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.Nelah was relieved that when Navos entered her mind this time he maintained a narrow focus.He demonstrated briefly how he would search her thoughts and intentions, noting any large emotional vagaries, as well as any anomalies in the physical structure which bound thoughts and emotions.Then he drew back, leaving her shaken, yet relieved that she’d managed to keep her thoughts focused on what he was teaching.“Now you will do the same with one of the passengers,” he said, so coldly Nelah knew with sickening certainty he felt no emotion at all.She took a breath, fighting to maintain calm.She could learn to be as cool as he—and she would.She managed the first scan with creditable aplomb.Navos said nothing, simply observed as she worked.As she began the second, he nodded shortly and left, closing the door behind him.Hours passed.Nelah was not sure how many.She left the room only to take care of bodily needs.Use the toilet across the passageway, get a drink of water, a snack and then return to her task.Her world narrowed down to the beings passing before her on the holo-vid display.Look at the holo-vid, note the pertinent statistics.Study them in ever-closer layers of detail, first their outer appearance, then take a deep breath and open her mind to search out and find the being somewhere on the Orion.It was painstaking, fascinating and utterly exhausting.She discovered some beings, particularly Aquarians, were more sensitive than others to being intuited.She nearly giggled nervously the first time an Aquarian male startled when she probed into his mind.Delicately, she skated around along the necessary paths of exploration and then slipped out of his consciousness.She thought she sensed a trace of amusement and found herself blushing.Heavens.Nearly all, however, had no idea she was there.She was by turns fascinated, appalled, disgusted and horrified by the urges that filled the minds of the Orion’s travelers.This was an education of a different sort for a well-brought-up Indigon young lady.Perhaps she should be taking notes for a scholarly paper, she thought wildly at one point.Random behavior patterns within planetary races.Some were awful.She really didn’t want to know what Mauritanian males wanted from potential sexual mates—ugh! Or the avarice that drove some businessmen.Or the twisted sexual relationship between at least one couple aboard the ship.She had to get up and walk the passageways for a time after that one, wondering if she should speak to someone in authority.Finally she decided what went on in their stateroom was their business, as long as they were both consensual adults.But she wouldn’t give up.She wouldn’t quit.She would show Commander Daron Navos she could do anything his male interns could do.Perhaps she would be the one to find another implant.If Navos and the captain were concerned for the Orion, she meant to help them.And she had to go faster, or she wouldn’t finish in time.Hours later, however, she discovered with each successive intuitive search, she felt weaker.Physically, her head ached, her stomach was tight.This she accepted as the tension of learning and accomplishing a new and important task.She’d felt such symptoms during examination week at the university.Psychically, however, it was much worse.She felt somehow raw and sore, as if delicate tissues were being repeatedly scraped with a fine grit.Intuiting the mind of a spiteful Pangaean woman harboring cruelty for her beleaguered daughter-in-law, Nelah winced.She must rest.After she meddled just a tiny bit.She ignored the niggle of guilt.Navos hadn’t actually said she was not to influence any of the passengers.Although she knew he would have, had he considered it necessary.Very carefully, as she was not sure how much power was necessary, Nelah flowed further into the Pangaean’s mind.She found the center of emotions.And then she sent a flow of positive energy.She blinked in delighted astonishment.She could actually feel the older woman changing stances, emoting kindness toward the younger woman next to her.Pushing a little harder, a tiny, catlike smile curling up her lips, Nelah urged the woman to offer her daughter-in-law a spa treatment.Heady with triumph, Nelah urged the idea of a financial gift as well.As she intuited a response of astonishment, Nelah winced.Perhaps that had been a bit much—but she had a sense of wealth and ease, so it couldn’t hurt [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]