Pegasus In Space

In his initial report, General John Greene, on detached service to the Padrugoi Shuttle Squadron, crisply explained that he had possessed insufficient creditable data to present to his superiors: certainly nothing to suggest that a mutiny was being planned by Ludmilla Barchenka. He pointed out that the most sensitive of precognitive Talents, Amalda Vaden, had "seen" nothing. He himself had no vestige of the precognitive aspect of psionic Talent. On recent trips to and from Padrugoi, his interest had been caught by nebulous rumors from the grunts being returned to the surface. Nothing concrete, merely the vague and somewhat inarticulate mental anxiety of his passengers and the relief they felt when they had reached Earth again, as if they hadn't expected to survive. Enough, however, for him to become alert and to take such precautions as he could with a limited number of dedicated Talents. His personal doubts had been partially confirmed when Barchenka was so eager to clear the Station of all telekinetics and when she had "neglected" to send invitations to prominent personages like Justice Gordon Havers and Rhyssa Owen Lehardt. He was, however, aware of the grievances Barchenka harbored against those people that could certainly be the reason they had been excluded from the invitation list. When she began importing "additional catering staff," one of the Talents (Madlyn Luvaro) asked him to find out how large a catering staff for the Inauguration should be. He had privately instigated a check on the extra personnel that Barchenka was hiring to serve at the Inauguration ceremony. Except that few of them had had any previous catering experience and they all came from Slavic nations, he couldn't contest their employment. Their numbers, however, were far in excess of what a reputable catering firm would employ for a similar occasion.

Though Amalda, the Washington precog, could not give any substance to Johnny's "hunch," he decided to take certain precautions. If he was wrong, he could deal with that. Being right was unacceptable unless he prepared for that possibility. With the lowest grunt-level living quarters being closed down, it was relatively easy for Johnny to hide those who volunteered to remain on the Stationjust in case. Nor was it difficult for these men and women to infiltrate the larger air-conditioning conduits and stand a discreet vigil during the ceremony.

When, after the fact of the Mutiny, he taxed Mallie Vaden about her lack of "foresight," she replied in her own defense, "If the circumstances hadn't been altered by you, the Mutiny would have succeeded and I would have 'seen' it. Only you intervened so it didn't happen for me to 'see.' Simple!"

Barchenka's Mutiny had been stealthily plotted. For instance, her personnel manager, Per Duoml, had known nothing about it.

"As much because he was an honorable man-in his own way-and too upright to have condoned a takeover," Rhyssa remarked.

"Not that so much," Johnny Greene added in private to the other Talents after they had given their testimonies to the investigating committee, "as the fact that he had finally become disenchanted with our dear Ludmilla and, in the last month or so, had begun to distance himself."

"Did he do so because he suspected her mutiny?" Justice Havers asked. He would have loved to have sat on the tribunal appointed to hear Barchenka's case, but having been on the Station, he was considered prejudiced. Another prominent American jurist had been chosen for the panel of five.

"Couldn't say, Gordie," Johnny replied with one of his shrugs. "Duoml turned his office over to Coetzer's personnel manager the day before and was out of there like he couldn't wait to get downside." Johnny paused. "Of course, you might conclude that he knew something was up but he sure didn't want to be involved."

Fortunately, the subsequent mental probe of Duoml by Jerhattan LEO Commissioner Boris Roznine, who had been assigned to the unsavory duty by the international investigators, exonerated the man of any complicity.

"Writhing with distaste and considerable animosity toward Barchenka," Boris later told his twin brother, Sascha, "but without personal involvement. I think, though he hid it well, he had his suspicions. There're enough involved as it is. Including, and you'll love this, old Flimflam, Ponsit Prosit."

"Who?" Sascha gaped at Boris in astonishment. Sascha had deliberately put the scam artist out of his mind once the man had been assigned to Padrugoi as a janitor in the grunt level.

"Yup. Dirt loves dirt and he'd've loved doing the dirty on any Talent."

"Just don't," and Sascha paused significantly, "even think of that scuzball near Tirla."

Boris gave his brother a do-you-think-I'm-crazy look. "Nor in the vicinity of Rhyssa and Peter. They've all put that kidnapping behind them and it'll stay there."

"And Flimflam?" Sascha's voice and manner had hardened.

"Well," and Boris shrugged, "I don't think Barchenka trusted him any more than we do. He was supposed to do one of his brainwashing Religious Interpretation gigs on offenders, to get them to support her. I get the impression he isn't the least bit rehabilitated. Bets a lot, but there's no law against that up there. He can work all the scams he wants on offies and grunts. I warned Commander Ottey in Padrugoi security to watch out for any further problem from him and, well…" Boris left the rest of his sentence in the air. Sascha understood what wasn't said.