Lyon's Pride (34 page)

Chief Day's brown eyes protruded from her skull as she obediently nodded. Then she leaned toward Rame Kloo and whispered. “Who was that?”

“Prime Thian Raven-Lyon.”

“But he's on the
Washington!”

“He's also a T-1 and made me hear him, too. Now, Chief, with a kinetic Talent like yours, we may need to contact you for help real soon.”

“What kind of help?” the chief was dubious as well as anxious.

“Nothing beyond your abilities, Chief, but if Prime Thian calls you, put down whatever you're doing and just let yourself go.”

“Go? How?”

Kloo relaxed her entire body, hands draped on her thighs, shoulders and chest collapsed.

“That's all I gotta do?”

“That's right. Your being relaxed helps Thian tap your kinetic energy.”

“
That's
what I got? Kinetic energy?”

“Which is why you've been able to turn aside electrical jolts that would have injured you.”

“But how'd I know how to do it?”

Kloo was getting very good at proving her next point. She sprang at Lea Day, who immediately assumed a defensive stance.

“Like that, basically,” Kloo said, stepping back. “A basic survival instinct. Only your brain clicks in with its kinetic whammy.” She rose and shook hands with Chief Day, who had a good strong grip with fingers callused from work. That was the next to the last step of preparation. “If you hear the word ‘Saki' in your head, stop what you're doing and relax.”

“Saki!” The chief nodded. “What if I'm not near a chair?”

Kloo laughed. “Don't tell me, Chief, you can't relax any damned time you have the chance!”

“Aye, sir.”

The science officers had other puzzles, concerning why the Hivers rejected so many systems. Were they already inhabited by Hivers? Or uninhabitable? Had any of them, by any remote chance, once held off a Hiver advance, too? The skeptics thought this area of space far too remote to have received much Hiver attention. Others argued that the very fact that the Hive ship was going so far from its original homeworld proved it had investigated all the intervening systems and either occupied them or found them useless.

To settle some of these arguments—which often proved agitated—Captain Ashiant initiated a program for the fast scout ships which the
Washington
carried. Whenever an M-5 system was observed, the scouts—using a different crew each time—departed their mother ship for quick discreet surveys.

For these, Ashiant asked the assistance of the Talents, who were as glad to have some excitement as any other crew member. Thian always took Lieutenant Senior Grade Alison Greevy with him; Rojer favored a T-3 ensign from Engineering, Cyra Charteris; while Clancy needed to have two augment his T-2 abilities. Invariably he chose
Semirame Kloo and the only other T-3, one of the gunnery officers, Targia Upland. An attractive girl, her nickname of “Target” was respect for her professional competence and a knowledge of antique and archaic weapons.

When the scout was close enough for the Talents to deploy the undetectable plastic units, the relevant planet within the system was probed. Four Hiver colonies were discovered out of twenty worlds surveyed, two with sphere ships in orbit and the usual debris. Once Hiver possession was noted, the scout ship was under the strictest orders to leave the system immediately. Detection had to be avoided. Hivers often worked moons and other planets for mineral deposits. An argument arose over how the Hivers would know a system of theirs had been invaded, when they had no intersystem communications and their planet-based sensors had, as shown by the Xh-33, limited range.

“Let us not
assume
what has not been established beyond doubt,” Captain Ashiant reminded those captains and first officers who attended his weekly updates. “There are still panels on the Refugee whose function is unknown.”

That was the standard warning every scout captain impressed on his or her crew before the scout departed on an exploratory mission.

Every week the star charts were upgraded by such side trips and new primaries were added, including an unusual binary-sun system that fascinated all the astronomy buffs.

After the second Hiver occupation was discovered, the
Vadim
's new captain, Pat Shepherd, brought up the suggestion that a multi-tasked beacon be set up near the heliopause of Hiver systems: to warn any passing Alliance ship of Hivers, and to record any out-goings, in which case a message capsule would be released to speed back to Alliance space where any Prime would soon “hear” its shriek and retrieve it. After the Denebian Penetration, every
Alliance system had installed a device that could identify the Hiver sting-pzzt and emit a warning.

