Part 37 (2/2)
”Me, too.”
He looked at Cora's glowing, tiny form, said noth- ing. Then he was swimming surfaceward, keeping safely behind the bulk of the formation. Cora fol- lowed.
As they neared the surface the turbulence increased considerably. Cora had to climb upward, keeping a constant grip on the hexalate protrusions lest the surge knock her from its protective ma.s.s. The disturbance did not suggest a storm.
They broke the surface. This time Cora almost lost her grasp as a huge swell smashed into her. It knocked her face mask askew and she had to fight to clear and reposition it. A fresh flash of lightning lit the roiling waters and unmuted thunder a.s.sailed her exposed head. It was raining steadily, but the wind was mod- erate. The violence of the waves allowed them barely half a minute above the water, which was sufficient to imprint forever on her memory the fantastic im- ages before them.
Bits and pieces of the town of Vai'oire were float- ing past and around them. Violent smas.h.i.+ng sounds mixed with a few faint, distant screams and the action
of wind and wave. All of the town lights had gone out, including those independently powered.
Four colossal, monolithic forms rose from the water like a piece of the planet's crust. Breaching in unison, the quartet of blue whales fell simultaneously onto what remained of the now exposed central portion of the town. Huge sections of plastic wall and roof ex- ploded in all directions. Something irregular and heavy made a whoos.h.i.+ng noise as it flew past Cora's head, to land in the water far behind her. Something smaller w.a.n.ged metallically off the front of the bemmy. Then Sam was practically dragging her below.
The rumbles continued to a.s.sail the swimmers, reaching their hiding place in the depths. The noise was growing fainter as Cora numbly informed the others, ”We thought it was people, but it's been the whales all along. I was so sure a human agency was responsible.”
”Then the catodon lied to us.” Rachael treaded water slowly.
”Lumpjaw insisted be knew nothing. Maybe they don't.”
”Probably not.” Mataroreva's face was ashen be- hind the mask. ”What the old one said to us about the baleen whales being incapable of mounting such a co- ordinated enterprise is d.a.m.n true. Yet you and I just saw four of them operating in perfect unision. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they were going about it as methodically as any intelligent mil- itary group could. I'm pretty sure I had a glimpse of a couple of humpbacks working off to the west.
Humpbacks! They're usually as gentle as children. If we'd been able to look around, I suspect we would have found fins and seis and minkes and all the other baleens out there, too.
”But I didn't see any toothed whales, and I was looking for catodons. Until we have proof they were
162.
CACHALOT.
CACHALOT.
163.
involved, I'm not going to condemn them with their less intelligent cousins.”
Dawn's voice was agonized. ”How can you hold the baleens responsible? I'll bet the catodons are control- ling them, directing them! It's all! ...”
Mataroreva shook her. ”I know this doesn't make any sense. Crazy-it's all crazy. Let's not fantasize, though. Let's stick with what we know.”
”What about our defenses?” she mumbled. ”Some- one ... we should have detected the approach in plenty of time to give the alarm.”
Mataroreva considered. ”The whole business was planned perfectly from beginning to end. They knew exactly what they were doing. Probably they hit the defense center first. What went wrong there is some- thing we'll never leam.”
”How could a bunch of dumb baleens know all
that?” Dawn moaned.
”Someone must be telling them. Someone has to, unless . . .” He hesitated, then went on. ”Unless the baleens and the catodons, all of them, have been hid- ing abilities and desires we know nothing about.”
<script>