"Forgot about him," Petra said, turning glum. "Do we have to have him here? It"s E"s and my turn to have you," she added, looking sternly from one parent to the other. "We"ve waited long enough."
"When wereyow ever neglected?" demanded Morag tartly.
"I said, that"s enough," Afra repeated, adding a mental quietus. "Good hunt, today? Where"d you go?"
"Larla"s valley. It hasn"t been hunted in just ages," Morag said. "** has been neglected . . ." She cast a daring glance at her father. "So the hunting was good."
Afra regarded his daughter with such a long thoughtful look for her impudence that she turned her whole attention to her dinner plate.
She needs more worl{ and responsibility, Damia said, though her tone was amused by her daughter"s clever wordplay.
The rest of the evening pa.s.sed without incident, Damia and her daughters making certain the guest quarters, private from the main living area, were in order for the new arrival. Both Afra and Damia felt that a man of twenty-four would want to live nearer the city with all its possibilities of entertainment, though he would need to stay at Tower House until he"d found accommodations.
"You"re Vagrian Beliakin, aren"t you?"
Since the words were spoken close to a tone that was almost a challenge, Beliakin looked up at the woman who had stopped at his table. He felt her shields resist his initial touch. She was only marginally attractive and he was far too involved with Tarmina d"Estes to need to seek additional female companionship.
"I"m T-2 and a far sender," she said, with a twist of her lips that bordered on mocking.
Beliakin rose and gestured for her to be seated opposite him. He had chosen a table well away from the other Talents enjoying meals in the s.p.a.cious and restfully decorated Blundell dining room. He had had an exhausting morning with Gollee Gren, and really did not want any company. But she had in effect challenged him, he had to respond, however briefly.
"Clarissia Negeva," she said, sliding awkwardly into a chair.
Nerves, Vagrian thought, and gave her one of his rea.s.suring smiles. Her reaction was a deep flush of blood to her face, and she averted her gaze to some point over his left shoulder. She"d be easy, he thought.
"I lasted longer at Clarf Tower than you did," she said, composing herself and her telltale color, clasping thin hands in front of her on the table and leaning toward him. Now she regarded the pulse in his throat rather than his face.
"Did you?" He fought to stifle the burst of anger her comment roused in him. He had been given to understand by Gollee Gren that the abortive incident had been expunged from the record. His common sense took over. Tarmina certainly hadn"t known, nor had any other of those he had been in contact with. All the testers had a.s.sumed he was being rea.s.sessed. He was certain that if that abortive mission were known, he"d"ve been aware of either ridicule or prurient interest. He managed to keep his expression pleasantly puzzled as a third consideration occurred to him. If somehow this Negeva woman had information that was not normally available to others in Blundell Tower, she might be worth cultivating. He intended to pay back Clarf Tower"s Prime no matter how long it took. "May I ask how you knew that I had been to Clarf?"
Her lips moved slightly, and although she did not give him a direct look, he felt positive that she too had a bone to pick with Laria Lyon.
"I have a friend, a good friend, in the yard," she said. "He had been on duty when you were "ported and saw your precipitous return. He thought I should be informed."
"Why?"
Even though Vagrian had come late to his Talent, he knew from his brother"s conversations at home that Talents did not generally avoid direct eye contact-since they could shield their true thoughts from all but the most determined invasion. In the point of courtesy on a first encounter, Negeva had neglected to offer him her hand . . . almost an insult between Talents. While he was not a strong "path, this close he could read her deep enough to find some reason for her approaching him. He ignored the fact that she"d been rattled by his smile: few women failed to respond-generally in positive ways. He resolved to make sure they made a tactile contact before she left his company.
She leaned even closer, lowering her voice, and now her eyes met his, anger and a sort of implacable hatred easy to note.
"That family dominates FT&T and they have no right to do so. They make arbitrary decisions and enforce them on us in an unjust and humiliating manner. They are weasel lovers, every single one of them!"
"You"re referring to the Gwyn-Raven-Lyon clan?" he asked, lounging back in his seat because her breath was sour. Probably from the curdled enmity that festered in her skinny frame.
"Who elseP They have all the best Towers, all the best accommodations. They sit in judgment on every single Talent and they don"t. .. have . . . that . . . right!" Her eyes had narrowed and she had had to lower her voice as she stressed that opinion.
