Maelstrom (21 page)

You’re full of bubbles, seal-man,
Bitfin told him, and turned to his pod.
Any of you ever heard of a warm water lagoon with fish?

Sean shrugged and seemed to study the gray-and-white snowflake pattern knitted into the top of the mittens he now wore, along with other winter clothing, atop his dry suit.
Ah, but then you’re not from around these parts ordinarily, are you? Usually swim a bit farther south, right? And both the channel and lagoon in question are far too shallow for your great selves, so why would you hear of a place that’s of no use to you? Doesn’t matter, does it, when you can swim wherever you want in Petaybee’s great sea? I only mention it so you’ll be aware that the seals—we seals—have another way out. Pity for you to waste your time here with those other pods gathering to mate. It’s highly disappointed they’ll have such great handsome beasts as yourselves lacking for the mating.

Mating?

Oh, aye, saw it on the copter’s radar, which covers more area than my sonar or even yours. A superpod is forming up south of the volcano, about halfway between the cone and the southern landmass. Looked like twenty or thirty pods headed that way.

Now it’s you thinking we’ve bubbles for brains, to believe that sort of tale.
The senior whale had taken an interest in the conversation.
Even a seal-man should know that we pods have our ways of keeping in touch. We’ve sweethearts in those southern pods. They’d have let us know about the party.

Yes, they would have, and I feel badly about that, which is why I’m telling you now,
Sean said.
You were busy helping my folk recently, weren’t you? Not exactly alert for distant signals? Not been your usual relaxed sort of lifestyle lately, has it? The pods were still at some distance from your feeding grounds too, so you mightn’t have heard them anyway, but I reckon if you swim hard and fast you can meet up with the others just before the fun starts.

Black tails waggled back and forth in the air and water as the pod consulted. Sean wasn’t sure if the waggling indicated indecision on their part or derision. He also had no idea what had possessed him to come up with such a load of blarney, and him usually so partial to the truth. It had just come to him all of a sudden. He stifled his amazement at his own invention lest the pod pick up on it. He whistled a bit and tried to look unconcerned as he waited.

Bitfin separated from the pod and swam south, then suddenly leaped in the air, making a perfect arc in the water.
There it is! The invitation! They are calling us, brothers and sisters, just like seal-man said. Do you hear it now?
Another whale also left the pod, leaped, and confirmed Bitfin’s impression, and then it was twos and threes, and finally the whole pod, and away they went.

The power of suggestion was a wonderful thing, wasn’t it? Sean wondered to himself. Then he realized that his own hearing, less acute as a man than as a seal, seemed to be picking up distant whale song, though of course he couldn’t be sure.

The last black fin disappeared from view, which wasn’t very far in the dark waters and at night, despite the full moon. The aurora had faded to a wash of pale green diluted by the vastness of the sky. Sean turned back to give the seals the all clear and saw not a thing but Ke-ola warming himself by the heater.

“Where’d the little buggers go?” Sean asked. After that great load of codswallop he’d dispensed on their behalf, he at least expected them to be there to answer his questions.

Ke-ola shrugged and took a hand out of his clothing long enough to point inland. “While you were down there starin’ at the whales, the seals suddenly scooted off in that direction.”

“I’ll go have a look. Are you warmed up enough yet? Want to come along?”

“Bettah I start movin’ my feet before they fall off,” Ke-ola said, nodding.

They had pulled out of the water at the extreme point of the fjord, which was the only relatively low flat area. The rest of the shoreline was steeply ridged with glaciers. Looking back from their camp across the snowy expanse leading inland, the terrain appeared to be an unbroken level expanse. However, before they had walked another two hundred yards, the ground fell away into a steep dish filled with steamy water and seals.

Sean touched his mitten to the back of his parka hood, as if to scratch his head. “I could have sworn I was lying about this,” he told Ke-ola.

Ke-ola shook his head. “Man, I know this wasn’t here when we flew in here. I’d have noticed this kinda thing.”

The lagoon was sizable and clear, with a shimmer of steam rising from the surface. The seals were having a wonderful time catching fish and tossing them back and forth in the air.

“I didn’t see it either,” Sean admitted.

“Then how’d you know it was here?”

Sean thought about that. “Scientific intuition?” he asked lamely, the two terms being mutually contradictory as far as offworld science was concerned.

