Deluge

CHAPTER 13

A SECOND BOAT PLIED the waters of Gwinnet’s sea. It left the main compound at the same time the twins were fighting the squid for their lives, so although a small dark figure stood on the bow with binoculars, and the exploratory boat’s sonar scanned the seas for large mammals swimming near the surface, it missed the twins. Instead, it landed at the island containing the children’s compound, where, with a disgruntled sigh, the small dark figure went ashore to find her grandson and see what he might accidentally tell her of her true quarry.

“Professor Mabo, what are you doing here?” Rory asked when he saw her in the visitor’s hut to which he’d been summoned by Lieutenant Bunyon. When Professor Mabo had taught at Versailles Station, she had insisted that he call her by the same title the other kids used. He’d learned to be wary of his grandmother, so even though she seemed to be regarding him with sadness and sympathy, he didn’t trust her.

“I am here not as your teacher but as your grandmother,” she said. “I know you feel I was harsh with you when I taught at the station, but I acted as I did for your own good. You would not have wanted the other children to feel that I singled you out for favoritism. Children can be very cruel, Rory.”

“So can family,” Rory retorted. She was not going to win him over so easily. It was her fault that he and his folks had been treated like criminals and brought here.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said. “But since you do, perhaps it will make what I have to say easier.

I’m sorry to tell you that my daughter and her husband did not survive the flight.”

“You’re lying!” he exclaimed, shocked. “Why wouldn’t they survive? You had them bring us here. I heard the soldiers talking about it before we were put on the ship.”

“Rory, prison duty changes people. Soldiers who have had otherwise exemplary records become hardened, even to their own people, and show no mercy. Your parents attempted escape-I feel certain they were trying to locate you. The guards overreacted. I have had them punished.”

“Yeah, you’re good at that,” Rory said. “What were you punishing us for exactly?”

“I had no intention of punishing you. On the contrary, I simply was trying to protect my loved ones from being implicated in the crimes committed by Marmion de Revers Algemeine. Your parents’ association with her has become hazardous for them and embarrassing for me.”

“I guess so, since you say they’re dead and everything,” he said bitterly. But the news was too new for him to truly grieve for the loss of his parents. He was just reacting to her with the distrust and dislike he’d learned she deserved. Later, alone, he’d think about what she said, but now he was not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing him upset. “Good thing you took measures so we won’t embarrass you anymore.”

She opened her arms and reached for him, apparently intending to hug him, but he sat back in his chair.

The two of them were alone in one of the huts, seated on comfortable cushioned chairs, with a pitcher of fruit punch and a plate of little cakes between them. He’d been wondering since they’d arrived how to swipe the cakes to use as bribes with the other kids.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Rory. I have tried to tell you this as gently as possible, before you find out some other way.”

She sounded to him like she thought she was the one being abused. He would have been more upset if he hadn’t overheard the guards’ conversation aboard the shuttle from the mainland. They’d said nothing about his parents being killed, and he felt sure that that Austin guy would have tormented him with it if he could have.

“Oh dear, the other news probably will not be received any better.”

“What other news?” he asked in a skeptical tone.

“The people from Halau aboard the ship from Petaybee. None of them survived either. The prison officials had decided not to tell the children, but I feel that that is unfair to them. They should know that they’ve been orphaned so they can make choices appropriate to their status when looking to the future.”

“That’s real thoughty of you, Gran,” he said as disrespectfully as he dared. “How did they happen to die?”

“Well, dear, the elders were frail, and the young mothers, some of them, pregnant-you have been a very sheltered child and cannot possibly know what that prison is like. They perished very quickly.”

“Sounds like it. Any other good news?”

“Not for you, but I understand that children whose description matched that of Ronan and his sister were found on the space station and brought here at the same time you were. We did not part on a very good note, but I do think they should know-could you bring them here, please? The matron did not seem able to locate them.”

“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.