Megenda and the two crewmen had succumbed to Petaybee's justice. But Namid felt that Dinah had not, because she had both not assumed the protective womb-position and not soiled herself. He was glad of that for she was most fastidious about her person.
He carried her up the stairs, banged on the trapdoor to be re-admitted into the cabin, and found it crowded with Marmion, Bunny, Diego and the Murphys.
‘Oh, dear, what has happened to her?' Marmion said, reaching out compassionate hands to Namid's limp burden.
Muktuk took her from Namid and carried her to the bed he and Chumia shared. 'Petaybee's happened to her,' he said with the resigned tone of someone who has accepted judgement, fair or undeserved.
‘I found a portable holo-projector that produces an image of the pirate we all thought was Louchard,' Marmion told him. 'It was in Dinah's pocket. She was Louchard all along.’
Muktuk stroked the white hair back from Dinah's face and Chumia took her hand.
‘Poor lass,' Muktuk said. 'But us kindred of Handy Red have all got a wild streak.’
‘Hitch the team, Muktuk,' Chumia said. 'She's beyond my skill. Clodagh in Kilcoole is best at this.’
Namid turned away from them and left the cabin, still agitated but reassured that Dinah would receive here maybe not just what she deserved but what she had needed all along.
25
Sometime in the middle of the blizzard, Nanook clawed at the shuttle hatch and Yana opened it wide enough for him to jump the drift blocking it and land with a thud on the deck. He seemed to have brought half of the great outdoors in on his coat and paws, but as Sean rubbed him dry, he reported good news.
‘Coaxtl says the Youngling and the others are in shelter. Nanook can lead us there after the storm.’
Nanook did. They landed the shuttle in a snowbank which quickly turned into awakening polar bears, who unhumped themselves, rose and lumbered off, without a backward glance. Yana and Sean disembarked and started for the entrance of the cave formerly drifted over by bears, but Nanook barred their way, growled, and preceded them.
Yana had thought to bring a laser lantern. It burned brightly enough to show the most eclectic gathering of Petaybean wildlife she had ever seen curled, draped, stacked, lying, sitting, standing, washing, yawning and sleeping just inside the cave entrance.
Nanook growled warningly, but before they took a further step, Coaxtl sauntered towards them, yawning. The other beasts paid the humans no further mind.
Cita was right behind her friend, and ran to Sean to embrace him. 'Did you bring anything to eat?’
Loncie Ondelacy, Pablo Ghompas and their com munity followed. 'Yana, Sean, glad you came. But there are casualties and we all need to eat.’
Wading deeper into the cavern, Yana looked at the twisted, mumbling people lying on the floor all around. 'I'm glad we came too. But now what do we do?’
‘Whatcha drivin'?' Johnny Greene asked. Yana told him. 'Not big enough,' he said. 'We need serious transportation. Can you get help from Intergal?’
Sean shook his head. 'They won't lift a finger to help us because of our "disloyalty". Instead they're dumping every problem they can find like garbage onto the face of this world and leaving us to drown in it.’
‘Well, I can see why they wouldn't want this lot back,' Johnny said with a jerk of his thumb at what was left alive of those on the floor. 'But it's only human to try to do something for them. Is there no way at all?’
‘Nothing we can do from here,' Yana said. 'We came because Coaxtl called and we thought you and Cita were in danger.’
Johnny shook his head. 'No more. Them though Loncie Ondelacy said, 'Well, I for one don't blame Intergal a bit. If we don't want them to rule us, we can't expect them to jump every time we holler. And whether they caused this problem or not, we can expect more of the same. We have got to figure out a way to solve our own problems if we want to be autonomous. Yana and Sean, why don't you give Johnny a lift back to his bird along with some of the council members to help dig it out and make a run back to Bogota for food, blankets, and medical supplies. Also to organize a dogsled evacuation here, although it'd be better if they could be flown out, given the shape they're in. You could take Cita too.’
But Cita shook her head. Her voice was small but her eyes were shining with excitement. Children did tend to love a crisis, Yana reflected - especially somebody else's. 'Though I may be much in the way and a bother, Coaxtl is needed to keep Nanook informed and the other beasts from deciding that these ones,' she indicated the ravaged bodies around them, 'are easy prey. Since Coaxtl honours me by speaking to me, I should remain to pass messages between her and my elders and betters.’
Sean nodded. 'You can come back with Johnny when he returns north then. I'm sure you'll be a big help to Loncie and Coaxtl.’
They ferried Johnny and five of the councilmen back to the copter. The soft new snow had drifted deeply around it and it took them some time to dig it out again. Once its runners were free and Johnny and the others were airborne, Sean and Yana returned to the cave and carried out six of the most severely damaged among the illegal harvesters, Zing Chi and the father of Yo Chang among them, and returned to Tanana Bay.
The dog teams were being hitched as they landed. The dogs set up a fierce howl when the shuttle set down, and the whole village came running to investigate.
Back at the O'Neills', Yana and Sean saw for themselves the state of Dinah and the other pirates, who had to be taken from the communion cave and cleaned before being bundled into the shuttle.
On seeing Dinah, Sean said, 'Maybe we'll have to rethink letting the planet dispense its own justice. It's fair enough, but we can't handle the casualties. Bad enough that people have to remain badly maimed or die because we don't have the technology to get them to help but when we have it, just not enough of it, it fairly breaks your heart.’
‘It does,' Muktuk agreed, 'even when it's such as them.’
‘I'm most concerned about Dinah,' Yana said.
‘Perhaps you'll be less so when we tell you what we found on her,' Marmion said acerbically. 'Do you want to do the honours, Namid?’
He fished in his pocket and suddenly disappeared, to be replaced by the ugly Aurelian visage of Onidi Louchard. 'I am the pirate Louchard,' said a voice that sounded exactly like the pirate Louchard's. 'Who are you and why do you seek me?’
Yana, Bunny and Diego all jumped away from the piratical image.
Muktuk began to laugh. 'You mean that little bitty gal pretended to be that thing to control all those big ferocious pirates? Ah, Sean, your governorship, sor, you've got to save her, you do. She's purest O'Neill stock through and through, that one.’
‘You wouldn't be so crazy about her if you'd been on the pirate ship with her,' Bunny told him angrily.
‘We'll do our best to save her, Muktuk,' Sean said. 'If you'll take one of our current passengers, that will make room for her…’
‘We could come by dogsled, too,' Diego said. 'It'll be good to feel like part of Petaybee again, won't it, Bun?’
‘Sure will,' Bunny said.’
‘Sides, I got somethin' important to talk to you about.’
Diego looked extremely uneasy at that and was sorry he'd offered.
Marmion and Namid rode in the shuttle as well. Once they were under way, and had sent a radio message to Adak to transmit to Clodagh that they had the beginnings of a serious casualty situation on the way to Kilcoole, Yana was unusually quiet and, Sean thought, rather sad.