Part 24 (1/2)

the first time, ”that in all your travels you've seen or learned nothing from other whales that could give us a hint of what might have caused the obliteration of the four towns? The destruction occurred over a wide area. Surely some of the cetaceans must have been nearby. With your ability to sense and hear over con- siderable distances, it seems inconceivable that-”

”Why Should We Trouble Ourselves?” Lumpjaw muttered the question with alarming indifference. ”We Care Not What Happens To Humans.” The eye turned back up to Cora. ”We Do Not Oppose Thee.

We Do Not Support Thee. We Tolerate. Cachalot Is Our World. As Long As Man Realizes That, We Will Coexist Here Better Than Ever We Did A Millennium Ago On Earth. The Loss Of A Few Human Lives Is

103.

of No Concern To Us. Less So Than Was The Loss Of Thousands Of Cetacean Lives To Thy Ancestors.”

”I wish you'd stop going on about people long since turned to dust!” Cora shouted, more out of frus- tration than from anger. ”I told you, I won't a.s.sume the guilt of a thousand years.”

”Perhaps Not, Little Female. But Remember Al- ways That Somewhere, At Sometime In Thy Past, One Of Thy Ancestors Ate, Or Read A Book By The Light Of, Or Dressed In Part Of The Corpse Of, A Whale.

We Cannot Forgive Thee, For Thou Knew What Thee Were About.”

Merced had more courage than sense, because he finally asked the unaskable question. ”You say you've no idea what happened to the towns or their missing inhabitants.” Cora and Rachael turned to him in sur- prise. Sam was making urgent silencing motions. But Merced ignored him. ”Just for the sake of conversa- tion, wouldn't it be possible for a large, well-organized group of like-thinking cetaceans-yourselves, for ex- ample-to commit that kind of destruction?”

Rachael stared at him in horror, held her breath.

Sam's fingers tensed on the master control, ready to give full throttle to the engines if a probably futile at- tempt at flight became necessary.

But Lumpjaw's reaction was no more and no less hostile than his previous statements. ”Of Course Such A Thing Would Be Possible.” He considered the question dispa.s.sionately. ”But Why Would We Do Such A Thing?”

”To force humans off Cachalot,” Merced offered.

Another gray-brown wall rose into the starlight. A third suddenly loomed over the rear deck of the s.h.i.+p.

Two more huge eyes stared down at the puny inhabi- tants. The three catodons could have demolished the Caribe merely by nodding. They did not. The new- comers, however, were less controlled than Lumpjaw.

One, whose voice was translated with a distinctly

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feminine tone by the head unit, said in outrage, ”What A Bizarre Conception!”

”How Typically Human,” the other new arrival agreed. ”Dost Thou Believe That Because We Have Gained Intelligence We Are Doomed To Repeat The Mistakes Of Mankind?”

”We Have Heard Tales Of Things Like 'War,'” the female said. ”'Tis Difficult Enough For Us Merely To Imagine Such An Obscenity. The Idea Of Practic- ing It Is Utterly Beyond Us. Dost Thou Think We Have Gained Intelligence, Improved, And Progressed So That We Might Imitate Thy Stupidities? Contra- diction, Contradiction!” Both breached slightly. An enormous volume of water cascaded over the Caribe, drenching its occupants.

”We Could Not Do Such A Thing,” the younger male said. ”We Do Not Hate Humans. We Ignore Thee. Were We To Engage In Any Form Of ...

Of . . .” He hesitated, searching for a word to use.

”. . . Of Organized Destruction Of Human Lives, That Would Mean Paying Attention, Devoting Time, To Thee. We Would Pay Thee As Little Attention As Possible.” Another gigantic double splash, and the two disappeared.

Cora wiped salt water from her face, tried to wring out her hair. Many more such physical adjectives, and she would have to don her gelsuit.

Lumpjaw pivoted on his tail, a balletic mountain.

The other eye examined them now.

”If not you, what about other catodons?” Merced inquired.

”What Holds True For Us Holds True For All,” the whale declared with cert.i.tude. ”We Are Not Subject To The Kinds Of Individual Madness That Afflict Humans. We Think As One. Only In That Manner Can We Hope To Aspire To Our Great End.”