As if to seal his depression, the first keening howl sounded through the evening.
Bunny didn’t have to alert the village: the dogs’ wailing did it for her. People poured out of their houses to see what was wrong. She didn’t have to tell them the river had broken up. Anyone born on Petaybee and raised with Kilcoole’s long winters could smell breakup in the air, could feel the change in the pressure, and if that wasn’t enough, the ice melting from the roofs and the slush seeping through the soft soles of their boots made it all too evident.
Bunny ran up to Lavelle’s door first. Liam opened it. “Liam, the river’s breaking early and people in snocles are trapped.”
“The planet take them, then.” Liam shrugged angrily and started to shut the door in her face.
“Seamus is out there helping, and Dinah’s got loose and ran off toward the river. Please, Liam, if you won’t help, at least spread the word!” When he reached for his parka on the hook by the door, she caught his hand, grinning. “You don’t need it. Come on.”
She didn’t wait to see if he followed but ran straight to her Aunt Moira’s. Moira and her three oldest sons, Nanuk, Tutiak, and Tim, were already hitching up Charlie’s dogs while Maureen and ‘Naluk, the oldest girls, carried blankets and other provisions to the sleds. “Auntie Moira, the river’s breaking up-”
“I know, Bunka. Don’t just stand there! Help us! Seamus is out there on that river.”
“He’s okay for now, Auntie. The soldiers pulled him out. But they all need help.”
Tutiak growled at her. “What do you think we’re trying to do?”
“No need to be rude to your cousin, Tutiak,” Moira said, slapping at him. “He’s sorry, Bunka. We’re taking Charlie’s dogs to go help now. Okay with you?”
“Fine,” Bunny said. “I have to go tell Clodagh.”
“Hmph,” Tim grunted. “As if anyone ever needed to tell Clodagh anything.”
Bunny paused at Aisling and Sinead’s, first noticing that the dogs were missing from the yard, then that the long daylight was finally waning. The door opened on her first rap to reveal Aisling wearing her waterproof breakup boots, with her arms full of blankets.
“Breakup’s come early, Aisling, and-”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Alice B heard from the other dogs. Sinead and the dogs are on the way.”
“It’s getting too slushy for dogs even. We’re going to need the curlies.”
“Have you asked Adak to call Scan?”
Bunny felt something inside her wrench suddenly. “No! I-Aisling, the soldiers kept Yana. I think Sean’s in trouble.”
“Warn Clodagh,” Aisling said. “I’ll tell anybody else who hasn’t figured it out yet and meet you there.”
With a wave, Bunny ran on through the dusk to Clodagh’s house. Clodagh was holding a lamp when she opened the door. None of the cats were in sight; then one appeared, taking immediate advantage of the open door to brush past Bunny and jump up on the table, where it began mewing piteously.
“Marduk says Yana hasn’t been home to feed him,” Clodagh translated.
Breathless, Bunny collapsed in a sprawl on Clodagh’s bed. “She was goin’ to try to reason with Captain Fiske for us, but it mustn’t have worked. Clodagh, the river’s breaking-”
Clodagh nodded with some satisfaction. “Of course it is. The river ice has been Space Base’s quickest connecting route to us. The planet’s protecting us-and itself.”
“Seamus almost drowned trying to help one of the soldiers,” Bunny said, without asking how Clodagh knew what the planet knew, or was trying to do. She just did, that was all. She always did.
“That Seamus,” Clodagh said, shaking her head. “Of course he would try to help. Is he okay?”
“He’s out on the ice with the others. They’re all still stranded. And not only that, Clodagh, but when 1 stopped by Lavelle’s to untangle Dinah from her harness, Dinah-well, it was like she talked to me. She was all upset about some boy. And that has to be Diego, but he should be safe at the SpaceBase. What are we going to do, Clodagh? Everything’s coming to pieces.” This last came out of Bunny almost like the howl of one of the dogs. That made her realize that she was very tired and keyed up to the highest possible pitch. She would give anything to be able to sleep for a week-if only someplace felt safe enough to sleep in! Even Clodagh seemed different somehow, her eyes glittering and her customary expressions underlain with agitation and a hard anger that had nothing to do with Bunny. Clodagh, Bunny felt, was actually glad about the river and wouldn’t have minded if everyone-well, not Seamus, but everyone else-had drowned. Bunny suddenly realized that she, too, wouldn’t mind if they all drowned, if all of SpaceBase suddenly sank into the planet and disappeared and the company moon vanished from the sky. They were bound and determined to ruin Petaybee. Everything Bunny cared about and counted on was changing, coming apart the way the ice, usually as much to be depended upon as the ground this time of year, had broken away beneath her.