by neetha Napew
She was only marginally aware that the panel whooshed open and shut again. Then a cool hand soothed her forehead and someone was urging her to sit up long enough to’drink this’.
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 Mendelsky. ‘It’s what I think was in my grandmother’s recipe, plus a little of the codeine.’
She was panting from the effort of drinking the other liquid she’d been given and trying to suppress the cough long enough to keep from choking on the drink. She took the mug with the cough syrup from Mendelsky and sipped slowly. The liquid seemed to be coating her throat. It didn’t taste bad either although there was a bite to it.
‘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, toe of frog, so long as it stopped her coughing. She got into a more comfortable position, propped against one end of the bunk although she had to crouch or bang 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 co-operate 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 said because there was a quality in his exhalation that sounded’sad’ as well as resigned.
He grimaced, shrugged and held out one hand in a helpless gesture. ‘Nothing new,’ he said in a resigned tone. ‘In fact,’ and 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 associate 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 circumstances. 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 associations with such a…’
‘Unsavoury occupation?’
‘Exactly. I’d 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 marvellous to have intelligent company again.’
They both heard the noises in the corridor outside and the panel whooshed open. First Bunny was propelled inside, Marmion following in a more dignified entrance, 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 said, going around the table so she would not have to touch Mendelsky.
‘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 bastards 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 towards 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,’ Mendelsky 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 marry 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 said, eyeing him more kindly than she had before. When he nodded, she went on, ‘Did she ever get you to talk about your speciality?’
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 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 towards 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 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, Namid, have made a bad tactical error in suggesting…’ and Yana paused significantly as she stressed the word,’ that Petaybee has unt
old 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 only one, drug company, to harvest the renewable valuable plants for their purity and quality. But such an enterprise would not be a snatch-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 saleable 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 for Namid. ‘It counteracts the use of explosives by making volcanoes just where miners wish to dig. It rescinds the use of a flat surface for spacecraft by extruding a ziggurat that covers the exact centre 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, the soil is rich enough to produce food crops in their season - and marvellous 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. 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 at her choice of expression.
Diego began to groan and twist on the narrow bunk and Bunny instantly was all attention.
13
Kilcoole
Contents - Prev/Next
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 off-world 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 of good man. And now, with the possibility that Yana might not return, that what he did or said, or 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 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 hotspring 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 hotsprings along its route, making it warm. He swam furiously out towards 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 dived, 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 bed 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 beneath the banks, and as Sean dived, he saw that they tunnelled 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, 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 Aoifa was lost, and when, at first, he wondered if Yana would accept him, his home had always been his solace and greatest support.
‘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.’
‘Help!’ the echo screamed back at him. ‘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 been taken by more people who want to tear you to pieces. Yana needs help.’
‘Help Yana! Help Yana! HELP YANA! YANA!
YANA,’ f Her name echoed around the cave until Sean was about to jump into the water to escape it. Then suddenly the echo changed again to ‘HELP! Help us!’ and suddenly the slight phosphorescence that was always in these places organized itself into a straight line and grew and grew.
For a moment, Sean just stared. The purposeful echo, the purposeful line of the phosphorescence, 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 phosphorescent track, trying to keep up with it, until he was back in the river and found himself in the midst of a vast school offish - every kind of fish - all swimming with purpose and determination in a single direction.
Aboard the pirate ship
Yana was fast asleep in her bunk when she was awakened by the sensation of warmth and vibration at the base of her throat. It emanated 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 was speaking to her. The voice sounded so anguished that 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 talismanic morsel, as Petaybee and Sean continued calling her, a voice in her mind yelling 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, while the voice faded.
She lay awake for a long time, fondling the bag, wondering if she had just dreamt the warmth and the powerful mind-echo. Because it was tremendously reassuring to think, even for a moment, that Petaybee was somehow on her psychic wavelength, she wanted it to be true. Usually when she dreamt someone was yelling her name, they were 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 sound was the restless sleep of her fellow prisoners.
Then they were all abruptly roused 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 petite frame to restrain Megenda. Megenda clanged something hard against the metal of the door-frame: a laser pistol. ‘Get off your butts, 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’ any more, 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 at 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.
