Power Lines (16 page)

The pilot didn’t respond to what the elder said but came forward to kneel before her. Before
her
and so unworthy for such an honor! He even looked her in the eye and spoke in a kind voice that almost made her weep.

“You look a long way from home, alannah. Are you lost? Was that big ol’ kitty what you folks down here use for a track-cat?”

Goat-dung sank to her knees before him and bowed her head. “Please forgive the companion of this ignorant and despicable child, O Captain of Angels. Coaxtl befriended me out of pity, but now that my own kind are here, she has fled from fear of the righteous. For are not all animals to be meat and fur for the company men?”

“Where did you hear such drivel?” the captain replied in a disgusted tone of voice. Goat-dung did not expect that.

“Did I get it wrong?” she asked fearfully. “Forgive me if I misquoted the Shepherd Howling. I am the stupidest of girls, as has often been said of me.”

“If you ask me, you’re the luckiest of kids,” the pilot said. “And we’re lucky to have found you before you froze to death. Now come aboard, darlin’, and stop cringin’. Sure, no one will hurt you now.” And he looked back at the tall white-haired man with an expression Goat-dung could not see in the descending shadows.

“Of course they won’t, my child,” the white-haired man said. And while the pilot had quite correctly refrained from touching such filth as she, the white-haired man took her hands in his and raised her in his arms, carrying her to the plane. “You will come with us to Sierra Padre.”

“You won’t make me go back to the Vale of Tears?”

“Not if that’s how they teach you to talk about yourself. Especially if you’ve run away from all those bruises and cuts I see on you, no, we won’t take you back,” the pilot said.

“What and where is this Vale of Tears?” the white-haired man asked.

“You won’t make me go back there, sir? I don’t deserve to. I fled from being the bride to the Shepherd Howling.”

“Bride? You’re no more than a baby!” The pilot sputtered with outrage.

But the white-haired man said, “We go now to Sierra Padre, where I will begin my work, and you, my dear, will have a hot bath, clean clothing, a decent meal, and a good night’s sleep.”

“She certainly will,” the pilot said. “An old shipmate of mine, Lonciana Ondelacy, lives in Sierra Padre with her kids and grandchildren. Loncie will be glad to take this little one in.”

The white-haired man smiled at her, helping her climb into the big plane beside the other man, who did not smile. This reassured her more than anything the pilot had said because, of course, it was only right since she did not deserve to be smiled upon. Then, with a great deal of noise and wind, the Captain of the Angels and the white-haired patriarch sent the hummingbird ship aloft, where, for that night, all was miraculously as wonderful as they had said it would be.

10

Marmion, led by Seamus Rourke, flanked by Sally and Millard and followed more slowly by Matthew’s five assistants, emerged into early-morning sunlight. Rick O’Shay was the last to leave the cave.

“My word! It is the next day?” Marmion exclaimed. She turned to Seamus, who grinned, a smile that had little to do with the day or anything else immediately obvious to Marmion.

“Sure is, missus.”

“But we weren’t in there long . . .” Sally began, glancing down at the digital on her wrist. Her eyes widened. “Good heavens.”

“The next day?” Ivan grabbed her wrist to peer at her digital before checking his own. The other four men apprehensively conferred over this unexpected loss of time. “But we’ll be behind in our work . . .” Ivan wheeled accusingly on Seamus. “You had no right to take us away from our work for a whole day.”

“This cave is a mere hour’s flight from SpaceBase,” Hans said, his expression decidedly aggressive and his anger focused on Seamus Rourke, because he didn’t dare accuse Marmion.

“How could we have lost so much time . . . sitting in
mist
?” That aggravated him even more.

“Why, I found it—” Marmion stopped, cocked her head, and then regarded Sally and Millard. “You know, I’m not sure I
found
anything.”

Seamus let out a mighty guffaw. Mischief, as well as satisfaction, twinkled in his eyes.

“You got ‘found’ anyway, missus. Now, let’s not lose more time.” He made a whooshing gesture at Rick to start back to the copter.

“How could I get ‘found,’ Mr. Rourke, when I haven’t been lost?” Marmion asked, a quaver in her voice as she allowed Rick and Millard to take her arms as they made their way across the uneven terrain.

“Oh, I ‘spect it’ll come to you, missus.” Seamus chuckled again.

“Mr. Rourke, nothing at all of the nature described by Dr. Metaxos, his son, or even Major Maddock and Dr. Fiske occurred to us,” Sally said in an even voice that held just a hint of carefully controlled surprise and disappointment.

Seamus eyed her, his lips curving slightly: she was a very attractive young woman, and he could still appreciate looking.

“Sure hope you wouldn’t now the planet’s calmed down with no one gouging and blasting holes in it. But you were spoken to,” he assured her.

“That’s utter nonsense,” Hans said. Rick made a noise that sounded like a patronizing rebuke, and Hans whipped around. “I experienced nothing once the mist rose to obscure everything. And then it cleared. You’d have us
believe
that this—this
show
took nearly thirty hours?”

“Seems to have done,” Seamus replied affably, helping Marmion up onto the copter’s high passenger level. “Think on it awhile. It’ll come to you.”

