Startide Rising

92 ::: Dennie Sah'ot

"It'sss the longer way, Dennie. Are you sure we shouldn't just cut southwest?"

Sah'ot swam alongside the sled, keeping pace fairly easily. Every few strokes he glided smoothly to the surface to blow, then rejoined his companion without breaking stride.

"I know it would be faster, Sah'ot." Dennie answered without looking up from her sonar display. She was careful to skirt far from any metal-mounds. It was in this area that the killer-weed grew. Toshio's story about his encounter with the deadly plant had terrified her, and she was determined to give the unfamiliar mounds a wide berth.

"Then why are we returning to Streaker's old site before heading sssouth?"

"For several reasons," Dennie answered. "First of all, we know this part of the route, having been over it before. And the path from the old site to the Seahorse is straight south, so there's less chance of getting lost."

Sah'ot snickered, unconvinced. "And?"

"And this way we'll stand a chance of finding Hikahi. My guess is she may be nosing around the old site about now"

"Did Gillian ask you to look for her?"

"Yeah," Dennie lied. Actually, she had her own reasons for wanting to find Hikahi.

Dennie was afraid of what Toshio intended to do. It was possible that he meant to delay leaving the island until Streaker's preparations were finished and it was too late for Takkata-Jim to interfere. Of course, by then it would be too late for him to rejoin the ship via sled.

In that case the skiff would be Toshio's only chance. She had to find Hikahi before Gillian did. Gillian might decide to send the skiff after Tom Orley instead of Toshio.

She knew she wasn't thinking things out, and felt a little guilty about her decision. But if she could lie to one dolphin, she could lie to another.

93 ::: Takkata-Jim Metz

The former vice-captain tossed his head and gnashed his teeth as he contemplated the latest sabotage.

"I will string their entrails from the foressst branches!" he hissed. The heavy waldo-arms of his armored spider whined.

Ignacio Metz stared up at the thin, almost invisible wires that formed a tight tracery over the longboat, holding it to the ground. He blinked, trying to follow the trail of fibers into the forest.

Metz shook his head. "Are you sure you're not overreacting, vice-captain? It seems to me the boy was only trying to make sure we didn't take off before we agreed to.

Takkata-Jim whirled to glare down on the human. "And have you sssuddenly changed your mind, Doctor Metz? Do you now think we should let the lunatic woman who now controls Streaker send our crewmates out to certain death?"

"N-no, of course not!" Metz shrank back from the dolphin officer's rancor. "We should persevere, I agree. We must try to make our offer of compromise to the Galactics, but…"

"But what?"

Metz shrugged uncertainly. "I just don't think you should blame Toshio for doing his job…"

Takkata-Jim's jaws clapped together like a gunshot, and he caused the spider to advance upon Metz, stopping less than a meter from the nervous man.

"You think! You THINK! Of all comedies, that one topsss all! You, who had the arrogance to suppose his wisdom exceeded the councils of Earth — who brought pet monsters amongst an already fragile crew — who deceived himself into thinking all was well, and ignored danger signs when his wisdom was needed by his desperate clients — yes, Ignacio Metz. Tell me how you think-k!" Takkata-Jim snorted in derision.

"B-but we… you and I agreed on nearly everything! My gene-graft Stenos were your most loyal supporters! They're the only ones who stood by you!"

"Your Stenos were not Stenos! They were benighted, erratic creatures who did not belong on thisss mission! I used them as I've used you. But don't class me with your monsters, Metz!"

Stunned, Metz sagged back against the hull of the longboat.

From nearby came the sounds of returning machines. With a withering glance, Takkata-Jim warned the human to be silent. Sreekah-pol's spider pushed through the foliage.

"The fibersss lead to the p-pool," the fin announced. His Anglic was almost too high-pitched for Metz to follow. "They go below and wrap around the drill-tree sh-shaft-t."

"You've cut them?"

"Yesss!" The neo-fin tossed its head.

