Tower And The Hive Part 4

"You were fully asleep, weren't you? I wasn't." He said the last ruefully. "I couldn't seem to get comfortable. Odd smell in my room the circulator isn't removing." His hands smoothed down her back, as if he were trying to push the shudders from her.

Gradually they ceased and she lay limply against him, her hands still on his arm, keeping her by him. When he ft-It her totally relax, he s.h.i.+fted slightly and she grabbed reflexively to keep him close, as if he were the talisman to ward oft the frightening dream.

"Don't worry. I'll stay. Perhaps you can help me get to sleep?" His voice was oddly wistful and she giggled.

"Why not? We both got to sleep last night."

"This could get to be a habit," he said, chuckling as he put one hand on her chest and pushed her back into the pillows.

"Not if it has to start with me scaring myself to death," she said as she reached out with her hands to collect him to her.

The third night was worse as both Lana and Kincaid woke at the same instant, both feeling the shafts of intense emotion. Sobbing, Laria was struggling out of the twisted sheets of her bed when Kincaid arrived, tripping over the sheet he had 'ported with him in his haste. Laria shot up, reaching to steady him, and then they clung together until the spasms gradually eased.

I thinf^both sets of Dim pals-his tone was sharper than she had ever heard from him-need to go to the hibernatory. That smell ought to have alerted us. I remember it from 'Dims in our squadron. They've been having fun and games with us.

They have? Laria was astonished. She didn't want their new intimacy to be anyone's fun and games, even her devoted 'Dinis'.

Can you explain this any other way?

Are you angry with them?

Ah! His arms tightened about her, his lips turning up a soft smile as he gazed clown at her. I can't say that I am, dear heart, but I'll be d.a.m.ned if VII let them manipulate us like this. I can do without the panic triggers and ] know you can.

She glanced over her shoulder, half expecting to see two bright poll eyes watching them. They're fast asleep, she said, seeing only the two lumps to one side of her wide bed.

And so were Plus and Nit when 1 staggered out of bed, but that doesn't keep them from conniving dreams. You'd have had more experience with 'Dim dreaming than I.

Not I. My parents were the first to have 'Dim dreams. Tip and Hufhave always given me nice dreams.

My pair f^ept me from going crazy on the Valparaiso, Kincaid allowed, his tone puzzled now. Tomorrow we'll tafye all four to the hibernatory and see what their condition is. D'you want to bet they've used their s.e.x drive to stimulate ours?

Laria tried very hard not to giggle at the outrage in Kincaid's tone. Of course, he could feel the rising laughter in her under his hands, and he held her off to look into her face.

And it worked, she said meekly just before a chuckle broke from her lips.

All right, all right, he said, rocking her from side to side in his arms. I'll give in. Will you?

She hesitated, not quite sure how to handle this because she had no intention of forcing herself on Kincaid, despite how deep her feelings for him had become. She felt him begin to withdraw and tightened her arms about his neck.

I just want to be sure you want to too.

I do. And she couldn't doubt he meant it.

The next morning, just as false dawn lit the skies, they hauled all four 'Dims into the ground car and drove them to the nearest hibernatory.

I.

an The large keeper, unusually gaunt tor ;i Mrdini of its age, took one look at the quartet and started scolding them.

HOW DARK COLORS GKT INTO SUCH CONDITION'., MAKING SUCH DEAD SMKLLS! NI'L, PLS ARK YOUNGER, HUT TU> AND HGK KNOW WHEN SMELL TOO MAD. WHY DKLAY? THIS SI'KCIAL TLMK AND SPECIAL PLACE THIS TIME. DELAY CAUSE PROBLEMS. COULD BE ALL WRONG. TIMING IS ESSENTIAL NOW ()[* ALL "LIMES. Railing at them angrily, the keeper pushed them ahead of il - swatting first Kmcaid's Plus and then Tip, Nil and Huf because they weren't moving fast enough to suit it - through the door, which was emphatically slammed shut.

As much amused by the scolding their friends bad received as relieved by the knowledge they had acted properly, Rincaid and Laria locked arms and made their way back to their ground vehicle.

Such dead smells? Rincaid said rhetorically, grinning. Could cause great problems?

They did smell and they were trying to put something over on us.

And succeeded very well, didn't they, dear heart?

I concur, dear man. I concur.

He stopped and, in the peculiarly pellucid light of C'larf, looked deeply into her eyes and touched her mind.

If they were the problem, Laria . . .

She caught his hands. * haven't asked for any promises, Kincaid. I am first and always your friend.

Yes, that you are, dear heart. That you always are. Then he gave her a gentle push toward the ground car and he drove them back to the Tower.

The Was.h.i.+ngton hung behind the largest of the three moons that circled the subject planet, while probes began their exploratory flights. Thian had control of those investigating the planet while Clancy and Semirame Kloo had sent theirs to the sphere set in a geosynchronous...o...b..t above what appeared to be the same sort of flat field used for Hiver scout s.h.i.+ps on the Xh-33 Hiver world.