"Who"s to oppose them?" Beliakin asked.
"They haven"t enslaved all the T-l"s in our worlds."
"Really?" This was news to him.
"By no means. Nor all the T-2"s. Furthermore"-she gestured for him to close the gap between them-"they ignore the clairvoyant as if they were dirt."
"And there has been a prediction that the mighty will fall?" he asked, feigning a hopeful antic.i.p.ation.
"Of course. The higher they are, the harder they will fall. And fall they will. Then we will a.s.sume our rightful positions in the Towers, and annul the infamous Alliance. We have no more need of those .. . creatures!" She gave a shudder of repugnance.
"Disgusting," Beliakin said ambiguously.
"And giving worlds we Humans discovered with our advanced technology to ... them . . . when we are to be given what"s left over is intolerable. No more promising colony sites can be so summarily mgiven away Our future generations will be denied their rights of expansion on worlds that have been just handed over to ... them."
Beliakin tightened his shields against this woman"s intrusion, though it occurred to him simultaneously that she was so wrapped up in her angry spiel that she was taking no notice of his reactions. Personally, he had no objections to the Mrdini. She was patently xenophobic. That species had taken the brunt of centuries of war against the Hivers. Their long struggle should have some rewards. As far as he knew, the one world released to the Mrdini would have been too hot to be comfortable for Human residence. On the other hand, he didn"t like the Hivers at all, having taken an opportunity to see the queen imprisoned at Heinlein Moon Base. That creature revolted him more than "Dinis could-it and the scurrying forms that it had hatched from its mound of eggs. So the Mrdini were welcome to Talavera. The sun would fry an egg on a rock by midday. However, he was definitely curious about her group and wondered just how many Talents might be involved in any effort to overthrow the Primes. Though how that could be achieved was beyond him. On the other hand, reporting on their dissidence might be one way to nullify the Clarf disaster with FT&T.
"Are there many who feel as you . . . and I?" he asked in a low conspiratorial tone, as if he agreed with her opinions.
"More than you"d believe," she murmured. Then abruptly she rose. "I shall contact you. I shall use the word expunge so that you will know it is I contacting you and you will open your mind to me."
Not if I can help it, Beliakin thought, but he rose too, and tightly shielding his thoughts as he"d been taught, extended his hand. She regarded it suspiciously and he could certainly sense her hesitation without any benefit of Talent. Her fingers gave his a glancing touch. He gleaned very little from it, but enough to know that this Talent could be dangerous in her hatred of the Gwyn-Raven-Lyon family. As he watched her stalk-yes, that was the right word-out of the dining facility, he wondered if he could effect a revenge on Laria Lyon without being tainted by whatever devious plans Negeva and her group had in mind. That is, if these had not already been "seen" by other, more sensitive Talents. She was, however, a T-2, and a sender was apt to have better shielding from any but a T-l. What a very odd creature she was. And viciously xenophobic! Talents were supposed, by the very nature of their abilities, to practice tolerance. Of most things ... He finished his meal, discarded the dishes and made it to his appointment with Gollee Gren to see what his new a.s.signment was going to be. He wondered to which boondock he"d now be sent after his utter failure at Clarf. Hopefully where that wretched female couldn"t reach him, no matter how strong a sender she claimed she was. He did wonder, however, just how many agreed with her sentiments. Generally speaking-and it was why he was so jealous of Yoshuk-Talents enjoyed many more privileges and more prestige than any other profession in the galaxy. Few made full use of all such advantages. He intended to-that is, if he was any place where he could use the perks. What he found hard to understand in Negeva was why any disaffected person would wish to destroy . . . No, she didn"t wish destruction, she wished a larger role. Beliakin knew there were factions dissatisfied with the Alliance, with the distribution of colonizable worlds (once Hivers had been dispossessed) and with the Mrdini in particular. Since weasel haters generally had little if any contact with the "Dinis, he couldn"t see what upset them so much. In any event, he still had a score to even with Laria Lyon by whatever agency came his way, even as unattractive and virulent a one as Negeva. And he"d get Kincaid Dano at the same time. Whistling happily at such a prospect, he took the lift to the administrative level.
"Iota Aurigae?" Vagrian stared in disbelief at Gren.
