Damia's Children Part 16

Rojer shook his head, mentally as well as physically.

We'll be ready as soon as we've changed, Jeff Afra said and paused. Xexo's got the generators up.

Rojer remembered his manners and wished his grandparents a good day.

That's a few hours off right now, lad, but I accept the thought.

Rojer wondered if his grandfather had really meant that.

Father loves to pun, his mother said, her tone amused so Rojer realized that he hadn't embarra.s.sed her.

Then he, Gil and Kat made a dash for the bathroom and made a very thorough job of cleansing themselves. Afra came in just as Rojer had finished, with a single suit of navy blue over his arm. He was dressed in a similar outfit, and there was an unusual twinkle in his eyes. It occurred to Rojer that his father was going to enjoy this break from routine just as much as he was and he grinned at that perception.

It is sometimes very beneficial to do something different. Afra tossed the single suit at him. Wear your Tower shoes. The navy gets annoyed if you scar their planking or decking or whatever the term is for their floors.

when they came back into the living room, Zara was cheerful, too, as she and Morag were clearing the dining table with their 'Dinis.

Rojer rather thought Morag was trying very hard not to look envious or resentful.

'I'll ride Saki while you're gone. She needs the exercise,' Morag said, watching to see his reaction.

'I appreciate the offer, Morrie,' he said with great dignity, 'but we're not going to be gone more than a day.' 'You didn't ride her yesterday, you know.' Trust Morag to keep track.

'So you'll ride her first thing tomorrow morning, his mother said and Morag rolled her eyes and turned to her ch.o.r.e, 'then you'll do Tower duty With my top Talents off gallivanting about the galaxy, we gals have to prove we can stand in with no trouble at all.' Zara looked as if she'd been offered a summer on Deneb with that silly cousin she adored, but Morag tossed Rojer a 'so-who-needs-you' look. He didn't need his mother's quick glance to know he'd better not react to that blatant challenge.

Then in the next breath, it was time to go. Gil had lost its favorite belt and when that was found, Kat started drinking bowls of water until Flk stopped that, and hauled Kat off to drain.

They got to the Tower and into the capsule well before the end of the hour. Rojer settled himself, strapping Gil and Kat in on either side, both squirming like eels, as the generators built. His father was last in and then Keylarion herself closed the hatch.

Ready? His mother sounded so cool and businesslike. Just remember, and suddenly her voice wasn't so sure: to his astonishment, she seemed to catch herself back, but continued, just remember that your father links first, Rojer.

He knew what she meant and why her voice had suddenly altered.

You've drilled me well enough in that protocol, Mother. Have no fear!

Even through the stout metal walls of the personnel carrier, he heard the exact moment when the generators reached the peak note. He didn't feel motion - but then he never did when his mother or father 'ported. He did feel a subtle alteration in the pressure of 'portation.

He's clever, this one, Jeff, said his grandmother and Rojer realized that his mother had handed over the 'port to Callisto Prime.

The pressure increased and he felt his father's fingers squeeze his hand. He turned his head and grinned, saw his father grin back and then the pressure went away. Outside the capsule were distinct noises, metallic clangings, shouts, orders.

Someone politely rapped on the hatch. 'You all right in there, sirs?' 'Indeed we are.' The hatch opened and an older man looked in, then braced himself and saluted. 'Chief Petty Officer G.o.dowlning, Mr Lyon sir! Captain Smelkoff's compliments. He's on his way here but you sure made it in a hurry,' he added in a less formal tone.

Rojer tried not to gawk and turned to release the straps on his 'Dinis who began to snicker.

GOOD DAY. GOOD DREAMS, G.o.dowlning said in understandable but oddly accented 'Dini and that set both of them c.l.i.ttering and clattering.

'Thank you!' Rojer said, not knowing the proper way to address a chief petty officer. He should have listened to Thian's meanderings about naval protocol and stuff.

'Tank 00,' Gil replied in its best Basic.

G.o.dowlning's broad pinkish face was graced by a jovial smile, showing yellowish but even teeth.

