The Rowan Part 12

'Did I hear you two talking to Reidinger just now?' 'We got worried,' Ackerman replied. 'There're two liners coming in, and Afra and I just plain don't care to handle human cargo, you know.' The Rowan gave a rueful smile. 'I know. I'm all set.' She walked slowly back up to her Tower.

Ackerman shook his head sadly. 'She sure has taken it hard.' Her chastened att.i.tude wasn't the relief that her staff had once considered it might be. The work that day went on with monotonous efficiency, with none of the byplay and freakish temperament that had previously kept them on their toes. The men moved around automatically, depressed by this gently tragic Rowan. That might have been one reason why no-one particularly noticed a visitor.

Only when Ackerman rose from his desk for more coffee did he notice the young man in plain travel gear, sitting there quietly.

'You come up in that last shuttle?' 'Well, sort of.' He spoke with a modest diffidence, rising to his feet. 'I was told to see the Rowan.

Reidinger signed me on in his office late this morning.' Then he smiled.

Fleetingly Ackerman was reminded of the miracle of the Rowan's sudden smiles that could heat the very soul of you. This man's smile was full of uninhibited magnetic vigor, while his brilliant blue eyes danced with good humor and friendliness. Ackerman found himself grinning back like a fool and stepping forward to shake the man's hand stoutly.

'Mighty glad to know you. What's your name?' 'Jeff Raven. I just got in from 'Hey, Afra, want you to meet Jeff Raven. Here, have a coffee. A little raw on the walk up from the launch yard, isn't it?

Been on any other Prime Stations?' 'As a matter of fact . Toglia and Loftus had looked around from their computers to inspect the recipient of such unusual cordiality. They found themselves as eager to welcome this charismatic stranger. Raven graciously accepted the coffee from Ackerman, who then proffered his special coveted ginger cakes which his wife excelled at making. The stationmaster had the feeling that he must give this wonderful guy something else, it had been such a pleasure to provide him with coffee.

afra looked quietly at the stranger, his calm yellow eyes a little clouded. 'h.e.l.lo,' he said in a rueful manner, his tone oddly accented.

Jeff Raven's grin altered imperceptibly. 'h.e.l.lo,' he replied, and more was exchanged between the two men than a simple greeting.

Before anyone in the Station quite realized what was happening, everyone had left his post and gathered around the newcomer, chattering and grinning, using the simplest excuse to touch his hand or shoulder.

He was genuinely interested in everything said to him, and although there were twenty-three people anxiously vying to monopolize his attention, no-one felt slighted. His reception seemed to envelop them all.

What the h.e.l.l is happening down there? asked the Rowan, with a tinge of her familiar irritation. Why Contrary to all her previously sacred rules, she appeared suddenly in the middle of the room, looking wildly about her. Raven stepped to her side and touched her hand gently.

'Reidinger said you needed me,' he said.

'Deneb?' Her body arched over to project the astounded whisper.

'Deneb? But you're . you're here? You're here!' He smiled tenderly and slid his hand down her shining hair to grip her shoulder.

The Rowan's jaw dropped and she burst out laughing, the laughter of a supremely happy, carefree girl. Then her laughter broke off in a gasp of pure terror.

HOW did you get here?

Just came. You can, too, you know.

No! No. I can't! No T-1 is able to. The Rowan tried to free herself from his grasp, as if he were suddenly repulsive.

I did though. His gentle insistence was unequivocable.

You just jumped from the Tower to this level. If you can do that, why should it matter how far you go?

Oh, no! No!

'Did you know, Raven said conversationally, grinning about him, 'that Siglen of Altair gets sick just going up and down stairs?' He looked straight at the Rowan. 'You lived with her, you should know.

All on the one level, not so much as a step anywhere? That long padded ramp to her tower which is so hemmed by thick-leaved trees any glimpse of the outside is obscured? I know she told you all about that hideous, grim, ghastly, nearly fatal trip she took from Earth to Altair on - of all torture mechanisms a s.p.a.ceship? Especially when she had planned to stay on Earth as its Prime? Disappointment can have a weird effect on some personalities, you know.' The girl shook her head, her eyes wonderingly wide.

