by neetha Napew
‘Quiet, woman. I say we start sending them home in pieces now.’
Yana cocked 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, Megenda! Everyone knows it isn’t your fault. It isn’t anybody’s fault but that of 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 co-administrator, 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 there’s no living on the same ship with him. Down, 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 massive 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 assign its mineral and ore deposits’
‘I can’t assign anything for an entity I don’t own, possess, dominate, order,’ Yana snapped back. ‘Nobody even knows what there is to assign.’ Megenda made a move towards 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 shamen, they never were able to mine enough ore to be able 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, nor the opportunity,’ and Yana was very sure of that since the demise of the fake shamen had been precipitously effected by the coo-berries, ‘for the planet evolved some unusual natural defences 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 planks any more, Megenda.’
‘Yah, but space 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 attitude only reinforced her feeling that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand the nature of the entity he was dealing with. If even the Company, who 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 which didn’t seem to affect the large muscle of Megenda’s forearm at all. ‘You and the Colonel are both being irrational.’
‘Irrational? 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 sadistic 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 calibre and resourcefulness would have a replicator that can produce proper “food” instead of all that pulverized dust!’ Yana was well and truly launched and, though she knew she shouldn’t take such a strong line, she was fed up. There was no way she could 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…’
‘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 eyelid 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 firmly intended to deal her own blow to the big man where it would do him the most harm, even if her weakness caused her to fall on her ass afterwards. She was not about to let him kill her baby without a fight.
Neither was Marmion, who stepped determinedly between her 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 now, ‘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 son 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?’ asked Megenda with a leer.
Dinah O’Neill’s voice was casual and professional as she replied. ‘Naturally, I have counselled 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 because the brawny crewman 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 damn 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 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 assets in legalities so that they couldn’t be liquidated. The families pleaded and offered all sorts of personal assurances, but in the end the two captives died and no ransom was ever paid. The others suicided, apparently also by pre-arrangement. I suspect Marmion is prepared to take similar… measures… to ensure 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 “passage money” - for a safe return, and I’m quite willing to make the “fare” a substantial amount…’ and she gracefully gestured to include everyone in the cabin, Namid too, ‘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.’
‘Damn that Fiske!’ Dinah said in the first unrehearsed and spontaneous utterance Yana had heard from her so far. Somehow or other, Yana was not totally surprised to learn that Torkel was involved in this fiasco. ‘He said this was a sure thing.’
‘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 have 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 passengers but… But there is gold on that wretched ice-world,’ she insisted, her fists clenching at her sides. ‘There are gemstones, this is germaniun, gengesite…’
‘In small quantities,’ Yana said. ‘Just what sort of deposits were you shown?’ she added, wonderingly.
Dinah O’Neill said nothing but kept eye contact with Yana, as if hoping to penetrate to the truth.
‘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 passes for summer there?’ Yana said, 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…’ and she glanced at Marmion who nodded. Dinah’s expression was contemptuous, Megenda’s the epitome of cynical amusement. ‘I really do think you’ve been misled. Something Satok was good at…’
‘He was Petaybean and he knew …”
‘He knew 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 hasn’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 that Bunny was spunky enough to contradict her.
‘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, open-mouthed, 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. ‘They’d be more trustworthy than that Satok fellow. Well, you always told me that some of your relatives, way back, were exiled to Petaybee.’
‘That was the rumour 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 had followed smoothly, however, 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. Forgetting his flash of resentment, Diego cradled her in his arms, stroking her hair and murmuring little hispanic endearments.
Marmion dampened the one towel they had in the room and handed it to him to place over the cut on her cheek. Perversely enough, the tickle returned to Yana’s throat and she was unable to stop the reflex. She tried very hard but a spasm racked her again. Namid hastily poured a dose of the medicine for her and she managed to stop hacking long enough to swallow it.
14
Petaybee
Contents - Prev/Next
Sean swam with the single-minded fish schools until they reached the lake, where the fish all at once made a single silver river into another of the underwater caves. Sean followed and when the water grew too shallow, the fish turned back, but he was in another dry grotto. As he was changing form, he saw the phosphorescence 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 passages were new to him, the most recent seismic activity. The line of luminescence led him through passages towards the cries for help that were first 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 was about to eat him. The wooden Petaybean weapons Sinead had substituted 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 damned hallucination! Go away! Nobody walks around bare-assed 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 thou
ght 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 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.
Sean grinned. ‘Not unless you can hold your breath for a very long time. How’d you get down here?’
‘We fell!’ Ersol pointed to the hole, far above them. With the arrival of someone who was probably able to extricate them from their captivity, his dignity was restored. ‘We were lucky we weren’t bloody killed. We could sue…’
Sean laughed harder. ‘Sue what? The planet? You are, to all legal intents and purposes, trespassing on private property. Very private property.’
‘Private… vat… vat… vatapplied for hunting licences,’ Minkus complained, his voice shrill with hysteria.
‘Which were not yet granted, I must warn you. Nor would they have been. However, follow me.’
Sean had spotted the dotted line which Petaybee had illuminated to guide him and now struck out through the remainder of the underground passage leading away from the lake.
‘Hey, man, how come you’re not wearing anything?’ Ersol asked, staring at him.
‘I… er… was swimming when I heard you yelling for help,’ Sean said.
‘Why aren’t you freezing?’ Minkus demanded. Clot-worthy was also staring in disbelief at their saviour.
‘Oh,’ and Sean shrugged, looking down himself as if he might have changed shape since he last looked, ‘adaptation to Petaybee. And it’s not all that cold down here, you know. You wouldn’t have frozen to death by any manner or means.’