Pegasus in Flight Read Free Page A

suburbs interrupted the flow of Linear structures that housed the millions who lived and worked in the massive Jerhattan complex. Rhyssa’s quarters were undistinguished from any of the other three-story apartment blocks set among the gardens and trees. As with all dwellings for the Talented, these were secured and shielded from unannounced entry. In fact, even those who tenanted the Linear constructions running on the long sides of the Center’s extensive grounds did not know of its existence, so artful were its screens. No one should have been able to intrude on Rhyssa, much less in her sleep.
    “Awkward, rousing you so thoroughly. You need all the rest you can get.” Sascha projected a vision of himself and Rhyssa curled together in her bed, the double-thick duvet tucked around their spooned bodies.
    Yes, yes,
Rhyssa replied. She responded with a vision of a firm foot pushing the Sascha body out of the bed.
But even if you had been there physically, you couldn’t’ve helped, Sascha-bear. It was all in my mind, in my dreams. And that’s your duvet, not mine. I never use plaids.
    Rhyssa smiled up at him, fluttering her eyelashes to mock his projection. He raised his brows in resignation. They both enjoyed this game. They had been playing it for years.
    Picky, picky. Don’t avoid the issue,
Sascha said. “Who, I’d like to know, could knock in on your mind? And why?”
    “Indeed!” Rhyssa crossed her arms and stared off into a view of the lowering clouds and dismal rain that obscured a usually breathtaking view of Jerhattan.
That’s what perplexes me.
    Don’t range, Streaky. Sending your mind out searching for him takes too much out of you. You’re going to need all your energy to deal with the Zealots.
He projected the vision of three persons with limbs so entangled they resembled an Oriental fetish, each caricatured face wearing an expression of mixed intransigence and skepticism.
    Oh, don’t!
She laughed as her return image untangled arms and legs and set each person upright, a whisk-broom smoothing tunic and trousers while emblems of rank were straightened.
I can’t remember that when I have to deal soberly with their urgent requests for Talents I don’t have. They’re laughable enough as it is.
    “Good. That’s all they deserve. Shall I have Sirikit check back and see when this phenomenon first registered?”
Sheer impudence!
Sascha snorted his annoyance.
    “That’s an idea.” Rhyssa smiled ruefully as she pulled clothes from drawer and closet. She continued to talk as she dressed in the bathroom. “I only thought of checking my graph this morning. I really do need my sleep.”
    “Probably some emergent Talent who doesn’t understand protocol. I do wish they didn’t always feel required to overreact to their newfound mind-powers.”
    “Damned strong one!” Maliciously, Rhyssa projected an image of a very young Madlyn Luvaro, mouth wide open, and the circle of people cringing away from the waves of sound emanating from her.
    Sascha grimaced. Madlyn Luvaro had a mental shout that could penetrate to the space station and any of its peripheral dockyards. It had been Sascha’s task, as he was nominally in charge of Training and Development, to teach her how to focus and moderate her mental voice. Madlyn adored him passionately and was embarrassingly possessive of him, an adulation he was finding increasingly difficult to discount—it was the reason that he assiduously cultivated the notion that he and Rhyssa were on the brink of a total partnership. Kindly, Rhyssa did not disclaim the rumor.
    “I’ll have Sirikit run a check on possible emergents,” he told her, then sent the request to Sirikit in the Control Room, also asking her to check Rhyssa’s encephalograph charts for the previous months.
    Emerging washed and dressed, Rhyssa beckoned Sascha to follow her through to her office, which adjoined her living suite. She yawned as she sat down at her desk, kinetically pulling some pencil