Power Lines (Petaybee Series #2) by Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (With)

From the Publisher

"A felicitous combination of authors."
--Kirkus Reviews
Yanaba Maddock's short-lived career as a company spy had ended the moment the planet Petaybee and its people had adopted her as one of their own. Now she was dedicated to keeping Intergal from exploiting and wounding--or even killing--the world she had come to love. For Intergal persisted in denying that Petaybee was sentient, and nothing would stop it from stripping the ore-rich planet--sentient or not.
Only solid evidence would convince the company to leave the planet alone, and for all its sentience, Petaybee's communications were highly subjective; indeed, some outsiders seemed entirely immune to its voice. So Yana and her friends would have to find some other way to prove that the planet was worth more to the company alive than dead...
"POWER LINES is a strong, highly entertaining sequel...Nicely paced, with a tricky twist or two to keep it from getting too predictable, and some delightful characters."
--Locus
FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK

Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to Powers That Be , the hardworking inhabits of the sentient planet Petaybee continue their struggles with the magnates controlling Intergal Company. While chairperson Dr. Whittaker Fiske has been convinced of the planet's intelligence--and the necessity of negotiating with it--other members of the board believe that he and the Petaybeans are suffering from a collective delusion. Two representatives arrive to investigate: the first, Marmion de Revers Algemeine, maintains an open mind, but cultural anthropologist Matthew Luzon uses his training to cheat non-technical cultures out of their heritage. A group of Petaybeans and sympathizers set out for other villages to win over those willing to continue mining despite the planet's requests to stop. After numerous convoluted plot turns, a Petaybean resistance leads to a satisfactory conclusion. This lackluster tale suffers from excessive sentimentality, while characters are no better developed than in the first volume. Both independently and together, these collaborators have displayed their gifts to better advantage elsewhere. (July)

Library Journal

Former Intergal officer Yanaba Maddock allies herself with the residents of her adopted planet Petaybee against her one-time employers to prevent the mineral rape of a sentient world. Shortsighted opportunists clash head on with stubborn defenders of a world and a way of life in this sequel to Powers That Be (LJ 5/15/93). McCaffrey and Scarborough collaborate seamlessly to tell a first-rate sf adventure with strong male and female protagonists and a life-affirming theme. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/94.]

BookList

In the riveting sequel to "The Powers That Be" , the sentient planet Petaybee becomes an active force in its inhabitants' battle to prevent the ruling Intergal Company's rape of the planet in search of minerals. When a Petaybean delegation tries to inform Intergal's board of directors of the planet's sentience, the group is accused of being under "some sort of massively induced hypnotic illusion," and an official inquiry is set in motion. One of the two investigators, an unsavory and manipulative board member, sets out at once to turn events to his advantage; the other gets to know and works with the people, eventually siding with them. Key players on the Petaybean side are intelligent, mind-speaking felines, who serve as the lines of communication between the isolated human settlements. The main thrust of the story involves the maneuverings of the opposing sides; however, there's a strong, lyrical thread, steeped in Inuit and Celtic lore, that fleshes out the characters, including Petaybee itself, and fills in details of how life has evolved since the planet was first terraformed and stocked with genetically engineered flora and fauna. This is a suspenseful page-turner, well laced with humor, which readers of the first book will welcome.

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