Lie on the Beam

"Lie on the Beam" by John Victor Peterson is a science fiction adventure where a lone engineer named Frederic Ward finds himself in a high-stakes game of interplanetary diplomacy on a foggy Venus. Ward, an engineer thrust into an extraordinary situation, must use his wits and technical skills to prevent a Martian destroyer from attacking a critical political gathering in Pali-Vanyi. Interplanetary tensions are flaring, and Ward expertly manipulates trajectory beams to reroute ships and defuse the threat posed by the destroyer, showcasing human intelligence against a backdrop of looming war and technological crisis with great success.