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.
"She'll get stale, bored, and while she's a sensible kid, it's not right to keep her twiddling her thumbs. She knows far more about Station mechanics and operational procedures than Siglen ever did.
"She's fully capable of Prime responsibilities right now and she isn't even at full adult strength." He shook his head slowly, fretfully.
"And that woman never gives her any real work." "Humph. She's jealous of the child, and you know it as well as Bralla and I do." "She's always going to be a child in Siglen's lexicon. I often wonder," and Gerolaman scratched his jaw, "if it wouldn't have been better to have sedated the child and taken her to Earth when you had the chance." "Oh, no," Lusena said, sitting upright in contradiction.
"You weren't there. You didn't see the terror in her face when we tried to get her to board the shuttle. And her mind was chaotic with fear. That's why Siglen intervened.
"She wouldn't have otherwise, I assure you. That was the only time I've ever seen Siglen worried about someone other than herself! And you know that Primes are agoraphobes. Look at the breakdown David of Betelgeuse went through. And Capella! They had awful voyages to their stations." Gerolaman scratched his head thoughtfully. "Well, Siglen sure was sick. I came on the same ship and there was more medical staff than Station personnel, from the Moon onward. Though I thought at the time, she was hoping they wouldn't send her to Altair. She was so sure that she'd be Earth Prime if she just hung around long enough down at the Blundell Building," he said in a dissatisfied grumble.
Then he picked up the sheaf of hard copy, the records of the incoming group. "I think something's going to happen soon, though.
"Look, every one of the repeats is someone the Rowan worked well with in the courses. Ray Loftus, Joe Toglia: they've been transferred from Capella with excellent ratings. Reidinger's tagged three for me to vet as potential Stationmasters. He hasn't done that before.
"Devious, that man is. Pure devious." "If only he'd tell the Rowan, maybe she wouldn't spend so much time fretting." "You take her off to Favor Bay, just as you planned.
"Give her a good break, and come back in time for her to show these lamebrains up in the troubleshooting phase." Lusena started to smile at the relish in Gerolaman's malicious anticipation and then sighed. "If she were just a little more subtle with her corrections, a little less forceful in her opinions." Gerolaman raised his eyes in surprise and waggled a finger at the woman. "Station crew measure up to their Prime, you know that, Lusena. That's what all this is about. They support the Prime, they assist the Prime and the Prime calls the plays.
"Primes aren't in it for popularity awards. They've got to be tough on everyone and are usually tougher on themselves." He made a slicing motion with his hands. "That's the way it's got to be or FT amp;T falls apart. Let that happen and then the League has a wedge to gain control. FT amp;T won't function half as well as a bureaucracy, with this system or that system throwing its weight around and demanding preferential thises and thats. FT amp;T is strictly first-come, first-served: high, low, or middle men get the same considerations." "I do," and Lusena gave a rueful sigh, "but I don't forget that she's a lonely child, and always has been." "But not for always. Yegrani promised." "A promise which is a long time coming." With that Lusena left the Stationmaster's office. "And I have guarded the guardian," she muttered to herself with considerable satisfaction.
Favor Bay in the full height of spring was glorious and Lusena noticed that the Rowan began to brighten as soon as she stepped from the groundcar.
"The only thing wrong with this place," the Rowan said, glancing about and then pulling windswept silver hair off her face, "is that I can't bring Rascal with me." "He doesn't seem to mind being left with Gerry," Lusena replied.
"True cupboard love," the Rowan said with a wry grin, "so long as you feed me, I love you." Lusena laughed. "Partly, but he is affectionate with you and runs to the door whenever he hears you coming. He never notices me even when I feed him and he only tolerates Gerolaman." The Rowan made a skeptical noise in her throat, and turned to 'port first Lusena's baggage and then her own up to their respective rooms. "Someday it would be nice to have something who loved me! Not the Rowan Prime, not the provider, but me! Someone preferably." Lusena replied in the same objective tone of voice.
"You're eighteen now."
"Are we sure of that?" "Medically, yes," Lusena said with a tartness in her reply. The Rowan still yearned to discover the minor details most people grew up knowing: birthdate, family name, family background.
"Not many people here in Favor Bay know that you're Talented, much less Altair's coveted young Prime. You've always been here as part of a family group. You're fully old enough to do a bit of private research." The Rowan regarded Lusena with a wide-eyed smile.
"Siglen would have apoplexy if she heard you say that! Persons with our Talents and responsibilities cannot indulge in gross physical activities." Her mimicry was devastatingly accurate.
"Gross physical, indeed," and Lusena laughed. "Oh, I shouldn't laugh at her, but really, Rowan, Siglen is not temperamentally, or physically, suited to enjoying the "finer emotions in life". Even if she recognized them…"
"Whereas you're a slender young."
"Fey-looking, isn't that what that redheaded Earth kinetic in last year's course called me?" The Rowan shot Lusena a challenging look.
"Fey is attractive." Lusena refused to budge from that interpretation.
They were in the house now and the Rowan peered at her features in the hall mirror. "I could dye my hair!" "Why not?" "Indeed, and why not?" They tried several shades but, although the Rowan would have preferred to wear long black tresses, she didn't have the right skin tone to go brunette. So they settled on a mid-blonde. For summer wear, the Rowan decided to have short curly hair as well and the result pleased them both.
"Any improvement?" the Rowan wanted to know, twisting a curl to curve down on to her brow.
"Piquant! Fashionably sensible. Now, go enjoy yourself. The color's guaranteed not to fade in sun or sea." "I'll just swim and sun a bit: to make sure the claim is accurate. Coming along?" "Not today," and Lusena shooed the Rowan on her way.
There was a good deal to be ordered for the food preparation unit.
Some visitors were not as scrupulous in replenishing stocks when they left.
A leisurely swim, time to adjust her skin tone to a decent tan, greatly improve the Rowan's mood. She and Lusena dined out and several men cast admiring looks in their direction.
"You're sure no-one here knows who I am?" "Not likely. Besides, even Gerolaman would have to look twice to recognize you right now. Oh," and here Lusena shrugged her shoulders, "it's suspected that you might have some Talent, but then a third of the planet can lay claim to some sort of minor Talent." "It'd even be nicer to be me and not have to worry about that sort of thing at all."
Lusena wasn't sure if the Rowan had spoken that wistful sentence aloud or not. Over the years, Lusena had occasionally "heard" purely mental comments but she'd never mentioned it to save the Rowan any embarrassment at having been overheard. On the other hand, it signified the girl's complete trust in her. Lusena had never regretted these fifteen years, though now and then both Bardy and Finnan had unkind words about her dedication.
That was why, two days later, when Bardy's husband, Jedder Holey, advised that her daughter had gone into an early labor, Lusena felt obligated to leave immediately to Haleys' claim site on the eastern edge of the Great Southern Wastelands.
"If I tag along, Bardy'll be upset," the Rowan told her firmly. "Bardy needs you by yourself. You said I'm old enough to manage for myself. And you did say," the Rowan went on, overriding Lusena's objections, "that no one knows exactly what or who I am so I'm perfectly safe.