Power Play

15

‘I don't mean to pry or open a very sore subject, Namid,' Marmion said when they had all rehashed, parsed and argued over the latest visit from their captors, 'but have you any more relevant information about your ex-wife that we might use to advantage?’

Namid pointed to the corner of their room where he thought the listening device was planted. Then he continued speaking in such ringing, dramatic tones that they understood he wanted every word to be overheard by their unseen monitor, particularly if that monitor was the object of Marmion's enquiry. It occurred to Marmion that perhaps since the man had been unable to communicate effectively directly with Dinah, he was using the opportunity of talking about her more or less publicly to try to make an impression on her instead.

‘They say,' and he sighed,' that we never really know the people we love. When I first met Dinah, I thought I had never been so close to anyone. Not only was she attractive, intelligent and interested in my work, but she had a great deal of drive, a lot of passion that I'm afraid I misconstrued at the time. Love blinds us, or something like that. We talked for hours. I told her about my work and she was quite honest about her early years: the death of her parents when she was far too young to be alone; her first marriage at sixteen to a wealthy, ruthless man who left her an interest in certain enterprises - of which I suspect this is one. She was quite frank about her other marriages, most of them for convenience and empire building, until ours. I genuinely believe it was a love match on her side as well, at least at first.

‘She so desperately wants connections, you know. Her family was among those scooped up by Intergal when they were buying up wars and other inconvenient impasses on Earth to populate their experimental colony planets. Your Petaybee was one of the early ones, of course. Since the "colonists" were divided in the interest of breaking up political factions, many families were split and settled in different places. Dinah's great-great-grandfather came from a long line of sea-faring people and had worked with the paramilitaries. She seems to believe he was some sort of great patriot, but he apparently adapted well enough to spacing and became one of Intergal's top cryptographers. At some point he married a fellow exile who had also chosen a Company career over colony life.

‘Dinah says that most of their progeny were prevented from advancing in the Company because of IntergaFs nepotism, but I think she might be a bit prejudiced. Surely none of them became wealthy and when her parents died, Dinah had a rough time supporting herself. She told me candidly that she used her looks at first. Then, when she met the right people, her intelligence got her jobs as messenger, despatching, and freelance computer hacker, which was what she was doing when she met her first husband. She looks at her involvement as protecting her inheritance and investments, I believe. But I had absolutely no idea she was connected with piratical acts until she brought me aboard.’

‘Didn't you know anything about her business?' Marmion asked.

‘Oh, yes, I knew she was involved in "shipping" as cargo-master' Diego interrupted him with a snort. 'Or should I say "purser",' Namid added in a show of humour that made Marmion give him one of her genuinely warm smiles. He had to pause but went on. 'That explained her absences and odd schedule. She was so interested in my work: variables and what star systems were likely to spin out ore-laden planets and well, all the practical applications of astronomy. It all seemed so harmless, so natural.' He hunched his shoulders in frustration. 'And she is, you must admit,' he now addressed the remark to Diego, 'a very attractive person.’

‘Ha!’

‘And clever as she can stare,' Bunny said with slightly sour admiration. 'That nice guy,' bad guy ploy she and Megenda were pulling is so old it's got whiskers longer than Uncle Seamus.’

‘Unfortunately, we end up falling for it because we don't know when farce and fact meet,' Yana said.

‘Oh, how I'd like to get that Megenda inside Petaybee for just five minutes…' Bunny said, fingers going to the scab on her face.

‘Let's not be vindictive. We know he was only playing a part and may be a very nice fellow off-duty, aside from an unfortunate tendency towards child abuse,' Marmion said, glancing at the bruises on her young friends' faces.

‘"When a felon's not engaged in his employment, his employment…" ' Namid sang in such a rich baritone that Marmion regarded him with amazement. ' "Or concocting his felonious little plans." Gilbert and

Sullivan's little operettas are as cogent today as they ever were…’

‘Go on,' Marmion urged, her eyes wide with delight.

‘"His capacity for innocent enjoyment, 'cent enjoyment, is just as great as any honest man's."’

Marmion laughed and laughed and laughed and Yana found herself smiling at such contagious mirth. Even Diego grinned.

‘I like the tune,' Bunny said diplomatically but her confusion was obvious.

