Power Play

6

Brother Granite did not have to go far to find the believers he sought. Many people were already searching for something better, something they didn't have, something to lift them out of the ordinariness of their lives, to put them in touch with greatness.

What could be greater than an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-embracing planet? Even Dr Luzon, who had been very difficult for Petaybee to convince, recognized that precept now. That was why Dr Luzon had sent him forth, to spread the news to those in need of hope.

‘Braddock, my boy, I was in error,' Dr Luzon had said from his hospital bed. 'That planet is indeed sentient. I mocked it and it rose up against me.’

‘Oh, Doctor, I'm so glad you agree,' Braddock had said with considerable relief. 'I - er - came to the same conclusion.’

‘Well, of course you did. You're a very perceptive fellow. That's why you have my trust. And you do have it, son. In fact, now that we know the truth about Petaybee, hallowed be its name, it occurs to me that our doubts may have been for a very special reason, that we may have been where we were, when we were, for a very special purpose.’

‘Protecting the Company's interests…’

A look of annoyance momentarily crossed the doctor's high brow and ascetic mouth. His expression changed so quickly that Braddock felt that the doctor had probably suffered a twinge of pain. After all, he had been severely injured in the earthquake. 'No, my boy, I mean an even higher purpose. We were doubters and we were made to believe in the positive force of Petaybee. I see now that we were put on the spot as witnesses. It is our duty now to go forth among other worlds and spread this news to others. Indeed, it is up to us to make sure that others are able to contact Petaybee and Petaybee can expand its influence beyond those few insular settlers we met.’

‘But, sir, I didn't get the impression that any more people were wanted.’

‘Not by the settlers, perhaps. They wish to keep the wonder to themselves, to have Petaybee serve them alone. As for the planet, because its people are selfish, it has had little opportunity to expand its influence to others. That is our purpose.’

‘Ours, sir?’

‘As I have lain here, reviewing all that happened to us on Petaybee, I have reached some inescapable conclusions, besides those I have just imparted to you. One is that I must use my resources and facilities to help in as selfless a way as possible to expiate my sin to Petaybee. However, my physical condition', and he waved his hand at his legs, stretched before him on the bed, 'prevents me from taking as active a part as I would like. There is also the fact that my name and my connection with the Company might be construed as a conflict of interests in what I propose we do. Therefore, so that association does not stand in the path of my expiation, I must begin by firing you.’

‘I'm afraid I don't quite understand, sir,' Braddock said cautiously. Normally, if the doctor was unhappy with him, he had no problem figuring out exactly how he had failed his employer. But the doctor had not given him any indication that would cause Braddock to think he was going to be fired. Why, even the beaming, kindly expression on his intelligent face did not look like the expression of someone who was firing someone else.

‘Only so that you will no longer be associated with me, of course,' Dr Luzon said hastily, noticing Braddock's confusion. 'In fact, I don't even want it known that I am setting you up in a business that will facilitate our mutual desire to help people discover the magic of Petaybee.’

Braddock gawked at his erstwhile employer.

‘You see, Braddock, I am going to set you up in business. The transport business. So that you can travel easily throughout this star system and all others controlled by the Company.’

‘You are, sir?' Then, the light slowly dawned on him. 'Ah! So that I can tell others about the planet, sir?’

‘That's it, Braddock. Absolutely correct. You will form a company which will enable you to help those searching for the nirvana which only Petaybee can provide to reach the planet. A transport company. Now then, I know a thing or two about how people's minds work, how to discreetly encourage them to do the right thing. Some people we will be able to attract simply by appealing to what interests them. The wealth of animal life on the planet, for instance, should appeal to sportsmen. And of course, there will be financiers hoping to benefit by the Company's necessary withdrawal. We are not playing favourites here. We'll carry anyone who can pay the fare. But there are others who will want to come because they have relatives there, from whom they were separated during the Company's relocation programmes following land purchases after the various Terran wars. But many, Braddock, will simply hunger for a greater truth, a higher purpose, than any they have known. They must have a leader they can follow. You, Braddock, will become that leader, but not as Braddock Makem…’

Thus the PTS transport company was conceived.

Thus Brother Granite received his name and his instruction in the sort of language to use in bringing the truth about Petaybee to other worlds.

And it was good.

Gal-3 - Several days later

This whole CIS thing wasn't working out the way Diego had thought it would, but he was glad he'd come along anyway, just to keep Bunny's head straight if nothing else. Marmie was a nice lady and all that, but he could have done without the niece and nephew. The nephew was way too nice to Bunny and the niece kept trying to get her to act and dress like shipside girls. Diego liked her the way she was already.

