Power Lines (33 page)

“This planet is self-aware in a manner I have never before encountered. It is an entity, a being with consciousness, and as such deserves the protection which is my prerogative. While it insists that it is no longer indentured to Intergal, it honors the obligation of life and will redeem itself in due course.” Then he turned to Clodagh. “You are named as one minister to its needs, and you, Sean Shongili, are another.” Then he looked curiously around, first at Sinead, then Bunny, until his glance settled on Yana. “Ah, yes, it is you, Colonel Yanaba Maddock, whom I take with me to the headquarters of CIS to verify certain particulars in my report. As soon as communications are repaired, I shall give an interim report to my superiors, but in the meantime, I am authorized to evict the incumbent authority as inimical to the Subject Sentience. You who have lived long on Petaybee are requested to remain. I fear there may be some hardships yet for you to undergo until a proper authority can
be framed to deal with such an unusual Sentience and the needs of its inhabitants.” His lips curved with wry humor. “But you are welcome, it would seem,” he said, smiling at Clodagh, Sinead, Aisling, Whittaker, Johnny, and Sean, “for without you, the Sentience would never have become truly aware of its potential.”

“And just what is that potential, Messer Anaciliact?” Marmion asked with one of her more radiant smiles.

He gave a shrug, opening his hands. “It is—boundless, it is—unchartable, it is—unfathomable, it is—”

Yana’s pent-up nerves of the last few weeks released in a short guffaw. “I think what Messer Anaciliact is trying to say is, ‘whatever.’ ”

The Sentience gave a tremor that might have been a laugh but certainly concluded the current interview.

“What songs we’ll make of this, huh, Bunny?” Diego whispered as people turned to file reverently from the cavern. Bunny smiled in agreement, just as a peculiar echo rang through the cavern. It repeated not the last words of Diego’s sentence, nor the first word, but the middle ones. As they turned to listen, the cavern played rainbows on its reflective surfaces and the echo sang back to them, in a voice neither Diego’s nor Bunny’s nor that of any human being they knew, “Songs we’ll make, songs we’ll make . . .”

Books by Anne McCaffrey

Decision at Doona

Dinosaur Planet

Dinosaur Planet Survivors

Get Off the Unicorn

The Lady

Pegasus in Flight

Restorree

The Ship Who Sang

To Ride Pegasus

Nimisha’s Ship

Pegasus in Space

THE CRYSTAL SINGER BOOKS

Crystal Singer

Killashandra

Crystal Line

THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN
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BOOKS

Dragonflight

Dragonquest

The White Dragon

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern

Nerilka’s Story

Dragonsdawn

The Renegades of Pern

All the Weyrs of Pern

The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall

The Dolphins of Pern

Dragonseye

The Masterharper of Pern

The Skies of Pern

By Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough:

Powers that Be

Power Lines

Power Play

With Jody Lynn Nye:

The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern

Edited by Anne McCaffrey:

Alchemy and Academe

GROWING PAINS

He didn’t notice when he first heard the slithering sound, a soft rustle followed by a dry whispering crackling noise, as if paper had fallen—or leaves. Then he felt something slide across the toe of his boot and curl to brush his pant leg, and as he turned back to the cave entrance, he saw that a thick net of greenery had replaced what he had hacked away a bare hour before. He tried to kick off the vines clinging to him, succeeding only in embedding the thorns deeper into his ankles.

Feeling an edge of panic, he jumped, hopped, and ran, hacking as he went. He never saw the root looping down from the ceiling to lash itself around his throat while another knocked him to the floor.

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Book

Published by Ballantine Books

Copyright © 1994 by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

http://www.randomhouse.com

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number. 94-6631

eISBN: 978-0-345-45753-0

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