Power Play Part 11

Charas watched and then, smiling ever so slightly, turned to an Hon who was blandly antic.i.p.ating her reactions.

"Oddly enough I don't believe he was as thoroughly ga.s.sed as he appeared."

She knew exactly how one felt coming out of that sort of encounter. The tape showed the rescue team advancing on the body and going through the whole routine of administering oxygen to counteract the effects. The too-handsome man went through the gagging, the disjointed motions, and the lingual distortions the gas caused. The medteam administered a hypospray to reduce the nausea. But something about the performance suggested to Charas that it was a performance.

"And the lungs?"

"They showed only a minute residue of gas-not a full measure. Certainly not one that would have rendered him unconscious so long. He also had the ransom note!"

"Well, what about that?" she asked.

"Yes, what about it?"

"I think we watch this-what's his name again? Never mind. He'll be Mac in my books." his name again? Never mind. He'll be Mac in my books."

"Indeed we will. Here's the note!" And the commander pa.s.sed over the slip as gingerly as if he expected it to explode in his face.

On the pirate ship

When the voice contact with Sean had been summarily curtailed by Megenda, Yana was close to lashing out with her fists at the big first mate and the monstrous hologram of Captain Louchard. Either would have been a foolish waste of time, and as it was, another paroxysm of coughing racked her.

"Haul the female to Dr. Mendeley. She can't be dying on us, or we lose our bargaining position with the planet," Louchard growled.

Doubled up as she was, Yana was bundled out of the cabin, and after a very short distance down the corridor-which confirmed her notion that they'd been deliberately routed along every deck of the vessel in order to confuse them-she was pushed into a considerably larger accommodation. It had bunks along three sides, a narrow table with benches under it in the center, and two narrow doors that she would later discover led to the sanitary facilities: the shower behind one door, and the "head" behind the other. She half staggered, half crawled to the nearest bunk and lay down upon it, coughing, gasping, hacking, and wondering if she'd have anything left of her normal throat lining.

She was only marginally aware of the panel whooshing open and shut again. Then a cool hand soothed her forehead, and someone urged her to sit up long enough to "Drink this." A mug was pressed to her lips.

The beverage was cold, tart, and soothing, and she managed to still the cough reflex long enough to take a good swallow.

"Cookie let me rummage in her stores for the ingredients," said the rich voice of the astronomer, Namid Mendeley. "It's what I think was in my grandmother's recipe, plus a little codeine, which does depress the cough reflex."

Yana hesitated. "C-codeine?" she gasped. "What-about-the-b-baby?"

Mendeley raised his eyebrows and gave a slight uneasy shrug. "I wouldn't think there'd be much risk to the fetus at this stage, but I'm no obstetrician. However, I think it's a safe bet, if the cough continues to be this violent, that you could miscarry."

She nodded, pausing only a moment to bark again. She was panting from the effort of trying to suppress the cough long enough to keep from choking on the drink. She took the mug from him and sipped slowly; the liquid seemed to be coating her throat, and it didn't taste bad, either.

"It might sting going down," Namid said anxiously, "because pepper is one of the ingredients."

"Oh." Yana kept sipping. She didn't care if it contained pepper or eye of newt and toe of frog, so long as it stopped her coughing. She got into a more comfortable position, propped against one end of the bunk, crouching just a bit to avoid banging her head on the bottom of the upper bunk. "I think it's helping. Thank you. You're very considerate and kind."

"I'm neither of those, but I told Dinah I wouldn't cooperate any further if she didn't let me help you." Namid perched tentatively on the edge of the table and looked around, sighing deeply.

"What's the matter?" Yana asked.

He grimaced, shrugged, and held out one hand in a helpless gesture. "Nothing new," he said in a resigned tone. "In fact," he added, as he continued to look around, "this is slightly better than my previous quarters."

"Oh?" Yana said encouragingly. He didn't look at all the sort of person to a.s.sociate with privateers, even one as patently sensual and domineering as Dinah O'Neill.

"I was married to Dinah O'Neill." Another sigh, one expressing the folly of such a union. "She doesn't take the divorce seriously."

"In short, you're now permanently on board this ship?"

As he folded his arms across his chest, he had a slight twinkle in his eye and a rueful smile on his face. "We met under considerably different circ.u.mstances. It was a whirlwind romance. I'd never met anyone quite like her before. I'd just returned from a two-year stint studying two new variables and..." He shrugged.

"Any female would have seemed delightful?" Yana couldn't help twitting him, and then went back to sipping his brew.

"Exactly. And, to give the devil her due, she was everything I'd ever dreamed of. We had a glorious six months, although her business took her away periodically."

"Then you discovered what her business was?"

"Quite by chance. Of course, I filed for divorce immediately, as my professional reputation would have been seriously flawed if it became known I'd had any a.s.sociations with such a..."

"Unsavory occupation?"

"Exactly. I received official notice of the termination-and so did she. Only, I failed to recognize how she might take such a step. And the next thing I knew, I was aboard this ship and here I've remained. I must say, since you seem to be incarcerated, too, that it's marvelous to have intelligent company again."