Takkata-Jim nodded. "Dr. Metz, please prepare the Kiqui. They are our second greatest trade item, and musst be ready for inspection by whichever race we contact-t."

"Where are you going?" Metz asked.

"You don't want to know."

Metz saw Takkata-Jim's determined expression. Then he noted the three Stenos. Their eyes gleamed with an eager madness.

"You've been goading them in Primal!" he gasped. "I can tell! You've taken these fen over the edge! You're going to make them homicidals!"

Takkata-Jim sighed. "I will wrestle with my conscience later, Dr. Metz. In the meantime I will do what I must to save the ship and our mission. Since a sane dolphin cannot kill human beings, I needed insane dolphins."

The three Stenos grinned at Metz. He looked at their eyes in terror, and listened to their feral clickings.

"You're mad!" he whispered.

"No, Dr. Metz," Takkata-Jim shook his head pityingly. "You are mad. These fen are mad. But I am only acting as a desperate and dedicated human being might act. Criminal or patriot, that's a matter of opinion, but I am sentient."

Metz's eyes were wide. "You can't take back to Earth anyone who knows…" He paled, and turned to run for the airlock.

Takkata-Jim did not even have to give the order. From Sreekah-pol's spider a burst of actinic blue light lanced out. Ignacio Metz sighed and fell to the muddy ground just outside the longboat's hatch. He stared up at Sreekah-pol, like a father betrayed by a son he had doted on.

Takkata-Jim turned to his crew, hiding the nauseated feeling that churned within him.

# Find, Find,

Find and Kill,

# Kill

Soft-skin human

Hairy ape

# I wait, wait

Here

# Wait Here — #

The fen gave out a shrill assent in unison, and turned as one to go crashing back into the forest, heavy manipulator arms brushing aside saplings like twigs.

The man groaned. Takkata-Jim looked down at him and considered putting him out of his misery. He wanted to. But he couldn't bring himself to do direct violence against a human being.

Just as well, he thought. There are still repairs to do. I must be ready when my monsters return.

Takkata-Jim stepped daintily over the supine human and climbed into the airlock.

"Dr. Metz!" Toshio pulled the wounded man to one side and lifted his head. He whispered urgently as he applied a spray ampule of pain killer to the geneticist's neck. "Dr. Metz, can you hear me?"

Metz blearily looked up at the young man. "Toshio? My boy, you've got to get away! Takkata-Jim has sent…"

"I know, Dr. Metz. I was hiding in the bushes when they shot you."

"Then you heard," he sighed.

"Yes, Sir."

"And you know what a fool I've been…"

"Now's not the time for that, Dr. Metz. We've got to get you away. Charlie Dart's hiding nearby. I'll go get him now, while the Stenos are searching another part of the island."

Metz clutched Toshio's arm. "They're hunting for him, too."

"I know. And you've never seen a more stunned chimp. He honestly believed they'd never think he helped me! Let me go get him, and we'll move you away from here."

Metz coughed, and red foam appeared on his lips. He shook his head.

"No. Like Victor Frankenstein, it seems I am murdered by my own hubris. Leave me. You must go to your sled and depart."

Toshio grimaced. "Their first stop was the pool, Dr. Metz. I followed and saw them sink my sled.

"I ran ahead then to chase the Kiqui off the island. Dennie taught me their panic signal, and they split like crazed lemmings when I called it out, so at least they're safe from the Stenos…"

"Not Stenos," Metz corrected. "Demenso cetus metzii, I should think. 'Metz's mad dolphins'… you know, I think I'm the first dolphin-perpetrated homicide in…" He brought his fist to his mouth and coughed again.

Metz looked at the red spittle in his hand, then up at Toshio. "We were going to give the Kiqui to the Galactics you know. I wasn't too happy about it, but he convinced me…"

"Takkata-Jim?"

"Yes. He didn't think offering the ETs the location of the derelict fleet would be enough…"

"He's got tapes?" Toshio felt stunned. "But how… ?"

Metz wasn't listening. He seemed to be fading fast. "… He didn't think that would be enough to win Streaker's freedom, so… decided we'd give them the aboriginals, as well."

