Power Play Part 2

"Excuse me me," Sinead said.

"Stands for Petaybean Tourist Service," the man whose hair she had hold of said quickly. "Looks like it's brand new-arrived on MoonBase a few hours before we did."

The other man said, "I demand that you and this-this amazon of yours-"

"The lady," Sean said, "is my sister."

"That you and your sister untie us and inform us of what laws we have broken and notify our amba.s.sador at once. I am Dr. Vincent de Peugh, vice-president in charge of resource utilization for Intergal's Terra Section Delta, and this is my colleague, Dr. Raymond Ersol, vice-president in charge of air quality control. We do not intend to spend our vacations being victimized by your government on some trumped-up charges."

Sean rose from behind the paperwork, lifted several sheets from the head and shoulders of Dr. Ersol, and neatly replaced them on the desk, which he then leaned against, ankles and arms crossed.

"Well, gentlemen, I can see that you've been misled. You've broken no written law, as such, since we have yet to write any. Quite simply, the people who live here know that one hunts only to live on Petaybee, and one takes only the game which offers itself. What I would like to see from you is your authorization to be here at all. As far as I know, at this time only official personnel and designated settlers approved and transported by Intergal are allowed to be here-not offworld employees looking for what you consider recreation. What we, as Sinead has so tactfully explained, consider wanton murder of an allied species. You see, and as a resource manager, Dr. Peugh, I'm sure you'll understand this, we of Petaybee, people, animals, plants, and planet, have a system, and we all depend on each other. You've just gone and upset that system something terrible. Now then, Sinead will be glad to release you after you've accompanied her to make due rest.i.tution to those you've offended."

"And our property?" Ersol nodded to the rifles.

"We'll return it to you on Earth, if you'd care to leave a forwarding address. Might take a while though. Backwater place like Petaybee, the postal service is atrocious. No doubt that's why I never received your request, or if I did," he added with a gesture to the piles of paper, "I haven't got around to answering it yet. Sinead, I think maybe you might get Liam to accompany you, and maybe Dinah. She's been driving Liam nuts since Diego left. And you could loosen the hobbles on these gentlemen so you don't have to carry them outside again."

Sinead gave him a mock salute and hauled her prisoners back outside.

Sean sighed. It didn't look as if he was going to be bored while Yana was s.h.i.+pside, anyway. Now he'd better see if he could enlist Whit Fiske to help him find out about this Petaybean Tourist Service shuttle business.

Yana, Bunny, Diego, and Marmion were all together in the forward viewing lounge as the great sprawling array of interlocking circles that was Gal Three grew from a glittering spot of light to its real majestic splendor. The circles were stacked five deep horizontally and, in places, nine in vertical alignment. There were two more thick, squat circles at nadir and zenith of the complex, which housed its defensive equipment. Yana stared in fascination. She'd never had such a view of the facility: both of her trips here had been made in the belly of a troop transport. She rather thought they'd been docked on one of the nadirward circles.

Diego was explaining the various levels to a goggle-eyed Bunny: the upper levels were for executives and company chairpersons; the next level housed recreation and mercantile areas for the Gal Three resident population; the middle one was probably all accommodation, both for transients and residents; while the fourth was devoted to repair, environmental controls, and other such mechanical operations. The fifth was for storage, while the blobs on top and bottom were restricted to Gal Three personnel, defense, and administration.

"Wait a min, Diego." Bunny finally got her awe under control. "People live all their lives on this-thing?"

"Sure. I haven't lived that long on a planetary surface, you know," he replied.

Her look was clearly "you poor deprived kid," but he didn't notice it, for he was already waxing verbose on the entertainment and catering treats that were in store for her.

"Oh, and I have just the right couple to be sure you don't miss the right places," Marmion said cheerfully. "My nephew and niece-or, rather, my late husband Henri Algemeine's nephew and niece. They are such charming youngsters that I know you won't object to their company."

Yana could see Diego's wince and Bunny's blink of astonishment.

"They really do know their way around," Marmion went on firmly. "Bailey Algemeine's sixteen-"

"Eighteen, Marmion," Sally corrected her. "Remember, he graduated from Aldebaran Tech last month."

"Aldebaran Tech?" Diego breathed respectfully.

"Time does fly, doesn't it? Yes, and I do believe he got both patents on his escape-pod projects."

"Escape pods?" Diego was impressed.

"But he's free for a while and waiting for just the right opportunity. So it's fortunate he's on Gal Three right now, isn't it?" Marmion's bright smile was irresistible.

