Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here!
Waxing poetically, Akadeanna? Prime Reidinger replied. What's up?
How much do you know about Petaybee? she asked him.
Mostly what's been reported in the vid news, Reidinger mentally shrugged. Why?
I had a strange experience recently, Akie confessed, the memory bringing on a fresh case of goosebumps. I think Dragons Moon might be sentient!
Several minutes of interminable silence across the telepathic link back to FT&T quickly followed.
Are you certain? Reidinger finally asked.
No, Akie admitted, though her hands were inexplicably shaking. This is way outside my experience. I think I'd better go talk to people who have dealt with this sort of thing.
Who? Reidinger wondered, clearly perplexed.
The residents of Kilcoole, Akie replied, feeling a curious sense of relief. The ones who live on Petaybee.
You're serious?!
She nodded. You want this tower to go up? Then I'm gonna need help from people who know how to deal with this.
Alright, don't get your knickers in a bunch, Reidinger responded, not quite hiding his sense of disbelief. I'll have someone pick up a few of the residents…
You can't! Akie frantically responded. The longer you've lived on Petaybee, the more adapted to the planet you become. Taking someone like that off-planet is a death sentence! I have to go to them!
Alright, calm down! Reidinger chided her, startled by her vehemence. I'm sending word to Admiral Sharpton. He'll take you there aboard Firlea's Fury. Any idea who you should ask for once you get there?
The Kilcoole shanachie, Akie replied, grinning at the recalled memory. Clodagh.
The transport shuttle's pilot and crew were waiting at the landing field near the tower site. Akie, her family, and their dragons were quickly loaded aboard and flown back up to the orbiting Federation vessel. Arrangements were made with the necessary FT&T Towers and their Primes, and, in short order, Firlea's Fury was entering a parking orbit over Petaybee! While Vornath and Artimeth remained aboard, after donning appropriate cold weather gear, Akie teleported her family down to the Petaybean village of Kilcoole.
"Sláinte, friends!" the largest woman Akie had ever seen greeted them. "Welcome to Kilcoole!"
"Jesus, but it's freezing!" Vance complained, pulling the hood of his parka tighter around his face.
Kind of reminds me of the winters on my home world, Luna quietly observed, pulling her own hood more forward, before… well, you know.
"Sure and it be cold now," Clodagh laughed, dressed far less warmly than her visitors, "but Petaybee has been going through some birthing pains brought on by the Intergal terraforming."
"Birthing pains?" Akie wondered.
"Aye, cinn óga," Clodagh chuckled. "Oh, sorry. My Irish ancestors sometimes comes out in me. Means young ones. Petaybee has been busy reforming its equator region, busy pushing up new volcanoes and adding land masses in the more temperate zones here."
"We have some questions we think only the people of Petaybee can help us with," Akie explained, brushing a few small icicles from the ruff of her hood.
"Questions?" Clodagh wondered.
Akie nodded. "We think Dragons Moon, a satellite of Sadr 6, may be sentient."
"Well now," Clodagh chuckled. "So Petaybee might have a rocky relative! Come. Come!"
The Kilcoole shanachie led the way down the only apparent street… more a snow-covered path than anything… to a rather unremarkable assemblage of prefab building cubes and bustled everyone inside.
"This be our city hall, as it were," Clodagh explained as everyone flipped back their parka hoods. "Sean! Yanaba! We have guests!"
A man, even less warmly attired than the village shanachie, and a woman clearly of American Indian descent, emerged from a side office.
"Colonel Maddock!" Akie exclaimed, pulling off her glove and offering her hand to the woman. "It's an honor and a privilege to meet you!"
"Do I…"
"No, but I know of your actions at Bremport."
A shudder ran through Yanaba upon hearing that word.
"I… I'm sorry," Akie apologized, noting the woman's pain. "I didn't mean to…"
"Not your fault," Yana assured her, managing to smile warmly in reply. "That was a bad time for everyone."
"What brings you to this little backwater world?" Sean politely inquired.
"Knowledge," Akie replied, her gaze moving about the room. "Specifically your knowledge and experience as it relates to this planet's sentience."
"In what way?" Yana wondered, glancing from Sean to Clodagh.
"They may have encountered a relative of Petaybee," Clodagh replied, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"What?!" Sean and Yana exclaimed together.
"Dragons Moon," Akie explained, "a satellite of Sadr 6. I felt a presence when we landed there, heard a voice speaking to me."
"Go on," Yana encouraged her, pulling over a chair for Akie to sit on.
