Katy: Book 2 of the ROE Chronicles

Book II of the ROE chronicles

By Sean M. Campbell

Copyright © Sean M. Campbell 2015

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without written permission of the publisher or author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

Disclaimer: As with any fiction, this is for entertainment only. Please direct any complaints regarding character words or actions to the fictional character portraying the offense.

This book is dedicated to someone whom has helped my dreams. Thank you, Michael Sullivan, for teaching me how to be a better writer.

Author’s notes.

In the last installment of the ROE Chronicles there was some confusion about what the different fonts meant. I am including this to show the convention I used for the different modes of speech in this story.

Quoted text in the ‘Georgia’ font is normal speech.

"Quoted text in the ‘Georgia’ italic font is mental speech."

"Quoted text in the ‘Franklin Gothic Medium’ font is translated from a different language."

There is one last point I wished to clarify. Since the end of the last book, ‘ROE’ has been pronounced as ‘Row’. If it is written as ‘R-0E’, then it is pronounced ‘Are-Zero-Ee’. Therefor the proper term is ‘a ROE’ not ‘an ROE’. This is meant to show the popularization of the ‘ROE’ title hinted at in the epilogue of the first book. Yes, it is a nitpick, but I wanted to clear it up since several of my Review Crew decided it should be corrected throughout the book. If more than half of the crew is confused -- well, I must not be doing my job properly.

Astute people will notice, Robert never calls them ROEs. He always uses the term R-0E.

What has gone before

The three races of the alliance are; Humans, Chansim, and Tnadkians. The alliance formed in the ashes of the battle of the Leviathans. Sasha Malenkov and Victor Tepes had been the heroes of that battle.

Unfortunately, they were too late to save the home-world of the Tnadkian people. It lay in ashes and ruin.

The Tnadkians are a proud race and they chose to remain and rebuild their ruined planet, with the help of the alliance.

The human race now consisted of nineteen colonial worlds, with their moons, plus several of the planets around the Earth’s sun, Sol. The Sasha Malenkov Station is a colony in this group, bringing the total to twenty Interstellar Teleport and Communications Incorporated (ITCI) stations and nine of the new substations.

A substation is a facility on a moon or other body in the system. They need an R-1 ranked teleporter to run these. The problem was, an R-1 is almost as rare as an R-0E. The only adult ROEs at this time were; Sasha Malenkov, Victor Tepes, Charles Monroe, and Devain Monroe. There were four ROEs, who ran twenty stations. Fortunately, there were now twenty-one R-1s and almost a hundred R-2s working for ITCI. With their help, the ROEs were managing.

The new T-10 ESPI generators made it all possible. Without them, the four ROEs could not handle the traffic; because the R-1s could not reach the nearest colony.

However, traffic was increasing at an incredible rate.

The Chansim Federation consists of six planets and their associated moons. The Chansim tend to hunt for planets with multiple moons to colonize. As of the start of this chapter in the ROE chronicles, no station exists on any of the Chansim worlds. The Chansim however, have asked for stations to be built.

The Tnadkian home planet was devastated by the attack of the Dagannian leviathans. The atmosphere is filled with dust so thick the sun barely reaches the surface. This dust was caused by the discharge of several of the Dagannian primary weapon into the surface of the planet. The alliance has been helping the Tnadkian survivors continue to survive through supplies and technological help but has been unable to clear the atmosphere any faster. It is estimated the surface of the planet will remain cold and barren for at least another century. As of this time there is also no Station on Tnadka, however there are plans to build one in the near future, if ITCI can find the R-0Es needed to support them.

Then there are the Catapedes. These pets have proven to be highly intelligent and fiercely loyal. There have also been hints, they may be just a little more than an eight legged cat.

***

The prologue to this chapter in the ROE Chronicles, opens up sixteen years after the epilogue of the first book. ITCI has matured into a formidable business with a formidable CEO – Sasha Malenkov-Wraith.

Its financial might has become a thing of legend. Sasha commands sums of money as large as any planetary government. Her family now has some powerful enemies as well as powerful friends. There are forces who will stop at nothing to get control of her power and her company.

Sasha and her family had become celebrities, due to their power and service to people. The average person could now afford to take a trip to another planet. This had created a whole new industry; tourism.

