Part 46 (2/2)
When the outrage had quieted, Cora spoke patiently to Wenkoseemansa. ”You've just admitted yourself that the attack was not a thing to be considered. Yet it happened.”
”Thhis is so-o-o,” the orca confessed. ”Yet sooonerr would I believe myself brreathing waterr than would I hold the catodons rresponsible forr such madnesses.
Thhey arre closerr rrelatiwes to us thhan to the baleeen. Obstinate and stubborrn thhey arre, but not lacking in courrageeee.”
”I understand what you mean.” Merced crowded closer to Cora. ”You're saying that if the catodons wanted the towns destroyed, they'd be doing it them- selves.”
”Thhat is so-o-o,” Wenkoseemansa insisted. ”Farr morre efficient and deadly would thhey bee thhan any baleeens could possibly bee. Would bee a lesser mad- ness then thhan the otherr you say, forr no cetacean can control anotherrrrr.”
”Catodons don't think like us, or even like other
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whales,” Dawn said from nearby. ”I'd believe any- thing of them.”
”We've already learned a little about their indiffer- ence to mankind,” Cora replied. ”Destruction of a town would const.i.tute interference of a sort they pro- fess not to want. Destruction means notice, and they insisted they chose not to notice us.”
”Still,” Vai'oire's sole survivor wondered aloud, ”as your friend in the water just admitted, something has upset the balance of cetacean existence. Something has to be directing the baleens. I don't for a moment believe they're doing this of their own choice.” She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully.
”Could you tell,” Cora asked, leaning over the side once more, ”if anything was controlling the attackers?”
”If so, it was not noticeable to uss,” Wenko- seemansa confessed. ”But swwift wwe fled the region of Insanity, flying fastest through the waterr. Ourr thoughts werre on brringing back a.s.sistance and on surrviving until wwe could do so. Might well wwe hawe missed such evidence as would prowe the con- tention.”
”H the catodons aren't involved,” Cora mumbled, ”and Hazaribagh's been telling the truth about simply following up on the destruction, then we're just about back to where we started: looking for some unknown, probably human, outside agency. Or some other off- world intelligence.”
”At least we know it begins with the baleens,” Mer- ced commented. ”There's another possibility we have to dispose of first.” He addressed Wenkoseemansa.
”You called the attackers the 'Mad Ones.' Have there been many instances of ma.s.s cetacean insanity?” Cora wondered how that might translate into orca, but ap- parently Wenkoseemansa understood, because he an- swered readily enough.
”Hawe happened such thhings. In the pa.s.st parr- ticular, in ancient timmes, whole podds would commit
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suicide, as did theirr ancestorrs in fearr of the geno- cidal harrpooon. The harrpooon was long pa.s.st, but the fearrs still lingerred. In ancient timmes men thhought such ma.s.s strrandings of whales due to dis- ease or weatherr, not realizing the cause was despairr.
Even so, in madness lies not the resourrces forr plan- ning and carrying out such a vast, orrganizzed at- tackkkk.”
”I agree,” Merced said. ”Insanity could account for the attacks, but if the baleens are insane, then they can't organize well enough to mount those same at- tacks. Contradiction. d.a.m.n!”
While Cora still felt no particular fondness for the little scientist, that didn't prevent her from sympathiz- ing with him on the professional level. She fully shared his frustration. ”At least we have a beginning now.”
A violent splash sounded beneath them. Wenkosee- mansa was battering the water with his tail to get their attention.
”Distant brrotherrs and sisterrs relay thhis newws:
the neww hummans commeeee.”
”Distant?”
”Fearred wwe much the rretum of the Mad Ones,”
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