The man grabbed feebly at Toshio's arm. "You must set them free, Toshio. Don't let the fanatics have them. They are so promising. They must have kind patrons. Maybe the Linten, or the Synthians… but we're not suited for the job… we'd… we'd make them into caricatures of ourselves. we'd…"

The geneticist sagged.

Toshio waited with him. It was all he could do for the man. His tiny aid kit could do nothing but ease the pain.

Metz roused once more, a minute later. He stared up without seeing.

"Takkata-Jim…" he gasped. "I never thought of it before. Why, he's exactly what we've been looking for! I never realized, but he's not a dolphin. He's a man… Who in the world would have thought…"

His voice faded into a rattle. His eyes rolled upward.

Toshio found no pulse. He lowered the corpse to the ground and slipped back into the forest.

"Metz is dead," he told Charles Dart. The chimp looked out from the bushes. The whites of his eyes shone.

"B-b-but th-that's…"

"That's homicide, I know" Toshio nodded, sympathizing with Charles Dart. The one standard technique of uplift humans had taken unmodified from the Galactics was to ingrain a revulsion of patron-murder in their clients. Few thought it particularly hypocritical, considering man's liberal record in other areas. Still…

"Then they w-won't think twice about shooting you and me!"

Toshio shrugged.

"What're we gonna do?" Charlie had dropped all professorial mannerisms. He looked to Toshio for guidance.

He's the adult and I'm the kid, Toshio thought bitterly. It should be the other way around.

No, that's foolish. Age or patron-client status has nothing to do with it. I'm military. Keeping us alive is my job.

He kept his nervousness hidden. "We'll do as we have done, Dr. Dart. We've got to harass them, and keep them from taking off as long as possible."

Dart blinked a few times, then protested. "But we'll have no way off, then! Can't you get Streaker to come for us?"

"If it turns out to be at all possible, I'm sure Gillian will try to make arrangements. But you and I are expendable now. Try to understand that, Dr. Dart. We're soldiers. They say there's a kind of satisfaction in sacrificing oneself for others. I guess it's true; otherwise there wouldn't ever be legends."

The chimp tried to believe. His hands fluttered. "If they get b-back to Earth, they'll tell about what we did, won't they?"

Toshio smiled. "You bet."

Charlie looked at the ground for a moment. In the distance they could hear the Stenos crashing through the forest.

"Uh, Toshio, there's something you oughta know."

"What is it, Dr. Dart?"

"Uh, you remember that thing I wanted to make them wait a few hours for, before taking off?"

"Your experiment. Yes, I remember."

"Well the instruments I left aboard Streaker will take the data, so the info will get home even if I don't."

"Hey, that's great, Dr. Dart! I'm happy for you." Toshio knew what that meant to the chimp scientist.

Charlie smiled weakly. "Yeah, well, it's too late to stop it from happening, so I figure you oughta know so it doesn't surprise you."

Something about the way he said it made Toshio feel uneasy. "Tell me," he said.

Charlie looked at his watch. "The robot will be where I want it in eighty minutes." He glanced up at Toshio a little nervously. "Then my bomb goes off."

Toshio fell back against the bole of a tree. "Oh, great, that's all we need…"

"I was gonna tell Takkata-Jim just before, so we could hover when it exploded," Charlie explained sheepishly. "I wouldn't worry too much, though. I looked over Dennie's map of the cavern below the island. I'd say there's at least even money the mound won't fall in, but, you know…" He spread his hands.

Toshio sighed. They were going to die anyway. Fortunately, this latest twist didn't seem to have any cosmic implications.

94 ::: Streaker

"We're ready." He made the announcement quite matter-of-factly.

Gillian looked up from the holo display. Hannes Suessi gave Gillian a two-fingered salute from the door jamb. Light from the bright hallway cast a stark trapezoid onto the floor of the dimly lit room.

"The impedance matchings… ?" she asked.

