Deluge (11 page)

A soldier who had inadvertently fallen through the ice? A villager? It didn’t matter. He had to help, of course. He had been pacing himself, but now he pushed forward, pumping his long gray body in a smooth continuous series of powerful undulations.

It would take him only a few minutes to reach the victim at this rate, but he also knew that immersion in the frigid river had a good chance of killing the hapless human, or if not that, then frostbite would likely injure him beyond even Clodagh’s ability to heal.

Suddenly above him the ice groaned and cracked and the water sloshed beneath it as if the river were being shaken. A quake? Possible, though they were less frequent once winter set in.

He drove himself forward. The body was upright in the water and seemed to have found an airhole, but with the quake, its movements changed from feeble to frantic. The ice would probably be cracking around it too, threatening it with submersion again. Sean was now swimming as hard as he could, but he didn’t see how he could possibly reach the person in time to save him.

As he passed Kilcoole, however, he suddenly became aware of a thin stream of warm sulfurous water like that from the hot spring shooting down the middle of the river. That was different!

A little farther on and the area between the ice and the flowing water was filled with steam. Ice cracked and parted with the new heat. He sent his sonar signals forth at faster intervals, so as not to lose the victim in the steam, but the noise of the breaking ice confused his senses.

He only knew he’d reached his goal when a heel connected with the top of his head.

CHAPTER 12

B
IEN
! M
ON AMI,
Zuzu told her new partner in crime,
we seem to have begun a four-legged underground in this place of despair. We are a two-creature Résistance. But the man will return and finish his evil work. How shall we further deter him?

We could bite him.

Other men would come and chase us, possibly kill us. And me, I am not ready to die. The universe still has need of such a cat as Zuzu. As it is, I fear we must vacate this ventilation passage
tout suite
before those evil men pump into it vapors of a nature most poisonous to our kinds.

But your friend who is not a cat remains caged.

Vraiment.
She raised and lowered her ears and whiskers to signify that there was little she could do about such a hopeless situation.

Sky squeezed around her and looked into the room at her poor Adrienne bound so helplessly to the chair. The otter leaned against the grate with his body. Zuzu heard a creak and a crack as it gave under his weight.
This door would open for the right otter.

By all means, be my guest,
she said graciously. She backed away to give him room, careful to keep her back paws and tail free of the pile of scat.

The otter chittered and squeaked and shoved and heaved, and presently Zuzu heard a cracking sound and a triumphant “Hah!”

He then proceeded to use his teeth and front feet to tear an even larger hole, and slid himself into the room. Zuzu daintily followed.

“Zuzu!” Adrienne’s whisper bordered on the sort of hiss that the cat, as her esteemed companion, might have found offensive had it not been so laden with concern for her welfare. “Oh, sweetie, they mustn’t catch you here. They would kill you in some awful way just to torment me.”

Zuzu hopped onto her shoulder, purring comfort and reassurance that she could be back in that hole and out the other side before those clumsy oafs saw so much as a single hair on her curly tail. Meanwhile Sky used his big sharp otter teeth to attack the tapes binding her friend’s hands and feet.

Adrienne sagged with relief as her limbs were freed but jerked to alertness, putting her wrists and ankles together again as the door to her room rattled.

Allez, M’sieu
Sky!
the cat warned, and sprinted back through the opening, barely clearing the pile of poo as she raced for the exit. The otter was almost as swift as she and was halfway through the opening when the door opened and a voice cried, “Gotcha!”

Zuzu did not see what happened next because her view was blocked by a shrieking otter. When he suddenly disappeared back into the room, her tail twitched twice before she sprinted back through the pipe and out into the corridor for the brief dash to the rat hole.

A
DRIENNE’S TORMENTOR HAD
carelessly left a tray containing implements for the infliction of pain near her chair. When he barged into the room and saw the hind end of the otter, he disregarded his prisoner to try to capture the animal. Adrienne’s feet were asleep, but she grabbed the back of her chair with one hand, planted both feet on the ground, grabbed the tray with the other hand and began flinging instruments, pointy end first, at her captor. Her hands weren’t in much better shape than her feet, so her aim was off despite the nearness of her target, and most of the instruments bounced harmlessly off the man.

