Changelings

CHAPTER 3

As usual, it was midday of the following day before the latchkay ended. Yana and her family returned home, accompanied by Clodagh, who came armed with leftovers from the feast.

To her surprise, Yana found she was ravenous again. After she fed the twins-Murel and Ronan-she sat down at the table with Sean and Clodagh, knowing that if she stretched out on the chaise longue she would drown in her soup.

Clodagh served the rolls and soup. She looked exhilarated, as she always did after latchkays, even though Yana thought they must be somewhat draining for her too.

"Your message light is still on," Yana observed idly, nodding to the red light above the door to the office cube.

"It can wait," Sean said gruffly, and almost savagely took a bite from his roll, an expression of extreme delight on his face as he chewed. "Featherlight, Clodagh."

"I can't take credit for those. That Aoifa has a real light hand with bread."

"Indeed. More, please?" And Yana used the last of her third roll to sop up what little gravy remained on her plate before handing it to whomever would take it.

"Drink that blurry too, Yana. Makes good milk," Clodagh said as she rose to refill her plate and Yana's. The blurry was a special sort of Petaybean beer. One could not drink enough of it to get drunk, but did get pleasantly-well, blurred.

Obediently, Yana took a sip of the dark brew. Actually, it was not her favorite beverage by any means, but she knew of its benefits to a nursing mother, having been told so ad nauseam by every person who had noticed her protruding abdomen in the last nine months.

On the other hand, if she drank enough of the stuff, she might forget which twin she had last breast-fed, though actually she was getting the hang of the rotation bit. Excusing herself from the table, she sought out the chaise and leaned gratefully against its back. Large as it was, it still was the perfect couch for her… and even fit her tall body, with room for Sean.

They finished the meal companionably, with Clodagh reciting a list for Sean to write down of the people who had sent messages and congratulations to the new parents from other parts of Petaybee, and another list of the gifts and givers.

"One thing's sure," she finished up, rising to her feet and collecting plates, "they won't lack warm blankets and fur rugs! Nor babysitters. Your nieces have offered their services as their baby gifts. Aoifa said she'd had a lot of experience with babies and kids in Vale of Tears."

Clodagh gave one of her disapproving sniffs for the trials and tribulations of the poor Aoifa, who had been rescued from a most barbaric enclave and the untender mercies of its leader, Shepherd Howling.

Yana scrunched her shoulders into a more comfortable position and sighed with repletion.

"That was splendid, Clodagh."

"Indeed. A fitting end to a very fine naming latchkay, in spite of that little show of independence from the guests of honor."

"I suppose it's just something we'll have to get used to,"Yana said. She closed her eyes and saw imprinted on the insides of her lids the incredible patterns the planet had created in the walls of the cave when the twins were recovered and the communion ended. "Even Petaybee seemed proud of them, though." A yawn overtook her and she stretched, jerking her knees up as abused muscles in her abdomen resisted.

"C'mon then, Yana, and get a good night's sleep… on your side or your tummy…" Clodagh said, and Sean slid his wife's legs to one side of the chaise so she was in a position to rise easily.

"On my tummy, oooh, it feels so good. Yesterday I was too knackered to notice how I lay," she said with a cautious hand on her now unoccupied belly.

"I'll come tuck you in," Sean said, knowing she disliked being too fussed over. "And let you know if that message was anything important."

She gave him a loving smile and stuck out her tongue at his offer to share the message as if it would be a treat. She had already slid into her gown and a dressing robe, so getting ready for bed took little time. Once there, she experimented with positions denied her during her pregnancy to find the most comfortable one. She'd have to get up in about three hours to feed her ravenous babies.

As tired as she was, she found her mind would not quit whirling as she settled down to sleep.

There was so much to think about that she had put on hold the last few days while preparing to birth her babies.

Her babies… She was forty-five, and although she had always kept herself fit in the Company Corps, conceiving had been a minor miracle she attributed entirely to Petaybee's healing influence… another reason she blessed the planet and resolved to protect it to the best of her ability as joint governor of this fascinating world.

Many of the problems she and Sean had originally faced were sorting themselves out, especially now that Petaybeans, who had been recruited by the Intergal Company for lack of other employment on the planet, were resigning their commissions and returning to their native world, where the training they'd had made them invaluable and very employable in Petaybee's new business ventures.

She would be so relieved when the novelty of the planet faded and it stopped being invaded by all kinds of groups-esoteric, exotic, and daft-who felt they would benefit by time spent here in some capacity or another. Sooner or later word would get around that the planet's wonders were hardly a free lunch for all and sundry. Petaybee took care of its people, keeping them healthy and well fed, but the recipients of those benefits had to endure very cold winters with deep snows and a short and very busy summer with swarms of biting insects attacking any visible flesh. The planet itself had stern criteria that newcomers had to meet.