"All darn near perfect. In fact, when we get back to Earth I'm going to suggest we buy a bunch of old hulls from the Thennanin to refit all Snarks with. We'll be slow, doubly so because of all the water in the central bay, but Streaker will lift, fly, and warp. And it'll take a hell of a punch to pound through the outer shell."

Gillian put one foot on the desk. "There's still a lot of punch out there, Hannes."

"She'll fly. As for the rest…" The engineer shrugged. "The only constraint I'd suggest is that you let the engineering staff get an hour or so under sleep machines if you don't want us sagging on takeoff: Other than that, it's up to you now, Madame Captain."

He stopped her before she could speak. "And don't go looking to us for any advice either, Gillian. You've been doing too good a job so far, and neither Tsh't nor I are going to say anything but aye aye, sir, and jump when you say so."

Gillian closed her eyes and nodded. "All right," she said softly.

Hannes looked through the open door from her office to Gillian's laboratory. He knew about the ancient cadaver. He had been there to help Tom Orley bring it back into the ship.

He saw a glimpse of a silhouette suspended within a glass case. He shivered and turned away.

Gillian's holo display showed a small, Ping-Pong-ball sized representation of Kithrup, and a scattering of small BBs as the planet's moons. Two clusters of blue and red dots were accompanied by tiny computer-code letters suspended in space.

"Don't seem like too many of the nasty buggers are left," Suessi commented.

"Those are just the ships in nearby space. The expanded view, about a cubic astron, shows two still substantial Galactic squadrons. We can't actually identify the fleets, of course, but the battle computer assigns colors on the basis of movement. They're still changing alliances out there.

"Also, there's a plethora of survivors hiding out on the moons."

Suessi pursed his lips. Almost he asked the question that was on everyone's mind, but he bit it back. Gillian answered anyway.

"There's still been no word from Tom." She looked at her hands. "Until now we didn't really have any use for the information, but now…" She paused.

"But now we've got to know whether taking off would be suicide." Suessi finished her thought. He noticed Gillian was studying the display again.

"You're trying to figure it out for yourself, aren't you?"

Gillian shrugged. "Go get that hour, Hannes, or three, or ten. Tell your fen to take their naps at their stations, and toggle their sleep machines to the bridge."

She frowned as she looked at the drifting dots. "I may be wrong. We may wind up choosing the lesser evil — hiding down here until our gums start turning blue from metal poisoning or we starve. But I have a feeling, a hunch, we may have to act soon." She shook her head.

"What about Toshio and Hikahi and the others?"

Gillian did not answer. No answer was necessary. After a moment Suessi turned and left. He closed the door behind him.

Dots. No more could be resolved by Streaker's passive sensors than drifting dots that occasionally came together in sparkling swarms and separated smaller in number. The battle computer went over the patterns and drew tentative conclusions. But the answer she needed was never there. "Would the surviving fleets be indifferent to the sudden reappearance of a long-lost Thennanin cruiser, or would they join forces to swat it out of the sky?" The decision lay with her. Never had Gillian felt so alone.

"Where are you, boy? You live, I know. I can feel your distant breath. What are you doing right now?"

To her left a green light started flashing. "Yes," she told the comm link.

"Dr. Bassskin!" It was the voice of Wattaceti, calling from the bridge. "Hikahi callsss! She is at-t the relay! And she has Creideiki!"

"Put her through!"

There was a hiss as the operator raised the gain on the attenuated signal.

"Gillian? Is that-t you?"

"Yes, Hikahi. Thank God! Are you all right? And Creideiki's still at the relay?"

"We are both quite well, Life-Cleaner. From what the fen on the bridge tell usss, you don't seem to need us there at all!"

"They're damned patron-sucking liars! And I wouldn't trade a one of them away for my left arm. Listen, we're missing five crewfen. You should be warned, two are atavistic and highly dangerous."

The line hissed for a long moment. Then, "All are accounted for, Gillian," came the reply at last. "Four of them are dead."

Gillian covered her eyes. "Dear Lord…"

"Keepiru is with usss," Hikahi answered her unasked question.

