Maelstrom

CHAPTER 18

BY THE TIME the giant otter guards dumped Ronan into another of their poky little rooms, his flippers ached from being used as handles. There was no need for them to be so pushy. It was fine with him to stay here while Murel swam out to negotiate with the sharks. He had hoped to spend the time taking a closer look at the city, though, and was disappointed to be penned up again.

Then Tikka vanished a wall, which seemed to be the alien equivalent of opening a door. If they closed a door, no opening was visible in the wall at all, and when they opened a door, the wall vanished. Otherwise, people just came and went through the open holes in the walls. He didn't know if that meant those rooms were without doors. From what he'd seen, they were probably more public places.

He was alarmed to find that the formerly playful Tikka was angry with him. It's all your fault, you and your mean fish! she told him, sending her thoughts so hard that his poor furry head seemed about to burst with the force of them. This was the downside of being telepathic. If someone yelled in regular talk, it was possible to ignore or escape them. When someone started yelling their thoughts, however, it hurt. It was impossible to think of anything else until they stopped.

Whoa, whoa, lassie, he told her in the tone he'd heard his father use with the female family members when they were upset with him. Slow down, will you? I hear you but you're sending so hard I don't understand what it is I'm hearing.

What exactly is my fault? Has something happened to Sky? He's not with you, but as you can see, he's not with me either.

They ate him! she wailed.

Someone ate Sky? Who would do such a terrible thing to such a great little guy? I thought your people were friendly to otters. You are otters part of the time. That's cannibalism, eating Sky. He was as upset as she was by then, and close to tears.

She didn't seem to understand his questions and didn't answer them. Instead, she continued her rant. Mother saw it all. Your sister swam too slow and the mean fish got Jeel and ate him.

Oh, no! he said. So let me get this straight. Sky is okay but your brother was eaten?

I don't care about the otter. I don't know what happened to him. Jeel is gone! Your new fish ate him.

Tikka, Tikka, please, I'm sorry for your loss. I truly am. He was relieved Sky was okay but tried hard to conceal his gladness. Of course, he wasn't glad Tikka's brother had been killed by the sharks, but it wasn't as if he knew Jeel, and Sky was his friend.

You just think you're sorry, Tikka said spitefully. We didn't hurt anyone or anything. We saved your father and your sister but you couldn't leave us alone.

You had to bring those new people and those horrible big fish here to eat Jeel. I hate you!

Somehow, he hadn't thought life-forms as alien-looking as these deep sea otter/ jellyfish people would love or hate anything or anyone. All the offworlders he had ever met were human like himself-well, mostly like himself, transplants from old Terra. Kushtaka sounded as cold and scientific as Dr. Mabo, as if everything was some big experiment and she was above temper tantrums. She certainly hadn't been affectionate with Tikka like a real mum would be. But Tikka wasn't a bit detached about this. She was furious, and now that she'd shut up for a moment, he could feel her grief, and her fear as well. He understood then what her thought yelling had been too loud to say. These people, as adults, weren't all that comforting to be around, but Jeel and Tikka had been as close to each other as he was to Murel.

That's right, Tikka said, reading him and giving him an appraising look that was worthy of her mother. I'll never see Jeel again, and now you'll never see your sister again or your parents or your nasty fish either.

At that, the room seemed to elongate, all of the other walls disappeared, and outside the city's invisible force field the sea spun like the rotors of a copter.

THE SEA HAD quickly subsided to comparative calm shortly after the whirlpool's localized typhoon. Its once more crystal blue waters lapped the volcano's skirts with small wavelets.

The first thing Murel and the survivors of the boat accident felt was a slight tremor in the black rock beneath them. Then the clear blue-green pools in the rocks shimmied and sloshed in their stone bowls.

Murel wrinkled her nose as she caught a strong wave of sulfurous stench. Above them a pillar of smoke pumped into the clear blue sky.

"How fast is it a fishing boat can go, Seamus?" Da asked the captain of the wrecked vessel.

"Not fast enough, I fear. If our friends immediately put into the water when they were called upon four hours ago, they won't be more than a third of the distance."

"Puna, will your Manos give you a lift again out of these waters?" Da asked.

"Those who are not wounded, yes. But the wounded will not be able to hang on, and besides, you can't expect a Mano to ignore the scent of blood indefinitely."

"No indeedy," Mum said with a quirk to the side of her mouth. "That would clearly be an imposition. So what we'll do is get the able-bodied personnel off the copter except for Rick and Johnny, making way for the wounded to ride. If they've time for two trips, well and good. If not, well, we clearly can't trust the Manos with nonrelatives, so perhaps, Sean, you had best go see if you can find some of those apologetic orcas to provide the taxi service to the rescue vessels for the rest of us."

Da saluted, as he sometimes did when Mum was being bossy-if efficient and right, of course-"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," stepped into waist-high water, stripped off his dry suit, and let Mum harness it to his back.