He had looked forward to her reactions to the advanced gadgetry that was part of shipboard life and had imagined her repairing something she hadn't known existed until then, but every time he started pointing something out, Charmion got bored and suggested going to the fancy gymnasium where Bailey impressed Bunny and depressed Diego - who had never been a jock - with his gymnastic prowess.

And he couldn't really say anything about it to Bunny. She was like some little kid who'd never seen candy before. He, of course, was already pretty familiar with all this stuff, though neither of his parents ever inhabited the same lofty circles as Marmion Algemeine. But Bunny, who couldn't imagine doing anything athletic in less than sixteen layers of down and fur, was easily swayed and tried very hard to learn what Bailey and Charmion had been doing all their lives.

Meanwhile, Marmion and her crew were keeping the colonel entertained and as busy as possible, but Diego could tell that Yana was getting a little antsy when they'd been there a week and the CIS hearing still hadn't convened. Every day he got up thinking, today we'll do what we came here for. Yana will tell them how it is and Bunny will speak for the planet and maybe I'll sing them my song, then we'll go home. He should have known better. His dad was always complaining about how long it took the brass to move on anything significant.

There was one delay after another. Anaciliact was away on another assignment and Farringer Ball, who represented the Company's interests, had been stricken with a mysterious illness that was sweeping through the upper echelons of the power structure on other stations. Ball normally inhabited Gal-3 but had been away conferring with the leaders of other terraformed colonies when the illness struck.

That was the scuttlebutt anyway - the details were being kept fairly hush-hush. Not that Diego cared, except for the inconvenience it was causing him. While his father's recent illness made him pity anyone who was very sick, Farringer Ball had never seemed particularly human to him. Trust a bigwig to show his only signs of humanity just when it would royally screw it up for everyone else. Diego wondered what would happen next to detain them.

The colonel was anxious, too, he could tell. One day she and Sally swung by to collect Bunny on the way to the doctor. Yana was getting checked for her pregnancy and she wanted to see if Bunny was having any problem being cut off from the planet.

When she returned, Bunny was oddly quiet and fingered the little bag of Petaybean dirt that now looked so incongruous with her modern fuchsia and teal striped bodytight.

‘How'd it go, Bun?' he asked her.

‘OK,' she said. 'The doctor says my immune system should hold up a few more years and my brown fat deposit isn't large enough yet to make me uncomfortable off-planet. After I'm about twenty or so, though, I won't be able to leave for very long, ever, or I'll end up like Lavelle.’

‘So what? You don't want to leave Petaybee anyway, do you?’

‘Not for good, no, but Charmion asked me to come to her family's chalet in the Strigian Alps sometime to help her set up a dog team and ski. She showed me pictures and it's really beautiful there - all these beautiful houses and there's flowers all the time, even when the mountains are covered in snow. It's not that I want to leave Petaybee, really. It's just that I want to be able to if- you know, if I want to.’

‘Not me,' he said, folding his arms across his chest. 'I've been lots of places and Petaybee is the best.’

‘Sure it is,' she said. 'But at least you got to pick.’

‘You'll get a chance to wear those formal clothes this evening,' Marmion said, emerging from her office to the main room where her guests were lounging. They had spent the morning exploring yet another level as well as making another visit to the extensive gymnasium which fascinated Bunny. Marmion was delighted with the way Bailey and Charmion were filling their days on Gal-3 and the youngsters all appeared to like each other, though young Diego seemed rather quiet at times and for the last day or two Bunny had been less bubbly than usual.

Once Yana and Bunny had been assured by a visit to Marmion's personal physicians that their absence from Petaybee was causing harm to neither of them nor to Yana's unborn child, Yana had relaxed considerably. Afterwards, Sally had induced Yana to enjoy some of the beauty treatments available on Second Level. But, even with so much to do, the continual delays in convening the CIS hearing were irritating and nerve-racking.

Distraction on a grander scale was needed, Marmion decided.

Calling for the attention of her guests, she waved a sheaf of messages in her hand at them all. 'We could go to a party on every single level. How do they find out so quickly that I'm back?' The question was rhetorical. 'But I've chosen just the one for us,' she went on. 'A sort of welcome for a new executive in…' she peered down at the sheet in her hand, '… oh, Rothschild's. So everyone who is anybody on Gal-3 will come but that limits the attendance nicely.’

‘It does?' Yana asked, raising her eyebrows in surprised amusement.

‘Certainly. There aren't that many "anybodies" on Gal-Three at the moment.' Marmion gave a trill of her delightful laughter. 'I already checked the guest list and most of them are the sort of people I'd like you to meet anyway while you're here. So that's settled. We'll leave at 2030 hours. All right? And everyone dressed in your finest.’

Bunny and Diego groaned while Bailey and Charmion looked quite pleased.

