Nimisha's Ship
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Nimisha's Ship». Краткое содержание книги:
When Nimisha takes an experimental ship on a solo test flight, something goes horribly awry, marooning her light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful. Now the ruthless members of a rival branch of the Rondymense family are given the chance they've been waiting for: to reclaim the Ship Yards by any means necessary.
Only Nimisha's ingenious child, Cuiva, stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is in a precarious situation herself--and unable to help. But Nimisha has never given up in her life--and she's not about to start now . . .
Nimisha did so. "Can I wash her now?" she asked almost testily. She knew the Sh'im females were waiting eagerly to see the new human baby. They were going to be surprised to be shown just one child since they had multiple births. Of course, the baby- Hope was the name Syrona had chosen for her-was much larger than Sh'im young at birth. Maybe that would help balance matters. Once she had finished with the gentle sponge bath she carefully wrapped the baby in the soft blanket Syrona had knitted, made from finely combed fur of the big shaggies.
Then Nimisha handed the neatly packaged little new bundle of life to its father.
"Go show her off, Casper," she said. And that's what he did, his face nearly cracked with his joyous smile as he displayed his daughter. Sh'im were oohing and ululing softly-whether it was out of courtesy for the newborn or because there was only one offspring to be shown Nimisha didn't care. None of Syrona's fears for this child had materialised, thanks to Doc attending her so early in the pregnancy and counteracting the effects of poor nutrition.
"She's so big," Casper was saying, showing her to Jon and Tim, and then to Ool, Ook, Ay, and Bee, who had crowded in close since they were, in effect, the oldest friends of the humans.
"She's not white," was Tim's critical assessment.
"She's certainly not as red as you were at birth," Jon said, ruffling the boy's hair.
"You mean, that's a natural colour for a baby?"
"You've seen the Sh'im young," Jon went on, "and frankly she's an improvement on those gray slugs."
"Ssssh," Tim said fiercely. "They'd be offended."
Jon laughed, and glanced up at Nimisha, still in the hatch. "Can we see Syrona while Casper does the honours?"
Nimisha beckoned them in, and Tim squeezed up the stairs ahead of Jon and rushed to the entrance of the main cabin, where he suddenly slowed and tiptoed to the medical couch.
"Mom?"
"I'm all right, Tim. Come on over," Syrona said, holding out her arms to him and smiling.
He was in her arms in two running steps, crying and hugging her. "I thought it'd never come."
"You mean, Hope, love?" Syrona said gently. "Why she didn't take long at all."
"She took hours, Mom!" The words were nearly a wail.
Nimisha glanced at Jon, who held back from congratulating the new mother.
"I don't think he's ever called her that-unless he was sick," Jon remarked softly. He put an arm around Nimisha's shoulders and hugged her against him, kissing her cheek. "Cater, I think it's champagne time," he said in a louder voice. "And I think Tim ought to try a sip of it, since he's now the oldest in his family."
Nimisha was always amazed at Jon's attitude toward his biological son. He never exhibited any paternal feelings toward the boy, yet he was as careful of him as Casper was and was just as proud of Tim's ability to cope with their new life among the Sh'im. Tim certainly could speak their language with far more fluency than any of the adults. Either he had more acute hearing-which Doc agreed was true-or he intuitively placed the sounds he couldn't hear in the context of the sentences. He still had to use the voice box, though, since his vocal cords could not approximate all the sounds Sh'im words used.
Jon was handing Nimisha a proper champagne flute-one drink wouldn't hurt, Doc assured her-from the tray he carried. She walked with him over to the couch, where he gave a glass to Syrona and one to Tim. A fifth remained on the tray that he set down on a nearby table.
"That is, if Casper ever comes back from showing Hope off."
"No fear of that," Nimisha said dryly. "A few hungry howls and he'll come back as fast as he can."
"Will she howl much?" Tim asked. But he was more interested in the bubbles rising up in the glass. When the adults raised their glasses in a toast, he followed suit.
"To the healthy Hope we've just received," Jon said.
"To Hope!" Tim's voice was as triumphant as the others. "I don't like it," he added, running his tongue over his teeth as he firmly set the glass down on the tray.
"It is an acquired taste," Jon remarked.
"And this is a special occasion," Nimisha added.
"For which I am infinitely grateful," Syrona said with a sigh, lying back against the pillows and closing her eyes.
"You all right, Syrie?" Tim asked.
They all heard a faint wail. Tim frowned. "Hope," he said with a note of complaint in his voice.
The sound was coming closer and then Casper was rushing into the Fiver, baby cuddled close against him.
"She's hungry, dear," Syrona said, reaching out for her daughter and deftly putting her to her breast.
Jon tactfully led Tim to a table, half-pushing him into a chair. "So, what was the Sh'im reaction, Casper?"
"I think they didn't expect her to be so big," Casper said. "Oh. champagne? Thanks."
"You can have mine, too, Cas." Tim offered.
"I will. They were surprised that there was only one, but we'd figured they would be, since they have multiple births."
"Humans are capable of them," Doc remarked.
"It is much easier to have one at a time," Syrona said firmly.
"Then why do you have two breasts?" Doc demanded.
"Symmetry," Nimisha replied, grinning at Jon.
"A point," Doc said, "but a woman could very easily suckle two children at once."
"If she had nothing else to do," Syrona said, her tone a little tart. "You can talk all you want, Doc, but you will never have babies. And, were I you, though I am indeed grateful for such an easy birth of a healthy child, I'd shut up about how many babies a woman should have at one time."
"I stand corrected," Doc said, sounding unusually meek.
"Thank you," Syrona said. She smoothed the fuzz on her daughter's round little head.
"I may not like champagne, but is there something else I could have because I'm a brother?" Tim asked wistfully.
"Cater, what have you that could convince our Tim that this is a celebration?" Jon asked.
"I believe I have just the thing," Cater said.
"Wow!" was Tim's response when he saw the three-layer cake, iced in white with lavish pink decorations adorning it. He brought it, along with plates and cutlery, back to the table, and displayed it to the men first. "It's got 'Happy Birth Day, Hope' written on it, Syrie!"
"You'd better be sure to leave me a piece, you ravenous lot. I'll have quite an appetite when I finish feeding this daughter of mine."
Travelling on IS drive as the Five B was, they could not receive additional pulsed messages.
The amenities on board did, indeed, prove felicitous. Unlike the accommodations on ordinary naval vessels, each cabin was so well built that no exterior sounds penetrated to disturb the occupant. This meant more privacy, a valuable commodity on an extended trip. Fortunately, though, the psych profiles had been accurate: There were no unpleasant altercations. Each specialist held classes that included more than Cuiva and allowed her the opportunity to interact with other people in the learning process. She had the sort of temperament that responded well to competition and discussion, a facet of education not available during her private tutoring. Caleb's idea of making her a JO, and giving her projects to be signed off on to prove she knew the material, was received with delight by Cuiva and nods of approval by the rest of the crew. She very much wanted to learn as much practical material as she could, to show her mother her achievements. The competition, friendly as it was, still inspired her to achieve at the highest possible level despite her being the youngest of the students.
She had received very good basic training: If she wasn't at the top of the class, she was rarely lower in the scale than second. She was most interested in astronomy and stellar navigation. She soon mastered everything Chief Hadley had to offer, so they both resorted to the educational tapes provided by the extensive ship's library.