Tower And The Hive Part 24

Just before false dawn, after three weeks' absence, Laria and Kincaid returned to Clarf, but without their 'Dinis.

"They're much better, much better," Laria said, dropping to her knees to embrace the other Tower 'Dinis clamoring for news of their friends. "We've missed you all. We're so glad to be back."

"Not any gladder than Van will be," Lionasha said, winking at Laria. *'** tell you later.

"Are we expected to go right back to Iota, Lar?" Morag asked, her expression anxious. "I've met this real neat guy . . ." Over Morag's head, Laria caught Lionasha's approving nod. "Vince Studebaker, and there's a fancy dress ball next Sixth Day . . ."

"You'll be stuck here awhile longer, girls," Laria said. "I might even have to send one of you to help Yoshuk and Nesrun at Sef Tower with all that has to go to that latest planet that's been released. Jeff routed quite a bit of heavy stuff through Iota rather than overload you."

"Overload us! Why, the nerve ot Grandfather," Morag said, outraged.

n 5 Laria laughed, hugging her sister. "You tell him. I won't. Now, fill us in, will you, girls, Lio, and where's Vanteer?"

"He'll be along at real dawn, Laria. He's been more help than you could possibly imagine." Lionasha's straight face was belied by the gleam in her eyes.

"Kept all the no-no's from dancing with us, even Perutz!"

Laria's expression froze and she stared at Lionasha. "If that man got . . ."

"Not with Van acting chaperone, he didn't," Lionasha said, grinning.

Laria's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Turned over a new leaf, has our Van?"

"Not likely." Lio gave a snort and then smiled. "But he was d.a.m.ned sure he wasn't going to be blamed for any incidents. As far as the Human society of Clarf is concerned, your sisters were here to learn the lower grades of Tower management."

"Well done, kids," Laria said, hugging her sisters once more.

"Hey, you two look a lot better," Lionasha said. "Like you got enough sleep or had a vacation."

"We had both, actually," Laria said. "Mother and Dad wouldn't let us near the Tower . . ."

"Not with Beliakin there, I'll bet," Lionasha said in an acid tone.

Laria grinned. "We never saw him once. He had to report to Blun-dell about that wretched Clarissia. He cleared himself of any suspicion." She paused, with a little smile on her face. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if Mom and Dad didn't sort of. . . well . . . adjust his general att.i.tude."

"That couldn't hurt," Lionasha said, glancing over at Kincaid, who grinned back.

"Somehow I don't think he'll stay long, now he's had such good experience at Iota." Laria smothered a grin. "But you know how valuable strong T-2's are right now. Grandfather's sure to put him in some crucial position. Not that their replacement will be anywhere near the kinetic Beliakin seems to be. Mother said Gollee's description of him is 'very young and so eager to learn he's almost pathetic.' Kobold von He I something or other. Well, if Mom can trim down Beliakin's amazing ego, maybe she can build this little fellow's up."

"Kobold von Gruy? So he developed, did he? He comes from my city," Kincaid said with an odd smile, "so he'd have to overcome the odd ideas about Talent prevalent where we come from."

Laria gave Kincaid a quick look and laid her hand briefly on his arm. Lionasha had trouble repressing the questions those brief, and intimate, gestures provoked. She turned away to go get breakfast started.

"He'll do fine with Mother and Dad to sort of ease him into Tower work," Laria said.

"Didja hunt much?" Kaltia asked, so eagerly that it was obvious she missed that task.

"Indeed we did. In fact, I think that between us Kincaid and I finally hunted out that valley of mine."

"Can't be done," Kaltia argued.

"Kincaid here"-once again Laria touched the T-2's arm-"gets full honors for bagging the most every time we went out, wherever we went. Ewain was disgusted."

"He would be," Kaltia said with a snort. "But when do you get your 'Dinis back?"

I'll tell you what 1 can later, Laria said.

"Zara's still at Iota?" Morag asked, though she already knew the answer.

Laria nodded. "And likely to be for some time. She's done great work and pulled our 'Dinis round." Then her face lost all expression. "Did we lose many we know?"

Returning with a tray of hot drinks, Lionasha nodded sadly. "I knew twenty, and Van knew another half-dozen. Some eighty of Hufs main house died and thirty of Tip's."