"We were exploring, my dragon and I…"
"Dragon?!" Sean spluttered, totally incredulous.
"Have you heard of the Dragonriders of Pern?" Akie asked. When no one replied, she added, "A long lost colony from Earth. When a spaceborne parasite began falling, consuming anything organic, the original colonists bioengineered the dragons from their smaller cousins, the fire lizards…"
"Glory be!" Clodagh gasped. "Fancy colonists to be doing that."
"Are you saying…" Sean stammered, finding it hard to believe.
Akie nodded. "Yes. They breathe fire."
"How?" Yana begged.
"They consume a certain mineral on the planet. It turns into phosphine gas when mixed with their stomach acids. When they expel the gas, it spontaneously ignites. The dragons do it, too. They use their fiery breath to char Thread…"
"That spaceborne parasite you mentioned," Yana concluded.
Akie nodded.
"What does this have to do with you being here?" Sean wondered.
"Thanks to the efforts of the Dragonriders," Akie explained, "Thread falling on Pern will soon end forever."
"What will happen to the dragons and their riders when they're no longer needed to protect Pern?"
"That's one of the reasons we had gone to Sadr 6," Akie explained. "Federated Telepaths & Teleporters, FT&T for short, was looking to set up a telepath & teleporter facility on Dragons Moon. There was even talk of inviting some of the dragonriders to man the new facility since they and their dragons are already telepathic."
"I see," Sean hummed, nodding. "Something useful to do once their primary job was over."
"Yes," Akie agreed. Then, cocking her head to one side, she asked, "Have you heard about the Bellatrix incident?"
"That passenger vessel that everyone thought was lost in an early teleporter accident?!" Yana exclaimed. "I heard they somehow managed to recover the vessel and all its crew and passengers!"
"That was Akie's doing," Vance explained, smiling proudly as he hugged his wife. "She just happened to be at the Procyon tower when she sensed the vessel in the void. She's a Prime Talent…"
"Are you serious?!" Yana gasped.
"What is it?" Sean wondered.
"Primes are the most powerful Talents in the galaxy!" Yana explained, staring wide-eyed at Akie. "They are the ones in charge of the Talent towers!"
"Which is why we were at Dragons Moon," Akie explained. "The head of FT&T, Prime Reidinger, wanted me to be in charge of the new facility they were setting up on the moon. While everyone else was working to complete the installation, my dragon and I decided to do a little exploring. We discovered a hot spring in the foothills not far from the construction site. There were three pools to it… the first was the source of the hot spring, its water spilling over a fall into a second pool, then over another fall into a much larger pool. Vornath, my dragon, decided to bathe in the lowest pool while I explored the hot spring. Behind the fall of the middle pool, I found a cave… one with a most curious bioluminescence to the walls."
All three Petaybeans gasped.
"As I moved further into the cave, I came to a large chamber with a smallish fountain in its center. Around the edges of the chamber I found stalagmites that oddly seemed shaped like the flora and fauna found on the moon. What was really curious was the feeling I had while I was in that chamber."
"Feeling?" Clodagh asked with keen interest.
Akie nodded. "I felt… welcome in that place."
"Go on, lassie. Did something else happen?"
"Did it ever!" Akie sighed, recalling the experience. "Something seemed to pull me down, and as I sat, the chamber began filling up with a strange mist."
Clodagh, Sean, and Yana exchanged startled glances.
"It was the strangest thing," Akie sighed, tears coming to her eyes. "I wasn't afraid while all this was going on… and I would've sworn the animal-shaped rocks were speaking to me… and I was speaking back… though for the life of me I can't recall what I asked or what answers I got."
The glances between the three Petaybeans grew more intense.
"How long did that go on?" Yana wondered.
"Felt like it was only an hour," Akie confessed. Then, taking Vance's hand, she added, "But I'm told I'd been missing for nearly two days! How is that possible?"
"It is, colleen," Clodagh replied, giving Akie's hand a gentle squeeze, "because you were communing with your moon the way we commune with Petaybee!"
"But how can a moon be sentient?" Sean inquired. "They're typically smaller than their parent planets."
"If Lua dos Dragões was a normal moon," Akie chuckled, glancing around her, "I would agree. But Sadr 6 is a gas giant, massive on any scale. Dragons Moon is actually Earth-sized… about the same size as Petaybee."
"An Earth-sized moon?!" Clodagh gasped, finding it hard to wrap her head around the idea.