Ke-ola had had enough science classes to guffaw at this, so Sean felt he had to provide some basis for his remark. “What I mean to say is, with all the renewed volcanic activity in the sea, warming has been occurring all over, and we know that. So it isn’t unlikely that this sort of lagoon might have sprung up, or perhaps melted down. Of course, it could be the result of a glacial rift. They’re always shifting and changing their topography. Knowing that, I postulated something of the sort to the whales. It’s just a coincidence that there actually is such a place here.”

“Yeah, man, but if it wasn’t here before and then the minute you said it was, there it was, that’s kinda weird, don’t you think?”

Sean had to agree. His explanation had sounded flimsy even to him. So, abandoning science for the moment, he clapped Ke-ola on the back, saying, “Boyo, when you live as long as I have on a planet that has a mind of its own, you learn that weird things happen. Could be Petaybee knew about the whales wanting to mate and it let me know. Could also be that Petaybee was about to open up this lagoon and somehow communicated
that
to me too. Or it could be, once I made up the lie and the words were out of my mouth, Petaybee thought to itself, ‘Good idea!’ and made it happen. Whatever the case is, time to stop wondering about it and collect the seals’ share of the bargain.”

Before he did that, though, he took the mobile from his pocket to contact Yana.

She didn’t answer, but Sinead did. “How’re the kids?” she asked before he spoke.

“Don’t have them yet but I think we will soon. The thing is, Ke-ola needs to get back. He took a dunking. Warmed him up as well as we could out here but he should be where it’s warm.”

“I know the copter’s low on fuel, and I’m not sure how much is left at the supply depot but I’ll check.”

“Rick was planning to come back for us so he must reckon it’s possible,” Sean said.

“I’ll alert the folk at Perfect anyway and have them snocle or send out dog teams for you. They can take Ke-ola to shelter.”

“Good,” Sean said. “He seems okay now but I need to leave him here, so tell them to come as quickly as they can, will you? He’s still a cheechako and feels the cold more than we do. I’ve yet to find the twins, and I’ll need to go back in the water for that.”

“Will do. Ah, it’s started to snow. Doubt it will accumulate enough at this point to let us use our own dogs or snocles but it’s a start. There’s always the curly coats if all else fails. Slainté, Sean,” she said, using the old Gaelic toast to health, which on Petaybee was also a greeting and a farewell.

“Slainté, sis. See you soon I hope.”

“Sure you will,” she said.

CHAPTER 26

C
OMMUNICATIONS
O
FFICER
S
TEVEN
Guthe kept a channel open to Petaybee for as long as possible. Guthe was an easygoing fellow who saw humor in most situations and something to like in most people. He was not Irish but might as well have been, with his gift of gab and love of music and good times. He was adept, when he needed to be, at seeming mild as milk while stubbornly following his own agenda.

He drew the Corps specialist sent to oversee his station into conversations that would let Marmie’s dirtside associates know as much as possible about what was happening. He kept alert for an opportunity to notify one of her influential offplanet friends of the situation as well.

“So, Specialist Messer, you know much about this place we’re going to?”

“Gwinett? I know a lot about it. All of it bad. That lady must have pissed off a lot of people in high places.”

Guthe grinned and nodded. “Well, yeah, she does that with some people, I guess. But she’s a very good lady. I’d hate to see anything happen to her, no matter what they’re saying she did.”

“Don’t worry, buddy, you’ll be in the same place so you’ll be able to keep an eye on her. The whole crew is going down with her.”

Guthe clucked his tongue. “My my. Well, I hope the same thing doesn’t happen to you folks just for being part of all this when she’s released. Because she may have a few enemies but she’s got powerful friends as well. People on Petaybee will notice we’re AWOL sooner or later.”

Messer raised brows so blond they were almost invisible against his freckled skin. In fact, you could see the freckles right through his eyebrows. “Maybe so, but they won’t have long to wonder. Some of our contractees and the livestock are still down there, being detained by your accomplices. Colonel wanted to round her up first before she can pull any strings for that ice ball down there. Troops are on the way to reclaim what belongs to the company and arrest everyone responsible, directly or indirectly, for their removal. Sounds like a planetwide conspiracy to me. Turns out the two kids with your boss belong to the Shongilis, who got themselves named governors of the planet. They’ve been a pain in the company’s arse trying to hog the whole planet for themselves and a handful of other people. Your boss lady has interceded with the Federation for them but she won’t be able to save them this time. I wouldn’t count on her or any of you ever being released either, pal. People who go to Gwinett under this kind of circumstance usually have a way of disappearing.”

