Lyon's Pride Read online

  Praise for the bestselling novels of

  Anne McCaffrey’s Tower and Hive series

  THE ROWAN

  “A well-told tale…McCaffrey’s popularity is immense and justified.”

  —Booklist

  DAMIA

  “McCaffrey interweaves an engrossing romance with a coming-of-age story as she examines the issue of responsibility in a society where survival depends on the abilities of a gifted few.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “McCaffrey is in fine form…interesting…amusing…tempestuous.”

  —Locus

  “[A] well-crafted universe…[Damia] both refines and extends characterizations, especially in interrelationships and the use of mental powers…a winning choice for the author’s legion of fans.”

  —Booklist

  DAMIA’S CHILDREN

  “McCaffrey’s fans won’t be disappointed…hugely enjoyable…fascinating in its exploration of the brain’s potential and untapped powers.”

  —The Calgary Sun

  LYON’S PRIDE

  “Another exciting episode in the thrilling epic of the Rowan…Read and enjoy!”

  —Romantic Times

  THE TOWER AND THE HIVE

  “McCaffrey maintains the high quality of characterization of humans and aliens alike, and, once again, she skillfully interweaves the plot threads, making it easy to follow the action on all fronts. A rousing conclusion to a most satisfying series.”

  —Booklist

  Ace Books by Anne McCaffrey

  The Tower and Hive Series

  THE ROWAN

  DAMIA

  DAMIA’S CHILDREN

  LYON’S PRIDE

  THE TOWER AND THE HIVE

  The Freedom Series

  FREEDOM’S LANDING

  FREEDOM’S CHOICE

  FREEDOM’S CHALLENGE

  FREEDOM’S RANSOM

  LYON’S PRIDE

  ANNE MCCAFFREY

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China

  penguin.com

  A Penguin Random House Company

  LYON’S PRIDE

  An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author

  Copyright © 1994 by Anne McCaffrey.

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.

  ACE and the "A" design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  ISBN: 978-1-101-65956-4

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Ace/Putnam edition published 1994

  Ace mass-market edition / February 1995

  Cover art by Danny O’Leary

  Cover design by Lesley Worrell.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book is dedicated to

  MATTHEW HARGREAVES

  for all the hard work, effort and time that he expended in nailing down an excellent bibliography of all the works by this grateful author

  (except this one which wasn’t written yet!)

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  PROLOGUE

  THE first incursion against the Nine Star League by the Hive entities occurs at Deneb, where Jeff Raven and the undeveloped Talents of his planet stave off a vicious attack by three alien scout ships orbiting Deneb IV. Calling for assistance from the Earth Federated Teleport and Telepath Prime, Peter Reidinger, Jeff Raven encounters the Rowan, Callisto’s Prime. In a mind merge, two of the three invaders are destroyed and the third sent back, as a warning, to whence it had come.

  Three years later the Mother Hive ship, a spherical leviathan, appears at Deneb heliopause. The Talents once again merge to defend the planet: the Rowan, pregnant with her second child, Cera, is the focus for the feminine minds which then immobilize the female Many Mind that governs the Hive ship. The male merge, with Jeff Raven as focus, then teleports the Hive ship into Deneb’s primary.

  Nineteen years later, while recuperating on Deneb, Damia Gwyn-Raven, another T-1 Talent, and Afra Lyon, a Capellan T-2, have “dreams” which they realize are being implanted by the alien figures which appear in these dreams. Contact is made with these visitors, who call themselves the Mrdini. Through dreams the Mrdini explain that they have been defending themselves and their colony worlds against the incursions of the Hive for centuries. They had followed the Hive ship to Deneb and been fascinated by its destruction without loss of life on the part of the defenders. They offer an alliance.

  In order to establish meaningful relationships, young ’Dinis are placed with Human children, in the sound belief that early exposure to another species facilitates understanding. Among those selected for this experiment are the children of Afra and Damia, now Tower Prime for Iota Aurigae, a mining world. Their eight children all have ’Dini pairs.

  At sixteen, the eldest daughter, Laria, is sent to the ’Dini homeworld of Clarf to teach ’Dini Human language and to expand her own understanding of the adult vocabulary. At about this time, Mrdini scouts observe three Hive ships which separate before the ’Dini can catch up. But the ion trails left by the three are strong and can be followed on their disparate ways.

  The Alliance of Mrdinis and Nine Star Leaguers decide on a four-pronged expedition. The first element of six ships is to backtrack to see if it cannot locate the elusive homeworld of the Hivers. The other three elements are to follow the Hive ships to their destinations, preferably to destroy them if at all possible before they can colonize another world by first sterilizing it of all existing life forms.

