Free Starlight(Pact Arcanum 4) by Arshad Ahsanuddin

probably won’t even notice.
    It was a juggling act to keep all the elements balanced, allowing the community to function smoothly, but Antonio found it immensely satisfying. He always felt a letdown whenever he reached the terminus of one of his journeys and the passengers dispersed to their final destinations. Many of them kept in touch afterward, however, allowing him to maintain that sense of connection to the miniature societies he had fostered.
    This had been a good trip. Everything had run like clockwork for the last eight years. The surprises had been mostly pleasant ones, such as the Child of Starlight that had been born to one of the shipboard unions that inevitably sprung up in transit. There were still only a few dozen of his race in existence, and Antonio had made a point of meeting them all personally as their informal patriarch. Given the travel schedule he kept, he had never been there for the early years of one of his people’s lives, and this was a rare opportunity to experience his childhood again from another perspective. On top of that, it meant that there was another Fourth Order telepath on this voyage to keep him company.
    On a whim, he extended his senses and touched the mind of his six-year-old godson, and found him playing with a toy spaceship in the aeroponics bay on deck seventeen. It was refreshing to see the boy acting his age. Most of the Children of Starlight reached intellectual and emotional maturity at an accelerated rate far in advance of their physical development. “Good morning, Brad.”
    The other telepath looked up and smiled . “Morning, Captain. Enjoying your day off?”
    “I’m still trying to decide how to spend it.”
    “Well, do something fun! You’re always working so hard. It’s a wonder your hair doesn’t turn white.”
    “Very funny. I could say the same thing to you, but I happen to know you never do any work, and your hair’s as white as mine.”
    The Harbinger child laughed. “Hey, it’s Tenth-day. I don’t have to be in school. Want to go for a run?”
    Antonio walked back into his bedroom and glanced at the virtual screen of the clock on his desk. It projected the time and date in both Solar and Centauri time, though they kept to the ten-day Centauri week on board ship. “I can’t right now, buddy. I’m expecting a call in a few minutes, and I can’t miss it.”
    “Okay. Happy birthday, Tony .” The younger telepath broke the connection.
    Antonio looked at the clock again and sighed. Then he walked to the dresser and pulled a threadbare tunic out of a drawer, colored Daywalker white with the collar dyed Spacer green. It had accompanied him on his last trip, and was one of his favorites. He put it on over his sleeping pants, just as a soft tone sounded in his cabin. “Incoming personal message from the Citadel, Antonio,” said his AI. “Shall I put it through to your office?”
    Antonio stepped to his desk and dropped into a chair. “Here will be great, Pathfinder. Thanks.”
    “Stand by.”
    The room glowed white as the immersive virtual environment engaged, and then he was sitting on a stone bench in the carefully maintained forest setting of the Citadel Arboretum. Two figures stood waiting for him in the dappled, artificial sunlight that filtered through the trees: an African woman in a long, white dress, and a blond man dressed in a dark-blue suit. They both carried themselves with confidence, comfortable in their authority. “Evening, Mother. Uncle Nicholas. How are you today?”
    Nick snorted at the sight of Antonio’s casual dress and tousled hair. “Tony, you look like you just got out of bed.”
    “That’s very perceptive of you, Uncle.” Antonio gave them an exaggerated yawn.
    Layla smiled in amusement. “I trust you don’t wander the decks like that.”
    Antonio grinned. “Don’t worry, Mother. I always comport myself with proper dignity and decorum among the crew. Unless I’ve been drinking. Then all bets are off.”
    Nick