Nimisha's Ship Read online

  “It’s much easier to review lessons with someone,” Nimisha had confided in Jeska. “I’m glad you’re not bored.”

  “That’s highly unlikely in your company, Nimisha,” Jeska replied with a grin. She had quickly grown fond of the bright, cheerful child in her care, and if she bent a few rules for Nimisha, the girl did the same for her.

  As Nimisha grew older, she was invited on more frequent excursions with her sire, and these Jeska enjoyed almost as much as her charge.

  The Rondymense Ship Yard occupied an area on the outskirts of the primary Vegan Fleet Space Yard, where new vessels were built and older ones underwent maintenance and refitting. While Lord Tionel never said anything to the point, Jeska Mlan was quick to realize that Rondymense was in such proximity to the big Fleet installation because it supplied the Fleet with a great many of its improvements, most of which originated in Lord Tionel’s fertile mind. Jeska was thrilled: She might not have made the Service, but she became privy to a lot that her serving relatives would never know. Since discretion had been a facet of her early childhood training in an active service family, she had no trouble keeping what she saw and heard to herself. On her infrequent visits home, she often had occasion to smile quietly as she listened to her siblings raving about this or that improvement to the Vegan Spaceship 7890B, or the brand-new VSS 8650C—innovations she had watched from the design stage onward. She was also alert to the fact that Nimisha was equally discreet, though Lord Tionel had frequently discussed technical aspects that Jeska knew to be very top secret. But discretion was subtly inbred in any child of the First Families.

  It didn’t take Lord Tionel long to realize that his daughter’s bodyguard was as eager to learn as Nimisha. So he equipped them both with tools and gave them projects to complete, all deftly geared to augment the larger educational program he now had in mind for Nimisha. When she appeared to have stopped growing, he had them both measured for space suits so they could accompany him and his crews on exterior investigations. Of course, they knew as well as he did that Lady Rezalla would have instantly curtailed these visits had she known that they’d accompanied Lord Tionel into the vacuum of space. But he had undertaken their instruction himself, been satisfied that they appreciated the risks and would adhere to the precautions. They were always safely linked to experienced EVA personnel.

  Early on, Lord Tionel tested Jeska’s piloting skills in a space skimmer as well as a ground vehicle and rated her competence equal to that of many pilots. He also taught Nimisha how to drive, preferring to be certain she was capable long before Lady Rezalla allowed her body-heir a personal ground vehicle.

  “I may be usurping some of her birth-mother’s prerogatives,” he told Jeska one day without a trace of guilt, “but I prefer to oversee her education in such matters. I’ve no doubt Lady Rezalla instructs her as efficiently in the purely feminine skills in which she herself excels.”

  Jeska nodded, understanding completely what he had not said. “I am very appreciative, Lord Tionel, of the benefits I have received while in Lady Nimisha’s company.”

  “You’ve an aptitude worth cultivating, my girl,” he replied honestly. “When Nimisha no longer requires your . . . companionship, this Yard would consider you an asset.” He smiled in his beguiling fashion, rubbing his hands together as if already anticipating the moment when he could make good on his offer.

  “Small wonder you succeed so well with the Fleet types, Lord Tionel,” she said, grinning impudently up at him. The current High Admiral of the Fleet was an attractive and highly efficient woman. Jeska knew he spent considerable time with her and her Design teams.

  His smile broadened and he accorded her a slight bow. “I like to encourage talent wherever I encounter it. Now,” he continued in a brisker tone, “what trinket would please my daughter when she receives her Necklace four weeks from now?”

  “A skimmer, sir,” Jeska replied promptly, sober-faced, though she couldn’t keep the glint of mischief out of her eyes.

  “A skimmer?” The uplift of his voice in surprised repetition made her grin.

  “Even Lady Rezalla will agree that Lady Nimi, at fourteen, should have her own transport. Especially as she will promise to service it herself.” Jeska paused, rather pleased that she had been able to astonish Lord Tionel. “That way no one but she and I will know the engine capacity, the optimum cruising range, or the versatility of the vehicle.”

