Second Wave by Anne McCaffrey Read Free Book Online

apart. They were things to him.
    Objects. Practice.
    But this one was different. Why?
    “Because you’re somewhat like me. However, you are mistaken to think of me as prey. Beneath this cute and fluffy exterior hides a true force to be reckoned with. Pull my tail again at your own peril. My wrath is mighty.”
    Who said that? He looked around for Khorii or Sesseli, the little psychic freak. But there were only the boy and the cat, who turned away from him, tail high, and trotted toward the graveyard.
    He was in very bad shape indeed from his long residence in the kitchen. Cats did not talk and they especially did not talk inside his head. Besides which, this particular moggy was terrified of him. If he so much as said “Boo!” it would run away.
    While he was thinking about it, the cat stopped. It looked up at the graveyard, jumped a couple of meters into the air, and landed halfway back to the hatch, whereupon it kept scooting until it was out of the bay, the door still open, its little paddy paws thundering down the corridor like a herd of pachyderms.
    Marl hadn’t realized he’d yelped when the cat jumped but he must have, because his guard woke up.
    “Huh?” The boy shook his head to clear it and looked at Marl. “¿Qué pasa?”
    “There’s something moving about over in the graveyard,” Marl told him, certain now that there was since the cat had seen it, too. He pointed, in case the kid really didn’t understand Standard.
    The kid lumbered to his feet and plodded toward the mound of dirt.
    He stood on tiptoes outside the crate wall, looked from one side to the other, then plodded back toward the cargo net, shaking his head and shrugging.
    Although neither the kid nor Marl closed their eyes after that, he didn’t see the movement again. On the bright side, he didn’t see the cat either.

Chapter 4

    I told you the trip would tire you,” Elviiz scolded. “My optical sensors detect a definite translucency in your horn.”
    “My horn and I were fine until you decided I needed to purify the entire water supply of Dinero Grande,” Khorii replied. “And the sewers besides. Yuck.”
    “Had you not insisted on relocating Marl Fidd, you would be fine. I did not intend for you to perform all of the purification yourself, only to ascertain the need for it.”
    “There was no sense in leaving it to infect someone else,” she told him. “Now, if you’ll stop nagging, I’m going to take a nap.”
    It had taken hours to find the waterways and sewer system and purify each separate component. Then they had to wait for the shuttle to pick them up. Khorii had yawned all the way to the Mana and, once aboard, had grazed her fill in the ’ponics garden before returning to the bridge. She kept nodding off there, too. Elviiz had busied himself double-checking the security arrangements for Fidd while Hap happily occupied himself in the engine room. She didn’t get any real sleep aboard ship, however, because Khiindi jumped onto her lap the moment she sat and yowled at her. When she tried to ignore him, he used claws. He was very upset about something, but, then, Khiindi could be excitable. Perhaps he was protesting Marl Fidd’s presence on board again.
    The trip back to Corazon, once begun, was not a long one, so she stroked and comforted her furry friend for the duration, though her attentions only diminished his anxiety enough that instead of yowling at her and clawing, he spoke to her in raucous meows, flipping his tail and flattening his ears when she tried to pet his head.
    She let Jalonzo and his friends deal with Fidd. Hap helped, but then returned to the Mana. He and Jaya wanted to repair and refurbish it for longer journeys it would be making soon with decontaminated supplies it would carry to the plague survivors on other worlds.
    The rain was falling again, though full darkness had not yet descended and the wind was merely brisk, the lightning flashes distant. The hailstones of the previous night had melted