"Poor Akki," Gillian sighed.

"Send word to Calafia that he did his duty. Keepiru says he was defiant and sentient till the end."

Gillian did not like the implication of Hikahi's message. "Hikahi, you're in command now. We need you back here now. I am this instant officially handing over…"

"Don't, Gillian," the fluting voice interrupted. "Please. Not yet-t. There are still things to be done with the skiff. Those on the island must be recovered, and the Kiqui volunteers."

"I'm not sure we'll have time, Hikahi." The words were bitter as she spoke them. She thought of bright, ever self-deprecating Dennie Sudman, of the erudite Sah'ot, and Toshio, so very young and noble.

"Has T-Tom called? Is there an emergency?"

"Neither, yet. But…"

"Then what-t?"

She couldn't explain. She tried in Trinary.

* What a piercing sound I hear -

* The peal of bugles, engines rising -

* The tears of love abandoned -

* Soon, so very soon — *

There was a long silence from the skiff. Then, it was not Hikahi's voice, but Creideiki's, that answered. In his repetitious, simply-phrased Trinary, there was something Gillian could only catch a hint of, something deep and a little eerie.

* Sounds, All Sounds

Answer Something

Answer Something :

* Acts, All Acts

Make Sounds

Make Sounds :

* But Duty, All Duty

Calls Silently

Calls Silently :

Gillian didn't breathe as she listened to Creideiki's last note fall away. Her spine was chilled.

"'Bye, Gillian," Hikahi said. "You do what you have to. We'll be back as quick-kly as we can. But don't wait for usss."

"Hikahi!" Gillian reached for the comm link, but the carrier wave cut off before she could say another word.

95 ::: Toshio

"Both airlocks are bolted from the inside," Toshio panted when he returned to the hiding place. "Looks like we try it your way."

Charles Dart nodded, and led him to the impulse thrusters at the stern of the small spacecraft.

Twice they had hidden themselves by climbing tall trees as the patrolling Stenos passed below. It seemed not to occur to the mad fen to look above for their quarry. But Toshio knew they'd be deadly if they ever caught him and Charlie in the open.

Charlie removed the rear cover to the maintenance bay between the engines. "I got in by crawling between the feedlines, over there, until I reached the access plate in that bulkhead." He pointed. Toshio peered into the maze of pipes.

He looked back at Dart, amazed. "No wonder nobody expected a stowaway. Is this how you got into the armory, as well? By climbing through ducts where no human could fit?"

The planetologist nodded. "I guess you can't go in with me. That means I gotta get the little critters out by myself, right?"

Toshio nodded. "I think they're in the aft hold. Here's the voder."

He handed over the translator. It looked like a large medallion hanging from a neck-chain. All neo-chimps knew about voders, since they generally had trouble talking until the age of three. Charlie slipped it over his head. He started to climb into the small opening, but stopped and looked sidelong at the middie.

"Say Toshio. Imagine this was one of those 20th-century 'zoo' ships, and those are a bunch of pre-sentient chimps in the hold of a clipper ship

— or whatever they used back then — on their way from Africa to some laboratory or circus. Would you have snuck in to rescue them?"

Toshio shrugged. "I don't honestly know, Charlie. I'd like to think I would've. But I really don't know what I'd've done."

The neo-chimp met the human's eyes for a long instant, then he grunted. "Okay, you guard the rear."

He took a boost from Toshio and squirmed into the mechanical maze. Toshio squatted beneath the thruster tubes and listened to the forest. While Charlie struggled to get the inner access plate off, he made what felt like a terrible racket. Then it stopped.

Toshio slid into the forest to make a cautious circuit of the immediate area.

From crashing sounds up in the direction of the Kiqui village, he guessed the Stenos were amusing themselves with a destructive spree. He hoped none of the little natives had come back yet to witness, or worse, be caught in the violence.

He returned to the longboat and looked at his watch. Seventeen minutes until the bomb went off. They were cutting it close.