"Your niece?" Bunny asked with a sideways and slightly proprietary glance at Diego.

"Charmion's finished her course in neural deprivation-she's a Pultney-Gabbison, you know," Marmion bubbled on. "So she came with Bailey for a visit. He's been showing her around Gal Three, too. She's nineteen. Almost too athletic for a girl in her social position." Marmion sighed and, having delivered her message, turned to watch the docking. Now, smoothly aiming at the second horizontal circle, the far-from-insignificantly sized s.p.a.celaunch became a mote as it was received into the small docking area that catered to the vessels of people of her rank. Yana began to agree with Sally that proper clothes would lend confidence: not much else would.

A melodious chime rang through the launch, followed by the verbal announcement that all docking procedures had been completed and the pa.s.sengers might now disembark.

A cl.u.s.ter of people stood politely awaiting their arrival. 'Bots, attached to gray floats, scurried on board to collect luggage-Bunny followed their progress with round eyes. Yana noticed the girl's hands twitching at her sides as if she wanted to take one of the 'bots apart and see what its innards were like.

Bailey and Charmion were easy to pick out of the group: they were the youngest, the boy with long, black hair in a clever clip, and the girl with a head of very blond curls that framed a face as charming as her name. They were a very good-looking pair, fas.h.i.+onably clad in some of the very colors that Bunny had protested about. They also looked intelligent and welcoming, with no trace of the stylish boredom so many young aristocrats affected. Charmion was obviously fond of her aunt and called out a stream of greetings as Marmion disembarked her launch. Beyond Charmion and tall Bailey, Yana saw the imposing figure of Millard Ephasios one of the aides Marmion had had with her on Petaybee; she decided that the tall, attractive, gray-haired gentleman with the patient expression on his face was one of Marmion's suitors, and the older woman her social secretary. The woman was impeccably dressed and had an organizational air about her, like an officer in a rear-echelon office. Rentnor Bavistock was her secretary, and Cynthia Grace was Marmion's financial adviser. Marmion murmured that Cynthia would be a good person to talk to on how to start up small businesses on Petaybee so that people like Clodagh, who'd be gathering and processing Petaybee's pharmaceutical wealth, could set themselves up properly. Yana sighed, not really wanting to impose anything "modern" on her friends.

Very shortly Yana discovered that things weren't what they appeared to be on Gal Three. Residence permits, in the form of metal bracelets "to be worn at all times," said Rentnor firmly, were immediately clamped around each wrist.

"Don't even take them off when you shower," Marmion added, taking hers from Rentnor and noting that Sally was already wearing one. "Loss can cause the most remarkable problems in getting about the facility."

"You wouldn't believe!" Bailey said, rolling his eyes and grinning at Bunny and Diego.

The last member of the welcoming committee wore an official-looking outfit, tailored to his spare figure, with collar tabs Yana didn't recognize but which were sufficiently intricate enough to denote high rank. He was swarthy, with a close-shaven pate of black hair and an oddly asymmetrical countenance which made his large nose seem to divide the disparate sides. His black eyes were patient, and he had a slight lift to one corner of a wide mouth. Like a well-trained, or very polite, official, he waited until the initial exchange of introductions, news, and urgent messages had been accomplished before he stepped forward to take and kiss the hand Marmion held out to him.

"Oh, Commander, how good of you to take the time," Marmion said, and then introduced Commander Nal an Hon. "I've told my friends to be very careful of their ID bracelets."

"Indeed, a caution worth repeating frequently," he said. Then he turned to the newcomers. "While the bracelets will admit you to every level but Nadir and Zenith, you would be wise not to explore, or you might find yourself missing a hand."

Bunny gasped and protectively clasped her braceleted hand to her chest.

"Now, Nal, I won't have you frightening my young friends simply because they're dirtfoots," Marmion said with a little rea.s.suring laugh.

"It's because they're dirtfoots that I do," he said with no apology, and caught Yana's gaze, nodding to mean that his warning was for her as well. Yana raised an eyebrow at him. And to think that six months ago, she might have said something similarly preposterous to someone like herself, she thought.

"Having said that, I would be happy to escort your friends into Zenith Ring for the Tour."

"How kind of you, Nal. When we've had time to settle in, I'll take you up on that offer." Marmion twinkled flirtatiously at the commander.

"Then I shall await your call, madame," he said. With a courteous bow, he withdrew.

