Pegasus In Space
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Серия: Talents #3
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Pegasus In Space». Краткое содержание книги:
For an overpopulated Earth whose resources are strained to the breaking point, there is only one place to look for relief: straight up. With the successful completion of the Padrugoi Space Station, humanity has at last achieved its first large-scale permanent presence in space. But there are those who, for motives of their own, want Padrugoi to fail. Standing in their way are the Talented, men and women gifted with extraordinary mental powers that have made them as feared as they are respected--and utterly indispensable to the colonization effort. Now, as sabotage and attempted murder strike the Station, it's up to the Talented to save the day. Only who is going to save the Talented?
Pegasus in Space is the tale of Peter Reidinger, first Tower Prime!
Rhyssa had the grace to look abashed. You know I had to.
"How do you know Johnny doesn't like working in space?" Dave asked, surprised.
"I just do," Peter said, and he lifted his shoulders in the general's characteristic shrug. "You get to know who likes EVA and who's the least bit nervous." A genuine case of mind over matter, Rhyssa.
"Why do they work in space then, if they're nervous?" Amariyah wanted to know.
"It's a good job and pays well," Peter said.
"And safe enough once Barchenka was no longer in charge," Dave remarked.
"Why? Wasn't it always safe?" Amariyah tilted her head inquiringly at Peter, wanting his opinion.
"No, it wasn't, Maree, but no one needs to worry about getting lost in space anymore."
"Why? Do you rescue them?" she asked, although she indicated there could be but one answer.
Peter dropped his eyes to his drink.
"Well, do you?" she insisted, leaning toward him. "You can do anything you want."
"I suspect that if Peter needed to rescue anyone, they wouldn't be aware of it. Would they, Peter?" Rhyssa asked.
He grinned at her. "More or less. Didn't happen often anyway. All they needed was a bit of a halt to stop their spin."
"Did you have eyes in the back of your helmet?" asked Dave, amused.
"No, I had Madlyn looking out for me and she knew the signs. "So," and his grin was self-deprecating, "it was more her than me, Maree, preventing the need for rescue."
"When I've learned hydroponics and work on the Space Station, will I get to go out into space? Will you rescue me if I need it, Peter?" Amariyah asked.
"Of course I will," he said stoutly.
Rachelle appeared in the doorway. Eoin and Chester saw her and clung to Peter's arms.
"You've had an extra fifteen minutes, boys," their father said, gesturing for them to go to Rachelle. They grumbled and shifted about, hoping for a reprieve.
"C'mon, boys. The bubbles are all ready for your swim," Rachelle said, holding out both hands.
"Which bubbles?" Eoin wanted to know, reluctant to leave Peter.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning, Eoin. You can tell me which ones then," Peter said, and gave the little boy a subtle push off the couch. Rachelle saw the obstinate look on Chester's round face and went to scoop him off the couch. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, too, Chester. It's great to be back!"
"I think dinner's ready," Rhyssa said, rising to her feet and indicating to Dave that he should escort Dorotea to the dining room.
During dinner, Rhyssa brought Peter up to date on all Center news. Lance Baden was back in Adelaide, flown directly into the Woomera Space Station, his contract for the Moon expansion completed. He would probably sign up for another. Dorotea had Peter repeat some of the tales he had recounted the previous evening of his experiences on Padrugoi. Rhyssa was not unaware of some of the pressures he had experienced. That was why the subtle Dorotea had prompted him to repeat them. Rhyssa had plenty of food for thought while Peter, with great relish, ate the meal she had prepared for him.
"Not that I can't get anything I want up at Padrugoi," he hastily amended.
"Food eaten in the company of good friends always has more savor," Dorotea said pontifically.
"Why? We're eating the same things you cooked last night," Amariyah said.
Dorotea cleared her throat and rolled her eyes heavenward at such tactlessness. Dave guffawed.
A bit like Tirla, isn't she? Peter said, reassuring Rhyssa with a wide grin. "I'd like seconds of the garlic potatoes, please. That's one thing they don't use on the Station."
"Why not? Garlic has many healthful properties," Amariyah said.
"It also has one effect that may not be appreciated in a recycled air environment," Dave said.
"What?" Amariyah asked.
"Bad breath," Dave replied, ignoring flatulence.
"Elephant garlic has no odor," the girl said.
"We take the point, Maree," Peter said, grinning with mischief.
"He's growing up," Rhyssa said wistfully to her husband when they were getting ready for bed that night.
" 'Bout time. And he's enjoying life. All of it, I hope." Dave rolled his eyes.
"David!" she said in protest, because his expression was slightly salacious. "He's only eighteen!"
"Honey, I'd had my first sex by the time I was sixteen."
"You did?"
"We won't go into that. It was youthful exuberance, love!"
"Peter's not sterile," she added. "The medics say that paraplegics can, you know."
"I know. I asked," Dave said.
"Then kindly don't encourage him."
"It's not for a guy to encourage him," Dave said with a second suggestive leer.
"David!"
"And he's closer to nineteen, you know." He tried to change the subject. "So he has a week home, and then another three being a stevedore?"
"Stevedore?" Rhyssa gave him another hard look for his word choice.
"All right, transport and construction kinetic!"
"That's better. I wonder who else we could send up to Padrugoi from the Center?"
"I thought you didn't want him to experience 'life' yet?" Dave asked, stacking the pillows behind him so he could watch Rhyssa at her nightly beauty ritual. Privately he didn't think she needed to fuss with creams and lotions, but he liked watching her.
"Another male his age. He's very lonely. I caught that."
"He is? I thought he was having the time of his life, doing what he's wanted most! Building a colony ship."
Rhyssa swung round from her dressing table mirror. "I couldn't let him go on a colony ship."
"Did I say he wanted to go on one? But sometimes, my telepathic darling, you don't notice the obvious."
Rhyssa blinked her eyes, then had to blot the cream out of them.
"He feels out of place," Dave explained. "He hasn't formed any friendships with the Station personnel."
"Even now he's doing EVA?"
"Dorotea noticed it. Amariyah didn't."
"How would you know that?" she asked.
"She'd've been on it like a shark. She doesn't miss much about Pete, you know."
"Oh, dear." Rhyssa paused in wiping off her cleansing cream. "We don't have another Tirla-Sascha item, do we?"
Dave shrugged. "That wouldn't be all bad, would it? What does Dorotea say?"
"It's true that Maree adores him. Almost-"Rhyssa paused to chuckle. "-as much as she does gardening."
"There're gardens on Padrugoi and at First Base. And I suspect they'll be even more important on that proposed Mars Base."
"If," and again Rhyssa paused a beat, "the Space Authority ever makes its mind up on the project."
"They have Pete now."
Rhyssa finished removing the cleanser. "Yes, they do, but do they know what they have in him?"
"I doubt it. Hey, come to bed, love."
On his nineteenth birthday, Peter opted to take his special friends to dinner in a well-recommended uptown ziggurat restaurant. Rhyssa, Dave, Johnny Greene, Lance Baden, Tirla, Sascha, Dorotea, and Amariyah were his guests. It was Amariyah's first adult outing and Tirla had taken her shopping. Amariyah Bantam had inherited her parents' estate, including their insurances, and they had been prudent managers, so she had independent means. Although the interest from the total-which was carefully invested by the Center's Financial Office-was more often spent in acquiring horticultural rarities, she could afford to dress herself stylishly. Peter had reserved a first balcony table, which had not only the hanging baskets of exotic flowers that fascinated Amariyah but an impressive, downtown view of Jerhattan. Theirs was a more sedate party than the one on the balcony above, which got louder and louder as the evening progressed.