Their fame had a price though. Sasha and Robert were almost instantly recognized anywhere they went. Sasha was hounded by the press and paparazzi. This had driven her to be almost a recluse on the Sasha Malenkov Station. Sometimes it would be years between her trips to other colonies.

Sasha and her husband Admiral Robert Wraith, have two adopted children and six natural children. Their adopted children are Charles and Devain Monroe. Their natural children are; Katarina, Johnathan, Ezekiel, Gabriel, Lindsey, and Cassandra.

Katarina Victoria Wraith, or Katy to those who know her, the oldest natural daughter of Sasha and Robert Wraith, becomes a functioning adult in the prologue.

Sweet Sixteen, Katy.

Prologue.

Katarina Victoria Wraith ran through the station towards the receiving hall with Hydra, her fluffy white catapede, following her. She had to be there when their guests arrived. Her long legs carried her quickly as her long, chestnut brown hair flowed behind her. Her gray eyes flashed with the joy she felt this day. Hydra’s bright blue eyes seemed to echo Katy’s happiness.

The Sasha Malenkov complex was named after her mother and was dedicated to Interstellar Teleport and Communications Incorporated. Part of the station was a naval ship, also named after her mother. It was the Alliance Naval Ship Sasha Malenkov. Most of the people called this conglomerate the Sasha Malenkov Station. Her mother hated that name and refused to call it by that designation. To her family it was just, Station One.

Sasha owned the station outright. It was considered an independent colony and was a member of the alliance. Ten-thousand people called Station One their home.

The Navy owned the ship. It was here as a permanent defensive measure for what Uncle Jolly, Admiral Jeroloman Vanzant, called The most important station in the three race alliance.

The last dome to be added to the station had arrived when Katy was ten years old. It was the largest space station dome ever built at twenty kilometers in diameter. It now sat top center of the station and contained the operations building. Katy’s mother Sasha worked in the structure in the middle of that dome. The building was not large and impressive, but it was the nerve center of ITCI. All teleportation activities were directed from this station.

The rest of the dome was a landing field for incoming small pods and small ships. This dome had become known as the receiving hall. Larger items had to arrive outside and enter the dome through the massive airlock.

Today was a special day for Katy; it was her sixteenth birthday. Today she is considered a functioning adult, and could legally hire on with ITCI. The station was having a party in the park dome and her adopted Chansim grandmother, Tahackana, had sent an envoy for her celebration.

As she made the turn from the horizontal hall into the vertical hall, she slipped a speech prosthesis into her mouth. The small mouth piece was something invented by a family friend, Jaxim MacElvoy, in cooperation with the Chansim. It allowed the human mouth to make some of the odd clicking and buzzing noises used in the Chansim language. It did, however, restrict the mouth a bit and stop people from making the TH sound.

Her Chansim friends would be staying a couple days on the station. Her younger brother, Johnny, had his birthday in two days. He would be fourteen.

She made the last turn into the angled tunnel that opened into the dome. One-hundred meters to go, but she had to slow down. For safety reasons, no one ran into the big dome. You never knew when a pod would arrive, or where, so caution was the rule. You always looked where you were going and made sure people around you knew you were there.

Katy scooped Hydra up and placed the catapede on her shoulders. She felt the animal drape itself across her shoulders and wrap its three, meter long, prehensile, tails around her upper right arm.

It would be a few months before the twins Zeke and Gabe had their twelfth birthdays. Then a month later, Lindsey and Cassie would have their birthdays, one after the other. They would be ten and eight years of age. Her adopted siblings Devain and Charley had already had their birthdays this year. Devain was now seventeen and Charley was nineteen.

Birthdays were a big deal around the station. They always had a big party in the park dome. With ten-thousand people on the station there was a party there almost every day. Today would be no different.

Katy seldom went to the parties. Most of the time she did not feel welcome. She had felt the fear some people looked at her with. She had so few human friends because most of the kids had one of two reactions; hero worship or fear. A few had both reactions. By far, the minority was those that took the time to get to know her.

