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...
He jerked his thumb back at the mate. “Lloyd came with me. One of these days we’ll get him back home to see his kids, or maybe it’s grandkids by now, but in the meantime I need him around. He’s the only one who can put up with me for any length of time.”
“Have you got a family?” she asked.
“Several,” he replied. “In different places, from different times in my life. I used to hear from one of my sons once in a while, but that was before I landed here. I don’t think any communication is allowed through.”
“None? Are you sure?”
“I haven’t received any demands for money from any of my exes since I’ve been here. Which just goes to show you that even a sewer like this has a silver lining.”
“Are you going to turn me in?” she asked.
“If I don’t, I don’t know what to do with you. We’re not exactly outfitted as a cruise ship here.”
“Just let me go, then.”
“You were never here,” he said. “Only-if you go back in, what are you going to do? You said they caught your brother. Seems like it’s not going to be long until they catch you too. I have a suggestion for you-and it’s just a suggestion, mind you. Why don’t you and your otter buddy dive back in the drink but hang around with us? That way I’ll know you’re safe or can help you out if you get into trouble.”
“Or know where I am when your friends come to collect me,” she said.
“If that’s what I’m up to, I could just net you again.”
“True. You could do that,” she said. “But I can’t just hang around here and be safe. I have to try to help Ro and Marmie and the others.”
“We got a message asking us to assist with your capture, and it warned us about the net stretched along the bottom. There will still be people waiting for you to spring it. Your safest bet is to go ashore with us, but we’re going to need a reason to land on the island. If someone asks us what we’re doing here now, we can claim we’re doing some recreational fishing. You’d better keep out of sight.”
“I can do that easier in the water, but I have to help Ro.”
He nodded. “We’ll see what we can find out from this end, but we’ve got to make it all look like business as usual. Can you hear it if I tap on the hull?”
“Sure, but it’s easier if you just tell the cat.”
“Of course it is,” he said, clearly trying not to laugh. “Silly me not to think of that. You’re all telepathic, right?”
Murel nodded.
“You talk to the squids too?”
“They were about to have supper so we couldn’t stay and chat,” she said.
He grinned but made no further comment.
She pulled off the hat and jumped overboard, letting the water pull the T-shirt up around her neck. Sky used his otter paws, more flexible than her flippers, and helped her remove it the rest of the way. They left it floating, and the dip net descended and scooped it up.
She wished she could relax and just let the adults handle this, but it was beginning to seem like those days were over. This man might help and he might not. Her impression was that he sincerely wanted to, but from what he said, he was almost as much a prisoner as she was.
Nevertheless, instead of turning back toward the mainland, he turned his bow toward the island.
CHAPTER 17
RONAN’S STRUGGLES WITH the net ended when his head knocked against the side of the boat.
Dimly, he heard Murel calling him, but he could not answer. Then the calling stopped, as did all other impressions until he found himself awake, on a beach, naked and in human form, surrounded by feet both bare and booted.
“The freak’s waking up,” someone said, half threatening and half scared.
“Let’s throw it back in the water again and watch it change back,” someone else said.
“Are you kidding? The old bat would kill us if we let him go. As it is, extra rations all around.”
“And a promotion for me,” a girl said. Ronan looked up into Kai’s triumphant face. “I’m the one who helped catch him. If I catch his sister too, I’ll get off this planet and have a berth aboard a ship before the rest of you finish basic training.”
Ronan scanned the faces around him while keeping his own as still as he could, trying not to give anything away. Rory was there, his expression also carefully blank. Kai was the only one of the Kanaka kids in the crowd. Ronan had never seen any of the others, who were mostly older and wore, in addition to their camp tunics, bits of Corps uniforms. Among them stood adult soldiers, wearing uniforms and self-satisfied expressions.
Presently Dr. Mabo arrived. She patted Rory’s shoulder approvingly as she passed him, a most un-Mabolike gesture.
Rory must have joined up fast, Ronan realized, maybe right after he talked to him and Murel. He recognized that he was on the beach near the military encampment, not the one near the children’s prison.
There were no nice little huts or bamboo walls, just blocky prefabs and the company colors flying below the Federation ones on a pole in the middle. That was all he could see, looking between heads and feet.
Mabo prodded him with her toe.
“Get up, boy, and come with me. We have important work to do, the two of us.”
Ronan sat up. “Can I borrow a shirt or something?” he asked.
“Clothing is for human beings,” Mabo said. “Don’t worry. You won’t be staying in human form long.”
She leaned forward, and he thought for one incredulous moment that she was going to help him up, but instead she reached around his neck and clamped on a collar. “You’ll be wearing this at all times, in whatever form.”
It was soft and nonchafing, but when he touched it, he felt some sort of webbing throughout the surface.
“What is it? A dog collar?”
“As long as you are a good creature and cooperative, it is simply a monitoring device.” She pulled something out of a pocket in her trousers. “If not…”
Pain shot directly into his head and all the way down to his toes. He wet himself with the shock and the onlookers snickered or made disgusted sounds.
“If you fail to follow orders, that will happen. I can make it worse. If you attempt to escape, I can track you. There is a lethal setting, by the way. Come along.”
“Can I wash off first?” he asked.
“You’ll be wet again soon enough,” she said.
Murel? he called, but his sister didn’t answer. He was sure she hadn’t been captured or she’d be there too. How was he going to get out of this? He wished he could communicate with Rory the same way he could with Murel, but he couldn’t. Rory was smart. If there was a way he could help, he would.
Unfortunately, Ronan was sure Mabo knew that too.
The others had parted before Mabo. When Ronan didn’t follow quickly enough, the collar gave him smaller shocks that made him twitch and jerk and threw him off balance. Derisive laughter followed his naked behind as he trailed behind Mabo until she entered one of the prefab huts.
He heard footsteps behind him and turned his head for a second. Kai was following them into the hut.
Mabo gave him a grandmotherly smile and stroked the side of the collar’s control device with her thumb.