Read Online Rediscovery by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Free Book Online

this is a scientific expedition, and I’ll thank you to remember that, fatigued or not.”
    Elizabeth was taken aback by her superior’s cold disapproval, and the response
    from the back of the crowd that followed Britton’s reproof did not help her self-confidence any. “Oh, Elizabeth, come off it!” Lieutenant Ryan Evans, one of the
    younger botanists, said disgustedly.
    Elizabeth flushed and, catching sight of Evans, she averted her eyes. He was a
    friend of David’s, but she had never been able to like him much. He was a good-looking young man and knew it; he was quite tall and took psychological advantage of his extra inches to cow people—particularly women—at every opportunity. She had never seen him wear anything other than the gray uniform of Colonization services, despite the custom of wearing “civilian” clothing when off-duty. Strongly built, he kept his physique in top shape in the gym, and used it as a tool of intimidation or seduction, whichever applied. He sounded almost angry about what Elizabeth had said, but then he frequently did; he was a scoffer by nature.
    Perversely, though, the look of scorn on his face and the near-insult he had thrown at her made her a little angry—angry enough at least to stand up for her explanation which had actually been given half-humorously, half desperately. She turned to Britton, ignoring Evans.
    “Well, it’s kind of an out-there sort of theory, sir,” she temporized, “but we
    haven’t been able to come up with anything else that explains what’s going on down there, and neither has the computer. We weren’t talking about fairy-tale magic, but something else entirely, and ‘wizard’ was just the name we were using to describe the kind of person we were postulating. Theoretically, someone with psychic powers could do all that, dispersing weather systems and reforming them again, and it would seem like magic to anyone without them.”
    Evans responded as if she had spoken directly to him. “Even if we did get saddled with that inane experimental program for psychic abilities you people were playing around with, I still haven’t seen any conclusive proof that there are any such things—
    much less that someone could steer storms around with them.”
    Elizabeth bit her tongue to keep from snapping, and kept her attention fixed on
    Britton. After all, Evans was nothing to her; he didn’t work in her division, he wasn’t her superior, and his approval or disapproval didn’t matter at all.
    Britton shook his head. “I have to agree with Evans,” he said, sounding a bit
    regretful. “I haven’t seen any conclusive proof that ‘psychic powers’ exist. Everything you and David have done could have been explained in other ways. And I can’t see any reason to think that ‘psychic powers’ are in play here.”
    “Perhaps not,” she agreed, “but sir, you have to admit that there does seem to be something pretty unusual going on here. Wizards aren’t any more unlikely than anything else, at this point.” She frowned. “I have a hunch that when we find out whatever the truth may be, we’ll wish it were something as simple as a wizard.”
    “Jesus!” Evans muttered—but Britton quelled him with a look. He was under Britton’s authority, and he knew better than to continue after a look like that.
    “Well,” Britton said, turning back to Elizabeth, “I trust that when you have a
    somewhat more viable theory—or some proof that your ‘wizard’ exists—you will
    inform me.” His tone was less caustic, but just as patronizingly sarcastic as Evans’, and Elizabeth almost flinched.
    Ysaye winced quietly. This was not the first time Elizabeth had been criticized for her leaps of intuition, which were completely independent of logic, but sometimes gave astonishingly good results. In a more mellow mood, Commander Britton would not be giving her such a hard time about it. At the moment, however, he was obviously not in a mellow mood.
    Ysaye