"And you will tell me what that was all about, won't you, Rentnor, Cynthia?" Marmion demanded in an undertone, without a single sparkle of amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Hmmm. But it will take an hour or so, Marmie," Cynthia said. "Meanwhile, let's get to your suite." She gave a little convulsive shudder. "It's so open out here."

Bailey and his cousin Charmion immediately moved to bracket Diego and Bunny. "We'll lead on, Aunt Marmie," Bailey said.

Yana had Sally on one side and Millard on the other, while Rentnor and Cynthia partnered Marmion as they made their way out of the docking bay. When the lock doors closed with a satisfactory clank, Cynthia uttered a little sigh of relief.

"Agoraphobic?" Yana asked Sally.

"Definitely. Her launch only has a viewscreen in the pilot's compartment," Sally said. "It can take you like that, you know."

"I thank the stars that I don't," Yana replied. "You've been well, Millard?"

"Tolerably, thank you, Colonel Maddock-Shongili."

"I've been Yana to you before, Millard," Yana said repressively.

"I'm practicing, Yana," Millard said with a mischievous grin that seemed out of place on his serious face.

"For what?"

"For making it very plain to even casual observers"-Millard paused significantly-"that you are not just a transient or insignificant dirtfooter!"

"Oh?" Yana asked, amused that he, too, had noticed. "And what do you suppose gives anyone that impression? The colonel, or the hyphenated surname?"

"Either," Millard replied imperturbably, idly glancing at those pa.s.sing them in the corridor. Taking a long step, he followed the four young people onto the walkway and turned to hold out a hand for Yana.

She had a half-formed notion to remind him that she was scarcely infirm when a nudge from Sally behind her made her accept the offer of courteous a.s.sistance. Feeling slightly regal, Yana accepted with a smile and a nod to Millard.

"You're doing just great, Yana," Sally murmured in her ear.

"Will you be coloneling me, too?" Yana whispered back.

"No, but I'm another woman and patently your companion, while Millard has just been booted into the role of escort."

"Oh!"

When they reached the main concourse, Yana was sorry that Bunny was in front of her. She would have liked to see the girl's expression when she beheld the mechanical and commercial splendors of the Second Level. Not only was there a ceiling monorail in operation, but there were four levels of shops on this part of the concourse, and belt steps at regular intervals to get people easily from one level to another. Some of the shops were blasting pa.s.sersby with their sounds, smells, and sensual outputs, a.s.saults to which the residents were no doubt immune but which would stun Bunny as they did Yana, who had only heard about such concourses. The lower-level facilities she had patronized infrequently as an officer had been considerably more primitive than these.

"You will notice, Colonel," Millard was saying, "that there are location diagrams at convenient intervals by the belt-lifts." He indicated the one they were pa.s.sing. "Your quarters are located at Interface Three, that's two circles right of our present position, Three El one-ten. Please memorize that and record."

Yana's hand was halfway to her belt for the recording device that had so often been part of her basic equipment when she remembered Marmion's gift. She had drilled herself on the position of the keys and now, with a brush of her hand, activated the recorder and spoke: "3-L-110, Interface Three."

"Handy gadget," she murmured over her shoulder to Sally.

"They are."

They continued to the turn, the panels sliding open to admit them at the wave of a wrist and closing behind them, shutting out the frenetic noise of the concourse.

"The walkway is on the port side," Millard said. "Or you can walk for the exercise."

"I need the walk," Yana replied. "Oh, is it safe?"

"Safe enough, Colonel."

"That's going to unnerve me," Yana said between her teeth.

"It's supposed to have the opposite effect," Millard murmured back, and she saw the glint of mischief in his eyes.

The living accommodations were on two levels, with belt-lifts to take the upper-level residents to their doors. Obviously the second level was more secure. There was also an air of refined elegance in the floor covering, the discreet, nonstimulating murals and decor. Bra.s.s territory, Yana thought to herself, and also thought she could stand a bit of this right now, especially with Petaybee's winter on its way when she returned to the planet.

Marmion's quarters were on the upper level and seemed to take over one whole quadrant of the circle. Each wristband had to be presented before the panel would admit another body. Yana had lost track of the luggage 'bots, but when she arrived in her room, everything was there, so she suspected a service access and wondered if the 'bots got their IDs checked, too.

In a state of shocked bemus.e.m.e.nt, Bunny was peering around the sumptuous main lounge of Marmion's quadrant. And it was was a quadrant, Sally told her with a grin. a quadrant, Sally told her with a grin.

"Marmion rents four of the five levels to Gal Three," she added.

"And the fifth?"