"You"d be working with two of the top Talents in FT&T, you know," Gren said, "and I can a.s.sure you that the contretemps at Clarf will not be repeated. In fact, your kinetic ability is very much why you"re being posted there."
"I thought the family handled all traffic," Vagrian said, temporizing as he a.s.similated the fact. Such a posting had been so far out of possibility that he couldn"t believe it. Was this a tacit apology for Laria"s treatment? Damia and Afra Raven-Lyon offering him such a post to make amends for the vagary of their daughter? Considering its distance from the other main solar systems, (ota Aurigae could be considered a boondock, being a very recently developed mining world, but it was gaining prominence and expanding as the need for its ore resources increased. Topmost in his mind was the realization that he"d be able to hunt there-an activity frowned on by the more sophisticated worlds as archaic, or nonexistent as on Clarf, and one that he thoroughly enjoyed and excelled at. Afra was almost legendary as the Rowan"s T-2 partner until he married her daughter Damia Gwyn-Raven and they took over Iota Aurigae Tower, producing . . . what was it. . . eight T-l offspring? Or were all the kids gone now? Not that it mattered. If he proved his capabilities as a strong kinetic at their Tower, he"d achieve an enviable reputation at FT&T. And he might also just happen to find out how to get back at Laria. Nothing like the home ground to discover the precise way to wound her the most. He had absolutely no reservations about working with the Capellan T-2, but Damia was known to have inherited the same volatile temper as her mother, the Rowan. Well, most of the Primes he knew anything about had tempers. Came with the awesome responsibility, he supposed. Were they aware of his calamity at Clarf? Could there be an ulterior motive to that posting? Apart from rectifying their daughter"s unexpected rejection of him?
"The family has, until recently, handled the Tower," Gren was saying, and Beliakin paid attention, trying to catch any shielded thought. Gren did have unusually tight barriers, but his public mind was quite open as he went on. "As you probably know, all the Raven-Lyon children are T-l"s, so they are a.s.signed off-planet to broaden their experience. They"re down to the two youngest, who are not old enough to a.s.sist as fully. You would be working with several indigenous Aungaeans who had breakthrough stimulation similar to your own- a mining accident in their"case." Gren"s expression was rueful. "It"s easier if one comes less abruptly to the emergence of Talent, but we can use every one we can cla.s.sify. Both Damia and Afra have had experience with bringing on latent Talents."
"Yes, of course," Beliakin said, realizing some comment on his part would be courteous.
"That also was a factor in a.s.signing you to Iota Aurigae. A T-2 of your kinetic strength is such a find for FT&T at this particular moment in time"-Gren smiled in a manner that bordered on apology-"that perhaps we might have pushed you a tad too quickly where your abilities were most needed, with the ma.s.s of material Clarf Tower"s had to process lately. The Lyons-and rightly-are treated with great caution and respect. It wasn"t easy to find suitable Talents for Clarf."
Gren sounded sincere, Beliakin thought. Perhaps Clarissia Negeva had simply not been up to the work on Clarf and transferred before she could mess things up. Or the Prime hadn"t liked her. That was more understandable. Negeva was not an attractive person . . . and xenophobic too. Not a good mind-set for working on Clarf. Perhaps he should avoid any further contact with her. Their cases were not at all similar.
"There"s also good hunting on Iota Aurigae, which is, I realize from your transcript, one of your avocations. Tower House has an excellent stable and the hills are full of game, large and small and not so easy to bring down, I might add." Gren"s lips twitched as if he was remembering unsuccessful experiences. "Damia has issued an invitation for you to stay with the family if you wish-though there are new and well-appointed apartments in the city and transport would be no problem for you." He consulted his notepad, checking off another item. "Living accommodation is in addition to your salary, and you have the usual privileges of importing whenever drone s.p.a.ce is available. It usually is. Drones may be full enough leaving Iota Aurigae, but they"re mainly empty on the return trip. Personal effects above and beyond what will fit in a personnel carrier will be forwarded . . ." Beliakin waved aside that consideration, since he had little in the way of impedimenta and no wish to import anything from a homeworld that had little to recommend it except that he had escaped its bucolic lifestyle. "Would you be agreeable to leaving here at twenty-two hundred hours?"
"Today?"
