Damia's Children by Anne McCaffrey Read Free Book Online Page A

an exercise. You are to pay strict attention to the protocol and the technique now and whenever else you are required to teleport: especially such masses as these.”
    Laria and Thian nodded solemnly. They knew how proud their mother was of her Tower status as Aurigaen Prime. She’d held it since she was barely eighteen and never lost a cargo or mishandled one, inanimate or animate. They had been trained since the first time they’d “lifted” with mind power alone.
    â€œNow, settle yourself comfortably,” Damia said, putting her head back on the rest, shaking her hands to relax them.
    The generators were coming up to full power. Laria knew the sound intimately. She waggled her hands and let them drape beside her, giving her head a final scrunch. She listened intently to the generators, felt the touch of mother-father in her mind, let the link happen and felt part of that accord, then felt the addition of Thian’s. Only it was no longer four separate minds, it was a Mind, much, much stronger than one raised to the fourth power. This Mind was directed to the first of five puny-looking drones, lying like swollen slugs in the paved court of the Trefoil Mining Corporation. The Mind gripped the drone and lifted it up, up, and then as a youngster would skate a flat pebbleacross the still waters of a lake or river, the drone was skipped out, beyond the planet, beyond its moon and further, further, further, gathering speed until speed was a blur, until the Mind felt a resistance.
    Betelgeuse has it!
said the Mind that was directed by David of Betelgeuse with his grown children behind him.
    The first of five,
her Mind announced formally.
    Receiving.
    Lifting.
    Pause.
    Receiving.
    Lifting.
    Pause.
    Receiving.
The pattern continued until all five drones had been delivered to their destination.
    That is all today.
    That is enough today!
the Betelgeuse replied with feeling.
    Tut-tut, David. We must set the example for our young.
    We ARE our young today, Damia! Salutations, Afra, Laria, Thian.
    Salutations, David, Perry, Xahra, Morgelle.
    The subsequent silence was as rigid as the exchange had been fluid: almost painful. Laria felt a subtraction, knew that Thian had been dropped from the Mind. Then sensed her own exclusion and opened her eyes, rolling her head to release taut neck muscles. Saw Thian doing the same exercises.
    â€œThank you,” Damia said warmly. “That made a hard task much easier.”
    â€œI’ve got the hang of it now, Mother,” Laria said shyly. “No headache.”
    â€œThose only come when you resist the link,” Damia said, reaching across the intervening space to ruffle her daughter’s hair. “All right, Thian?”
    The boy shook his head, rolled his eyes dramatically. “I must have been resisting. My head’s drumming.”
    Immediately Damia swung off her couch and went to sit on his, her long fingers massaging the column of his neck and up into the head, down again into the shoulder muscles. Thian made faces at Laria who sympathized because she knew how strong her mother’s fingers were even as she envied Thian the special treatment.
    â€œComes with practice,” Afra said, sliding beside his daughter and giving her a gentle massage.
    Thian grimaced again. “We’ll get plenty of that now, won’t we?”
    â€œEnough to
learn
the technique required,” Damia said. “There, that should do the trick. Off you go, now. You’ve studies to do as well today!”
    Thian groaned and Laria was certain that he only pretended to the headache, hoping to be excused from lessons. Mother was a lot smarter than Thian! She kept her notion to herself, however, for she wasn’t in the mood to pick a fight right now. Being part of the Mind might be just part of the work of the telekinetic Talent but the merging, being part of her parents, her brother, being tuned to the generators exalted her—yes, exalt
was
exactly