Anne McCaffrey - Tower Hive 4 - Lyon's Pride

Lyon's Pride

by

Anne McCaffrey

The survival technique of the Hivers was terrifying-and brilliant.

Their huge Sphere ships,controlled by the Many Mind of ten to

sixteen queens,surged out into space.When an appropriate planet

was found,the Hivers destroyed any and every variety of

indigenous life,the queens propagated,and when the new world

was full,more ships were sent out,the colonization repeated

until no planet,no species,least of all Man and Mrdini was safe.

The furry and courageous Mrdini had fought the Hivers for

centuries,many dying bravely in an attempt to save their own

worlds.Now Mrdini and Man combined to form the Alliance-

and Humankind had their own weapons to offer-the power and

might of the Talents who could not only communicate silently

with each other,but could project cargoes,ships and themselves

across the deeps of space.

The four children of Damia-Laria,Thian,Rojer and Zara-were

Primes amongst the Talents,and all their skills were desperately

needed,for the Hivers' terrible Sphere ships were still thrusting

through space,unfathomable,impenetrable,and carrying death in

their labyrinthine depths.

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 recommended:

DRAGONFLIGHT

DRAGONQUEST

DRAGONSONG

DRAGONSINGER: HARPER OF PERN

THE WHITE DRAGON

DRAGONDRUMS

MORETA: DRAGONLADY OF PERN

NERILKA'S STORY

DRAGONSDAWN

THE RENEGADES OF PERN

ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN

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

A CORGI BOOK : 0 552 13764 2

Originally published in Great Britain by Bantam Press,

a division of Transworld Publishers Ltd

Copyright C Anne McCaffrey 1994

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 resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,

is purely coincidental.

This book is dedicated to

Matthew Haveates

for all the hard work, effort and time that he expended

in nailing down in an excellent bibliography

all the works by this grateful author

(except this one which wasn't written yet!)

Prologue

The first incursion of the Nine Star League by the Hive

entities occurred at Deneb where Jeff Raven, and the undeveloped

Talents of his planet, staved off a vicious attack by three alien scout

ships orbiting Deneb IV Calling for assistance from the Earth

Teleportation and Telepathy Prime, Peter Reidinger, Jeff Raven

encounters the Rowan, Callisto's Prime. In a mind merge, two of the

three invaders are destroyed and the third sent back, as a warning,

whence it had come.

Three years later the Mother Hive ship, a spherical leviathan,

appears at Deneb heliopause. The Talents once again merge to defend

the planet: the Rowan, pregnant with her second child, Cera, is the

focus for the feminine minds which then imobilize the Many Female Mind

that governs the Hive ship. The male merge, with Jeff Raven as focus,

then teleport the Hive ship into Deneb's primary.

Nineteen years later, while recuperating on Deneb, Damia

Gwyn-Raven, another T-1 Talent and the daughter of the Rowan and Jeff

Raven, and Afra Lyon, a Capellan T-2, have 'dreams' which they realize

are being implanted by the alien figures which appear in these dreams.

Contact is made with these visitors who call themselves the

Mrdini.

Through dreams, the Mrdini explain that they have been defending

themselves and their colony worlds against the incursions of the Hive

for centuries. They had followed the Hive ship to Deneb and been

fascinated by its destruction without loss of life on the part of the

defenders. They offer an alliance.

In order to establish meaningful relationships, young 'Dinis are

placed with human children, in the sound belief that early exposure to

another species facilitates understanding. Among those selected for

this experiment are the children of Afra and Damia, now Tower Prime for

Iota Aurigae, a mining world. Their eight children all have 'Dini

pairs.

At sixteen, the eldest daughter, Laria, is sent to the 'Dini home

world of Clarf to teach 'Dini human language and to expand her own

understanding of the adult vocabulary. At about this time, Mrdini

scouts observe three Hive ships which separate before the 'Dini can

catch up. But the ion trails left by the three are strong and can be

followed on their disparate ways.

