Free Second Wave by Anne McCaffrey Page A

with them now, and thus far, are you ready?”
    “They’re ready already, Hafiz!” Becker told him. “Enough’s enough. Tell them before they read my mind.”
    “Thus far Khorii has confirmed their impression that the plague has run its course. There have been no new outbreaks, and all previously contaminated areas are, according to the talented pearl of your family oyster, now clear of the disease.”
    “Then she—everyone else, too, of course—will be coming home soon?” Acorna asked. Her hands trembled in her lap. She reached up with her left and stroked RK’s tail.
    “As soon as possible,” Hafiz said, nodding. “But you understand, beloveds, that it may not be possible for her to return very soon. She alone can confirm that all traces of the illness have vanished, and the area of infection was, as you know, quite extensive.”
    Becker chewed his mustache, as if trying to decide something, then said, “Hafiz, tell Khorii if she wants a good litmus test for the course of the disease to check the White Star, ” he said. “I’d appreciate if you passed it on just that way and went through as few relays as possible—better yet, send it to the Mana. I don’t exactly want the whole Linyaari fleet trying to read my mind on this one.”
    Hafiz raised an eyebrow.
    “Don’t ask,” Becker said, and Hafiz nodded. The two men of business respected each other’s mysterious silences, at least superficially. That didn’t mean they might not do some sneaking around later trying to find out what the other one was up to, but they kept it polite for the sake of their mutual friends. “But if she checks the White Star and it’s clear and there are still no new outbreaks, it should be safe for her to return home.”
    “As you have said, so shall it be done,” Hafiz replied formally.
    “Is that all?” Aari asked, sounding a bit disappointed. Acorna knew he would have preferred to hear that their daughter was currently waiting for someone to collect her from the Moon of Opportunity and bring her back to Vhiliinyar.
    “It is,” Hafiz said. “And now, I must forsake your company, which is like unto a waterfall in the desert of my despair, and return to—yes, dear?” He looked up, nodded, and patted the feminine hand on his shoulder. “Karina has something she wishes to impart to you as well. Farewell for now.”
    “Farewell, Uncle Hafiz,” they said, and Acorna added, “A thousand thanks.”
    Karina Harakamian settled her drifts of draperies into the chair like a purple flower shedding its petals. She beamed triumphantly at them through the com screen, her eyes twinkling like her many jewels. “No disrespect to my hubby, kids, but I’ve had a vision that portends even better news than his!”
    Karina must be excited indeed, Khorii thought, because she had momentarily forgotten the funereal tones she ordinarily employed to announce her “visions.”
    Generally, Karina also chose to have her visions in the presence of those who would be most impressed by them. Contacting them after the fact was not her style. “When did you have this vision?” Acorna asked her, putting more eagerness into her voice than she actually felt. Often Karina’s visions of the “future” simply restated the present. Occasionally she had a true flash of insight, but during those times, in Acorna’s experience, her presentation was quite dramatic, if accidental, usually coming within the framework of one of her questionable trances.
    “Just now!” she said. “While Haffy was speaking to you. It was quite clear though disappointingly brief and, forgive me, dears, but this is the way my gift works, a bit cryptic.”
    As if they were not all well aware of that!
    “What was your vision?” Aari asked.
    “Simply this, and do remember I am but the messenger. Hafiz and Neeva are being overly optimistic. Khorii will not return to you before twelve months and a day have passed, but your daughter is close at hand, and you will be