Power Play Part 12

"Help!" the echo screamed back at him. "Help!" "Help!"

It sounded like another person entirely, not an echo of himself-the echo at the wedding had used the same tonality. In spite of his pain, he sat up straighter and looked and listened. Then he said aloud, "That's right. We need help. Yana's Yana's been taken by more people who want to tear you to pieces. been taken by more people who want to tear you to pieces. Yana Yana needs help." needs help."

"Help Yana! Help Yana! HELP YANA! YANA! YANA!!" Help Yana! HELP YANA! YANA! YANA!!"

Her name echoed around the cave until Sean was about to jump into the water to escape it. Then suddenly the echo changed again.

"Help! Help us!" And suddenly the slight phosph.o.r.escence that was always in these caverns organized itself into a straight line and grew and grew. Help us!" And suddenly the slight phosph.o.r.escence that was always in these caverns organized itself into a straight line and grew and grew.

For a moment, Sean just stared. The purposeful echo, the purposeful line of the phosph.o.r.escence-neither of these had ever been manifested by Petaybee before. But after all, Petaybee was a young planet, still discovering its own abilities, and it had recently been exposed to new stimuli. Its responses were becoming more and more interesting.

He followed the phosph.o.r.escent track, trying to keep up with it, until he was back in the river and found himself in the midst of a vast school of fish-every kind of fish-all swimming with purpose and determination in a single direction.

Aboard the pirate ship

Yana was awakened out of a deep sleep by the sensation of warmth and vibration at the base of her throat. It seemed to emanate from the little bag of dirt around her neck as if it held some tiny animal instead of merely dirt. She clutched it, comforted, and as she did so a picture sprang into her mind of Sean, calling for her, so that her own name rang in her mind, as clearly as if someone in the same room were speaking to her. The voice sounded so anguished she wished she could offer some comfort, but before she could form any sort of reply, she felt the tickle that prefaced a coughing fit.

She clutched harder at her talisman, as Petaybee and Sean continued calling her, a voice in her mind crying her name. The cats talked to other cats and Clodagh, the dogs to their humans, and everyone talked to the planet. Why shouldn't the mighty voice of a planet be able to call across the cosmos if it set its mind to it? Interesting thought, one that tumbled around and around as the image of Sean and the tickle evaporated, and the voice faded.

She lay awake for a long time, fondling the bag, wondering if she had just dreamed the warmth and the powerful mind-echo. Because it was tremendously rea.s.suring to think, even for a moment, that Petaybee was somehow on her psychic wavelength, she wanted it to be true. In the past when she had dreamed someone was calling her name, they often had been, and it was the captain or the drill sergeant or the corps commander. This time she was alone in the bowels of wherever they were, and the only sounds were the sleeping restlessness of her fellow prisoners.

Then they were all abruptly aroused as the door of their prison burst open to be filled at once with a brawny crewman, the ever-ominous Megenda, and Dinah O'Neill, who seemed to be using all of the strength in her pet.i.te frame to restrain Megenda. Megenda clanged something hard against the metal of the doorframe: a laser pistol. "Get off your b.u.t.ts, you lazy lot of worthless harlots."

Part of Yana thought, Uh-huh, I was right. He does fancy himself as an old-style pirate. Who used the word "harlot" anymore, really?

But he looked very fierce indeed, and Dinah O'Neill appeared to be all that stood between them and his wrath. When the other sleepers woke, looking about them in dismay and disorientation, he planted fists on the ammo belt slung around his hips and glared at them.

"Megenda, stop! Not yet! We have to give them a chance!" Dinah O'Neill cried, tugging at him.

"Quiet, woman. I say we start sending them home in pieces now."

Yana c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at Dinah, as if Megenda needed an interpreter. "What's he on about?"