"Happy Birthday!" Eva Tivius-James shouted triumphantly in Katy’s mind. Eva was now the Complex Director at Corona Station. Katy thought it was a little sad that Eva could not be a Station Master. The decision had been made very early in ITCI’s history; only an R-0E could be a station Master. However, in the absence of a Station Master the Complex Director was in charge. When a ROE was found for all the stations, Eva could be a Substation Master.

With the T10 generator at Corona Station, it was easy for Eva to speak to Katy. These new generators gave her a one-ton/123LY range. Eva’s husband Arlo was in the link as well. The two of them had been quite a scandal when they married. Rosa had been worried that his ten years of seniority on her daughter would be a problem. Arlo was so devoted to his wife it was amazing. Eva and Ronny’s mother, Rosa’s fears had soon been laid to rest.

Then Ronaldo’s birthday wishes rang in her head, from the Halifax Station. He hated to be called Ronny now. He complained it did not sound like an adult name. "Thank you, Eva, Arlo, and Ronny," Katy sent back, with a teasing tone towards Ronaldo.

Then others started to chime in. Daniel Danes from New Haven Station, Joshua Green from Earth Station, Dianna Delia from Tanishaw Station out on Kepler 22 b, William Sneaks and his wife Trista from Landfall Station, Tammy Linstand at New Beijing, Peter Dekes at Pluto station, Belinda James at Constantinople station, and Victor Tepes from Utopia Station, all wished her a happy birthday and she sent back a hug and thank you to all of them.

She knew her mother was on a desperate search for other teleportation psychics. She needed people for all the colony stations. Traffic throughout the colonies was at an all-time high and still climbing. Charley would be establishing the Byron Station on Gliese 422 b soon, but they needed to establish a station on each of the colony worlds. There were nineteen colonies counting the Earth. There were also seven new colony ships to launch this year. One of those new colonies would be almost eleven-hundred light years away. It was right on the border of Chansim space.

The Chansim wanted stations on all their planets and moons. Then there was the Tnadkians. They needed a station badly. The clouds in their atmosphere had started to clear but the world was still very cold. The attack of the Dagannia on their planet had left it ecologically ruined. Even nearly seventeen years later, the planet could not support crops. Its population of billions had been reduced to a few million people. The Tnadkians were a proud people and were trying to rebuild. The alliance was giving them all the aid they could. The problem was; the planet was almost one-hundred-thousand light years from the rest of alliance space. Sasha absolutely had to have a high R-0 for the station there. Even an R-1 would need a thousand T10 generators to bridge that gap.

For all of her mother’s searching, only four adult ROEs had been located; Sasha, Victor, Charley, and Devain. Today Katy became the fifth. There were also a number of R-1 teleporters; Eva, Renaldo, Terrence, and others.

Terrence. Now there was a young man who made Katy feel warm when she saw him. He was ruggedly handsome with deep blue eyes and black hair. His face always seemed to have a deep five-o’-clock shadow and a crooked smile. He was discovered on Tanishaw just a year previously. He was just a few weeks older than Katy, and since he was home-birthed, he was not tested early.

When he was tested by the mining company so they could keep his records current, the nurse immediately contacted ITCI. That nurse claimed the finder’s fee for an R-1. Katy then ‘made the boy an offer he couldn’t refuse’, to quote a line from an old classic story.

With the quick transportation between the colonies, the overcrowding on Earth had started to ease and the colonies were growing rapidly. There were nearly five trillion humans spread across the stars.

Katy made the final turn towards the receiving hall. Then it opened out before her. There were now fifty-one domes extending from the ship’s dock. The domes came in a variety of sizes. Everything from the small, one kilometer domes to the single massive receiving hall.

Katy looked up, there hanging in space was the Katam Mallic. It was a majestic Chansim ship over a thousand kilometers in length, two-hundred kilometers wide and fifty kilometers tall. It was roughly rectangular in shape, but looked more like a floating city built out in all directions from a central platform. The station was just a dot in space next to one of these great tribe ships.

The Chansim lived for generations on these ships. The planet Chasma had only a few cities on it. The rest was agricultural. Most of the population of the Chansim lived in these great colony ships.

Then the pods started to arrive. She could feel her mother placing them gently in the cradles. She was handling them one at a time, but the speed and precision she showed was amazing. Katy could not wait to start training in the operations room as soon as possible.