The Alliance of Mrdini and Nine Star Leaguers decide on a

four-pronged expedition: the first element of six ships is to backtrack

to see if they can locate the elusive home world of the Hivers. The

other three elements are to follow the Hive ships to their

destinations, preferably to destroy them if at all possible before they

can colonize another world by first sterilizing all existing

life-forms.

thian Lyon, Laria's next brother, is seconded by Federation

Teleportation and Telepath (FT&T) to the AS Vadim to act as Prime with

the tracking mission of four ships, two human, two Mrdini. It is his

job to improve communications and relations between the Allies, and to

receive supplies to keep the ships moving towards their objective.

Thian has always been interested in naval matters so he is well

suited to the assignment. Thian is accompanied by his 'Dini pair, Mrg

and Dpl (Mur and Dip).

When the Vadim encounters a lifeless stationary derelict, it is

identified as a Hive ship, though larger by another third than any

previously encountered. It appears to have been destroyed by the heat

of an expanding nova. Three escape pods seem to have been used, though

others were destroyed in situ. An exploration detail of both 'Dini and

human is to examine the wreck. Encountering hostility from a crewman,

Thian is nearly killed on the Hive ship where he discovers undamaged

Hiver eggs. These are sent to be studied by the Alliance

xenobiologists. Recovering from his injury, Thian elects to continue

with the Mrdini ship, the KLTL, as the Mrdinis insist on being certain

that a nova has destroyed the Hive homeworld.

Two of the ships in Thian's element are required to start the

derelict on its way to a point at which both Mrdini and human

specialists can examine it thoroughly. The remaining three ships

decided to track down the three escape pods. It is essential to

capture the pods for just one queen is sufficient to establish a new

colony.

While Thian continues with the KLTL on towards the site of the

nova, the search for the three large ships, as well as the escape pods,

continues. Attempts are also being made to reassemble from its

shattered parts as much of the Big Hive Sphere as is possible to

reconstruct, in an effort to learn more about the enemy.

One of the escaped pods, bearing a live queen, is discovered by

the Bequing and captured, safely on tow behind the ship. Afra and his

son Rojer are sent out to 'port the pod to the Heinlein Moon Station

where it can be safely examined in great detail. There is considerable

deba and many fictions: some wishing summarily to execute the queen,

others wishing to aproach it in an effort to establish communications

and knowledge of a species never before captured. The Mrdini are

particularly against its maintenance. Rojer, with his father acting as

focus, easily transfers queen and pod.

Back on Earth, the captured queen pod is secured with twenty four

hour surveillance. When she finally emerges, she is seen as a

mantis-type creature, eight limbed, and egg-heavy. Since no-one has

had much luck in incubating the eggs discovered on the derelict ship,

it is decided to deposit these with her.

There has been considerable objection to keeping the creature

alive but those who insist that knowing more about the enemy may be a

deciding factor in a final victory over its incursions manage to win

the argument.

She is kept alive. Food of all varieties is supplied and she is

seen to prefer vegetables or fruit. Her actions, when there are any,

are monitored and shown to all interested.

Zara, the fourteen year-old sister of Laria, Thian and Rojer,

becomes emotionally involved with what she sees as the queen's dreadful

plight and imprisonment.

In a remarkable adventure, Zara arrives at the Observation Station

and, distraught by the queen's condition, 'ports herself into the

facility and realizes that the queen is freezing, being accustomed to a

much hotter temperature in her parturitional stage. Zara's

intercession saves the queen's life although, despite a hope that there

has been some empathy between human and Hiver, this bizarre incident is

not repeated nor can Zara explain why she acted as she did. As her

parents realize with some regret that Zara is not Tower material, even

though a Prime, Elizara, the T-1 medic for whom she was named, and her

great-grandmother Isthia decide she may have healing Talents.

Meanwhile, one of the escaping Hive ships has been tracked to a

star system where it is obviously slowing down. Rojer is sent to the

Genessee to expedite messages for Squadron B - two human ships and one

Mrdini which is hovering, undetectable, within an asteroid belt of the

system.

The crew watch as the arriving Hiver ship is attacked from moon

bases and planetary surfaces. When its ammunition is exhausted, the

queens flee in escape pods which are disintegrated. This shocks those

on the Genessee. As much as the 'Dini have observed of their enemy

over the centuries, they are as surprised and stunned as their human

allies.

Instead of being allowed to go in blasting, Squadron B and the

Genessee are ordered to hold a watching brief, utilizing as many probes

as possible, with Rojer's help, to gather information. It is thought

that Thian on his way back to 'civilization' on the KLTL, which has now

definitely established that the Hiver home world was destroyed in the

nova, will join or replace his brother on the Genessee.