“I thought Gwinett was just a holding place pending a Federation hearing and maybe trial if they decide to take the charges in question seriously,” Guthe said, sounding surprised, though he had actually heard a thing or two about Gwinett in the past. Prisoners tortured to death before they even got to their cells. Sick prisoners left in filth where they died. Prisoners with open wounds made to clean cesspits or other jobs that would result in infection, amputation, death. Routine beatings by guards. It was all coming back to him now. Madame surely wouldn’t have to worry about that kind of thing, though. They wouldn’t dare treat her that way, would they?

As if reading his thoughts, the soldier said, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall. You can see how it might be real profitable for some folks to watch Mrs. Algemeine fall such a long way she never came up again. And it will be a big relief to the company bigwigs and some of our esteemed Federation Council members to have the Shongilis out of the way as well.”

Guthe gave a low whistle, realizing that out of the mouths of grunts came good insight into bad motives. “But they won’t make the injured people, young mamas, and little kids stay there, will they?”

“Not to worry. The injured ones probably won’t survive the first week. There’s a special island for orphans, where we can keep an eye on them. As for the young mamas . . . ” He waggled his thin blond eyebrows in a suggestive way that made Guthe suddenly like him even less than he was originally inclined. “We can always find something useful for them to do.”

R
ICK HAD ALERTED
Yana as soon as he received the
Piaf
’s transmission on the copter’s com. He fed it to the earphones she wore during the journey back to Kilcoole. Yana listened to each grim word but the burst was fairly brief. Within a few minutes the interference surrounding Petaybee from the volcanic activity scrambled the signal beyond all possibility of deciphering it.

Frag it all, the PTBs never stopped their harassment, did they? For a long period, Petaybee’s autonomy had been respected and they had been allowed to guide Petaybee’s affairs according to Federation guidelines. This was largely thanks to Marmie’s influence. So when Marmie offended Cally by showing him up for the incompetent coward he was, the colonel had evidently interested some of her powerful enemies in trumped-up charges that would remove her and them from stewardship of the planet. By now it was well known that you couldn’t take a Petaybean off Petaybee without killing them. That was no doubt fine with their enemies.

As she listened to the rest of the transmission, her teeth clenched angrily hearing the frightened, indignant questions of the young mothers and the crying of the children who sensed something was wrong. There were several bursts where the voice of First Officer Robineau asked after the comfort of her captors.

Later, as if accentuating the difference in priorities between the
Piaf
’s crew and their captors, Robineau’s voice rose amid the wails of the children. She announced that the ship’s cat, Zuzu, wanted to meet them. The wailing gradually turned to snuffles and then giggles and delighted squeals while the cat entertained the frightened kids. Meanwhile, Robineau talked in a low voice with the mothers. Her voice was lost in static before Yana could tell what she was saying, but she had heard enough.

It had been snowing heavily as the copter flew across the landscape, and Kilcoole was already thickly overlaid with drifts and folds of glistening snow by the time they landed.

Yana and Sinead stopped long enough to strap on snowshoes before hurrying to the village’s small but modern hospital and clinic. There, Clodagh and her assistant, Deirdre, dispensed soothing teas and herbal remedies. From the time they first arrived, the facility’s physicians had accepted the help of Petaybee’s native healers. It was a direct conduit to the planet’s own powerful healing properties. Though it had been mere hours since the injured were delivered, they seemed to have made considerable recovery already. However, everyone was perplexed by the
Piaf
’s sudden departure. They didn’t know enough yet to be furious or frightened.

Yana hung her parka on the rack inside the hospital’s mud room before going to find Clodagh to tell her about the transmission. She heard the mobile signal buzzing behind her but it wasn’t until Sinead touched her on the shoulder that the nature of the sound actually registered.

“Yana, Sean just called. He and Ke-ola are back where we left them. Ke-ola took a spill before they could reach Murel so now Sean’s got to go hunt for her again. Meanwhile, I called Perfect and they’re sending out a snocle for Ke-ola and others to wait for Sean and the kids. I checked with Rick and Johnny, but the soldiers who took the
Piaf
emptied the fuel station before they left and we’ve not even enough to make a round-trip as far as the snowline in the copter.”

“But there’s enough to get me there, right?” Yana asked, pulling on her mukluks. “There was enough fuel left in the tank when we returned for that, at least.”

“Yes, but how will you get the copter back?”

“We won’t. We’ll hide it when we go to ground ourselves, along with Clodagh and her patients and anyone else the PTBs are targeting with their witch hunt. I’ve warned Clodagh, and Deirdre has gone out into the village to organize the evacuation to the caves.”