"That's environment, and another company owns it and the equipment. Marmion does have a share in the company, but only a small one."

"Oh!"

"We're all on the guest side," Sally explained. "Marmion's got a complete office here so she can keep up with her investments.

"This way, Bunny, Diego," she added, and set off to take the newcomers on a small tour while Marmion went off with her business colleagues and Bailey and Charmion deliberated exactly how to entertain Bunny and Diego when they returned to the lounge.

4.

Youngling, you are troubled. The rumble of the clouded snow leopard's concern brushed soothingly against the painful thoughts and feelings attacking 'Cita's spirit. The rumble of the clouded snow leopard's concern brushed soothingly against the painful thoughts and feelings attacking 'Cita's spirit.

The girl reached up and put her arm around the neck of the great cat, burying her face in fur. "Oh, Coaxtl, I am nothing but troubled. I have been weak and foolish and now my new family, my sister and her mate and my beautiful new aunt, have left me behind, and my kind uncle is so displeased with me he seldom speaks to me anymore. I am indeed unworthy to be included in the activities here, too stupid to help, too needy, too..."

Too long dwelling in the false caves of men, Coaxtl said with a cough of disdain. Coaxtl said with a cough of disdain. Too long away from the clean cold snow. Come, let us go to the mountains together and chase each other's tracks and find a rabbit who wants to die. It will be like the old days, before the men brought you here. Too long away from the clean cold snow. Come, let us go to the mountains together and chase each other's tracks and find a rabbit who wants to die. It will be like the old days, before the men brought you here.

Goat-dung wailed and hugged the cat harder. "Oh, poor, poor Coaxtl, I know you have stayed here away from your home just because I am too stupid to look after myself and you are a very kind cat..."

Hush that! And stop thinking of yourself as Goat-dung, youngling. The others have given you good names-the name of your dam, Aoifa, and the name of your sire and your litter-mate, which is Rrrrrourrrrke! Coaxtl took great pleasure in roaring the name. Coaxtl took great pleasure in roaring the name. Or they call you 'Cita, which is a better name than La Pobrecita, the poor little one or Goat-dung. This one would drop all of those kitten names and simply call one's self Rrrrrourrrrke! Or they call you 'Cita, which is a better name than La Pobrecita, the poor little one or Goat-dung. This one would drop all of those kitten names and simply call one's self Rrrrrourrrrke!

"I wish I were were your kitten, Coaxtl." your kitten, Coaxtl."

Well, you aren't, but we can pretend. Come. Though you've gained some weight since you've been here, still you are not too large for one to carry on one's back part-way. One smells snow and one wants to rrrroll!

Goat-dung-no, 'Cita-no, the Rrrourrke Youngling climbed onto the back of her friend, and together they bounded away from the river and the town, away from all the bustling people, away from the memories of the terrors of the s.p.a.ceBase, and out into the forest with its showers of rust-colored needles and bright golden leaves. Rabbits, squirrels, and birds scattered before them as Coaxtl raced through the red underbrush, her paws crackling on the carpet of old leaves, which sent up a delicious, spicy smell with the cat's every step.

Before they reached the edge of the forest, Coaxtl suddenly lay down and rolled over. Youngling Rrrourrke tumbled into the leaves and laughed as Coaxtl mock-pounced her, all four paws landing clear of the girl while the furry face gazed into hers.

"Your breath smells like dead meat!" the girl cried.

Yours smells like you've lived among men too long! Coaxtl answered. Coaxtl answered. What are you lying there for, lazy youngling? It's your turn to carry one! What are you lying there for, lazy youngling? It's your turn to carry one!

"And how should I do that, crazy cat?" she asked, scrambling out from under the creature's underbelly, where twigs and leaves dangled from the silky fur. The girl opened her mouth wide and pretended to go for the back of the cat's neck. "Shall I carry you in my mouth, like a mama cat?"

Don't be impertinent! Coaxtl said, and bounded off into the brush. Coaxtl said, and bounded off into the brush. Bet you can't track one! Bet you can't track one!

Goat-dung/Pobrecita/'Cita/Aoifa/Youngling Rrrourrke roared the cat's name and plunged through the brush after her friend. Every time she paused, bewildered when the cat seemed to be nowhere around, she heard a laughing thought just ahead of her and saw the quiver of a bush or the flash of silver fur which was not awfully good camouflage in the bright-colored forest, and she was on the trail once more.

And then, without warning, she ran out of the forest, onto the edge of the muskeg-humped plain, and there was no Coaxtl, not anywhere.