'No-one ever asked why she had really rather unusual reactions to a deep s.p.a.ce flight, did they? I did. Seemed d.a.m.ned silly to me when Reidinger "explained" the problem.' He held his audience's attention as he paused, his grin turning malicious. 'Siglen has a ma.s.sive neural deterioration of the middle ear, a genuine enough disability which does make for travel difficulties. She was so miserably sick in her first s.p.a.ce voyage, she went into a trauma about any sort of travel without discovering the real cause. The worst of it was that she then imposed that trauma on everyone else she trained. Of course, it never occurred to her, or anyone else, that this wasn't part of "the price the Talented must pay!"' He dramatically placed his hand against his throat, mimicking Siglen so aptly that Afra had to choke back a laugh.

Then he shot a wicked grin at the appalled Rowan.

'Siglen . . . Oh, Deneb, no!' Raven laughed. 'Oh, Callisto, yes.

She pa.s.sed on the trauma to every one of you. The T-2 doesn't have it.

Siglen wouldn't be bothered with training an inferior Talent. The proof of the matter is that she didn't train me.' He opened his arms wide. 'And I, biG.o.d, got here under my own steam. The Curse of Talent!' He mimicked Siglen's deep contralto voice again. 'The Great Fear! The great bushwah! You've no middle ear imbalance: you only "think" you've got agoraphobia. Bad enough a thought to hold for long, I agree, but it's a rotten handicap for you to have, my love.' Warmth and rea.s.surance pa.s.sed between them, and the Rowan's eyes began to shine. Her eyes shone.

Now, come live with me and be my love, Rowan. Reidinger says you can commute from here to Deneb every day.

'Commute?' She said it aloud in hollow astonishment.

And stared at him in wonder.

'Certainly,' Jeff said encouragingly. 'You're still a working T-1 under contract to FT&T. And so, my love, I guess I do know my bosses, don't I?' she said with a little smile.

'Well, the terms were fair. Reidinger didn't haggle a second after I walked into his private office at eleven this morning.' 'But to commute from Deneb to Callisto?' the Rowan repeated dazedly.

'All finished here for the day?' Raven asked Ackerman, who shook his head after a glance at the launching racks.

'C'mon, gal. Take me to your ivory Tower and we'll finish up in a jiffy. Then we'll talk about it. I'm not pushing you, or anything, but I've got a planet to put to rights . . .' And a few million things to discuss with you .

Jeff Raven smiled wickedly at the Rowan and pressed her hand to his lips in the age-old gestures of courtliness.

The Rowan's smile answered his with blinding joy.

The others were respectfully silent as the two Talents made their way up the stairs to the once lonely Tower.

Afra broke the tableau by taking a cake from the box in Ackerman's motionless hand. There was nothing in the cake to cause his eyes to water so profusely.

'Not that that pair needs much of our help, people, he said, 'but we can add a certain flourish and speed things up.

The whine of the generators sobbed away into silence, a silence which was at first pleasant as the two Primes let the tension of their labors drain from them.

Jeff Raven broke the silence, giving a low grunt as he pushed his chin down to his chest to stretch neck and shoulder muscles. He had been sitting in the swivel chair at the console, so he hadn't had the full body support of a couch like the Rowan's. He swiveled about to face her now.

'I know you,' the Rowan said shyly, suddenly unnerved by his presence and the end of known routines, 'and I don't.' Gently then she felt the feathery touch of his mind in hers, withdrawn as gently but leaving behind it a sweet, spicy taste. That had never happened to the Rowan before in all her mental encounters, and she took a moment to absorb the sensation.

'There's a lot about each other that we're going to have to know,'

Jeff Raven began to smile, a smile that was also tinged with a shy uncertainty. He ran his fingers through his shock of black hair. 'And Lord above, woman, we've got a lifetime to learn.' His smile broadened, and he c.o.c.ked his head slightly at her, looking at her with warmly affectionate eyes that hinted of deeper emotions kept in firm check.

'Look,' he said in a totally different tone of voice and he leaned forward in the chair, elbows on his knees, 'it's been a rough few weeks for me and now we've met, we don't have to rush anything. In point of fact,' he said, with a huge yawn, 'I'll be candidly unromantic and admit that I'm whacked. I've been on the stretch since those ETs arrived.' He gave her an ingratiating smile. 'That rather romantic gesture of mine, to launch us to Deneb, is totally beyond me. I'm starving, I need a bath, and about twenty years' sleep!' The Rowan began to laugh, more gurgle than chuckle, as practical considerations dissolved the moment of restraint and doubt. She rose and thrust out her hand to him. His was warm, calloused, and physical contact only reinforced mind and voice. 'Then, tonight, you come home with me!'