"Even more amazing is the fact that Lua dos Dragões isn't tidally locked to the gas giant," Akie went on. "It has a rotational period similar to Earth and a relatively stable climate to boot!"
"Quite the find!" Yana declared. "No wonder FT&T wants to set up a Talent tower there."
"I'm about as green as they come dealing with a world that is sentient," Akie chuckled, shaking her head. Gesturing to the three Petaybeans, she added, "That's why I sought all of you out… for guidance… and inspiration."
"As it happens, child," Clodagh calmly replied, "your arrival is quite propitious."
"How so?" Vance wondered, glancing over at his family.
"The spring breakup latchkay!" Yana exclaimed, suddenly recalling. "The night chants! Just like when I was introduced to Petaybee! Oh, Sean!"
"Propitious, indeed, Clodagh!" Sean responded, giving his wife a hug. "Almost as if their 'moon' wanted them to be here to meet another celestial sentience."
"Wonder how Petaybee will react to the news?" Yana chuckled.
"We'll find out at the latchkay," Clodagh replied, rising to her feet. "I've got work to do to get ready. Sean, Yana, see to our guests' comforts. Be sure to bring them down to the hall once they're settled."
With that, Kilcoole's shanachie disappeared out the door into a swirl of falling snow… to Akie's eye too poorly dressed for the harsh cold outside.
"Won't she catch cold dressed like that?" Akie wondered.
"Nah," Yana replied with a chuckle and a wave of dismissal. "When you've lived in a place like Kilcoole all your life, you grow accustomed to the cold. She'll be fine."
"How long can you stay?" Sean inquired.
"A short while," Akie replied with a shrug. "The tower at Dragons Moon isn't online yet, and I'd like to gather as much information as I can to avoid any problems we might encounter placing a Talent tower on a sentient moon!"
"Then having you stay here in Kilcoole is your best option," Yana remarked, pulling her parka off the post near the door and slipping into her cold weather gear.
"We have visitors quarters nearby," Sean added, pulling on what was clearly not cold weather survival gear. "They're not the Ritz Carlton…"
"The who?!" Vance stammered.
"Nothing fancy," Sean chuckled, slipping into his mukluks, "but you'll be comfortable enough. This way!"
Hand-in-hand, Akie and Luna followed Yana out the door, Vance and Sean bringing up the rear. Just a little further down the main path, they came to another set of the innocuous modular cubes. Pulling a simple card from her parka's pocket, Yana swiped it through the slot on the door lock, there was an audible click, then she turned the knob and opened the door, beckoning their guests to enter.
Well, Sean had been right, Akie realized as she slowly removed her parka. It wasn't anything fancy, but there was room for her family to be comfortable during their stay planetside.
"By my ancestors!" Yana gasped, staring at Luna. "Your arm!"
Turning, Akie could see her daughter nervously holding her arms behind her, fear in her eyes. A closer look and Akie understood Yana's reaction. Smiling, Akie reached out to Luna, her own arms warmly protected by the Princess Tigress fur!
"Wait! You, too?!" Sean exclaimed, glancing back and forth between Akie and Luna.
Mom?
Akie smiled, giving Luna a hug. "It's okay, sweetheart."
Turning to the two Petaybeans, she told them, "We rescued Luna from an old cargo tug a while ago. When I first saw her, she was covered head to toe in fur…"
With a moment's concentration, Akie shifted her form to how Luna looked that incredible day they'd first met. "Like this."
"Changelings!" Yana whispered, glancing over at Sean.
With just another moment's concentration, Akie shifted back to her human form.
"Although, I wasn't born a shapeshifter," Akie told them, squeezing Luna's hands reassuringly.
"What?!" Sean and Yana gasped, eyes bulging.
So, Akie explained what had happened to her along with the reason Luna had ended up the last of her kind.
"The Kleevi!" Yana hissed, her anger evident. "I nearly got selected for the strike teams that were sent to narhii-Vhiliinyar back then!"
"I'd only heard the vid news reports," Sean muttered, shaking his head before wrapping Luna up in a profoundly warm hug.
At first, Luna hesitated, not expecting Sean's reaction. Quickly, however, she relaxed, melting into his embrace, tears running down her face.
Hah!
Unexpectedly, an otter appeared, scampering up Sean's arm so that he could get a closer look at this unusual visitor.
Father river seal… a new shapeshifter? Like you?
That innocent comment got a gasp out of Akie and Luna.
Sean turned red in embarrassment, trying to shush the energetic river otter.
