The Rowan
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Серия: Tower and the Hive #1
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «The Rowan». Краткое содержание книги:
The kinetically gifted, trained in mind/machine gestalt, are the most valued citizens of the Nine Star League. Using mental powers alone, these few Prime Talents transport ships, cargo and people between Earth's Moon, Mars' Demos and Jupiter's Callisto.
An orphaned young girl, simply called The Rowan, is discovered to have superior telepathic potential and is trained to become Prime Talent on Callisto. After years of self-sacrificing dedication to her position, The Rowan intercepts an urgent mental call from Jeff Raven, a young Prime Talent on distant Deneb. She convinces the other Primes to merge their powers with hers to help fight off an attack by invading aliens. Her growing relationship with Jeff gives her the courage to break her status-imposed isolation, and choose the more rewarding world of love and family.
Animals did not tan: humans did. Use of the pronoun implied a recognition of the pukha as an entity. Her conversations with it indicated a subliminal response - her alter ego speaking through the pukha? So far there had been no conflict with established ethics and morals.
Although constant discreet psychological testing revealed that the Rowan was basically a well-adjusted personality, the continued dependence on a pukha, which was usually abandoned once a child reached adolescence, could indicate a possible instability. A proven instability, even a suspected one, might put the quietus on any hope that the Rowan would make Prime. Lusena couldn't bear to think of the procedures that would ensue should the Rowan be considered an unstable Talent.
Not that dependence on a pukha was a real cause for alarm. Lonely children of ten had imaginary friends - it was a healthy development stage that should be passed through without trauma. The Rowan's pukha had certainly been a boon to the child and to her preceptors. Once the holiday was over, Lusena decided she would have to discuss a weaning process with the Medical Officer.
The next day dawned so bright that Lusena immediately arranged for a sail down the coast to a sea garden where the girls could safely indulge in some underwater exploration. Moria fretted during the short training session because she'd "done all this sort of thing so often before". Turian, the instructor, was handsome and far too intelligent to respond to Moria's coy attempts at flirting on the trip down. He pinned her with a cold stare and remarked that in his experience it was those who didn't listen to safety precautions who invariably made the mistakes underwater.
Once they had all submerged and were following Turian through the sea gardens, Lusena lightly touched the Rowan's thoughts and felt the girl's utter delight and pleasure in the experience. The Rowan was a strong swimmer. Clear, bright water was unlikely to summon memories of minta-stained mud.
It was exceedingly unfortunate that it was Moria who was caught by the sting-sheet which Turian had particularly warned them all against.
It was equally unfortunate that the Rowan was closest to her and remembered the first-aid measure. She rubbed Moria's stings with hands full of sand. (And that had been done kinetically though Lusena hoped she was the only one who noticed that at the moment of panic.) When the Rowan began the metamorphic massage which Lusena had taught her as being useful in reducing shock, Moria complained that the Rowan was deliberately bruising her feet. The accident put an end to the expedition and was, when Lusena reviewed the week later, the beginning of the trouble.
If Moria was somewhat mollified by being taken up in Turian's arms and jetted back to the sloop, it didn't help that he treated her like a silly, thoughtless adolescent. Fuel was poured on her wounded pride when he complimented the Rowan on her quick thinking and apt use of first-aid measures.
Lusena perceived that the Rowan was surprised at praise from any quarter and shrugged it off, but Lusena could tell the girl was pleased. Unfortunately, Moria noticed, and affected a little squeal as Turian, his expression worried, rubbed lotion on the long, thin sting welts. Also unfortunately, Moria proved to be one of the nine out of a thousand who had an allergic reaction to sting toxins and Turian cranked up the engine to get the girl to hospital with all dispatch.
The others took turns applying cool sea-water compresses to the malevolently swollen flesh. Moria had good reasons now to moan. "I think she did it on purpose," the Rowan confided to Purza that evening after Moria had been treated and then sedated. "I don't know what she's trying to prove, except that she's real silly, because Moria's no match for the woman Turian's living with," Lusena was a trifle surprised that the Rowan had dipped into Turian's mind that way. Or maybe she hadn't. Turian had allowed her to take a turn at the sloop's helm on the return voyage. They had been deep in discussion which might have covered more than the mechanics of powered sailing. The Rowan seemed to elicit information from a wide range of personalities.
"Moria's stupid," the Rowan remarked to the pukha, "but she's determined not to be limited to childish activities. Maybe I should warn Lusena to watch out. No?
"You don't think I should. Yes, I suspect you're right.
"Lusena doesn't miss much, does she?" And the Rowan giggled sleepily, for that moment very much a young girl.
That was the end of that evening's monologue. And Lusena had been warned. Moria was much improved the next day but quite genuinely not up to much activity.
Though the inflammation was reduced, the welts were raw and red.
Moria quickly became bored with her invalid state and Lusena suggested games. If Moria won she avidly wished to continue but once she started losing, she wanted to try something else. Emer and Talba were amenable, so was the Rowan during the morning. But, after lunch, in a partnered computer game which Moria and Emer lost to the Rowan and Talba, Moria accused the Rowan of cheating!
"You couldn't win by that much of a score unless you were cheating somehow. Talba's no good at this, so how could you possibly win?" Moria complained in a carrying snarl which brought Lusena instantly into the room.
None of the girls knew that the Rowan was Talented.
That had been one of the reasons Lusena had picked children who hadn't previously met the girl.
"Talba is so good at Fighter Pilot," the Rowan replied, putting a comforting arm about the younger girl. "You're just not able to adjust to having a partner: you want to dominate and you don't win this game by dominating." "You did cheat! You did!" Moria screamed, her face reddening and the sting marks turning dark suddenly.
Talba stared at them, horrified.
"Oh, you're really quite stupid, you know," the Rowan said in a tone that bore a strong resemblance to Siglen's.
"There is no way to manipulate the components of this program from an external source and there's absolutely no point in cheating in a childish game." Moria stared at her, too infuriated to do more than stutter. Then abruptly she got control of herself, her color abated, and she leaned forward in an ominous threatening posture. "How do you know there is no," and then her tone and accent mocked the Rowan's cool speech, "way to manipulate the components of this program from an external source if you didn't try?" The Rowan stared at her with contempt and pity, and then she took the distressed Talba by the hand.
"C'mon, we'll go for a walk on the beach until certain tempers calm down." Lusena recognized that as a suggestion out of her own book but she decided to deal with Moria now, and comfort Emer, who was as upset as her sister. "Rowan is quite accurate, Moria, that there IS no way to cheat at Fighter Pilot. It's a matter of cooperation and fast reflexes." It was possible, Lusena thought optimistically, that the drugs had had an adverse effect on Moria to make her act in such a volatile manner. Before the evening meal, she was contrite and managed a creditable apology to the Rowan on those grounds. The Rowan accepted - unfortunately almost too casually, for Moria hated to admit she might be in the wrong to a younger person - and appeared far more interested in the dinner menu.
Sometimes the Rowan could be extremely adult in her attitudes and perceptions, and then revert to childlike indifference. In this instance, she ought to have used more empathy with Moria, and didn't.
Lusena caught the expression on Moria's face and maintained a stronger presence when all four girls were together.
Moria was able to swim the next day and that evening they all went to the amusement park. The amenities for young people included a carousel which enchanted the Rowan: horses and bills and lionets and catarons and two amazing sea creatures that even the attendant could not identify. But the outside circles of beasts rose up and down with the motion of the carousel and if a rider caught ten of the brass rings, he won a free ride.