The squadron’s been ordered on a mission to survey the M-5 planets the Hiver ships by-passed. The xenobiologist lobby is rabid to get to those damaged planets, as much to see what went wrong as to see if anything can be salvaged from Hiver occupation. I’m also not sending any T-l on these long cruises without a personal support team, and with such augmented squadrons, I’d be happier to have two T-1s, or a T-1
and a good T-2 as back-up. There are also some shorter-term exploratory cruises, in the Xh-33 quadrant of space, if you don’t care for the longer journeys.
Having Talents aboard has been of great assistance.
Don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, except that FT&T has been mainly planet-based. Think about your options. And there are always dirtside openings if you want a complete change.’ Then Jeff grinned. `One more matter, just before del Falco got on to me, I had word from Heinlein Base that the queen’s been energized.’ He grinned, cocking one eyebrow, his deep blue eyes twinkling. `I don’t know if it’s the food you sent over from the Refugee or what, but Roddie reports that she’s minutely re-examined every single one of the Great Sphere larvae that were sent there and she’s done something to more of the eggs she herself laid – in between having a good munch-out on three of the nine containers. The others she hasn’t opened.’ Flavia gave a little sigh of regret. `Maybe it was truly unkind to raise her hopes when we never intended to let her escape.
`I don’t think the Hive psyche has evolved sufficiently to recognize kindness,’ Jeff said gently to Flavia.
`They’ve sure shown none,’ Rojer said, remembering the destruction of the queen pods by their own species at Xh-33.
`Isn’t it a good thing that she’s active?’ Thian said to Flavia.
`Better for her.
`Samples of what’s in those food containers have been sent to the Heinlein labs for analysis, haven’t they?’ Jeff asked.
`Sure did,’ Rojer said. `There were more than enough containers with the same markings to allow us to `port one each to every biology and xeno group active in Hiver study. That didn’t even make a noticeable dent in the amount still in store in the cargo holds. `Good thinking,’ Jeff said, nodding approvingly.
`Wasn’t me, sir. Roddie suggested it. He thought her own sort of food might contain basic elements she isn’t getting in the diet they’ve provided her.’ Thian grinned broadly. `Now wouldn’t the right food cause the queen to activate?’ Jeff s grin was just as broad, with just the slightest hint of malicious delight about it. `I think that will certainly be the official position and supported by the resident xenobs.’ `Granddad,’ Rojer began, `backtrack a bit, would you? You mentioned M-5 type planets where the Hivers didn’t make colonies work?’ `Ah yes, you wouldn’t be up to date on that, would you?’ Jeff said, tossing his napkin to the table before pushing his chair away. Cocking his knee against the edge of the table, he leaned back. `We’d a T-2, Kincaid dano. Name’s not familiar? No matter. It was fortunate that he was with Squadron C. I’d only just initiated the programme of Talents on long-cruise missions. When the Hive ship C was chasing didn’t investigate any of the M-5 systems they were passing, the High Council asked me if probes similar to the ones Rojer used couldn’t be deployed to investigate. Clearly those two Spheres were looking for a place to colonize so why did they keep passing likely systems by. We shipped dano probes. He’d enough other low Talents on board to help him `port them on a parabolic course. In and out. Rather interesting details emerged. Of the four planets investigated, two had obviously been colonized by Hivers because there were the ruins of the sort of installations the Xh-33 has.’ `Ruins?’ Thian asked.
`Ruins. Hive ruins. Including the same sort of space garbage around Xh-33 and, in one case, an orbiting sphere ship. Another planet is ecologically on the point of ruin, presumably because the Hiver extermination policy eliminated something vital to its ecosystem. The point is that there are more M-5 type worlds out there that the Hivers never bothered with. Why? is one of the questions asked. Do they have records of all the systems their species have colonized? Another question is, obviously, can one of the Alliance species use any of these abandoned worlds? And there’re more out there – as we’ve always known there were – to be investigated. C Squadron is being recalled.