  “Ah!” Lord Tionel’s eyes lit up. He gave Jeska’s back such an approving thump that only the girl’s superb natural reflexes kept her from bouncing off the worktable in front of her. “Oh, sorry about that, Jeska. Caught me by surprise, you did. Excellent. Excellent.” And he went off, chuckling to himself. “Capital idea! Just the thing.”

  Since Jeska had been Nimisha’s companion for six years, she was permitted to attend the important Necklace Ceremony, traditional in First Family circles. She stood well behind those who were related by blood, of course, but she was there when Nimisha celebrated her minor majority, colloquially known as the Double M.

  The adult majority was four years hence, but body-heirs were expected from the moment of their Necklacing to act in an adult fashion and leave childish practices and manners behind them. Beside Jeska, Nurse was sniffling, since this ceremony marked the end of her employment. That she was being munificently rewarded by Lady Rezalla and need never work another day in her life did not seem to compensate for leaving Nimisha. Since Jeska was fonder of Nimisha than she was of any of her own siblings, she quite understood Nurse’s sorrow. She would continue in her duties to the body-heir of Boynton-Chonderlee House, but she and Nurse had been of one mind in keeping certain aspects of Nimisha’s daily routines from Lady Rezalla. Once Necklaced, Nimisha was guaranteed more freedom from constant supervision. Indeed, during the festivities, other servants would be moving Nimisha’s belongings out of the nursery and into private quarters in the west wing of the House.

  Before relatives from both sides of the bloodline, as well as Lady Rezalla’s particular friends and confidants, Nimisha was led in by her dam’s mother, the Lady Astatine Boynton-Tatanovic, a formidable woman who had never approved of her own body-heir’s friends or her deplorable tendency to dabble in “finance.” But Lady Astatine knew what was owed to Family despite the fact that she deplored Nimisha’s height, among other things that were beyond the girl’s control.

  “You make me look like a midget, young woman. Most inconsiderate,” was the grandam’s complaint. “Don’t bruise my fingers. Gels are supposed to be delicate, not have the grip of a man. Did not your dam teach you any feminine arts?”

  “Your couturier made my gown, Grandam,” Nimisha murmured. She might not have gone through the ceremony officially allowing her to speak out to an elder, but she would not allow anyone to fault her birth-mother. Especially her grandam.

  “That much Rezalla learned from me,” was the haughty reply. “Who the most original designers are.”

  “And learned well, Grandam.”

  A muffled throaty growl greeted that courteous reply. Then Lady Astatine passed Nimisha’s hand to Lady Rezalla for the rest of the ceremony and stepped back, deftly kicking the train of her elegant and fabulously expensive gown out of her way.

  Nimisha was handed by her mother onto the three-level podium set in place for the ceremony, so that she was clearly visible to the assembled. Lady Rezalla, her eyes bright with tears of pride, advanced with Lord Tionel, equally bright-eyed and grinning widely with delight in his part of the ceremony. He held the case in which Nimisha’s Necklace reposed. He had insisted on sharing the cost so, when he turned to display the magnificent jewelry, there were muted gasps and astonished oh’s of approval.

  The family of Tionel Rondymense-Erhardt was just fractionally older and more exclusive than the Boynton-Chonderlee, so the necklace intricately displayed the families’ identification patterns, the same ones that had been indelibly tattooed on Nimisha’s neck shortly after her birth. With the courtliest of bows, Lord
Tionel presented the case to his former contractual spouse. Lady Rezalla lifted the glittering ornament by its ends and, standing on the highest level of the podium, deftly encircled her body-heir’s neck and fastened the clasp. Using one finger, she gave a minute adjustment to the left-hand side to cover the tattoo beneath. Then she tapped Nimisha. Nimisha turned and her mother accorded her the six embraces required by the ceremony, the accolades of approaching adulthood. And for once the kisses were genuine touches of lip to cheek and lip to lip.

  Moving gracefully, and as deftly as her grandmother with the train of her splendid gown, Nimisha then accepted the salutes from her sire, her grandam, and the relatives awaiting to applaud her entry into Society. She did a smooth and gracious circling, though she could have done without Great Uncle Dahmison’s sloppy kisses. She wasn’t the only one of the younger relatives in the auxiliary lines who disliked his tendency to slobber.