Two squadrons are still in pursuit of the remaining two Hive

spheres while Squadron A, Thian's original group, are searching for the

other two pods which evacuated from the Great Sphere before it was hit

by the nova shock wave. A waiting game is played on several levels and

ethical problems of great magnitude must be addressed by both human and

Mrdini civilizations.

During the course of the next few weeks, while Rojer waited for

his older brother, Thian, to replace him on board the Genessee, he

spent a great deal more time on the bridge than he had originally

thought he would.

Not only was Rojer Lyon the T-1 FT&T which linked Squadron B with

its home worlds and the means by which the three ships were kept

supplied by twice weekly importations of supplies, he was also able to

provide other services to the squadron not in his original brief. If

he was referred to as 'the boy' or 'the civilian he couldn't deny 'boy'

as he was not quite sixteen although tall and well-muscled from an

active life on his home planet. He also had inherited the family

silver lock of hair which made it difficult for some to believe he

hadn't yet reached his majority. Most times these references to his

age or status were jocular. Sometimes envy or disparagement tinged

these epithets - until he 'ported in the next supply drones when he was

again in favour with all. Sometimes it appeared to him that his

'Dinis, Grl and Ktg, were more acceptable to the Genessee officers and

crew than he was, but he encouraged them to continue teaching their

language to any on board who wished it. At night, in his cabin, he

could enjoy the consolation of his friends and they were very good at

diverting him with amusing shipboard incidents and their own special

companionship. When he was particularly upset, they would 'dream' the

tension away.

Since the squadron was on orders to hold a watching brief and to

take no direct action against the ancient enemy which occupied the

system, tedium became a problem. Even escape pod drills became a

welcome variation of daily routine. So, when Captain Osullivan asked

Rojer if he could 'port the newly developed and undetectable probes to

discover what they could about the moons' defences and the three

spherical ships in docking orbit around the planet, he was quite

willing to oblige.

The activity was one he was well able for: in fact, it gave him no

lite satisfaction to know that 'the boy/ civilian' had an ability

no-one else in the B Squadron had. He was also just as curious as

anyone else in the squadron to learn as much as possible about the

Hivers world. He had discreet knowledge from Gil and Kat that Captain

Prtglm of the KTTS would have preferred direct action to surveillance

and had been extremely upset by the 'surveillance' order from the High

Council which had originated from Human Supreme Commander, Admiral Tohl

Mekturian, and Mrdini Co-ordinator, Gktmglnt.

The squadron had been given a stunning display of the planet's

defences when they had observed the attack on the refugee Hive ship

which they had followed to this system. Their three ships would have

been totally out-gunned and unable to inflict telling damage on

planetary installations.

It was a different matter entirely to survey as much as possible

of this enemy planet. Rojer enthusiastically entered into dispersing

disguised monitors to the material clustering about the three sphere

ships which were in a construction level orbit about the planet.

Certainly any ground-based sensors wouldn't notice him tucking a

few more pieces' amid the clutter that spun in disarray round the

world. Frankly Rojer thought such garbage was an appalling way to

discard rubbish.

Neither Captain Quacho of the sister ship, the Arapahoe, or

Captain Osullivan of the Genessee had expected that the refugee Hiver

ship would be attacked by its own species, its queens driven to escape

in the pods which had then been summarily disintegrated by the

planetary batteries. Captain Prtglm had announced that it was no more

than could be expected of Hivers.

Since Rojer's first assignment was to inspect the three sphere

ships in their docking orbit, tensions were diffused further when the

monitors proved that only one looked to be space-worthy. Quite

possibly it had been the ship which had transported the original

colonizing group. One of the other two was near completion, though it

had significant gaps, probably left open to receive equipment, while

the other was only partly hulled. That gave rise to further

speculation as to why the planet's defenders had 'holed' the refugee

ship, rendering it unusable.

