Imperial Stars 2-Republic and Empire by Jerry Pournelle

humorlessly. "I almost hope Peter Reed can figure out a good way to trick me. I'd almost like to see him get out of it."
     
    Manuel Olivera held the sheaf of papers in front of him. "Seven years!" he said. "Seven awful, lonely years, the two of us working together. But here it is, here it is!"
    Peter Reed looked in wonderment at Olivera. His hair was now flecked with gray. He had lost fifteen pounds. But the greatest change was in his eyes. There was a haunted fire, an emptiness. What those seven years must've been like, thought Reed.
    "And now he's dead," said Olivera. "Dead of old age."
    "But did he get into the cubicle?" asked Reed. It was essential to have Ching's body.
    "Yes, he got in. But he was a broken old man. Even as I watched him go under, I knew he would never survive the thaw." Olivera sighed heavily. "It was hard for me, but what was it for him! Twelve years! Twelve years alone! It was a full twelve years before he thawed me out."
    "But he did it," said Reed.
    "Yes, he did it."
    "And now we have ben Ezra to deal with. He's already orbiting Toehold. Six days—Manny?"
    "What, Peter?"
    "I don't suppose we could rig up an Overdrive? We have plans, blueprints—"
    "Not a chance. There's a good three or four years' work, technical experimentation needed, and even if we had the time, we need things we couldn't possibly make ourselves."
    Reed shrugged. "Just thought I'd ask. We're sitting on top of a mint—"
    "A mint!" roared Olivera. "A mint! Is that all it means to you, a commodity to sell? Peter, I didn't think you were such a fool. Is that what Ching died for? To line our pockets?"
    "Ching died for that mysterious thing called abstract knowledge, and you know it, Manny," said the captain. "He didn't care any more about giving the Overdrive to Man than he did about the profit!"
    "Profit! You think you can make a profit out of this? Think, Peter, think. What will happen to the Outward Bound when Man has the Overdrive? We'll be finished.
    "All tradeships will be finished. We owe our existence to the time lag, as much as Earth's rule does. I thought you realized that from the beginning. I thought you were willing to sacrifice it for Man. I . . . I was a bigger fool than you are!"
    It hit Reed like a piledriver. Manny was right. The Overdrive meant the end of the tradeships. Selling the Overdrive would ultimately be the end of the Outward Bound , of the way of life he had followed for close to a thousand objective years.
    Peter Reed knew that if the Overdrive became known, he would be the last captain of the Outward Bound .
    "You're right, Manny," he said. "I suppose that solves our problem. We'll just give it all to ben Ezra."
    " Will we now, captain?" sneered Olivera. "Even if you don't care what this means to Man, think of your own hide. What do you think ben Ezra will do if he knows we know?"
    "Why, hell—"
    "Exactly. He'll kill every one of us. Or at least haul us back to Earth, where the best we can expect is to be imprisoned for the rest of our lives. Without trial. "
    Reed cursed. It was true. The only thing to do, is to play it through. At least, if we can fool ben Ezra, I can make my own decision.
    "Well, captain?"
    "Destroy those plans. But first, microengrave them on some part of the ship, a wall, a toilet, anywhere. Don't even tell me where. I don't want anyone but you to know, till this is over. Then destroy our transmitters. Make it look like they've been out ever since Maxwell, but make it look like an accident."
    "What about Ching? Should we destroy the body? Maybe we can convince ben Ezra that he was never aboard."
    "Not a chance. I've got it! Rig his cubicle so that it looks like the machinery failed, and he died of old age, inside the cubicle. Can you do it?"
    Olivera puckered his brows. "Won't be easy," he said, "but I think so."
    "Well, that's all we can do until ben Ezra boards."
    "You're going to try and convince ben Ezra that Ching never talked? You expect him to be so stupid as to swallow