Evidently he was a single-minded kind of guy, because he was so determined to capture the otter that he ignored her. He had hold of the creature’s tail and was yelling threats about skinning it alive. The otter turned, teeth bared, and sank them into the man, who tried to take aim with his sidearm. Adrienne was steady enough to grab her chair and crack him over the head with it. He went down, but his arm came back up with something pointy in his hand. He stabbed at the otter but immediately had a face full of spitting Zuzu, who had erupted from the duct like an avenging demon.

He tried to pry the cat away from his face with the hand that was not being chewed on by the otter. Roaring as Zuzu’s claws dug into him, he pried her loose and flung her across the room. Grabbing the nearest sharp implement, Adrienne stabbed him in the neck and he went limp. Sirens were sounding and footsteps were running down the hall. She was free, but how was she going to get out? And Zuzu…

The otter crossed the room in one slinky motion and nudged the cat, who raised her head, shook it, and with another nudge was back on her paws and racing behind him into the vent.

Adrienne, gripping her torturer’s gun, stood beside the door, waiting for it to open.

D
IVE
!
THE TWINS
told each other in unison as the pointy prow split the water between them.

They did, swimming around the boat on either side, intending to meet at the stern.

But as Murel swam halfway the length of the craft, something dropped on top of her, and when she tried to dive lower to evade it, it went with her. Her flipper was caught in it. It continued dropping on top of and all around her until she found herself enveloped, unable to move.
A net! Ro, I’ve been netted.

Her teeth snapped down on the nearest section, but the material didn’t give and the boat’s forward motion trapped her upper jaw in it. She pulled backward to try to free herself, shaking her head, and snared something else.

Hold on, sis. I’m coming.

No, no! Don’t!
she began. If her teeth couldn’t free her, his wouldn’t be able to either, and he could be caught as well. Better if they wait until the boat docked wherever it was going to dock. He might be able to board, turn human, and use fingers and tools to free her.

Her sonar was confused by the boat’s noise and motion, and she knew Ro’s was too when she heard him swear,
Fraggitall anyway! They got me too. Can’t bite through this stuff either.

Don’t try,
she warned him. She calmed down enough to slowly maneuver her head free of its square rope prison and put her jaws back together.
Ah, better. If they don’t haul us up again before long, we could drown.

I know. Nets aren’t made for flippers to climb, but maybe if we can find the middle so we’re not entangled, we could surface inside the net. Mine’s a whole lot bigger than I am.

This one too. It’s worth a try.

But the nets closed over their heads as they were dragged up out of the water to dangle on either side of the boat.

Whiskery faces peered through the nets at the catch of the day.

“Well, well, lookee here. Seals! I didn’t know we had any in these waters.”

“Me, neither, Captain. You think they killed those squids?”

“Doesn’t seem likely. They’re not all that big. Some species are larger than others, though, I know that. Not a heck of a lot else, though. Not many planets have them anymore.”

“Are they good eating?”

“Not especially. They were hunted for their fur coats a long time ago and were practically exterminated back on Terra because they eat a lot of fish and ruined the waters for commercial fishermen.”

“You think we ought to just kill them, then?”

The twins shivered in nets still too wet for them to change. And if they did change, then what? That didn’t bear thinking about either.

“Did I say that?” the captain asked. “They were only a threat because there were too many of them—and frankly, too many fishermen too. My mama’s side of the family had this kind of hereditary hatred of any nonhuman thing that took the fish, but on my daddy’s side, they would have just as soon killed the fishermen for taking the fish away from the wild critters. My folks had this kinda Romeo and Juliet-type courtship without the suicide.”

Murel, who was the seal he was regarding while discussing their fate, tried to look as big-eyed and adorable as possible, to appeal to the instincts from his father’s side of the family.

The captain grinned at her suddenly. “Cute little thing. Go below and grab my camera, Lloyd. Let’s get some pictures of them and the dead squid, mark the bearings, and release the little buggers. The two of them aren’t going to take enough fish between them to upset anybody. And we sure don’t have any use for fur coats around here.”

“But how’d they get here, Captain?”

“I dunno.” The captain shrugged. “Nobody mentioned anything to me. Maybe the company is introducing a new species. Maybe something else is.”

“Something else?”

“Well, I’ve heard that on some of these worlds the company terraformed to use for one thing or another, unauthorized species have popped up and nobody can figure out why. Maybe the same thing is happening here.”