"Well, now, this is unexpected!" Akie chuckled, getting a closer look at their visitor. "Do you have a name, little one?"
Sky, he instantly replied, seeming to beam with pride. Sky is sky otter, the only one. I ride in Father River Seal's sky vehicle, so now I am Sky.
In a mercurial fit of whimsy, Akie turned herself into a human-sized river otter.
Hah, friend Sky! I am Akie! Nice to meet you!
Just as quickly, she returned to her human form.
In a graceful leap, Sky jumped across the intervening distance, landing on Akie's shoulder.
Sky like huge otter friend Akie! We go sliding soon?
"Perhaps later, Sky!" Sean chuckled, shaking his head. Turning to his human visitors, he added, "About that just now…"
Smiling knowingly, Akie raised her hand, cutting Sean off.
"You obviously have your reasons," she assured him, once more giving Luna a hug. "No need to explain."
"Good thing Dr. Mabo is no longer with us," Yana sighed, giving her husband a hug. "We had enough trouble with her and her poisonous interest in learning how creatures shapeshift."
Hah, Sky snorted, shaking himself. Glad am I that one gone. Not bother otter families anymore.
"But enough of that," Sean remarked, planting a tender kiss on Yana's cheek. "We'll have plenty of time later to compare notes. Right now, we have a party to get ready for!"
And what a party it was! As big as the Kilcoole meeting lodge was, by the time Akie, her family, and their escorts, Sean and Yana, made it to the lodge, it was packed wall-to-wall! There was no place to hang their cold weather gear. It all sort of ended up in a massive communal pile off to one side.
"Sláinte, friends!" Clodagh called from the refreshments table, dipping out cups of her special drink and passing them around.
When Akie sampled it, she did a double-take. It had quite a kick! Even Vance recoiled when he took a sip.
"Ah, don't fret, neighbors," Yana assured them, sipping her own drink. "You can't get drunk on Clodagh's brew… just pleasantly blurred."
Mom? Luna asked, glancing up from her cup.
"I have fruit juice if you'd rather not," Clodagh kindly offered, pulling a thermos out from under the table.
Up to you, sweetheart, Akie replied, meeting Luna's uncertain glance.
Grinning shyly, Luna stepped up to her mom. Sensing what she wanted, Akie entwined her arm with Luna's, the two smiling, cups in hand. Then, together, they both sipped from their cups, their eyes only on each other.
Well? Akie inquired after they'd both taken a few sips.
It's good! Luna quietly replied, giving her Mom a hug.
And that was just the beginning! Akie had been to a few parties in her time, but nothing like this! The music was almost non-stop, and so was the dancing! Just when Akie was despairing of having any energy to continue, the pace and tone of the music changed. Slower, more sedate, much more heart-felt.
"The night chants," Yana whispered in her ear.
Many were whimsical, made up songs sung to other familiar tunes. A few, sung solely to the beating rhythm of a bodhran. The one that truly caught Akie's attention was the lengthy one sung… no, that wasn't the right word… chanted, that's it!... chanted to a beating rhythm that made it feel like it was Petaybee's heart! Somehow, during all that, Akie found herself singing along, and not just her! Luna and Vance had joined the song!
It was an eerie sort of chant, but one that filled Akie's heart to bursting with joy. The final part of the chant is what really caught her attention…
"It sings its secrets from its own mouth
To the ears of those who can listen.
Let's not leave it to sing alone any longer
But go to the center and add our voices
To keep it company for a while
And learn from it new harmonies. Aja ji."
Abruptly, everyone was putting his or her parka back on and, to the continued throbbing of the bodhran, marching smartly out the door and into the night.
"Now?" Akie whispered.
Yana nodded. "Nervous?"
"Does it show?"
"Relax, Akie," Yana assured her, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze through the parka. "Given what you described about your own experience on Dragons Moon, you'll do fine!"
In almost no time at all, the marchers reached a nearby hot spring, and Akie gasped. Why, it looked just like the one she'd been to on Dragons Moon… right down to the path that made its way behind the waterfall of the second pool and into an eerily similar cave lit by nearly the same weird bioluminescence.
"Whoa! Déjà vu!" she found herself hissing.
The cave you were in was like this, Mom?
Too overcome with awe, a brief nod was all Akie could manage.
On and on the passageway seemed to go… before emerging into an enormous underground chamber. Akie gasped again. There was the fountain she had seen, bubbling away in the center. And all around the perimeter were those stalagmite replicas of the local flora and fauna. How was this possible?
