Lyon's Pride (13 page)

“But not for long, it seems.”
So where are you so easily retrievable?

Not precisely “easily.” I'm currently with C Squadron
, and his spatial coordinates tagged on to the 'path.
T-2-ing on the AS
Strongbow
as courier and pack mule
.

Laria could almost see a wry grin on the speaker's face. She also caught the sense of terrible fatigue and ennui that his flippancy was trying to conceal. Pack mule? Well, that was better than “stevedore.”

When can we expect you?

I have my orders, I'm packed, and I'll get into the capsule as soon as you tell me to
.

You really aren't wasting any time, are you?

Frankly, Clarf Prime, I'll be very glad to leave this ship. I've…I've been gone a long, long time
.

There was that in his tone of voice that touched an echo of deep empathy in Laria.

“Tower generators up, please,” she said, taking the stairs to her aerie two at a time.
What is the Squadron going to do about resupply
, she asked,
if you're here?

I've been reliably informed that my replacement will follow swiftly
.

And you are?
Laria asked, suddenly realizing that although
she would now recognize his mental touch anywhere in the galaxy, she didn't know his name.

Oh
, and she heard him chuckle,
I
have
been on board too long. I'm T-2 Kincaid Dano, Altairian bred
.

You'll be very welcome, Kincaid
.

Thanks.
And a laugh again echoed in her head.
My 'Dinis are ecstatic at the posting, never having touched down on their homeworld
.

Laria let an exaggerated sigh of relief escape her lips. He had volunteered the answer to her most important question.

That's probably the only reason I got promoted, Clarf Prime
, he said with another dry chuckle which told her he had at least heard, and understood, her sigh. Another plus which he couldn't possibly know—she'd had to
explain
so many casual references to Stierlman, and Clarissia had always been so worried about how to respond to any attempt at levity, Laria had found her sense of fun was atrophying.

Why on earth hadn't she been assigned someone of Kincaid's caliber in the first place? Then she recalled how long the two Squadrons had been traveling. But surely…She took herself sternly in hand: she had been able to run Clarf Tower quite capably with Yoshuk and Nesrun. Then Vanteer had been sent to help until the Sef Tower had been commissioned and her T-2s had been sent there. Lionasha joined her and Vanteer, and Stierlman was sent as her T-2. A Tower Prime did not need to find exactly the “right” personality for a good rapport—those complementary qualities which her grandmother had found in Afra after trying to adjust to many incompatible personalities. Kincaid's 'Dini affiliations would now be essential, to counter any harm Clarissia's short tenancy might have caused.

A totally wayward thought made her choke back audible
laughter: what if Clarissia was to be Kincaid's replacement? A shipful of long-voyage officers and crew might just be what the girl needed.

Being 'Dini-paired is certainly an advantage here
, she 'pathed,
but that would scarcely be the deciding factor, Kincaid
.

The Tower generators were reaching the necessary whine as she asked Lionasha to put the relevant space charts up on the screen for her. She triangulated the position and, settling into the couch, reached out with her mind for the unmistakable mass of metals and Humans which had been vivid in his peripheral identifications of his current position. She felt for the equally identifiable mass of a carrier, Kincaid and his two 'Dinis within.

Ready?

You have no idea how ready!
was his devout response and she picked him up, feeling once more the definite and deep fatigue in his assistance to her contact. What under the suns had the Squadron required of this courier-pack mule to bring him to this level of exhaustion? She lowered the carrier gently into the cradle nearest the Tower, hoping the wind blew the stench of Prtglm away from him.
It is also very important
, he added in an aside that she wasn't certain she was supposed to hear.

Vanteer, do the honors, will you?
She could sort out this “important,” when they were face to face.
He's Kincaid Dano of Altair, our T-2 replacement, plus 'Dinis. Clarissia
, she added in a direct 'path to the girl,
a personnel carrier has just arrived and is available to take you to Blundell—if you'll give me an estimate of how long it will…

I can go right now!