“Won’t the brass want to examine them, then?” Lloyd called as he ducked into the cabin and emerged with a little waterproof orange package.

“Maybe so,” the captain said, holding the package toward Murel and clicking a button that made a little whirring sound. “If they do, we can probably recapture these, or if there are more, catch them too. On the other hand, if these guys were planted here as part of some new program by the company they’ve neglected to tell us about, they’re not going to be real happy about us disturbing their seed stock.” He crossed to the other side of the boat, his seaman’s legs maintaining their balance on the rocking deck. He took several photos of Ronan too. “I’ll try to suss it out with the brass, but meanwhile, don’t say anything about this.”

“Aye aye, Cap’n, sir,” Lloyd said, flipping him an exaggerated salute. “My lips are sealed.”

“Very funny, Lloyd. Let’s lower the nets before these little fellas get sunburned. Then we can offload our cargo.”

They did that, lowering the nets so they were a foot or two beneath the surface, then opening them so the twins could swim out. Because the nets were so close to the surface, Ronan and Murel had to swim with their heads and backs out of the water to avoid being reentangled. It was lovely to be able to breathe without being bowed in two while the net cut a checkerboard grid into their hides. The captain was still snapping pictures of them.

Once beyond their nets, they dived and swam away from the bow of the boat.

Two near misses in one day!
Murel said.
Lucky for us the captain took after his da’s side of the family.

Seemed a nice chap, actually,
Ronan agreed.
It’s odd to find a fishing boat out here, though, don’t you think? Surely they don’t catch fresh fish for the prisoners.

Behind them there was a splash, and their sonar picked up something heavy plunging through the water. They turned and saw a naked gray-white body, its feet bound in heavy chain attached to a stone as large as its head. Its eyes stared blankly, and its thin hair waved like seaweed as it sank. Another human corpse followed that one, and another.

Far below, their sonar told them, the squids rose to snatch their prey.

CHAPTER 13

A
SECOND BOAT PLIED
the waters of Gwinnet’s sea. It left the main compound at the same time the twins were fighting the squid for their lives, so although a small dark figure stood on the bow with binoculars, and the exploratory boat’s sonar scanned the seas for large mammals swimming near the surface, it missed the twins. Instead, it landed at the island containing the children’s compound, where, with a disgruntled sigh, the small dark figure went ashore to find her grandson and see what he might accidentally tell her of her true quarry.

“Professor Mabo, what are you doing here?” Rory asked when he saw her in the visitor’s hut to which he’d been summoned by Lieutenant Bunyon. When Professor Mabo had taught at
Versailles Station,
she had insisted that he call her by the same title the other kids used. He’d learned to be wary of his grandmother, so even though she seemed to be regarding him with sadness and sympathy, he didn’t trust her.

“I am here not as your teacher but as your grandmother,” she said. “I know you feel I was harsh with you when I taught at the station, but I acted as I did for your own good. You would not have wanted the other children to feel that I singled you out for favoritism. Children can be very cruel, Rory.”

“So can family,” Rory retorted. She was not going to win him over so easily. It was her fault that he and his folks had been treated like criminals and brought here.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said. “But since you do, perhaps it will make what I have to say easier. I’m sorry to tell you that my daughter and her husband did not survive the flight.”

“You’re lying!” he exclaimed, shocked. “Why wouldn’t they survive? You had them bring us here. I heard the soldiers talking about it before we were put on the ship.”

“Rory, prison duty changes people. Soldiers who have had otherwise exemplary records become hardened, even to their own people, and show no mercy. Your parents attempted escape—I feel certain they were trying to locate you. The guards overreacted. I have had them punished.”

“Yeah, you’re good at that,” Rory said. “What were you punishing us for exactly?”

“I had no intention of punishing you. On the contrary, I simply was trying to protect my loved ones from being implicated in the crimes committed by Marmion de Revers Algemeine. Your parents’ association with her has become hazardous for them and embarrassing for me.”

“I guess so, since you say they’re dead and everything,” he said bitterly. But the news was too new for him to truly grieve for the loss of his parents. He was just reacting to her with the distrust and dislike he’d learned she deserved. Later, alone, he’d think about what she said, but now he was not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing him upset. “Good thing you took measures so we won’t embarrass you anymore.”

