Fortune's Wheel

by Lisanne Norman

  any loopholes that would fit your circumstances."

  "I know you'll do what you can," Kusac said, opening the door. "Thank you for listening to me. I'll be in

  touch again soon."

  When Ghyan knew Kusac was well on his way back to the guild, he activated his comm. The humanfemale's vision had him concerned. She had seen so much more than any of their people ever had. If shewas to be believed. But then why should she lie, or Kusac for that matter, since he had experienced atleast her memory of the vision. No, it had to be true.

  "Ghyan, it's somewhat late to be hearing from you. I trust there's nothing wrong?"

  "Father Lijou, my apologies for disturbing you, but you have told me to contact you concerning the God

  visions ex-perienced by our new Leskas here at Valsgarth."

  "The Aldatan cub," said Lijou succinctly.

  "Not exactly," said Ghyan. "It was the human female, not Kusac, who experienced the main vision."

  Lijou frowned, his brows drawing together thoughtfully. "The Keissian? What did she see?"

  "It was different from the usual vision, Father. Kusac came to see me tonight, and he told me that the

  God said too many lives had been lost. Why should Vartra say that?"

  "Offhand, I've no idea, Ghyan. Are you sure he was re-porting the vision accurately?"

  "Do you doubt my judgment?"

  "Not when I have your assurance to the contrary. We haven't been cataloguing the God visions for long, Ghyan. It takes time to build up an image of what really happened in the years following the Cataclysm. All we know for sure is that we've found no records in existence before then, and the legends tell us that Vartra was responsible for uniting those Sholans who survived the planetwide disaster that almost wiped us out. Though it doesn't take long for a charismatic male like that to pass from legend into divinity, we're still no nearer knowing why there are visions and why they only happen at Valsgarth!"

  Ghyan sighed. "I know we have to move slowly, Father, but there are times when I despair of us everfinding the an-swers. It saps the spirit when you hear another ruin has been

  'blessed' to prevent unholy items from corrupting our souls. We've lost so much of our past it's a wonder

  any still re-mains!"

  "Every loss is a tragedy," Lijou agreed, "but the ancient cities were numerous and large. Each time Esken

  orders a 'blessing' only a small portion of the whole is lost."

  "That small portion could contain unrepeatable treasures which would tell us what caused the cataclysm

  in the first place!"

  "Don't get things out of proportion, Ghyan," warned Lijou. "Our past isn't the end result in itself. It's merely a tool to enable us to break the stranglehold people like Esken have on our future. With the discovery of the Terrans, it's even more important that we have the freedom to evolve as a species. If we don't, then these humans with their multiple Talents could end up dominating the Alliance, and they're too young a species for a position of such importance. Dzahai Stronghold is the last hope for us. The Gods help us if Esken realizes the true nature of the Brotherhood before we're ready to reveal it! Your friend

  Kusac Aldatan and his human Leska may be the key to us attaining full guild status. Once we have that, ifthere are more like them, then we can Challenge the Telepath Guild with a hope of winning."

  "So what do you want me to do?"

  "Remain apparently neutral for now. We have agents in the field watching them, passing us information

  regarding their Link, keeping them safe. We're doing what we're best at, watching and waiting."

  "Just remember Kusac is my friend," said Ghyan, an ear flicking in concern. "I won't sit back and see

  them come to harm."

  "No harm is intended toward them, quite the opposite in fact," said Lijou. "Thank you for your report. If

  you can find out any more from either of them without arousing their sus-picions, then let me know."

  "Yes, Father," said Ghyan.

  * * *

  The next morning brought Konis Aldatan two puzzling messages—messages that he accepted on hiswife's behalf as surrogate Clan Leader. The first was from Master Esken stating that he was informinghim out of courtesy that he'd lodged a formal complaint against Rala Vailkoi with her

  Clan Leader about her behavior the previous night. The sec-ond was an apology from Clan Leader Vailkoi concerning his daughter's behavior at the Telepath Guild on the same night, and assuring him thatit would not be repeated as he had set two more Warriors to guard her.