The Chansim capsules were all garishly painted. They loved bright colors. The more brightly painted the capsule, the more important the Chansim inside. The capsule that landed closest to Katy was large and painted in so many different colors it hurt the eyes to see it.

Colors also played another significance in their culture. People were awarded colors and could wear them painted on their carapace in public once they were earned. The significance of the paint they used had not been understood until several years after first contact.

When a Chansim joined the defending services, he automatically earned the color deep yellow. This was painted on his mandibles. Then when he gained his first rank mark he earned the color black. This was used to add the dots and stripes of his rank on his mandibles. These colors were only earned by service in the military. Retired Chansim military soldiers often maintained the colors as two small dots on the mandible.

As Katy waited for the handlers to secure and open the large capsule, the rest of her family arrived. Her Father, Admiral Robert Wraith, looked very distinguished in his dress uniform with his armband of colored stripes awarded by the Chansim. With them were Rosa and Stacy. Stacy had stayed with the station to act as the nanny for Katy’s family. Rosa and her husband Rictor were assistants to her mother. At the back of the group was Arlo’s mother, the primary scheduler for all of ITCI, Sandra James.

Admiral Donald Clive was the last to arrive. He nodded to the handlers that they could proceed.

The door to the capsule opened and out stepped a large Chansim. His mandibles were painted deep yellow with seven black stripes, showing the mark of his rank, Molszktzs or military commander. His rank was equivalent to the Fleet Admiral of the Navy on the Katam Mallic. He was also the chief consort of this colony ship. He was painted a bright blue with seven other colors in small vertical stripes. There were a total of ten colors on his carapace.

The Chansim turned and extended his hand back into the capsule. A female Chansim climbed out. She was dressed in a regal gown of soft green and her mandibles were painted deep yellow with a single black dot. Her carapace was adorned with thirty six colors in all. The ship’s mother superior had come with him. Until the Chansim met the humans, they never wore clothing. The Chansim had become quite fond of cloth. It allowed them another way to express their colors.

They stepped up to the small group of humans and made a very formal bow.

Katy curtsied as she had been taught and spoke in the Chansim language. "Mother Superior of thirty-six colors and Noble Military Commander of ten colors, I am honored to greet such august guests. The blessings of our house are yours." She was very happy she had remembered to give the Mother Superior’s title first.

Both the Mother Superior and consort smiled with a spreading of their mandibles and side palps. Then the queen spoke. It is our honor to be included in tis special day, Miss Katarina Victoria Wrait. Te blessings of our house are yours for te taking.

"Very well done, Katy," her mother said in her mind, as she felt pride radiating from her father.

Katy again spoke in the Chansim language. "We are having a celebration in the park dome. It would bring great pleasure if you would consent to join us."

It would be our delight. It is te understanding tat te celebrant is to receive gifts on tis day of anniversary? The Mother Superior maintained a regal bearing, but her words had a note of being unsure.

"It is the custom of our people to offer tokens of love and friendship on the anniversary of our birth. It is never a requirement. Your presence is gift enough." Katy had never met this mother superior before. She was familiar with and friends with many of the Chansim from Chasma. She also knew the mothers of over a hundred ships.

The Mother Superior again made that odd smile that so indicated the pleasure of the Chansim race. We would honor tis custom. As she spoke her consort held out a small, wooden, box. The mother superior took it from his hand and extended it to Katy. Tis is a gift from te people of te Katam Mallic and te Great Moter, to Miss Katarina Victoria Wrait. May te blessings of your house, multiply wit its presence.

Katy accepted the gift and did not know what to do. Her presents would be opened at the party, but would the delay insult her guests?

Open it, her father’s voice said gently in her mind.

Katy worked the intricate little wooden latch on the small box and opened the hinged lid. Laying inside was a crystal that had a pale yellow light deep inside the matrix, set on a chain of gold and silver. "It is most beautiful, honored one," she said, just barely remembering to speak in Chansim.

The Mother Superior gave an odd buzzing sound that Katy recognized as laughter. It is a speaking stone. When it is held against te skin, it allows its wearer to know when someone needs to speak to tem.