  Then she made her way to Nurse and embraced her warmly, giving her the four kisses of extreme favor. She gave Jeska the two proper embraces allowed and squeezed her hands tight, covertly promising that they’d both try out the new skimmer that was parked behind the house. They might have to sneak out of the house at night to do so, but fortunately her Necklacing party would not be as prolonged as the one to celebrate her adult majority. That was four years away and there would be so much to do to reach that exalted state. Especially now that Nimisha would have more control over her daily activities.

  The music started—since this was a Boynton-Chonderlee House affair, the musicians were humans, not mechanicals—and her sire requested the first dance, as was his right. Lady Rezalla watched, not quite beaming with pride at the elegant way father and daughter danced, but as close to such an expression as she allowed herself. She sighed once, rather pleased that she had picked Tionel to sire her body-heir. He had done well by her and was doing far more than most sires did for their offspring. Certainly more than he did for the oaf who was his body-heir. She spared a sideways glance at Vestrin. He was as tall as his sire and with the same nose and ears, but after that he resembled his dam, the insidious Lady Vescuya, far too closely. Fortunately Lady Vescuya was not among the invited: She had a previous engagement she could not cancel, for which Lady Rezalla was grateful, since she had as little use for Vescuya as did almost everyone else of the First Families.

  When Lady Astatine brusquely waved off Tionel’s offer to dance, as etiquette required of him, he more gladly took his former spouse onto the floor. At the end of that dance, everyone paired off to enjoy the music and the rest of the celebration.

  Lord Vestrin did the obligatory dance with his blood-half-sister and spent the next hour, Lady Rezalla noted, on the sidelines criticizing the guests to Great Uncle Dahmison, whose hearing was minimal anyway. Then Vestrin abruptly departed, making the barest of bows to his hostess and birth-father.

  When the last guests were well gone, Nimisha and Jeska slipped down the stairs, dressed in clothing appropriate for an early morning spin in a newly acquired skimmer. Nimisha spoke the security passwords into the estate system, and the two walked quickly to the garage area.

  Jeska had her knife out a second before Nimisha did when a shadow detached itself from the corner of the first parking slot.

  “If you two thought you’d try it out on your own, you thought wrong,” Lord Tionel said, holding his arms widespread as he emerged.

  “Scare the life out of me, you would,” Jeska said, sheathing her knife. “I could have skewered you, Lord Tionel.” She didn’t sound the least bit repentant.

  “I know your reflexes by now, Mlan, so I was in no danger,” Tionel said, chuckling.

  “I could have sworn I saw you drive away, sir,” Nimisha said, after taking a deep enough breath to calm a fast-beating heart.

  “Oh, I did, and doubled back around before the security net was activated. I brought suitable clothing. And I can be Tionel, or Ti, as you wish, m’dear, now you’re Double M.”

  “Don’t you have any faith in your training of me, Tionel?” Nimisha asked, quick to accept his offer.

  “Oh, I do, but you haven’t driven something as powerful as this one, and neither has Jeska. In this test run, you’ll drive with me until I’m sure you both have the measure of these engines. Get in.”

  As this was a two-seater skimmer, suitable for city and country travel—or so Lady Rezalla would think—there were only two bucket seats. However, behind them, there was a little space and a ledge across the back, just adequate for someone as slender as Jeska, if she sat sideways with her knees bent.

  The skimmer purred into activity when Nimisha thumbed on the engine.

  “Slowly, my girl. Those engines could wake even your dam from a sound sleep,” Tionel said, raising one hand in warning.

  “I can feel the power in them,” Nimisha agreed, smiling. “You’re such a good father, Tionel.”

  Tionel sighed and Nimisha wished she’d phrased that some other way, for she knew how disappointed he was in his own body-heir. And really, she couldn’t blame him. Vestrin was useless and he needn’t have been. Once again Nimisha had cause to thank her mother for her upbringing and nurture. Vestrin’s dam might have been the acknowledged beauty of her debut year, but that, seemingly, had been her one achievement. She had, however, presented four notable Lords with body-heirs, never once losing her elegant figure in the process and increasing her personal wealth each time. Three of them were as indolent as Vestrin. Only the fourth, young Lord Haricore, showed signs of being interesting, and he was such an active child that he required a full squad of bodyguards . . . more to rescue the victims of his never-ending pranks than to keep him safe.

