Pegasus in flight by Anne McCaffrey

Author:Anne McCaffrey [Flight, Pegasus In]
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, General, Science Fiction - General, Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Magic, Juvenile Fiction, Fiction - Science Fiction, Space Opera, High Tech, Fantastic fiction, Psychological, Telepathy
ISBN: 9780345368973
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2010-01-21T15:51:30+00:00

"We believe so, even if we don't know specifically why."

Carmen regarded him with some surprise. "It's a lovely clear mind. Like a bell--when she's asleep. She's wary and cautious awake, that one. I can touch her but not read her. And with her in the darkness, I can't even help you home in on her."

"She'll come out in good time."

Carmen shot a look that suggested that Sascha Roz- nine might--this once--be wrong. He grinned and

winked as he turned to leave her quarters.

156 PEGASUS IN FLIGHT

Anne McCaffrey

157

"Frankly, Sascha, we've run everything we got on the people Flimflam fingered for Yassim," Boris Roznine said, tossing a sheaf of hard copy onto the desktop, "and we can't find a common denominator. They're mostly able-bodies, doing enough work to keep away from Con- scriptive Work Services, only minor misdemeanors on their sheets, none of 'em known to gamble or dip."

Sascha smiled knowingly and felt his brother poke at his mind, but he kept his shield in place. He could do that to Boris, whereas Boris could not keep him out at all. "You've had a hard thirty hours, so I'll tell you. They were all fathers.''

"What?" Blood suffused Boris's face.

"Flimflam had accessed ordinary info on residents of the Linear. Mind you, it was so simple we didn't see it at first. Bertha's sensitive to females and children, Auer to the blacker side of life."

Boris scrubbed at his head. "Sometimes it is the sim- ple things we miss. So Flimflam was fingering fathers with likely youngsters, and the girl was a bonus?"

"I guess, and we're still in the daric about her," Sa- scha added, aware of his brother's next query. "Car- men's latched, but the girl's cautious and hasn't moved since she went to ground."

"Scared?"

"Strangely enough, no. I'd hazard that she's had to keep a low profile before. She's a preteen and illegal."

"That will sharpen the senses."

"How're you doing with Yassim's operation?"

"We figure he picked up at least nineteen children, maybe a few more." Boris grimaced. "We collected eight hundred and three illegal kids from Linear G. If what Harv believes is possible--mat every one of the related mothers has been having a kid a year--we're minus a possible forty. We located eighteen of that forty in a storage basement, but they've got the entry jammed. We're working on it." Boris shook his head. "They really will be better off in hostels."

"And in space?" Sascha asked wryly.

"Even in space they have a better chance than stale- mated in a Linear."

"But they won't be able to reproduce themselves." Sascha had never approved of the law that required the sterilization of illegal offspring.

Boris raised his hands in resignation. "I don't make the laws, Sascha. I only enforce them." Then he leaned forward and tapped up a new program on his big screen. "All right. Now, we have to find Yassim in his warren and save nineteen kids or more from him.''

"She's moved, Sascha," Carmen said, her tone half- triumphant, half-anxious.

Sascha consulted his watch. ' 'This time of day?''

"Linear will be crowded with those coining off work.

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