`And I handed it over to you!’ `I give you leave to report it, though!’ Rojer was quite willing to defer. Lately his name had come up in his parents’ conversations and he’d closed up, rather than hear them discuss him. They had such high standards, standards he might not be meeting.
He wished he hadn’t become so acute a telepath.
When Xexo returned from making that call, he was grinning from ear to ear. `Brace yourself for a surprise or two, lad,’ he said but refused to explain.
`Qh, it won’t hurt you to simmer a bit. This fit’s original, by the bye. I’m the first to report it. And I made it a joint discovery.
Only fair, Roj. Now, let’s see if my hunch is right because I think we’ve got part of a gyroscope here. I know it sounds far fetched because gyroscopic drives are ancient history in engineering usage…
`Gyroscope! Of course it is!’ Rojer cried, reaching across the board for half a dozen shards and scraps which, with little fussing, came together into a whole ring. Xexo’s eyes bulged at the result.
`They won’t believe this: two sets in one day . `Well, we always thought the first match would be the hardest. .
`You report this one on your own, Rojer Lyon!’ Xexo said, turning the band. `Might not be part of a drive. They might have used it as a compass leveller or … Go report it.’ And Xexo shooed him out of the basement.
Rojer reported it in as unassuming manner as he could, relieved when he got an automated answering service. It asked for details and he gave piece numbers and the sequence in which they fitted together.
He was asked his name and the time of the match and he was thanked for prompt reportage.
The nice thing about machines, Rojer thought, was that they couldn’t be impressed by rank. They took you as you were!
He and Xexo tried to build in their match but then Rojer’s time sense alerted him that his leisure time was over. He and Morag had to exercise the ponies and their `Dinis wanted to come along. Damia asked them to get more greens, if they saw any ready for picking, but they didn’t need to hunt. Ewain and Kaltia came along, stuck up on their ponies with their young `Dinis still able to ride pillion. Zara stayed at home, glancing up at the screen and the Queen half-covered with shavings and eggs.
When Rojer and his group returned to the house, Zara was once again in floods of tears.
`She might be dead. Has anyone looked? They don’t report the sensor readings. She’s exhausted, delivering all those eggs, Mother.
Oh someone has to help her! I’ll call Grandmother Isthia myself if you won’t.’ `You will not disturb your grandmother. Either one of them.
And you will stop this hysterical nonsense immediately Rojer recoiled slightly at the force of his mother’s peripheral `pathing.
She was both trying to calm Zara and making certain the girl could not project a call. Even Damia couldn’t `path all the way to Deneb without some assistance. For that matter, Rojer was on hand – but his sympathies were oddly on Zara `5
side.
`Ah c’mon, sis,’ he began in a drawl, sauntering across the room to them, `Look there now! They just put food right by her palps.
Roddie’s getting good at making deliveries.’ `Roddie…’ Mention of their cousin surprised Zara and she blinked her tear-filled eyes and looked back at the screen, seeing the neat piles of food in easy reach.
`How d’you know Roddie did that?’ He sensed that it mattered that a member of her family, sidereal or not, was involved in actively succouring the Queen.
`He’s the only Talent up there, isn’t he, Mother?’ Damia agreed with him vocally and mentally, glad of any diversion for her daughter’s over-sensitivity.
`I know he `ports the fresh food in daily. And, if you’d stop and think a minute, she has been assisted in every way as soon as her needs were seen. Like the shavings. Every xenbio and xenzoo’s watching the screen as closely as you. Stop fretting so much. And if you’re really worried, I don’t think Roddie’d mind if you shot him a query or two.