"That s.h.i.+p is ancient," Clancy reported to Admiral As.h.i.+ant, who w;is seated behind the Talents' couches.

"It is?"

"The hull's pitted," Rame Kloo added. And that odd covering they use on their spheres A II II 6.

has all worn away. Never seen that before. We should ask the 'Dinis about such erosion."

"I'll send a message to Captain Spktm on the KSTS," Clancy said, and gestured tor Rame to continue searching without him tor a moment.

"Can yon get inside the sphere, Commander?" the Admiral asked Kloo, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, as he peered at the screen which did indeed show the deterioration of the surface of the I liver vessel.

"Indeed we can. sir," Ramc said. "They left a door open for us," she added in a droll voice.

The Admiral recoiled slightly in reflex as the probe dove fora jagged hole in the exterior. For a moment, the screen was black. Then the probe's lights came on and displayed the now-familiar drive area, did a sweep and then focused on the hull fragments from the hole littering the deck.

"Just what we need," Clancy said and activated the probe's sweeper to collect the debris. "I'll )ust 'port them to the lab, sir, and we should get an estimate of its age from forensic examination.

"I'll tell them to expect it," the Admiral said, raising his wrist com to his lips.

"If you wouldn't mind, sir," Clancy said, grinning to himself. Sometimes he had the notion that Admiral As.h.i.+ant felt somewhat at a disadvantage in the presence of the Talents. "Spktm is querying its experts on the deterioration of the sphere's skin. It'll come back if it has any information."

"Ah, here we arc, sir," Thian said, gesturing to the screens he had just activated, showing pictures of the surface taken by the probes he was controlling. "Odd."

"What's odd?" the Admiral asked, lowering the com now that he had contacted the lab technicians.

"I'd've expected a much larger facility if this planet has been settled as long as the age oi the s.h.i.+p seems to indicate."

"Yes, you're right in that. The Xh~33 had a much larger installation near its field. Can you see the entrances to the underground scout storage?"

Thian shook his head. One probe swooped lower to the ground and then quartered the field area. Thian halted it a few centimeters above the ground.

"I can just make out a long seam, sir. . ."

"Yes, yes, and covered with sand or dust or whatever."

"Hangars don't look to have been opened in a long while," Thian said.

"No, they don't."

"And if you'll look to the other screen, sir, there doesn't seem to be as much under cultivation."

"Is this colony then dying?"

"Doesn't look to be, not with those flouris.h.i.+ng crops which seem to be well tended. In fact, it's a rather nice world, Admiral. There's a good balance between cultivated and fallow fields. See that stretch just coming up ... and forestry. And that lake . . . lovely. Almost Arcadian," Thian remarked.

"Arcadian?" the Admiral echoed. "What's its designation on the Mrdini star maps."

"Huh? Oh. Let me see." Thian tapped a few keys before he said, "Cj-70."

As.h.i.+ant gave a disapproving grunt deep in his throat. "Shame to stick to alpha numerics on it, pretty as it is. Let's refer to it as Arcadia. Agreed?"

'Willingly, sir," Thian said obligingly, and keyed in a subst.i.tution. 'However, it's certainly not as active as Xh-33 was."

To this the Admiral agreed, seeing the neatly weeded rows of greenery, the adjacent field sporting some dark purply-green foliage. Go on, will you, Thian?"

And Thian sent his two probes, in opposite directions, skimming over the surface at a height of twenty meters. In each screen, they saw several of the collection squares, none as big as those on Xh-33 but substantial enough. Finally the right-hand screen showed movement and homed in on it. Workers were trundling along in their ordered phalanx down to yet another collection point. The creatures were head to tail, moving on six limbs at a brisk trot. Two more limbs were c.o.c.ked at each "head" and the watchers could see the specialized arrangement of trowel and fork.

"Thosecreatures aren't as large as theories Rojer recorded on Xh-33, are they?" As.h.i.+ant said, puzzled.

"No, they don't seem to be," Thian concurred, and activated another screen with the relevant disk of Rojer's exploration of that planet. "Much smaller."

"But carrying the same sort of tools, so they're similar 10 the XH-.3.3 workers. Why would they be smaller?"

"I haven't a clue, sir. Shall I get one oi the xenbios in here:"

"Aren't you projecting all this on their lab screens?"

"I am, but there's no reason you can't have a running report on their a.s.sessment."

"Ask Lieutenant Weiman and 'Dini (Jrm to join me at the Talent post, will you?" Admiral As.h.i.+ant said into bis wrist com, his eyes not leaving the screen.

While they were waiting for the specialists to arrive, As.h.i.+ant gave Thian a curious look. "Would you mind my asking you"-his glance included the other Talents-"a little more about Talent? I mean, I know that Primes do both telepathy and teleport over enormous distances, but Clancy here's a T-2 and 1 know he 'paths as well as 'ports and . . ." As.h.i.+ant shrugged, his rugged face indicating a sincere desire for a full briefing on the distinctions.

Thian grinned, saw Clancy reddening and Kloo trying hard not to grin.

