Dinner that last evening was not ostentatiously lavish but the meal happened to feature the favorite dishes of Thian, Mur and Dip.
No-one made mention of this bias because their special foods were popular anyway. Thian got a bit misty-eyed, though, when his mother served him double-chocolate cake.
I also baked a second one for you to take with you tomorrow, she added very privately and he nearly burst into tears.
They dissipated with a suddenness that suggested `help’, leaving him happy and relaxed but no longer emotionally overloaded.
You have always been an appreciative soul, his father said.
Everyone appreciates double-chocolate cake, he replied, in control of himself again.
The transfer would take place late that evening, when the household was asleep. First they’d land at Callisto.
`Just to keep you humble, Thian,’ his mother said as they made their way through the dark still night to the Tower, `you and your `Dinis are also-rans with urgently needed medical and food supplies.’ `Thanks, Mom, I needed that,’ Thian said facetiously.
I know, and she grinned at him. `Your grandparents will join with David of Betelgeuse to push the shipment to rendezvous with the starship Vadim.’ `At least we’ll be pushed by the best,’ he said.
They had reached the capsule now and he placed his carisak inside, careful of the double-chocolate cake. His father went on up to the Tower to take his position. His mother hovered as he helped stow the pouches Mur and Dip handed him. They hopped in, clicking softly as they settled into their special hammocks. Then it was Thian’s turn to enter.
Thian caught just the glint of moisture in his mother’s eyes before, unexpectedly, she threw her arms about him. When, he wondered as his arms closed about her, had she gotten so slender and so much smaller than he?
When you got so much fatter and bigger, she said and shoved him towards the carrier. You big lunk! And, on a different level which Thian was astonished to hear, she added, This is much harder than I thought it would be!
Almost embarrassed by her remorse, Thian stumbled as he stepped in and then fell awkwardly across the couch, Mur and Dip clacking concern.
He clucked a reassurance and clipped on his harness.
The canopy closed.
It’s not as if he’s gone for ever, his mother’s thoughts continued.
Easy, my love, and that was his father answering on the private level.
Firmly Thian diverted his thoughts from this inadvertent contact and squinched his shoulders into the couch.
NOT TO WORRY, Mur said.
TOGETHER US, Dip added.
GOODNESS SPREADS, Thian replied, accepting their encouragement and returning it in the `Dini idiom.
He caught the `push’ of two strong minds at the onset of `portation. He held his breath and felt the `halt’ and the almost indefinable alteration as his grandmother `caught’ the capsule from the Aurigaean thrust and brought it safely in. He didn’t feel even the slightest vibration as the carrier was placed on the Callistan cradle.
I’m always careful with animate cargo, came the unmistakable touch of his grandmother’s `pathing.
You are indeed, ma `am, Thian answered politely.
This `port will be longer, remember, but I’ll stay with you, if you wish? the Rowan offered.
Thian let a laugh ripple through his reply Mother’d snatch me bald-headed, Callisto Prime, if I did that.
He did give a start when he felt a thud-thunk vibrate through the capsule.
That’s the drone capsule locking on, his grandmother said, not me missing my thrust. Don’t break any eggs now, she added.
On her `now’, he knew that she had pushed because he could just hear the whine of generators.
He was also aware of David, the Betelgeuse Prime, when his touch came on line.
Ah! Punctual as ever, David, the Rowan said.
Shall we?
Why not? was David’s diffident reply The final thrust of his journey was palpable in Thian’s mind: he expected that both the Rowan and David had done that on purpose. Some Talents, especially Primes, still experienced twinges of apprehension when being `ported by others.
Most of them handled their own `portations and possibly Thian could have, had he had practice with the coordinates to which he was going: constantly altering coordinates at that. He really was relieved that he hadn’t been expected to transport himself.