… marginal talent … because we would prefer a stronger psychic like Levona Martinez. I refuse to accept this notion.” He made a cutting gesture. “That discussion is closed.”
I WILL be Mother of Cats. Of Heart Friend Cats and companions! Pizi put in.
Hoku rubbed his face. “Is there a way we can find a position—”
Umar Clague cut him off. “The situation before us is that we need to test the cryonics tube process — the putting a person into such a “sleep” and reviving them, successfully. Earlier this evening, none of us wished to volunteer, and we’d reached an impasse. Now we have a volunteer.”
“She’ll do it for a price,” Ava spit out.
“This whole venture is being done for each of our benefits. We’re all reaping a huge reward. We get to escape this world to a new one. That’s a benefit few on this planet continue to have,” Megan stated. “And we are paying, too. I put in every last centime I had to reserve a cryonics tube, I traversed a country to reach the gathering place and got on Lugh’s Spear and flew here with the rest of you. I am offering my skills as a provisioner and a guard. I am offering my body and my future to find an acceptable lover and have psychically talented children. Every one of us has the same story.”
Time to speak up again. “I do volunteer as a … as a specimen for your experiment.” Not quite the right word, but Levona pushed on. “As I understand, neither of the other ships have done a test of the cryonics procedure, either. I volunteer, you can use me as a sample. You can study me and report the results of the process to everyone else on all the ships who intend to travel this way. I will place my life in your hands.” Another sweep of her glance to each. “In the hands of people who dislike me, but whom I trust to be honorable.”
Honor. The word worked on each and every one of them. A word that bound them together in a community. All of them had gifts that others had feared or scorned or envied, that the gov had condemned.
When placed in the psi ghettos, they’d banded together, with so much more in common with each other than with people with more normal talents and gifts. They’d combined, and the glue that held them together was trust, and that consisted of honor, honesty. Courage.
Levona could live with dislike, as long as she respected the people who disliked her.
Donna Clague stepped forward. “Let’s get this done, the sooner the better. I agree to your terms. For undergoing this process, we will make a place for you and Pizi on board this ship. If a person who has reserved a cryonics tube fails to arrive before the time it takes us to launch, you will be assigned the tube.” Now the younger woman stared at her fellows. “Any further discussion?”
Her husband added dryly, “Anyone else here want to volunteer?”
Silence.
“I’ll take to you the cryonics bay for the procedure,” Donna said. The door opened at the wave of her hand and she left. Levona followed, her mouth dry and her stomach clenching at the thought of all this. Everything had happened so quickly. She wasn’t ready! Though she couldn’t change her mind. This is how she and Pizi would escape Earth. “Should I have fasted?” she asked.
With a smile over her shoulder, Donna said, “We’ll clean you out.”
Oh, joy.
Pizi leapt into Levona’s arms and she cherished the warmth and breathing and aliveness of her friend.
Every single other person trailed after them.
Donna continued, “You will also enter a cleansing and disinfecting station, then we will prepare you for the cryonics tube. You’ll lie down, we’ll inject you with the drugs necessary for the process, the upper glass will close over you and additional gas will fill the capsule and preserve you.” The woman sent her a reassuring smile. “Any questions?”
“I got the layman’s explanation,” Levona stated.
Nodding, Donna said, “Yes. Everyone who reserved a cryonics tube received an 800-page report of each detail of the procedure, the freezing, the stasis state, and the thawing or awakening.”
“We got it, and decided whether to read it or not,” Megan Dufort said. “I glanced through it, read a bit here and there.”
Umar put in, “We know the procedure worked previously, in other situations, as well as on other starships. We received communications from colonists on other planets.”