Part 54 (2/2)

Silence for a long moment, and then a bellow that rang around inside her head.

”PEOPLE!” She forcibly reduced the volume in her headset as the shout reverberated inside her skull like a ball-bearing in a steel globe. ”Thou Nearby Have Heard.” Answering replies came from at least three dozen cetaceans. Cora had considered the conversa- tion pirvate, but come to think of it, why shouldn't many others of the herd within range have listened in?

Were not the catodons developing a cooperative so- ciety?

”What Think Thou,” he finished, ”Of This Unprec- edented Anomaly?”

”Yes,” she said loudly, ”and what are you going to do about it?” She fervently hoped she was not over- stepping her thinly stretched luck.

A great deal of rapid intercetacean communication generated a verbal blur in her ears, too rich and rapid for the translator to handle.

Finally the wrinkled brow turned to her once more.

”We Shall Question The Baleens Ourselves About This Peculiar Matter.”

”I told you we already tried that,” Cora reminded him. ”With a big sulfur-bottom bull. He admitted the attack, admitted being directed, but didn't know how or couldn't say how it was accomplished. Thinking about it gave him a whale-sized headache.”

”All Thoughts Upset The Baleens. They Do Not Like To Think. They Only Like To Eat. Feeding Oc- cupies Too Much Of Their Time. But We Will Ques- tion Them.” He said it in such as way as to hint that Cora and her friends were guilty of either a wrong approach or collective stupidity. Well, that was fine with her. She had achieved as much as she had dared hope.

But the catodon added something completely unex-

232 CACHALOT.

pected, unhoped for. ”Thou And Thy Companions May Come Along If Thou Wish To, Though I Cannot Say When We Might Encounter Any Of The Great Cousins.”

”Thank you. We-” But the great head sank like a stone. Then Cora felt herself rising. She was preparing to jump clear when the ascent leveled off. She found herself moving toward the s.h.i.+p. Ahead, crewmembers ran in panic to left and right. The head beneath her dipped slightly. She slid a couple of meters to the deck, landed on her feet, and sat down awkwardly.

The float disc clattered next to her.

Mataroreva was the first one to reach her, lifted her to her feet. A smile told him she was all right. She shook free, moved to the rail in time to see the mas- sive skull slip back into the water. A vast, fathomless eye rolled at her. The old leader issued a high, squeal- ing sound the translator could do nothing with. Then he vanished beneath the waves.

As if directed by a single source, the entire herd began moving northwestward. Their pace increased rapidly. Gigantic backs raced and rolled past the suprafoil, coming withing centimeters of its hull. None actually made contact.

Having also listened in on the conversation, Hwos.h.i.+en had the presence of mind to order, ”Slow ahead, helmsman. When they're completely past and a kilometer out, match speed and maintain that dis- tance!” The suprafoil's engines hummed. Soon it was racing in the wake of the herd like a silver water- strider.

Mataroreva stood near Cora, towering over her. Yet he no longer seemed so big. ”That was a very stupid thing to do,” he said quietly.

”Yes, I know.” She ran the absorbent cloth across her legs, began drying her hair. ”But we had no choice. We knew that the catodons were our best bet for finding out why the baleens were doing what they

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were. Our toothed friends didn't know, as it turns out, but maybe we're all going to find out together.”

”Stupid,” he reiterated, but it was muted by the ad- miration in his voice and in his face.

”Why? What would it have mattered to you if something had happened?”

”It would have mattered, vahine.”

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