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.
Neither of them said anything, but each felt the other reeling. They'd never thought, when they left Da on Petaybee, that he might not be there when they returned. Then Ronan said staunchly, "Good job Mum's sent for us then. We can find him."
"Non!" Marmie said. "What I mean is, I don't think your mother will want to risk you two as well. I certainly wouldn't in her place. The volcano is very active. It could completely blow at any moment. Johnny says there's almost no visibility even in Kilcoole."
"We don't need visibility," Murel said. "We can hear our da in our heads."
"I'm sure you won't be able to go near enough to do it."
"We hear pretty good," Ronan said, "and at least we could tell your searchers how to look-better yet, if you really want to find him, we should be leading."
But Marmie was shaking her head again. She unstrapped herself, rose and left the lounge.
After that, when they tried to talk to her, she pretended not to hear them or ignored them or changed the subject.
Ke-ola, who stayed close beside the tank containing Honu, watched one of these encounters with a little twist of his lips. "That Madame is very stubborn," he said.
Murel crossed her arms on her chest and glared at nobody in particular. "She's not the only one," she said. "He's our da."
When at last the ship set down on Petaybee, the twins saw their mother pacing the ground, waiting while they climbed down the gantry to meet her. It was in some ways as if they'd never been away at all, and in some ways as if they were coming here for the first time and didn't know anyone.
She's so little, Ronan told his sister. She always looked so tall and straight.
Could be because you're looking down on her from about forty feet, dopey, Murel said. Then relented. But I know what you mean. And, well, Petaybee isn't as pretty as I remembered it, even in summer, but it feels good to be here.
Can't tell if it's pretty or not with all that stuff in the air, Ronan replied, swatting at the space in front of his face as if to clear the air of the smog that turned everything gray. At least our river is still there.
Murel stopped on the step she'd just set foot upon. Even if our da is not. Her throat hurt suddenly, and not just from all the particles in the air. Her heart felt as if it twisted up inside her not to see her father standing there, and Ronan felt it too.
We'll get him back, Mur. You'll see. We will. We'll show them all.
Of course we will, she sniffed, and started down again. Fortunately, she still held firmly to both rails of the gantry because suddenly it and the ship shuddered and jumped, and when it stopped, their Mum and Marmie, who was already down, were picking themselves off the ground and looking anxiously up at the twins.
After that they hurried down. But when she reached the foot of the gantry, Murel waited for Ronan, and the two of them walked over to their mother and let her put her arms around them. After a moment they each put an arm around her too.
Marmie smiled, wiggled her fingers in a "See you later" gesture, and returned to the dock, where she helped Johnny Green supervise the unloading of some extremely large crates, boxes, and un-crated hunks of equipment. Among the large things was the Honu's tank, with Ke-ola sometimes walking along, sometimes crouching, beside it, apparently soothing the Honu.
"Marmie told you why Da isn't here?" Mum asked them. Left to her own devices, Mum never was one to beat around the bush. The more difficult or distasteful something was to discuss, the sooner she'd bring it up. Da was the one more likely to wait for the proper moment.
"She did," Murel answered.
"And you're not to worry, Mum. We'll get him back," Ronan said.
"Yes, we will," she replied. "I'll brief you on what we know already on the way back to the village. As soon as you've had a chance to settle in and have been brought up to speed, we'll fly back out again."
The twins exchanged looks. "You'll let us help?" they asked incredulously.
"I'm counting on it," Yana told them. "Not that you're to take any unnecessary risks, of course, but if anyone who speaks the human tongue can find him, it's you kids."
Just then Clodagh, surrounded by orange cats, strode up the river road toward them. The twins squealed and raced forward to embrace her. Clodagh smiled and patted them on the heads, said how big they'd grown, and disentangled herself, continuing on to the ship. The Honu's tank was being loaded aboard some sort of a wheeled barge, and Clodagh stopped there, bending over to peer into the tank for a moment before straightening to clasp Ke-ola in a huge hug and even exchange cheek kisses with him.
In spite of their excitement over their own homecoming, the twins couldn't help being distracted by this uncustomarily effusive display on the part of Kilcoole's shanachie. Almost as surprising was the way the often taciturn Ke-ola seemed to be brimming over with things to tell the woman he'd just met.
Well, I guess we don't have to worry about making Ke-ola and the Honu feel welcome, Murel said.
I didn't know Clodagh was so keen on sea turtles, but you'd think she'd been dying to meet one her entire life.
Mum hadn't noticed their lapse of attention. She pointed to where three curly coats, now shedding badly, stood flanked by Nanook on one side, Coaxtl on the other. "When I told Sinead you were coming home, she sent Chapter and Page here to help you get around on the ground. They were born last year to Book and Novella. Can you tell your aunt has been doing her bit to support the Petaybean literacy program?"
Page, it's them! It's really them! The twins. They've come to be our humans.
Semihumans, old chap.
Close enough for the likes of you younglings, Coaxtl growled at the colt, then stretched and regarded the twins with narrowed eyes. Grrreetings, Ronan and Murel. One had hoped it would have been more peaceful without you to guard, but this has not been so.
Nanook was not so droll. She rose from her haunches and rubbed each twin so hard with her body that she nearly knocked them over. Then she rubbed the side of her mouth against each of them, marking them as hers while they stroked her.
Murel almost forgot that she couldn't be entirely happy, what with their father missing. It was good to be home again. She gave Nanook's neck a hug and kissed Coaxtl between the ears before mounting Page.
They rode slowly along the river from what used to be Space Base, the former Intergal toehold on Petaybee, toward Kilcoole.
"You guys are as tall as I am," Mum said. "When did you do that?"
It wasn't a question that needed an answer, but they had other questions that did.
"So, I get the impression Da was in seal form when he disappeared?" Murel asked.
"Yes. He wanted to swim out to the volcanic ridge where a landmass has been developing. I can only guess that he may have wished to talk to the ocean creatures and get their impressions of what was happening."
"That gives us a starting place then," Murel said. "We can put the word out and see if anyone knows what happened to Da or where he might be."
"Johnny thought Sean might have fetched up on the southern continent, but no one there has seen him. He's swum that far before but I know he'd find a way to let me know that he's safe."
At the river bend just before town, they saw a once-familiar sleek brown form diving into the water.
Otter? Murel asked.
"Hah!" The otter popped almost entirely out of the water. River seals! You are here now.