Crisis On Doona

by Anne McCaffrey

  “It is good to have you back,” Hrruna said, as if Todd and his father had only been off on some minor errand. With Pat between them, they climbed the ramp to the dais. The old Hrruban signalled for Hrrestan to release his son. In two leaps, Hrriss was beside his dear friend, wrapping his tail firmly around Todd’s nearer thigh. “This silly cub”—Hrruna pointed to the Treaty Controller—“is not the only dishonorable one among Hrrubans to sow discord on Rrala.”

  “The discord was not solely Hrruban,” Ken said. “And during our incarceration, our guards spoke freely, not being aware that we bareskins understood what they said.”

  “Whatever is pertinent to sustain the Treaty and this colony must be related so that all may hear,” Hrruna said at his most austere, “although I am aware of much that has happened of late, of false accusations and tamperings and alterings that would have greatly strained my patience had they not been delivered by such charming couriers.”

  Todd had not failed to notice that his Kelly and Hrriss’s Nrrna were Hrruna’s attendants. Kelly was grinning at him with a total lack of discretion, which gladdened his heart immensely, but at least Nrrna had cast her eyes down modestly despite Hrriss’s attempts to make eye contact.

  Then Todd saw Hrruna’s peremptory gesture to Ken. “Be so good as to explain what you overheard, Rrev.”

  “While it was the Treaty Controller who had our destination altered from Earth and our appointment with the AWC panel, he received his orders from another, high in the Speakers Council,” Ken said. “In good plain Low Hrruban, they mentioned his name frequently: the Third Speaker for Internal Affairs.” Ken looked pleasantly at Third Speaker. “We can repeat what was said in our presence ...”

  “Lies!” Third Speaker hissed. “All lies. These Hayumans mean to dishonor me.”

  Hrruna gestured for those on the dais to move aside so that he could confront Third face-to-face. His eyes had narrowed to implacable slits, and the hem of his heavy robes flicked with the lashing of his tail.

  “I will believe the words of Rrev and Zodd even over those of my own Stripe,” Hrruna said in an ominously calm tone. “Deceit is not in them. Any dishonor on your stripe has been brought there by you. You have forsaken the objectivity necessary to just administration, Third. You have sought to interfere in a matter which is outside your commission. You were also one who insisted that Rrala would stand or fall on its own merit. You have not abided by your own decree. I invite you to resign your post.”

  Third opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but at last nodded curtly at Hrruna.

  “Very well,” Third Speaker said, his own eyes closed to vindictive slits. “I tender my resignation.”

  “I accept it, effective now! But we have waited long enough to discover whether Rrala may continue. In view of what you have heard in these past minutes, do the Treaty Council and the representative of the Amalgamated Worlds Congress wish to alter their decision?” Hrruna asked pleasantly, turning firmly away from the dismissed Speaker. “I surely see no bar to the continuation of this colony nor to the ratification of the Treaty Renewal so anxiously awaited by us all. What say you?”

  Madam Dupuis smiled as she stepped forward, assuming the position of Controller. She bowed with great reverence to the First Speaker. “Most honored of persons,” she said in perfect High Hrruban, “the Council must indeed overturn the recent verdict, and clear the defendants of all charges against them, including nonappearance.”

  Dorem Naruti was jittering with relief at being able to rescind the verdict he had been forced, by the previous circumstances, to announce.

  “Then let us adjourn all this formal talk and harangue and let the festivities begin,” said Hrruna, dropping into Middle language and leaning toward Nrrna in a paternal fashion. “The smell of roasted meat is making this old belly rumble.”

  Few heard that comment, for cheers had erupted as he ordered the festivities to begin. Colonists of both species were hugging each other, weeping or purring in an excess of relief after the dramatic scenes that had first dashed then restored their hopes.

  Robin and Inessa were shrieking for their father and brother to come down so they could be suitably welcomed. Ilsa was trying to calm them down but she was smiling and crying at the same time, upsetting her daughters, who began to fret, too.

  “We should take an official vote, you know,” Sumitral said, looking out over the jigging, whirling mass of colonists.