"It's basically a difference in strength and length, and combinations of inherent skills, sir. I can "path or 'port with or without generator gestalt. Clancy's got more kinetic ability than telepathic, and while he s strong in kinetics, he can't really 'path or receive far, even in gestalt, but his abilities multiply mine. And Kloo. Now she didn't know she was a latent Talent until the Phobos examination. At first she could only f 11 11 m send." Thian smiled again at Kloo rolling her eyes over her discovery of latent abilities. "Now she can receive, and come in to add strength to our"-he pointed to Clancy--''merge. Alison Ann was a T-S em path, but she's advanced in skill, learning to'port as well as 'path, but her initial ability made her a superb nurse."

"It's a.s.sociation with us lot that's improved her at least a full grade up," Clancy said, slyly grinning at Thian.

"It does help to be continually in use, as it were, sir. Our father, Afra Lyon, was originally a T-.3, but constant a.s.sociation with our grand-mother increased his skills to T-2. He may even be as close to Prime as he wants to get."

Clancy made a grimace of surprise.

"Not that he'd admit it," Thian went on. "However, two T~2's, one with more telepathic strength, the other with kinetic, like Yoshuk and Nesrun on Sef, or the Bastianmajanis, Flavia's parents, on Altair, mesh Talent so well they are all but equal to Prime. My sister Zara, as another example, has both kinetic and telepathic ability but her empathic level is too high for her ever to be a Tower Prime. Like Hli*.ara, she's best fitted for the medical and healing profession. So not all T-]"s can automatically he Tower Primes . . . which, as you know, sir, FT&T badly needs."

As.h.i.+ant nodded and gestured for Thian to continue. Below the 2's, you get variations of the abilities to 'port or 'path, sometimes just one and not the other at all. Or some can receive but not send. Or send a fair distance on a gestalt but not receive. T-*Ts are useful as aids to T-2's or Primes. There are far more T-4's and downward available as backup, but they don't have the inherent stamina, even in connection with a gestalt, to work on their own, or for very long. However, engineers from T-4 down are apt to work solo anywhere and We've a lot of choice among them."

I thought that your cousin Asia"-As.h.i.+ant turned to Clancy- trained with Rojer as engineer."

Yes, she did, sir, and is on the (Columbia as T-4 and will probably get a post on a Tower."

"That's just the Federated Teleport and Telepath side of Talent," Thian went on. "Sometimes we get T-2 rank for clairvoyants, finders and empaths. FT&T tries to contact anyone with latent Talent, a.s.sess and train them. Some are better off going into private firms where their particular level of other aspects of Talent, like dowsing or affinities to water and tire, makes them invaluable to their employers."Thian made a face and scratched the back of his head. "I know my grandfather's trying to lure some of the higher ranks away from commerce and industry because F'T&T never expected to expand so heavily into this sort of a.s.signment. . ." Thian gestured to indicate the Was.h.i.+ngton and naval duty.

"d.a.m.ned glad FT&T permits it," As.h.i.+ant said, nodding his head and then giving Thian a wry smile. "Though I wouldn't have thought I'd admit that when you first came aboard."

Thian laughed out loud, remembering how many naval regulations and traditions he had set on their ears in his first few hours aboard the old Vadim. As.h.i.+ant grinned back and nodded his head.

"We've both learned a thing or two since then, haven't we, Isthian?" As.h.i.+ant said, using his Prime's full first name.

"I know I have, sir," Thian said. He turned toward the entrance to the Talent quarters. "The xenbees're here." A discreet knock on the door panel followed his words.

However, when As.h.i.+ant explained the reason for their summons, neither Weiman nor Grm could give him any answer to the puzzle.

"The queens activate whatever sort of worker they need for the task," Sam said, rubbing his chin while Grm, a dusty brown 'Dim, rocked gently on its flat feet. "I have been noticing, Admiral, that this planet doesn't seem to be as densely farmed as Xh-33."

"I have decreed"-the Admiral glanced about in a pseudopompous manner-"that this planet is to be referred to in all doc.u.mentation as 'Arcadia.' "

"That gives it more personality than Cj-70," Sam said with a big grin.

Grrn pondered this, fingering its chin. AGREE. AR-CA-DKH-A.

At that point, the Admiral's wrist corn bleeped quietly with an incoming message.

"Yes? Now that's very interesting. Thank you, Commander," As.h.i.+ant said. "They've dated the sphere by the deterioration of the metal fragments at five hundred and eighty years old."

"That's old!" Sam added a soft whistle. "What is the oldest sphere you ever encountered, Grin?"

"This one older than any seen," Grm replied in good Basic, still rocking on its feet. "We have only two hundred years fighting. That is much older." Now it shook its head up and down and clicked softly in its throat. "Far, far from homework! too."

"Rather daunting, actually," As.h.i.+ant murmured, "just how deeply have they penetrated our galaxy?"

The probes had entered the night side of the planet.

"Shall we continue, sir?"

"Yes, since I believe those probes are equipped for dark-vision. I want to know just how many collection points and queen installations there are, and where."