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.
As tired as she was, she found her mind would not quit whirling as she settled down to sleep.
There was so much to think about that she had put on hold the last few days while preparing to birth her babies.
Her babies… She was forty-five, and although she had always kept herself fit in the Company Corps, conceiving had been a minor miracle she attributed entirely to Petaybee's healing influence… another reason she blessed the planet and resolved to protect it to the best of her ability as joint governor of this fascinating world.
Many of the problems she and Sean had originally faced were sorting themselves out, especially now that Petaybeans, who had been recruited by the Intergal Company for lack of other employment on the planet, were resigning their commissions and returning to their native world, where the training they'd had made them invaluable and very employable in Petaybee's new business ventures.
She would be so relieved when the novelty of the planet faded and it stopped being invaded by all kinds of groups-esoteric, exotic, and daft-who felt they would benefit by time spent here in some capacity or another. Sooner or later word would get around that the planet's wonders were hardly a free lunch for all and sundry. Petaybee took care of its people, keeping them healthy and well fed, but the recipients of those benefits had to endure very cold winters with deep snows and a short and very busy summer with swarms of biting insects attacking any visible flesh. The planet itself had stern criteria that newcomers had to meet.
Yana grinned in the darkened room and twitched a blanket over her shoulder. Where was Sean? Maybe the message was a good one. He said he'd come tuck her in. She'd need to get as much sleep as she could with the feeding schedule she was now facing.
Sister Igneous Rock had suggested that the planet itself interview candidates. There were several problems with that, but the downside-the candidate had to spend the night in one of the communion places, and some people had very intense reactions to the experience-was sometimes a problem: negative for the applicant, very helpful in weeding out those who had no talents or abilities that the planet needed. There had been some protests by people rejected … but that was their tough luck. As word got around that Petaybee was not an easy mark, fewer duds arrived for their entrance exam.
The latest bunch, hydroengineers, had passed with flying colors, and spent more time with Sister Iggierock-as she was called with affection and admiration-who had spent hours reading to the planet so it could decide which types of modernization it would accept.
Now that folk were becoming accustomed to what Clodagh called the "Rock Flock," they were proving invaluable. There had been other "religiously" inclined visitors who'd had to be disillusioned by fact and their interview with the planet on their arrival. So far, of those with determined evangelical zeal, only the Rock Flock had been acceptable to the entity Iggierock still referred to as the Beneficent.
Much had changed, besides the seasons, since Yana first set foot on her "retirement" planet.
She hadn't known, but secretly suspected, that her damaged lungs were incurable. That is, until she met Clodagh and had lived through her first winter on the planet. Its curative powers-good food, clean air, and exercise-had restored many to complete good health. The clinic, inaugurated by Farringer Ball, the CEO of Intergal Company and a confirmed sicko who had once been one of the most critical of the company executives, had to increase its beds yet again to accommodate those seeking treatment on organic Petaybee. That clinic promised to be a profitable business now, with the laboratories adjacent to it to have state-of-the-art in equipment. Highly qualified physicians and researchers and equally qualified men and women lined up to take any position available. On his long list of to-do's, Sean added similar clinics for the southern continent and perhaps another facility on the western coast of the main continent.
She heard her door being carefully opened and knew Sean was there to "tuck" her in.
She turned over in the bed and heard his chuckle.
"You were supposed to be asleep," he teased.
"Not until you came to tuck me in. So who was it and what's the new problem?" she asked, having taken a look at his face. She knew him so well now that his expression indicated he needed to talk about whatever that message had been. She pulled her legs to one side so he could sit on the bed, and then she curled her body around his.
"Marmie is coming," he said, as if that explained everything. Perhaps it did. Marmion de Revers Algemeine was one of their most devoted and shrewdest new friends, having been part of a team sent initially to examine the "sentient" claim Sean and Yana had made for their planet. "And she's bringing a top-class lawyer and legal team."
"Why on earth do we need a top-class lawyer and a legal team… apart from those already resident on Petaybee?" Most disputes among the residents were solved by the intervention of shanachies or people like Clodagh who were respected as leaders and wise mentors. The Collective Interplanetary Societies-or CIS-under the guidance of Phon Ton Anaciliact, had helped prove that Petaybee, the planet, was a sentient entity, and Sean and Yana had scrupu-lously held to the tenets provided by the CIS. So far the planet had been more sinned against than sinning.
"Well, complaints have been lodged by individuals of discrimination by the employer…"
Sean began, after clearing his throat.
"Oh, those who got rejected," Yana said.
"Exactly." His grin was dour.
"They were interviewed by the main employer and found unsuitable for the tasks available,"
Yana said, which was basically what the people were told as they were transported to the departures lounge.
"They said the interview was biased and they had not taken any written tests to prove their skills nor asked to produce documents or recommendations to prove their competence. Ergo, they were denied their right to seek employment here."
"Oh, Lordy," Yana said, pushing her hair back from her forehead. "Half of them didn't have working skills but had heard that life on Petaybee was dead easy."
"Most of them also had diseases we do not wish to see circulating here," Sean added. "I asked Petaybee when she started wholesale rejections. Some of the diseases were social, which could be communicated to the entire population. A lot of them were mentally unstable, some criminally insane. Oh, and the discrimination on religious grounds is cited all too often."
"But Petaybee is not religious," Yana said. "I thought we'd cleared that up when we had to limit the number of pilgrims. Mind you, Iggierock and Shale and the others have proved more than useful, but certainly not in any religious circumstances."
"And Marmie says we have to clear that up in legal terms, which must then be presented to would-be immigrants before they take passage here. That won't be hard to do since we control the only transport that is technically admissible in Petaybean space. But we have to set it up, or be continually set upon by lawsuits."
"Who's behind that notion? I thought we'd got rid of Luzon and company."
"Marmie says we're not out of the woods so easily… especially since our population is mainly composed of other i.p.'s- inconvenient people. As an Earth-type planet, we are still supposed to accommodate i.p.'s." He grimaced.
"First they have to prove they are not going to remain inconvenient, and so far none of those rejected could."
"There are some iffy cases, Marmion went on to say, which is why we have to sort this problem now. Oh, and more Nakatira cubes are on their way."