  “Oh, don’t be so hidebound,” Madam Dupuis told him, waving at the jubilation below them. “That’s the loudest, most unanimous ‘aye’ I’ve ever witnessed.”

  “I’d agree to that,” Dorem Naruti said, beaming from ear to ear. “I’ve never seen anything quite so official as this! Must be something in the air here, I think.”

  Sumitral chuckled. “Then we shall record that the vote was unanimous. And I’m hungry, too. Naruti, they have the most delicious little birds here, covered with a sweet spice, that simply melts in your mouth. You really must try some, mustn’t he, Nesfa dear friend?”

  “Indeed, and although the suggestion might seem bizarre, the snake stew they make is exceedingly tasty. We shall tell you what to sample first, Dorem, if you will accompany us.”

  While they were settling the voting issue, First Speaker’s escorts had guided him to his place at the Treaty table set in exactly the same place it had rested twenty-five years before, under the trees that clustered just beyond the Hall. Hrruna gestured for Naruti to be seated to his right and Sumitral to his left. Both senior diplomats, with the precision of long practice, sat down at the same moment. The gemmed and tooled volumes containing the Treaty of Doona were opened before them.

  “There’s a lot of work, many years of negotiation in the document,” Madam Dupuis said, “but it is as fair as it could be made.”

  “A thing of beauty, outside as well as inside, these are,” Naruti said in flawlessly inflected High Hrruban. “As handsome as the ideals they represent.”

  Hrruna’s jaw dropped in pleasure. “So they are,” First Speaker agreed.

  Each signed one, and the volumes were exchanged. One by one, the Treaty Councillors stood by to affix their signatures to the documents. Hrrestan placed heavy seals on the signature pages and closed the books. Bowing, he presented one to each of the principals.

  Sumitral looked to Hrruna for permission to speak and it was graciously given with a nod of the dignified and graying head.

  “The Treaty of Doona/Rrala is now officially extended indefinitely. May I extend the congratulations of my service to Hrrubans and Hayumans alike!” His last syllables were drowned out by wild cheering.

  When the noise began to abate, Todd approached the Treaty table. Someone had found him a decent tunic to replace his torn one, and he’d been able to wash his face and comb his hair so that he looked considerably more presentable.

  “May I be permitted to speak?” Todd asked in High Hrruban, executing a deeply reverent bow to the First Speaker.

  “Pray listen to the first Hayuman ambassador to the Hrruban people,” Hrruna said, his voice carrying over excited conversations and laughter, and immediately silence prevailed again.

  Sumitral, leaning across to Hrruna, chuckled. “And that was a day! About a meter tall, dressed in mda skins with a rope tail hanging behind and the dignity of a dozen judges for all he was six years old. He and Hrriss have done great service for Alreldep since then. I hope they’ll continue to do so.”

  Todd glanced at Hrriss, who nodded, jaw dropped humorously. “As long as we can, sir.”

  With Hrriss beside him, Todd stood forward to address his friends and neighbors. “I feel like I got thrown from a bucking stallion into a compost heap, so I hope you’ll forgive my appearance.” The assembled settlers chuckled. “I’ve dreamed of this day since I was a small boy. I was afraid for a while that the day wouldn’t come, and then I feared I wouldn’t be able
to be here. Now”—he grinned, throwing an arm around Hrriss’s shoulders—“all we have dreamed of has happened. Doona is now a permanent reality. As long as we live, we can live here together.

  “Today is not just a continuation of Doona but the start of a brand-new era for Hrrubans and Hayumans. From the trust that has been built here, both species can spread out, can make new homes on new planets together and separately.” He smiled around at all the faces, bare and furred. “Honored folk, Doona has taught us all the most important lesson: that we both can make friends, firm friends, trusted friends, of each other and of other species. The Siwannese example must never be forgotten, but it mustn’t stop us from keeping an open mind and extending an open hand. The generations that will be born on this planet,” and with that he sent a glowing look at Kelly, “will meet others, strong in the practice of Cohabitation. So long as they remember what we have all learned here, the stars beckon. Long live Doona/Rrala!” Todd shot his fist toward the sky and Hrriss’s joined it in the next second.

