Maelstrom

CHAPTER 10

NATURALLY, THE SHARKS could not be unloaded until they had been thoroughly inspected by everyone on the entire northern pole brave enough to enter the ship and face the monsters for whom they coined the Petaybean word that translated as "doom with fins."

The twins' geneticist father, Sean Shongili, was fascinated with the offworld creatures. He immediately buttonholed the shark clan matriarch, whose name was

Puna Mano'aumakua. He asked her so many earnest questions and listened to her with such flattering attention that the forbidding-looking woman started smiling a lot. Murel realized, with a mixture of amusement and horror, that the large grim shark lady was actually flirting with their da!

Clodagh, very sensibly, was far more intrigued with the Honu/land tortoises. She expressed surprise that the little Honu she had known previously as a water dweller now crawled along the ground on elephantine feet under a substantial armor of shell. "Practical," she said, nodding approval.

"What does Petaybee think of the sharks?" Murel asked Clodagh.

"Doesn't know them yet," she said. "When they are in the sea, the planet will sort out what to do with them." Meanwhile, fish both finned and shelled were delivered via boat and otter paw as Sky's relatives hastened to provide the newcomers with nonmammalian meals.

Sky dutifully stood near the tank and regaled the sharks with the generosity of the noble otters, both riverine and sea-as well as sky otters, of whom he was the only one-who were to be the shark's greatest guides and allies on Petaybee. And who, Sky pointed out repeatedly, tasted horrible and were known to be poisonous.

On the journey home, Marmie had ordered a second tank the same size as the one aboard the Piaf, and a barge to haul it down the river and out to sea.

The new tank was filled with water, and the sharks sedated again. Then one by one they were carried in the Honu's original tank to the new one on the barge already afloat on the river that ran from the Petaybee space port, through Kilcoole, all the way to the ocean.

The tortoises, in the interest of learning about their new home, said that they would walk the whole way.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Yana Maddock-Shongili, the twins' mother, said, as if the tortoises were her kids too, instead of old enough to be her grandparents. "Fall's just begun but there's snow in the air already."

The twins relayed this to Sky, who was anxious to get back into the river again. He had proposed to guide the tortoises to the sea. "Snow is fun!" he told the Honus. "If snow comes, we can all slide on it. Shells slide good!"

By then the twins' mother had hugged, kissed, and had someone else feed her children. The twins' mum was an excareer military officer, and very good she had been at it, they were sure. Much better at officering than at cooking. She almost had to be.

She had also seen the sharks and was far less enamored of them than her husband.

So when the twins asked to swim with Sky and guide the Honus to the sea, she agreed more readily than they'd expected.

"By all means go, swim and enjoy the sea before your ugly guests make it too perilous for me to let you go without an armed escort."

"Oh, Mum," Murel said, laughing. "The Manos are dangerous but they won't hurt us. They didn't even attack us when they were half starved, and that was before we saved their lives and all."

She felt it would only muddy the waters, so to speak, if she mentioned that during that first encounter she and Ronan had their teeth firmly embedded in the lead shark's tail.

Sis, she said we can. Let's quit while we're ahead, okay? Ronan said in thought talk.

"Nevertheless," Mum continued, "I want you to take Nanook and Coaxtl with you."

"Mum, they'll scare the otters," Murel said, winging it a little. The big cats, domestic and snow leopard, had been the twins' reluctant nannies when they were little kids. Though they still loved both of the large felines, they had long ago outgrown nursemaids of any species.

"Don't give me that nonsense," their mother replied in her briskest commanding officer voice, "I know you all communicate telepathically. The cats know the otters are off-limits for chasing or tormenting, much less as prey. Simply explain to the otters and other creatures on your mission-er, journey-that 'Nook and Co' are big pussycats who are there to protect all concerned. I'm sure you can make yourselves understood. Have I made myself understood?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Ronan said with a mock salute, to which Mum responded with a hug and a swat on the butt for them each as they ran toward the river.