"Please, please don't antagonize him any more. The captain reprimanded him, and Megenda's extremely sensitive. And it was so unfair. Calm down, down, Megenda! Everyone knows it isn't your fault. It isn't anybody's fault but those callous and uncaring people in your company, Madame Algemeine, and on your planet, Colonel Maddock. I admit, I'm as surprised as anyone. I thought with all of Madame Algemeine's credits and you newly wedded to your planet's coadministrator, Colonel, that surely everyone would have been tripping over themselves to pay the ransom. I even sent a little follow-up note, just as a reminder. But so far, we haven't even had the courtesy of a reply, much less a payment. The captain is so annoyed that there's no living on the same ship with him. Megenda! Everyone knows it isn't your fault. It isn't anybody's fault but those callous and uncaring people in your company, Madame Algemeine, and on your planet, Colonel Maddock. I admit, I'm as surprised as anyone. I thought with all of Madame Algemeine's credits and you newly wedded to your planet's coadministrator, Colonel, that surely everyone would have been tripping over themselves to pay the ransom. I even sent a little follow-up note, just as a reminder. But so far, we haven't even had the courtesy of a reply, much less a payment. The captain is so annoyed that there's no living on the same ship with him. Down, Down, Megenda!" Megenda!"

"I didn't know," Yana heard herself remarking, "that his species was capable of annoyance."

Megenda swung on her, his eyes glinting malevolently, and Dinah O'Neill gave a small squeak as she was dragged forward on his ma.s.sive arm.

"Colonel Maddock, please. This is no laughing matter," Dinah cried.

"I know it isn't," Yana said quite soberly. "But when the good captain asked me to request the planet for my ransom, he couldn't know that I have absolutely no control over the planet..."

"Now, now, you're being much too modest. We've been told that if you really want to, if you're really motivated, you and your new groom have the power to a.s.sign its mineral and ore deposits-"

"I can't a.s.sign anything for an ent.i.ty I don't own, possess, dominate, order," Yana snapped back. "n.o.body even knows what there is to a.s.sign."

Megenda made a move toward her.

"Megenda, just let me talk to these people, please," Dinah O'Neill said. "They're reasonable, and they don't want to be hurt. I know it's been months since you've seen real action, but please be patient."

Megenda glowered and loomed.

Dinah O'Neill continued. "I hope you aren't making the mistake of underestimating our organization, Colonel. We have had agents on your planet before, and we know very well that there are deposits of valuable ores available. We also have a good idea how you could obtain them. Nothing makes Megenda more cross than having someone lie to him."

Yana shook her head carefully, keeping the cough at bay. Now was not a good time to be rendered inarticulate. "If you mean Satok and those other sham shamans, they never were able to mine enough ore to make it lucrative enough to buy their way off the planet, much less provide booty of the magnitude that would really interest Louchard. Of course, I don't think they had the time, or the opportunity"-Yana was very very sure of that, since the demise of the fake shamans had been precipitously effected by the coo-berries-"since the planet evolved some unusual natural defenses to their mining methods. Sounds to me like your captain is just trying to recoup a bad investment since he's lost their services as illegal miners. Even the company had to see that it s no use trying to mine Petaybee for something it s not willing to give up." sure of that, since the demise of the fake shamans had been precipitously effected by the coo-berries-"since the planet evolved some unusual natural defenses to their mining methods. Sounds to me like your captain is just trying to recoup a bad investment since he's lost their services as illegal miners. Even the company had to see that it s no use trying to mine Petaybee for something it s not willing to give up."

"Let go of me, woman," Megenda said trying to shake off Dinah's tiny beringed hand. "She's useless Might as well make her walk the plank"

"We don't have have planks anymore, Megenda." planks anymore, Megenda."

"Yah, but s.p.a.ce is a lot bigger than any puny puddle. We could put her in a suit so she'd have hours to float around and think about what she could have done to make the cap'n happy."

Yana's arguments had obviously gone over Megenda's head, but his att.i.tude only reinforced her feeling that he wasn't the only one who didn't understand the nature of the ent.i.ty he was dealing with. If even the company, which had developed Petaybee, had been unable to grasp the situation without a great deal of persuasion, Louchard was no doubt as confused as everyone else on what could or could not be extorted from a whole sentient planet.