They both heard the noises in the corridor outside, and then the panel whooshed open. First Bunny was propelled inside; Marmion followed in a more dignified entry, while Diego's limp body was launched from the doorway onto the bunk opposite Yana, his head connecting hard with the wall. The panel closed with a snap and Bunny, crying out in protest, went to Diego.

"Yana? Are you all right?" Marmion asked, going around the table so she would not have to touch Mendeley.

"I'm much better for Namid's brew," Yana said, trying to convey to Marmion that the astronomer deserved her pity, not her censure. "But what have those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds done to poor Diego?"

"One of the men bringing us here goosed Bunny," Marmion said angrily. "She hit him, too, but that first mate just clobbered Diego as a lesson." She was so furious she was shaking and, with a look that could have pierced steel, she glared at Namid. "Are we to be spied upon every moment we're together, in addition to the other indignities?"

"Come off it, Marmie," Yana said. "He's as much a prisoner as we are."

"Are you being ransomed, too?" Marmion asked, her manner toward the tall astronomer instantly more amenable.

"There's no one to pay one for me," he said, and his statement was not a bid for pity. "I forgot to block Dinah's access to my credit account."

"How's Diego?" Yana asked Bunny, who had pushed the boy's body into a more comfortable position.

"He'll come round. Any water?" she asked, looking about her.

Yana pointed to the narrow doors. "Behind one of them?"

Bunny investigated, found a towel, wet it from the spigot above a miniature hand basin, and returned to mop Diego's brow.

"You know," Mendeley began, "I've never figured out why Dinah bothered to go through a formal marriage ceremony. I mean, she could have contracted a short-term arrangement. Or none at all. But she went to such lengths to get me to many her."

"Really?" Marmion said in some surprise. "She doesn't seem the marrying type."

"That's what I thought, but we got married. Not that I minded..."

"You're an astronomer?" Marmion asked, eyeing him more kindly than she had before. When he nodded, she went on. "Did she ever get you to talk about your specialty?"

A flush spread across Namid's sallow face and his expression became decidedly chagrined. "Constantly. I was, as you can well imagine, quite flattered. Why?"

"What area of astronomy?"

"What do you mean?"

"Types of star systems, planets..."

"Planets, yes, she was fascinated about the formation of planets."

Marmion, Yana, and Bunny exchanged glances.

"And she seemed really interested," he added, confused.

"Perhaps sentient sentient planets?" Marmion asked. planets?" Marmion asked.

He laughed then. "Really, Madame Algemeine, sentience in a ball of matter thrown out by a cooling primary? Come now, I know you're an intelligent woman."

"And intelligent enough to recognize sentience when I see, feel, and hear it."

Namid leaned toward her, his incisive green eyes capturing her gaze as he transferred his arms from his chest to a tight hold on the table edge. Yana could almost see his thought processes trying to catch up with the sincerity of Marmion's tone.

"You're in earnest, aren't you?"

"Deadly earnest," Marmion said in an edged voice.

"And you were abducted because of a..." He paused, still dubious. "A sentient planet?"

"Surely Dinah has made mention of Petaybee in your presence?"

"The name has come up frequently of late," he began, frowning. Then he made a little warning gesture of his fingers and looked meaningfully at the corners of the room, apprising them that the room was probably bugged, which Yana had already guessed. "But I did not realize it was the name of a planet."

"It is," Yana said. "Planet Terraform B, or Powers That Be, or Pee-tay-bee."

"I see." He paused another beat, shook his head. "No, I don't see." He placed his fingers on his forehead, as if the contact would stimulate understanding.

"Frankly, nor do I," Yana said, beginning to feel as if her throat might withstand the effort of conversation. She hadn't had so much as a tickle all during the last few minutes. "The ransom for me seems to be Petaybee."

Marmion and Bunny gasped; Namid looked confused.

"I think your... erstwhile colleagues, Marmion, have made a bad tactical error in suggesting" suggesting"-Yana paused significantly as she stressed the word-"that Petaybee has untold riches which it has refused to divulge to Intergal. In fact, Namid, an Earth-type planet of its girth and density has only minimal mineral resources which would prove-"

"Have proved," Bunny said in a flat, angry voice.

"-impossible to produce due to the intemperate weather conditions on the planet's surface. It does have-and on this basis, we may yet be able to come to some arrangement with one, and one only, drug company-renewable valuable plants. But such an enterprise would not be a s.n.a.t.c.h-and-strip process: rather one that will accrue profit slowly and only when the planet has paid back to Intergal the expenses the company has already incurred in the terraforming and maintenance. What Petaybee has is intangible wealth, not readily salable valuables." valuable plants. But such an enterprise would not be a s.n.a.t.c.h-and-strip process: rather one that will accrue profit slowly and only when the planet has paid back to Intergal the expenses the company has already incurred in the terraforming and maintenance. What Petaybee has is intangible wealth, not readily salable valuables."