A contest to design such a device was circulated through the Fleet and small mechanically oriented groups vied with each other to come up with the successful design. The winning design group came from the
Washington
, because Rojer and Commander Tikele worked all the hours of the week to win the competition. Then the design was distributed among the machine shops of all the ships to ensure a sufficient supply.

Uninhabited M-5 planets were examined in more detail: one had an indigenous life form which was already using primitive tools and had controlled fires. That system was duly put off limits. Several planets, despite appropriate atmospheres and distribution of land mass to sea, did not appear viable for Human or Mrdini occupation, showing high levels of radiation, too much seismic activity or other anomalies.

“Well, such conditions would account for some of the bypasses,” Captain Ashiant said at one of the weekly “brass” meetings which included the Talents. “One thing puzzles me. How did the Hivers know which to bypass? If we have probes, what do the Hivers use to obtain the same information? They surely must. Did anyone ever discover if Deneb had been probed by a Hiver mechanism?” He turned to Clancy.

“Sir, the Denebian Penetration happened long before my birth. My uncle who lived through those days never mentioned a probe, but then Deneb was pretty primitive in those days. And who was expecting visitors from outer space?”

“But did you not as a youngling on Deneb recover quantities of Hiver materials?” asked Captain Spktm.

“Yes sir, indeed, we all did,” and Clancy indicated
Thian and Rojer, “and the Navy installation on Deneb is still trying to fit the pieces together.” He grinned.

“Probes usually return to the sender to deliver the information they've acquired,” Rojer added.

“True, true,” Ashiant said, fingering his jawline as he often did.

“Flavia Bastianmajani recently sent us a message,” Thian went on, “that the first of the occupied Hive systems showed a total breakdown which hasn't yet been fully analyzed. The xenobs and biologists have an unconfirmed opinion that the planet was deficient in some element or elements which are vital to Hive survival. So, if they do use a probe, it doesn't tell them all they need to know.”

“So there are discrepancies in their colonial program,” Captain Germys of the
Genesee
remarked in his dry fashion. “That's encouraging.”

“And they avoid some planets that are fine for us.”

“But if that colony failed, what sort of information do the Hiver probes seek?” asked Germys's first officer, Beckin Watusa, a very tall and very dark-skinned man.

“Well, one we saw was mainly islands, some good-sized, but no large land masses,” said Selig Derynic of the destroyer
Comanche.
“So perhaps that's one of their criteria—large continents.”

“They probe for suitable atmospheres as well, since two they've bypassed showed hydrogen-nitrogen imbalances,” Vandermeer said.

“No,” Captain Prlm of the
KLTL
said emphatically, its usually smooth fur ruffling, a sign of agitation, “the probe finds out how much and what kind of life had to be ‘fumigated.'”

“Then let us be thankful for whatever limitations their probes, if they use them, report,” Ashiant said briskly. “We can at least propose a few colonial sites for the Alliance.”

“So far nothing we have discovered explains why they have ranged so far, especially now,” Spktm said in an almost lugubrious tone, echoing some of the pessimism Prlm displayed.

“I would have thought that obvious, sir,” Ashiant replied courteously. “Their homeworld was lost to the nova. They must be seeking an alternate.”

“That must not happen!” Spktm said, bringing both upper hands hard down on the table, the percussion felt by everyone touching it.

“That is the purpose of this squadron, Captain,” Ashiant said as resolutely. “And, especially, the reason the
Washington
was conceived and built!”

“And the Hivers built their Great Sphere to establish a new homeworld,” Thian said. “Could it be in all the volume of space they, and we, have explored, they have not yet found a similar one? And that's why they have ranged so far, and looked in as many directions as they have?”

“You give the Hivers credit for emotions which they do not have,” Spktm said, its poll eye swiveling to give Thian the full glare.

“Now, a moment, Spktm,” Ashiant said, raising one hand, “the Prime has a valid point. Wouldn't Mrdinis, deprived of Clarf, search for one as near to what they'd lost as could be found?”

