Changelings (13 page)

“Oh, sorry, I just wondered,” Murel said. “It’s just that on Petaybee, animals come to specific places when they’re sick or old so that they can be killed kindly and their bodies used for food or clothing or whatever the hunter needs.”

Rory flinched, and Murel realized he was waiting for his grandmother’s wrath to come down on his friends the way it usually did on him.

The professor’s face contorted for a moment, as if she were about to turn into something else, but the contortions ended in a wise smile. “Fascinating, my dear. Thank you for that enlighten-ing explanation. In fact, it ties in nicely with our lesson today. How indeed did these frogs die? How would we learn that sort of thing? By examining their remains. That is how, and that is what we will be doing today. So, as I said, each of you take your instruments and your frogs and find a place at the table so we may begin.”

Murel and Ronan chose spots adjacent to each other, but once everyone had a place, Professor Mabo said, “Murel, please trade places with Chesney. Neither she nor Ke-ola obtained a frog, and both you and Ronan have one.”

Murel nodded and did as she was told.

She just wants to split us up,
Ronan said.
We could have always given Chesney and Ke-ola one of our frogs.

Of course, the professor had no way of knowing that the two of them could communicate telepathically. Nobody knew that except maybe Marmie, and if she knew, it was only from observation. They had learned early on that their private line into each other’s minds was a bigger advantage when nobody around them realized they had it.

Who was she trying to kid?
Ronan asked about halfway through the session.
This frog was perfectly healthy until someone killed it.

She probably didn’t think we’d know how to tell,
Murel said.
She thought we were just squeamish. She doesn’t know about us helping Da do this kind of thing in the lab.

Professor Mabo had been circling the classroom and stopped to stand behind Ronan. “Very good work, Ronan. Very precise. I believe your technique is almost as good as mine.”

Ronan ducked his head, as if he were bashful.
She has no idea what Auntie Sinead would have said if we’d spoilt the meat or hide on one of her kill after she showed us how to clean and skin it,
he told Murel.

No, or how Clodagh has always taught us that we’re supposed to use every possible piece of the animal as wisely as possible out of respect for the gift of its body for our benefit.

“Murel, what is taking you so long?” Professor Mabo said. “Give Chesney a turn, or however that frog died, it will have been for nothing.” She had circled behind Murel while Murel was exchanging thoughts with Ronan. Murel jumped, and the knife slipped, slicing her finger, so that blood dripped onto the table, the frog, and the other instruments.

“Ouch!” Murel said, and dropped the scalpel to hold her finger with her other hand.

“You are supposed to dissect the frog, Murel, not your hand,” Professor Mabo scolded. Chesney produced a grubby tissue, but it quickly turned bright red and the blood kept dripping. “I think you had best seek medical attention. You may finish your dissection tomorrow.”

The professor didn’t seem to notice that Ronan had dropped his scalpel and started to hold his hand, then quickly picked up the scalpel again and tried not to look pained as his twin hurried off to the station’s infirmary.
He
noticed, however, that the professor, after handing Murel a fresh tissue, pocketed the bloody one before she handed Chesney a towel with which to mop up his sister’s blood.

Murel was home when Ronan got there. She hadn’t needed stitches but she sported a big plaskin on her index finger, and it leaked once in a while if she put too much pressure on it.

T
HAT EVENING,
P
ET
made some of her cookies and Ronan fixed Murel a cup of the orange spiced tea Clodagh brewed for special occasions. They sat at the window watching it snow until bedtime.

Professor Mabo doesn’t seem to like me anymore,
Murel said.
Did you see how she snuck up on me? That’s why I cut my finger.

Yeah, well, having her like me doesn’t feel like any great honor either,
Ronan said.
There’s something really strange about her. I wonder why she stuck your bloody tissue in her pocket. There was a trash chute right next to the table.

Do you think she was collecting a specimen?

Possibly. I’m not sure what she could tell by it, though. Maybe we should ask Pet how to send a secure message to Da. He’ll know if there’s anything in our blood that would tell her how different we are.

CHAPTER 15

W
HEN
M
ARMIE RETURNED
, though she said nothing about the deep winter into which the twins had plunged her home, the weather changed. When they returned from school, they found Marmie taking a swim in tropical conditions, sunny, warm, and balmy, with a slight breeze scented with exotic flowers.

When it was time for student evaluations, toward the end of the term, Professor Mabo requested a personal interview with Marmie.

“I feel that Ronan and Murel have a great deal of potential,” she said. “They are extraordinarily quick and bright. But perhaps they impede each other’s intellectual growth. I think if they were in separate classes, they might do better.”

“They have an A-plus average,” Marmie pointed out. “I scarcely see how they can improve on it.”

“For their age group, of course they get high marks. But they are each capable of functioning far beyond their age group.”

“Well, be that as it may, splitting them up is not an option,” Marmie told her firmly. “For one thing, it would break their hearts, and they have already been through a great deal, being separated from their parents and their home. For another thing, it can hardly have escaped your notice that ours is a small educational facility with only one class for each age group.”