"Morag and Kaltia made appropriate visits to the color houses, since their own 'Dinis wished to express condolence."

"We will too, of course," Laria said. "It was all so needless." Abruptly, she took a sip of the hot drink and then stepped over to Lionasha's work- station. "Have we much for the morning? You two"-she pointed at her sisters-"have the day off."

"That's fine by us," Morag said, "because there were some real neat fashions shipped in from Earth that should be on display and I need something new to wear. We didn't bring half enough good things with us. You coming too, Kaltia?"

Laria looked queringly at Lionasha and was rea.s.sured by Lio's dismissive wave.

"That pair know Clarf from hither to thither, Laria. Don't worry about them," Lionasha said, "Now, I don't want you to lose all the good the holiday did you, so if the girls'll stay long enough to help 'port in the heavy machinery, it'd ease you back into the routine."

"Shops don't open until late morning," Morag said.

"Sure, don't want to lose my touch," was Kaltia's reaction.

"That's most unlikely," Laria said, 'pathing her pride in her sisters.

Lyon's Pride, Kincaid added, mischief twinkling in his eyes.

1.

An excited Sam Weiman and Grm begged a moment of Thian's time as the Washington and the fleet she led made their way toward the next suspect system.

"I know this may sound ab solutely ridiculous," Sam began, with Grm bouncing up and down on its flippers beside him. "But I've been thinking about phero-mones, our odors"- he tapped his chest- "and theirs." He pointed astern, meaning Arcadia or system Cj-70, which was now a good week behind them. "I think smell has a lot more to do with Hivers than we may have adequately investigated. When we had Operation Shanghai under way, I automatically took samples of the air as we went from place to place - sort of a heads.p.a.ce a.n.a.lysis, the sort we'd do with alien insects - in each collection point. I believe that the Hivers have been cla.s.sified as basically insectoids. I also had Commander Kloo add gas chromatography to the remotes to keep track of any pheromone alterations. At any rate, Grm here and I have discovered that these pheromones are distinct, identifiable chemical compounds, especially when the queen made replacements for the attendants we took from her quarters,"

"Really?" Thian raised his eyebrows in surprise. "More than interesting," he went on, "since Earth Prime forwarded me in his latest report of the general situation at Blundell news that my sister Zara is working on the Mrdini hibernatory problem." He turned to Grm and spoke in Mrdini with a quick but respectful bow. YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD THAT THE MRDINI FRIENDS OF CLARF'S PRIME AND T-2 DANO WERE PART OF THE TRAGEDY AT CLARF'S MAIN HIBERNATORY. MRDINI HAD GRACIOUSLY REQUESTED ZARA AS PRIME MEDICAL HUMAN TO HELP REVIVE AND HEAL THE VICTIMS.

Grm, however, bowed, its poll eye covered slightly by its lids in deference to the sad incident. DID HEAR. AS XENBEE, THIS ONE KNOWS THAT SPECIAL PHEROMONES ARE USED IN HIBERNATORIES. BUT NOT WHICH ONES. Grm nodded but indicated for Thian to continue. DEEPEST, MOST SACRED INFORMATION KNOWN ONLY TO KEEPERS WHO ARE TRAINED TO MANAGE HIBERNATORIES. It gave a little shudder.

"I wonder what sort of smells we exuded on our first visit to that queen's quarters. She sure aired the place out in a hurry."

"The point is," Sam went on, giving Grm another apologetic bow, "that if we knew what pheromones the queen produces under which circ.u.mstances, we might find a way of ... of sort of replacing certain pheromones and thus producing a more pacific att.i.tude. Reducing their size and aggressiveness: making them more like the Arcadians. Has anyone done a 'heads.p.a.ce a.n.a.lysis' of the Heinlein queen?"

"I can certainly find out," Thian said at his most cooperative. "Wouldn't it be ironic if pheromones were the key to the Hiver problem as well as the Mrdinis'? We've been too busy, he thought to himself, having to eliminate the Hivers to discover how to contain them. But that differ- Ml ence in size between Arcadia's workers and those at Xh-33 and by the Heinlein queens must be significant.

