Nimisha's Ship by Anne McCaffrey Read Free Book Online Page B

said sharply, but her expression softened instantly. She, too, was quite besotted with her grandchild.
    Lady Astatine was the only relative who retained critical objectivity. “It’s well enough,” she said. “If it lives and has its health.”
    Lady Rezalla’s suddenly revived hope that Nimisha would dispense with spaceship design and Yard supervision was ruthlessly shattered. Although a registered wet nurse was hired to tend the baby’s needs, Nimisha set up an office suite in her domicile, adding vid screens showing the nursery rooms so she could enjoy her daughter’s antics whenever she chose. In fact, as Cuiva advanced from crawling to an unsteady walk, only Jeska knew how often Nimisha totally ignored other pressing professional matters.
    Lord Rhidian was so beguiled by his firstborn that he continued his visits, even missing an important Trophy Hunt when Cuiva first walked. Although Nimisha had not initially intended to take so much time away from the Yard to supervise her body-heir’s nurturing and development, she found time spent with her daughter a source of relaxation from a long day of programming. She was setting up what she knew would be a revolutionary femtosecond control system for the yacht. That such a system also required a whole new generation of central processing units—as well as a staggering cost—meant little to her in her search for perfection.
    When the Mark 2 was completed, she did the test runs, her first major absence from her daughter since Cuiva’s birth. Rhidian was one of those permitted to come along “for the ride.” Jeska was another, along with an “interested” observer from the Fleet Design Department. That had been a compliment to Lord Tionel’s good standing with the Department, though Nimisha had the feeling that Commander Modesittin was present more as a goodwill representative. While he asked few but pertinent questions, he had evidently been sufficiently impressed; a more thorough investigation of the Mark 2’s performance resulted in sales of four of this prototype for scout vessels. Nimisha and Jeska had found a way around the cost of the necessary CPU’S, so that the Navy could also
afford
to buy the Mark 2.
    Several of the patents she had registered for improvements in minor control devices were also purchased in quantity and installed wherever they would update existing systems. It was obvious that the Fleet was now as interested in her as a naval designer as they had been in Lord Tionel. She had several very complimentary interviews with Admiral Levertim Gollanch, who had succeeded to Admiral Narasharim’s position after the older woman’s retirement. There was no harm, Nimisha thought, in cooperating with the Fleet. She was amused to be invited to a formal dinner by Admiral Gollanch shortly after the interviews.
    “More likely to pick my brains than to entertain me,” Nimisha remarked to Jeska, who complained when she accepted the invitation.
    When Lady Rezalla heard about it, she considered such interest only right and just and wondered why it had taken them so long to realize that Lady Nimisha was a fit successor to Lord Tionel.
    “They had to be sure of that, my mother,” Nimisha said. “They have, after all, continued to buy Rondymense units. But I designed some of the systems that Tionel never got around to making.”
    “So you’ve informed me,” was her dam’s droll reply.
    So Nimisha attended a very formal dinner at Vega’s Fleet headquarters in the Supreme Admiral’s quarters. She was the celebrity of the evening. The other guests, gaudily attired in formal uniforms, displaying medals for a variety of achievements, ranged from young to ancient, male and female, and were almost all naval. Two other civilians had been included and she knew both—naval architects, each good in his specialty. But, she reminded herself, not as good as she was.
    Well, service to one’s Federation was part of the duty of a good Family, but if she had to