Read Online Sertian Princess by Peter Kenson - Free Book Online

everybody around him.  Apart from, on occasions, causing severe embarrassment, an inability to selectively tune out the background 'noise' had been known to completely break an otherwise strong and stable mind.
    He finished packing the clothes and equipment he was taking to Floreat and summoned a servitor robot to take it down to the docking area for him.  Then he settled himself down into a comfortable chair and set his mind to work, to establish a telepathic connection.  He let the waves of background thoughts wash over him again but this time he analysed them, discarding first the ones which were most obviously different from the pattern he sought.  Gradually he refined his selection process, narrowing the search down to the pattern he remembered.  He could not have described this pattern: but just as the brain has the ability to recognise a voice over a communicator with the vision switched off, his brain remembered and recognised the thought patterns of the people with whom he had most contact.
    Suzanne was aware of him as soon as he touched her.  He withdrew slightly as etiquette demanded and waited for her to respond.
    "Yes, my lord," came the inquiring thought.
    "I'm sorry to disturb you, Suzanne, but as this will be the back-up comms link for this operation, I thought we ought to reinforce the link.  Are you busy right now or can we link minds for a moment?"
    "Yes, of course."
    She took down the outer layer of barriers in her mind and welcomed him in.  He experienced again the strange sensation of receiving two sets of conflicting data.  He was in his own quarters but he was also standing in the Control Room watching the other officers going about their duties.  He was Suzanne.... but not completely.  He could still sense the inner barriers in place, preventing him from accidentally straying too deep and his training did not allow him to probe.  Instead he withdrew.  The patterns of their thought processes were now firmly implanted in each other's minds.  It would not take so long to find each other next time.
    "Ok, Suzanne.  Please inform the Officer of the Watch that I'm on my way to the Control Room and have the Comms Room prepared.  It's time to contact the Centre."
    ***
    Marienna was not sure what it was that had woken her: whether it was the music that had started playing again, softly in the background or whether it was the smell of fresh coffee emanating from the servitor robot standing patiently by her couch.  Whichever it was, she decided, it was a very pleasant way to wake up.
    "Where are we?" she addressed the room computer.
    "Sam says that we're holding outside the Floreat system before making our final approach."
    "Ok.  Ask Sam what the local time is on Floreat and how we're doing against the schedule."
    "Local Floreat time is 04:34, sunrise at the spaceport will be at 06:57.  Sam says we're still on schedule to drop down to Floreat just before dawn."
    "And what about the Aldebaran's schedule?"
    "The Aldebaran is due to arrive in a transit orbit around Floreat at about 11:30 local time and depart transit orbit again at 17:30 local.  The shuttle is scheduled to land at the spaceport at 14:00 and lift off is 15:00 local.  Sam says that his latest information is that the Aldebaran is still on schedule."
    Marienna drank some of the coffee and went over to the cupboard to choose an outfit suitable for the wife of a prosperous jewel merchant.    Despite the fact that she had already made up her mind to wear a formal outfit for travelling in and had insisted the previous day that the workshop make her one as a rush job, she went through a long routine of comparing the new outfit against the rest of her wardrobe before deciding that she would indeed wear it.
    She carefully folded it and packed it into the small rucksack that was all that she would be allowed to take with her.  Making an illegal entry onto the planet meant that they would have to travel as light as possible to start with,