Free The Guns of Two-Space by Dave Grossman, Bob Hudson

guns."
    So Barlet designed something that was the Fang 's ultimate weapon. They built a platform that went up and partially over the gun. The gun captain laid on this platform and sighted down the barrel, so that when he touched the top of the Keel charge it recoiled harmlessly beneath him. This truly was a "secret" weapon. The gunner's platforms had been struck down in the hold whenever they were in port, and the crew all understood the necessity of keeping this a secret from the Guldur.
    By using this platform the Fang 's gunners could fire their 24-pounders with a degree of accuracy that the Guldur never dreamed was possible. But the guns were even more accurate when the master gunner, Mr. Darren Barlet, fired them.
    The 12-pounders had the intelligence of puppies and the 24-pounders were as smart as wolves—enraged wolves. Whether puppies or wolves, Mr. Barlet was their pack master, their alpha male, and they obeyed him. His men joked admiringly that they could lay him on a gun carriage and put a cannonball in his mouth, and he would command it to seek the enemy. The ball didn't dare disobey. In essence, that was exactly what he did: commanding the cannon to hit and making it obey, just as a good dog handler would command his dog.
    When the captain fired the 24-pounders he placed one hand on the white, Moss-covered platform and the other hand touched off the Keel charge in the cannon, completing a circuit with his Ship to form a devastating, three-part "totality" of death and destruction that completely transcended anything that even Mr. Barlet could achieve. Barlet may have been the pack master, but Melville was the "husband" of the Ship herself—the only one with intimate relations. And when the Ship was channeled through Melville into the guns, it was as if some two-space demigod was telling the guns where to fire. No mere mortal could ever match that ferocious precision.
    Now Melville was stretched out atop Cuddles' firing platform, ready to fire while her crew stood patiently by, prepared to reload and bring the gun back into battery. The gunport was off center, leaving the fo'cs'l (the area in the very point of the bow) free for the witnesses, who were all watching carefully, taking their responsibility seriously. Asquith tried to take his cue from the individuals around him. He felt that it was important not to embarrass himself among these people. In particular, he found himself concerned with making a good impression on the beautiful, alien Lady Elphinstone, standing so regally in her yellow dress. Out of kindness to the men who might soon be under her knife, she had left her starched white apron and cap in the hospital. No man wanted to disgrace himself before a beautiful woman, and Asquith found himself rising to new levels of self-control and restraint.
    Although two-space was perfectly flat, it had an effect which gave the illusion of a curved surface—perhaps because the pull of gravity bent the light waves. Thus there was a real horizon, and distant objects could be over the horizon and out of sight, just like on a planet.
    From the upper and lower sides of the Fang the view of the enemy Ships had been the same. At first the upper sails of the four approaching Ships were seen by lookouts from atop the mainmast. By the time Melville and Fielder had finished their discussion on the quarterdeck, the tactical situation had changed enough to be visible from the deck. The oncoming Guldur Ship's hull could now be clearly seen from the Fang 's main deck, while the two Ships closing in from their flanks had nearly all of their sails visible. Due to the Fang 's superior speed they were actually pulling away from the fourth Ship, which was directly to their rear and could not be seen from the deck.
    For Melville it seemed like an age as he layed atop the great gun. It was a long, drawn-out moment of unmoving crystal clarity, almost like a painting. The enemy Ship framed in the gunport, a thing of breathtaking beauty