"And the planet is... somehow... controlling its future?" Namid asked, still struggling to believe the initial concept.

"The planet controls its surface rather well," Marmion said with a wide grin. "It counteracts the use of explosives by making volcanoes just where miners wish to dig. It rescinds the use of a flat surface for s.p.a.cecraft by extruding a ziggurat that covers the exact center of the landing field and unsettles all the peripheral buildings. It either melts prematurely or conjures up diabolical weather patterns to preserve what resources it has. A formidable opponent, and a desirable friend."

"I've lived there all my life," Bunny added, "and life is good on Petaybee."

"But not to everyone's taste," Yana added drolly. "Still, the air's pure and unpolluted, and the soil is rich enough to produce food crops in their season-and marvelous herbs and plants which are made into the most efficacious potions and syrups. And while it's a hard life, it's a good one, if you accept the planet on its terms and it's willing to accept you on the same grounds."

"The only planet in the galaxy to require an entrance exam from inhabitants," Marmion said, giggling as much at the expression of total disbelief on Namid's long face as her choice of expression.

Diego began to groan and twist on the narrow bunk, and Bunny instantly was all attention.

13.

Kilcoole

Sean found that he literally couldn't stand to live in his own skin, he was so distraught about the kidnapping. "Una, I have to get out," he said. "If there's any news, any change at all, send Marduk for me. He'll be able to find me. I'm going to the river."

"Send Mar-Sean! What if there's another ransom..." Her voice trailed behind him.

He knew she was right. He should stick around the office in case there were new developments; in case Yana or Marmion's people made contact again. But the last week or two had been just the sort of thing that wore him down until this final shock made his head reel. He was used to working outdoors, working with animals, swimming the long watery corridors of the planet and drawing strength and calm from the water. All these papers and offworld people... trying to figure out what was fair, what was right, where they fit in, where to be liberal and responsive to their needs and where to draw the line. He had every confidence in himself that he was a good man. He just wasn't that particular kind kind of a good man. And now, with the possibility that Yana might not return, that what he did or said, or what he could or could not do, would mean life or death to her, to Bunny and Diego, to Marmion, who had been so kind, to the future he and Yana had looked forward to-he had to get away, had to think, had to let the water flow over him. He felt as if his alter-form was a whale or a dolphin rather than a seal; that, like them, he would itch himself right out of his skin if he didn't get it wet and of a good man. And now, with the possibility that Yana might not return, that what he did or said, or what he could or could not do, would mean life or death to her, to Bunny and Diego, to Marmion, who had been so kind, to the future he and Yana had looked forward to-he had to get away, had to think, had to let the water flow over him. He felt as if his alter-form was a whale or a dolphin rather than a seal; that, like them, he would itch himself right out of his skin if he didn't get it wet and changed changed soon. soon.

He barely managed to reach the cover of the woods before shucking off his clothing and diving into the river waters. The rippling, bubbling, soothing, slithery soaking poured over his head as he changed utterly, man into seal, twenty feet down in the deeps of the river.

Usually he made his changes at the hot spring or farther from home, because his transformation had been a secret from all but his closest friends and family in the past. But a few times he had needed to swim this river and had done so. Eventually, like all rivers, it dumped into the sea. And like most Petaybean rivers, it received transfusions from various hot springs along its route, making it warm. He swam furiously out toward the sea, and then furiously back again, because he didn't want to be too far in case Yana needed him. But the mere sight of land made him feel wild with grief and anxiety and he dove, deeper and deeper.

The reasonable man in him told his seal self to be careful, not to go too far, not to become injured or trapped, because then he wouldn't be able to help Yana if needed, but his seal self swam recklessly and restlessly-and began noticing things about the riverbanks and riverbed it hadn't noticed before.

Petaybee's recent seismic activity had changed the channel of the river slightly and had changed the feeder springs: several underwater grottos now opened under the banks, and as Sean dove, he saw that they tunneled deeply under the riverbanks. He swam into one of them, taking its twists and turns until he found he was no longer swimming, but pulling himself out of a wellspring and up onto the floor of another of Petaybee's subterranean corridors. Once on land again, he resumed his man shape, the river water streaming from his skin.

The swim had not helped as much as he hoped. Now to his other anxieties was added the fact that he longed to stay here, safe from intrusion, safe from having to decide everything for everyone, and yet, he had to leave soon in case he was needed. Even Marduk couldn't find him here.

But he needed to be here, within the planet, at one with it. It had always been his greatest inspiration and his greatest comfort-when his parents died, when his sister Aoifa was lost, and when, at first, he wondered if Yana would accept him.

"What am I going to do?" he asked the cave walls. "I suppose people have always had to ask that at some point or the other. Do I betray my home by letting others take it from me? Or do I betray my family by endangering them? I can't find it in me to do either, even if I knew how. What are we going to do?" He tasted salt in the water running from his hair and knew that it wasn't river water, even as it flowed back into the stream. "I need help."