"Belay that, Megenda," Dinah said with a little slap that didn't seem to affect the large muscle of Megenda's forearm at all. "You and the colonel are both being irrational."

"Irrational?" Yana began hotly. "Lady, I'm not sure if I'm going to live through this. I'm not sure if any of us are. I'm sick. And I hesitate to mention this in the presence of your 'sensitive' first mate for fear of giving him s.a.d.i.s.tic ideas, but I'm also pregnant. Everyone on Petaybee was worried about letting me go on this mission to begin with because my kid, like these kids, is bonded with the planet. It needs, through me, the same things we're all lacking here: fresh air, real food, not the plascene cubes you have here. I'd've thought a pirate of Louchard's caliber and resourcefulness would have a replicator that can produce proper food instead of all that pulverized dust!" Yana was well and truly fed up. There was no way she could do do anything, and the sooner Louchard realized that, the better. Maybe not the better for her, but any resolution was more acceptable than this confinement. "I want proper meals, I want exercise facilities, I want-" anything, and the sooner Louchard realized that, the better. Maybe not the better for her, but any resolution was more acceptable than this confinement. "I want proper meals, I want exercise facilities, I want-"

"Will you listen to the lady officer and her list of demands," sneered Megenda, his expression vicious as he took another step into the room and drew one hand back, ready to pound it into Yana's midsection.

Yana did not so much as bat an eye as she shifted to the side to take the blow with her braced forearms, at the same time balancing herself-somewhat wobbily-to deliver a karate kick. She was not about to let him kill her baby without a fight.

Neither was Marmion, who stepped determinedly between Yana and Megenda's fist. Yana relaxed, but remained watchful.

"Touch any of them and you won't even get what I had already decided to give you," Marmie said in a silky voice that carried both promise and threat Dinah swatted at Megenda's fist and he lowered it as she said, with just a touch more irritation and calculation in her own voice, "But Madame Algemeine, your people haven't responded to the ransom demands either."

Marmion shrugged. "Nor will they," she said with a smile that was just the right side of smugness. "You can't imagine that I would leave my organization vulnerable to this sort of thing, can you?" A wave of her elegant hand dismissed the ship, the pirates, and her situation. "My people have orders to ignore extortions-"

"Even when we start returning you to them a piece at a time?" Megenda asked with a leer.

Dinah O'Neill's voice was casual and professional as she replied. "Naturally, I have counseled Captain Louchard that you should be returned undamaged, but he's getting a little put out by the delays."

"Gee, that's tough," Bunny said.

This time, before Dinah could move, Megenda lashed out and knocked Bunny flat with a backhanded blow that spun her back against the bunk frame. Roaring, Diego lunged at Megenda, but Namid and Marmion caught him: the brawny crewman already had his laser pistol aimed right at the boy's forehead.

"My, the natives are restless," Dinah said with a sigh. "I'm sorry but I can't restrain them..."

"That's nonsense, Dinah, and you know it," Namid said, as if the words had been forced out of him. "What's the matter with you? Have you finally gotten so greedy you've lost your own survival instinct? You know d.a.m.n good and well those men don't go to the head without your approval, so stop this stupid game and tell them to quit beating innocent children or I'll- I'll-"

"You'll what, Namid?" she asked coldly. "Leave me? A hollow threat, darling."

"This isn't about us-it's about what you you call business," Namid said, still struggling to hold Diego back. "You used to pride yourself that you'd listen to reasonable arguments." call business," Namid said, still struggling to hold Diego back. "You used to pride yourself that you'd listen to reasonable arguments."

"And?" Dinah's expression dared him to present one.

