Part 52 (1/2)

He pointed. ”There . . .” and then he frowned slightly. ”No, I don't see them any more, either. I thought they might do this.”

Sure enough, the report soon confirmed the truth.

”Reporting again, sir. The pod is sounding.”

”All of them? Calves included?”

”It shows here,” the crewman said. Hwos.h.i.+en did not reply, continued to stare over the bow, his back as straight as an iron bar and his stare as cold.

”Well, they can't stay down for much more than twenty minutes,” Cora murmured. ”Not with calves.”

She turned and surrept.i.tiously eyed Mataroreva. The big man was tense, obvious worry creasing his usually rotund, jovial face.

”They'll come up a d.a.m.nsight sooner than that, once they've decided we're not going to leave them alone.”

He's worried, she thought. Worried but not fright- ened. Never frightened. Morally innocent, but an ad-

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mirable man nonetheless. One of the few. She might be just the one to cure him.

Wenkoseemansa was back paralleling the s.h.i.+p, leaping to confirm what the sonarizer had already re- ported.

”Why bother to sound?” Cora wondered. ”Surely they know we're aware of their location. They can't lose us.”

”Could be several reasons.” Mataroreva studied the horizon. ”They might be showing their displeasure and just incidentally giving us the chance to change our course-and our minds. Or they might not care one way or the other, since we haven't actually disturbed their activities with our presence yet. It might be a normal feeding dive.” Now he smiled slightly. ”It would be just like them to surface all around us and ignore our presence entirely, not to mention our ques- tions.”

Minutes later the helmsman reported, with admir- able calm, ”We're right over them, sir.”

”Hold just aft of the pod, as near as you can.”

”Yes, sir.”

The suprafoil slowed. They cruised just behind their submerged quarry for another fifteen minutes before detection reported again. ”They're coming up, sir.”

”Good,” Hwos.h.i.+en said into the nearby corn. ”Keep us posted, please.”

”Still rising.” A pause, then, ”Shouldn't we move a little farther aft of them, sir?”

”No. Hold your position and speed.”

”Changing course, sir-they're going to come up all around us.” Still no panic in the crewman's voice, though the words poured out a bit hastily, Cora thought. Impa.s.sive, Hwos.h.i.+en said nothing, continued to stare interestedly over the bow.

”Twenty meters. Fifteen.” The engine raced.

”Hold your position,” Hwos.h.i.+en ordered firmly.

”Show them we're not concerned. They know they're

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not surprising us. Don't show them otherwise. Besides,”

he told Cora, ”it's too late to do anything anyway.”