She opened her arms and reached for him, apparently intending to hug him, but he sat back in his chair. The two of them were alone in one of the huts, seated on comfortable cushioned chairs, with a pitcher of fruit punch and a plate of little cakes between them. He’d been wondering since they’d arrived how to swipe the cakes to use as bribes with the other kids.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Rory. I have tried to tell you this as gently as possible, before you find out some other way.”

She sounded to him like she thought she was the one being abused. He would have been more upset if he hadn’t overheard the guards’ conversation aboard the shuttle from the mainland. They’d said nothing about his parents being killed, and he felt sure that that Austin guy would have tormented him with it if he could have.

“Oh dear, the other news probably will not be received any better.”

“What other news?” he asked in a skeptical tone.

“The people from Halau aboard the ship from Petaybee. None of them survived either. The prison officials had decided not to tell the children, but I feel that that is unfair to them. They should know that they’ve been orphaned so they can make choices appropriate to their status when looking to the future.”

“That’s real thoughty of you, Gran,” he said as disrespectfully as he dared. “How did they happen to die?”

“Well, dear, the elders were frail, and the young mothers, some of them, pregnant—you have been a very sheltered child and cannot possibly know what that prison is like. They perished very quickly.”

“Sounds like it. Any other good news?”

“Not for you, but I understand that children whose description matched that of Ronan and his sister were found on the space station and brought here at the same time you were. We did not part on a very good note, but I do think they should know—could you bring them here, please? The matron did not seem able to locate them.”

“I haven’t seen them since the first day,” he said.

“They may have used their shape-shifting ability to try to escape,” she said. “It won’t do them any good, and the ocean here is extremely dangerous for those who are unaware of its peculiarities. I came by boat specifically to search for them. Oh, well, I’m sure that if they are still out there, they will learn soon enough that Petaybee is under martial law and the inhabitants of their village are to be transferred here in connection with the charges against the de Revers woman.”

“Is that so?” he asked.

“Yes, indeed. Now on to other matters. I know my news about your family and friends will have upset you and you’ll probably need to go cry or whatever it is children do under such circumstances, but as your next of kin, I feel I must also mention that you should start thinking about your future. One of the benefits of children being on this island is that it shares the premises with a Corps training facility.”

“That’s a good thing, is it?”

“Of course. The soldiers there often lend a hand in the care and maintenance of this facility and assist in searches for runaways and that sort of thing. And they provide role models and a source of future employment. A belligerent young man such as yourself ought to do well in the Cadet Corps training program if you learn to channel your animosity appropriately.” The last was said with no smarmy attempt at sympathy, just the same nasty mocking tone he remembered from last time. “It’s not like an orphan here has a great deal of choice in the matter.”

She turned and left the hut. Relieved that she had not tried to hug him again, he snatched up the cakes, folding the napkin containing them over the tops. The tunics he and the others wore had no place to conceal anything, but he thought he knew where he could stash the cakes for the time being.

I
N THEIR HASTE
to get away from the corpse-disposal boat and the squids, Ronan and Murel completely forgot to check their undersea markers and simply swam until exhaustion from their struggles overcame them and they drifted in an unfamiliar sea under unfamiliar stars.

I haven’t a clue where we are or how to return to the island, do you?
Ronan asked.

Murel, whose lethargy alarmed him, since he had no idea how severe her wounds were, answered,
No idea whatsoever.

I’ve heard of whales getting beached, but never seals getting lost,
Ronan said.
This never would have happened on Petaybee.

I don’t actually need any more reasons to wish I was home instead of here, thank you,
Murel said tartly.
Even the stars are different here, which makes sense since it’s a different solar system, isn’t it? And I could use a proper moon. No wonder the tide is so sluggish. That little thing they have up there is pathetic. And no doubt has “Property of Intergalactic Enterprises” stamped on the bottom.

Night came upon them quickly. It seemed they had just dived below the surface into the darkness of deeper water, and when they surfaced the sky was nearly as dark as the water. The stars out here were enormously bright. If only they knew what the usual positions were supposed to be, it would tell them a bit more about where they were and how to proceed.

It doesn’t actually matter that they’re different stars, though, does it?
Ronan said.
We know where they are now, and we ought to be able to gauge our position relative to them wherever we go.

Murel hated to admit she didn’t understand all that much about it. Ronan had had a crush on First Officer Adrienne Robineau, so he’d paid closer attention during their navigation lessons than she had.