Gently Jeff pulled her to him. You're such a little thing!

He tucked her head under his chin and held her against his body.

She put her hands about him with an experimental lightness. His body was firm. She liked it. That's good! She also felt the weariness permeating muscle, sinew, blood, and bone.

'Come!' she said and jumped them into the main room of her quarters.

'Rather special,' Jeff said, looking about the s.p.a.cious room with appreciative eyes. 'I think you'll find it easier to shrug off Siglen's silly conditioning than you believe.

Look, steps all over.' He gestured at the various levels, for the dwelling had been built into Callisto's stony landscape.

'I designed it myself.' She spoke with pride, sensing his flattering approval as she followed his gaze, from the small conversation pit around the archaic hearth with an imitation fire, to the dining level that had a three-sided view of the gardens and the little copse, to the sound and vision wall, to the corridor leading to the wing.

'Well done! Very well done! And it proves conclusively to me that your agoraphobia was Siglen's imposition. She didn't tolerate steps anywhere. As you must know.' Then he yawned convulsively. 'What a lover you chose!' 'You get the bath,' and she pushed him in the direction of the bathing room. 'I'll fix a meal guaranteed to raise all known energy levels. Then you may sleep as long as you need to.'

She 'saw' him as he shucked off his clothing: very privately she compared him to Turian's heavier build and the Captain's deep tan.

Then she decided that she liked his spare build, lean, muscled back and narrow hips; bulky people irritated her.

With good reason, Jeff remarked as he eased himself into the steaming pool. She had half-expected him to dive in, for it was deep enough, and heard his denying chuckle.

Another time, he told her with a sigh of total relaxation as he floated. Fix me that food, love, or I' ll starve to death in my sleep.

She sent the water pillow to hold up his head and felt her lips tingle with an impressed kiss. She smiled as she collected the necessary foodstuffs from storage. Siglen may have adored eating for its own sake, but the Rowan had learned the fundamentals of good nutrition and the value of well-prepared and presented food.

'What will people think of me when they see you so thin, Rowan?

Eat more! It's really delicious. If you'd only force yourself to eat . . .' Siglen's wheedling tone resounded in the Rowan's ears.

It was, however, infinitely more satisfying to prepare something for Jeff Raven. So involved was she in making certain that all nutritional elements had balanced tastefully that the Rowan was astonished to feel the rhythms of profound sleep emanating from her lover. A moment's pique was soothed by her realization that she would indeed have all the time in the world to prove her worth as a cook.

Now she'd better keep him from inadvertently drowning.

Unexpectedly she felt some fatigue from the day's excitements.

Gently she lifted the inert form of her lover from the water, swathed him in warm, soft, scented towels, and conveyed him to her wide bed. Being telekinetic had, for once, practical applications she had not heretofore considered, she thought, tenderly gazing down at his sleeping face. All the stress and fatigue lines were smoothing away and Jeff Raven looked younger.

His wasn't actually a handsome face: without animation, the harsh planes looked uncompromising, the nose prominent, jutting out from a wide and high brow His eyes were far more deepset than she had realized. He had a very strong jaw - no getting around this man with specious argument. She wondered if he'd jut his chin out when annoyed.

His lips, too, showed firmness for all they were well-shaped, if a trifle on the thin side, but he had smiled so often, that detail had escaped her. In all, a strong, vital face and exceedingly attractive to her.

Sternly she suppressed unusual clamorings of body and blood.

Eighteen-year-old Rowan might have planned to challenge Captain Turian but she wouldn't ever be silly enough to dare Jeff Raven. She placed water, fruit juice, the 'supper' she had made him in a heating coc.o.o.n, in easy reach on the bedside table.

What would their children be like? Despite her solitude, she suddenly blushed. Once Turian had been cajoled out of his regrets, they had enjoyed each other thoroughly.

But no-one since then had aroused her. Not even the high Talents Reidinger kept sending to Gerolaman's courses, or to Callisto Tower on specious errands.