‘It's not exactly latchkay type singing and music,' Diego said, relaxed for the first time since their capture. 'I've some disks, I think. You might just like G amp;S.’

‘G amp;S?’

‘Later,' Diego said.

Namid's mobile face fell into solemn lines. 'Dinah liked G amp;S.' Then he added more briskly, 'But this isn't Penzance and she wasn't indentured as a little lad, brave and daring. I do believe that there is a core of…’

‘Wait a minute,' Bunny said, sitting bolt upright and just missing the underside of the upper bunk with her pate. She began sniffing and sniffing.

‘What?' Diego said and Yana echoed the query.

Bunny sniffed deeply again. 'We're no longer on Gal-Three-type air.’

‘We're not?' Yana asked. Bunny's previous mention of her olfactory impression hadn't really registered. Well, Yana had been a bit preoccupied. The air on the shuttle would have been imported from the station's ventilation system during the time the shuttle was in dock. But come to think of it, there was no reason she could think of why the air aboard the pirate vessel should ever have had any connection with the station. Or was there? Bunny seemed very certain and her senses, trained in the Petaybean outdoors, were extremely keen. Yana looked at Bunny, sorting through the implications of the girl's observation. Intriguing possibilities now presented themselves. Nor was she the only one to be thinking along those lines.

‘Indeed,' Marmion said, softly, her eyes dark with thought and she leaned into Namid who put a reassuring arm about her shoulders.

‘Indeed indeed,' Namid said. 'And don't forget to breathe!’

Kilcoole

Three days after returning to Kilcoole with the hunters, who booked the first Intergal shuttle back since PTS was no longer in service, Sean received a second communique from the kidnappers.

Dear Dr Shongili,

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I was sent the following message by the criminals who abducted Colonel Maddock-Shongili, your niece and young Etheridge-Metaxos along with Madame Algemeine. I suppose they chose to send their demands to me, as CEO of my own company, since previously I had been unaccountably released to deliver the initial message. I had the great opportunity and rare pleasure of meeting your lovely wife and speaking with her briefly while she was still here on Gal-3: she was, is, a very special lady and a competent, caring officer. The children accompanying her were a delight to us all. I fervently hope that, between the efforts of the security team here on Gal-3 and your good self, you will all be reunited soon.

On behalf of all of us here on Gal-3, Macchiavelli Sendal-Archer-Klausevitch

Dear Dr Shongili,

We were most concerned to learn from your wife that there might be some difficulty with her pregnancy if she isn't back on Petaybee soon. She is very ill and could certainly use more of that Petaybean cough syrup that cured her the first time. Also, young Metaxos has sustained minor injuries due to his own youth and inexperience. Unfortunately, we are currently between medical officers, since our last one was discharged -regrettably out the hatch and into space - for mutiny.

Surely you must realize that your family's lives depend upon your immediate response and compliance to our demands. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Most sincerely,

Dinah O'Neill, representing Captain Onidi Louchard aboard the Pirate Jenny

The office was filled with people when the communique arrived and all Sean could do was sit there, stricken, when he finished reading.

‘What is it, Sean?' Una Monaghan asked.

Cita, who was also there along with several other children and their parents, and Wild Star Furey, put her arm around him and asked, 'What is it, Uncle? Is it about my sister? What does it say?’

He held it up to her and she took it. But, of course,

Cita couldn't read so she turned to Wild Star who took it out of her hand and read the note aloud. The stunned silence now affected every listener.

‘Oh dear, I ought to have read it first to myself,' she said, 'before I broadcast such news.’

Sean shook his head. 'It's everybody's business.’

‘Well, yes, but in front of the children - especially those who've just arrived from the other villages to go to school. Too much of the bad side of civilization all at once, I fear.' She continued to look guilty and cast a nervous smile at her pupils and their parents.

Since she had taken up her post as Kilcoole teacher, Sean had learned a few facts about Wild Star Furey. She had had sufficient experience with the bad side of civilization. Her ancestors had been an Amerind tribe stubbornly clinging to a valuable piece of Terran real estate. Her husband's family were descended from Irish travelling people who were finally removed from the planet for refusing to settle on any given piece of real estate.

‘It concerns Petaybee, Wild Star,' Sean said. 'And it's got nothing to do with civilization. Pirates aren't famous for being civilized.’