However, he proceeded to talk himself out of it.
The only problem is that we don’t know which direction this planet rotates.

Shhh,
she said.
Hear that?

It was a boat’s motor roaring in the distance. It did not sound like the same one that had captured and released them earlier. According to their sonar, it was a good distance away.

It must be leaving the island, headed back to the mainland,
Ronan said.
There doesn’t seem to be any other place for it to go. Probably a supply vessel.

Maybe,
she replied.

If we find it, we should be able to get our bearings from it, at least,
Ronan told her, and she began swimming beside him, toward the boat. Before long they intercepted its wake and from it were able to backtrack—or back-paddle—until they found the island again and the beach containing the children’s compound.

The rock will be around that way,
Murel said, relieved to be back in familiar territory, even if it meant being closer to captivity.

Yes, but look—there’s a light on the other side of the beach.

It could be a trap,
Murel said nervously.

Maybe, but I don’t think anyone who is out to get us would think a little light like that would be a good way to trap us. I mean, we’re selkies, not weremoths. Ten to one it’s Rory trying to get our attention. I’ll swim in. You stay out here in case there is a trap and you need to help me out.

But he found no nets, no traps, just a miserable-looking, bald-headed, scantily dressed Rory, holding a glow light.

When Ronan flopped onto the beach, Rory walked down the slight, sandy slope to meet him, speaking softly. “Ronan? Murel? I was hoping you’d come. I seriously have to talk to you two. I’ve had a visit from my loving gran.”

Murel swam in and they both dried off and slipped into their dry suits.

“Want a cake?” Rory offered. “They’re a little squooshed, but I saved you guys some. I had to bribe the beach monitor to look the other way, and another kid to get me the glow. I think the beach monitor will keep up her end of things, but you’d better stay close to the water all the same. She thinks I just needed to come out here and be alone to brood about suddenly being an orphan.”

“You’re an orphan?”

“Yeah, me and just about everybody else, according to dear old Granny. She told me my parents were killed trying to escape and the only thing left for me to do is join the company Cadet Corps.”

“That’s harsh, Rory. I’m so sorry,” Murel said.

“You ought to be. She claims they’ve captured your village and your folks and everybody is being brought here. But she knows you’re here too, or at least suspects it, and I’m pretty sure she’s lying, trying to draw you out.”

Ronan and Murel, recalling their mother’s plans, exchanged stricken looks. “Yeah, but what if she’s not?”

“She had to be—her mouth was moving,” Rory said bitterly. “But I was thinking, maybe it’s not such a bad idea if I play along and try to join up. I could find out stuff we need to know.”

“Do you think you might get into their com shed and contact Marmie’s friends to tell them what’s happened to her?” Murel asked.

“Oughtn’t to be a problem,” he said, sounding a bit brighter.

“Because if you could do that, it would solve everything. They’d get her released and she’d free everyone else.”

“That settles it, then. I’ll do it,” he said. “Maybe I can borrow their com system and maybe not, but I’m far more likely to get a chance as a recruit, aren’t I?”

The twins agreed.

“Too bad they don’t have a submarine corps you two could join,” Rory joked. He sounded absolutely bubbly now. He felt bad about his grandmother being such a villainous old bat, so if he could be the one to free everybody else, Murel reckoned it would help him feel better.

“Just make sure you remember you’re just playing a part,” Ronan said. “You don’t want to actually become one of them. Not that they’re all bad, of course—take Mum or Rick O’Shay. But you don’t want to end up a total bossy git like that Austin guy.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t. So we’ll rendezvous again tomorrow, same time, same place?”

“Say,” Ronan said, “do you reckon if you’re over there you might be able to steal us a printout of a chart of this ocean?”

“I thought you guys could navigate by instinct.”

“On our world, sure, but this ocean is so empty and the stars are all wrong. If we could even get a look at the layout of the landmasses, we’d have a better idea about where to go.”

“Fair enough,” Rory said.

An adult female called out, “You there, on the beach. You’re in violation of curfew.”

“Just admiring the moonlight, miss,” Rory said, while Ronan and Murel stripped off their dry suits in one well-practiced motion, packed them into each other’s pouches, and dove into the water.

“Who’s that with you, then? All of you come up here where I can see you.”

But by then the twins were underwater, swimming toward the rocks.