Once Vagrian Beliakin got back from rather intensive sessions with Gollee Gren and with the team investigating the abortive a.s.sa.s.sination attempt over his one interview with that dreadful Capellan female, he settled back into Iota Aurigae's routine with great relief. He learned that he had missed a visit home by Laria and Kincaid Dano. He couldn't figure out if the call to Blundell had been to keep him out of their way, but he was just as glad that he had been absent. He had even had a final quarter hour with Earth Prime himself and felt he'd made a good impression on Jeff Raven, though the man had kept to two topics: the horses currently at Iota and the hunting that Vagrian had done with his youngest grandchildren. Although Beliakin felt that Raven's geniality had to mask some other devious purpose, he sensed no mental intrusion during their spoken conversation.

Back at Iota, and genuinely glad to be there, he saw little enough of Zara-she rarely even slept at the Tower House right now, trying to save the victims of the Clarf hibernatory's breakdown. He hunted with Petra and Ewain, careful to keep up an easy relationship with them and their parents. He had no trouble finding female companionship of the type he preferred in Iota Aurigae City.

Two days later, they had just finished shifting another six big daddies, when Earth Prime asked for a few words with Vagrian.

Damia grinned and gestured for Vagrian to answer while she and Afra left the Tower . . . just as if, Vagrian thought very carefully, they couldn't have "heard" whatever Jeff Raven said if they wished. He doubted they would stoop to listening, since both were scrupulous in Talent protocol and traditions and Afra was a methody Capellan.

How would you feel about managing a new Tower, Beliakin?

Beg pardon? Vagrian gripped the armrests of his couch in surprise.

The Fourth Fleet's released a new planet and your kinetic strength is certainly needed to 'port the supplies the place will need. I believe they've called the planet Iwojima. I don't know what it is that has the Star League so keen on naming planets after Human battle victories, but the Mrdinis don't complain. It'll end up Wjmfor them, I'm sure.

I hardly ^now what to say, sir, Beliakin replied, swallowing figuratively and literally, but I'll certainly do my best to prove my abilities.

Which u exactly why you ve been chosen. You'll have a good support in a T-3'path, a T-3 expediter, a T-4 engineer and, during the initial surge to supply, a third T-3 kinetic, as support. We II push a lot of the heavy stuff through Perry, the Fourth Fleet's Prime, so initially you'll do more catching than throwing. We're trying to find a good T-2 'pather to augment you, similar to the arrangement that's worked so well with your brother and Nesrun at Sef Tower. But it'll take time toftne-tune a Tower crew, so don't be reticent in telling me if there's a mismatch.

Vagrian was still so stunned at his unexpected good fortune that he said the first thing that came to mind.

But. . . but.. . what about Iota, and who'll a.s.sist on those big daddies?

Your anxiety does you credit, Vagrian. Gollee's got a T-2 in training, Kobold von Gruy, and they will augment him with their T-2 and T-3 students. All but one are old enough for full Tower work- I need you at Iwojima. How soon can you be ready?

Won't take me long at all, sir. And he was out of his couch and descending three steps at a time, the clatter causing Keylarion to stare at him. Then he also realized that Xexo hadn't come up out of his engineering pit and the generators hadn't been turned off.

"I'm going to a new Tower," Vagrian cried as he pa.s.sed the two. "I've got to pack. I'll have my own Tower." He caught at the doorframe with both hands to stop his reckless forward momentum since Damia and Afra were in the little lounge, grinning at him.

"Take all the time you need to pack, Vagrian," Damia said cheerfully. "And congratulations. We didn't think we'd have you long. Not with your kinetic strength."

"I won't take long," he promised, and stifled the urge to teleport to his room. He did, however, use his kinetic Talent to start gathering up his belongings in the house onto the bed, and was rolling his disks into I.

shirts and sweaters before he was out of sight of the Lyons. Then he 'ported to his room and speeded up the process of packing. Since he'd seen Damia 'port his things into her house, he had no qualms about 'porting them back to the Tower yard by the personnel carrier that was always racked in one of the side cradles.

Damia and Afra were coming down the Tower steps as he jogged up from the house. He said all that was suitable for a leave-taking, grinned at their repeated congratulations, waved a farewell and thanks to Xexo and Keylarion, who came out of the Tower to see him off.