  Isthian Lyon, Laria’s brother, is seconded by FT&T to the AS Vadim to act as Prime with the tracking mission of six ships, four Human, two Mrdini. It is his job to improve communications and relations between the Allies, and to receive supplies to keep the ships moving toward their objective. Thian has always been interested in naval matters so he is well suited by the assignment. Thian is accompanied by his ’Dini pair, Mrg and Dpl (Mur and Dip).

  When the Vadim encounters a lifeless stationary derelict, it is identified as a Hive ship, though larger by another third than any previously encountered. It appears to have been destroyed by the heat of an expanding nova. Three escape pods seem to have been used, though others were destroyed in situ. An exploration detail of both ’Dini and Human is to examine the wreck. Encountering hostility from a crewman, Thian is nearly killed on the Hive ship, where he discovers undamaged Hiver eggs. These are sent to be studied by the Alliance xenobiologists. Recovering from his injury, Thian elects to continue with the Mrdini ship, the KLTL, as the Mrdinis insist on being certain that a
nova has destroyed the Hive homeworld.

  Two of the ships in Thian’s element are required to start the derelict on its way to a point at which both Mrdini and Human specialists can examine it thoroughly. The remaining three ships decide to track down the three escape pods. It is essential to capture the pods, for just one queen is sufficient to establish a new colony.

  While Thian continues with the KLTL on toward the site of the nova, the search for the three large ships, as well as the escape pods, continues. Attempts are also being made to reassemble from its shattered parts as much of the big Hive Sphere as is possible to reconstruct, in an effort to learn more about the enemy.

  One of the escape pods, bearing a live queen, is discovered by the Beijing and captured, and is safely in tow behind the ship. Afra and his son Rojer are sent out to ’port the pod to the Heinlein Moon Station where it can be safely examined in great detail. There is considerable debate and many factions: some wishing to summarily execute the queen, others wishing to approach her in an effort to establish communications with and knowledge of a species never before captured. The Mrdini are particularly against keeping the queen alive. Rojer, with his father acting as focus, easily transfers queen and pod.

  Back on Earth, the captured queen pod is secured and placed under twenty-four hour survelliance. When she finally emerges, she is seen as a mantis-type creature, tenlimbed, and egg-heavy. Since no one has had much luck in incubating the eggs discovered on the derelict ship, it is decided to deposit these with her.

  There is considerable objection to keeping the creature alive, but those who insist that knowing more about the enemy may be a deciding factor in a final victory over its incursions manage to win the argument. She is kept alive. Food of all varieties is supplied and she is seen to prefer vegetables or fruits. Her actions, when there are any, are monitored and shown to all interested.

  Zara, the fourteen-year-old sister of Laria, Thian and Rojer, becomes emotionally involved with what she sees as the queen’s dreadful plight and imprisonment. In a remarkable adventure, Zara arrives at the Observation Station and, distraught by the queen’s condition, ’ports herself into the facility and realizes that the queen is freezing, being accustomed to a much hotter temperature in her parturitional stage. Zara’s intercession saves the queen’s life although, despite a hope that there has been some empathy between Human and Hiver, this bizarre incident is not repeated, nor can Zara explain why she acted as she did. Her parents realize with some regret that Zara is not Tower material, even though a Prime. Elizara, the T-1 medic for whom she was named, and her great-grandmother Isthia decide she may have healing Talents.

  Meanwhile, one of the escaping Hive ships has been tracked to a star system where it is obviously slowing down. Rojer is sent to the Genesee to expedite messages for Squadron B—two Human ships and one Mrdini ship—which is hovering, undetectable, within an asteroid belt of the system.

  The crew watch as the arriving Hiver ship is attacked from moon bases and planetary surfaces. When the ship’s ammunition is exhausted, the queens flee in escape pods which are disintegrated. This shocks those on the Genesee. As much as the ’Dini have observed of their enemy over the centuries, they are as surprised and stunned as their Human allies. It is new territory for them, too.

  Instead of being allowed to go in blasting, Squadron B and the Genesee are ordered to hold a watching brief, utilizing as many probes as possible, with Rojer’s help, to gather information. It is thought that Thian, on his way back to “civilization” on the KLTL, which has now definitely established that the Hiver homeworld was destroyed in the nova, will join or replace his brother on the Genesee.

  Two squadrons are still in pursuit of the remaining two Hive spheres while Squadron A, Thian’s original group, is searching for the other two pods which evacuated from the Great Sphere before it was hit by the nova shock wave. A waiting game is played on several levels and ethical problems of great magnitude must be addressed by both Human and Mrdini civilizations.