Yana grinned in the darkened room and twitched a blanket over her shoulder. Where was Sean? Maybe the message was a good one. He said he'd come tuck her in. She'd need to get as much sleep as she could with the feeding schedule she was now facing.

Sister Igneous Rock had suggested that the planet itself interview candidates. There were several problems with that, but the downside-the candidate had to spend the night in one of the communion places, and some people had very intense reactions to the experience-was sometimes a problem: negative for the applicant, very helpful in weeding out those who had no talents or abilities that the planet needed. There had been some protests by people rejected … but that was their tough luck. As word got around that Petaybee was not an easy mark, fewer duds arrived for their entrance exam.

The latest bunch, hydroengineers, had passed with flying colors, and spent more time with Sister Iggierock-as she was called with affection and admiration-who had spent hours reading to the planet so it could decide which types of modernization it would accept.

Now that folk were becoming accustomed to what Clodagh called the "Rock Flock," they were proving invaluable. There had been other "religiously" inclined visitors who'd had to be disillusioned by fact and their interview with the planet on their arrival. So far, of those with determined evangelical zeal, only the Rock Flock had been acceptable to the entity Iggierock still referred to as the Beneficent.

Much had changed, besides the seasons, since Yana first set foot on her "retirement" planet.

She hadn't known, but secretly suspected, that her damaged lungs were incurable. That is, until she met Clodagh and had lived through her first winter on the planet. Its curative powers-good food, clean air, and exercise-had restored many to complete good health. The clinic, inaugurated by Farringer Ball, the CEO of Intergal Company and a confirmed sicko who had once been one of the most critical of the company executives, had to increase its beds yet again to accommodate those seeking treatment on organic Petaybee. That clinic promised to be a profitable business now, with the laboratories adjacent to it to have state-of-the-art in equipment. Highly qualified physicians and researchers and equally qualified men and women lined up to take any position available. On his long list of to-do's, Sean added similar clinics for the southern continent and perhaps another facility on the western coast of the main continent.

She heard her door being carefully opened and knew Sean was there to "tuck" her in.

She turned over in the bed and heard his chuckle.

"You were supposed to be asleep," he teased.

"Not until you came to tuck me in. So who was it and what's the new problem?" she asked, having taken a look at his face. She knew him so well now that his expression indicated he needed to talk about whatever that message had been. She pulled her legs to one side so he could sit on the bed, and then she curled her body around his.

"Marmie is coming," he said, as if that explained everything. Perhaps it did. Marmion de Revers Algemeine was one of their most devoted and shrewdest new friends, having been part of a team sent initially to examine the "sentient" claim Sean and Yana had made for their planet. "And she's bringing a top-class lawyer and legal team."

"Why on earth do we need a top-class lawyer and a legal team… apart from those already resident on Petaybee?" Most disputes among the residents were solved by the intervention of shanachies or people like Clodagh who were respected as leaders and wise mentors. The Collective Interplanetary Societies-or CIS-under the guidance of Phon Ton Anaciliact, had helped prove that Petaybee, the planet, was a sentient entity, and Sean and Yana had scrupu-lously held to the tenets provided by the CIS. So far the planet had been more sinned against than sinning.

"Well, complaints have been lodged by individuals of discrimination by the employer…"

Sean began, after clearing his throat.

"Oh, those who got rejected," Yana said.

"Exactly." His grin was dour.

"They were interviewed by the main employer and found unsuitable for the tasks available,"

Yana said, which was basically what the people were told as they were transported to the departures lounge.

"They said the interview was biased and they had not taken any written tests to prove their skills nor asked to produce documents or recommendations to prove their competence. Ergo, they were denied their right to seek employment here."

"Oh, Lordy," Yana said, pushing her hair back from her forehead. "Half of them didn't have working skills but had heard that life on Petaybee was dead easy."

"Most of them also had diseases we do not wish to see circulating here," Sean added. "I asked Petaybee when she started wholesale rejections. Some of the diseases were social, which could be communicated to the entire population. A lot of them were mentally unstable, some criminally insane. Oh, and the discrimination on religious grounds is cited all too often."

"But Petaybee is not religious," Yana said. "I thought we'd cleared that up when we had to limit the number of pilgrims. Mind you, Iggierock and Shale and the others have proved more than useful, but certainly not in any religious circumstances."

"And Marmie says we have to clear that up in legal terms, which must then be presented to would-be immigrants before they take passage here. That won't be hard to do since we control the only transport that is technically admissible in Petaybean space. But we have to set it up, or be continually set upon by lawsuits."

"Who's behind that notion? I thought we'd got rid of Luzon and company."