Afra closed the cover with one last srnile. Of course, Vagrian didn't feel the transfer, not one being done by the Iota Aurigae Tower. He did hear a male voice accept transfer: Got 'im, Damia. Thanks. Greetings, Beliakin. Perry here. Then he heard a great deal of exterior noise as his personnel carrier settled into its destination cradle. We'll meet later, Beliakin. Do get into the Tower as soon as possible. We're quite busy.

The tenor voice sounded slightly breathless, which suggested to Vagrian that this Perry-one of David of Betelgeuse's sons, wasn't he?-was mult.i.tasking. A tap preceded the opening of his carrier and he felt a rush of fresh air, warmer than lota's, filled with myriad smells-mostly of building materials, paint, oil, grease and Human sweat.

"Hi, I'm your expediter, T-2 Vagrian Beliakin," said the dark-haired woman looking in at him. "My name's Beejay, T-3 'pather." She stepped back to allow him to exit the carrier, her grin broadening with just the sort of appreciation for his masculinity that Vagrian appreciated.

After the quiet of Iota Aurigae's Tower facility, the hectic activity here-in a hilltop clearing which had obviously been leveled for the Tower-and the noise were an a.s.sault on his ears. Glancing round to identify what and where the diverse noises were coming from, he saw Humans and 'Dinis everywhere, putting up sections of buildings, roofing, dashing from one of the many open large drones for supplies, so that the place appeared totally populated instead of the most recent colony world. Beyond the immense clearing, beyond the mounds of dirt that had been pushed out of the way for the Tower, he could see wave after wave of odd-looking tree types spread out in all directions, and up the foothills of mountains not quite as sharp, or young, as Iota's.

"Takes a bit of getting used to," Beejay said, grinning. "All that greenery. Hiver ruins are all overgrown too." She held out her hand and Vagrian hastily responded by touching her long, blunt fingers: yel-low*citrusy*flowing, were what he got from their touch. She had an attractive, rather than pretty, face and a compact but feminine body. Her grin widened and she c.o.c.ked one narrow eyebrow in a mutual appreciation of the information conveyed. "'Port your stuff into the L section-the lounge is the first room." She pointed. "Nice one too. We got our quarters built yesterday and nothing's sorted out. Though the Tower is. That's why we're not all here to meet you. Vaclava, our T-3 'expediter, is in direct contact with Perry on theAsimov with a long list of things we need yesterday. Janfinde's fussing with his generators because he's got a shimmy he has to fix before we're actually operational. Hope you can reach the Asimov in just a merge because we're stuck for so much right now . . . C'mon."

Vagrian's T-2 kinetic strength was put to an immediate testing, but the merge techniques he had acquired when Damia and Afra had him work with their Aurigaean latents and their two youngest children couldn't have been better experience. The metal stairs up to the "Tower" lacked carpeting and it was a cupola like Clarf s. Comformable couches were brand-new-someone had guessed his height and width right, though, so he had no fault to find with that, though he hoped the screens were more securely hooked to the still-unfinished walls than they looked. Beejay must have done a lot of merging, because as soon as she had settled on her couch, she opened her mind to him. By the time Perry called a lunch break, Vagrian realized how much he missed the oomph of working with T-1 's, even Ewain's stolid mind.

"C'mon," Beejay said, "the Navy supplies our grub and it's captain's-table quality." He would have eaten anything, but he rather thought he'd miss Damia's inventive menus.

The "lounge" had no furniture, bar the duffels stacked around its circular form and the trestle table in the exact center with rough benches on either side, facing windows with magnificent views. Steaming-hot food was waiting on the table, and shortly the rest of his Tower staff gathered to eat.

"Told you, didn't I?" Beejay said, grinning when Vagrian lifted the lid from a covered dish and inhaled spicy aromas. Had Damia somehow managed to send along his food preferences: hot and hotter? "Of course, there's s.p.a.ce here for a proper kitchen and I really do like to cook. We can have non-T staff if we want, and I suspect you may want to request help. We'll have a lot to do getting started. ... Hi there, Vaclava. Meet Vagrian."

