Power Play - Anne McCaffrey [9]
For the standing stones were tumbling. The planet, with a mighty swallow followed by several small sips, was retrieving the stones and earth with which it had made such an impression on Intergal’s principal Petaybean outpost.
Yana grinned back at him through the cloud of gritty dust and the grinding roar and slam of the planet’s machinations.
“Well, isn’t that something?” she said when the tremors subsided. The curlies rose to their feet. The soldiers working around the edge of the base crept back to survey the damage done when the structures the planet had hoisted aloft suddenly settled back to ground level again, though not exactly in their former places or conformation. “And what, do you suppose, was that all about?”
“Scientifically, I suppose this subsidence probably has something to do with the volcanic and seismic activity happening near the equator—since it’s busy building up layers in the sea there. Maybe it needed this bit elsewhere. What it looks like, however, is in light of the company’s agreement to be sensible, Petaybee is showing it’s willing to let bygones be bygones.”
Now he was wishing his planet was not so forgiving. Though repairs and replacements had only brought SpaceBase back to about a fourth of its former capacity, it seemed to have plenty of power to generate the damned paperwork which only Sean and Yana were available or able to handle. Frank Metaxos and Steve Margolies, though literate and willing to be helpful, were still company employees and as such kept far too busy with their own work to assist in administrative chores.
I really must get a literacy program going as soon as possible, he reflected ruefully.
Up until now he hadn’t really been aware of the volume of work, since he had been out canvassing the planet, trying to find out which needs the people wanted met, how they perceived the planet’s wishes in their areas, what sort of interaction they desired with the company. He had also been assisting Clodagh in finding new areas where the plants for her cures grew. Fortunately, Lonciana Ondelacy, a former company corpswoman, was also literate, and she was able to do much of the work in the south. Unfortunately, all of the paperwork still had to be processed here before that destined for the south could be sent to Loncie. Portage, the southern continent’s landing base, wasn’t equipped for a large volume of traffic or anything much bigger than a shuttle. Whittaker Fiske had been helping transfer relevant documents to Loncie by loaning Petaybee’s new administration the services and copter of his personal pilot, Johnny Greene.
Sean picked up a piece of paper, this one from the ambassador of someplace called Petra 6.
“To whom it may concern,” it began. “We have recently been apprised of information leading us to believe that relatives of some of our settlers reside on Planet Terraform B. Our people would like to know how to comply with the visa process on your world in order to be reunited with their estranged family members. Yrs. truly, Alphonsina Torunsdotter, Ambassador.”
Before he could think of a reply, the door to the cabin banged open and a pair of battered men, bound tightly with sinew rope and each wearing a dead animal around his neck, fell into the room. They were closely followed by the fuming form of Sean’s sister, Sinead, who slammed the door shut.
“You won’t believe what I caught these two—these two murderers doing, Sean!” Sinead said.
“I believe exhibits A and B might already be tied around their necks, sis,” Sean said mildly.
“Yes, but they didn’t claim this fox or this wolf from any of the culling places. They went into the woods and, using their so-called civilized weapons—” She slapped two laser rifles atop a tottering pile of papers, causing an avalanche which all but buried the prisoners.”—simply slaughtered these perfectly healthy creatures without so much as a by-your-leave or a thank-you!”
“Mmm-hmmm,” Sean said, eyeing the prisoners. “And what do you have to say for yourselves?”
“Well,” the bearded one began, “we