  When other arms tired of holding fists aloft and throats turned hoarse with cheering, Hrruna turned plaintively to Sumitral. “Now do you think we can eat?”

  * * *

  Totally reunited and in the best of harmonious spirits, the entire population of Doona and its guests began the long-awaited feast. Platters of food poured out of the kitchen to tables inside and outside the Hall. Beer, wine, mlada, and even wildberry juices flowed to every cup as friend toasted friend and the success of the Doona Experiment was drunk to over and over again. The members of the Doona/Rrala Ad Hoc Band rarely got time for more than a few mouthfuls of food, so much in demand was celebratory dance music.

  Hrriss tried repeatedly to extract Nrrna from attendance on the First Speaker, but he couldn’t get any nearer her than Todd could get to Kelly. If it hadn’t been Hrruna who monopolized the attentions of their promised ladies, the two friends would have snagged them away at the very first opportunity, but Hrruna seemed to require that they serve him the various delicacies prepared by the colonists’ best cooks.

  “Damn it, Hrriss, I’m the one who was on short rations. Couldn’t Kelly come feed me?”

  “I’m doing my best, Todd,” his sister Ilsa said, her knees buckling under the laden tray she was bringing them.

  “Urfa steak and snake stew?” he said, salivating. “Sis, you know how to treat a brother.”

  “When he remembers to come home to eat,” Ilsa tossed at him as she went away to see to the needs of her children. Todd stared after her.

  “Marriage has done her good,” he muttered to Hrriss, and dug into the stew. “I never thought I’d eat any of this again.” Then he had to swallow without truly savoring the fine flavor, for Sampson DeVeer approached their table.

  “You cut that mighty fine,” DeVeer said, and then drew up the young man in the plain uniform hovering beside him. “You might like to meet my companion, Reeve. Dalkey Petersham.”

  “Really?” And Todd realized in one second that the man he had feared as a rival to Kelly’s affection was no real competition. So he pumped the young man’s hand energetically. “We owe you a lot, Dalkey, for putting out your neck for people you didn’t know. Come, sit down.”

  “Well, I did know Kelly and I sure discovered a lot of real creative accounting. Which ...”

  “Which what?” Todd prompted, gesturing for Dalkey to fill a plate from the food on the freshly filled tray.

  “Which actually lost me my job.”

  “You haven’t really lost a job, Dalkey,” Todd said, “you’ve just been transferred. An accountant who could uncover that Spacedep slush fund is just the sort of fellow we need to set up a system here on Doona that can’t be diddled.”

  After Dalkey had expressed his deep appreciation of the offer and accepted with considerable alacrity, Todd turned to DeVeer.

  “Which reminds me. Just before Dad and I got kidnapped, Hrriss and I got Linc Newry to admit he’d been falsifying export documents and disarming Doona’s security satellites to let rustlers in and out. What’s happened to him?”

  “He gave himself up,” DeVeer said with a note of satisfaction in his voice, “after I had a most interesting chat with a Dr. Walter Tylanio. Once he was in custody, Newry gave me more information which led me to the real rustler.”

  “You got Mark Aden?” Todd’s eyes flashed, remembering the score he had to settle with that bastard for his vindictive use of ssersa.

  “He is under arrest on Zapata Three, awaiting transport back to Earth for trial. It would seem that he kept a computer file of the layout of each ranch on Doona and the best secluded spots to secrete the livestock pens. He’s the one who planted the artifacts on your ship while you were occupied by your mission on Hrretha. He did so with Spacedep credentials to pass by Hrrethan security guards. Newry was the one who switched log tapes.”

  “I always thought Rogitel had done it when his men were busy hauling artifacts out of the Albie’s panels,” Todd said.

