Deluge

by Anne McCaffrey

  “I haven’t seen them since the first day,” he said.

  “They may have used their shape-shifting ability to try to escape,” she said. “It won’t do them any good, and the ocean here is extremely dangerous for those who are unaware of its peculiarities. I came by boat specifically to search for them. Oh, well, I’m sure that if they are still out there, they will learn soon enough that Petaybee is under martial law and the inhabitants of their village are to be transferred here in connection with the charges against the de Revers woman.”

  “Is that so?” he asked.

  “Yes, indeed. Now on to other matters. I know my news about your family and friends will have upset you and you’ll probably need to go cry or whatever it is children do under such circumstances, but as your next of kin, I feel I must also mention that you should start thinking about your future. One of the benefits of children being on this island is that it shares the premises with a Corps training facility.”

  “That’s a good thing, is it?”

  “Of course. The soldiers there often lend a hand in the care and maintenance of this facility and assist in searches for runaways and that sort of thing. And they provide role models and a source of future employment. A belligerent young man such as yourself ought to do well in the Cadet Corps training program if you learn to channel your animosity appropriately.” The last was said with no smarmy attempt at sympathy, just the same nasty mocking tone he remembered from last time. “It’s not like an orphan here has a great deal of choice in the matter.”

  She turned and left the hut. Relieved that she had not tried to hug him again, he snatched up the cakes, folding the napkin containing them over the tops. The tunics he and the others wore had no place to conceal anything, but he thought he knew where he could stash the cakes for the time being.

  IN THEIR HASTE to get away from the corpse-disposal boat and the squids, Ronan and Murel completely forgot to check their undersea markers and simply swam until exhaustion from their struggles overcame them and they drifted in an unfamiliar sea under unfamiliar stars.

  I haven’t a clue where we are or how to return to the island, do you? Ronan asked.

  Murel, whose lethargy alarmed him, since he had no idea how severe her wounds were, answered, No idea whatsoever.

  I’ve heard of whales getting beached, but never seals getting lost, Ronan said. This never would have happened on Petaybee.

  I don’t actually need any more reasons to wish I was home instead of here, thank you, Murel said tartly. Even the stars are different here, which makes sense since it’s a different solar system, isn’t it? And I could use a proper moon. No wonder the tide is so sluggish. That little thing they have up there is pathetic. And no doubt has “Property of Intergalactic Enterprises” stamped on the bottom.

  Night came upon them quickly. It seemed they had just dived below the surface into the darkness of deeper water, and when they surfaced the sky was nearly as dark as the water. The stars out here were enormously bright. If only they knew what the usual positions were supposed to be, it would tell them a bit more about where they were and how to proceed.

  It doesn’t actually matter that they’re different stars, though, does it? Ronan said. We know where they are now, and we ought to be able to gauge our position relative to them wherever we go.

  Murel hated to admit she didn’t understand all that much about it. Ronan had had a crush on First Officer Adrienne Robineau, so he’d paid closer attention during their navigation lessons than she had.

  However, he proceeded to talk himself out of it. The only problem is that we don’t know which direction this planet rotates.

  Shhh, she said. Hear that?

  It was a boat’s motor roaring in the distance. It did not sound like the same one that had captured and released them earlier. According to their sonar, it was a good distance away.

  It must be leaving the island, headed back to the mainland, Ronan said. There doesn’t seem to be any other place for it to go. Probably a supply vessel.

  Maybe, she replied.

  If we find it, we should be able to get our bearings from it, at least, Ronan told her, and she began swimming beside him, toward the boat. Before long they intercepted its wake and from it were able to backtrack—or back-paddle—until they found the island again and the beach containing the children’s compound.

  The rock will be around that way, Murel said, relieved to be back in familiar territory, even if it meant being closer to captivity.

  Yes, but look—there’s a light on the other side of the beach.

  It could be a trap, Murel said nervously.