Katy reached into the box and lifted the stone on its delicate chain. The moment her hand touched the stone it gave an odd little vibration and started to glow brighter. She instinctively knew what it meant and reached out towards the mind that sought her. "Hello?"

"Oh! I am so glad you reached out. I wanted to apologize for not making it to your birthday party and wish you a happy birthday." Rebecca’s voice sounded so clearly in Katy’s mind.

"Thank you, Aunt Rebecca. Why didn’t you use the generators to contact me? You know the station is at your disposal for communications."

"I am stuck in council meetings today. We are going through each and every law enacted in our name to remove damaging ones from the books. We have been at this for over a year."

"Then you need a break. When you are finished today, think to me and Momma can teleport you to join us."

It will work for any mind needing to contact you witin your range, the Mother Superior said with that odd smile again.

Katy impulsively threw her arms around the Chansim and hugged her. The Consort tensed next to them and several of the Chansim whom had gathered around hissed. No one touched a Mother Superior without their permission.

The Mother Superior tilted her head and looked at Sasha. The set of her palps and turn of her eyestalks indicated surprised curiosity. Moter Superior Sasha Malenkov-Wrait, tis is a sign of affection?

Sasha smiled, trying to take the sting out of her daughter’s social gaff. It is a sign of affection or support, depending on when it is done. I believe my daughter was overcome with gratitude.

The Chansim Mother Superior expression changed to a smile. Then she wrapped her upper set of arms around the young girl and held her tightly. I am glad our gift has brought you joy. It is my hope it shall blunt te pain of my next words. Te Great Moter could not join our journey. Her healt is deteriorating. It is our fear she will travel her final journey soon.

Sasha nodded and her sadness could be felt by all. We shall journey to see the Great Mother soon. I would have her travel with our love around her.

Chapter One – Training day.

Try to relax. If you are tense, the energies don’t flow smoothly and things become more of an effort, Sasha said, in an attempt to relieve her daughter’s excitement and worries.

Katy was so excited, she squirmed in her chair. Today she was going to be allowed to help her mother. She had been a mental passenger many times, but her mother had always asked her not to help. A sudden interruption in the flow could cause all kinds of problems. Then she felt her mother’s mental hug as she was pulled into the meld.

"Relax, baby. This is all routine and very easy to do. First, you check your schedule, to see the order of shipments." As Sasha communed with her daughter, she motioned for Sandra to bring up the display.

"The first target is a one-ton to go to Daniel, at New Haven," Katy read from the list.

"What else does it say?" Sasha asked, trying to get her daughter into the habit of looking at the cautions.

"There is a list of the contents, and a note that some of it is fragile."

"Yes, that it does. There is also something fairly important on that list. It is something you will need to heed."

Katy read through the profile for the container, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. "I think I have it," she said, trying to get her mother to let her perform a teleport.

Sasha gave an ironic smile. Her daughter was going to have to learn the hard way. Sasha had learned a lesson when training Devain and Charley. Their enthusiasm had caused them to over-push at first. Okay, then let’s start the lift. Reach out with your thoughts and wrap the pod in a bubble of energy.

Katy thought about the cargo container, perched in its cradle, on the floor of the receiving hall. Then she pictured it wrapped in a bubble of energy.

"Now lift it gently," Sasha said, as she readied herself.

Katy exerted her strength to lift the pod a few centimeters. The pod flew off the cradle and straight towards the glass of the dome. It was moving like a bullet and was going to go through the dura-glass like a meteor. Katy tried to stop it, but that only made the situation worse. Now it was headed straight back down with the force of a bomb. There was no time to react.

Then the pod stopped as gently as a feather, and rested back in the cradle. "Now look at the manifest again and tell me what you overlooked," Sasha said with a smile.

Katy’s face started to turn red with embarrassment. There was a notice that the pod was very underweight. The shipping weight was only two-hundred kilos. That was barely over the pod’s weight. "It is light," she said, feeling like a failure at her first attempt.

"Baby, you did not fail. You were over enthusiastic and overdid your job. Now, take a sip of your coffee, relax and try again."

