"Don't be daft, woman," Da said, far more irritably than he usually would. He was too worried about Ronan to want to worry about the shark people's fears. "It's enough of the taking and giving of the blame we've been doing here. Let's leave that until we get my son back from the undersea otters or aliens or whatever they are. Had they been a bit more open about their presence, we'd have known to ask your Manos not to eat them, wouldn't we? Everything has to eat something. While I'm sorry about the loss of the alien lad, that was no call for the undersea folk to go runnin' off with our Ronan. I trust we will get him back, and in time your Manos will learn-with your help-what prey they may take and what prey they may not.
Right now there are more urgent issues to deal with, so don't you be givin' out to me about eviction notices I've never sent and have no intention of sending."
Puna gave a huff as the wind left her sails. She pretended to see another wound on someone and returned to her bandaging.
CHAPTER 18
BY THE TIME the giant otter guards dumped Ronan into another of their poky little rooms, his flippers ached from being used as handles. There was no need for them to be so pushy. It was fine with him to stay here while Murel swam out to negotiate with the sharks. He had hoped to spend the time taking a closer look at the city, though, and was disappointed to be penned up again.
Then Tikka vanished a wall, which seemed to be the alien equivalent of opening a door. If they closed a door, no opening was visible in the wall at all, and when they opened a door, the wall vanished. Otherwise, people just came and went through the open holes in the walls. He didn't know if that meant those rooms were without doors. From what he'd seen, they were probably more public places.
He was alarmed to find that the formerly playful Tikka was angry with him. It's all your fault, you and your mean fish! she told him, sending her thoughts so hard that his poor furry head seemed about to burst with the force of them. This was the downside of being telepathic. If someone yelled in regular talk, it was possible to ignore or escape them. When someone started yelling their thoughts, however, it hurt. It was impossible to think of anything else until they stopped.
Whoa, whoa, lassie, he told her in the tone he'd heard his father use with the female family members when they were upset with him. Slow down, will you? I hear you but you're sending so hard I don't understand what it is I'm hearing.
What exactly is my fault? Has something happened to Sky? He's not with you, but as you can see, he's not with me either.
They ate him! she wailed.
Someone ate Sky? Who would do such a terrible thing to such a great little guy? I thought your people were friendly to otters. You are otters part of the time. That's cannibalism, eating Sky. He was as upset as she was by then, and close to tears.
She didn't seem to understand his questions and didn't answer them. Instead, she continued her rant. Mother saw it all. Your sister swam too slow and the mean fish got Jeel and ate him.
Oh, no! he said. So let me get this straight. Sky is okay but your brother was eaten?
I don't care about the otter. I don't know what happened to him. Jeel is gone! Your new fish ate him.
Tikka, Tikka, please, I'm sorry for your loss. I truly am. He was relieved Sky was okay but tried hard to conceal his gladness. Of course, he wasn't glad Tikka's brother had been killed by the sharks, but it wasn't as if he knew Jeel, and Sky was his friend.
You just think you're sorry, Tikka said spitefully. We didn't hurt anyone or anything. We saved your father and your sister but you couldn't leave us alone.
You had to bring those new people and those horrible big fish here to eat Jeel. I hate you!
Somehow, he hadn't thought life-forms as alien-looking as these deep sea otter/ jellyfish people would love or hate anything or anyone. All the offworlders he had ever met were human like himself-well, mostly like himself, transplants from old Terra. Kushtaka sounded as cold and scientific as Dr. Mabo, as if everything was some big experiment and she was above temper tantrums. She certainly hadn't been affectionate with Tikka like a real mum would be. But Tikka wasn't a bit detached about this. She was furious, and now that she'd shut up for a moment, he could feel her grief, and her fear as well. He understood then what her thought yelling had been too loud to say. These people, as adults, weren't all that comforting to be around, but Jeel and Tikka had been as close to each other as he was to Murel.
That's right, Tikka said, reading him and giving him an appraising look that was worthy of her mother. I'll never see Jeel again, and now you'll never see your sister again or your parents or your nasty fish either.
At that, the room seemed to elongate, all of the other walls disappeared, and outside the city's invisible force field the sea spun like the rotors of a copter.
THE SEA HAD quickly subsided to comparative calm shortly after the whirlpool's localized typhoon. Its once more crystal blue waters lapped the volcano's skirts with small wavelets.
The first thing Murel and the survivors of the boat accident felt was a slight tremor in the black rock beneath them. Then the clear blue-green pools in the rocks shimmied and sloshed in their stone bowls.
Murel wrinkled her nose as she caught a strong wave of sulfurous stench. Above them a pillar of smoke pumped into the clear blue sky.
"How fast is it a fishing boat can go, Seamus?" Da asked the captain of the wrecked vessel.
"Not fast enough, I fear. If our friends immediately put into the water when they were called upon four hours ago, they won't be more than a third of the distance."
"Puna, will your Manos give you a lift again out of these waters?" Da asked.
"Those who are not wounded, yes. But the wounded will not be able to hang on, and besides, you can't expect a Mano to ignore the scent of blood indefinitely."
"No indeedy," Mum said with a quirk to the side of her mouth. "That would clearly be an imposition. So what we'll do is get the able-bodied personnel off the copter except for Rick and Johnny, making way for the wounded to ride. If they've time for two trips, well and good. If not, well, we clearly can't trust the Manos with nonrelatives, so perhaps, Sean, you had best go see if you can find some of those apologetic orcas to provide the taxi service to the rescue vessels for the rest of us."
Da saluted, as he sometimes did when Mum was being bossy-if efficient and right, of course-"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," stepped into waist-high water, stripped off his dry suit, and let Mum harness it to his back.
"Wait, Da, I'm coming too," Murel said, and made her transformation in the same manner. She lingered a moment, though, to see what happened. If the volcano erupted all of a sudden, she would save Mum if she had to slap her silly with a flipper to get her to come.
Mum swam to the copter to tell the others her plan, and Murel saw Pet, Ke-ola,
Keoki, and a man who reminded her a bit of a small bear jump into the water and head for shore. They began carrying the injured people aboard. The copter waited until they were ashore once more then lifted off, whipping up waves that made it hard for Murel to see more as she bobbed up and down in their hills and valleys.
MARMION STAYED WITH the Piaf while Johnny, Pet, and Raj flew out to help look for the missing twins. Someone had to stay there and host the new refugees still lodged aboard the ship while accommodations were being arranged for them.
This was something of an inconvenience, since Marmie felt she had neglected her own business enterprises while assisting her friends. The lack of reliable interplanetary communications from the volatile Petaybee made it difficult to keep in touch with her managers, vice chairpeople and presidents, her boards and department chiefs.