THE SHIP WELCOMES MRDINI GUESTS and the chief got that sentence out with the concentration of one who has rote-learned phrases and was not really thinking in the language. But thinking in 'Dini, as Rojer well knew, was not easy to achieve.

'You don't know how pleased they are to hear 'Dini, Chief G.o.dowlning,' Afra said, rising up from the carrier.

'Your son was giving lessons, Prime, and I took as many as I could,' the chief said and then, hearing new voices, turned. Rojer could see his shoulders ease with relief. 'Here's the captain.' He leaned conspiratorially towards Afra, a tableau that made Rojer grin.

His father was long and lean and the chief rather short - Rojer was taller - and as rotund as regulations allowed. He turned now and braced again. 'Captain, sir, the Primes have arrived.' 'For the record, chief,' Afra said in a low voice as the captain hurried to the cradle, 'I'm not the Prime.

My son is. I'm T-2.' The chief gave Rojer a worried look but Rojer smiled at him as he'd often seen his mother smile at sceptics and bent to help Gil and Kat from the carrier.

'I say, Mr Lyon ... Messrs Lyon,' and Smelkoff corrected himself with a genial laugh that echoed in the big shuttle bay, 'you are prompt to the second.

Caught me still on the bridge. But we've auxiliary screens here so you can see what we've salvaged.' He was then close enough and extended his hand.

One shake is only polite. Shield, Afra told his son as he followed his own instructions.

Rojer complied and noticed the surprised look on the chief's face but their acquiescence to the courtesy did much to raise them in his estimation. Talents rarely allowed casual contacts but to have refused this the forgetful captain would have been impolite.

Remember that, Afra said.

'So you're the Prime, are you, boy? This your first official act?' 'No, sir, I've been on Tower duty since I was twelve.' Rojer could 'feel' his father listening hard and not reminding him to be properly modest about his abilities. 'All of us do Tower time. But my father is the focus, not me. He's got to guide. I'm the grunt.

Rojer heard someone's politely m.u.f.fled guffaw but he could also sense his father's approval, and that the captain was totally rea.s.sured.

'That wasn't how Earth Prime described your separate talents, young Mr Lyon, but whatever gets that pod where it 5 safe . ' Only the two Talents were aware of how nervous and vulnerable he felt, even with the pod towed kilometres behind the Beijing.

Outwardly, the captain was relaxed, a.s.sured and exuding an air of authority and competency. 'This way...' and he led them to the companionway leading up to the control room. 'Commander Strai, my chief engineer, is waiting for you in case you need to know anything about our engines.' 'I understand from reports sent back by Isthian Lyon on the Vadim that we'll have no problem gestalting the Beijing's engines. More power than we'd ever need.' 'You are Mr Lyon's father, then,' the captain said conversationally.

'Yes.' And you're his brother, young Mr Lyon.' 'Yes sir,' and Rojer couldn't suppress how proud he was of Thian. 'We're a long-tailed clan,' he added because the captain was telling himself not to babble: there was only one Talent family named Lyon, and they were kin to the Earth and Callisto Primes.

'I've half a dozen cousins serving on Capella in various Towers.' 'Do you so?' the captain continued, feeling less gauche. Rojer couldn't help but read his public thoughts: the man's apprehension left him wide open. Rojer did ignore Smelkoff's fears that the kid didn't look that young, with that white streak of hair, but he couldn't be very old or he'd already be Towered somewhere, since FT&T could use a hundred Primes and still have vacancies. Couldn't the senior Lyon have handled the 'portation by himself? He had a very competent, experienced look, the sort a man could trust, even if he was Talented.

T-2?.

That wasn't much under a Prime. Oh, well, FT&T knew what it was doing. He hoped.

'Messrs Lyon,' and the captain gave his engineering officer a broad and genial grin as they entered the control room, 'meet Commander Strai.

He rigged the tow in jig time! Neatest job I've ever seen.' Commander Strai, a keen-eyed man with rustyed hair, gave the two Talents a crisp and respectful bow, and then swung round to the two conformable seats that looked out of place in the room. 'Thought these might help.' 'Very kind of you, Commander,' Afra said and motioned for the 'Dinis to stand in one corner.

