‘Matty women are on duty right up until delivery now, Sean,' she said, dropping her hand to his arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze. 'And you heard Marmie, it will only be three weeks. If I have Bunny along…’
Clodagh touched Sean's hand. 'It should be OK that long, Sean. And Petaybee needs her to do this.’
‘I suppose so. I only wish I could accompany her.’
‘I'd take good care of her, Uncle Sean. You know I would,' Bunny said, throwing her arms around his waist.
‘And I'd take care of both of them, Dr Shongili,' Diego said, with a challenging look at Marmion.
Marmion smiled at him and said, 'With you as adult guardian, I see no problem in Bunny and Diego accompanying you, Yana. In fact, I'm sure CIS Anaciliact would appreciate all the support he can get. I don't suppose little Cita…?’
But Sean denied that choice with a firm shake of his head. 'After all she's been through she's much too fragile in my opinion. Cita stays here. Besides, Coaxtl frets herself into moulting mountains of hair if the girl is out of sight for any extended period.’
‘I can tell what needs to be told, to anyone who asks,' Bunny said at her staunchest.
‘Sean,' Yana said, turning to look into his dear, worried face. 'Duty does have a way of calling regardless of personal convenience, love.’
‘I wouldn't stop you from doing what you think you need to do, even if I thought I could get away with it, Yana.' His grin was slightly strained and anxious and so were his eyes. She understood his concern, and maybe more than just 'understood' after their union in the cave. 'But be careful.’
Two hours later they were ready to depart, though Yana deeply regretted the necessity of leaving her new husband so precipitously. She consoled herself with the knowledge that what they had between them would keep, on the ice and in the heat, come what may.
Clodagh gave each of them an almost ritualistic kiss and embrace, putting a little leather bag on a thong around their necks.
As she hung Yana's around her neck, Yana asked, 'What's this?’
‘It's dirt,' Clodagh said simply.
‘Dirt?’
‘Yes. Petaybee wants you to have something to remember it by. The dirt's from the cave.’
Not long before, Yana would have been stymied how to receive such a statement, but now she squeezed Clodagh warmly in an embrace of her own. 'This makes me feel a lot better.’
Then Sean clasped her in a farewell embrace and she, Bunny and Diego boarded the Company shuttle that would take them to Marmion's executive space-liner, waiting in orbit. In Yana's carryall was Sean's wedding vest, to sleep with, and a hastily made town recording to Petaybean relatives in Company service. Bunny carried a frozen fish for her cousin Charlie from his parents and a basket of pemmican from the wedding feast for homesick Petaybeans. Diego carried letters from his father to his mother and a basket of his favourite Petaybean foods plus nutrients to keep himself and Bunny healthy on the journey.
Once aboard the spaceliner, Sally Point-Jefferson, Marmion's aide, tenderly placed Charlie's fish in the freezer. Bunny remained glued to the viewscreen, watching Petaybee shrink into a tiny point of light in the vastness of black space. She bent and unbent her fingers against the port in farewell as her home disappeared altogether.
2
Bunny turned away from the window, a little gasp of dismay escaping her throat, her eyes misty with suppressed tears.
‘I never thought I'd see the last of Petaybee,' she said in such a mournful tone that Diego immediately took her into a warm embrace, murmuring reassurances and some of the silly names that he had created for her.
‘Now, gatita,' he said, the name meaning 'little cat' or 'kitten', 'it's not as if you won't be coming back, or anything. It's only for a little while. And I bet that no-one from Kilcoole has ever seen Petaybee from space like you just did. Looks like one of those stones Aisling polishes up, the bluey ones with the white bands.’
‘Yes, I guess it does at that,' Bunny said, sniffling until Marmion handed her a tissue. 'Oh, sorry. Didn't bring anything to blow into.’
‘What the well-appointed vessel has in quantity - things you don't remember to bring with you,' Marmion said kindly. 'I forget how hard it is to leave a place you love. Only think how excited you'll be to see it in the viewscreen on your way back. The better view!’
Marmion then organized everyone into doing things: like settling into their cubicles, getting food, getting comfortable. 'I've had Sally acquire clothing for you or you'll all be over-warmly dressed where we're going. It's also very important, I think, that we choose garments that will seem appropriate to our mission.’
‘What's wrong with what we're wearing?' Bunny wanted to know for she was wearing the beautiful Gather Blouse Aisling had made out of the material Yana had gifted her with. The blouse made her feel very elegant and adult, and Diego said it was the nicest thing he'd seen her in.
‘I'm not suggesting you change your style, dear,' Marmion said in a conciliatory tone, 'and that blouse is certainly lovely but you can't appear every day in it. So Sally and I scrounged around to see what would be you as well as ah… not too conspicuously different. Oh,' and she gave an exasperated sigh as she saw the defiant look on Bunny's face, 'for all I'm supposed to be so diplomatic, I'm not putting this in the right words, am I? But then, where we're going, one is not often judged by what they are, but what they seem to be. You know what I'm talking about, Colonel Yana dear, don't you?' And Marmion appealed to Yana on more than the one count she was trying to explain.
‘I do, indeed, Marmion…' Yana tried to pull a fold over her belly from the material of her one-piece suit and failed with a laugh. Til need a size larger, I know.’
‘Oh, you're easy to do, Yana,' Marmion said. 'Wasn't she, Sally?’
The aide laughed and nodded. 'With trouser pleats for expansion,' she said. 'And a tunic tailored just that little bit fuller across the… ah… hips.’
‘It isn't my hips that worry me,' Yana said with a grin, hoping to clear Bunny's troubled expression.
‘Diego, we've ordered you the very latest,' Marmion went on and then giggled in one of those displays of amusement which charmed her friends. 'In fact, the whole operation was a great deal of fun. Why don't you and Bunny go see what's in your wardrobes? We'll still have time to discard what you really can't possibly be seen in before you have to be seen in it.’
Diego escorted Bunny firmly to the cabins they'd been assigned. Only when the panel had slid shut behind them did Marmion's expression alter to one of concern.
‘You do know what I mean, Yana?’
‘Oh, yes, Marmion. I know precisely what you're trying to do and so does Diego. He knows the drills. So do I. So, now what? Or do we wait for the others to return before you tell us the bad news?’
‘How ever did you know there is some?’
‘Because you're taking such especial pains to make us seem normal, look normal and yet different enough so we'll still be "original" as well as acceptable.’
Marmion, hands loosely clasped in her lap, considered that. 'It will not be smooth sailing, although I have every confidence that common sense, at least this once, will prevail. Intergal, as well as other holding companies that have vast numbers of star systems held in fief as Petaybee is, will be watching. The scientifically acute are fascinated by the idea of a sentient planet. You must know that, with all the paper that's flooded your desk since they got a name to send messages to.’