Anne McCaffrey - Tower & Hive 2 - Damia

2024-12-18 0 0 688.66KB 391 页 10玖币
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a Prime, with all the honours, burdens and strains of that elite
class. Her one friend was Afra-older, wiser, Talented in his own
way, but -belonging'almost exclusively to the Rowan and the
workings of Callisto Station.
As Damia grew up, her Talent became almost too strong to control,
and the solution was seperation-from her parents, from Callisto,
from her beloved Afra. Sent to the distant planet of Deneb, to her
strange and gifted grandmother, Damia began the training necessary
to turn her into a Prime of extraordinary gifts-a Prime who could
connect the minds of approaching aliens through space, some of whom
threatened to totally destroy the worlds of the Nine Star League.
One of the world's leading science fiction writers, Anne McCaffrey
has won the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction. Brought up in
the U. S. and now living in Ireland, she is the creator and bestselling
author of the unique Dragon senes.
The Dragon Books of Anne McCaffrey can be read individually or as
a series. However, for greatest enjoyment the following sequence is
Anne McCaffrey
Other books by Anne McCaffrey: RESTOREE THE SHIP WHO
SANG DECISION
AT DOONA GET OFF THE UNICORN THE CRYSTAL SINGER
KILLASHANDRA PEGASUS IN
FLIGHT THE ROWAN CORGI BOOKS and published by Corgi Books
DAMIA A CORGI
BOOK : 0 552 13764 2
Originally published in Great Britain by Bantam Press, a division
of Transworld Publishers Ltd PRINTING HISTORY Bantam Press edi-
tion
published 1992
Corgi edition published 1993
This book is dedicated to SARA VIRGINIA JOHN SON BROOKS
`THE
FOLDING IS EXTRA' Copyright C Anne McCaffrey 1992
The right of Anne McCaffrey to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All of the characters in this book are fictitious and any
the publishers for the book.
Set in 10/12pt Linotype Plantin by Chippendale Type Ltd, Otley,
West Yorkshire.
Corgi Books are published by Transworld Publishers Ltd, 6163
Uxbridge Road, Ealing, London W5 5SA, in Australia by Transworld
Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd, 15-25 Helles Avenue, Moorebank,
NSW
2170, and in New Zealand by Transworld Publishers (NZ) Ltd, 3 Wil-
liam
Pickering Drive, Albany, Auckland.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading,
Berks.
Afra felt his sister's mental touch and told his mother that
Goswina had returned to Capella. Cheswina regarded her six-year-old
son with her ineffable serenity.
`Thank you, afra. You always could hear farther, and Goswina
better, than the rest of us. But don't intrude, ' his mother added, as
afra jiggled about in his eagerness to make contact with his beloved
sister. `Capella Prime will wish to debrief her on her training at
Altair Tower.
You may continue with your exercises. ' But Goswina's excited about
need to `path her.
`You won't ever be chosen for Tower duty if you cannot obey, '
Cheswina went on. `Please assume a cheerful face. ' If afra had heard
those admonitions once, he had heard them several thousand times.
But
he stifled his vexation because what he wanted more than anything else
in the world was to be in a Prime Tower, part of the vast FT&T network
that handled communications and transportation between the star sys-
tems
that comprised the Federation.
His parents and his older brother and sisters were either part of
or working towards being in that great network.
The family were also lucky enough to live in the Tower Complex.
As a baby, he had been lulled to sleep by the throb of the
enormous generators with which the Prime Talent made the gestalt to
perform her miracles of transportation. His first mental effort at
fourteen months had been a cheerful greeting to Capella's Prime who
had
taken the professional name of her posting. Although she had been
addressing the Earth Prime with her `good morning', afra had heard her
voice so clearly in his mind that he had responded. His parents had
husband, Gas Lyon, a T-7 kinetic. Every one of their children had
Talent but afra's was not only apparent early but was also the
strongest, possibly even a double - telepath and teleport. This did
not keep his parents from being considerably embarrassed by their
youngest son's precocity.
So they immediately initiated gentle methods of curbing him
without inhibiting his potential Talent.
Either father, mother or Goswina, the eldest sibling, had to be
sure to awaken before afra did and curb a repeat of that performance.
For several months, this was a splendid new game for the toddler:
to see if he could wake up first so he could chirp `good morning' to
the velvet voice that invaded his mind. . . Capella. Whoever was
minding him that morning had to engage his attention in an alternative
occupation - like eating. For young afra loved to eat.
Not that it showed. Like the rest of his family, he was a healthy
but lean baby; ectomorphic with the sort of energy levels that burn up
calories. Placing a msk or a piece of fruit in his hand would
instantly divert him. As most tots, he had a very short attention span
and these ploys worked until he was old enough to understand that his
`good mornings' should be limited to his immediate family.
Goswina, a loving and caring sister, had not an ounce of meanness
This was a very mixed blessing, for sixteen-year-old Goswina had
developed such a deep attachment for a T-5, Vessily Ogdon, that both
families had earnestly discussed a possible alliance. However,
Goswina
was asked to put aside her personal plans for the chance to participate
in the Altair course. Only afra knew how painful that choice was for