“Outrageous,” George said, his face contorted into a sneer. “Waste of valuable time.”

“I’m not sure how we’ll explain our defection to Dr. Luzon,” Marcel said dismally, the first sentence Marmion had heard him speak.

“Ah, but you don’t have to, my dears,” she said, buckling her seat belt. “I shall assume all responsibility for this expedition, and I’m sure such industrious young men as yourselves will be able to complete your assigned tasks well before Dr. Luzon returns.”

“Do you mean to imply, ma’am,” Hans said, eyeing her suspiciously, “that we should conceal our dereliction of duty from Dr. Luzon?”

“Heavens no, Hans dear,” Marmion said soothingly, laying a gentle hand on his arm. “I wouldn’t conceal a thing from Matthew Luzon,” she added drolly. “It just isn’t done! But I shall assure him that I dragooned you, as necessary escorts, on a personal, and possibly dangerous, inspection of the so-called remarkable cave where everyone else seems to have had most incredible experiences.” She made a moue of disappointment and turned to Seamus. “Really,” she said, and she stretched out the next two words to express her disillusion, “
nothing happened
.”

“We lost thirty hours,” Hans said in an implacable and unforgiving tone. “It’ll be dark by the time we get back to SpaceBase.”

“Well, there’ll be a little time before you have to have dinner,” Marmion said.

“We’ll work tonight,” Hans said, making eye contact with his associates. “We’ll catch up that way.”

“Oddly enough,” Millard remarked, “I feel totally refreshed, with an unusual sense of well-being. Anyone else?”

Sally made a small “oh” of surprise. “I do, too. And I don’t think I was asleep . . .”

Marmion did not remark on the fact that she, too, felt unusually alert and energetic: as if she could dance all night long and still put in a full day’s work tomorrow.

It occurred to her that maybe the planet had a totally unexpected and exploitable facet—for rest cure facilities. However, she intended to go very slowly on that one, since this party seemed to be the only one to have enjoyed that aspect. Had they just been lucky? Had the planet, as Seamus had suggested, settled down after its aberrant behavior? Even so, she felt almost . . . almost effervescent. And she hadn’t experienced
that
buoyancy in a long, long time.

As soon as Yana saw the little curraghs nearing the wharf, she raced as fast as she dared down the steps to tell Sean the news. Ardis Sounik had confirmed that much of what Johnny Greene had off-loaded was the fuel they would need and Sean’s special supplies for his journey. And that Johnny had gone on to Bogota with Luzon, who was up to no good at all. Johnny had hinted broadly that Luzon was bad news. Nanook, who had vanished from the village for some time, suddenly reappeared, fur full of mud and burrs, to bound alongside her. He seemed about to explode with news, too. He licked her hand at one point while she watched the curraghs approach, rubbed his handsome face against her shoulder, and looked deeply into her eyes.

She sensed he was trying to talk to her, but she just didn’t know how to listen. But as they descended, all the other cats of the settlement started hurrying in the opposite direction.

“What on earth?” Yana began.

Bunny,
something said quite clearly in her head.

“Did you speak, Nanook?”

He gave her a resigned look and a sort of growly purr.

“I don’t mean to be difficult to communicate with, Nanook. Nod your head if Bunny’s safe and coming?”

Nanook solemnly inclined his head.

“That is such a relief.” Yana stroked his fine pelt in appreciation. “Maybe one day, we’ll hold a meaningful conversation,” she added, emboldened by her relief.

Soon.

“Oh!”

Just then Sean appeared over the edge of the high harbor wall and she ran into his arms, burbling to tell him that Johnny had managed to leave off fuel here in the fjord. Even with Sean smelling to high heaven of fish oils and brine, it was good to have his arms about her and see his smile of delight at her enthusiastic welcome. Then Nanook, who had sat in dignified patience, obviously spoke to Sean, who smiled broadly and fondled the track-cat’s ears.

“Bunny and Diego are on their way here, and Shush, the one cat who survived at McGee’s Pass, is just a ways behind them. Nanook rendezvoused with her to reassure her and protect her most of the way, but he left to return to us so we wouldn’t worry about the kids anymore. He says the village must be good to Shush. She needs to be safe again.”

“She’s not the only one. When does he expect them all to arrive, Sean? I’ve been getting quite worried.”

Sean shrugged. “Probably by nightfall.” His arm tightened about her. “No point in wasting energy backtracking. Nanook says they’re okay.”

“Run that past me again, Sean, about
one
cat,
surviving
at McGee’s Pass? Only one? What happened to the others? I thought the cats were cared for in all the villages, the way Clodagh looks after the ones in Kilcoole—”

“And they look after her. Yes, that’s very serious news to me, too. A village with only one surviving cat is a village in very serious trouble.”

“Sean, what did we let those children in for?”

“We’ll know soon enough,” he said, putting an arm around her shoulders in comfort and reassurance. “The fact that Nanook has stayed here means they’re okay, no matter what else. See what I brought you for your dinner, love?” And he held up the pair of rainbow-scaled fish as long as his forearm and considerably thicker.

“Oh, good, Ardis has some potatoes left, and we thawed carrots and onions. Bunny and Diego’ll be hungry when they get here.”

