This would be a brief rehearsal for the longer, harder merge they would have to make.
He’d never worked with his grandmother but he was accustomed to merging with his parents and was very pleased when Flavia deftly slipped in behind him as if she had similar hours of practice.
The Rowan-Thian-Flavia merge did not need to touch the power available to it from the linked generators of the three ships of Squadron B in this initial push.
The cargo area to which they were `porting could have held a hundred escape pods. The slightest bump merely gave them notice that the pod had settled on its broad base in the Hive ship exactly as planned: close against the hull, facing the direction in which it was to go.
They were immediately assailed by the most intense stinggpzzt that emanated from Hive metals, a sensation peculiarly limited to the Talented.
Flavia gave a visible shudder, looking about her, a grimace marring her features. `What is that?’ `I do beg your pardon, Flavia, we should have thought to warn you,’ the Rowan said, casting an accusatory glance at Thian. `Talent is susceptible to a resonance from Hive metals.’ Flavia worked her mouth, producing saliva and shuddered again.
`Unpleasant taste in your mouth, too?’ Thian asked helpfully.
She swallowed. `Yes, at the back of my throat. How can you stand it?’ `I,’ the Rowan said rather loftily, `ignore it When Flavia looked astonished, the Rowan relented. `It is particularly strong since we are inside a Hiver, but shortly we’ll be busy enough to be able to put it out of our minds. We’ll only have to endure it for a very short time.’ `Thank goodness for that,’ Flavia said, pursing her lips and rubbing her tongue against her cheeks and teeth in an attempt to hydrate her mouth.
The Rowan initiated the merge then, ever so slowly pushing the ship out of its orbit and the gravitational pull of the planet. Since the manoeuvre was also being performed as night fell across this section of the planet, the stealthy movement was unlikely to be immediately discernible no matter how sensitive the Hive instrumentation might be.
Breathe, thian, his grandmother said once, and he grinned at her as she sat in the padded seat as calmly as if she were in her Tower at Callisto, her silver hair shining in the pod’s lights.
Gradually the merge increased its strength, three pairs of eyes also watching the special instrumentation installed in the pod that expressed speed and relative distance from the planet. Slowly they reached the mark on the dial when they had passed beyond the known range of surface-launched missiles.
Stop hunching your shoulders, you two, she added at a later point.
Any missile they could launch would have to penetrate the diameter of the ship to reach us. If that is, they had any idea we are here.
That made both Thian and Flavia smile. He rotated his shoulder blades because he had indeed been unconsciously hunching himself against an attack from the rear. He grinned at Flavia who was rubbing her neck and still trying to swallow the stinggpzzt away.
`Good. Now we can speed up and complete this snatch,’ the Rowan said, absently licking her lips and swallowing against the concentration of stinggpzzt.
Thian felt the intensity of the merge now and surrendered himself to her guidance at the same instant that Flavia did. He hadn’t ever thought to be capable of moving such mass but, with the merge and the gestalt capability, it was abruptly accomplished. He did feel the drop in his energy level when his grandmother released them from the merge and then the slight jar as the tractor beams from the squadron latched on to the sphere.
`I do hope something down there was watching,’ the Rowan said with a mischievous smile more compatible to his sister Morag’s age and habit than his grandmother’s. `First the ship was there. And then,’ her smile deepened with great satisfaction, `it wasn’t! Well done, thian.
You’ve been well taught, Flavia, and it’s my pleasure to merge with such fine strong minds. Now let’s get out of this Hive sink of contamination and put the pod where it belongs. Then we can find out what else has been happening.