Clarissia was hysterical with either relief or joy, or both, at the serendipity of release. By the time Laria had risen from her couch and gone to the window overlooking the
field, she saw Vanteer shaking hands with a tallish man whose back was to her. Her sense of his fatigue was reinforced by the sag of his shoulders. When he and Vanteer turned back to the carrier to assist two well-grown 'Dinis to alight, the lid hid his face from her. Clarissia, with a welter of luggage following her, half raced across the plascrete. The two men then helped her and her gear into the carrier. Laria grinned as Vanteer closed the lid with a definitely firm shove.

She's ready to go, Laria. I'll bring Kincaid, Npl and Pls up to the Tower
.

Laria nearly 'ported herself back onto the couch, she was so eager to send the girl
away
! She could also feel Clarissia's assistance in getting the generators back up to launch. First time the girl hadn't waited for orders.

I wish you well wherever you go, Clarissia
.

Don't be so magnanimous, Laria
, the girl answered in a snarl.
You know perfectly well you've been wanting to get me out of your hair since the moment I got here and you discovered I'm not a weasel-lover like you. You'll soon find that the popularity of you collaborators is on the wane and your family will be replaced. That I can promise you
.

Laria stifled the dismay such animosity caused her. She refused to respond to silly mouthings and threats. And the service her family gave could scarcely be considered sinecures. She forced herself to respond with dignity.

You are a competent T-2, Clarissia, and as that I can recommend you to your next post with no hesitation. Goodbye!

You haven't heard the last of ME!

Laria ignored the virulently delivered rejoinder but she flipped the carrier as fast as she could back to the huge Earth landing field at the Blundell Cube.

Gollee!

Open to you, Laria
.

Clarissia's a good T-2, but watch her
.

I had that intention if she couldn't work out with you, Laria
.

In Gollee's tone was an anodyne for Clarissia's parting venom.

Are you coming down, Laria?
asked Vanteer in an “I think you should” tone.

You bet I am
.

Clarissia launched a choice parting shot?
asked Lionasha with a trace of anxiety.

Laria did not respond but came down the stairs with a far lighter tread than when she had ascended. She shouldn't be so naive, but she had hopes for the newcomer, if only because of his humor.

Kincaid was tall, his 'Dinis nearly as big as her Tip and Huf. Despite being of different colors, Npl and Pls were being most affectionately ringed by the six resident 'Dinis, all wriggling and nattering in the most fervent of welcomes imaginable.

Kincaid was whistling a very old tune that Laria only recognized because her Denebian grandmother had sung it to put her younger siblings to sleep on summer holidays. “If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise.”

After the strains of the morning, Laria burst into laughter and knew that she couldn't fail to like Kincaid. He advanced toward her, his thin, very pale face alight with pleasure that she'd identified the tune. He couldn't ever be called “handsome,” not the way Yoshuk was, but he
was
attractive, despite a ship's pallor and a dry skin that gave him more facial wrinkles than he ought to have. She didn't think him older than Vanteer. Rangily built but far too thin
for the big bones of him, he held out to her a big blunt-fingered hand, palm sideways so she could merely brush it, for the touch that Talents preferred as casual contact, or shake it.

She was so glad to see him, a confirmed 'Dini person, a man who laughed easily and obviously had an outrageous sense of humor, that she grasped his hand and took full advantage—as he did after a moment's polite hesitation—of the complete contact. He was piney/green/oddly velvet, very very tired and, though he didn't try to hide the fact from her, she caught the hesitancy and realized that he was homosexual. If he made a good T-2, that wouldn't matter. It would almost be better if they were friends, as her grandmother and Afra had been, rather than lovers. Still…

“The first thing you do, Kincaid Dano of Altair, is get some extended rest,” she said briskly, twisting her hand in his and starting to lead him out of the main Tower room to the living area. “You'll have to be careful of the sun here, Kincaid, you've been confined too long in a ship…”

“Don't you just know it…” he said ruefully.
Look, Laria Prime
, he said on the most private level which their joined hands provided,
there is something exceedingly important…

“I'll get some of the strongest blocker,” Lionasha said, “and goggle glasses to reduce Clarf's dazzle. Even peripherally it's going to bother you.”