‘That'll be loads of fun,' Charmion said and turned to encourage Bunny and Diego. 'This'll be much nicer than you know. More like what you were describing as a latchkay, only Gal-Three style.’

‘People sing?’

‘The ones who are paid to,' Charmion said, 'but if you want to join in, no-one will object.’

‘Could I see you a moment, Yana?' Marmion asked, gesturing politely for Yana to join her in her office.

The social-lady side of Marmion dropped immediately the panel slid shut behind Yana. Marmion seated herself at a desk that was neatly piled with disks and vari-coloured flimsies while three screens behind her scrolled detailed reports, graphs, and tables of figures.

‘Too many people know I have just returned from Petaybee,' she said, rattling her fingers on the intricately inlaid wood of the desktop. 'Far, far too many people have been apprised of everything - everything - about Petaybee. Anaciliact holoed in from this emergency mission of his and when I told him what's been happening he was livid - if you can imagine that consummate diplomat in such a state.' Marmion rose and began pacing the room, head down, one arm across her chest supporting the other as she rubbed her forehead. 'I was right to give you that safety disk, and right to assign you guardians. All of you. I must remember to assign a few to myself,' she said with an impish grin,' though with the security available on Gal-Three, they might end up stumbling over each other while we're dragged off through a service hatch or something.' Her smile indicated how unlikely that was.

‘If you're concerned about Petaybee, Marmion, don't be,' Yana said, hoping to relieve her unusual anxiety.

‘I don't worry about Petaybee at all, Yana,' Marmion replied. 'It has proved well able to take care of itself. It's all the… the types that are homing in on it. There simply aren't the facilities to cope with them and I'm sure that's one of the reasons they've been sent.' She frowned.

‘You mean to discredit Sean's abilities as administrator?’

‘Precisely.’

‘Did you happen to hear how soon the meeting we're due at is going to convene?' Yana, too, didn't wish Sean inundated with problems when he had no-one trained to help. Even, and especially, Petaybee.

‘Not soon enough,' Marmion said in what was for her a harsh voice. She flung up her hands in frustration. 'I don't think it's all delaying tactics and, of course, Farringer Ball is quite legitimately ill, some sort of a virus he contracted, so we do have to wait on his return to good health.' She made a little moue of concern over that delay. 'However, Intergal has conceded - well, CIS has forced them to concede - that the planet has prior rights to its mineral and metal wealth and anything else that might be valuable. They're pulling out - as fast as they can.' She made a face. 'That's unlike them, too. But then, they've never had a planet to face as an opponent. Must make a difference. No bribery will work in this instance.’

‘Must make it very difficult for Intergal to change its modus operandi.’

Marmion grinned and chuckled. 'If only you knew… But then,' she said more briskly, 'you probably do.’

‘Not on the level you do, Marmion.’

‘Now, tonight,' the financier went on,' there are certain people I'd like you to talk to.’

‘You mean, show me off to?’

‘Well, that, too,' and Marmion flicked her fingers at Yana's qualification. 'You're the best spokesperson Petaybee could have.’

‘Not Bunny? When she's lived there all her life?’

‘Her ingenuousness may be useful, to a degree, but you're a military person with experience on many planets and situations. Your remarks will carry more weight. Also, these are the people Petaybee should get to know for the clout they have in intergalactic research and development.' She added quickly when she saw Yana frown, 'The good kind, not the search-and-strip type of operation. It may well constitute a challenge to them, you see, and they need challenges.’

‘"Life gets ted-jus, don't it?" ' Yana asked with a fake yawn.

Marmion grinned. 'Precisely. Been there, done that, seen this.’

‘Care to give me a briefing?’

‘It's all here,' Marmion said, handing Yana a disk. 'I have compiled vital statistics on all my peers. Some of them are even nice.' Then she saw Yana's surprised expression and made a little moue. 'Well, they have them on me! Must keep track of the competition. Have a listen and then if you've any questions… Oh, blast it!' For her screen bleeped the urgent code. Yana waved at her and left the room, a departure she sensed Marmion would appreciate.

When Yana entered with Marmion, she gasped at the splendour of their host's incredible lounge with its vaulting roof of clear plasglass opening on to the stars and all 'outdoors' as she thought of it. Behind her, she heard Bunny react to the place, but more with a trenchant disgust than amazement. She smiled to herself, thinking that Bunny would not be easily corrupted by the beauties of her new environment even if she was being more subtly wooed by its gadgetry and mechanics.

Their hostess, so suavely elegant that Yana was more than relieved to be as well attired, undulated over to them, both hands held out to Marmion. They exchanged pecks to the air over their cheeks and then Yana was introduced to Pleasaunce Ferrari-Emool.

‘You might have heard of Ples's company, Yana, Nova Bene Drugs…’

Pleasaunce reacted more favourably to Yana than she did to her.

