The hostess had paid attention to her social secretary, too, for she got out Diego's suddenly doubled name of Etheridge-Metaxos and Bunny's Rourke without a quaver. She did not, of course, greet Sally or Millard as effusively but did gracefully wave them in the direction of the vast spread of refreshments.
‘Now you must meet the guest of honour,' Pleasaunce said, linking an arm with Marmion and leading the adults to the cluster of gorgeously attired men and women. She pushed her way through in such a practised way that no-one could have taken offence, though there were some querulous glances at being displaced - until the displacer was recognized. 'Macci, darling, you simply must meet Marmion de Revers Algemeine and her guests, Colonel Yanaba Maddock-Shongili, Buneka Rourke and Diego Etheridge-Metaxos, all from that incredible new world which, it transpires, is sentient. All by itself.’
Macci, who hadn't exactly welcomed his hostess's interruption - he'd been talking to two adoring young creatures - now let the full force of a Charm Nine smile break across his sculptured features. When the two girls moved slightly away, Yana could see that he wore one of the very fashionable SecondSkins, a shimmering tight-fitting garment that only the very athletically trim could wear to advantage. And he did. Though he wore a discreet - if decorative - loincloth where some of the other guests sort of let everything hang out. Despite that subtlety, he had a body almost as magnificent as Sean's, a centimetre or two taller than her husband and broader across the shoulders: not bad, actually, she had to admit.
‘I know, Marmie,' he said, giving her a paternal kiss on her forehead while his eyes were locked on to the other three.
When he took Yana's hand, she experienced a sort of electric shock in the contact that surprised her -hand-fasted as she was to Sean Shongili and with every intention of staying that way. But the man was unfairly laden with such charisma that Yana reached for the locket under her dress and pressed it hard. Macci - she heard Pleasaunce listing his pedigree - Macchiavelli (no less) Sendal-Archer-Klausevitch. And the woman rolled it off her tongue trippingly.
‘What did your parents ever have in mind when they saddled you with that mess?' Yana heard herself saying. She knew she was being terribly gauche but she resented the effect his magnetism had on her.
‘Trying to win relative favour,' Macci said, squeezing her hand in a very practised and sexy manner but he let her have it back the moment she pulled away. 'We were the cadet branch, you see.’
‘Ah! Still?’
‘The family motto is "We Shall Contrive",' he replied and his deep blue eyes danced down at her.
‘I'd say you're a practised hand at that,' she said, wanting to laugh because she couldn't believe she was playing this sort of game. Then she realized that it was a game and even if he were a much more versatile and accomplished player than she'd ever be, it could be fun!
‘I do my possible.' And he laughed with her now.
‘Oh, dear Macci, we won't detain you further,' Pleasaunce said archly, and importunately drew both Yana and Marmion away from his enchanted circle.
‘There are so many other people who're dying to meet you.’
They might have been dying to meet her but she damned near died of the boredom of repeating herself: Yes, she came from Petaybee; yes, the planet was sentient; no, the planet did not ask nor answer questions; no, she hadn't had vile nightmares and been visited by strange thoughts; yes, the planet was cold and had very little in the way of technology because the cold banjaxed equipment; yes, everyone was healthy there and lived long lives; yes, it was possible it was the healthy diet and no, she wouldn't recommend it as a holiday resort - in the summer the insects ate you alive and in the winter you could easily freeze to death. No, that didn't sound like a friendly place but it was, and yes, the planet really was friendly, too, despite its weather which wasn't precisely the planet's fault. No, the Planetary Terraform B process was not at fault. Petaybee was unique as far as planets went. It went on all night, until the smile on her face felt pasted so she was glad when Marmion signalled that they could leave.
7
The next morning Yana couldn't remember the names of any of the other people she had met with the exception of Macci: not because Macci had been that unique, although in one sense he had - he was memorable - but because the others had blended into such an identical blur. Their faces, their voices, their apparel had had a sameness that made identifying one from the other very difficult. Yana did remember the things she ate and the wines she drank but the people? And these were those who were important on Gal-3? No-one appeared to want to talk about anything remotely'significant' considering they were persons whom Marmion had said were important for her to meet. When they weren't questioning her avidly, they gossiped about the people who hadn't been invited. Yana hoped that she'd never hear what was said about her or anyone else in Marmion's group. Petaybee was coming up more and more golden and real!
She was not the only one silent this morning. Bunny was slouched over her morning meal, and the measure of her discomfort was registered by the fact that she was wearing an outfit which Marmion had provided for her rather than some of the Gal-3 finery Charmion had urged her to purchase. She was moodily staring out of the lounge window at the comings and goings of station vehicles, tugs, and incoming traffic of all kinds.
Yana decided not to show Bunny the corn-message from Sean which asked Yana to see if Marmion could check out a firm trading as PTS, Petaybee Transport Shuttle, which was so busily landing new problems in his lap. People were being dumped back of beyond, wanting 'hotel' facilities, of all things, and he was running out of places to stash them. And food to feed them. And could this influx of unwanted and generally useless self-seekers please be stopped. To which Johnny Greene, who had sent the message from the space station on Whit Fiske's credit, had added a devout 'amen'.
‘Can we find out about these yabos, Millard?' Yana had asked although she took the tone of the message as one: amused, two: coping, and three: why was she staying away so long.
Millard glanced at the message, made a note on his wristpad, and smiled down at her. 'Sure thing.’
‘Hey, looka that,' Diego said suddenly, pointing to where a line of drones were being shepherded by little space tugs.
Millard smiled. 'Ah, the collies at work.’
‘Why're they called that?' Bunny asked.
‘Watch how they herd the ships in,' Millard said. 'Their names are actually the Megabite and the Maggie Lauder but we call them Meggie and Maggie.’
The speedy work vessels did indeed seem to be nipping at the skids of the drones, angling them into the correct alignment with their ultimate destination on the lower docking circle. But he was specifically pointing to the sleek, taper-ended vessel, clearly no drone, nearly the last one on the long drone tether. 'I wonder what holed that.’
‘Meteor, probably,' Millard replied, looking up and frowning slightly at the company the obvious space craft was keeping.
‘Looks big enough to have been holed by a shuttle craft,' Diego said, 'and a big one at that.’
‘Would the crew have survived such a holing?' Bunny asked, coming out of her slump long enough to peer about.
‘Depends on the speed with which the crew reacted to the disaster,' Millard said.
‘Cost a pretty pile of credits to fix it I'll bet,' Diego said.
‘Someone who can afford a craft that size has the credit,' Sally said. 'This is the biggest repair facility in the quadrant so they'd have to come here for that sort of major restoration.’