his sister. Once Gas Lyon invoked family honour, she had complied,
demonstrating an obedience that seemed genuine - except to her
brother
who howled loudly at Goswina's departure.
afra missed his slender, gentle sister dreadfully. Altair was so
very far away that he could not maintain the light mental touch that
reassured him through his daily trials.
afra was not a natural conformist and trouble seemed to seek him
out at school, and even at home. He was not as biddable as his
brother
and sisters had been and his parents found his impetuosity and often
`wild', or `aggressive' behaviour a trial.
Aware of young afra's problems, the Capella stationmaster,
Hasardar, tactfully had the boy doing small `jobs' for him, jobs which
the worried parents could not take exception to as they were aimed at
men, lounging within. He also heard a babble of sound which made no
sense at all to his ears. His mind, however, translated the meaning.
`This is no place for leave, boys. Straight as dies, these folk.
Methody believers, and you know what that means. ' `Sure, Chief,
no
hanky-panky, no funsies, no drink, no smokings. Hey, what's coming
here? A pint-sized greenie!
Don't they grow `em a decent size?' `Ah, it's a kid. ' And one of
the men swung down the ramp, grinning. `Good morning, ' he said in
good
Basic.
afra stared up at him.
`You got a package for the captain, boy? Stationmaster said he'd
have it hand-delivered. ' afra continued to stare, extending the package
with both hands, puzzled by the strange words and especially by the
description of himself.
`What does "pint-sized greenie" mean, please, sir?' afra flinched
at the laughter from the lock and then from the angry glare the chief
directed at his crewmen.
`Don't be offended, laddie, ' the chief said in a kind tone. `Some
`I understand what you say, ' afra replied. `I don't understand
"pint-sized greenie" The chief hunkered down, being conscious that it
was wise not to offend locals, even a kid. And a kid would be more
likely to repeat what had been said to the stationmaster. It was also
smart for freighter crews to be on the best possible terms with Tower
stationmasters.
`It's like this, lad, ' and he rolled back his sleeve, showing a
brown-skinned arm, then he pointed to afra's hand. `My skin is brown,
your skin is green. I'm a brownie, ' and he ignored the hoots from his
crew, `and you're a greenie.
Just a matter of what colour we got born with. Now, "pint-sized"
means small, and I'd be gallon-sized, `cause I'm much bigger. Get
me?'
`More like barrel, Chief!' one of the crew chortled, again using the
different sounds though his mind made the comment clear to afra.
afra cocked his head at the chief, noticing other differences
between himself, a Capellan, and these visitors. The man had brown
skin, streaky grey hair and brown eyes. He was the widest man afra
had
ever seen, with forearms twice the size of his father's, or even
Stationmaster Hasardar.
in his palm. He gleaned from the chief that a `tip' was normal
procedure so he bowed again.
`Thank you, Chief. It was kind of you. ' II r `Tell you one thing,
they teach manners on this planet, ' the chief said in a loud voice,
trying to overwhelm the rude comments his crewmen were making
about
afra's courtesies.
afra didn't catch the meanings behind some of the strange words.
`Off you go, lad, before you become contaminated by this sorry lot
of spacers. Ain't any of you guys got some couth? Back inside, the
lot of you. You've had your smoking time. ' As afra trotted across the
plascrete back to the stationmaster, he decided that he wouldn't tell
anyone about the coin. It had been given him in return for completing
his errand. It was for him, not Stationmaster Hasardar who had said
nothing to him about collecting any sort of payment or to expect a tip.
If Goswina had been home, he would have confided in her as a
matter of course, but his other sisters considered him a nuisance and
his brother, Chostel, felt that he was too old to associate with kids.
So afra decided he didn't need to say anything about his coin. He
would save it, but not for a rainy day. When it rained on Capella,
no-one went anywhere.
mortified Goswina.
Fearful that his parents might receive official reprimands from
the Prime herself, afra shrank away and coiled so tightly into his own
mind that he genuinely didn't `hear' Goswina until she opened the door
of their quarters an hour later.
OH, GOSSeE, afra cried, tears of joy streaming down his face, as
he jumped into her arms.
Theirs was not a physically demonstrative family, as much because
they enjoyed a sufficient mental rapport that touch was redundant as
because tactile contact between Talents allowed deeper readings,
sometimes an inadvertent invasion of the private mind.
Today, Goswina ignored such considerations as she hugged her
young
brother tightly. Through that close contact, she also managed to
convey many things such a reserved girl would find difficult to say out
loud.
afra caught rapid shifts through scenes of her landing on Altair,
the forested mountains behind the Port City, the raw look of the
Altairian Tower, the faces of her fellow students in a hectic montage,
with one face dominating the group, rapidly scrolling through the
school room sessions, meals, the room Goswina had shared with two
摘要：

aPrime,withallthehonours,burdensandstrainsofthateliteclass.HeronefriendwasAfra-older,wiser,Talentedinhisownway,but-belonging'almostexclusivelytotheRowanandtheworkingsofCallistoStation.AsDamiagrewup,herTalentbecamealmosttoostrongtocontrol,andthesolutionwasseperation-fromherparents,fromCallisto,fromhe...

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