Somewhat reassured by that investigation which he had Rojer relay

in his daily message to Earth Prime, Captain Osullivan requested Rojer

to make a geographical survey of the eight land masses, the biggest one

spreading from pole to pole. An opportunity like this, to gain

first-hand knowledge of a Hiver world, should be utilized to the

fullest extent possible. It also provided occupation during the tedium

of a watching brie# The Hive culture appeared to be totally land-based

and every centimetre of land was cultivated. Rojer's guided sensors

showed that mountainsides were terraced up to the snowline with what

Commander Metrios, the engineering officer, considered amazing

techniques, and although some fields were fallow, the majority sprouted

with vigorous, if unrecognizable, flora. Narrow tracks bordering the

fields provided access for the scurrying life-forms involved in

agricultural occupations. Their constant presence made it dangerous to

attempt to port in a sample-collecting probe. Another variety of

beetlelike creatures specialized in irrigation, trundling water, held

in body sacs, which was carefully dribbled along neat rows. What

surprised Lieutenant Istvan Mrkovic, the science officer, who had made

due note of the teeming marine life, was that the Hivers had not made

any attempt to harvest nutritious seaweed and plankton so abundant and

easily obtained.

'So they're vegetarians? Seaweed's vegetable, he exclaimed.

'They seem to be single-minded in many respects, said Anis Langio,

the astrogation officer whom Rojer admired at a distance. She was the

prettiest of the female bridge officers and he was old enough to

appreciate her presence. 'A stagnant culture determined to replicate

itself ad infinitum.' 'That may alter,' was the captain's crisp remark.

'I'd give anything to see a weed among all that perfection,'

remarked Anis Langio in a tone bordering on disgust. 'Talk about

purpose bio-engineering. A purpose for every critter and a critter for

every purpose.

Appalling. Specialization ad absurdum!' 'Look at these,' Rojer

said, focusing his sensor at its finest magnification where gatherers

were stripping rows of a globular, green vegetable form. Finishing the

collection, the gatherers turned from the rows into neat triple ranks

and trundled towards a central installation into which they

disappeared.

Thousands of these installations had been scanned.

They varied in size, evidently depending on the volume of crops,

but not in shape; all being square buildings covering three to four

acres, four or five storeys in height with interior access at ground

level along each side. Rojer had whizzed a sensor close enough to see

that the entrance sloped downwards. Activity continued night and day,

for the creatures apparently did not require illumination for their

tasks.

'And we thought this duty was boring,' one yeoman was heard to

mumble, eliciting widespread grins and a mild reproof.

'Those buildings have to be the access to tremendous subterranean

networks,' Istvan Mrkovic said thoughtfully. 'There isn't enough space

inside any of them to store the amounts brought in on a daily basis.

Do they pick for daily use, since I noticed they do leave immature

vegetables on the vines and bushes, or just to process for storage?

Yet I can't pick up any trace of smoke or heat to account for

cooking.

'Vegetarians eat a lot of raw foods,' Anis remarked.

'Or maybe they have a critter with heat-resistant paddles to stir

the stew.

Istvan shot her a reproving look for such levity, though even the

captain smiled. 'Certainly we haven't seen anything coming back out

for distribution so that has to be taken care of underground. Wow!

What an organization! You gotta give 'em that.' 'The workers have

to be fed something at some point to continue at the pace they go,'

Anis Langio said, no longer bantering. She had her head propped on one

hand and, as she watched the screen, was idly twirling - a dart,

springy curl around one finger. It seemed oddly out of character for

someone of her rank and experience.

'You don't see any of them lying down on the job or expiring from

lack of care.

'All mining must be done subterraneously, too, Mrkovic decided.

'I haven't seen anything remotely resembling an adit but those

ships required a variety of metals. I've noted the presence of all the

ores that we use but only that one finished ship in the construction

orbit has been covered with their special coating. And if they have

every centimetre producing food, the planet must be full up.

'The last harvest before blast-off;' Anis quipped.

'Not if they've only one space-worthy ship.' 'Maybe the

agricultural workers are multi-tasked and once the harvest's in they

turn on their construction mode,' was Anis' rejoinder. Istvan gave her

another of his disgusted looks.

'She could be right,' Metrios said. 'The palp that pulls the

pepper could also manipulate delicate equipment.

'And the trundlers shift struts and panels . . .' Anis went on.

'While the irrigators fill the fuel tanks,' Doplas, the

communications officer, said, joining in the fun.

'That is when we must be most cautious,' the captain said, and

turned to Rojer. 'You can withdraw the monitors quickly?' Rojer

nodded.