‘Only you, Marmie, could have stolen the march on that one,' cooed Pleasaunce eyeing Yana, her cold glance taking in every fold of the 'gown' and the single crystal pendant that Marmie had insisted Yana wear as the crowning touch to her costume. A delicately arched eyebrow twitched and Yana wondered just how much the bauble was worth. Plenty, to judge by the cold glint in the woman's eyes. 'And how deee-vine to welcome you in person, Colonel Maddock-Shongili.’

Another unexpected feature of the last few days was how easily all these Station folk seemed to pronounce double- and triple-barrelled names, giving just the right emphasis on the syllables so that the names flowed rather than stumbled out of their mouths.

‘How gracious of you to include us in your little party, Lady Ferrari-Emool,' Yana replied, doing the peck in the air bit as if she had never done anything else to greet friends.

She caught Marmion's delighted but surprised expression out of the corner of her eye. Yana had felt damned foolish practising both the salute and the names in front of her mirror ever since Marmion had announced that they were attending this party. It paid off as any good briefing did.

The hostess had paid attention to her social secretary, too, for she got out Diego's suddenly doubled name of Etheridge-Metaxos and Bunny's Rourke without a quaver. She did not, of course, greet Sally or Millard as effusively but did gracefully wave them in the direction of the vast spread of refreshments.

‘Now you must meet the guest of honour,' Pleasaunce said, linking an arm with Marmion and leading the adults to the cluster of gorgeously attired men and women. She pushed her way through in such a practised way that no-one could have taken offence, though there were some querulous glances at being displaced - until the displacer was recognized. 'Macci, darling, you simply must meet Marmion de Revers Algemeine and her guests, Colonel Yanaba Maddock-Shongili, Buneka Rourke and Diego Etheridge-Metaxos, all from that incredible new world which, it transpires, is sentient. All by itself.’

Macci, who hadn't exactly welcomed his hostess's interruption - he'd been talking to two adoring young creatures - now let the full force of a Charm Nine smile break across his sculptured features. When the two girls moved slightly away, Yana could see that he wore one of the very fashionable SecondSkins, a shimmering tight-fitting garment that only the very athletically trim could wear to advantage. And he did. Though he wore a discreet - if decorative - loincloth where some of the other guests sort of let everything hang out. Despite that subtlety, he had a body almost as magnificent as Sean's, a centimetre or two taller than her husband and broader across the shoulders: not bad, actually, she had to admit.

‘I know, Marmie,' he said, giving her a paternal kiss on her forehead while his eyes were locked on to the other three.

When he took Yana's hand, she experienced a sort of electric shock in the contact that surprised her -hand-fasted as she was to Sean Shongili and with every intention of staying that way. But the man was unfairly laden with such charisma that Yana reached for the locket under her dress and pressed it hard. Macci - she heard Pleasaunce listing his pedigree - Macchiavelli (no less) Sendal-Archer-Klausevitch. And the woman rolled it off her tongue trippingly.

‘What did your parents ever have in mind when they saddled you with that mess?' Yana heard herself saying. She knew she was being terribly gauche but she resented the effect his magnetism had on her.

‘Trying to win relative favour,' Macci said, squeezing her hand in a very practised and sexy manner but he let her have it back the moment she pulled away. 'We were the cadet branch, you see.’

‘Ah! Still?’

‘The family motto is "We Shall Contrive",' he replied and his deep blue eyes danced down at her.

‘I'd say you're a practised hand at that,' she said, wanting to laugh because she couldn't believe she was playing this sort of game. Then she realized that it was a game and even if he were a much more versatile and accomplished player than she'd ever be, it could be fun!

‘I do my possible.' And he laughed with her now.

‘Oh, dear Macci, we won't detain you further,' Pleasaunce said archly, and importunately drew both Yana and Marmion away from his enchanted circle.

‘There are so many other people who're dying to meet you.’

They might have been dying to meet her but she damned near died of the boredom of repeating herself: Yes, she came from Petaybee; yes, the planet was sentient; no, the planet did not ask nor answer questions; no, she hadn't had vile nightmares and been visited by strange thoughts; yes, the planet was cold and had very little in the way of technology because the cold banjaxed equipment; yes, everyone was healthy there and lived long lives; yes, it was possible it was the healthy diet and no, she wouldn't recommend it as a holiday resort - in the summer the insects ate you alive and in the winter you could easily freeze to death. No, that didn't sound like a friendly place but it was, and yes, the planet really was friendly, too, despite its weather which wasn't precisely the planet's fault. No, the Planetary Terraform B process was not at fault. Petaybee was unique as far as planets went. It went on all night, until the smile on her face felt pasted so she was glad when Marmion signalled that they could leave.