The residents of Kilcoole quickly fanned out, taking up seats on the ground, Clodagh moving off and up to a promontory overlooking the gathering below. Yana guided their guests to the same overlook, gesturing for them to have a seat behind the village shanachie.
As they were all arranging themselves, Akie noticed a warmth surrounding her. As if a signal, the villagers all shucked their parkas. Akie and her family did the same. Why, the cave wasn't cold at all. In fact, it was comfortably warm! And more than that, the mist Akie had seen back on Dragons Moon once more began to rise up in this Petaybean cave. How could two such disparate and displaced locations display nearly identical attributes?
Within moments, Akie couldn't see any farther than Luna and Vance sitting next to her. That was when she also felt the vibration in her tailbone, vibrations that seemed to pulse up her back and spine, reaching her head. She drew in a deep breath, savoring the experience, before letting the breath out.
When she opened her eyes, Akie was stunned to find that the mist had dissipated and the chamber was empty… except for Vance, Luna, Clodagh, Sean, and Yana.
"Sharding hell!" Vance sighed, blinking his eyes. "That was… that was…"
So beautiful! Luna wept, hugging her Mom.
Turning to the Petaybeans, Akie asked, "How long?"
"Nearly a full day," Yana admitted.
"And you all handled it splendidly!" Clodagh declared, a broad grin on her cherubic face as she gave each of her visitors a hug.
"How did this compare to your experience back on Dragons Moon?" Sean wondered.
"Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference!" Akie sighed, feeling tears sliding down her cheeks. "I felt as welcome here as I did back on Dragons Moon!"
"Welcome you are," reverberated in the chamber, causing the visitors to all gasp.
"Petaybee can talk?!" Akie gasped, eyes bugging out.
"Something recently that the planet has learned to do," Sean chuckled, shaking his head, "making it easier for the planet to communicate with us poor mortals."
"Sean, I think we'd better put them in touch with Phon," Yana suggested.
"Who?" Vance wondered.
"Citizen Phon Ton Anaciliact," Akie recalled from some of her studies. "He's with the Collective Interplanetary Societies… CIS for short. They're responsible for enforcing the laws regarding rights that sentient beings are guaranteed. Let me try something."
Closing her eyes, she drew a long breath then slowly let it out while reaching out with her mind.
Reidinger? Can I interrupt you a moment.
How goes the investigation?
Proceeding apace. We need to get in touch with Phon Ton Anaciliact.
The guy from the CIS?
Yeah, him. I think we need his help evaluating Lua dos Dragões before we go any further with the tower.
Do you have any idea what you're suggesting?!
The moon spoke to me. So has Petaybee… using telepathy. Are you prepared for what could happen if a planet-sized sentience accidentally joins a gestalt?!
Alright, you've made your point, Reidinger muttered. I'll get with CIS and have Phon dispatched to Lua dos Dragões on the first available teleport. Hustle your butts back there. I want you there to handle it. Clear?
As crystal.
Akie opened her eyes, taking in the nervous glances of the people around her.
"Jays, Akie!" Yana gasped, staring bug-eyed at her. "You have to be a Prime Talent. Even I heard that!"
"We all did, child," Clodagh chimed in, nodding to Akie with respect. "No wonder Petaybee took such a shine to you!"
That's my Kibble! Luna giggled, giving her Mom a hug.
"A minor lingering gestalt," Akie concluded, "brought on by our collective contact with Petaybee. Shards, but we're going to have to be careful!"
Akie gave each of the three Petaybeans a warm hug of her own. "You three, thank you for all you've done, but we have to get back."
"Come back whenever you can, child," Clodagh said by way of invitation. "You and your family will always be welcome on Petaybee."
Hah!
Sky showed up at that moment, clawing his way up to Akie's shoulder. Giant otter friend Akie go someplace?
"Aye, friend Sky," Akie replied as everyone stood. "Back to Dragons Moon. A very long way from here."
Sky come with you? See new place?
"There are no other otters where we're going, little friend," Akie quietly told him, hugging his furry head to her own. "Are you sure you want to go?"
Hah! Sky go! See new place! If good, maybe bring some of Sky's family there to make new home! An earnest glint in his eyes, he added, Please?
Smiling, tears falling, Akie hugged his head to her own, nodding as she did.
"Clodagh, Yana, Sean, thank you!" Akie spoke as she took the hands of her husband and daughter. "We'll see you soon!"
That said, with but a moment's concentration, the foursome vanished; teleporting up to the waiting Federation vessel.