Part 62 (1/2)
SMOOTH-SIDES, BUT THEIR MINDS WOULD RESIST.”.
”The catodons and the other toothed whales,” Ra- chael murmured, fingering her neurophon.
”We cannot leave Cachalot,” Hwos.h.i.+en insisted.
260.
CACHALOT.
CACHALOT.
261.
”YOU MUST! ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, YOU MUST.
GO. OR YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED.”.
The transparent skin of the colossus pressed up against the ports. Cora forgot to breathe. Rachael
gasped behind her.
Within the skin of the CunsnuC were several glow- ing green bubbles. Within those bubbles were a dozen people. They were alive and their mouths were work- ing, their hands pressed against the fleshy envelopes that contained them and supplied them with air.
Cora could see that they were screaming, though noth- ing could be heard inside the submersible.
Matarovera recognized one of them and swore quietly. A member of his slim planetary command.
The suprafoil and factory s.h.i.+p had not made it back to Mou'anui. Another bubble drifted nearer, and a horrified Cora recognized the short, dark-skinned man within. He flailed at the film of the bubble, and his eyes were wide and desperate.
As the CunsnuC moved away from the ports, the bubbles moved toward the epidermis. They pa.s.sed through the skin, and thus unprotected by internal reg- ulation, immediately burst under the tremendous pres- sure. The hapless humans contained within imploded
before they could drown.
This explained the complete absence of bodies at the sites of the destroyed towns. Either the baleens carried them to the depths, where they could be trans- ferred to the CunsnuC for disposal, or else the CunsnuC rose to the surface to perform the task them- selves. Occasionally survivors were found. Hazaribagh and his companions and guards had been brought to provide an example for the crew of the submersible.
Others had doubtless been ingested alive to be ques- tioned.
As expected, it was Hwos.h.i.+en who finally broke the
silence. ”Let us compromise.” Cora gaped at him. He sounded as if he had not just witnessed the deaths of a
dozen people and was bargaining as usual with a group of off-world traders for fis.h.i.+ng rights to a par- ticularly desirable reef.
”We humans will restrict our activities to prescribed areas of the surface. There is enough room on this world for all of us.”
”THIS IS THE WORLD OF THE CUNSNUC. THE.
CUNSNUC ARE THE WORLD!” There was no hint of vanity or presumptuousness in that statement, Cora mused. It arose from a different approach to rationality, much as man and cetacean differed. The CunsnuC perception of reality was sculpted as much by their size and mental ability as by their ignorance of the greater universe beyond Cachalot.
”WE DO NOT WANT YOU IN OUR WORLD, IN OUR-.
SELVES,” the voice continued firmly.
”We'll retreat to only the few above-water islands,”
Hwos.h.i.+en proposed. ”We'll build nonthinking devices, machines, to do all of our work.”