‘As I have lain here, reviewing all that happened to us on Petaybee, I have reached some inescapable conclusions, besides those I have just imparted to you. One is that I must use my resources and facilities to help in as selfless a way as possible to expiate my sin to Petaybee. However, my physical condition', and he waved his hand at his legs, stretched before him on the bed, 'prevents me from taking as active a part as I would like. There is also the fact that my name and my connection with the Company might be construed as a conflict of interests in what I propose we do. Therefore, so that association does not stand in the path of my expiation, I must begin by firing you.’
‘I'm afraid I don't quite understand, sir,' Braddock said cautiously. Normally, if the doctor was unhappy with him, he had no problem figuring out exactly how he had failed his employer. But the doctor had not given him any indication that would cause Braddock to think he was going to be fired. Why, even the beaming, kindly expression on his intelligent face did not look like the expression of someone who was firing someone else.
‘Only so that you will no longer be associated with me, of course,' Dr Luzon said hastily, noticing Braddock's confusion. 'In fact, I don't even want it known that I am setting you up in a business that will facilitate our mutual desire to help people discover the magic of Petaybee.’
Braddock gawked at his erstwhile employer.
‘You see, Braddock, I am going to set you up in business. The transport business. So that you can travel easily throughout this star system and all others controlled by the Company.’
‘You are, sir?' Then, the light slowly dawned on him. 'Ah! So that I can tell others about the planet, sir?’
‘That's it, Braddock. Absolutely correct. You will form a company which will enable you to help those searching for the nirvana which only Petaybee can provide to reach the planet. A transport company. Now then, I know a thing or two about how people's minds work, how to discreetly encourage them to do the right thing. Some people we will be able to attract simply by appealing to what interests them. The wealth of animal life on the planet, for instance, should appeal to sportsmen. And of course, there will be financiers hoping to benefit by the Company's necessary withdrawal. We are not playing favourites here. We'll carry anyone who can pay the fare. But there are others who will want to come because they have relatives there, from whom they were separated during the Company's relocation programmes following land purchases after the various Terran wars. But many, Braddock, will simply hunger for a greater truth, a higher purpose, than any they have known. They must have a leader they can follow. You, Braddock, will become that leader, but not as Braddock Makem…’
Thus the PTS transport company was conceived.
Thus Brother Granite received his name and his instruction in the sort of language to use in bringing the truth about Petaybee to other worlds.
And it was good.
Gal-3 - Several days later
This whole CIS thing wasn't working out the way Diego had thought it would, but he was glad he'd come along anyway, just to keep Bunny's head straight if nothing else. Marmie was a nice lady and all that, but he could have done without the niece and nephew. The nephew was way too nice to Bunny and the niece kept trying to get her to act and dress like shipside girls. Diego liked her the way she was already.
He had looked forward to her reactions to the advanced gadgetry that was part of shipboard life and had imagined her repairing something she hadn't known existed until then, but every time he started pointing something out, Charmion got bored and suggested going to the fancy gymnasium where Bailey impressed Bunny and depressed Diego - who had never been a jock - with his gymnastic prowess.
And he couldn't really say anything about it to Bunny. She was like some little kid who'd never seen candy before. He, of course, was already pretty familiar with all this stuff, though neither of his parents ever inhabited the same lofty circles as Marmion Algemeine. But Bunny, who couldn't imagine doing anything athletic in less than sixteen layers of down and fur, was easily swayed and tried very hard to learn what Bailey and Charmion had been doing all their lives.
Meanwhile, Marmion and her crew were keeping the colonel entertained and as busy as possible, but Diego could tell that Yana was getting a little antsy when they'd been there a week and the CIS hearing still hadn't convened. Every day he got up thinking, today we'll do what we came here for. Yana will tell them how it is and Bunny will speak for the planet and maybe I'll sing them my song, then we'll go home. He should have known better. His dad was always complaining about how long it took the brass to move on anything significant.
There was one delay after another. Anaciliact was away on another assignment and Farringer Ball, who represented the Company's interests, had been stricken with a mysterious illness that was sweeping through the upper echelons of the power structure on other stations. Ball normally inhabited Gal-3 but had been away conferring with the leaders of other terraformed colonies when the illness struck.
That was the scuttlebutt anyway - the details were being kept fairly hush-hush. Not that Diego cared, except for the inconvenience it was causing him. While his father's recent illness made him pity anyone who was very sick, Farringer Ball had never seemed particularly human to him. Trust a bigwig to show his only signs of humanity just when it would royally screw it up for everyone else. Diego wondered what would happen next to detain them.
The colonel was anxious, too, he could tell. One day she and Sally swung by to collect Bunny on the way to the doctor. Yana was getting checked for her pregnancy and she wanted to see if Bunny was having any problem being cut off from the planet.
When she returned, Bunny was oddly quiet and fingered the little bag of Petaybean dirt that now looked so incongruous with her modern fuchsia and teal striped bodytight.
‘How'd it go, Bun?' he asked her.
‘OK,' she said. 'The doctor says my immune system should hold up a few more years and my brown fat deposit isn't large enough yet to make me uncomfortable off-planet. After I'm about twenty or so, though, I won't be able to leave for very long, ever, or I'll end up like Lavelle.’
‘So what? You don't want to leave Petaybee anyway, do you?’
‘Not for good, no, but Charmion asked me to come to her family's chalet in the Strigian Alps sometime to help her set up a dog team and ski. She showed me pictures and it's really beautiful there - all these beautiful houses and there's flowers all the time, even when the mountains are covered in snow. It's not that I want to leave Petaybee, really. It's just that I want to be able to if- you know, if I want to.’
‘Not me,' he said, folding his arms across his chest. 'I've been lots of places and Petaybee is the best.’
‘Sure it is,' she said. 'But at least you got to pick.’
‘You'll get a chance to wear those formal clothes this evening,' Marmion said, emerging from her office to the main room where her guests were lounging. They had spent the morning exploring yet another level as well as making another visit to the extensive gymnasium which fascinated Bunny. Marmion was delighted with the way Bailey and Charmion were filling their days on Gal-3 and the youngsters all appeared to like each other, though young Diego seemed rather quiet at times and for the last day or two Bunny had been less bubbly than usual.
Once Yana and Bunny had been assured by a visit to Marmion's personal physicians that their absence from Petaybee was causing harm to neither of them nor to Yana's unborn child, Yana had relaxed considerably. Afterwards, Sally had induced Yana to enjoy some of the beauty treatments available on Second Level. But, even with so much to do, the continual delays in convening the CIS hearing were irritating and nerve-racking.