  “No, I have Newry’s confession.” DeVeer nodded at the grim looks that Todd and Hrriss exchanged. “It couldn’t have been Rogitel. He did the shopping for the artifacts with the illicit traders on Hrretha. Remember, Newry had asked you to give him your flight plans nearly two weeks before your actual departure. So he sent them to Klonski, who’s rather proud of the way he handled that assignment. Took him thirty-six hours of intensive work. He shipped it back to Newry in an authorized Spacedep courier run and put it in the Albatross before you launched. Klonski had left gaps for your legitimate stops, triggered by signals from the beacons orbiting Doona and Hrretha. Aden is the one who made the insertions into the interdicted systems in a ship with identification codes altered to match yours.”

  Todd let out a long sigh. “So we’re cleared of everything? Then why was the Treaty so nearly cancelled?”

  “Third Speaker had also rigged that resolution so that your presence was absolutely essential to the Renewal of the Treaty.”

  “And Hrruna waited until he knew he had Third right where he needed him,” Todd said thoughtfully. “It was close!”

  DeVeer nodded. “However, you both might like to accompany ... that is, if you can leave off eating that delicious food for a short time?” he asked them. “You rather deserve to be in on this. I’ve one more criminal to bring to book.”

  Todd and Hrriss hastily dashed their fingers into bowls set on all the tables to cleanse hands. DeVeer led them to the head table where they waited respectfully until Sumitral and Naruti concluded their conversation with Second Speaker Hrrto. When Ken and Hrrestan were beckoned by DeVeer to join them, the group advanced on Landreau and Rogitel who were seated as inconspicuously as possible for men in brilliant white uniforms. They were the only two ignoring both the food and the merrymaking going on around them.

  “Well, what do you want?” Landreau asked sourly, glaring at the Reeves. “You have everything you claim you value. This abominable colony has a permanent charter, and your so-called honor is restored.”

  “Admiral Allen Landreau?” DeVeer said formally. “As an inspector of Poldep and in the presence of a representative of Amalgamated Worlds Congress and a senior officer of Spacedep, I arrest you on the following charges: conspiracy, fraud, misuse of public funds, attempted kidnapping, suborning of witnesses, aiding and abetting grand larceny and felony theft, aiding and abetting violation of Treaty Law, and conduct unbecoming a senior officer of the Space Department.”

  “Have you quite finished with this fairy tale?” Landreau snapped. “I am about to return to Earth and pressing duties there—unlike other officials who seem to have infinite time to play.”

  “This is scarcely a laughing matter, Landreau,” Sumitral said.

  “Don’t attempt to instruct me,” the head of Spacedep growled, his face turning red. “You’re my equal, not my superior. You don’t outrank me in any way. In fact, Spacedep is a larger de
partment than Alreldep and takes precedence over yours. If we didn’t exist, there would be no aliens for your department to relate to, not the Siwannese, not your tame pussycat people!”

  “Sir,” DeVeer said, “I must suggest that you not make any more statements until you have engaged a counsel for your defense. We have impounded your records, and I am obliged to remind you that anything you say now can and may be used in evidence against you.”

  “Read me—Admiral Landreau—my rights?” Landreau shouted.

  Nearby Doonans turned to look. Once they identified Landreau, they continued to stare.

  “How dare you even question a senior official of the government, when these damned Reeves are the real troublemakers?” He flung a contemptuous hand in Todd’s direction before he planted a fingertip in the middle of the Poldep chief’s black tunic and pushed. “You, a jumped-up little Aisle constable, have the unmitigated gall to interfere with Spacedep, to access Spacedep files, to snoop into my department! I have a good mind—I have—!” Landreau suddenly clutched at his chest. His eyes protruded in DeVeer’s direction and then rolled up into his head as he slid to the floor.

  “Get a doctor!” Todd shouted, dropping to his knees beside the man. Rogitel knelt down and bent his head to Landreau’s chest.

  “His heart has stopped,” Rogitel said, his voice more expressionless than ever.

  “He doesn’t get out of it this easily,” Todd said, and flattened a hand over Landreau’s sternum. He hit it a short rap with the other fist and then started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

  Mike Solinari was beside them in a moment. “Dr. Moody is coming.” He looked at Landreau. “I don’t think anything can be done, Todd. Look at all that blood in his face. I think he had an apoplexy.”