Pirates of the Thunder by Jack L. Chalker

them when we can.”
    “Acknowledged. I am now receiving faint stop orders on both superspace and subspace command frequencies. Master System knows about the Thunder.”
    “To be expected,” Raven commented. “We’re hotter than a burial fire right now. What’s the odds of us being intercepted by any force that could do us any real harm?”
    “Very slim. Negligible. They might get a ship in before I can make the punch but nothing that could handle these systems. They really don’t make weapons ships like that. A Val ship would have the most firepower, and that would be little more than that of the fighters Melchior sent against us. The security computer informs me that this ship is able to take virtually any known system of its own day, and they were far more heavily armed then than now. Our worst enemy would be another ship like this one, and it is unlikely that such would be set against us. Too easy to avoid. Security believes it most likely that Master System will order ships constructed specifically to exploit our weaknesses and take us out, but that will take considerable time. If we can get lost the first time, and if we are careful, it is unlikely even they will find us when they can surprise us and take us.”
    “Then they won’t try to take us aboard,” Raven surmised. “We’re no real threat or problem cooped up in this monster. If they can’t trace us now, they’ll put out all the alarms and wait for us to move.”
    Hawks sighed. “Yeah. If we know where three of the rings are, good old Master System knows where all of them are, I bet, and has a pretty good eye out for them. Unlike those bastards from Melchior back there, it doesn’t really have to chase us. It just has to wait, and we must come to them.”
    “Infinite patience is one of the hallmarks of computers,” China noted darkly.
    Hawks scratched his chin. “Don’t get too downcast. Maybe it is impossible. So is what we have done so far.”
    A few hours later the pilot reported, “I have attained sufficient speed for a punch and we are sufficiently clear of Jupiter’s gravitational pull that I can compensate for it. There should not be any untoward effects, but I cannot predict for certain, never having done it before.”
    “Won’t be nothin’,” Reba Koll assured them. “Might sound like the whole ship’s breakin’ apart, but don’t let that worry you none. Once it’s done, it’ll be still and quiet as death until we come out the other side. You might get some funny feelings inside or even some hallucinations, but they’ll only last a real short while, and it’s a good idea to sit or lie down ‘cause most everybody gets a little dizzy, but it all passes pretty fast and each time you do it the effects will be less and less. Just relax and don’t let it scare you.”
    They waited, nervous in spite of Koll’s assurances, and the punch came.
    First there was tremendous vibration that continued to build with a supporting roaring sound until it seemed to engulf them. At that moment the lights blinked and the sound seemed to fade as if swallowed up in some huge drain; the vibration, too, settled down to a level far lower than that produced by the regular space drive. There was a wave of dizziness, and some nausea, and each one of them found his or her attention fixed on something—an object, a reflection, even another person—unable to tear away that gaze. Even China, who could see nothing, appeared to be staring at something specific in her world of darkness.
    Hawks stared involuntarily at the blind girl and she seemed to shimmer, taking on a wraithlike appearance of stunning beauty. She seemed to float up and come toward him, then change again into a horrible, skeletal monster, jaws open, coming for him—
    He screamed, and suddenly everything was back to normal. He found himself sweating and shaken, breathing hard, and it took a few moments for him to get hold of himself and look around and reaffirm reality. The others had