  Perplexed, he decided to call Esken for a more detailed explanation of the events.

  "Esken, what happened at the guild last night?" he asked as soon as the Guild Master's face came on the

  screen.

  "I thought I made it clear in my communication, Konis," said Esken. "Rala Vailkoi visited your son last

  night."

  "Alone, at night, without an appointment? What is Vailkoi up to allowing her that kind of freedom when

  he's pushing for an early marriage between them?"

  "You need have no fear, Konis," said Esken dryly. "Rala is no reluctant bride turning to a lover to make her pregnant so the marriage can be delayed. Quite the opposite in fact. Vailkoi had no need to keep her closely guarded—till now."

  Konis sat back in surprise. "I'm not sure I follow you," he said.

  "She arrived toward the end of Kusac's Link day with the intention of seeing him while he was still vulnerable." Esken's brows met in a frown. "I have my doubts as to the wisdom of your choice of a bride for your son, Konis. The Vailkoi female is unprincipled and manipulative. Hardly a suitable wife for one of the Contenders as heir to your title and position. You'll have trouble making Kusac keep this contract. He is already dissatisfied with her, and with good reason. Her disgraceful behavior last night may well have brought the matter to a head."

  "He has a Leska now," said Konis. "He doesn't need love in his marriage. The combination of his and Rala's genes will make it more likely that all their children will be highly Talented, even if she has no usable Talent herself. That is more important to the Clan than whether or not he likes his wife."

  "You take too practical a view of life, Konis," said Master Esken sadly. "You are too harsh with his

  feelings. He isn't like you."

  "I brought him up to have a sense of responsibility to the Clan," said Konis. "He knows what he has to do. I have to be hard, Esken, else how could I arrange the marriages within the Clans? Few of them will ever be love matches. At least Kusac will have a wife slightly younger than himself. What of Soola Kayan? She has a husband a good thirty years her senior."

  "We'll see," said Esken. "Just remember that when the God takes a hand in our lives, events don't always

  work out as we planned them."

  "Now you're being superstitious," said Konis uncomfort-ably. "I have to go, Esken. I can't sit here

  discussing theol-ogy with you, I've work to do."

  "Before you go, I have some advice for you. Don't push Kusac into marriage yet. Leave it for now until

  he has for-gotten this incident with Rala. Perhaps then you'll find him more amenable."

  "Your advice is noted, Master Esken, but I will choose my own time to speak to Kusac about his

  marriage. Good day to you."

  Konis had reason to remember Master Esken's advice later in the day when Kusac also lodged anofficial com-plaint about Rala's behavior. It gave him pause to consider that perhaps he didn't know hisson as well as he had thought and that the advice was not so misplaced after all.

  * * *

  Carrie sat at the comm unit reading through her brother's message.

  "Kusac, Richard's sent me a copy of the encyclopedia that we had on board the Eureka ! His message says to check the section on psychics because it. mentions all of the gifts that people on Earth were thought to have, and the tests they used to check if the gifts were genuine."

  "Let
me see," he said, joining her at the desk. "Put the section he mentions onto the screen."

  "Hold on. I haven't quite got the hang of this computer yet."

  "It's a lot more than a computer," Kusac murmured as he watched her struggling to remember which keys

  to press. At least physically it was easier for her now that her fingernails had regrown.

  She grunted in reply as she tried several key combina-tions, managing to connect into the library system,then the public news network, neither of which she wanted.

  Kusac leaned forward. "Try this," he said, pressing a cou-ple of keys to take them back to the basicfunction choice and then to the textual message display. "Put your brother's complete message into amemory crystal, then you can ac-cess it properly." He reached into the desk drawer and drew out aspare crystal, slotting it into a square aperture at the side of the keyboard.