  Maybe, but I don’t think anyone who is out to get us would think a little light like that would be a good way to trap us. I mean, we’re selkies, not weremoths. Ten to one it’s Rory trying to get our attention. I’ll swim in. You stay out here in case there is a trap and you need to help me out.

  But he found no nets, no traps, just a miserable-looking, bald-headed, scantily dressed Rory, holding a glow light.

  When Ronan flopped onto the beach, Rory walked down the slight, sandy slope to meet him, speaking softly. “Ronan? Murel? I was hoping you’d come. I seriously have to talk to you two. I’ve had a visit from my loving gran.”

  Murel swam in and they both dried off and slipped into their dry suits.

  “Want a cake?” Rory offered. “They’re a little squooshed, but I saved you guys some. I had to bribe the beach monitor to look the other way, and another kid to get me the glow. I think the beach monitor will keep up her end of things, but you’d better stay close to the water all the same. She thinks I just needed to come out here and be alone to brood about suddenly being an orphan.”

  “You’re an orphan?”

  “Yeah, me and just about everybody else, according to dear old Granny. She told me my parents were killed trying to escape and the only thing left for me to do is join the company Cadet Corps.”

  “That’s harsh, Rory. I’m so sorry,” Murel said.

  “You ought to be. She claims they’ve captured your village and your folks and everybody is being brought here. But she knows you’re here too, or at least suspects it, and I’m pretty sure she’s lying, trying to draw you out.”

  Ronan and Murel, recalling their mother’s plans, exchanged stricken looks. “Yeah, but what if she’s not?”

  “She had to be—her mouth was moving,” Rory said bitterly. “But I was thinking, maybe it’s not such a bad idea if I play along and try to join up. I could find out stuff we need to know.”

  “Do you think you might get into their com shed and contact Marmie’s friends to tell them what’s happened to her?” Murel asked.

  “Oughtn’t to be a problem,” he said, sounding a bit brighter.

  “Because if you could do that, it would solve everything. They’d get her released and she’d free everyone else.”

  “That settles it, then. I’ll do it,” he said. “Maybe I can borrow their com system and maybe not, but I’m far more likely to get a chance as a recruit, aren’t I?”

  The twins agreed.

  “Too bad they don’t have a submarine corps you two could join,” Rory joked. He sounded absolutely bubbly now. He felt bad about his grandmother being such a villainous old bat, so if he could be the one to free everybody else, Murel reckoned it would help him feel better.

  “Just make sure you remember you’re just playing a part,” Ronan said. “You don’t want to actually become one of them. Not that they’re all bad, of course—take Mum or Rick O’Shay. But you don’t want to end up a total bossy git like that Austin guy.”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t. So we’ll rendezvous again tomorrow, same time, same place?”

  “Say,” Ronan said, “do you reckon if you’re over there you might be able to steal us a printout of a chart of this ocean?”

  “I thought you guys could navigate by instinct.”

  “On our world, sure, but this ocean is so empty and the stars are all wrong. If we could
even get a look at the layout of the landmasses, we’d have a better idea about where to go.”

  “Fair enough,” Rory said.

  An adult female called out, “You there, on the beach. You’re in violation of curfew.”

  “Just admiring the moonlight, miss,” Rory said, while Ronan and Murel stripped off their dry suits in one well-practiced motion, packed them into each other’s pouches, and dove into the water.

  “Who’s that with you, then? All of you come up here where I can see you.”

  But by then the twins were underwater, swimming toward the rocks.

  CHAPTER 14

  YANA WAS SO numb she could not feel the hands that grasped her arms to haul her out of the river. She thought she was probably dying already. It was said that the cold began to feel almost warm when one was truly freezing, and the water beneath her had suddenly begun feeling that way. It was a relief. Then there was the olfactory hallucination that told her she was smelling the sulfurous odor of the communion cave. She had the oddest sensation of something slipping between the legs of her snowsuit, bearing her up. Perhaps that was the case, since she didn’t fall back into the river even though her stiff and iced-over mittens could no longer maintain a hold on the ice. Her arms simply lay splayed in front of her like a pair of useless logs. Though she vaguely felt that she needed to survive for Sean, the kids, and even Kilcoole, she was so drowsy she couldn’t be bothered to care about all that at the moment.