  Nimisha lifted the skimmer slowly, turning the lever to port once she was above the low garages and heading out the main entrance, which opened at the use of her password. There was no sense of movement, though the ground passed swiftly beneath them.

  “Lights . . .” Her sire gave her a grin, for her finger was already depressing the appropriate panel.

  “Light is more likely to wake my mother than noise,” she said coolly. “I read the operating manual three times. So did Jeska.”

  “The manual and the operation are distinctly separated by hands-on experience,” Tionel said. “Take us to the lakeside. I’ve cleared it with Traffic Control that I’m testing a new vehicle. There won’t be any repercussions when we let this sleek motor out.”

  The two in the front heard Jeska’s throaty chuckle. “You think of everything, don’t you, Lord Tionel?”

  “Well, that was an obvious precaution.”

  They reached the lake within minutes.

  “Take it down to the end at whatever speed you feel you can handle to reach that destination,” he said, sitting back and folding his arms.

  Jeska took a firm hold of the conveniently placed seat tabs and willed herself heavier as she felt Nimisha increase the forward motion. The girl was cautious, possibly because it was so obvious that the skimmer possessed a very high-powered engine and she needed to get the feel of it. Nimisha executed a neat U-turn at the base of the lake. The geographical feature was actually an earth fault, one hundred and two kilometers in length and forty in width, that had been dammed to make a water-sports facility convenient to Acclarke.

  Nimisha headed down the moonlit ribbon of water and began to increase the power, slowly at first, getting the feel of the controls and then speeding up.

  “What’s holding you back, Nimisha?” her sire asked teasingly. “The engine has been well broken in, you know.”

  “I will go as fast as I want to, Tionel Rondymense, and I’ll thank you not to taunt me.”

  Tionel threw back his head and laughed. “Impudent scut!”

  Jeska sighed with relief, but she really ought not to have doubted Nimisha’s common sense. She did crane her neck to see what speed was being achieved and saw the gauge holding steady at three hundred kilometers. She saw the cliffs that bordered the north side of the long lake zipping by and then kep
t her eyes straight ahead. Moments later Nimisha eased back on the stick and, when it came time to execute a turn, the skimmer was doing a sedate speed of one hundred klicks.

  “Now, let me see you handle a few basic maneuvers, Nimi,” her father said. “The controls, as you will have noticed, are light to the touch. And you have no doubt noticed where the ejection controls are.” He turned his head around. “There’s one for the rear ledge, too, Mlan.”

  “I felt no need to look for it, milord,” Jeska said in an amiable drawl.

  When Nimisha had performed the aerobatics her father requested, she landed and looked back to Jeska. “Your turn,” she said and, inserting herself between the two bucket seats, managed to cram herself into one corner while Jeska went forward.

  With no desire to show off, Jeska did the length of the lake at the same speed that Nimisha had used.

  “I’m disappointed in you, Jeska,” Lord Tionel said, clicking his tongue.

  “What’s suitable for Lady Nimisha is so for me, too, sir,” Jeska said dryly.

  “I am reprimanded,” Lord Tionel replied, one hand on his heart as he executed a bow in her direction. “Which of you will take the skimmer home?”

  “I will, sir,” Jeska replied promptly. “This has been an exciting day for Lady Nimi and she must not appear hollow-eyed from fatigue tomorrow—or, rather, later this morning, when she’s formally allowed to take possession of her Double M day gift from you.”

  “Well answered,” was his comment.

  “Thanks, Jes,” came from the back. “It’s such a comfortable vehicle, I’m nearly asleep.”

  What neither young woman ever publicly admitted was that this particular skimmer was also spaceworthy, which made it much easier for them both to go to the Ship Yard. There they spent a great deal of time with the trainers that Lord Tionel had employed to teach his daughter the engineering skills she expressly wished to learn. Since these included advanced mathematics, she could honestly reply to her mother that she was applying herself to lessons that would be useful in her adult life. Having Jeska to work with her on the lessons made them more fun and provided a competition that had them both vying to be the best.