  "I wondered what that was for," said Carrie as the cube was briefly illuminated from underneath.

  "Now you can see the contents and choose the section we want," he said, moving back so she could

  finish.

  "I don't remember it being arranged like this," said Carrie as she scanned through the contents.

  "It was probably done when your brother had the encyclo-pedia put into a format we could read. There,

  that's what we want," he said, pointing.

  Carrie turned round to look up at him. "How come you can read my language so easily when I can't readyours?"

  Kusac grinned, his lips curving slightly. "I've had more practice with languages," he said.

  With another grunt, she turned back to her encyclopedia and selected the section on psychical research. She found it cross-referenced with extra-sensory perception, psychokine-sis, psychometry, objectreading, dowsing…

  "This list is huge! I haven't heard of half the things they're talking about," she said. "Where do we begin?"

  "Try looking up the first item."

  They skimmed through the document, finding it a history of the study of what was termed ESP. It wasdivided into two distinct skills, PK or psychokinesis, which was the abil-ity to move objects with thepower of the mind, and ESP, which included telepathy and the ability to have foreknowl-edge of events.

  "I don't think we should read any further," said Kusac, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We might

  prejudice the tests."

  "How could we do that?"

  "By assuming in advance whether or not we can do what they ask us." Reaching into the drawer, he took

  out another cube and began copying the data from one to the other. "How are we for time?"

  "We should leave now," she said, finishing her coffee hur-riedly. 'They're expecting me for the aura scan

  in ten min-utes."

  "I'm finished," said Kusac, switching off the comm and getting up. He reached for his uniform jacket,

  shrugging it on over die tunic he wore.

  Carrie looked up at him. "You'll need to change your jacket, that one's got mud on it," she said.

  Kusac rubbed ineffectually at the mark on his left side. "You're right," he said, taking it off and flinging itback over the chair. "I won't be a minute."

  Carrie was waiting by the door for him when he returned, her unasked question loud in his mind despiteher efforts to the contrary.

  "I couldn't sleep last night, so I went to visit a friend," he said, opening the door for them. "Kaid watched

  you while I was gone. I went across country and the ground was damp."

  "I was only curious. No Kaid?" she asked as they passed his door.

  "We decided there wasn't any need for someone to ac-company us around the Guild House," said

  Kusac.

  As they headed along the corridor and down the stairs, Carrie looked around her for referents, trying tomake sure she could recognize the route back to their rooms. Reaching the ground floor, they made theirway past the main hall to-ward the office, then along the corridor to the new wing.

  Ahead of them was a transparent door bearing a sign in the cursive Sholan script.

  "It says 'Medical Center,' " Kusac said quietly, pressing the panel set into the wall beside it.

  The door slid back, admitting them to a small foyer. Ahead of them was a curved counter behind whichtwo Sholan females dressed in medic blue were working. To their left was an external entrance fornonguild patients.

  Old fears returned and Carrie began to walk more slowly, wishing she were anywhere else but here.

  Hospitals were hospitals to her no matter which world she was on, and she hated them.

  An involuntary shiver ran through her. The hospitals on Earth had treated her like a mentally derangedchild until they had tested the truth of what her parents had told them about her and Elise.

  Kusac's hand touched hers, his fingers curling round her palm as he mentally reassured her. It wasn'tenough. The cold feeling continued.

  They were directed to the seats nearby and asked to wait until someone came for them. As they satthere, Carrie be-gan to shiver again. Kusac's arm went round her shoulders, drawing her up against hisside. She leaned against him gratefully, feeling the warmth of his body through the thin tunic he wore. Ithelped counteract the chill.

  It's all right, Carrie. You're an accepted telepath here. You've nothing to prove to them. Just relax,it'll be fine , he sent.

  Wanna's coming, she replied just as the door to the right of the counter slid open.

  "Hello again," said Vanna, coming forward to greet them. "I had a feeling you'd arrived." She briefly

  touched Kusac's outstretched hand as he stood up, but turned to Carrie and embraced her.

