Changelings
- Автор: Маккефри Энн, Скарборо Элизабет
- Серия: The Twins of Petaybee #1
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Changelings». Краткое содержание книги:
CHANGELINGS
They are Ronan Born for Water Shongili and Murel Monster Slayer Shongili. Twin brother and sister. Children of Yana and Sean. Children of Petaybee. As such, theirs is a destiny deeply intertwined with the sentient planet that is their home. For Ronan and Murel are more than human. Like their father, each can transform into a seal and converse telepathically with the planet’s creatures–such as the friendly otter whose life they save one day from a pack of ravenous wolves.
But the twins’ bravery has unforeseen results when a visiting scientist witnesses their startling metamorphosis and becomes obsessed with their capture. To protect their children, Sean and Yana send them to stay with a powerful family friend on an orbiting space station. But no one realizes that Ronan and Murel hunger to discover the origins of their shape-shifting talent–and that their search for knowledge will place them squarely in the path of peril.
Meanwhile, Petaybee is changing–and much faster than an ordinary planet’s natural evolution. It appears that portions of the sea are heating up and a landmass is suddenly rising from the depths. To investigate the startling occurrence, Sean heads out to the open water in his seal form. But the newly unstable region holds untold mysteries–and the potential for disaster.
She stopped with her spoon halfway to her mouth. "I just had a thought. Will the babies be transforming every time they get into water? Any water? If so, I'm going to have a fine old time trying to bathe them and it won't be easy keeping their nature a family secret."
"I used to have the same problem," Sean grinned. "Until I taught myself not to fur up the moment a drop touched me. But I had no da to show me the way, and they do. Meanwhile, if you need help with the family secret, well, we've plenty of family here who know all about it.
They'll help. And the four-foots will watch to make sure no outsiders come close enough to learn more than they should."
"You say that, Sean," Clodagh said, speaking quietly into her soup bowl, "but there are outsiders who've seen you change, and one of them may take it upon himself to wonder if the twins inherited the ability and need studying." She looked up, her moss green eyes fathomless and deep as one of Petaybee's many artesian springs, seeming troubled. She hated bringing up such worries on what should be a flawlessly happy day. "You know how much scrutiny this planet is under."
"Well, how the hell could they possibly interfere with my family peculiarity when Yana and I have the final say as governors of this planet?" Sean asked.
Clodagh shrugged.
"As long as the four-foots are their guards, no one will get near them," Yana said with far more conviction than she felt. "And Nanook and Coaxtl will keep them from being seen, won't they?" A nervous tic started in her cheek. She rubbed it. "Will the cats follow them into the water?"
"Yes," Sean said positively. "If the little ones elude them long enough to get near water, Nanook and Coaxtl would follow them into the mouth of a volcano if necessary. The cats do converse. We just have to make it plain to them how dangerous it would be for the kids to be caught half in, half out. Like I was."
"We'll hope they don't take arrows in their anatomy to induce such a condition," Yana said, referring to what was nearly a mortal wound for him. "And I thought leading training troops on landing parties for the Company Corps was a heavy responsibility!" She shook her head as if to clear it. "We're borrowing trouble. It's not as if shape-changing is a viable occupation."
"Oh, selkies would be real useful on water worlds," Sean argued.
"Yana's right, Sean. There's trouble enough right here and now without borrowing any,"
Clodagh said in a cajoling tone. "Don't fall into that water until the ice breaks up. For now your biggest problem is to decide what these babes of yours are to be called. I will think on it, remember the stories of our peoples, see if there's some appropriate names there. You and Yana should sleep while you have the chance. The cats can't take care of all the needs those babes will have."
The drumming began shortly after sunrise. Inside the nursery cube, the twins opened their eyes to the brightness pouring in through the piece of sheeting that covered the cube's single small window. The babies whimpered and wiggled.
Nanook's ears were the first part of him to wake up. They pricked to attention. Coaxtl's tail lashed restlessly before the snow leopard stretched a sleepy paw. The kits had awakened.
Both cats stretched and rose, poking their noses over the sides of the cots.
"Rrrow," Nanook told his friend. "I'd cry too if I smelled like that. Where are those humans when you need them?"
"These cubs leak," Coaxtl agreed. "And they've got these things tied around their haunches to hold the leakage in. One wonders how humans come up with such ideas. This arrangement keeps the nest clean but the cubs dirty."
"Sean would not want his kits to be dirty," Nanook said.
"Can one pull these haunch harnesses off so one can clean them?" Coaxtl inquired.
"Yes, they are meant to be removable. But take care with fang and claw. We want to remove the harnesses only, not the kits pelts. Humans, lacking proper coats, have very sensitive hides."
Nanook's nose touched the kit's leg as he grasped a pinch of cloth in his teeth. The kit stopped whimpering. He looked at it anxiously lest it was merely saving its breath for a good howl, but it was staring at him, wide-eyed and curious. Disconcerting, these human younglings, born with their eyes all open and gawking.
"Hee," the kit said aloud, quite distinctly giggling.
"Hee," the female kit echoed, pumping a plump fist in the air.
Tickles, one of them-the female?-said.
Ma? the other inquired.
No, child, I am Nanook, your keeper. Your mother sleeps. And this one is Coaxtl, also your keeper.
'Nook. Nanook realized suddenly that the boy's more advanced utterances were mental and that it understood as well as transmitted thoughts.
Co'. The female kit was also transmitting thoughts.
Co-ax-tl, the snow leopard said with a dignified fluff of his tufted cheeks. You may as well get it right to begin with, youngling.
Co'.
Nanook sat back on his haunches. The harness was too close to the tender skin. "Don't growl, leopard. They will learn. When I was their age, my mother had to lick me to teach me to do what they've already done in their harnesses."
Coaxtl sat back too. "This harness removal is for those with thumbs. The drums call. The time has come to wake the parents. They can cope with haunch harnesses."
CHAPTER 2
JUST in CASE a seventy-five-pound track cat standing over her was not enough of a hint that she should wake, Sean was saying, "Yana, love, it's time to rise. The drums have begun and the babes are hungry again."
"Yes, I got that idea," she said, looking up into Nanook's black-and-white marked face before Sean shooed the cat back to the floor. He had been so good, getting up to change the babies during the night and tucking them in with her so she could breast-feed without disturbing her rest unduly. She attempted to roll out of bed with her customary agility, only to find it sadly lacking. The birthing had not felt too traumatic, thanks to the underwater method Clodagh had employed to ease the way of the children into the world. But what pain had been spared her yesterday seemed to be catching up with her now.
A muted buzz went off in the adjoining cube, which was the main office of the Shongilis.
Sean paused halfway to the nursery cube, waiting until a second mechanical noise clicked in.
"It's working?" Yana asked in surprise. This was not the latest or most up-to-date answering machine, but it was the one that worked on their planet. They all listened for a second click, and then a red light appeared on the bar above the door into the cube, indicating a message was waiting. More efficient communication was one of the "improvements" that almost had to be implemented with all of the attention-most of it unwanted-Petaybee received from offworld interests. One com shed could no longer handle all of the messages, now that Intergal communications had pulled out when Space Base was dismantled. The landing area and fueling station had been left intact, and for a small consideration and a trade agreement regarding the fuel for visiting vessels, Kilcoole was allowed to retain it as a civilian concession.
"That thing can wait," Sean said. While recognizing the need for the "labor-saving" device, at the same time he resented its intrusion into what had once been their comparatively peaceful life. "I'll help you with the twins."