Power Play Read online

  “I don’t suppose any of you people are teachers?” Sean asked hopefully.

  “I am,” Wild Star Furey said. “I’ve been company librarian on Minnehoma Station for the last nine years, and I’ve helped Petaybean and other colonial recruits learn the basics when they come on active duty.”

  Sean smiled for the first time. “Then, ladies, I will find a place to stay myself and you may take over the gubernatorial mansion.”

  There was a meow from the top of a stack of papers. “With the help of the resident paperweight. This is Marduk. He lives here.”

  “What a nice kitty!” Una Monaghan said.

  “But Governor Shongili, what of us? When shall we, how shall we, where shall we meet with the Beneficence?” Sister Igneous Rock asked. Sean had to hand it to the white robes. They had been very patient and quiet throughout the proceedings.

  “You’re the ones who should stay with Clodagh,” he decided, knowing that he was probably going to regret it.

  6

  Brother Granite did not have to go far to find the believers he sought. Many people were already searching for something better, something they didn’t have, something to lift them out of the ordinariness of their lives, to put them in touch with greatness.

  What could be greater than an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-embracing planet? Even Dr. Luzon, who had been very difficult for Petaybee to convince, recognized that precept now. That was why Dr. Luzon had sent him forth, to spread the news to those in need of hope.

  “Braddock, my boy, I was in error,” Dr. Luzon had said from his hospital bed. “That planet is indeed sentient. I mocked it, and it rose up against me.”

  “Oh, Doctor, I’m so glad you agree,” Braddock had said with considerable relief. “I, er, came to the same conclusion.”

  “Well, of course you did. You’re a very perceptive fellow. That’s why you have my trust. And you do have it, son. In fact, now that we know the truth about Petaybee, hallowed be its name, it occurs to me that our doubts may have been for a very special reason, that we may have been where we were, when we were, for a very special purpose.”

  “Protecting the company’s interests . . .”

  A look of annoyance momentarily crossed the doctor’s high brow and ascetic mouth. His expression changed so quickly that Braddock felt that the doctor had probably suffered a twinge of pain. After all, he had been severely injured in the earthquake. “No, my boy, I mean an even higher purpose. We were doubters and we were made to believe in the positive force of Petaybee. I see now that we were put on the spot as witnesses. It is our duty now to go forth among other worlds and spread this news to others. Indeed, it is up to us to make sure that others are able to contact Petaybee so that Petaybee can expand its influence beyond those few insular settlers we met.”

  “But, sir, I didn’t get the impression that any more people were wanted.”

  “Not by the settlers, perhaps. They wish to keep the wonder to themselves, to have Petaybee serve them alone. As for the planet, because its people are selfish, it has had little opportunity to expand its influence to others. That is our purpose.”

  “Ours, sir?”

  “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”—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 interest 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 where he had failed his employer. But the doctor had not given him any indication that would cause Braddock to anticipate being 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 enable 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 favorites here. We’ll carry anyone who can pay the fare. But there are others who will want to come because they have relations there, from whom they were separated during the company’s relocation programs 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 Three—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 had 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, and 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 Three, 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 the modern fuchsia and teal-striped bodytight.

  “How’d it go, Bun?” he asked her.

  “Okay,” 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 that so fascinated Bunny. Marmion was delighted with the way Bailey and Charmion were filling their days on Gal Three, 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 neither to them nor to Yana’s unborn child, Yana had relaxed considerably. Afterward, 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.

  Distraction on a grander scale was needed, Marmion decided.

  Calling for the attention of her guests, she waved a sheaf of messages in her hand. “We could go to a party on every single level. How do they find out so quickly that I’m back?” The question was rhetorical. “But I’ve chosen just the one for us,” she went on. “A sort of welcome for a new executive in . . .” She peered down at the sheet in her hand. “Oh, Rothschild’s. So everyone who is anybody on Gal Three will come, but that limits the attendance nicely.”

  “It does?” Yana asked, raising her eyebrows in surprised amusement.

  “Certainly. There aren’t that many ‘anybodies’ on Gal Three at the moment.” Marmion gave a trill of her delightful laughter. “I already checked the guest list and most of them are the sort of people I’d like you to meet anyway while you’re here. So that’s settled. We’ll leave at 2030 hours. All right? And everyone dressed in your finest.”

  Bunny and Diego groaned, while Bailey and Charmion looked quite pleased.

  “That’ll be loads of fun,” Charmion said, and turned to encourage Bunny and Diego. “This’ll be much nicer than you know. More like what you were describing as a latchkay, only Gal Three style.”

  “People sing?”

  “The ones who are paid to,” Charmion said. “But if you want to join in, no one will object.”

  “Could I see you a moment, Yana?” Marmion asked, gesturing politely for Yana to join her in her office.

  The “social lady” side of Marmion disappeared the moment the panel slid shut behind Yana. Marmion seated herself at a desk that was neatly piled with disks and varicolored flimsies while three screens behind her scrolled detailed reports, graphs, and tables of figures.