  "When did you arrive?" Carrie returned the hug.

  "Yesterday, but you were busy, so I left it till today. Come with me, they're ready for you now," she said,

  turning to-ward the doorway.

  They followed her through into the main part of the med-ical center, turning left down a short corridor tothe aura reading room.

  "The whole hospital is heavily shielded," she said, "other-wise the telepath medics would find it almost

  unbearable to work here."

  "Is this the main hospital for Valsgarth?" asked Carrie, aware that Vanna was trying to put her at her

  ease. She moved her fingers slightly in Kusac's grasp, holding his hand more firmly.

  "The main hospital is in Nazule," said Kusac. "This facil-ity is here mainly for the guild members, but is also avail-able for ordinary patients who have need of the treatment that they can only get here, like the aura readings for diag-nosis of certain conditions."

  Vanna stopped outside the last door, opening it for them.

  The small room was brightly lit, that was the first thing she noticed; the second was an examination couch. Carrie felt a surge of panic. Here she was, alone among a room full of Sholans with only Kusac and Vanna between her and them. They could do anything they wanted to her.

  It's only an aura reading, cub, Kusac reassured her. Shall I let them take one of me first?

  No. I'm fine, honestly. "What do you want me to do, Vanna?" she asked, determined not to let anyone

  else know how nervous she was.

  "I'm not conducting the test, Carrie. I'm merely here to see how it's done and how they interpret the data. Khafsa is the physician," she said, indicating the medic talking to two technicians by the control desk to their left.

  Khafsa came forward, hand outstretched to touch theirs in greeting. Carrie noticed he wore the telepathand medic col-ors on his long sleeved jacket.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, mouth falling open in the Sholan grin. "We've heard a lot about you," he said to Carrie. "It's wonderful to have found another telepathic species. Makes us feel a little less alone!"

  Carrie grinned back, feeling instantly more at ease.

  "It's a completely painless experience," he said, taking her by the forearm and drawing her toward the

  couch. "Just sit up here while I explain it," he
said, helping her up.

  As she sat down, she realized that Kusac had remained with Vanna. Firmly she suppressed the instantsurge of panic at being left alone with this strange male and made an effort instead to concentrate on whathe was saying.

  "The couch is formfitting, as you'll realize when you lie down," he said, carefully swinging her legs up. "Just lie back and relax. You should find it reasonably comfortable, we're using one of the small couches for you."

  Carrie felt the surface of the couch yield slightly under her, adjusting to the contours of her body.

  "If you turn your head to the side, you'll see the lid. It's made of two layers of crystal with a special clear fluid be-tween them which enables me to see your aura more clearly. When I close the lid over you, my technicians will put out the lights. In the darkness I'll be able to see the colors that surround you. The next bit's the really clever stuff," he said with a wide Sholan grin. "I use my particular Talent to re-produce those colors around you, so they can be photo-graphed to study later in more detail. There's nothing to it," he reassured her. "It takes about fifteen minutes, so just lie still and relax."

  "I'm not afraid," she muttered, turning her head again to look at Kusac who was sending encouraging

  thoughts to her.

  Khafsa lifted the lid over her, closing it carefully. As he did, a gentle flow of cool air began to move roundher. Be-neath her she could feel the couch beginning to warm gently. As the lights went out, she shut hereyes, gradually relax-ing as the chill started to leave her body.

  * * *

  "Wake up, sleepy one," said Vanna, giving her a little shake. "Before you get down, I want to take my

  samples."

  Carrie opened bleary eyes. Her limbs felt as dull and heavy as her head. Slowly she lifted her arm up for

  Vanna.

  "Your temperature's a bit high," Vanna said, checking the panel at the side of her sampling unit. "How do

  you feel?"

  "Like I want to go back to bed," she said, sitting up care-fully when Vanna had finished. "I think I'm

  coming down with something nasty, like flu."