  CHAPTER

  ONE

  DURING the course of the next few weeks, while Rojer waited for his older brother, Thian, to replace him on board the Genesee, he spent a great deal more time on the bridge than he had originally thought he would. Not only was Rojer Lyon the FT&T T-1 which linked Squadron B with its homeworlds and was the means by which the three ships were kept supplied by twice-weekly importations of supplies, he was also able to provide other services to the Squadron not in his original brief. If he was referred to as “the boy” or “the civilian,” he couldn’t deny “boy” as he was not quite sixteen, although tall and well-muscled from an active life on his home planet. He also had inherited the family lock of silver hair which made it difficult for some to believe he hadn’t yet reached his majority. Most times these references to his age or status were jocular. Sometimes envy or disparagement tinged these epithets—until he ’ported in the next supply drones, when he was again in favor with all. Sometimes it appeared to him that his ’Dinis, Grl and Ktg, were more acceptable to the Genesee officers and crew than he was, but he encouraged them to continue teaching their language to any on board who wished it. At night, in his cabin, he could enjoy the consolation of his friends and they were very good at diverting him with amusing shipboard incidents and their own special companionship. When he was particularly upset, they would “dream” the tension away.

  Since the Squadron was on orders to hold a watching brief and to take no direct action against the ancient enemy which occupied the system, tedium became a problem. Even escape pod drills became a welcome variation of daily routine. So, when Captain Osullivan asked Rojer if he could ’port the newly developed and undetectable probes to discover what they could about the moons’ defenses and the three spherical ships in docking orbit around the planet, he was quite willing to oblige.

  The activity was one he was well able for: in fact, it gave him no little satisfaction to know that “the boy/civilian” had an ability no one else in the B Squadron had. He was also just as curious as anyone else in the Squadron to learn as much as possible about the Hivers’ world. He had discreet knowledge from Gil and Kat that Captain Prtglm of the KTTS would have preferred direct action to surveillance and had been extremely upset by the “surveillance” order from the High Council which had originated from the Human Supreme Commander, Admiral Tohl Mekturian, and the Mrdini High Councillor, Gktmglnt.

  The Squadron had been given a stunning display of the planet’s defenses when they had observed the attack on the refugee Hive ship which they had followed to this system. Their three ships would have been totally outgunned and unable to inflict telling damage on planetary installations.

  It was a different matter entirely to survey as much as possible of this enemy planet. Rojer enthusiastically entered into dispersing disguised monitors to the material clustering about the three sphere ships which were in a construction-level orbit about the planet. Certainly any ground-based sensors wouldn’t notice him tucking a few more “pieces” amid the clutter that spun in disarray round the world. Frankly, Rojer thought tossing such garbage into space was an appalling way to discard rubbish.

  Neither Captain Quacho of the sister ship, the Arapahoe, or Captain Osullivan of the Genesee had expected that the refugee Hiver ship would be attacked by its own species, its queens driven to escape in the pods which had then been summarily disintegrated by the planetary batteries. Captain Prtglm had announced that it was no more than could be expected of Hivers.

  Since Rojer’s first assignment was to inspect the three sphere ships in their docking orbit, tensions were defused further when the monitors proved that only one looked to be spaceworthy. Quite possibly it had been the ship which had transported the original colonizing group. One of the other two was near completion, though it had significant gaps, probably left open to receive equipment, while the other was only partly hulled. That gave rise to further speculation as to why the planet’s defenders had “holed” the refugee ship, rendering it unusab
le.

  Somewhat reassured by that investigation, which he had Rojer relay in his daily message to Earth Prime, Captain Osullivan requested Rojer to make a geographical survey of the eight land masses, the biggest one spreading from pole to pole. An opportunity like this, to gain firsthand knowledge of a Hiver world, should be utilized to the fullest extent possible. It also provided occupation during the tedium of a watching brief.

  The Hive culture appeared to be totally land-based and every centimeter of land was cultivated. Rojer’s guided sensors showed that mountainsides were terraced up to the snow-line with what Commander Metrios, the engineering officer, considered amazing techniques and, although some fields were fallow, the majority sprouted with vigorous, if unrecognizable, flora. Narrow tracks bordering the fields provided access for the scurrying life forms involved in agricultural occupations. Their constant presence made it dangerous to attempt to ’port in a sample-collecting probe. Another variety of beetle-like creatures specialized in irrigation, trundling water, held in body sacs, which was carefully dribbled along neat rows. What surprised Lieutenant Istvan Mrkovic, the science officer, who had made due note of the teeming marine life, was that the Hivers had not made any attempt to harvest nutritious seaweed and plankton so abundant and easily obtained.

  “So they’re vegetarians? Seaweed’s a vegetable,” he exclaimed.

  “They seem to be single-minded in many respects,” said Anis Langio, the astrogation officer whom Rojer admired at a distance. She was the prettiest of the female bridge officers and he was old enough to appreciate her presence. “A stagnant culture determined to replicate itself ad infinitum.”

  “That may alter,” was the captain’s crisp remark.

  “I’d give anything to see a weed among all that perfection,” remarked Anis Langio in a tone bordering on disgust. “Talk about purpose bio-engineering. A purpose for every critter and a critter for every purpose. Appalling. Specialization ad absurdum!”