasting the Svenskites, and robbing the pirate of its loot: but even that was not an option. The laser would, at its strongest, merely rival the sunlight: the Svenskites would thrive on it, not die.

 Comments, as always, are welcome - I've had problems with Google+ recently, so I've reset the comments system not to rely on Google+, but it seems to have wiped out previous comments as a result. I don't think Blogger likes me at the moment...