Vaclava shyly offered her hand to Vagrian and he felt violet*lavender scent*liquid. She slipped in opposite him, a quieter, younger personality than Beejay. He'd have to deal carefully with her. He learned later this was her first post after being trained by the Bastianmajanis on Altair. He sensed a charming determination to do everything right the first time. Janfinde, who was brown*nutmeg*cautious, brought the smells of grease and oil with him, though he had changed to fresh clothing before joining them at the table.

"I've a CPO coming down tonight, Tower," Janfinde said, filling his plate, "to help me tune the number two. We should be running on our own power by morning." And that was the last thing he said, concentrating on his food.

Beejay had enough conversation to cover his silence and Vaclava's shyness, and pulled out of Vagrian the details of where he'd been, what he'd done and all about the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt, which had been, she was sure, played down by Perry and Captain Osullivan, commander of the Fourth Fleet. She admitted coming from Procyon's planet, Truro, wrinkling her nose because her homeworld had as much a reputation for oddball cults and preserves as Capella had for strictly methody ways. Truro also harbored many of the clairvoyant or prescient Talents and some of the more gifted Talent therapists. As a T-3 'pather, she'd decided to enlist when the call came out through Truro's Talents that Blundell was in need of high T's on well-paid short-term contracts that could be extended.

I 3 G Anne HcCifffif So she'd come to see what a new world looked like. "Not that I expected it to be a Hiver world, but hey, well"-she shrugged, her ready grin wry-"new Tower, good chow, the Navy's been real helpful and those 'Dinis are a hoot and a half. You don't have any?" She made a pretense of looking around her.

"Only the ones I met at Iota Aurigae," Vagrian replied with a slight, self-deprecating grin. "But they're likable and they can work all the hours G.o.d gave the day. Which reminds me, how long a day do we have here?"

"Twenty-five hours, fifteen minutes. No one's bothered to figure out a leap year yet, but at this lat.i.tude we have about twelve hours of daylight." She pointed upward. "Perry insists we keep to an eight-hour working day." She glanced down at her wrist. "And we're due to work the second half ot it like right now."

Dutifully Vagrian rose, gesturing at the dirty plates and dishes remaining from a completely consumed lunch.

"You're the kinetic." Beejay gave him a vivid mental glimpse of the galley on the Asimov. "The head cook gives us h.e.l.l if we break anything. Captain's service, you see, not plastic."

Vagrian nodded understandingly, and with a dramatic wave of his hand, the dishes disappeared.

Beejay jutted her chin out as if she were looking, grinned and straightened up. "You're neat! Stroganoff will love you!"

"Stroganoff?" Vagrian exclaimed, remembering that he'd been served what Damia called scurrier Stroganoff.

Beejay made a cross over her chest. "Swear by all I hold sacred, that's her real name. Mina Stroganoff. And she hates being teased about it." "I never tease someone who can cook like that. Let's a.s.sume our Tower positions, shall we?" He included the shy Vaclava Soolik in his courtly gesture. He did a two-fingered salute to Janfinde, who nodded in acknowledgment and went back to his truculent generators.

By the end of the eight-hour day, Vagrian was exceedingly grateful to Perry's insistence on set hours. His last task of the day was to bring down the CPO engineer who was going to help Janfinde.

Anything that comes m to the Asimov from now on can wait until morn-ing. There was something like droll humor in the Prime's tone. We're expecting fuel drones, but there've been priorities going astray, so no night-light wort( down there until our reserves are sufficient. Get a good night's rest and thanks for your help today, Beliafyn. Loo^forward to meeting you face to face. Captain Osullivan sends his regards too.

Thanks . . . Perry, and my compliments to Captain Osullivan.

Another delicious meal awaited the Talents and made the CPO's eyes gleam greedily.

"You guys got it made," he said, restlessly waiting until Beejay, acting hostess, told him to seat himself and dig in.

"Prime eating," was the CPO's opinion, even though Janfinde set the pace of eating to get back quickly to the ailing number two generator.

After he'd cleared the table of dirty china, Vagrian thought to ask if the CPO would need to be transported back to Asimov too.

"Well, sir, Captain Beliakin, if it's all right with you, when we finish, I'll just doss down here until after breakfast." And the man's wide, hopeful grin relieved Vagrian of one last duty. What he really wanted was a shower and a bed.