"Yes, if that"s convenient. You"d arrive late afternoon at Aurigae and be able to settle in before dinner." Gren regarded him and then added, "I believe there"re six big daddies-as they call the ore transports-to be heaved to Betelgeuse tomorrow, so you"d have a chance to demonstrate your kinetic abilities. Which, may I say, are the strongest we"ve ever measured in a latecomer."
While Vagrian Beliakin knew this to be very true, he accepted that a.s.sessment modestly. Gren flipped down the cover of his notepad to indicate the formal interview was over, and stood.
"I am certain that Iota Aurigae Tower will appreciate your presence and your willingness to accept the posting on so little advance notice."
As Beliakin reached the door, considerably relieved, Gren had a final comment.
"You also have the best wishes of Earth Prime and his regrets that he could not be present at this hour to wish you well."
If that was an additional apology for the humiliation Beliakin had suffered at the whimsy of Earth Prime"s granddaughter, Vagrian accepted it in a gracious manner. He might come out of that initial disaster well ahead in FT&T. He would certainly bend every effort to do so.
"You"re just getting us out of the way before Beliakin gets here," Morag said fiercely, although she wanted to get to Clarf as fast as her parents seemingly wished her there.
"How old are you?" her mother asked, with a slight strain showing in her patience.
"Well, he"s supposed to be absolutely gorgeous . . ." Morag said wistfully.
Afra laughed. "A good seven years your senior, love, and far too practiced a-" ^ "Lover," Damia said bluntly, "for my young and relatively inexperienced daughter." She c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at Morag, making it plain that she was aware of Morag"s experiments with young miners in the capital city.
Morag made nervous adjustments of her personal belongings under the couch of the carrier rather than meet her mother"s shrewd and knowing eyes.
"You"ve been well instructed on how to handle .. . such matters," Damia went on. "Do not fail to protect both yourself and the object of your affections."
I.
"No, Mother," Morag said solemnly, for she vividly recalled the pain in Damia"s eyes when, in the course of handling her daughters" s.e.x education, she had confessed the terrible damage she had inadvertently done her first young lover.
"No, Mother," Kaltia agreed as quietly.
"There is quite a large Human Compound on Clarf now, so I suspect that there will be opportunities for a social life while you"re there." Damia hugged first Morag and then Kaltia, keeping an exceedingly tight hold on how much she would miss them, despite their sibling bickering. There had been a certain justice in Petra"s remark that she and Ewain would have more of their parents" time now. Both she and Afra intended to spend more time with the two youngest of their brood. Indeed, Damia was not too old . . .
You may not be, lover, but I most certainly am, Afra inserted into her mind, with such intensity that she had to keep from laughing at his vehemence.
Then it was Afra"s turn to bid his daughters farewell and he held each for a long moment in his arms before he released them to enter the personnel carrier. Their "Dims were chattering excitedly about actually getting to Clarf, the Mrdini homeworld.
Xexo and Keylarion smiled and grinned as the cover locked into place. There was no need for the practiced Talents of Iota Aurigae to return to their Tower couches to speed the light carrier on its way. But all could hear the generators change tone as first Damia alerted Laria at Clarf Tower that her sisters were on their way, and then father and mother sent the carrier on its almost instantaneous long-distance journey. Xexo muttered something about an odd squeal from Generator B and Keylarion said she"d best check that the big daddies would be ready to ship once they had this strong kinetic Talent in the Tower.
"Have we time for lunch before they send Beliakin on?" Afra asked.
"Gollee said he wouldn"t arrive until the girls were away," Damia said. "Twenty-two hundred hours Earth time."
"Midafternoon here, then. We"ve time for lunch and a swim."
"We"ve enough from the last hunt?"
n
11.
Afra sighed with amus.e.m.e.nt. "I"m not sure there"ll be any left for this Beliakin. Gollee says he likes to hunt."
"Well, we certainly won"t stand in the way of that, now will we?" She started back to the house.
"How long did he and Clarissia talk?" Jeff Raven asked Gren.
"Not long, but perhaps long enough."
"What was his reaction to his posting?"
Gollee chuckled, crossing his legs at the ankles and relaxing. "He was startled because he certainly didn"t expect to be at a major Tower, especially at the one managed by the father and mother of the woman who humiliated him so. From the first I"ve maintained that Laria"s rejection is known only to you, me and Clarf Tower, which has not even mentioned it. If he thinks we"ve told Damia and Afra, and they"re in some way expiating their daughter"s rejection, all to the good . . . unless of course Damia reads it in him."
