“Of course we didn’t. So now we know that’s one technological barrier that someone else has broken, even though our own scientists are still telling us it can’t be done.” Amusement now came through from both Marin’s mind, and from whoever was the third party in this conversation in which he was now revealed as intermediary rather than principal.
“So these people snatched you with a porting technology that goes beyond what we know about, that doesn’t need equipment at both ends.” Linc repeated the thought, as much to let him collect himself as to have it confirmed.
“Yes. And now they want to meet with Narsai’s top brass, Linc. Don’t be afraid, the fact that Narsai has hardly got a weapon to its name is exactly why the only loss of civilian life so far has been aboard the habitat that stopped a wide shot—that wasn’t deliberate, in fact it’s a….”
“A sorrow to us,” the mental voice that Marin’s had been masking came through plainly on its own now. “Destroying the warship was regrettable, as well; but to that we had no alternative.”
“Let my mate hear what you’re saying, please.” Casey had never wanted the touch of Katy’s mind more than he wanted her with him right now. “If you really do want to deal with Narsai’s leaders, you’ll need to deal with her too; and I just scared hell out of her by trying to touch her, and then cutting off.”
The other mind considered the request, and for a moment it reached beyond Casey’s consciousness. It went deep into his being, to places it could not have gone easily without his consent. It had the power to go there anyway, he knew that instinctively from his memories of a time when he had been a helpless infant and his mother’s mind had been able to do as she wished when she handled him; but now, as then, there was no malice in the power that touched him. If he had resisted, this being would not have committed the mental equivalent of rape by forcing its way where he attempted to block its entry.
This was distasteful, the human parts of his mind were not places this being even wanted to go. But before Katy could be allowed into the link, his intentions must be ascertained—on a level where undetected deceit was impossible.
A few seconds by the chrono, an eternity while it was being experienced. At last the invader withdrew to normal levels of telepathic communication, and Linc Casey sighed his relief. And then the strange voice said, “Prepare her. Then we will talk.”
Catherine Romanova had not intended to debark from the shuttle at MinTar Medical, but it had become necessary. Hauling Rachel Kane up to the porter platform in the cabin was out of the question, so the shuttle had to set down in the hospital’s huge receiving lot; and with what was going on in space above them broadcast to every viewscreen on the planet, even the hospital’s emergency personnel were not willing to come outside and bring their newest maternity patient in.
So there was no solution except for Romanova to join Dan Archer and Cab Barrett in doing that, and of course Maddy trailed along beside her mother. Katy wanted her there, right now she wasn’t letting her own baby out of her sight.
Four lives, three of them not even technically begun. Probably it was ridiculous to take risks to save them right now, with everything else that had happened and was about to happen; but Katy Romanova could not possibly have written those little lives off, not when she could do something that might help them. She and Dan handled the stretcher, with Cab hovering along beside and with Maddy bringing up the rear. And as they went she wondered if she could get civilian clothing for the two surviving Star Service officers still aboard the shuttle, since she had every intention of commandeering an outfit for herself while she was here. If she had to spend the rest of this episode wearing someone’s surgical scrubs, with just her underclothes beneath, that would be fine. There were times when any uniform, let alone that of an admiral, functioned like a sign that read, “Please shoot me!”
The OB/GYN team met them in emergency reception, and Rachel and her lover and her doctor were all rushed through into the treatment area without red tape. Narsai’s informality had its advantages; at a Terran medical facility there would have been wrangling about who was responsible for payment, and whether or not Dan Archer had a legal right to accompany the patient, and whether Barrett had authorization to treat her. Here no one dreamed of putting any of those issues ahead of caring for the patient—whatever had to be sorted out, could and would be dealt with later.
Katy stood outside the set of doors that had been closed in her face, and she waited for her chest to stop heaving as she put a reassuring arm around her daughter. Maddy asked softly, “Mum? Will Papa be okay?”
Of course. Maddy hadn’t heard the conversation Katy had had with Linc, because somehow during the past few hours Casey had finally mastered the trick of shutting the child out when he wanted to talk to his wife alone. They’d been so distracted, though, that Katy had not even realized the difference.
What a blessing that was going to be! She squeezed the child gently as she said, “He got away, Maddy. Hopefully he’ll get all the way through to New Orient, and he’ll tell the authorities there what’s happened.”
“Then are you glad you didn’t let that lieutenant shoot him down?”
“Yes. I’m very glad I didn’t do that.” For more reasons than I understand myself, little girl, Katy added mentally.
Then she stiffened, and she leaned on her daughter’s surprisingly strong young shoulders without realizing she was doing so.
“Katy. I have contact with someone on one of the ships. It’s nothing I initiated—he, or she, or it, was looking for a telepath down here and found me.” Her husband’s thoughts were more formal, more structured, than in their usual mode of communication; but if a third being was about to join them, then the formality was not surprising. What was astonishing was that anyone but Maddy, or possibly a Morthan healer, could be communicating with Linc by this means.
“Mum, you need to sit down.” Maddy’s voice came from far away, and the child was right. She drew Katy with her to the waiting area and its seats, and she settled her mother there as if for the moment their roles had been reversed.
It didn’t occur to the Kesran-reared child to request medical aid, not even here in Narsai’s most advanced facility. That was a blessing, because Katy wasn’t sick. She simply was too absorbed inwardly to direct her own body’s outward behavior, and now that she was no longer required even to maintain balance enough to stand that didn’t matter.
But she did say to her husband, “Linc, let Maddy know I’m okay. I’m scaring her, and I don’t want you bringing her in on what we’re going to have to do next.”
He did as requested. Beside Katy her daughter relaxed, and then assumed a protective posture that would have been comical if the situation had allowed for humor.
Hopefully the hospital’s staff had other things to do besides notice a distracted-looking woman in a Star Service admiral’s uniform, sitting in its emergency admissions waiting area with a slim pubescent girl who looked very much like her seated at her side. What Katy Romanova had to do now didn’t involve her body at all, but if anyone disturbed that shell it would interrupt something that definitely ought not to be interrupted.