  “Too many people know I have just returned from Petaybee,” she said, rattling her fingers on the intricately inlaid wood of the desktop. “Far, far too many people have been apprised of everything—everything—about Petaybee. Anaciliact holoed in from this emergency mission of his, and when I told him what’s been happening he was livid—if you can imagine that consummate diplomat in such a state.” Marmion rose and began pacing the room, head down, one arm across her chest supporting the other as she rubbed her forehead. “I was right to give you that safety disk, and right to assign you guardians. All of you. I must remember to assign a few to myself,” she added with an impish grin. “Though with the security available on Gal Three, they might end up stumbling over each other while we’re dragged off through a service hatch or something.” Her smile indicated how unlikely that was.

  “If you’re concerned about Petaybee, Marmion, don’t be,” Yana said, hoping to relieve her unusual anxiety.

  “I don’t worry about Petaybee at all, Yana,” Marmion replied. “It has proved well able to take care of itself. It’s all the—the types that are homing in on it. There simply aren’t the facilities to cope with them, and I’m sure that’s one of the reasons they’ve been sent.” She frowned.

  “You mean to discredit Sean’s abilities as administrator?”

  “Precisely.”

  “Did you happen to hear how soon the meeting we’re due at is going to convene?” Yana, too, didn’t wish Sean inundated with problems when he had no one trained to help. Even, and especially, Petaybee.

  “Not soon enough,” Marmion said in what was for her a harsh voice. She flung up her hands in frustration. “I don’t think it’s all delaying tactics, and, of course, Farringer Ball is quite legitimately ill, some sort of a virus he contracted, so we do have to wait on his return to good health.” She made a little moue of concern over that delay. “However, Intergal has conceded—well, CIS has forced them to concede—that the planet has prior rights to its mineral and metal wealth and anything else that might be valuable. They’re pulling out—as fast as they can.” She made a face. “That’s unlike them, too. But then, they’ve never had a planet to face as an opponent. Must make a difference. No bribery will work in this instance.”

  “Must make it very difficult for Intergal to change its modus operandi.”

  Marmion grinned and chuckled. “If only you knew . . . But then,” she said more briskly, “you probably do.”

  “Not on the level you do, Marmion.”

  “Now, tonight,” the financier went on, “there are certain people I’d like you to talk to.”

  “You mean, show me off to?”

  “Well, that, too.” Marmion flicked her fingers at Yana’s qualification. “You’re the best spokesperson Petaybee could have.”

  “Not Bunny? When she’s lived there all her life?”

  “Her ingenuousness may be useful, to a degree, but you’re a military person with experience on many planets and situations. Your remarks will carry more weight. Also, these are the people Petaybee should get to know for the clout they have in intergalactic research and development.” She added quickly when she saw Yana frown, “The good kind, not the search-and-strip types of operations. It may well constitute a challenge to them, you see, and they need challenges.”

  “ ‘Life get
s ted-jus, don’t it?’ ” Yana asked with a fake yawn.

  Marmion grinned. “Precisely. Been there, done that, seen this.”

  “Care to give me a briefing?”

  “It’s all here,” Marmion said, handing Yana a disk. “I have compiled vital statistics on all my peers. Some of them are even nice.” Then she saw Yana’s surprised expression and made a little face. “Well, they have them on me! Must keep track of the competition. Have a listen, and then if you’ve any questions—oh, blast it!” she exclaimed as her screen bleeped the Urgent code. Yana waved at her and left the room, a departure she sensed Marmion would appreciate.

  Gal Three

  When Yana entered with Marmion, she gasped at the splendor of their host’s incredible lounge, with its vaulting roof of clear plasglas opening onto the stars and all “outdoors,” as she thought of it. Behind her, she heard Bunny’s reaction, more trenchant disgust than amazement. She smiled to herself, thinking that Bunny would not be easily corrupted by the beauties of her new environment even if she was being more subtly wooed by its gadgetry and mechanicals.

  Their hostess, so suavely elegant that Yana was more than relieved to be as well attired, undulated over to them, both hands held out to Marmion. They exchanged pecks to the air over their cheeks, and then Yana was introduced to Pleasaunce Ferrari-Emool.

  “You might have heard of Ples’s company, Yana, Nova Bene Drugs . . .”

  “Only you, Marmie, could have stolen the march on that one,” cooed Pleasaunce, eyeing Yana, her cold glance taking in every fold of the gown and the single crystal pendant that Marmie had insisted Yana wear. A delicately arched eyebrow twitched, and Yana wondered just how much the bauble was worth. Plenty, to judge by the cold glint in the woman’s eyes. “And how deeevine to welcome you in person, Colonel Maddock-Shongili.”

  “How gracious of you to include us in your little party, Lady Ferrari-Emool,” Yana replied, doing the peck-in-the-air bit as if she had never done anything else to greet friends.