Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey Read Free Book Online

her accented and guttural voice.
    She grasped the control, held it up for all to see, and then plunged the old-fashioned switch to the far side. Immediately, lights so brilliant that they momentarily dazzled the viewers came up outside and Peter wasn’t the only one to gasp in amazement. The great upper wheel of the Station, a connected polygon where moorings and airlocks were located, was agleam with lights. Massive arrays illuminated the hull of the spaceship that would be the first of many scheduled to leave the Station on colonial missions. The size of it dwarfed even the great wheel.
    Peter Reidinger seemed to back away from the vision. Rhyssa saw tears in his eyes and the wishful expression on his mobile face. When his chest did not rise, she elbowed him and he took a deep breath.
    Easy, love
, she added, her mental touch gentling his emotional response to the sight.
You got here, to the Space Station, didn’t you? You’ve come such a long way in a short period of time
.
    Startled, Peter glanced quickly at her.
You don’t mean I could go on her, do you?
He raised his hand in the direction of the spaceship.
    Equally surprised, Rhyssa exchanged eye contact and drew her lips down in a regretful moue.
She’ll be leaving on her first voyage this year. You won’t be old enough, dear, even if a kinetic would be a wise addition to her crew. It’s not as if you could push her to her destination, is it? We do have to know
where
we’re ’porting something
.
    We’ve got pretty good resolutions of the planetary systems they’re going to …
Peter couldn’t actually wriggle his body but that was the impression Rhyssa had of what he would have
liked
to do just then.
Time-resolved images, they call ’em
, he said, remembering some of his astronomy.
    “Not clear enough to ’port to, Peter. Not yet,” she said sadly. Dave gave a sideways glance at the pair. “Though God knows that would reduce the voyage considerably.”
    “You aiming to start shifting spaceships now, Peter?” Dave asked, referring to Peter’s feat of the shuttle landing in Dhaka.
    “Archimedes said, ‘Give me where to stand and I can shift the Earth,’ ” Peter replied, grimacing up at Rhyssa.
    “If you figure out where that is, Peter, you’ll be assured of a place in history,” Dave said with a droll grin.
    “I’m working on it,” the boy replied.
    On the podium now, the World President Martin Cimprich had replaced Admiral Coetzer. With many flowing and apparently sincere phrases, the President thanked Manager Barchenka for succeeding “where so many others had been defeated by such a monumental task” in completing the Space Station on time. He added remarks about her devotion to the project, about her immense personal achievement, and how vital the Space Station would be to the peoples of Earth in their search for new worlds to inhabit. Barchenka, still standing, shifted from one foot to another, showing her usual impatience with speeches. As if Cimprich was aware of her restiveness, he cleared his throat and then, smiling at her, gestured for an aide to approach.
    “It is my infinite and distinct pleasure, Manager Barchenka, to present you with this.” A splendid sculpture, a rectangle of glittering plastic showing Padrugoi Space Station hanging above the Russian quadrant of Earth, passed from the aide’s hands to his. With a very courtly bow, Cimprich presented it to Barchenka.
    With a very brief smile and an ungracious snatch, she took possession of the sculpture. Then, with a flick of her fingers, she dismissed President Cimprich to his seat. She turned to the lectern and settled the heavy sculpture on its top with a thud that echoed through the audio system.
    “Why do they have to mess this all up with speeches?” Peter demanded, and once again began to levitate until Rhyssa put a warning hand on his elbow.
Will we be able to get on board the spaceship while we’re up here?
    I doubt it, Peter, so look your eyes full of her.