"I could have told you that people in Marmion's level of society have strictly adhered to an enforced no-ransom policy. Or don't you remember the case of the Amber Unicorn? Of those who were held for ransom, two died under torture begging their organizations to break through the restrictions put on them, to cut the red tape to save them, but the organizations were absolutely prohibited by law, which tied up all the a.s.sets in legalities so that they couldn't couldn't be liquidated. The families pleaded and offered all sorts of personal a.s.surances, but in the end, the two captives died and no ransom was ever paid. The others suicided, apparently also by prearrangement. I suspect Marmion is prepared to take similar-measures-to insure that her capture or death will profit no one." When Namid looked in her direction, Marmion nodded, a faint proud smile on her lips. be liquidated. The families pleaded and offered all sorts of personal a.s.surances, but in the end, the two captives died and no ransom was ever paid. The others suicided, apparently also by prearrangement. I suspect Marmion is prepared to take similar-measures-to insure that her capture or death will profit no one." When Namid looked in her direction, Marmion nodded, a faint proud smile on her lips.

"There's no way at all that any funds will be released before I am," Marmion agreed. "However, I am prepared to offer-let us call it 'pa.s.sage money' for a safe return, and I'm quite willing to make the 'fare' a substantial amount..." She gracefully gestured to include everyone in the cabin, including Namid. "But there is no way that my people will liquidate holdings on my signature"-and she drawled the next few phrases in the most resolute of soft voices Yana had ever heard this formidable woman use-"even if I had to hold the stylus with my teeth to sign."

"d.a.m.n that Fiske!" Dinah said in the first unrehea.r.s.ed and spontaneous utterance Yana had heard from her so far. "He said this was a sure thing." Somehow Yana was not totally surprised to learn that Torkel was involved in this fiasco.

"And I thought you were cynical enough to realize there's no such commodity as a sure thing." Namid regarded her sardonically. "You didn't do enough homework on this batch of victims, Dinah. Maybe it's time you gave it up if you're getting careless."

"Well, I certainly wish you'd told me all this sooner before I wasted so much time. That's it, isn't it?" she asked with a wounded expression, scanning the faces of her captives and her ex-husband. "You were stalling for time! Oh, really! Just because you're in legitimate business instead of a marginalized one like us, you think our time is not as valuable as yours. I knew I should have stuck with cargo and not branched out into pa.s.sengers but-but there is is gold on that wretched ice world," she insisted, her fists clenching at her sides. "There gold on that wretched ice world," she insisted, her fists clenching at her sides. "There are are gemstones, there gemstones, there is is germaniun, gengesite..." germaniun, gengesite..."

"In small quant.i.ties," Yana said. "Just what sort of deposits were you shown?" she added, wonderingly.

Dinah O'Neill said nothing, but kept eye contact with Yana.

"Have you ever been on the surface of Petaybee?" Yana asked.

A flicker in the privateer's eyes and a slight smile indicated that she had.

"In the winter, or what pa.s.ses for summer there?" Yana continued, keeping up the pressure.

"Both."

"And just what did you report to Captain Louchard that has made him so determined to strip that poor world?"

For just a second O'Neill's eyes flickered again, doubtfully this time.

"I'm sure you've heard this one before," Yana began, taking a deep breath, "but if you let us go, we will not press charges." She glanced at Marmion, who nodded. Dinah's expression was contemptuous, Megenda's the epitome of cynical amus.e.m.e.nt. "I really do think you've been misled. Something Satok was good at..."

"He was Petaybean and he knew knew..."

"He knew doodly doodly," Bunny said, still nursing her face with one hand while blood from the cut that Megenda's finger ring had made on her cheek trickled through her fingers. "He hadn't been on the planet since he signed on to the company, and he got discharged from that right smart. He wasn't even very useful when he was growing up. He just talked big."

Dinah smiled as she turned her eyes on Bunny, a sort of half-congratulatory smile at the girl's s.p.u.n.k.

"You tell that captain of yours that he won't get anywhere threatening Yana or Sean, or me or Diego here," Bunny went on in a level voice. "He wants to make a deal involving Petaybee, he comes to Petaybee and talks it over with the planet."