Sinead grinned wryly. “These pests must be new to our fair planet. They don’t seem to have any idea what they’re messing with when they mess with Petaybee. It will be interesting to see what happens if they try to take our people out of the caves.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Yana said. “I just wish there was some way we could help the people on the
Piaf.
For now, I need to join Sean and the kids.”

“I’m going to find Aisling,” Sinead said. They both strapped their snowshoes on again. When they opened the clinic door, they were met by the rest of Kilcoole, people, track cats, dog teams, and curly coats, all laden with blankets and packs of provisions to sustain themselves and the hospital’s staff and patients.

F
ROM WHAT THE
seals had told him, Sean felt certain the kids were all right, or at least had been. The seals also claimed that the strange underwater city was not far. That was what he clung to as he battled the seas, though it could have been within a few lengths of him and he would not have known it. With the whales gone, the seals saw no reason to stay close to the lagoon or to be overly helpful. They also had no reason to struggle with the water as he was doing. The seas had roughened considerably since Ke-ola fell into the water, and now the waves towered higher than the tallest icebergs and plummeted so low they threatened to sweep the seaweed from the ocean floor.

Sean could hardly blame the seals. Though creatures would go here and there for food, mating, giving birth, most of them most of the time would quite literally “go with the flow.” The ocean was bigger than all of them and had a mind of its own that seemed distinctive even from the larger consciousness of the planet.

After Sean had been swimming what seemed an endless time, he spun around on the crest of a wave to judge his distance from shore. It looked as though he hadn’t moved from the place where he put in.

Mountainous waves tossed him back and forth while the field of icebergs tumbled around him, threatening to grind him between their jagged edges and battering him as they crashed past.

He tried to search for the kids using sonar, but the icebergs and the violence of the waves created constant interference. He called and called to them both with his seal voice and his thought-voice, but he couldn’t hear himself think, much less expect them to do so.

O
F COURSE YOU
can go home,
Kushtaka assured the twins,
but you can’t go out in that.

But we’re not far from shore,
Murel assured her,
and we’re sea creatures. Or s’posed to be. We can swim in rough seas, right, Ro?

It is awfully rough out there, sis,
he replied dubiously. Kushtaka had dissolved the walls of the sursurvu to ensure that all surveillance devices were in place and all of her people were safely back inside the city. Kushtaka, the twins, Tikka and Sky, Mraka and Puk, surveyed the fitful seas topside while all around them business went on as calmly and matter-of-factly as usual.

But I didn’t tell Mum and Da that I was coming here,
Murel said.
They’ll be so worried.

Yes, but without justification at this point, whereas if you go out in that, all of their fears may be realized,
Kushtaka told her.

Murel and Ronan stood there with the others watching as the waves scooped so low that the dome momentarily was all but exposed to the night sky. Kushtaka switched from one view to another, surveying the area where devices were recently planted, scrolling over the roaring seas.

The field of icebergs of which Murel’s haven had been the handiest specimen now danced like oversized snowflakes on the pitching seas.

Kushtaka focused on that section, watching the icy structures crash together, spin apart, rise like white stars, and fall like comets.

And amid all of these was a lone seal, trying to swim but rolling over and over like a log.

Da!
the twins cried together.

You can’t be sure it is your father,
Kushtaka said.

They were sure, however, and now that they could see him, they felt him calling them. Why else would he be out there? A regular seal would have had his herd and sense enough to be on land this close to shore.

Bring him in, Kushtaka. He’ll get killed out there,
Murel pleaded.

He’s too far,
she said.
The beam can’t reach him.

And so they watched him struggle, disappearing and reappearing until he finally failed to reappear at all.

They huddled together and Kushtaka watched them closely. If she still wanted revenge on them for Jeel, this was a good one.

But she looked as distressed as if seeing them lose sight of their father was like her losing Jeel all over again.

Kushtaka, let me,
Mraka said, stepping in front of the leader and raising a paw. The scene shifted and she somehow caused it to pan back and forth, then shifted it again, panned again, a third time, the same procedure, calmly, as if it were a routine she performed every day. Then,
Ah, there he is. A bit the worse for wear but closer. I think we have him now. Puk?

They looked around but Puk was no longer there, though they heard his thought,
I know.

Da was still trying to swim but he could barely move and mostly just washed back and forth, up and down, with every massive movement of the sea. They felt him calling again, and they called back,
Hold on, Da. Help is coming. We’re here. We’re safe. It’s okay.

Da’s head, which had been drooping wearily, lifted in alarm as the horizontal whirlpool beam drilled toward him. They saw his mouth open to bark before the beam grabbed him and pulled him down.