"Wait, Da, I'm coming too," Murel said, and made her transformation in the same manner. She lingered a moment, though, to see what happened. If the volcano erupted all of a sudden, she would save Mum if she had to slap her silly with a flipper to get her to come.

Mum swam to the copter to tell the others her plan, and Murel saw Pet, Ke-ola,

Keoki, and a man who reminded her a bit of a small bear jump into the water and head for shore. They began carrying the injured people aboard. The copter waited until they were ashore once more then lifted off, whipping up waves that made it hard for Murel to see more as she bobbed up and down in their hills and valleys.

MARMION STAYED WITH the Piaf while Johnny, Pet, and Raj flew out to help look for the missing twins. Someone had to stay there and host the new refugees still lodged aboard the ship while accommodations were being arranged for them.

This was something of an inconvenience, since Marmie felt she had neglected her own business enterprises while assisting her friends. The lack of reliable interplanetary communications from the volatile Petaybee made it difficult to keep in touch with her managers, vice chairpeople and presidents, her boards and department chiefs.

In some ways, being so isolated was restful, but she had begun to feel that she had rested too long. She had every confidence that the twins would be located soon, unharmed. Probably, their elders would learn in time that during their absence the children had gained some benefit for their planet and all concerned. Once the Maddock-Shongilis were thus reunited, she and her crew must bid their erstwhile guests adieu and return to Versailles Station. Some intermittent stops at this world or that moon along the way no doubt would be necessary to quench corporate brush fires. She had that to look forward to as soon as they were clear of the magnetic interference from Petaybee.

If she spent any more time here, she might become like Yana, so used to the planet she too would develop the odd adaptation with the ugly name "brown fat." Then she could travel through the coldest weather like some spacefaring voyageur.

Perhaps she should have a parka designed for her from the ancient striped blanket of the Hudson Bay Company? But once she developed that characteristic-not that she seriously imagined that she would-she would be no more able to leave this world for any prolonged period than Yana, Sean, or Clodagh.

No, no, it would not do. She must be on her way as soon as the bйbйs were found and the newcomers lodged locally, pending completion of their own housing. Most inconvenient that she was not even able to send for more Nakatira cubes. Perhaps she would convince dear Yoshi Nakatira himself to deliver them and see to what good use his product had been employed.

"Madame, the helicopter has returned. There are wounded aboard."

"Wounded?"

"A freak typhoon, Madame, upset the shark tug."

"No one was eaten, I hope?"

"No, Madame. But four injured. One rather badly. Shall we bring them aboard?"

"I think not. If you can discover their family names, I will let their families know that they are safe now and you may take them to Clodagh in Kilcoole if they are able to travel by rougher means than copter, or send for her to come here. The twins?"

"Ronan is still reported missing, Madame, though apparently Murel reappeared in time to assist with getting the shipwrecked passengers safely to the volcanic island."

"Hmph," Marmie said, "however safe that may be."

"With your permission, Madame, we will attend to the wounded as you instruct and give the copter clearance to return for the other shipwrecked personnel, including Chief Chan, Captain Green, Governor Maddock-Shongili, and Mr. Norman."

"By all means," she said. "That particular area of Petaybee remains most tempestuous in nature. Is there room for all aboard the copter?"

"No, Madame, but the fishing fleet is en route to transport the stranded people as well. The copter can ferry them quickly between the island and the boats."

"Then they must go immediately," Marmie said.

"One more thing, Madame."

"Yes?"

"The governors ask if you will employ the Piaf's sensors to see if any vessels have launched from Petaybee within the last few hours. The typhoon is said to have been the result of some sort of launch, but it is uncertain whether or not a vessel left the planet."

She toggled the com switch to her navigations officer and explained the situation.

She spent the next half hour to forty-five minutes notifying the families still aboard the Piaf of the situation, consoling them and urging the adult family members of the injured to go to them. The children would be perfectly safe aboard the Piaf while Clodagh healed her patients.

When the com unit played her personal code again, she felt sure it was First Officer Robineau notifying her of the information gleaned from the sensors. It was a bit early for the copter to return but perhaps Ronan had been found after all or, heaven forbid, the volcanic island was too active to approach.

But it was another sort of disaster altogether.

"An Intergal Company Corps vessel just docked in the next bay, Madame."

"Without authorization?" she asked. Had Yana or Sean authorized such a landing, they would have mentioned it to her before they left.

"They have authorization under Federation Code IM87492XP. They request-and I use the term loosely, Madame," Com Officer Guthe's voice betrayed some of the wry humor he showed off-duty but generally managed to avoid while handling ship's business, "permission to board. They claim to have a warrant for your arrest and the confiscation of the Piaf."

"Merde alors! What now?" Marmie exclaimed.