The medic nodded again. “Dvanna Kelvessa. He is not like you or me.”
“And just how is he supposed to be different?”
Dyenlerra shrugged. “I am not yet certain of every smallest detail, but we do know the important points. His psychic abilities are the most obvious difference. Others are more apparent, once you recognize them as racial differences. Dvannan Kelvessan are slightly taller and a good deal stronger than the old model. The indication is that they are smarter in certain ways. And they live longer. Our life expectancy has increased from three hundred to three hundred and fifty years. I am sure that Velmeran, barring accident, will live to see three or four thousand — the Aldessan live thirty-five hundred. But his regenerative powers are such that he may be functionally immortal.”
“My Velmeran?” Consherra and Mayelna asked at the same time, and glanced at each other.
“Yes, our Velmeran,” the medic continued. “Also, early Kelvessan did not look that different from modern humans. Now we are very hard to mistake for human. The High Kelvessan, although very good-looking by our standards, are diverging even more. The elfin qualities are taking on a curious feral appearance. His eyes are larger, and his skull is elongated. Humans have their brains mostly above their eyes, and high foreheads. Our brains are retreating somewhat behind our faces, the way the Aldessan or Feldenneh are. Our brain shapes are changing: our areas are becoming more compact and efficient. I wish that I had kept Dveyella for autopsy.”
“She was Dvanna Kelvessa?” Valthyrra asked.
“Certainly. Dvanna Kelvessa have been around for nearly a hundred years now. Velmeran is just so unique that his differences cannot be overlooked. I have already positively identified five others on this ship. That oldest duty child of his certainly is. Baress is Dvanna Kelvessa, as his sister was. As well as the twins Tregloran and Ferryn. However, their mother Baressa is not.”
“Who is the fifth?” Consherra asked.
“You are, of course,” Dyenlerra said, confirming her suspicions. “The rule, with no exceptions that I have yet seen, is that High Kelvessan are natural telepaths. There are also readings on the medical scanners that cannot be denied. And, as I indicated, you can tell by sight once you know what to look for.”
“Then, if our race is beginning a transition period, how long will it take for the Dvannan Kelvessan to replace the old ones?” Mayelna asked.
“The process should proceed fairly quickly now,” Dyenlerra explained. “You see, they have the genetic advantage. A mating of the old and new always produces a child of the new variety, never one of the old or even a half-breed.”
She paused, for everyone was watching Consherra closely, for the first officer was preoccupied with feeling the shape of her skull. She found it rather unsettling to be told that she was something other than she had always believed herself to be. It made her feel very alien and alone, and she could well imagine how Velmeran was going to react to this; he felt alien and alone as it was.
“Shall I send for a mirror?” the medic asked. “Dear girl, you are not going to turn into a Faldennye.”
“Besides, what do you have to complain about?” Mayelna asked. “I feel like an obsolete model, out-of-date technology.”
“Returning to the matter of Velmeran,” Dyenlerra reminded them. “He needs our help more than ever just now. To begin with, our other telepaths need to develop their own talents. Velmeran needs Kelvessan he can relate to on his own level. Velmeran did tell me that you are the most promising psychic on this ship.”
“Yes, although a child compared to him,” Consherra admitted. “Tregloran is a better pure telepath, but he has less luck with related talents.”
“He also needs to be trained by someone who knows what they are doing, which means the Aldessan of Valtrys,” Dyenlerra continued. “If Valthyrra would be good enough to call Home Base and have them pass the word, I have no doubt that they would send someone out in a hurry to take over his training. And a few months in airdock would be the perfect time for that.”
“Unfortunately, it will have to wait a while longer,” Consherra said dourly. “There has been another prediction.”
Valthyrra’s camera pod snapped around to face her. “Now what?”
“He said that he is going to have to fight Donalt Trace again. He said that the Methryn is going to fight something that we have never seen, and Valthyrra is not going to win. He said that he will have to fight hard to save her.”
“And why does it have to be his problem?” Dyenlerra demanded.
“He said that if he does not fight it now, then it will destroy other carriers until he does,” Consherra answered. “I do not like it either. But if his foreseeing is true — and I certainly hope that no one cares to dispute it — then we have no choice.”
“I have no problem with that,” the ship replied. “I simply applied a little old-fashioned logic to the problem.”
“How is that?” Mayelna asked suspiciously.
“Well, the problem arose from the basic assumption that it is impossible to predict the future,” she explained proudly. “But I have observed that Velmeran can indeed predict the future. Therefore, Velmeran can do the impossible.”
The others stared at her in astonishment.
“There are certain inherent fallacies in your logic,” Mayelna said. “But if it makes you happy, then I am not about to argue. Consherra, when is this supposed to happen?”
“Sometime in the next two weeks. Velmeran indicated that we will be called first. Trace will catch another carrier first and thrash it soundly.”
“Wonderful,” Mayelna said sourly. “That implies that it will not even be in this sector. At least he can have as much vacation as time allows. Valthyrra Methryn, where is the nearest likely port?”
“Kanis?” she asked after a moment’s consideration. “I can be there in three days.”
“Good enough.”
For once in her career as the Commander of the Methryn, Mayelna did not try to look busy when someone entered her private office. She had always thought that she should look busy, as if to impress upon others that she really did serve a vital function on this ship. But not for Velmeran, certainly not this time.
“I am not disturbing you?” Velmeran asked apprehensively, glancing about the room as she let him in.
“No, of course not,” she insisted, directing him toward a chair before her desk. “I asked you here.”
Velmeran nodded absently as he seated himself. “I guess you heard that there is trouble.”
“Yes, Consherra told us everything you told her,” Mayelna said as she took her seat behind the desk.
“And you believe me?” he asked fearfully.
“Yes, we believe you,” she assured him. “All of us. Do you know where and when this will happen?”
“No, not with any certainty. It will be soon, and in another sector. We must go to him when he makes the first move.”
“The first move?” Mayelna asked. “Will we lose a ship to him just to learn what he is planning?”
“No, I am sure of that. He will fight Starwolves and win. But they will flee. And they will call for me. Until then, I can only wait.”
“And until he reveals his schemes, would you prefer to do your waiting on extended port leave?”
“Kanis?” he asked immediately.
“How did…?” Mayelna paused, and shook her head. “I should not have to ask. We will be there in three days. You can go down immediately, and then forget that you are a Starwolf until you are called away.”
Velmeran leaned back in his chair, his arms folded on his chest. “There are times when I wish that I could forget. But it is a very difficult thing to ignore.”
“No, not really,” Mayelna said. “Have you never pretended to be human on port leave?”
“Human?” he asked in disbelief. “How could I possibly pass myself off as human?”
“Look at this.” Mayelna pulled a photograph from a drawer of her desk and handed it to him. Velmeran recognized it as his mother only because he had been forewarned; in those days of mutant stock, it might have been a human girl of some divergent race. Her lower set of arms were obviously folded behind her back and hidden within the folds of a heavy cape, drawn around her upper shoulders. The dark color and heavy material of her clothes helped to hide any revealing shadows, while a hat disguised the fact that her ears were large, pointed, and
