Deluge: Book Three of The Twins of Petaybee

Deluge (2008) is the third SF novel in the Twins of Petaybee trilogy, following Maelstrom. In the previous volume, Marmion de Revers Algemeine was arrested onboard the Piaf by Colonel Cally and two Federation Council representatives. All on the ship were taken to the Gwinnett Incarceration Colony. Intergal Company troops were also sent to Petaybee to arrest the Shongilis. However, the communications officer on the Piaf left a channel open and the Intergal plans were broadcast to Petaybee. The copter on Petaybee picked up enough of the signal to realize the situation and to warn the Kilcoole villagers. In this novel, Marmie and her companion (and First Officer) Adrienne Robineau are offloaded at the prison. Zuzu -- Adrienne's cat -- has been hiding from the troopers, but follows her mistress as she debarks from the ship. When the humans are placed in cells within the prison, Zuzu slinks through the crawl spaces, ratholes and other minor ways within the cellblock and locates Adrienne and Marmie. On Petaybee, Murel, Ronan and Sky Otter hitch a ride in the Deep Sea Otter city/ship to Versailles Station. They infiltrate into the station with the Deep Sea Otter's transport beam and hide in Marmie's suite, but find her already gone. They observe the InterGal Company Corpsmen rounding up the residents and soon found themselves among the station children. The Intergal troopers ship everybody on the station to the Gwinnett prison colony. Meanwhile, Company Corps troops are raiding Kilcoole. Naturally, they find nobody left in the village. While they are searching the village, snow begins to fall and the temperature drops. So they settle down in the town meeting hall to keep warm. In this story, Yana discovers that the Company Corpsmen are onplanet and that her husband and children are gone. She and a few others capture the troopers in the village. Then Sean returns with the news that Murel and Ronan have gone offplanet. Then Yana leads a raid against the Intergal ship and finesses the rest of the Company Corpsmen off it so that the villagers can capture them. Yana and a few others take the Intergal troop transport and follow Murel and Ronan. Once they are outside the interference of Petaybee, they send messages to Marmie's friends in the Intergal Corporation and the Federation Council telling of the illegal arrests and other illicit activities. The adult captives from Versailles Station are locked up within the prison facility, but the children are carried across the sea to an island. Sky Otter follows the adults and joins with Zuzu. Together they help to free Marmie and Adrienne. Murel and Ronan scout the ocean around the island and discover several interesting bits of information. There is little life in the sea other than fish, but giant squid live in the deeps. Then the Deep Sea Otters show up on the planet. This tale concludes the trilogy. The various storylines are brought together in this volume. Yet there may be more t

Enjoyed the book very much. You need to read the 1st and 2nd book first the really understand everything.

This is a fun and exciting conclussion to the series. The Ladies work so well together and write tight characters with sharp plot line.

Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Scarborough are a very good combination. As good a book as either has turned out. Well developed story. Younger readers will thoroughly enjoy. Not bad for the older reader as well.

On the sentient planet Petaybee, the Company Corps has made a serendipitous landing, hoping to catch the natives off guard so they can round them up easily and send them to the prison planet Gwinnet. They arrive to find an empty village, the inhabitants hiding in the communal cave where they speak to Petaybee. The Corps is trapped in their ship by a terrific storm the planet sent their way. The Selkie twins Ronan and Muriel have convinced the ship changing aliens who usually take the form of sea otters, to use their city-ship and take them to Versatile Station owned by their influential friend Marmie. She has been sent to the Gwinnet prison planet by corrupt officials bringing false charges against her. The twins want to contact Marmie's influential friends to talk to them about her imprisonment and the invasion of Petaybee. They can't use Petaybee's com because of bad weather conditions. They reach the station ahead of the Corps and they send a message just before the Corps takes over. They and the inhabitants of the station are taken to Gwinnet where the twins old enemy professor Mabo is waiting to conduct painful experiments on them to figure out how they change into seals when in water DELUGE wraps up the Twins of Petaybee trilogy and all the questions are answered and all the loose ends are sewn up. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this fantastic space opera with its fast pacing, action scenes and the interaction of humans and shape-shifting life sentient aliens. There are plenty of villains from corrupt prison officials to power hungry men and women of the Company Corps to a mad professor; readers will thoroughly enjoy the tale in hope they get what they deserve, especially those that are irredeemable. Harriet Klausner