"She"s got the capability," Jeff said, "but she"s got to have a strong kinetic, and both Afra and Damia know the pressures Laria"s under. Considering how Beliakin comes on to women, my hindsight is now clear enough to realize that his brand of charisma would put Laria"s hackles up."
"True," Gollee said, grinning. "He certainly cut a swath through the feminine complement of Blundell Tower. Tarmina allowed as how-" Gollee grinned-"he"s most unusual."
Jeff chuckled. "She"d know."
"She"s offered to take on any others like him anytime you choose."
"She would." Jeff caught Gollee"s tilted eyebrow. "None of that, Gren. I know she tried to get you in bed too. If I wasn"t well married to Rowan, I should have been sorely tempted."
"At least Tarmina takes refusal in good part," Gollee said, clearing his throat. "If we could be sure Beliakin might forgive and forget, I"d rest easier."
"I count on Damia"s expertise as well as her immunity to the sort of charisma Beliakin dispenses. You handled this well, Gollee, and I appreciate it. However, did you perceive how susceptible he might be to what Clarissia"s group is peddling?"
Gren snorted. "Depending on his success at Iota Aurigae, plus the fact that Clarissia was exactly the wrong female personality to make contact with him, I doubt he"d jeopardize what could be a very useful career with FT&T She"s her own worst enemy, that one, even if she thought she could capitalize on Beliakin"s abrupt dismissal from Clarf. Though how she knew of that needs to be discovered."
"d.a.m.n." Jeff swung his gimbaled chair from side to side in an agitated manner, running his hand through his thick dark hair. "It"s so much more to our advantage to catch Talents young enough so that the basic conditioning is completed. A wild card like Beliakin could prove very dangerous, especially in today"s volatile political and economic situations."
"Well, he"s in the best place for some fine tuning, Jeff. And if he does well there, there"s any number of postings where he"d be invaluable. I think that"s the ploy to use . . . support that ego of his, nurturing it until what the dissidents offer wouldn"t tempt him."
"It"s that ego of his I worry about." Jeff slapped one fist on the desktop. "Stupid of me to a.s.sume the man would have sense enough to be tactful. At least until he"d settled into Clarf Tower. He was so deferential to Rowan."
"Who isn"t?" Gollee said with a laugh. "And if he managed to fool her . . ." Gren let his sentence trail off. "Your children tend to find their own mates, Jeff. And so far, they"ve done exceedingly well. Give your grandkids the same leeway."
Jeff made a face. "My dynastic leanings arc obvious, aren"t they?"
"The Gwyn-Raven line is not the only one to produce T-l"s." Gren paused. "Just the most reliable."
All four of the senior Tower staff at Iota Aurigae were in the yard when Vagrian Beliakin"s personnel carrier was gently cradled. His ear caught I.
the contented purr of generators that had had little to do with his transport. The lid was cracked and crisp cool air with a mountainy tang to it flooded in.
That was enough right there to please him after the blast of hot air that had greeted him on Clarf.
"Welcome to Iota Aurigae, Vagrian Beliakin," said one of the most stunning women Beliakin had ever seen. And not just beautiful in a cla.s.sic way, but so vital that she seemed to have an almost visible aura around her. To his surprise, she extended her hand and he found himself responding, while all his initial impressions were reinforced by rich*green*spice in that deft, but far too short, contact. "I"m Damia Lyon. This is my husband, Afra."
The lean man, much, much older than Damia, smiled in warm greeting as he extended his hand. Vagrian was still so shaken by touching the Prime that he almost missed the strength of Afra s equally electric contact.
What a pair, Beliakin thought, as deeply as he could keep such a startled a.s.sessment. The mother was so dramatically different from Laria that he couldn"t believe they were related, save for the distinctive white lock all Gwyn-Raven-Lyon offspring seemed to have. Until he took a second, longer look at Afra. Then he saw where Laria had inherited her looks.
"Let me introduce you to Keylarion, our station expediter." Though the woman-probably the same age as Damia-touched hands with him, he got very little more than deep blue and pine.
"Xexo here is our engineer." Damia now presented the gnarled older man who stepped forward.