“Yes, yes, I know all that,” Professor Mabo said, barely managing to keep the impatience out of her voice. “But I have a suggestion. I think Ronan would benefit by doing an extra lab class with me, as my assistant. I have been trying to teach my grandson to do it but he is not an apt student. Initially the twins disliked the dissections, but now they seem to tolerate them well. I believe that with additional exposure, Ronan may turn into a fine little scientist.”

“He’s only ten years old, Dr. Mabo,” Marmie said.

“Immaterial.”

Ronan and Murel had been listening, with the collusion of Pet Chan, on the intercom, and now Marmion said into it, “Pet, would you have the twins join us in the observatory tearoom please?”

The professor was dressed in an elegant long scarlet robe over her ship suit. She seemed to be trying to appear relaxed, but the twins weren’t fooled.

“The professor seems to feel you two should study independently of each other for a while and has offered you, Ronan, the opportunity to be her lab assistant. What do you think?”

Careful,
Murel said.

I know. I don’t trust her any more than you do, but we’ve got to start learning more about this stuff, Murel, if we’re ever going to be able to control our own shapes.

Da could—

We’re not
with
Da, are we? He’s too busy to help us figure this out, and besides, if he knew how, he probably would do a better job of it for himself. Remember their story about how he got shot when he was half changed?

Their message to their father for advice about the blood sample so far had gone unanswered. Pet’s advice about making the message they sent their father secure was not reassuring. “There’s all kinds of ways to secure information, and there’s also all kinds of ways for data thieves to hijack it. The safest way to do this, if it’s really important, is to set up a code with the recipient—a personal code, that is—and encrypt your message using that. Even so, data pirates have strange minds that seem to read yours and they’ve been hijacking passwords and codes for centuries. Really, the very safest thing is to hand-deliver the message by a courier both you and the recipient know and trust. If it was really imperative that the message not fall into enemy hands or be hijacked, that’s what I’d do. Of course, I have been accused of being overly paranoid, but this is the same advice I give to Madame and the procedures we follow in extreme circumstances. Of course, you understand that my duties include only her personal communications. Corporate and station security are the responsibility of other personnel.”

Since they had set up no code in advance, they wrote out the message. When Johnny stopped by prior to his supply run to Petaybee, Murel tucked it into his hand. “It’s top secret, Johnny, but really urgent. Ask Da to give you the answer before you leave.”

“I’ll do my best to corner him, Murel.”

“
Really
important,” she stressed.

Johnny had several other stops to make, however, and hadn’t returned as yet, nor had Da answered in any other way.

I’m going to do it, Murel,
Ronan said.
She’s snoopy and cranky, but she is still an expert in what we need to know about. Maybe we’ll even get to be friends and I can ask her directly sometime.

Don’t!
Murel warned.

I’ll talk to you before I do, don’t worry,
he promised. Aloud, he said, “I think I’d like to be your lab assistant, Professor, but except for that, Murel and I don’t like being split up. Can we stay together in class if I work for you alone afterward?”

“I suppose so,” she said. “But in my professional opinion—for your own good, mind you—you two need to work on developing some independence of thought and opinion. I realize the bond between twins is supposed to be quite close, but too much interdependence is unhealthy, particularly when they are of different genders, as you two are. You are entering puberty now, after all.”

Marmie frowned but said only, “Very well. Ronan, I’ll place a flitter at your disposal for you to return here after you finish working with Dr. Mabo each day.”

“That won’t be necessary,” the professor told her. “You have kindly placed a flitter at my disposal as well. The least I can do is to give Ronan a ride.” She turned and regarded him with clinical interest that made Murel shudder.

I bet she asks you to climb up on a slide and scoot under a giant microscope lens right away,
Murel said.

She’s not going to try anything when Marmie knows right where I am. Besides, station security wouldn’t let her do anything to me.

I still have a really bad feeling about this, Ronan.

S
EAN SWAM WITH
the sea otters, one large gray seal among their smaller forms, gliding through the water with ease for many kilometers.

He had no trouble telling when they began swimming across the volcanic ridge since a very warm column of water bubbled to the surface. Anticipation bubbled through the otters at the same time, and suddenly they all dived at once. Sean followed.

Look at them!
the senior otter exclaimed, his thought filled with blissful anticipation.
Such clams! Petaybee must really love otters to give them this food.

Although the seal in Sean could certainly have eaten something, the clams were not so interesting by themselves as they were as part of the underseascape.

They had to dive quite deeply, but Sean was somewhat surprised to find it was not as deep as he would have thought. Normally, seals and otters would not be able to dive to the most extreme depths of the ocean, but it was comparatively shallow here. The volcanic activity had built up the ocean floor, forming a sort of mountain range that would build the farther south it went. Sean had observed this from a distance on other swims, but he hadn’t realized the planet was in such a hurry to produce its new landmass.

The water around them was milky blue, the color, as Sean knew, coming from the minerals and bacteria in which volcanic areas were rich.

Tall black rocky chimneys rose up from the ocean floor, which was paved with flowing billows and pillows of black lava rock. Each crevice and crack of the lava was stuffed with the foot-long clams. White crabs scuttled along over the blackness, going about their business. Like little gardens of animals, each of these communities had as its centerpiece huge clusters of exceptionally long tube worms, bursting like enormous red flowers among the other creatures.

