The Mystery of Ireta_ Dinosaur Planet & Dinosaur Planet Survivors - Anne McCaffrey [150]
Varian thought that Lunzie was right not to rouse the children. Poor kids. And yet, they might still have living parents delighted to see them alive, even if their childhood friends would all now be in their middle decades. Wait a moment! Lunzie must be wrong. Children tended to adapt easily. Was Lunzie protecting the children for her own obscure reason? Varian could think of none, and Terilla would be an asset with her exquisite drawing. Bonnard had already proved his initiative and resourcefulness. However, Varian approved that Aulia would remain in cold sleep. No one had time to deal with hysterical temperament.
Varian told herself to stop running on in her mind and get some sleep. She was tired enough, wasn’t she? And tomorrow would be stressful in other ways. Now, how could she make up for a forty-three-year gap in her xenobiological research? Some place in the middle of plotting her attempt, Varian drifted off to sleep.
Kai eased himself as quietly as possible into various positions but he couldn’t achieve lasting comfort or sleep. Insomnia was a new sensation; he seemed to have spent most of his days lately either deeply asleep or drowsing.
Kai had not previously thought much of his personal appearance, or his body, which had been healthy as long as he could remember. But then, on a compound ship, one underwent periodical physicals as preventive measures. The ARCT-10’s medical department had diagnostic data from every system known to the FSP and could synthesize the rarest medicines and vaccines; ill health was quickly remedied. Varian might not want contact with the Ryxi, but if Lunzie was correct and the Ryxi had employed human mercenaries as ship crews, the crewmembers probably had access to treatment. Somewhere in the Federated Sentient Planets, a remedy for his condition could be found. Well, he could do nothing about it just then. He moved again, slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible though it occurred to him that sleepers normally move frequently and everyone else seemed motionless. Were they all awake with troublesome thoughts? And which thoughts?
He’d bet anything that Varian was worried about the Ryxi coming to Ireta and “investigating” her giffs. He could understand that in her. What he found harder to comprehend was her attitude toward the mutineers’ descendants. Descendants? Survivors? Precolonists? Of course, that could just be a matter of shaking off the personality Lunzie had created as a protection for the ruse. But Varian was planet-bred and so she might sympathize with any successful implantation whereas he, ship-bred, had a more universal view. Or did he? Was he merely biased in another direction?
Kai had noticed that Triv, too, seemed ambivalent to the industrious settlers. Had it not been for the solidarity of the team behind Lunzie’s suggestion to continue the geological and xenobiological surveys, Kai would have serious doubts about their loyalties.
Odd, too, that not one of them had mentioned the ARCT-10 or expressed concern over the fate of its huge complement of sentient beings. Kai suppressed resentment. The ARCT-10 had been his home but Triv, Portegin, Lunzie, and Varian were all contract specialists, gleaned from other star systems. The ship-bred of his detachment had been Gaber, now dead, Aulia, himself, and the three children, Terilla, Cleiti, and Bonnard. He was the only one awake who considered the ARCT-10 home, so he ought not to fault his teammates.
What had happened to the ARCT-10? To the best of Kai’s recollection, no compound ship of her size had ever been destroyed. Units had been shattered or pierced, with loss of life, but an entire compound ship? The size of a small satellite? Kai really didn’t care what happened to the heavy-worlders and their bid for Ireta. He would like to see even old Tanegli tried for mutiny. But other rich worlds lay ready for FSP to exploit—so long as his set of survivors profited. But he did want to know what had delayed the ARCT-10, where she