Pegasus in Space Read Online Free PDF

said, mildly chiding.
    “Oh,” and Peter’s face changed—the naughty boy reminded of previous mischief. He looked down and subtly grounded his feet, which had been a centimeter above the carpet.
    He had been paralyzed since the day a wall had fallen on him and irreparably damaged his spine. A body brace that was supposed to give him some mobility had malfunctioned and he had lost use of his arms as well, until he had discovered an alternative method of moving himself—using kinesis. Mind, in this case, was very definitely over the mere matter of body. He had also learned how to imitate proper movement, using his remarkable gestalt with any available source of electric power. Given sufficiently powerful generators, young Peter Reidinger had performed feats oftelekinesis far beyond expectation, such as moving supply shuttles from Florida to Padrugoi Station. His youthfulness—Peter was just fifteen—had precluded his regular employment by the Eastern Parapsychic Center; only his age had prevented him from being drafted onto the Space Station by Barchenka. Unknown to many, Rhyssa had had to make use of his particular abilities in several emergency situations, but she had been determined not to strain his blossoming Talent. Indeed, neither Lance Baden, the strongest of the other kinetic Talents, nor Sascha Roznine, who was the head of the Eastern Center’s training program, had yet been able to assess Peter’s full potential. Of course, now that Lance’s conscription on Padrugoi was virtually over, he would be able to train and evaluate Peter Reidinger.
    “Speaking of new clothes, though, Peter,” and Rhyssa eyed his casual attire, loose-fitting trousers, well worn, and halfway up his calf. He was getting taller by the minute. “You can’t go like that. Give Tirla a shout. She’ll grab any excuse to go shopping.” Rhyssa paused. “She has excellent taste.”
    Peter was quite willing to contact the former waif of Linear G, who was now living on Long Island with her foster parents, Lessud and Shria. Tirla waited, impatiently, until she reached her sixteenth birthday and was legally old enough to marry Sascha Roznine. She’d tagged him as “hers” when he rescued her from subsistence level living in the Linear.
    T he next morning, clad in an elegantly fashionable new tunic suit, Peter linked in with the Center’s generators and teleported Rhyssa and Dave Lehardt to the telepad that General John Greene had given as their destination.
    “Neat placement, Pete,” he said, pushing himself upright from the vehicle he had been leaning against. He unfolded arms that had been crossed over the front of his dress uniform and the prestigious medals properly displayed. His face broke into a grin as he noticed Peter trying hard not to be self-conscious in the outfit that Tirla had bullied him into buying. Then Johnny whistled at an elegantly garbed Rhyssa, dressed in a trouser suit of her favorite dark green. He nodded approval at Dave’s dress tunic, trimmed in the same shade.
    “Where’re the generators?” Peter asked, noticing how far they were from the main buildings of the Jerhattan Space Port.
    “There!” and Johnny pointed to a seemingly innocent pile of vehicle shipping crates bunched together.
    “Oh!” They could all hear his tentative “lean” into the units as he tested their capacity. “They’ll do,” Peter said, and then glided to the vehicle, the small torpedo-shaped, windowless drone that Johnny had been leaning against. Its surface, while dull, was bare of the usual remnants of plastic shipping waybills that festooned such shippers.
    “Tell us why we’re here,” Dave asked, looking about at the drab edge of the huge landing field.
    “Does this rendezvous have anything to do with the fact that each invitation was issued by a different VIP office?” Rhyssa put in. “Are they really valid enough to get us admitted?”
    “Oh, yes,” Johnny said, now urgently gesturing for them to enter the