MAY DREAMS BE DEEP, the commander said to them, again surprising the Lyons.

'Does everyone speak some 'Dini on the Beijing?

Afra asked, smiling his surprise.

'Seemed silly not to take advantage of the opportunity, Mr Lyon,' Strai said as he keyed codes and the screens above the console lit up.

At the sight of the Hiver sphere, apparently just sitting in s.p.a.ce, Rojer caught his breath but then so did his father so he didn't feel he had betrayed too much surprise.

'Any idea what the hull is made of?' Afra asked after a moment's pause.

'Still a.n.a.lysing. It's highly sophisticated alloy but with an ingredient we can't identify,' Smelkoff said.

'One of my lieutenants thinks it's a coating of some kind, maybe even something the Hivers secrete from their bodies,' Strai said.

'Doesn't even pit, so it's remarkable the other pod was destroyed.' 'I wonder they released the pods at all,' Afra said, 'if they knew the nova was about to happen.' Then he added more briskly, 'We'll need your ma.s.s and volume figures, gentlemen. I think everyone will feel easier once this package is secured elsewhere.' 'Amen to that,' the captain said, trying to sound more jovial than relieved by the prospect.

'How can I a.s.sist you, Mr Lyon?' And Strai looked from Afra to Rojer who were both reclining on the chairs and settling themselves.

'Please tell your helmsman not to deviate from the present speed.

Our drain will not affect the ship's speed or direction but you will hear a change in the generators.

The captain gave the appropriate orders. Rojer had been listening to them with half his mind while the rest of his attention was on the pod. The upper hemisphere was bathed in the Beijing's external lights and glowed, slickly metallic. It didn't look all that big, Rojer thought until he glanced for verification at the ma.s.s and volume.

'About as big as the Trefoil carriers, wouldn't you say, Dad?' Rojer said, flexing his mental muscles.

That's not necessary, son, but his father's tone was amused.

'Yes, I do believe you're right. Almost to the gram, I'd say' 'We had a batch of them to go to Clarf only last week.' 'So we did.' Rojer did not dare look at his father but the fact that Afra was keeping up the conversation indicated that his instinct to natter was valid. The tension in the control room abated a few degrees.

They were two specialists, organizing their thoughts, making idle technical comparisons.

Seen enough? his father asked. His parents were always making sure that the visual had been properly scanned before a 'portation.

You had to know what you were lobbing before you 'lifted'. Casual thrusts could cause uncasual damage.

Of the pod, yes. I just push you, right? Rojer eyed the barren moonscape and the lighted domes of their placement photos.

That's right. Now, pick up the power. Good lad.

Rojer was also aware of the generator gauge swinging up and over, almost to the overload position.

Link!

As he had so often done, Rojer opened his mind and 'placed' it at his father's disposal. One day, others would pay him that courtesy.

Right now he was subsumed by the deep and ruddy brown of his father's mental touch, comfortable and comforted.

He felt power, directed it to the brown: brown expanded and, as if he had put his shoulder to the mental brown, he heaved forward and was suddenly the envelope that contained the pod. Wincing at the sudden sting-pzzt, he did not flinch from his thrusting.

For the first time in his life, he heard his father let out a string of s.p.a.ceman's curses. Forgot we'd get that with this erring great ball of spit! Afra said and Rojer knew his father was feeling, tasting the revolting smell/touch/flavour of Hive. In the next second they had reached their destination and inserted the pod neatly inside the second dome.

Relief made Rojer light-headed. He wondered if they should have tapped on the pod door and cried, 'allay, allay in free' or some other, more formal, invitation to exit the vehicle.

I thought of that, too, Afra said, his mind equally lightened by success. You took no harm, he added, less as a question than a statement of what he knew to be fact. Rojer had felt him 'brush' deeply to rea.s.sure himself.

A snap, Dad. I can understand now why we've all had to push big daddies.

'All safe and secure at the Heinlein installation,' Afra said, swinging his legs off the couch and rising.

I knew you'd appreciate all those boring Tower exercises. You've an enviable shove in you, Rojer.