Katy had not prepared herself a cup of coffee. She had been too excited to get started. When she looked at the table next to her reclining chair, she saw Rosa set a cup down for her. Katy thanked her, then relaxed back as she lifted her cup and took a sip. The caffeine made her feel energized almost as soon as it hit her system. Then she reached out and wrapped the pod again. Gently she lifted it until it was a few centimeters above the cradle.

"Very good. Now contact our target station," Sasha was proud of her daughter and let it radiate. Devain and Charley had both over-pushed several times the first day.

Katy sent her mind out over the light years. "Daniel, are you there?"

"Good morning, sweetheart. Are we ready for your first cargo teleport already?" Daniel’s thoughts were always friendly and cheerful.

"Yes, Mother is keeping me out of trouble," Katy said, as she sent a burst of gratitude towards her mother.

"All right, honey, I need that first pod in cradle thirty-seven. Do you need me to show it to you?" Daniel could feel her mind lock onto the location of the cradle as soon as he spoke.

"I have it, Daniel."

Sasha readied herself again. "Now, baby, you need to picture the pod over the cradle, at the destination. When you have that mental image firmly in mind, think it there. DO NOT PUSH IT THERE." Sasha put heavy emphasis on the last part of her thought.

If Katy tried to push it there, the pod would rocket in a straight line in that direction at the speed of thought. The mental picture of an object moving several thousand times the speed of light smashing into the side of the dome was not a pretty thought.

At those kinds of impact levels, anything was a fissionable material.

"I know how to teleport things, mom," Katy’s tone was one of exasperation.

"When you’re ready," Sasha sent softly.

Katy formed her mental picture of the pod and thought it through the ether with a whip snap of energy.

Sasha reached out with her mind and neatly caught the contents of the pod, as they fell out of the air in the cargo handling dome. "Very good, baby. Next time, remember to send the contents with the pod. You need to think of the inside of the pod as part of the whole." Sasha was trying to not laugh at the look on her daughter’s face.

Katy was viewing the pile of cotton balls floating in the air of the cargo dome. "The manifest said it was fragile," Katy said with a mental pout. They had set her up with a training pod. What hurt worse, was the fact that she had needed it. She had been so sure she was going to do this perfectly the first time.

"Oh, baby, no one does their first solo pod teleport perfectly. There are little nuances in the thought process that have to be developed. Until now you have always teleported things you know well." Sasha sent a warm hug and gentle kiss to her daughter.

"I just wanted to prove how capable I am of doing this." Katy was nearly in tears.

"You never have to prove that, baby. We already know how capable you are. Your father and I are very proud of you. You just need practice soloing." Sasha radiated her love and pride to her daughter.

"You did better than I did on my first ‘port. I split the pod by only sending the outer skin. The pod was damaged beyond recovery." Daniel’s mental tone was one of embarrassed truth.

"When you are ready, bring the pod back, and I will put the load back in it." Sasha waited for what would come next.

Katy sent her mind out in an embarrassed stutter. The pod bounced back and forth several times before settling in the air of the cargo dome. Katy’s embarrassment only multiplied.

"You have to be relaxed. No matter what your mental state you, cannot let it affect your concentration. Remember; sip, relax, work. It must become second nature to relax instantly. Now, take your time and take a couple sips of coffee." Sasha stuffed the cotton balls back into the pod.

Katy tried to relax and sip her coffee. When she was as relaxed as she could get, she wrapped her mind around the pod again, and whip-snapped it to its destination.

The pod appeared in the air just above the cradle at New Haven Station. Katy then set the pod into the cradle as gently as if it were living cargo.

"Perfect! I see you will have your mother’s gentle touch," Daniel said with his pride showing.

"That was perfect, Katy, Sasha echoed. Now are you ready to try a real cargo?"

Katy radiated her pride in her accomplishment. "Can I?"

"The next pod on the list is in cradle one-oh-four. What does the manifest and schedule say?"

"It is a load of mining equipment; mostly small tools. It is slightly overweight at one-thousand and five kilos. There is no fragile call out and it is for expedited processing." Katy had made sure she read every line of the schedule.

"Alright, honey, you’re the pitcher, and Daniel is the catcher. For most ‘ports we hand-off to the receiver. It saves time. Deepen your meld with Daniel and hand it off mid-transport. He will bring it in and land it, while you get the next one ready." Sasha couldn’t help the stab of pride. The only student, she had trained, with half the finesse, was Victor at Utopia.

