‘It is,' Yana said. 'Planet Terraform B, or Powers That Be or Pee-tay-bee.’
‘I see.' He paused another beat, shook his head. 'No, I don't see.' He placed his fingers on his forehead as if the contact would stimulate understanding.
‘Frankly, nor do I,' Yana said, beginning to feel as if her throat might withstand the effort of conversation. She hadn't had so much as a tickle during the last few minutes. 'The ransom for me seems to be Petaybee.' Marmion and Bunny gasped, Namid looked confused. 'I think your… erstwhile colleagues, Namid, have made a bad tactical error in suggesting…' and Yana paused significantly as she stressed the word,' that Petaybee has untold riches which it has refused to divulge to Intergal. In fact, Namid, an Earth-type planet of its girth and density has only minimal mineral resources which would prove…’
‘Have proved…' Bunny said in a flat angry voice.
‘Impossible to produce due to the intemperate weather conditions on the planet's surface. It does have, and on this basis, we may yet be able to come to some arrangement with one, and only one, drug company, to harvest the renewable valuable plants for their purity and quality. But such an enterprise would not be a snatch-and-strip process: rather one that will accrue profit slowly and only when the planet has paid back to Intergal the expenses the company has already incurred in the Terraforming and maintenance. What Petaybee has is intangible wealth, not readily saleable valuables.’
‘And the planet is… somehow… controlling its future?' Namid asked, still struggling to believe the initial concept.
‘The planet controls its surface rather well,' Marmion said with a wide grin for Namid. 'It counteracts the use of explosives by making volcanoes just where miners wish to dig. It rescinds the use of a flat surface for spacecraft by extruding a ziggurat that covers the exact centre of the landing field and unsettles all the peripheral buildings. It either melts prematurely or conjures up diabolical weather patterns to preserve what resources it has. A formidable opponent, and a desirable friend.’
‘I've lived there all my life,' Bunny added, 'and life is good on Petaybee.’
‘But not to everyone's taste,' Yana added drolly. 'Still, the air's pure and unpolluted, the soil is rich enough to produce food crops in their season - and marvellous herbs and plants which are made into the most efficacious potions and syrups. And while it's a hard life, it's a good one if you accept the planet on its terms. It's willing to accept you on the same grounds.’
‘The only planet in the galaxy to require an entrance exam from inhabitants,’ Marmion said, giggling as much at the expression of total disbelief on Namid's long face as at her choice of expression.
Diego began to groan and twist on the narrow bunk and Bunny instantly was all attention.
13
Sean found that he literally couldn't stand to live in his own skin, he was so distraught about the kidnapping. 'Una, I have to get out,' he said. 'If there's any news, any change at all, send Marduk for me. He'll be able to find me. I'm going to the river.’
‘Send Mar - Sean! What if there's another ransom…' Her voice trailed behind him.
He knew she was right. He should stick around the office in case there were new developments; in case Yana or Marmion's people made contact again. But the last week or two had been just the sort of thing that wore him down until this final shock made his head reel. He was used to working outdoors, working with animals, swimming the long watery corridors of the planet and drawing strength and calm from the water. All these papers and off-world people, trying to figure out what was fair, what was right, where they fit in, where to be liberal and responsive to their needs and where to draw the line. He had every confidence in himself that he was a good man. He just wasn't that particular kind of good man. And now, with the possibility that Yana might not return, that what he did or said, or could or could not do would mean life or death to her, to Bunny and Diego, to Marmion who had been so kind, to the future he and Yana had looked forward to - he had to get away, had to think, had to let the water flow over him. He felt as if his alter form was a whale or a dolphin rather than a seal, that, like them, he would itch himself right out of his skin if he didn't get it wet and changed soon.
He barely managed to reach the cover of the woods before shucking off his clothing and diving into the river waters. The rippling, bubbling, soothing, slithery soaking poured over his head as he changed utterly, man into seal, twenty feet down in the deeps of the river.
Usually he made his changes at the hotspring or farther from home, because his transformation had been a secret from all but his closest friends and family in the past. But a few times he had needed to swim this river and had done so. Eventually, like all rivers, it dumped into the sea. And like most Petaybean rivers, it received transfusions from various hotsprings along its route, making it warm. He swam furiously out towards the sea, and then furiously back again, because he didn't want to be too far in case Yana needed him. But the mere sight of land made him feel wild with grief and anxiety and he dived, deeper and deeper.
The reasonable man in him told his seal-self to be careful, not to go too far, not to become injured or trapped, because then he wouldn't be able to help Yana if needed, but his seal-self swam recklessly and restlessly - and began noticing things about the riverbanks and bed it hadn't noticed before.
Petaybee's recent seismic activity had changed the channel of the river slightly and had changed the feeder springs - several underwater grottos now opened beneath the banks, and as Sean dived, he saw that they tunnelled deeply under the riverbanks. He swam into one of them, taking its twists and turns until he found he was no longer swimming, but pulling himself out of a wellspring, up onto the floor of another of Petaybee's subterranean corridors. Once on land again, he resumed his man shape, the river water streaming from his skin.
The swim had not helped as much as he hoped. Now to his other anxieties was added the fact that he longed to stay here, safe from intrusion, safe from having to decide everything for everyone, and yet, he had to leave soon in case he was needed. Even Marduk couldn't find him here.
But he needed to be here, within the planet, at one with it. It had always been his greatest inspiration and his greatest comfort - when his parents died, when Aoifa was lost, and when, at first, he wondered if Yana would accept him, his home had always been his solace and greatest support.
‘What am I going to do?' he asked the cave walls. 'I suppose people have always had to ask that at some point or the other. Do I betray my home by letting others take it from me? Or do I betray my family by endangering them? I can't find it in me to do either, even if I knew how. What are we going to do?' He tasted salt in the water running from his hair and knew that it wasn't river water, even as it flowed back into the stream. 'I need help.’
‘Help!' the echo screamed back at him. 'Help!’
It sounded like another person entirely, not an echo of himself - the echo at the wedding had used the same tonality. In spite of his pain, he sat up straighter and looked and listened. Then he said aloud, 'That's right. We need help. Yana's been taken by more people who want to tear you to pieces. Yana needs help.’
'Help Yana! Help Yana! HELP YANA! YANA!
YANA,' f Her name echoed around the cave until Sean was about to jump into the water to escape it. Then suddenly the echo changed again to 'HELP! Help us!' and suddenly the slight phosphorescence that was always in these places organized itself into a straight line and grew and grew.