Most commendable. 'I think you can safely say that Operation Bounce went off very well. We thank you for your courtesies.' 'Then join us for dinner, won't you? Surely you don't have to go right back?' Rojer didn't dare breathe how much he wanted to not to have to go meekly back to Aurigae. Surely, they deserved a meal. He might have had dinner only three hours ago, but he was monstrously hungry suddenly.

'Thank you kindly, Captain, we'd be delighted but only-' and, to Rojer's dismay, Afra held up his hand, '-if we're not depriving you of much needed stores?' 'No, indeed you're not, Mr Lyon. Wouldn't matter anyway, considering the service you've done the Beijing, but not only do we have orders to return now but your son provisioned us for a much longer journey. As soon as we're in 'portation range, six weeks at best, we'll be back to our base. We insist on celebrating with you tonight!' It was, Rojer thought later that night as he slid down in a real navy bunk in a ship that had searched s.p.a.ce and found live Hivers, the most glorious celebration he'd ever had. No-one had treated him like a kid. He'd been Mr Lyon this and Mr Lyon that though he'd asked some of the officers to call him Rojer - that he would have to get his head down to size by the time they got home or his mother'd discipline him for fair. But tonight had been his!

Just as he drifted off to sleep, he thought he heard voices: He's come of age, Damia. It's all there to be tapped. To delay risks more than it could possibly gain.

Then he fell into one of the more marvellous 'Dini dreams he'd ever had: all bright colours, swirling ma.s.ses, and intricate shapes and high-flying swirls and loops - a totally positive dream even if he hadn't a clue what it signified!

DAD!.

The name was broadcast on a wide enough band to bring Rojer wide awake. It took him only a nanosecond to recognize Thian's voice.

Rojer glanced at the digital's illuminated face and saw he'd been asleep a bare hour.

Hey, Thi, let a guy sleep.

Sorry, Roj -- That was overlapped with Afra's acknowledgement of the mental contact.

I didn't wake you, did I, Dad? I checked times and it's...

You didn't wake me, Thian. I've been enjoying the ship's hospitality. The captain and his officers are quite starved of news so long in this part of the galaxy. Callisto and Earth are inundated with requests for transport of personnel and materiel. Mainly to Heinlein Base, and Rojer heard the amus.e.m.e.nt in his father's calm tone. So we have been informed that we must wait in the queue.

I can just believe that! Hoooeee! Every one who can '11 be flocking out there to gawk. Thian's voice altered. Did you have any trouble with the stingpzzt? I forgot to warn about that. Did Mother remember?

I should have, and Afra's tone was unexpectedly rueful, but your brother was superb. Not so much as a twitch, despite the force and the unexpectedness of it. You can be very proud of Rojer Of course, I am.

He's my brother, isn't he? That sting-pzzt, and Rojer didn't know if Thian was explaining or apologizing, it's much heavier around live ones, though, isn't it? That's how I tumbled to the larvae. Any news on their development?

None, and that's officially honest. Having a live Queen may speed things up If it doesn't 'Dini out on us. How is your quest going?

We're still several months away from a pick-up point... and we'll probably have to wait our turn in the queue, too, but I've turned into a real hotdog artefact finder. Better'n a metal detector in a mine field.

But that's what you are, Rojer said, awake now and delighting in this midnight conference with his brother and father. Hey, you haven't found any more shards like this ... and Rojer envisioned the group that he and Xexo had been so sure would fit: heavy bands of some ten centimetres thick, finely tooled. They look like they should fit together, all of the same pattern.

Yes, we did in fact. I'll copy through to you.

Going for tine reward, too? And the amus.e.m.e.nt in Thian's voice took the sting away. There isn't a 'Dini on board that isn't trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. Blank your mind now and I'll send the specs through.

They'd done this often enough with ma.s.s, weights and capsule sizes during Tower practice so Rojer thought of nothing and Thian sent him the particulars. Rojer thanked his brother as he swung out of the bunk and to the terminal where he copied down the specs. Then a yawn overcame him and he crawled back into his bunk, fitting his legs between the sleeping 'Dinis.

Say, Thian, are Mur and Dip back with you?