"Talks it over with the planet?" Namid's astonishment was complete and, openmouthed, he looked from Bunny to Dinah and back again to Bunny.

Dinah gave her a pitying look. "Talk to the planet?"

"Go see your relatives," Namid said, startling everyone, including Dinah. "Well, you always told me that some of your relations, way back, were exiled to Petaybee."

"That was the rumor I was raised with. Which, I might add, I checked out on the company computer," Dinah said, then shrugged. "I'm not at all sure I'd trust their records. Or anything about the planet."

"O'Neill? There are O'Neills at Tanana Bay," Bunny said, regarding Dinah with a keener interest.

So swiftly did Dinah O'Neill withdraw then that the heavy door panel had whooshed shut before they realized her intention. Megenda and the crewman followed smoothly, and the captives were left alone.

"Now you've done it," Diego said accusingly to Bunny. "We had her..."

"I think Bunny may well have done it," Marmion said quietly and respectfully.

"It'll take time for Dinah to absorb the fact of her error," Namid said thoughtfully. "But she's extremely intelligent and very flexible. She'd have to be to survive so long in this business. She's usually able to influence Louchard..."

"You think she'll try to talk him into letting us go?" Bunny asked wistfully, her face crumpling into tears. Diego cradled her in his arms, stroking her hair and murmuring little endearments in Spanish.

Marmion dampened the one towel they had in the room and handed it to him to place over the cut on Bunny's cheek just as Yana began once more to cough.

14.

Petaybee

Sean swam with the single-minded fish schools until they reached the lake, where the fish all at once made a silver river into another of the underwater caves. Sean followed. When the water grew too shallow, the fish turned back, and Sean found himself in another dry grotto. As he was changing form, he saw the phosph.o.r.escence once more organize into a straight line, this time pointing inland. Once his feet were under him again, he followed it. Though Sean had swum the waterways of Petaybee all his life, these caves and pa.s.sages were new to him, no doubt a result of the most recent seismic activity. The line of luminescence led him toward the cries for help that at first were only echoes like the one he had heard near Kilcoole, but soon became the faint cries of real voices.

When he turned a corner and saw the five hunters, he almost laughed at the expressions of terrified anger and frustration on their faces. One of them-de Peugh, he thought-had developed a distinct twitch, and his hair had a great deal more white in it than Sean remembered, as well as a tendency to stand straight up. Minkus was gibbering to himself, and Ersol kept looking around the cave and up at the opening they had fallen through as if it were about to eat him. The wooden bows, arrows, and lances that Sinead had subst.i.tuted for their high-tech rifles were piled together in a little heap, that someone had tried to set on fire for warmth, he supposed, all but the dagger Mooney clutched in his fist as he pointed to Sean and yelled.

"You're another d.a.m.ned hallucination! Go away! n.o.body walks around bare-a.s.sed in this weather."

"We have nothing for you, honestly," Minkus cried, cringing away. "We gave the rabbit de Peugh had in his pocket to the cat. It would have eaten us otherwise. Please, please don't harm us!"

Sean glanced apologetically down at his own now-human flesh. "Harm you? What with? I thought you lads wanted help."

"Oh, we do, we do!" Minkus cried. "We've been down here days, weeks, months. It's been the most horrible nightmare. The walls shift and melt and little lights come on and sometimes I see little volcanoes exploding and then when I look again there's nothing..."

Sean shook his head. "You can't have been down here more than a few hours. Where're my sister and the others?"

"They abandoned us to be eaten by wild beasts," Minkus said.

"Well, we do do have a saying here on Petaybee that some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you, but mostly it's not to be taken literally. Shall we find a way to get you out of here?" have a saying here on Petaybee that some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you, but mostly it's not to be taken literally. Shall we find a way to get you out of here?"

"We'll follow you back the way you came," Mooney said.