  The brightness of the snow dimmed beneath the shadow of a large form that reached down and grabbed her arms, while her parka was jerked upward by the hood.

  “Well, well, we seem to have caught a big fish,” a gruff male voice said, and the part of Yana that was still alert to her surroundings knew she was not out of trouble. This was one of the troops from the ship.

  But then another voice, a familiar one, said, “Yes, well, she’ll need tending to, and so will some of your people, so we’d best return to the village and then we’ll see who’s caught whom.”

  Yana was facing the wrong direction to see the speaker, but she could almost feel Sinead’s rifle leveled at the ship’s crew. At any rate, she was pulled more gently upward and back. She felt almost weightless, as if buoyed up toward her rescuers.

  Then the ice chose to break under her and splinter back under Sinead’s feet, forcing her sister-in-law and the village rescuers to retreat.

  “Ladder!” Sinead called. Then, close to her ear, Yana heard, “Hang on. This is going to be slow, but we’ll have you ashore soon.”

  In front of her the soldiers were scrambling off the river and up onto the banks as the ice crack chased them from her hole back in the direction of the ship.

  Sinead shifted her grip, and Yana dipped back down to her chin momentarily as the ice under her split even further. Then suddenly she was borne up and a new current carried her back toward her rescuers, stopping only when the ice remained firm enough for her to be hauled upward.

  She looked up and saw Sinead’s eyes dancing with amusement behind their iced-over lashes. “Thanks, Sean,” Sinead said.

  They hauled Yana onto the bank and bundled her onto a sled, but not before she saw the sleek dark head pop out from beneath the ice and regard her with an Okay, now? look before the seal dived back into the river.

  “ADRIENNE, C’EST MOI.” Marmie’s voice preceded her through the door. Adrienne sagged with relief until she saw the laser pistol pointed at Marmie’s back, followed by a tall young Corpsman.

  Shoving Madame aside, Adrienne growled, “Drop it,” but Madame reached up and grabbed the man’s wrist. He looked down at her with alarm.

  “This is Christian, Adrienne. He’s a friend. Quickly, we must leave this room. Everything here can be seen from the adjoining one.”

  Adrienne glanced over to where the animals had been making their escape. Not one hair remained of either of them. She didn’t like to leave Zuzu behind, but her formerly pampered feline friend had given ample proof that she could take care of herself when necessary. And now Zuzu also had an ally.

  SKY AND ZUZU watched from one of the rat holes as Marmie, Adrienne, and the soldier passed.

  The fur along Sky’s spine rippled all the way to the tip of his tail. Caged again.

  Zuzu’s whiskers twitched thoughtfully. I think not. Neither Adrienne nor Madame are afraid.

  Cats know when humans are afraid? How?

  Elementary, mon cher otter, Zuzu told him. It is a matter of scent and posture. Their shoulders are not tensed in fear of his weapon, their hands are relaxed, and most of all, they do not smell afraid. Then too, I overheard Madame whisper, “Et maintenant, Christian?” to the gendarme. From this I deduce that they are on cordial terms. He will no doubt help them escape.

  Sky considered this. Good. I will escape too.

  You cannot go with them. You will draw attention to their unsuitable amiability.

  How then? My friends who are river seal children do not know where to find me, so I must go to them.

  How will you find them?

  We talk in our heads, in the same way that cats and otters talk. When I am near to them, they will hear me call and come.

  And if they cannot come?

  Then they will guide me to them and I will save them. Friends save friends. We have done this hundreds of times.

  In that case, follow me. I know a way out for otters and cats. Unfortunately, it is too petite for humans, even dainty ones such as Adrienne and Madame.

  Otters are very slinky and can fit through very small places.

  Indeed. If it transpires that Madame and Adrienne have escaped, I may decide to come with you on your search.

  Oh? Do cats swim fast like otters?

