Pegasus In Space

"Yes, you're quite right." Dorotea was prompt to admit mistakes. Even those she made. "If you'd just go up to the main house and get Sascha to give you some strands, you can weave them into her hair yourself."

"Yes, Sascha would have strands, wouldn't he?" Tirla said and, flipping her own long black hair with its security strand over her shoulder, briskly strode out of the house on her errand. "And I'll make him get an ID bracelet for Maree. Like an hour ago!"

"She's mute right now as far as telepathy is concerned," Dorotea told Rhyssa when she dropped by after Amariyah had gone to bed, exhausted by an exciting day. Dorotea pursed her lips. "We have, however, come to a compromise about how she will address me. Dida Tea is formal enough for her convent-trained sensibilities and it at least sounds like my name." Then Dorotea went on more thoughtfully. "She might have some kinetic ability although she didn't display any while we were weeding. She'd never seen daffodils. She's been poring over garden encyclopedias like the print would fade." She beamed over having another ardent plant lover as a companion. "Never thought those old printed books would be more than a curiosity. I noticed today that some of the print is fading. Or at least some of the color 'graphs in them. I've tried to explain to Amariyah about common and Latin designations of flowers. My Latin's rusty but Tirla and I did show her how to access Dictionary. She's been looking up all the big words as if her life depended on it. I think we'll plan a little trip to the Botanical Gardens once she's more acclimated to this part of the world."

"D'you think she's homesick for Bangladesh or the Sisters?"

Dorotea shook her head. "She may be later on when the novelty wears off. She asked to write to the Sisters. I must get the address from you. Oh, and she did smile at Peter tonight. Just a little smile but enough to reassure me that she knows how."

"Don't fret that, Dorotea. She must be a little overwhelmed by her change in circumstance. Have you told her about her… lack of blood kin?"

"No, I didn't. She's far too involved with differentiating asphodilus, which is Latin, from narkissos, which is Greek, in case you didn't know."

"I didn't," Rhyssa said, rising and beating a strategic retreat.

When, four months later, the earth warmed in spring sunlight, Dorotea and her new ward had become fast friends, despite the age difference. Ted Comer was also taken with the solemn little girl and was cajoled into giving her a garden plot all her own. He'd planned to put it into zinnias, which were not Dorotea's favorite flower, but Amariyah had endeared herself to him by naming every single shrub, tree, and greening plant by their Latin names.

"I couldn't stop her learning. She's inhaling gardening terms," Dorotea said in an aside to the surprised groundsman.

"I've some seeds I can give her."

"Any vegetables?" Dorotea asked, eyeing him. "She seems to feel that we are lacking in kitchen garden space."

Ted looked stunned.

"I do plan to take her to the greenhouses," Dorotea went on. "She wasn't that impressed with flowers and trees and shrubs being stuck indoors in the conservatory but she took the point that some of them wouldn't flourish in the open."

Ted nodded with the vigor of someone who doesn't quite understand what he has just been told.

"We can let her have both, can't we? Vegetables and flowers?"

"If it makes the little girl happy, I ain't agin it," Ted replied.

Only after she had planted it to her satisfaction did Amariyah show Tirla her garden. Tirla pretended a keen interest that took Dorotea by surprise.

"When did you start learning anything about gardening?" she asked Tirla when she had a chance.

The Linear-bred girl shrugged. "I gotta keep in touch."

Peter also feigned interest. He was able to make an escape from his horticulturally determined housemate because Rhyssa allowed him to accompany Lance Baden back to Adelaide, to continue their experiments in assessing his limits.

"If he has any," Lance amended when he discussed the resettlement with Rhyssa and Sascha.

"Traveling is a good idea," Sascha said, "especially since we've got to keep him busy until he's old enough to be put on the roster."

"I must get ahold of Dirk Coetzer," Lance said. "Peter keeps harping on that promise to tour the spaceship."

"I'll check with Dirk," Rhyssa said.

"And nudge Johnny Greene about it, too," Sascha suggested.

"That's not a problem," Rhyssa said. "The outfitting of the Andre Norton is still on schedule."

"So Barchenka's not the only one to make good," Lance said slyly.

"And I'll make sure Peter's on the first tour available. There are promises that must be kept."

"And miles to go before I sleep," Lance quoted, surprising them all.

The Space Station Commander Admiral Dirk Coetzer did not forget his promise to young Peter Reidinger. Without any reminder from General John Greene, just before Peter's sixteenth birthday in September, the admiral extended a special invitation to the young kinetic and to anyone else from the Eastern Parapsychic Center who wished to come. Rhyssa was coping with her colicky son, Eoin, but insisted that Dave go along with Peter, Sascha, Lance, and Boris Roznine. It turned out to be the first tour of the nearly completed spaceship and the Talents were the only guests. Johnny Greene was present, too; he knew the great ship almost as well as her designers.