Surfacing for air again, Sean told himself he had to return with a scientific team sometime and see what was down there. He was certain there were all manner of life forms that Intergal, the company that had ordered the planet terraformed, had no idea were there. He just wanted a quick look in seal form. All around him sea otters surfaced carrying large clams, though not the largest.

Are they good?
he asked the nearest otter conversationally.

Delectable. Bright red meat and lots of it. But opening them is tricky. They’re not of a size you can crack open on your chest without cracking otters as well as clams.

When we get back, I’ll change into man form and get a heavy rock to open them for you,
he promised.

You will?
The sea otter’s round eyes got, if anything, rounder in his round face.
Did you otters hear that? Go for the big ones! The river seal will help us open them and there will be feasting for us all!

The surface thrashed with otter bodies diving down and popping up with clams bigger than their heads. Each otter could carry only one clam. Soon, Sean knew, they’d be ready to return.
I’ll just swim ahead a little and circle back and catch up with you,
he told them.
I want to see the New Home where it is building the quickest.

There’s not as much food there,
an otter told him.
Too hot, too busy. Hey! No fair slipping out of otter paws! Come back you!
And his sleek rump surfaced for a moment before it smoothly vanished under the waves. For the first time Sean noticed that off in the distance what had seemed to be low cloud cover was actually rolling smoke. Petaybee surely was cooking with gas now.

He swam swiftly forward. The bubbly warm spots grew more frequent, until the entire ocean seemed to be warmer by many degrees. He caught fish simply because he had to swim through so many of them to proceed and it was easier to catch some than to go around them.

The water grew warmer and warmer, like bathwater and not unpleasant. The seawater cooled the molten lava almost at once, though that would not be the case once the volcano grew until it erupted on the surface. He wondered how close that was. He’d been feeling a bit foolish for deciding to reconnoiter by swimming over the site, but with the smoke and ash piling up on the horizon, aircraft would be in danger of getting their motors and other sensitive parts clogged.

Soon he realized that he’d left the otters far behind. He could see the bottom of the ocean beneath him now simply by looking down. The piping black smokers and the gentle lava pillows stuffed with clams and other sealife had long ago given way to some true volcanic mounds with vents in the middle. Diving down, he could see a long way into them, into the heart of Petaybee.

He got so busy looking down and diving to swim around the vents and examine the life forms there that he forgot to look up and ahead until the entire ocean shook like jelly, sloshing him about. He was startled to see that a real mountain loomed ahead of him, the summit just below the ocean’s surface.

It was brilliant! What a wonderful opportunity. He wondered why he had seen no larger animal life so far, whales or dolphins. They would all love the fish and other animal and plant life as much as the otters. But he did not hear them or sense them. Perhaps the change in the depth and temperature of the water had caused them to shy away. The mineral content was much different around the vents too, some of it toxic. He trusted his seal nose to keep him away from the dangerous parts. The otters, with their curiosity, seemed to be the only mammals venturing close enough to be harmed. But they had been very clever about diving, snatching up what they wanted, and surfacing again.

The sight of the billowing smoke sobered him. It had been foolish to come out here as a seal, he thought. Better to come with machinery and instruments. Petaybee giving birth was not likely to be tolerant. For that matter, Yana, who loved him, hadn’t been in the best of moods while in labor. One more dive and then he’d call it quits and follow the otters back to shore.

His dive took him to the base of the underwater mountain. Quake after quake, at first small and then larger, shook the water and sent rocks tumbling down from above.

The water was murky here from all of the sediment. Circling the mountain’s base, he tried to gain some idea of its size and shape. Then, in a deep rift below the mountain’s base, he spotted something curiously angular and shining, despite the sediment and rock. He surfaced, caught his breath, and dived again. It could hardly be a shipwreck since Petaybee had never had large ships on her waters. The ports were all icebound too much of the year to make it feasible. It could have been a space vessel or even the wreck of a station, but there had been no report he could recall of such a crash. And it would have been noticed. The impression he had was of something as vast as a city.

He forced himself to dive deeper than he had done so far on this journey. The area in question was indeed filled with what seemed to be manufactured structures—angular, architectural, though indistinct because of the opacity of the water. Lying in the rift as it was, it could even be the ruins of some ancient Petaybean civilization, from the look of it.

But before Intergal had terraformed the planet, it had been little more than a ball of ice and rock, and for all anyone could tell, had never been inhabited by sentient life prior to its colonization.

Of course, as his people knew, the planet was itself a sentient being, but still, it didn’t build cities, or at least had never been known to do so.

But maybe eons ago there had been other life here and they built this city and perhaps others, still buried under the sediment on the ocean’s floor. Although the mountain above him rumbled and shook and showered more rocks and debris so they shot into the water like deadly missiles, Sean dived a little deeper.

Yes, it could be a ruin, although everything looked remarkably intact and—there seemed to be lights. Perhaps it was just molten lava glowing up from beneath, in which case this ruin would be ruined once more in very short order. But it didn’t have the red glow of lava, or the green or blue iridescence Petaybee often displayed. No, this light was brighter, whiter, less natural-looking.