“Go on ahead, Laria, and darken the room…the best guest, Clarissia's left hers in a welter,” said Vanteer, picking up one of the duffels that Kincaid had brought with him. “You're to sleep!”

“Look, I'm here to help….”
Laria Prime, I must…

“You're in no state to be help in any form, Kincaid,”
Laria said firmly, in answer to both voiced and 'pathed messages, “until you've had some rest.”

You don't realize…
He was insistent and gripped her hand to express his urgency.

A couple of hours won't make that much difference, will it?
she asked, as if his admission of his sexuality would matter to her. Or maybe he didn't realize that his fatigue had made it very easy for her to reach to the more private areas of his mind.
Even with my help you couldn't 'path much beyond your nose
.

A few hours, no, I guess not. But
, and he added aloud, “Nil and Plus
have
to contact their…”

“Ours can manage that courtesy while you're grabbing a few hours' sleep,” Laria said placatingly, dropping his hand as she pushed open the door out of the Tower. Lionasha grabbed up the second duffel as they all maneuvered the long man where they wanted him to go. Raising his arms in surrender, he allowed himself to be guided.

Laria marched straight to the nearest and largest guest bedroom, palming the blind controls to complete darkness, and lowering the room lighting to a suitable dimness.

“Ah!” Kincaid exclaimed as he took in the spacious surroundings. “A real bed, too!”

Laria laughed. “Yes, you wouldn't fit on a bunk too well, would you?”

He did a shoulder roll onto the extra wide and long bed and lay there, sighing with intense relief, arms and legs spread out to the edges. For a beat, the other three Talents waited for another comment from him.

Laria covered her mouth and her giggle.

“He's asleep?” whispered Lionasha.

“Out like a light!”

The three left the room, Laria palming the lights off and carefully sliding the door shut.

“Not that I think a torpedo would wake him…” Laria said as they returned to the Tower complex. Halfway down that corridor they could hear the excited 'Dini voices. Their gang were already taking care of the arrivals.

“They can all have the day off,” Laria said as they entered the main complex. “Nothing's due in now.”

“You're right,” Lionasha said, glancing at the topmost waybills on her desk. “None of Plrgtgl's shipments will arrive until tomorrow but here,” she added, tearing a slip from the printer with a flourish, “are the coordinates you can send that misbegotten carrier to.” She handed Laria the slip.

“Prayers have been answered all round today. Rev up the generators, please, Vanteer,” Laria said, and settled herself in the nearest chair. “I have the oddest feeling I've already done a full day's work with only one catch and one send. This one is the bonus.” Print-out in hand, she concentrated and, catching the rhythm of the generators, flipped Prtglm's carrier to the coordinates given. “And that is that!”

Vanteer sniffed the air about him. “Yes, a definite improvement.”

“All round,” Lionasha agreed. “Don't know how you stuck her so long, Laria. You've the patience of a saint.”

“What's a saint?” asked Vanteer.

“Oh, you!” Laria said, for Vanteer's fey humor broke out at the oddest times. This might be one of the times he was trying to catch her out.

Lionasha had taken Vanteer's query at face value and, being keen on history, explained the concept thoroughly while Laria listened. If this Kincaid fit in with these two half as well as she rather thought he would, they were finally a real Tower Team. Vanteer was as hetero as she could wish—she could also wish for a bit more from
Vanteer but there was no way she could initiate things, not with Van's personality and the fact that he liked spreading himself around, which inhibited her. There were several others in the growing Human community who might find Kincaid companionable.

“
TLP, HGF, ALL OF YOU, PLEASE TAKE NPL AND PLS TO SEE CLARF. DO NOT FORGET ANY OF THE SIGHTS THEY SHOULD SEE AND DO NOT WORRY ABOUT REPORTING UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING FOR WORK
.”