For a long while, the Rowan had held the firm conviction that, once her long training had been accomplished, her 'travel' would resolve all her problems.

Instead, she had gone from one lonely tower to another.

Yegrani's 'long and lonely road' had been before her a long and lonely time. Even the cryptic 'seeing' seemed fulfilled.

She had been the focus. Was her reward Jeff Raven?

Would she 'travel' now with him?

He stirred slightly, as if responding to her thought; her heart caught in her throat. Then, with a smile, he sank more deeply into his much needed rest. She curled beside him on the wide bed, not needing to touch, content to be in his presence. And then fatigue overcame all her new sensations and wonderings.

The startlement of being kissed woke the Rowan abruptly, and it took a moment to recall the extraordinary events of the previous day.

'Honey, I am sorry to the death to have to wake you, but duty calls!' Jeff's tone and expression were regretful - and so was the clinging touch of his mind in hers, all spicy.

'Why?' She resented 'duty' with an intensity that blazed from every pore.

'Easy, girl,' and Jeff chided her. 'When we so blithely destroyed those ET vessels, we left a lot of debris at spatially unsafe distances for the good of my poor planet.' She saw in his open mind the visual report from Deneb.

'Some of it's extrapolated to come thunking down in settled areas.

My kin are good, but not that good.' 'Can I help?' She dressed quickly.

'You can, indeed, and I'm counting on it. Reidinger has got Earth to release our colony a lot of much-needed supplies, and I need you to relay them out to me without splitting the packets. The High Command also wants samples of what we so indiscreetly made piecemeal.' 'But Jeff, what about us?' The sheer terror of renewed solitude sounded in her cry He pulled her into his arms, once again tucking her head under his chin. He rocked her slowly, wrapping her in such deep and tender regard that she truly realized physical separation was no barrier to their rapport. Then he tilted her chin up and kissed her lips, a contact that was made far more poignant by his mind-touch and the scenes he projected of how they would make love when 'duty' permitted.

She was vibrating with a sensuality which he then completed with an intimate mental touch, and she clung to him in amazed relief. He grinned down at her, pleased by the effect he had on her.

'The chemistry's right between us, love, and I can't wait to prove it time and time and time and time again.

However,' and his manner altered as, with deep mental and physical regret, he released her, 'while I'm gone, work hard on overcoming Siglen's impositions. I'll be back as soon as I've done garbage detail. We'll be transporting some mighty queer stuff. I'd have a good look at it when it comes through Callisto were I you, honey. If there's one group of s.p.a.ce traveling animosities, there may be more.

He released his physical hold of her and guided her to the door.

'We'll walk across this time. Gives us a few more moments.' She matched strides with him and was unaware of anything on the way to the Tower but the touch of his hip and thigh against hers, his fingers laced in hers. For once she wasn't even aware of the great generators'

start-up whine.

'Who was Purza?' he asked suddenly, looking down at her The unexpectedness of that question at this moment made her lose step. She had been worried that he might have accessed her Turian memories.

Maybe he had and didn't care to comment. After all, that belonged to the past.

'Purza was my pukha,' and her throat still closed with a vividly remembered grief and outrage. One is forced to put away childish things.

Ah, love, and tenderness, spicy-sweet and gentle, laved her. I don't think you were allowed to be a child. We'll a.s.sure our own of that privilege. Then, with a mischievous note in his tone, he added, 'And I'll prove that a Raven's a much more innovative companion than a pukha.' His eyes were intensely blue and a devilish smile curved his lips, and suddenly she was aware of renewed sensations, coursing through her, setting off unusual reactions until suddenly, from her loins, an incredible warmth began to expand in a sudden burst of exquisite pain.

And that is only a sample, my love. Only a sample! Jeff's voice seemed to be part of that sensation, and she had to cling to him to remain on her feet.

Then they were in the tunnel that led to the garage.

With an effort she a.s.sembled her wits, aware that Jeff was very well pleased with his effect on her. She was grateful for the diversion provided by the strange personnel carrier in the launch cradle, the blazon of the Central Worlds on its nose, the paint still gleaming with Jeff Raven's code.

'New design, huh?' She ran tentative fingers down the sh.e.l.l. It had not yet acquired the static of well-used carriers.