“Yes, and we, too, for their news.”

When Bunny and Diego, who was carefully supporting the wounded Dinah in his arms, arrived at dusk, the evening meal was ready but remained uneaten while more important matters were attended to.

Bunny nodded once at the six place settings at the table. “How did you know we were coming?” she asked. “Oh, I know. Nanook, of course. He started to run past us, stopped long enough for a sniff, and ran away. We didn’t see him return though.”

“He saw you, though,” Sean replied. “He was going to the aid of an orange cat from McGee’s Pass. I don’t suppose you saw her on the way?”

But Bunny didn’t answer, shook her head, preoccupied. Her attention had been captured by watching the movements of Ardis’s gentle hand sewing up Dinah’s wounds, setting the five broken ribs and the hind leg bone. She splinted the tail, too, but feared that all nerve connections might have been severed. Dinah had managed to convey to Diego that after the man had clubbed her with his staff, he’d caught her by the tail and slammed her against the nearest tree.

Diego had been a thundercloud ready to burst until Ardis had reassured him that, except for the possible damage to her tail, the lead dog would completely recover from her mistreatment. While this was going on, Bunny gave a quick résumé of the situation of the cowed and subjugated folks at McGee’s Pass, Satok’s activities, and the unthinkable
sealing
of the cave.

“What Bunny doesn’t say,” Diego began, as Fingaard gently transferred Dinah to a thick blanket near the hearth, “was what that Satok damned near did to her.”

“It’s what he’s done to the planet that’s more
awful
,” Bunny contradicted him with a fierce look, and tears started in her eyes. “I could escape, but oh, Uncle Sean, he’s made it impossible for anyone to
talk
to the planet at McGee’s Pass.”

“He was going to
rape
you!” Diego said, almost shouting.

“He’s already
raped
our planet!” Bunny yelled back, fists on her waist, body inclined angrily toward Diego.

“Bunny! Diego!” Sean said, snapping out their names in a quiet but very firm voice. “Now that Dinah’s safe, you can take turns while we all eat, giving us a complete telling of what happened at McGee’s Pass.”

“Quite right,” Ardis said, pushing first one and then the other young person to a seat at the table while Fingaard brought over the baked fish. Yana quickly added the vegetable bowls to the table, and order was restored as appetites were attended to.

“Diego’s making a song about it, too,” Bunny said.

Diego glared at her, a mix of irritation, pleasure, and artistic indignation. “It’s nowhere near ready.”

“It’ll be some song when it is, I can tell you that,” Bunny said, beaming at him.

“We’ll listen very closely whenever the song is ready, Diego,” Ardis said reassuringly.

“Now, step by step, please,” Sean said, bringing them back to the report.

None of the adults interrupted the two youngsters, as they gave a very credible narration of all that had happened, each giving due credit to the other and to Krisuk’s efforts. Both Sean and Fingaard had them repeat several points, such as the question of the Petraseal and how far it extended into the cave, and all the details of Satok’s background that Bunny had so cleverly wheedled out of him.

“You sly and clever puss,” Sean had said, ruffling her hair with affectionate approval. When he saw Diego scowl darkly, he ruffled the boy’s, too, laughing when Diego pulled away. “She is my niece, lad. You’re lucky I’m willing to share her company with you!”

“Huh?” was Diego’s stunned response.

“Now,” Fingaard said, taking charge, his roughened scale-scarred finger making circles on the wooden table, “we have an enemy who needs watching. We have a cave that has been damaged. Can this Petraseal be dissolved?”

“Yes, but the chemical compound of such a solvent is not available at SpaceBase,” Sean said.

“It’d take barrels of solvent,” Diego said, widening his eyes as he estimated the area to be resurrected. “An awful lot.”

“Yes,” Sean said. “Any solvent strong enough to dissolve Petraseal might very well be more harmful to Petaybee than the Petraseal is.”

“If this has been done at McGee’s Pass where the people are just like us, only vulnerable from not having a shanachie for so long,” Ardis said, frowning in concern, “can it have been done elsewhere, too? Is it so easy for this Satok to mislead people so they can fail to hear the planet?”

“That thought had also occurred to me,” Sean said and sighed heavily. “We came here with a specific purpose . . .”

Fingaard’s great hand came down on Sean’s shoulder. “There is much we can do now that we know what has happened, my friend, and you can pursue your personal quest which, I have come to feel, is as important as this new problem.”

“Then you believed that Aoifa and Mala were right that there’d been an undersea passage to the south from the fjord caves? If they were right, we could establish communications, maybe even a trade route, with the southern continent without company technology for air travel or ice-breaking ships.”

Fingaard nodded solemnly several times. “In my father’s time creatures emerged from the caves that were born on land, and not undersea, and not here in the north. Mala sent his track-cat back but she had been badly injured. Only the great loyalty these creatures have for those they love could have kept the beast going until it reached us. We searched, as you know, as far as we could, but the cavern roof had collapsed and our way was blocked.” This time his nod was full of sorrowful regret. “But we also saw nothing of Aoifa or her track-cat, Ugraine, so perhaps they were able to go further.”