‘Pardon me, Doctor, sir,' said a man who had arrived in Kilcoole a scant half hour before. Sean knew Muktuk Murphy slightly. He was from Tanana Bay. 'Could the lady read that last bit again, please?’

‘Which part was that, Muktuk?' Sean asked. 'That lady's name, sir, mentioned just before that awful pirate's name’

‘Dinah O'Neill?' Wild Star asked. Muktuk cast a significant glance at the small, round-faced woman beside him who had a wealth of curly black hair and typical Eskirish slanted blue eyes. Those eyes were dancing with excitement as she tugged her husband's sleeve.

‘That would be it, Dama, thank you. Do you suppose me and the wife could send a message along with yours, sir, when you reply to the pirates?’

Sean shrugged. 'What did you want to say?’

‘Well, it's a bit hard to organize it right now, sir. It'll take me and the missus some thinking.’

‘Perhaps I should help you write it down then,' Wild Star offered.

‘Ah, now that would be very kind of you, Dama,' said Muktuk.

‘Very kind indeed,' said Mrs Murphy. 'I'm sure all my people will appreciate it and we'd all like to come to your school along with the children, please and thanks very much.’

Aboard the pirate ship

When Dinah O'Neill returned to the Captain's quarters, she found a message from Macci Sendal waiting on her comunit.

‘Dama O'Neill,' Sendal's voice said, 'this came in last night in response to your follow-up ransom message to the Petaybean administration. At first my stupid assistant didn't think it was important and almost discarded it. It's from Shongili's office but it seems to be in some sort of code, hence the mistake. I do hope it will be good news - for both your captain's organization and my own.’

There was no voice message involved, just print on the screen.

Dear Dama O'Neill of the pirate ship,

We learned of you when your boss's note came to Dr Sean Shongili's office. Your name caught our ears right away and we were wondering if maybe you might be related to the County Galway O'Neills taken from Ireland at the height of the Reunification? We had a grandfather from that area and time period who, despite raising a large family here on Petaybee, never forgot his brother, Rory, who was known locally as Handy Red O'Neill, he that was involved in the battle aboard the Rosslare Ferry and was then lost from the rest of the family when the country was so-called evacuated by the powers that be.

We know some good songs about the family you might like to hear and we were wondering if you might have some from your family as well, whether or not you're of the same family as us.

We were glad to learn about you but sorry to hear you are having to work for pirates. If it's food or a place to live that you're needing, we'd be happy to have you come to live with us here on Petaybee if you can quit your job. We would love to have you and your family, if you have one.

Regards,

Chumia and Muktuk of the Tanana Bay Murphys on Petaybee

P.S. Could you please put in a word with your boss and ask that Sean's wife and relations and the nice Company lady are kindly treated as we're all very worried about them?

Then, in another hand altogether, a second note.

There is nothing a person can do in regard to ransom here. SS

Dinah O'Neill ran the message through several times. This was not going the way it should have. Not in any way, shape or form. She hated to take Namid's accusation to heart - that she was losing her touch: she preferred the Yana-woman's suggestion that she had been badly informed.

She pondered the brief sentence from Shongili - for who else would be 'SS'. Nothing a person could do, huh? Well, that was certainly in line with Yana's allegation. Wouldn't the anxious husband of a newly wedded pair try to bargain? Not, Dinah came to the reluctant conclusion, if he had no control over this planet entity, this sentient world. Then she turned to the bulk of the message - so innocent and naive. If she could get out of her job as a pirate? What ingenuousness. Part of Shongili's ploy? No, the words had the ring of truth.

Further to that, which the Tanana Bay O'Neills couldn't have known at all, was that she was a descendant of that Rory O'Neill, Handy Red O'Neill who had been so proud of fighting that battle on the Rosslare Ferry: the last stand of the Virtuous, he'd called it. And he'd composed a roaring saga which was one of the few memories she had of her own red-headed father: bellowing out the chorus to the many stanzas of that saga. Oh, she'd have a family song to sing to these O'Neills of Tanana Bay, she would indeed.

Abruptly she clicked on the holo-shield control set in one of her rings dnd depressed another button to summon Megenda.

‘Yes, Captain Louchard?' the first mate said when he reported to his 'Aurelian' captain.

‘It's time to leave. We're going to Petaybee, Megenda.’

The man's broken teeth showed in a grin. 'Aye-aye, Cap'n.’