Free The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey

requirement of those in hazardous professions, or those with highly desirable dominant characteristics of intelligence or physical perfection, to donate sperm and ova towhat became known as the Race Conservation Agency.
    As civilization expanded on to newer, rawly dangerous worlds, the custom was for the young men and women to leave their seed with the RCA on reaching their majority. It was good sense to have such a viable concentration of genetically catalogued seed available. Thus, given a lack, say, in a generation of a particularly desirable ethnic group, sufficient additional embryos could be released to restore the ecological balance.
    On an individual basis, the young wife, untimely widowed, might bear her husband’s children from his seed on file at the RCA. Or a man, wishing a son of certain pronounced genetic characteristics to perpetuate a family name or business, would apply to the bank. There were, of course, ridiculous uses made of the RCA facilities: women in the thrall of a hysteria over a noted spaceranger or artist would apply to the RCA for his seed if the male in question was agreeable. But naturally conceived children were the rule rather than the exception. Helva herself had been the naturally inseminated child of her parents.
    Generally, the RCA served Central Worlds as a repository in case of just such an emergency as had arisen at Nekkar: the inability of individuals to propagate the race. An appeal had reached the Main RCA on Earth to locate and deliver 300,000 fertilized ova of genetic type similar tothe Nekkarese. RCA had 30,000 on hand and had forwarded the call to all major RCA banks throughout the Central Worlds asking for contributions, which the KH-834 would pick up and deliver to Nekkar.
    The tape ended with a silent hold cue to Helva. It took her a moment to realize that, though she had the mission information, she had received nothing on her new partner. No matter how temporary this assignment, it would take time. Some basic biography would be essential for Helva to function effectively in partnership with Kira. Obediently she cut the tape, activating a record-store of the balance for later playback. It would appear there were many unusual factors in this assignment. Central Worlds moves in mysterious ways, itself to sustain.
    â€˜Well,’ Helva exclaimed, to end the brief silence after the mission portion of the tape was silent. ‘I hadn’t expected motherhood at my tender age. I see I have underestimated the demands Central Worlds makes of its minions.’
    Her attempt at levity touched off a violent response in Kira and Helva wondered what under a first magnitude star had she got for a partner.
    â€˜Read this tape on me before we proceed with the mission,’ Kira said in a dead voice, all her previous vivacity wiped out.
    She slammed the store button, shunting the mission tape to the ship files, and inserted a second reel. With an almost savage twist sheturned on the audio, sitting stiffly erect and motionless as the tape played back, either deaf or impervious to the biograph.
    Kira Falernova Mirsky of Canopus had finished all but a year of brawn training. She came from a Service-oriented family that had brought up 10 generations to illustrious – and once, exalted – careers in Central Worlds’ service branches. She had left the Training School on marital leave that had lasted two years, ending at her husband’s death. A long term of hospitalization and therapy followed during which time, the tape noted, Kira had asked for and taken medical training but did not reapply for brawn education. She had responded to a high level request to take this temporary assignment, since her training had matched perfectly the needs of this particular emergency.
    Then followed a rattle of personal indices, emotional, psychological and educational, which Helva translated, as she was expected to, to mean that Kira Mirsky of Canopus would make an unusually fine brawn