THE TWINS QUICKLY pulled off their helmets and suits and raced into the main lounge. In the great tank, the Honu swam excitedly back and forth. He had been stolen as an egg, so this would be his first meeting with others like himself.
The purser, Aidan Carnegie, strode into the lounge. On his wrist, he wore his "brains," a small computer holding the data he required for the smooth operation of the internal organization of the ship.
"Madame and the captain will be joining us soon, I trust?" he asked.
"On their way," Murel said. "But there are also several delegations of Ke-ola's relatives bringing more of the sea turtles aboard. They'll go into the tank, of course, and we should make their human friends comfortable too."
"I've already arranged with the galley staff for refreshments. Madame relayed orders to the bridge about your other requirements. Dr. Eisenbeis is waiting for you in the gardens."
"Great," Murel said. "We'll be back as soon as we can."
MIDORI HAD ALREADY plucked all of the tropical blossoms and started stringing them into necklaces or leis. Ke-ola had presented the twins with leis for their first birthday aboard the space station, explaining that these were greeting, parting, and celebratory gifts his people gave each other. Midori, whose specialty was knowing how natural things were used in various cultures, was pleased to have a practical application for her knowledge, though she grieved to have to denude her tropical garden of its flowers. Murel and Ronan pitched in and began stringing the bright soft blooms alongside her.
"We won't be able to make enough," Ronan said.
"That's okay," Murel said. "I think it's the thought that counts here. We'll give one to Leilani and let Ke-ola decide where else to put them. Maybe we can give individual blossoms to other people kind of randomly. It's a goodwill gesture.
Emissaries do that kind of thing, you know."
"Of course I know. We studied the same stuff. How are we going to get them to sit still long enough to collar them?"
"Collar them? We're not arresting them, we're honoring them, Ro. You don't have to make fun just because you didn't think of it first."
"I just figured naturally we'd do that since that's what they do," he said. "I didn't know you were going to make such a big deal of it, though."
She rolled her eyes and continued as if he hadn't spoken. Midori looked up from her stringing and smiled. Murel thought Ronan was showing off for the benefit of the pretty scientist.
Midori helped her out by asking, "When do you plan to present the leis?"
"We have a little time. Once the Honus are settled into the tanks and all of the other people arrive, Mr. Carnegie's crew will offer them something to eat and drink, of course. I don't think they were able to take much with them when they evacuated, and now all of their supplies are destroyed. Even if they don't want to come to Petaybee, they're going to be on short rations until Intergal gets around to replenishing their food, so I hardly think they'll refuse a meal. But first we'll have to lift off again because, of course, we can't just sit around down here and wait for meteors to fall. Johnny will offer to take them for a spin outside the meteor belt.
Then we'll present the leis while the food is served and welcome them to the Piaf and, we hope, to Petaybee."
"And if they decide not to emigrate to Petaybee?" Midori asked, her fingers flying through deep lavender and cream petals.
"I don't see that they have a lot of choice now. That planet is not fully terraformed.
Petaybee in the middle of winter has more to sustain life. I think Marmie is planning on taking any who don't want to come with us to the nearest Federation outpost to lodge a complaint about Intergal's negligence in overseeing their welfare. But why would they want to go through all that? They know how reliable the company's promises, or even the Federation's, can be. And with the Honus on board and wanting to come with us, and a lot of their relatives, I bet everybody else will want to come too. At least they should be in the right frame of mind to consider thinking about coming with us."
"While they're eating, we could show them the holo we did about Petaybee for school," Ronan suggested. "I saw it in the Piaf's memory banks."
One of their first assignments while attending classes on Marmie's space station had been to make a holographic representation of their planet, including the topography, special features, imports, exports, culture, and in fact most things a prospective settler might want to know. Each student in the class had made one to acquaint all of the others with his or her background.
Ronan continued, "Marmie got some good footage of the new volcanic island when she returned to fetch us for this mission. Ke-ola can sing the song he made about the big eruption." He ran out of words, remembering that Keoki had seemed almost hostile and none of others had been ready to leave until the turtles swam ashore.
"Do you think they'll go for it?"
Murel looked at him gravely. "They don't have that much choice, do they?"
"I guess not, but they don't seem anxious to make friends."
Midori said, "That's your job. That is why this," she lifted the lei, "is such a good idea. If you show some understanding of their culture, their viewpoint, they may feel that you want them to be comfortable, that you care about them. That should help."
"That and feeding them, maybe," Ronan said.
Marmie's voice came over the intercom. "Murel and Ronan, our guests have arrived."
"We'll be right there, Marmie-only, maybe someone could bring a florrie to help us carry the flowers?" The florries were a cross between a small flitter that could operate in the corridors of the ship and a lorry, or truck.
"Never mind, Madame. We'll take mine," Midori said. She stepped into a bay that was hidden by greenery and drove out in a florrie that still had water glistening off it. "I just washed it after hauling some soil," she explained.
"I'll come back and wash it again for you later," Ronan offered shyly. Midori was very pretty.
"I don't think so," she said with a disappointing lack of gratitude. "I like to care for my own equipment." She added gently, "But thanks for the thought."
CHAPTER 6
THE CARPETING AROUND the huge tank had been stripped away when the tank was installed, and now deckhands busily mopped the slippery surface. Water continued cascading over the top as the enormous Honus glided and swept, dipped and dived around one another in a graceful ballet.
Honus are happy, their Honu told them, his thought tone reflecting his own happiness.
"Glad somebody is," Ronan muttered to Murel. The human evacuees looked as bleak as Halau's surface.
There weren't enough seats for everyone, but those who had no chairs seemed perfectly comfortable sitting on the deck-in fact, a couple of chairs were empty and people were leaning against them instead of sitting. Now that the people were in good light, it was clear they were ragged with exhaustion.
Leilani stood near Marmie, and Ronan overheard her asking, "Have you heard anything about the other settlements?"
"Not yet," Marmie said. "Colonel Cally and his crew were going to check on them.
Let's see what they've found."
As the two women walked over to the lounge's com unit, Murel pulled an armload of leis out of the florrie. Looking around, she found the oldest of the island descendants and approached her. She held out the lei and said, "Welcome aboard, ma'am. Aloha."
The old lady blinked up at her, and Murel dropped the lei over her head, less ceremoniously than she'd intended. The lack of interest and bafflement on the elder's face caused Murel to release the flowers as if they'd suddenly turned hot.