  I am fond of water, oui, Zuzu said with a proud lick to her shoulder. I am, I confess, unique among my species in that I swim very well indeed. Er—how much swimming would be involved in your search?

  There is a sea. I saw that the river seal children were carried across it in a sky ship. This otter can ride in sky ships but cannot make them go. Though otter paws are very useful, they work better for swimming than for making things fly. Even the paws of sky otters, he added regretfully.

  Ah, Zuzu said with regret as well, I comprehend perfectly. You wish to help your friends, as I do mine. Still, it seems a shame, does it not, to disband our alliance when we have discovered how much more useful even my brains and beauty and vast experience of this place can be with the assistance of your excellent teeth, paws, and exquisite slinkiness.

  Sky preened. Otters are excellent, it’s true. Excellent is good, isn’t it?

  Zuzu said, Excellent is very good indeed, my friend. So, shall we embark on this mission together as far as we can before splitting up?

  Sky agreed happily. Sky otters were smart and brave, and learned to do things quickly, but having a cat for a friend was almost like having another otter or a river seal helping.

  Zuzu led the way through the dark, rat-infested passages. Sky heard the scrabble of claws and, worst of all, the nasty scent messages the rats left, telling how they would use their rat nails and their big sharp teeth, if given a chance. Twice Zuzu walked straight up to a group of the rodents, and their red eyes gleamed. They thought they could gang up on the cat and kill her, but Sky edged up as close as he could to his companion and made his own eyes small and mean and said, Hah! Cats eat rats. Rats do not eat cats. I think otters eat rats too!

  The rats fled. They were very big rats, Zuzu said, but Sky was twice the size of the largest and he let forth a scent message that told them he was extremely fierce and that his claws and teeth were twice as big and sharp as any rat’s. He might have said something about the hundreds of relatives who were right behind him and Zuzu too, but if he did, he had no way of knowing if the rats believed him or not.

  At last the rat droppings and remnants of his own scent messages and the latrines of the prison cells above and below them diminished and the passages grew less dim. Sky sniffed eagerly. Salt water! He
smelled salt water. He was not a sea otter, but according to the Father River Seal, he was an estuarial otter who could swim in salt water as well as fresh. He did not like it as much as fresh water, but he was getting used to it the more he did it. The cat led him to an opening through which a morning sky was tapering from the pink of the inside of a lovely otter’s mouth to the blue of the river seal twins’ eyes, and he quivered with happiness as he looked forward to swimming in the dark blue-gray waters washing up against the outside of the prison, directly below the hole.

  It is a long way down, Zuzu said. Farther than I thought.

  It would be better if there was a slide, Sky agreed. But otters are good divers. Are cats?

  Zuzu considered. She did not like admitting that cats in general were in any way inferior to otters, or that she in particular was less skilled at something than he was. So she said, Cats are made to climb and leap. You dive and I’ll climb down, then leap in to join you.

  Sky leaned forward, pushed with his back feet and muscular tail, and entered the water with a feeling of freedom he had been missing for what seemed hundreds of hours, or the otterly equivalent.

  CHAPTER 15

  THE TWINS SWAM toward the rocks where they had lain before, but as the sun limned the formation, they saw that its outlines had changed. A tall bit with a rounded point had been added to the highest point of the little island.

  Someone is there! Murel said. Waiting for us, it looks like.

  I doubt it’s anyone friendly, Ronan replied. If Mabo knows we’re here, I’d bet my right flipper she’s behind it.

  I wouldn’t take the bet, Murel said. She’ll be looking for us, and she knows what seal habitat looks like. Unfortunately, our rocks are a pretty classic example. She’d guess that we might well fetch up there when we’re in seal form. Keep your head down and let’s swim back the way we came.

  Once they were out of sight of the rocks, Murel stopped swimming. Now what? she asked. It seems like we flew all this way to swim around aimlessly in the sea. And I don’t know about you, but I really need to rest somewhere. I’ve got all these sore spots from fighting the squid and the net.