'Commander Yngocelen and I are still trying to include a small

self-destruct unit, sir, just in case, Metrios said. 'Small enough not

to create much flare but enough to fiz the innards to an unrecognizable

slag.' The captain nodded approval. 'Our relief ships are not that far

away.

Rojer held his breath in surprise. Would he actually be in on the

first invasion of a Hive world? He had heard the gunnery officer,

Lieutenant-Commander Yngocelen, and some of his staff discussing what

would be needed to 'take out' the moon batteries, but no-one had

sounded very enthusiastic about success in that direction. Despite all

they had seen of this Hive world, there were many unknowns.

From their Mrdini allies, and once at first hand on Deneb, humans

did know something about Hive colonization practices. The creatures

preferred G-type stars, M-5 type planets, worlds similar to Earth, or

Cia the Mrdini home world, which meant that the three species were in

competition with each other. The Hive method was to send one of their

Sphere ships, managed by the Many Mind of ten to sixteen queens with

specialized workers doing whatever crewing was needed. Each Mother

ship was equipped with scout vessels which it sent on ahead to

investigate appropriate systems. The Hiver then 'cleared' the planet

of all life-forms, using as a fumigator first one, then other viral

infections until the world had been cleared of its indigenous

life-forms. Then the Mother ship landed its queens and propagated its

species until the new world, too, was overpopulated, when the process

of exploration and colonization was repeated.

'But we've seen no activity at the ships at all,' Anis said. 'Or

has the arrival of the refugee caused panic 'Hivers wouldn't know panic

if it bit them Metrios interjected drolly.

'Well, then a rethink? 1 don't understand why they haven't done

anything to repair the refugees' ship for use if they're about to send

off a colonial expedition!' 'They also haven't restocked their moon

installations,' Yngocelen remarked. 'They pumped out a bodacious

amount of ordnance in that attack even if most of it fell short.

Surely they'd have to replenish it unless they have almighty

storage facilities up there.' He glanced hopefully at Rojer who

laughed.

'Sir, there's no way I can get a probe in those moon emplacements.

Not a niche or a crack and I've no idea of what space is available

inside. I can't 'port blind.' 'No, no, of course, you couldn't,

Rojer,' the gunnery officer replied, but his expression remained

wistful.

'Been no messages sent there. No communication on any frequency,

Doplas said, glancing down at his control console as if it had

capriciously malfunctioned.

'Told ya the refugees didn't have the right password, quipped

Metrios, a grin on his narrow sardonic face.

Then he suddenly sat up alert. 'Lookee here. Activity in the

shipyard.' All attention was instantly focused on that screen. 'Can

you hold that monitor stationary for a bit, Rojer?' 'Sure thing,' and

he complied, trying to see what had attracted Metrios' attention. A

wide hatch had swung open at the end of the one uncultivated area on

the whole planet - its space facility.

'Doplas, magni,' Captain Osullivan said and paused a beat before

he added, 'Pods! The units they're carrying look the right size and

shape to be made into escape pods.' 'To replace the ones they blew up!

Anis added unnecessarily and glanced anxiously at the captain.

His strong-featured face showed only keen interest in the surface

activity as hundreds of low-slung manylegged creatures, loaded with

sections, trundled slowly across the flat surface and deposited their

burdens at sixteen separate places before they scuttled back to the

aperture which sank back into the ground.

'Are the Arapahoe and the KTTS receiving these transmissions,

Doplas?' 'Aye, sir, on automatic relay.

Before the captain could ask Doplas to open a channel, both

Captains Quacho of the Arapahoe and Prtglm of the KTTS called in.

'They begin to refit,' Prtglm said. 'Time takes. Talent informs

Alliance.

'They don't seem to be doing any work to complete the other two

ships,' Quacho remarked dubiously, his heavy brows nearly bridging over

his Roman nose.

'Those are already fitted with escape pods,' Osullivan reminded

him.

'Always queens are first,' Prtglm said. 'Time takes.' Rojer

dutifully made contact with Jeff Raven to report the activity and was

told to relay further developments as they occurred. Once the ground

entrance closed, no further activity was seen. Excitement waned and

Rojer was allowed to retire from the bridge at the end of his watch.