The next few hours were tiring for Katy. The work wasn’t hard, but she was not accustomed to the level of concentration needed to keep things moving.

"Use the generator to bolster your strength. At these short distances it will do the brunt of the work," Sasha reminded her gently.

"You never use it," Joshua at Earth Station accused.

Katy laughed at the exchange between the two friends. For the next ‘port, she reached out to the field around the generators. It pulsed and shifted like touching a living mind, but it was completely devoid of thought. Then she felt its energy flood into her.

She directed that energy to the five-ton pod full of ore and sent it most of the way to Joshua before he caught it. Her mother had reminded her that most of the Station people were not ROEs, so they could not handle the heavy weights from as far out.

Alright, baby, the next one is mine, Sasha said softly.

Katy felt her mother send her mind out to the telepath on the naval vessel, Katameer. This ship was named after the last president of the United States of America. He had championed the world government movement. That project had taken nearly a thousand years to come to completion.

"Sasha Malenkov contacting Katameer."

"Go ahead, ma’am," a strong telepathic contact came back from the ship.

"You have good strength, when you finish your tour with the navy, come apply with us," Sasha said with a mental smile.

"I am not all that strong, ma’am. I have a T5 generator one floor below me. This thing is amazing. We also have a second generation Telepathic Interface Communications Transducer. The new TICT will allow anyone to use the generator for an emergency call."

Sasha’s smiled nearly glowed. "Is this your first tour?"

"Yes, ma’am. I graduated from the academy a month ago. I have to ask, are you really able to lift this mass into space from the surface?"

"Yes. If you will make the announcement, I will ready for lift to orbit, then ‘port to your destination. My manifest lists this as a standard patrol cruise, destination Kepler-296 heliopause, due spin-ward, please verify."

"Yes, ma’am," the girl said mentally, as she gave her announcement over the intercom.

"You can dual? You definitely need to apply. Not many can hold both conversations separately." Sasha began to wrap her mind around the ship, while mentally checking to make sure all the space doors were closed.

"Yes, ma’am. The captain requests, ‘please do not spill his coffee’."

"Tell him not to worry, I haven’t spilled anyone’s coffee in hours. We are a go for ‘port in three minutes. Verify all checks at two minutes and forty-five seconds."

Two minutes and forty-five seconds later the girl announced. "We are green across the board. Teleport at your mark."

***

Katy and her mother lay in the grass watching clouds drift by, with holo-movies playing in them.

"What are those?" Katy asked. She had never experienced this kind of teleport dream.

"They are the dreams of the people I am teleporting. You can see them because you are melded with me. It is not polite to look too closely, some of them can be intensely private."

Katy watched one of the clouds and started to blush profusely. The captain was having an intense erotic dream, involving the new young communications telepath.

"I tried to warn you, Sasha said with a smirk. Your father and I met in a dream like this one. There was no visual part of it though. It was in a blackened hole."

"Do you mean like the holes in my vision when I try to look at the future?" Katy was curious about this look into her mother’s mind.

"Yes, baby, your father was hiding in one of those holes. When I stepped in with him, he made me whole."

***

Katy’s eyes opened as the dream ended. Her mother was already in communications with the ship.

"You are on location, please verify."

"Astro-navigation is running the star positions as we speak, ma’am. I can’t believe you teleported this ship almost eleven-hundred light years."

"It was over eleven-hundred for me. I was working at an angle to the trajectory."

"They have verified our location, ma’am. You hit the mark perfectly."

"If you have any needs, contact Kepler-296 station. They have several T10 generators and can link you to me."

"The captain says to tell you, ‘Thank you and the check is in the mail’."

Sasha was chuckling lightly, as they broke contact with the Katameer. "Victor, Charley, Devain, and I are the only ones who handle human cargo so far. I am hoping you will have the touch. Check the schedule and see what is next."

***

Katy was exhausted when they made it home that night. It was not a physical exhaustion, it was all mental. She understood her mother a lot better than she had this morning.

"You grow accustomed to it," Sasha sent to her daughter as they walked