Deluge
- Автор: Маккефри Энн, Скарборо Элизабет
- Серия: The Twins of Petaybee #3
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Deluge». Краткое содержание книги:
Meanwhile, the powerful and avaricious Company is making another attempt to take over the world of Petaybee for its resources, and the twins parents, Yana and Sean, along with the entire planet, must fight for the independence of their sentient world once and for all...
CHAPTER 8
THE NEXT DAY they were roused by the shriek of the whistle, making them jump not only from the thin mats on the floor of their hut but almost out of their skins as well.
Rory pushed ahead of the others, whispering to Ronan as he passed him. “I have to go first if we’re going to make this believable.”
There was no breakfast and nobody expected any. One meal a day, in the evening, met the company’s self-imposed obligation to care for the useless offspring of the Gwinnet prison inmates. If they wanted more to eat, there was always the opportunity to enlist offered in last night’s film. Even those too young to enlist could sometimes find jobs working for the soldiers at the adjoining Corps installation. Pele was vague about what this work might involve except that older girls were sometimes used as laundresses.
As Pele had told them, a portion of shallows just offshore was roped off and strung with nets, three of them demarcating a small pool, a fourth stretched overhead. This, Bunyon had told them, was to keep the sea monsters from reaching across the net to grab the bathers, but Pele said she didn’t think there were any sea monsters and that it was actually to keep the kids from jumping the net and trying to escape.
Some of the kids already in the water were apparently washing their clothes and themselves at the same time, as they were still wearing their tunics. Others went bare, vigorously splashing each other and soaping themselves. On a piece of driftwood on the beach, an older kid sat shearing the head of a smaller one, whose hair seemed to have grown out beyond the regulation stubble. Hard to tell the gender of either kid, Murel thought, though the older one’s corded arms seemed masculine. None of the bathers appeared older than Huy, and none of the girls had developed noticeable breasts yet. Murel thought it was odd that everyone was so young.
Lieutenant Bunyon and Captain Keester strolled along behind the new kids, herding them toward the barber.
Did you see the moony looks on their faces when they’re talking? Ronan asked. Those two are mating. I’d bet the first catch of the day on it.
They heard hurried footsteps approaching from the camp, and then a girl said, “The vaccinations for the newcomers, Doctor.” Turning, they saw that she was in Corps uniform.
Rory, meanwhile, had reached the barber, and with uncharacteristic meekness submitted his head to the shears. His wild dark curls fell onto the sand. Through its rain across his face, he shot them a look Murel hoped the camp officers would fail to notice.
At a sharp nod from the doctor, the soldier girl marched forward and shoved a small roll of flimsy cloth into Rory’s hands, then did an about-face and handed a similar roll to each of the other children, including the twins.
Ah, the fetching Camp Neverland uniform, Ronan said.
Murel started to shake it out.
“As I mentioned during indoctrination,” Lieutenant Bunyon said, taking her eyes away from Captain Keester long enough to lecture the new kids, “the company, recognizing that you children were rescued from a variety of circumstances and climatic conditions, has thoughtfully provided these simple, easy-to-wear, and easy-to-care-for garments. They’ll be much more comfortable than those hot ship suits some of you are wearing. You can put them on once you’ve bathed.”
Rory laid his new uniform on the ground beside those of the other kids and jumped into the water, wading out a ways, then dogpaddling for a while before bringing his arms together in front of him in a surface dive.
Pele and her relatives ran in the water. Meanwhile Rory and the other kids from the space station lined up for the barber. He was very quick, and one by one they left their dark hair on the beach, tossed both old and new garments aside, and waded into the water.
Pele shot Murel and Ronan a look, and Kai’s glance followed. As soon as Pele saw that Kai was watching, she pretended to be splashing her other brothers and sisters and washing vigorously.
Pele seemed to take it for granted that the twins would be able to rescue everyone, as they’d helped do on Halau. Some of the others, Murel felt sure, were thinking that if she and Ronan were prisoners themselves, they were in no position to rescue anybody. Kai was no longer openly hostile, but her hooded eyes seemed to Murel to say, “Well, hero twins, not so clever now, are you? Got us off Halau so we could come to this dump and our families could go to prison.” Or worse, “I wonder what they’ll do with you here when you turn into seals like you did in the underground canals.”
Rory had told them he felt sure his grandmother, the shape-shifter-obsessed Dr. Maria Mabo, had something to do with the families being transported from Versailles Station.
The thought that Dr. Mabo might be involved made Murel shudder. Dr. Mabo had lured Ronan into a situation where he’d been forced to change, and she knew about her as well. The doctor’s fondest wish seemed to be to discover what made them and other shape shifters, like the Honus, transform. Neither Murel nor Ronan had any doubt that their former teacher would take them apart piece by piece in an effort to find the secret of their transformation.
But Dr. Mabo had fled Versailles Station ahead of Marmie’s security. As far as the twins knew, she was still lying low. If she was anywhere near here, it was probably as a prisoner.
“Ow!” Ronan cried, and before Murel could turn back to see what had made him holler, she felt the sting in her hip. Lieutenant Bunyon grabbed her shoulder so she didn’t jerk away, but the doctor was already withdrawing the gun before she knew what was happening.
By then Ronan was sitting at the feet of the barber and having his head shaved. Then it was her turn.
Come on, Mur, her brother urged as, bald-headed, he turned toward the water. She hung back, unexpectedly and totally irrationally unwilling to give up her hair and hating to be pushed into it. She didn’t know why she felt that way. Her dark brown hair was no different than that of most of the people she knew at home, and she wore it cut just below her ears, but it was hers. She hardly recognized Ro now without his, and suddenly felt like she was losing who she was. She had given up being home, where she was loved, given up freedom, and now her hair? It was too much.
No! You look funny, she said, balking.
No, you look funny. I look like everybody else. We need to blend in if we’re going to find a way out to help Marmie and the others.
As they’d planned the night before, Rory waded out of the water and dragged Ronan, still in his dry suit, into it. Rory yelled and whooped like he intended to drown Ronan, though Murel was sure he was only horsing around. Since they’d arrived together and had apparently been friends the night before, they hoped it would look like that to the camp officials too. They also hoped the camp officials would not see fit to intervene.
Rory grabbed Ronan around the neck and pulled him headfirst under the water. Ronan didn’t seem to be struggling too much, and he wasn’t calling for help.
“Come on, kid, you’re my last for the day,” the barber said to Murel in a squeaky voice that couldn’t decide if it was grown-up or not. He beckoned to her impatiently.
Cringing, Murel squatted at his feet, carefully keeping the weight off her punctured hip. The shears buzzed over her scalp, which at first felt cooler as the weight of her hair lifted and dropped to her shoulders and the ground. The truth was, the dry suit was hot, and perspiration made the falling hair stick itchily to her face and neck. The tunic uniforms would be much cooler to wear, and the water looked so refreshing.
The barber tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the water. She rose reluctantly to her feet and took two slow steps toward the beach.
Two wet, dark-skinned Kanaka kids who appeared quite a bit younger than she ran out of the water and dragged her into it, dry suit and all. They were very strong, despite their size, and she couldn’t pull away from them. But this was Pele’s plan, and the jeering laughs didn’t match the conspiratorial looks in their eyes when they deliberately met hers.