Twins of Petaybee 3 - Deluge by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Author:Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough [McCaffrey, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780593056141
Publisher: Bantam Press
Published: 2008-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

A SECOND BOAT PLIED the waters of Gwinnet’s sea. It left the main compound at the same time the twins were fighting the squid for their lives, so although a small dark figure stood on the bow with binoculars, and the exploratory boat’s sonar scanned the seas for large mammals swimming near the surface, it missed the twins. Instead, it landed at the island containing the children’s compound, where, with a disgruntled sigh, the small dark figure went ashore to find her grandson and see what he might accidentally tell her of her true quarry.

“Professor Mabo, what are you doing here?” Rory asked when he saw her in the visitor’s hut to which he’d been summoned by Lieutenant Bunyon. When Professor Mabo had taught at Versailles Station, she had insisted that he call her by the same title the other kids used. He’d learned to be wary of his grandmother, so even though she seemed to be regarding him with sadness and sympathy, he didn’t trust her.

“I am here not as your teacher but as your grandmother,” she said. “I know you feel I was harsh with you when I taught at the station, but I acted as I did for your own good. You would not have wanted the other children to feel that I singled you out for favoritism. Children can be very cruel, Rory.”

“So can family,” Rory retorted. She was not going to win him over so easily. It was her fault that he and his folks had been treated like criminals and brought here.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said. “But since you do, perhaps it will make what I have to say easier.

I’m sorry to tell you that my daughter and her husband did not survive the flight.”

“You’re lying!” he exclaimed, shocked. “Why wouldn’t they survive? You had them bring us here. I heard the soldiers talking about it before we were put on the ship.”

“Rory, prison duty changes people. Soldiers who have had otherwise exemplary records become hardened, even to their own people, and show no mercy. Your parents attempted escape—I feel certain they were trying to locate you. The guards overreacted. I have had them punished.”

“Yeah, you’re good at that,” Rory said. “What were you punishing us for exactly?”

“I had no intention of punishing you. On the contrary, I simply was trying to protect my loved ones from being implicated in the crimes committed by Marmion de Revers Algemeine. Your parents’ association with her has become hazardous for them and embarrassing for me.”

“I guess so, since you say they’re dead and everything,” he said bitterly. But the news was too new for him to truly grieve for the loss of his parents. He was just reacting to her with the distrust and dislike he’d learned she deserved. Later, alone, he’d think about what she said, but now he was not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing him upset. “Good thing you took measures so we won’t embarrass you anymore.”

She opened her arms and reached for him, apparently intending to hug him, but he sat back in his chair.

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