Rather than have to evade questions on this new development, he

spent the evening quietly in his cabin with Gil and Kat, watching more

of the Genessee's huge library of old tri-ds until the red alert had

him 'porting himself and his friends to the escape pod assigned him.

He and the others who occupied his pod were nearly asleep again

when the 'all-clear' hooted.

The next morning he overslept and had to 'port himself to the

bridge to be on time. Looking as grumpy as Rojer felt, Commander

Metrios duly noted his hurried arrival but issued no reprimand.

Casually, Metrios told Rojer that no firther activity on the space

field had been noted.

'Maybe they have to hatch out the assemblers?' Anis Langio

suggested and then yawned, wiggling her fingers in welcome as Rojer

stepped up to his couch. He grinned back at her.

'Any corrections needed, Commander?' Rojer asked Metrios,

gesturing to the screens and the roving sensors.

'No, Roj,' Metrios said, with a wry grin. 'They're where we need

'em right now. We're just lucky there's so much space flotsam that our

sensors seem just like one of the boys out there.

'You know, for a planet that's spotless, - said Eri Gander, the

morale officer, who often dropped b,y Rojer's station, 'they've made a

right mess of space.

'Haven't developed a form to gobble up their garbage, that's all,'

Metrios replied.

'Vegetarians get their iron and minerals from their food,' Anis

remarked with an overly innocent expression on her face. 'Which

reminds me, Eri, we could use some new tri-ds. There's nothing I

haven't seen a zillion times.

Eri and Anis both looked queryingly at Rojer who held his arms

wide, mimicking Anis' expression. 'Look, I'm just transport. I have

nothing to do with loading.' 'Which reminds me why I'm here,' Eri said,

turning to Rojer. 'I've four to ship back this week.' He raised his

eyebrows queryingly.

'No problem. My 'Dinis told me that there're two 'Dini pairs to

go as well.' Anis heaved an exaggerated sigh. 'I'm always glad to know

they are not as pa-faced and stiff-upperlipped as Prtglm pretends they

are.

'The 'Dinis are going to hibernate,' Rqj'er said, and grinned to

defuse any criticism as he added, 'that's not considered a weakness in

'Dims.

'At least you save them from going on the line,' Metrios said,

nodding his head approvingly.

Anis gave a convulsive shudder. 'I don't care what euphemism they

apply to the process, it's still cannibalism.' 'Term it exigency during

long space hauls and accept that interpretation,' Mrkovic said, but his

expression indicated he was in complete agreement with the astrogator.

'At least we have Rojer here. Man and Mrdini's best friend is the

local FT&T Talent.' Rojer grinned back, relieved that the subject of

'Dini traditions was not pursued. On the bridge, at least, he wasn't

quizzed to the point of aggravation by pruriently curious crewmen and

women. He had had to make the point that he might have lived closely

with 'immature 'Dini, but he didn't know much about the adults.

'So what's to be done today. Commander?' he asked Metrios.

'Close watch on the shipyard and those pod elements.

We've got a little self-destruct package in the new ones I ordered

up in case we need to put more in action.' 'Don't I just wish we did

have some action,' said Yngocelen as he stared glumly at the static

scene on the screen. 'Aren't they putting the cart before the horse?

I mean, assembling escape pods when they haven't repaired the hole

they put in the refugee ship? Never did understand why they plugged

it. Especially after they had already conned the queens into leaving

in their escape pods.' 'Puzzling indeed, Metrios admitted, 'since it

damaged a perfectly space-worthy craft which would have nicely

increased their existing fleet.' Because he now knew these officers

well enough, Rojer decided to voice his thoughts.

'Commander, I don't think that torpedo hit a cargo or docking

area,' he said.

'You don't?' Metrios' expression encouraged him.

'No, sir, I think they holed the life-support systems.

Because it was a hole, not a shattering blast.' 'Show me.' Metrios

was not the only one who perked up with interest.

Rojer 'ported one of the monitors into the appropriate position.

Unfortunately, the entrance point was in deep shadow. What was

visible were the clean edges of the torpedo's entrance. The damage

would be easily repaired. At least it would on any of the Alliance

ships.

'Maybe there was something in that torpedo they sent up,' Rojer

added quietly, steeling himself for dispute.

