Power Play - Anne McCaffrey [42]
“I’m Dinah O’Neill,” she introduced herself. “I represent Louchard Enterprises—”
“As what?” Yana asked.
“Oh, Public Relations, Legal, Administrative, what have you. I’m the representative. And you, I take it, must be Colonel Yanaba Maddock?”
Yana nodded but declined to shake her hand.
“And the famous Marmion de Revers Algemeine!” Dinah O’Neill said, the stars practically dancing in her eyes. “I’m thrilled to meet you.”
“I wish I could say the same,” Marmion said.
“Now, now, Madame Algemeine, I’m sure you’ve been unavoidably detained for business reasons before. Think of this little interlude as another minor delay. And these lovely youngsters must be—let’s see, Diego Metaxos? Right? Right! And Buneka or Bunny—my, that really suits you—Rourke. I can’t tell you how delighted I am to have you here.”
“I’ll bet,” Yana said, coughing again.
“And where is Macci Sendal?” Marmion asked. “He was with us when we were gassed.”
“Ah, yes, that glamorous one. As far as I know he’s all right, but really, I felt the four of you would be crowded enough in here despite misery loving company so much.”
“There’s a reason for all of this nonsense?” Marmion asked, totally unamused.
“The reasons are rather complicated and really nothing you need to worry about now. You’re all safe and well, and that’s the important thing, isn’t it? Except that poor Colonel Maddock seems to be catching cold.” Yana had launched into another paroxysm.
“It’s not a cold,” Bunny said, wrapping her arm protectively across Yana’s hunched shoulders while she coughed. “She’s only just over a gas poisoning at Bremport, and you—you can’t just go around indiscriminately gassing people!”
“I’m so sorry,” Dinah O’Neill said. “The boss fancied a disabling laser bolt through the knees, but I suggested that gas provides less wear and tear on the cargo—I mean, the guests. I do apologize.” She snapped her fingers at one of the guards, who had a tray in one hand and a four-liter bottle in the other. “Here’s your dinner. Quite nourishing, I assure you. And just what the captain ordered. Enjoy!”
The guard laid these supplies on the floor and backed away.
“I have a dog named Dinah,” Diego said softly to no one in particular. “She’s a nice bitch!”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, youngster.” There was an edge to Pert-face’s bubbly tone. The door clanged shut.
Marmion lifted up the tray and peered at its contents. “Nutritional bars and some vitamin cubes.”
“What was all that crap about allergies and vegetarianism then?” Diego wanted to know.
“Here, Yana,” Marmion said, passing over the water bottle. “See if it’ll soothe your throat.”
Yana gratefully swigged a big mouthful and let it trickle down her dry throat.
“What are you doing?” she asked Bunny, who was now audibly sniffing, turning her head to smell each corner of the small room.
“Wherever we are, we’re still on the space station,” Bunny said.
“How ever can you arrive at that conclusion?” Marmion asked, surprised and skeptical.
“Air,” Bunny said, and grinned. “I’m a good sniffer, and this is the same air that we were breathing on Gal Three. Your launch had different-smelling air. But this”—she sniffed again—“is the same as Gal Three.”
“You know, she might be right,” Marmion said.
“I devoutly hope she is,” Yana said with an unobtrusive gesture to her bra.
Marmion considered this. “I wonder . . . You could be right, Bunny.”
“D’you think they do have Macci next door or someplace?” Diego asked.
“You mean, could he be in this with our dear Dinah?” Marmion asked. “Really, Diego. Macci’s Rothschild’s, not a pirate.”
“Is that who’s kidnapped us? Pirates?” Bunny was torn between astonishment and dismay. Then her expression changed into a disgusted grimace. “Water! I chewed that cube, and it’s one you’ve got to swallow. Urgh.”
They finished their repast, swigging water to wash down the last of the dry bars and cubes, and then arranged themselves about the small room. They sat