"Marmie says we're not out of the woods so easily… especially since our population is mainly composed of other i.p.'s- inconvenient people. As an Earth-type planet, we are still supposed to accommodate i.p.'s." He grimaced.

"First they have to prove they are not going to remain inconvenient, and so far none of those rejected could."

"There are some iffy cases, Marmion went on to say, which is why we have to sort this problem now. Oh, and more Nakatira cubes are on their way."

"How does she manage that?" Then Yana waved off the need for an answer. She was only too grateful to get all they could of the useful buildings. They came equipped with all mod cons, as Clodagh called it, and required no special foundations or extra facilities, coming complete with solar heating and sanitary bioconveniences. Their only drawback was a certain characterless sterility, which with a little imagination could easily be imprinted with the individual style of the occupant.

The cubes were manufactured and distributed by a Japanese known to Marmion, and Yana and Sean suspected she had financial connections there as well. They had arrived in what Bunny called the "niche" of time. Building materials alone were precious on Petaybee, and energy to heat them even more so. The cubes were the perfect answer to provide accommodations for an overwhelmed planet that had never expected so many visitors or the need for such things as hotels, schools, offices, and storage space. One of the first to be placed was the cube that was next to Yana's old house and provided the couple with office space and occasional living quarters for legitimate visitors. A second was Kilcoole's school, and others had been placed at the Space Port for essential services and finally for the beginnings of the new hospital. Another cube was now the nursery.

Marmion had warned them that eventually Mr. Soshimi Nakatira wanted to visit this incredible planet and meditate in one of the communion caves. He hadn't yet taken Sean and Yana up on that invitation, but Marmion was certain that he would.

"He's the kind of guy you want to visit and to stay as long as he likes," Marmion had assured them.

At the time, plagued with importunate visitations, Yana had remarked with irony, "Which means he'll arrive in the midst of one of our crises. We'll have to save one cube for him alone."

"Oh, he'll probably bring his own accommodation," Marmie had replied negligently. "He's like that. A truly gifted man."

"At least we have Soshimi's cube available for the lawyers," Yana said cheerfully.

"Probably the time he'll come for that visit," Sean remarked.

"Now, let's not borrow more trouble," she said soothingly, stroking his hand where it was on her pillow.

"True, love. We'll be looking back on these as the grand old days soon enough. Once Petaybee's midsea volcanoes build up the landmass in the temperate zone, we'll be besieged with even more folk wanting to come to this unspoiled planet to 'improve' it. Without the cold climate to deter them, every planetless soul in the cosmos will be wanting to live here."

"That's far off in the future, Sean," she said. "From what you told me of your journey through that area before, everything is still well below the surface. These things take eons."

"In the natural way of things, that's true. But on a terraformed world like this one, even latent development is much accelerated. I give it a decade, tops."

"For someone not borrowing trouble, you're deep in debt now," she teased.

"Sorry, love, you're quite right. Now you get some sleep," he urged, leaning down to kiss her tenderly. "I want to do a bit more work before I join you. I've let things slide the last few days. Can't think why I've been so distracted."

Yana smiled and squeezed his hand.

"However did I find you in all the worlds I could have gone to?" she asked with a grateful sigh.

"I know you looked long and hard, love," he said, half teasing, half serious, as he pulled the soft fur around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. "Remember, it'll be Ronan gets the source this morning."

"I did remember that."

"I'll remind you," he whispered as he left the room.

Closing the door behind him, Sean looked in on the twins before returning to the office cube.

Asleep in their new dual cradle, they looked as sweet and peaceful, as peachy and golden, as if they had never turned into little silvery seals. That trick of theirs this evening showed him that he would need to be on his guard with these two slippery characters. He was glad to see the cats had taken notice too. Marduk had planted himself across the twins' legs, making a living fur blanket, and Nanook and Coaxtl stretched out beside the cradle. Nanook opened one eye, and Sean nodded and closed the door.

He was glad that Yana had been too tired to take in the end of Shanachie Desi's song, where after seven years Murel changed back into a seal and swam out to meet her brother, neither of them ever to be seen again by her foster mother. It was nonsense, of course. That was a fairy tale told back on earth about a supernatural species, not a genetic mutation like himself. All of those stories involved seals temporarily turning into people and, when they became seals once more, never being able to return. They were wild creatures, not part of families like his. Of course if his children swam away, they would return. He always had, hadn't he? Becoming a seal was a gift, an ability, a talent, actually, that allowed him to do certain things others could not.

Still, he was grateful that Yana had not heard the rest of that song, and he hoped no one would ask her about it. She had enough to worry about without bringing in folk tales that had nothing to do with the mutation brought about by Shongili genetic engineering, accident, and Petaybee's own tendency to adapt species to its own needs. With the big cats for babysitters when he himself could not be teaching them about being seals, the kids would be fine; sure they would.