'Yeah, but what and why?' Yngocelen asked in a caustic tone. 'We

know from even the partial reconstruction of the Great Sphere which A

Squadron discovered that they can seal off decks and areas just as we

can.

'Yes, but the queens were evacuating and there'd be no-one to

issue orders to the workers to close anything.

I think,' and Rojer paused so as not to sound as sure as he was of

his theory, 'this lot wouldn't want the workers spawned by other

queens. They'd want to get rid of them before they filled the ship

with their personal workers.' 'So the torpedo delivered a gas or

something noxious to fumigate it, huh?' Yngocelen asked, mulling over

that theory.

'Boy's got a good point,' Metrios said over Rojer's head but his

tone was approving.

'I could send a probe inside the ship to find out, Rojer

volunteered since no-one had discredited his theory. Although Captain

Osullivan had not taken part in the conversation, he had been

listening.

'Then do so, Mr Lyon,' Captain Osullivan said, nodding to

Yngocelen. 'And program it for a full scan, Mr Yngocelen. It's about

time we learned what's going on in there since Mr Lyon's Talents allow

us to be discreet.' Although Rojer sent the tiny probe through

ventilation ducts and up and down dark and empty corridors, 'nothing'

was going on inside the hulk. Nothing apart from a haze which still

hung like a miasma in the interior, and was especially heavy in the

centre of the vessel.

'Could be a combination fg55, the science officer said, 'because

there sure aren't any workers of any description left, and there are

signs of corrosion on the few organic substances the monitor

identifies. The Hivers seem to specialize in lethal doses. I wouldn't

want to send anyone in to investigate. Despite the hole in the hull

letting vacuum in, the stuffs lingering. It's going to take time to

flush all that out.' 'Sections weren't closed off either,' Yngocelen

said, tappinRojer approvingly on the shoulder. 'Yup, and that junk

even cleared out the tubes where larvae are stored. Clean sweep!'

Rojer could not entirely suppress his delight that his theory had been

verified but everyone was smiling so he felt it wasn't inappropriate

for him to do so, too.

'Good thinking, Rojer,' Osullivan said to cap his moment of

triumph.

None the less Rojer heard - not from the direction of the officers

less grateful sentiments from one or two of the ratings on duty.

'It was only a theory, sir,' Rojer said, altering his grin to

modest self-deprecation. It was hard to please everyone all the time

no matter how carefully he conducted himself 'How long will it take for

that gas to clear, Mr Mrkovic?' Osullivan asked.

'Can't say for sure, sir, it's heavy stuff: All systems are dead

on the ship. If they were activated - - -, and he shrugged. 'With

respect, sir, the Genessee doesn't have eva suits on board that would

protect us humans against a corrosive gas atmosphere.' Nor did the

Mrdini when the options were discussed at a captains' conference.

Although the derelict Great Sphere was being subjected to the most

exhaustive scrutiny by both humans and Mrdini, the emphasis had been on

establishing what powered Hive ships, what fuel was used, and analysing

the peculiar composition of the hull material. Ventilation and

life-support systems were a low priority.

'Captain Prtglin would like us to figure out a way to get in that

ship,' Captain Osullivan reported to his staaf officers. Rojer was

also itting in as he had attended the captains' meeting as translator.

'It has an idea,' and Osullivan's smile was amused, 'of boarding

and bringing a relatively undamaged Hive ship back to Clarf. I gather

Prtglin is to be retired at the end of this mission and it would like

to do so in glory, as it were.' There were murmurs of understanding for

such ambition.

'I didn't think Mrdini did things like retire,' Anis Langio

remarked.

Osullivan cleared his throat and smoothed back his hair. 'I

believe it's a question of size.' 'Yeah, it is the biggest 'Dini I've

ever seen, Yngocelen sao thoughy. 'If it gets much bigger, it won't

fit in its own ship. It has to bend over to walk our companionways and

this ship's built for tall.' As the gunnery officer was just under the

two-metre mark, he was sympathetic. 'But you know,' he went on

offhandedly, 'maybe Rojer could 'port a small boarding party directly

into the torpedo hole. They're obviously waiting until the gas

disperses. Of course, we'd have to figure a way of doing that first.

Anne McCaffrey - Tower Hive 4 - Lyon's Pride

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