Spktm's fur ruffled further, and so did Prlm's and the other two 'Dini captains seated around the table. Thian inwardly groaned at his tactless remark. Exuding as much pacifying empathy as he could, he followed Ashiant's lead.

“
MRDINIS HAVE LONG HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE THAT HIVERS FOLLOW INSTINCT WHICH HAS NOT CHANGED, HONORED SIR, AND THAT IS, ABOVE ALL, SURVIVAL OF THEIR KIND. THEIR SPECIES MUST HAVE HAD A VERY UNUSUAL HOMEWORLD TO HAVE ALLOWED THEM TO BECOME DOMINANT. THAT WORLD IS GONE.
SURVIVAL OF THEIR SPECIES REQUIRES THEM TO FIND ITS LIKE. THAT IS WHAT THIS ONE MEANT. PARDON THE OFFENSE THIS ONE HAS UNWITTINGLY CAUSED THE HONORED SPKTM.
”

The 'Dini captain's fur began to settle, and so did Prlm's. Thian felt the wave of relief from his fellow humans that the Mrdinis were mollified by his explanation.

“So they haven't found it. And, by my honor, I hope they don't,” Cheseman of the
Solidarity
said, “but give us a little hope, Captain Spktm. Do we even know what their primary's spectrum was like before it went nova?”

Both Spktm and Thian, who had reached the area where the dead star was still cooling, shook their heads.

“Bluntly, no,” Thian said.

“We've got a helluva lot of space to check out,” Captain Cheseman of the
Solidarity
said, made gloomy by the sheer magnitude of the task facing them. “Five years won't be long enough!”

“But a lustrum makes a start, gentlemen,” Ashiant said, adopting a firmly positive tone, “and let us not discount what we have managed to accomplish in the past two years. We may have been forced by circumstances to explore further than any previous program for either of our species but we have already discovered enough new worlds to support members of the Alliance for thousands of generations to come.

“Let me come back to the point that there may be a more specific goal for these Hive Spheres—finding a new homeworld under a sun similar to the original one. I certainly don't know what spectro-analytical means the Hivers possess,” and Ashiant attempted to inject some humor, “but I'd like our astrogation officers to start checking the spectrums of all G-type stars, however far away they are, on the off chance that it's a certain type they're hunting, not just any G-type system with M-5 planets.”

Even the Mrdinis saw the merit of that suggestion and the meeting ended with considerably more enthusiasm and purpose than it initially had. Ashiant later confided to Thian that there'd been some very tricky moments but he was positive they were onto a line of investigation that was going to prove invaluable.

“Certainly it's giving us another purpose while we're tracking that damned Sphere to wherever it's going. What odds would you take that it
has
a definite primary objective?”

Thian regarded Ashiant for a moment before letting out a startled guffaw. For one moment, Ashiant glared at him and then, realizing what he had said, joined Thian in a much-needed laugh.

“In line with that, sir,” Thian said, still shaking with laughter, “maybe I ought to contact Flavia. Squadron B's been to quite a few systems now, too. Maybe they can throw some light on the matter.”

“Light on the matter?” Ashiant echoed and enjoyed another chuckle. “I needed that, Lyon. That was a hairy moment there…”

“You mean, of course, when all the 'Dini fur started to ruffle up?”

That set them both off again until Ashiant, huffing and coughing, pulled himself back to sobriety, but his eyes still twinkled and he continued to grin.

“Actually, sir, even a process of elimination, based on what types of G-stars they ignore, might help us establish the criteria they're looking for. Even minute differences—the period of variability, sunspot cycles, size—in a G-type primary can have incalculable effects on the satellites in its system. It certainly has proved so in species adaptations.

“On another subject, Captain—which I didn't have time to pass on to you before the meeting—Flavia's message
this morning contains some interesting items. The first being that they, too, have devised a beacon to be set outside any Hive-suspect M-5 system: to warn vessels off and to send a message back to the nearest Prime to warn of any outgoing Sphere.”

“Great minds, huh?”

“I've received specs, sir. Captain Soligen thought you might like to glance over them in case they have modifications we could use.” Thian handed over the hard copy and the software. “Or the other way round,” he added tactfully.