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!
Are you coming back with us, Lance? he asked as he spooned up the last of the juice.
Naw. Got another month on this contract. Lance preferred shortterm contracts and time back at Adelaide.
Did me being here disrupt your schedule?
Not at all, Pete. Lance's smile was broad. Gave me a nice break from some of the tedious stuff.
Tell me, can you 'assemble' elements at a distance?
Lord no, Pete. That's your bailiwick, Lance said without a trace of resentment.
Why? Peter pressed against Lance's touch.
Lance shrugged without a touch of rancor. Because it just is. I see things differently, I guess.
Peter accepted that with a little smile. See things differently? Okay, Lance. "Well, here's Major Cyberal to take me walkabout," Peter added.
Alvin Cyberal had been his guide, with the corporal shadowing them, to all the points he wanted to see. Johnny usually accompanied them, fascinated by the facilities on First Base, exchanging information with Cyberal on posts where they had both served or visited. Peter did not reveal, or hint even to Johnny, what he now realized: that he could have 'ported accurately on the basis of a clear visual aid. But he'd only known that after he'd landed, the Limo between the two historic NASA markers, using a photo as his guide. A high-resolution image that he could see. Of course, many of the security points he'd been taken to on First Base were not rendered in visuals, for security reasons. Having seen them, Peter could now 'port to them. Once seen, never forgotten, a facet of the telekinetic mind. Being here, at First Base, visiting sections that other civilians would have been denied, was a personal triumph for Peter, though he was responsible enough to have wished the flight had been troublefree. Of course, if that had been the case, he might never have had such a remarkable insight.
Peter was delighted to be going to the observatory, especially with Cyberal, who had mentioned an interest in astronomy.
"Installing a telescope on the nearside wasn't very smart but the early bureaucracy made some pretty stupid errors here that we're still trying to correct," Vin said. "You may have read about the panic early this century about possibly harmful asteroids, PHAs, and near earth objects, NEOs." Peter nodded since those had been mentioned in his astronomy course. "A prime reason for a lunar base was to track them. Still is. Only now First Base has access to the Farside Space Telescopes.
"Dr. Pienarr's ambition is three Darwin-type installations on the Moon," Vin continued as they walked down the corridor to the astronomy wing on the back of Akahiro Block, "set at three different positions-to have complete observation." He made a broad gesture with one arm, grinning at Peter for such ambition. "Actually, the first is started, dug into the top of Mount Hawking in the Poincare Crater range on the farside and accessed by video links from here. Mean while he has a director's use of the Farside scopes, so the old one-a Schmidt-Cassegrain catadioptric-is used more for instruction and tracking the NEOs and PHAs. However, we're supposed to be looking for a place where you can safely put packages for the doctor."
"So am I," Peter replied. He was impressed that he'd be seeing the facility that had linked with the telescope that had discovered the M-5 planet in Altair, over sixteen light-years away, the ultimate destination of the Andre Norton. He didn't need to look that far, not even beyond this system, to find where he'd have to stand to use his Talent to get colony ships quickly and safely to new worlds.
He chided himself for having such a vaulting ambition. Rather grandiose of you, isn't it, Peter? Certainly it's a challenge. But he'd met others, hadn't he? And succeeded? You only need to stumble once, he reminded himself sternly. But that didn't mean he shouldn't TRY, did it?
"You've met Captain Opitz and Dr. Pienarr before, haven't you, Peter?" Alvin Cyberal was saying.
The corporal took her usual stance before the main door to the astronomy office. There was a foyer to the actual workspace and the telescope that was housed in a dome beyond, with the control station and an access airlock for any more radical adjustments and repairs required. These would have to be done in a space suit, so the more delicate manipulations were all handled inside. On the walls of the foyer were prints of views pertinent to First Base, including an old mural of the crew of the Apollo 12 and one of the Surveyor-type spacecraft. Cyberal pointed to the left of the main entrance, to the wall covered by a huge aerial shot.
"The Subaru Telescope, the one Ajmal admires from the last century. He wants to develop a whole new generation of telescopes for use on moons, including this one," he said in a low voice, grinning.
"Wasn't that operational at the beginning of this century?" Peter asked, lowering his tone.
"It first saw light in January 1999."
Stepping into the main office, Peter saw that the walls were adorned by programmable screens, operated from the rectangle of small ergonomic workstations facing them. Under the screens were cabinets of a type in which crystals storing huge quantities of data were carefully filed along with additional compact devices that he did not recognize but took for astronomical data-recorders. On the far wall, across from the entrance was a wide window of dark glass; beneath it was an elaborate control panel with storage cabinets below. A clearly marked airlock facility undoubtedly gave access to the telescope chamber. A locker to the right of that was plainly labeled "EMU."
Only one station was occupied. Captain Opitz and Dr. Pienarr looked up when Peter and the major paused on the threshold.
"Ah, Major, Mr. Reidinger," the blond Opitz said, quickly skirting the desk, while the astronomer moved more slowly to greet his guests. "Let me give you the safety spiel all visitors get." Mockingly she changed her voice to a fruity low contralto. "Emergency masks are situated at intervals," and she pointed to Peter's right and the one nearest him, "and there are two airlocks, right and left," and she indicated them. "Don't try the one on the far wall. That's the observatory. No air in there." She had very blue eyes, like Amariyah's, Peter thought, which the slate-gray fatigues seemed to emphasize, rather than dull. Her uniform fitted her mature form very well.
On the other hand, Dr. Pienarr looked as if he had grabbed the first coverall to hand that morning, evidently from under a pile of heavier objects that had left creases in it. There were coffee stains down the front and on the right cuff. He was balding, with wisps of dark hair across his skull and a thicker mass over each ear in need of trimming. But his hazel eyes were bright and his smile easy, one hand extended.
"I am so very glad to have you in our facility, Mr. Reidinger. Oops, hand-shaking's bad manners with psychics, I'm told," and he shoved his right hand into a pocket.
"Not at all, Dr. Pienarr," Peter said, holding his out. He was pleased with every chance he had to show a new digital dexterity.
"Oh, I say, thanks muchly." Pienarr's grip was firm and quick. "Afternoon, Vin. Thought you'd be the guide here. Got those spectroscopy images you wanted. I think," and he patted the various pockets of his coverall.
"Here," Simona Opitz said, handing him a thick white envelope.
"Oh, yes, thanks, See," and the exchange was made with thanks from Cyberal. The captain gave a little smile and executed an about-face, walking briskly to an arc of the workstations on the lower level, where she began to slot crystal data cubes into a reader.
"Now," and Pienarr rubbed his hands together, "what would you like to see? We have several projects at the moment. We always do. The SPOT…"