He reached into the maintenance area and spent a few minutes twiddling with some of the valves, spoiling their settings. Of course, Takkata-Jim didn't need the thrusters at all. If he was, indeed, refueled, he could take off on gravities. Leaving the access panel loose would decrease the boat's aerodynamic stability, but even that effect would be slight. Longboats like these were built rugged.

He stopped and listened. The rampage through the forest was heading this way again. The fen were on their way back.

"Hurry up, Charlie!" He fingered the grip of his holstered needler, not certain he could aim well enough to hit the vulnerable patches where the dolphins were unprotected by the metal-sided spiders.

"Come on!"

There came a series of small, wet, slapping sounds from within the cavity. Intermittent squeaks echoed from the narrow confines, and then he saw a pair of widely splayed, green-finned hands.

They were followed by the head of a rather distressed looking Kiqui. The aboriginal scuttled through the inner panel and crept through the maze of pipes until it leapt into Toshio's arms.

Toshio had to peel the frightened creature loose and put it down in order to reach for the next one. The little Kiqui were making a fearful racket, squeaking dolefully.

Finally all four were out. Toshio peered inside and saw Charles Dart trying to replace the inner panel.

"Never mind that!" Toshio hissed.

"I gotta! Takkata-Jim'll notice the change in air pressure on his panel! It's only luck he hasn't yet!"

"Come on! They're…" He heard the whine of waldo motors and crushed vegetation. "They're here! I'm going to draw them away from you. Good luck, Charlie!"

"Wait!"

Toshio crawled a few meters into the shrubbery so they would not guess where he came from. Then, from a crouch start, he ran.

# There! There!

# Whaler!

# Iki-netman!

# Tuna follower!

# There! Kill! There! #

The Stenos squawked from very close nearby. Toshio dove behind an oli-nut tree as bolts of blue death sizzled overhead. The Kiqui screamed and scattered into the forest.

Toshio rolled to his feet and ran, trying to keep the tree between him and his pursuers.

He heard sounds to the left and right as the fen moved quickly to surround him. His drysuit slowed him down as he tried to reach the shore cliffs before the circle was closed.

96 ::: Tom Orley

He spent a while listening to the radio, but, although he recognized a few species-types in the voices, so much of the traffic was inter-computer that there was little to be learned that way.

All right, he told himself. Let's work out the proper phrasing. This had better be good.

Dennie stumbled over the words she had so carefully prepared. She tried to rephrase her arguments, but Hikahi stopped her.

"Dr. Sudman. You needn't persissst! Our next stop is the island anyway. We'll pick up Toshio if he hasn't left already. And perhaps we'll deal with Takkata-Jim, as well. We'll be on our way as soon as Creideiki finishes."

Dennie exhaled all of her remaining tension. It was out of her hands, then. The professionals would take care of things. She might as well relax.

"How long. . ?"

Hikahi tossed her head. "Creideiki doesn't expect to do any better this time than lassst. It shouldn't take long. Why don't you and Sah'ot go and rest in the meantime?"

Dennie nodded and turned to find some space to stretch out in the tiny hold.

Sah'ot swam alongside.

"Say, Dennie, as long as we're going to try to relax, want to trade backrubs?"

Dennie laughed. "Sure, Sah'ot. Just don't get carried away, okay?"

Creideiki tried to reason with them one more time.

: We Are Desperate : As You Once Were : We Offer Hope To Little Unfinished Ones On This Very World : Hope To Grow Unbent :

: Our Enemies Will Harm You, As Well, In Time :

: Help Us :

The static pulsed and throbbed in response. It carried a partly psychic feeling of closedness, of pressure and molten heat. It was a claustrophilic song, in praise of rough hard stone and flowing metal.

+ CEASE -

— PEACE +

+ RELEASE!! -

— ISOLATION +

Silence fell suddenly with a squeal of tortured machinery. The old robot which had so long hung two kilometers down the narrow drill-tree shaft had been destroyed.

Creideiki clicked a familiar phrase in Trinary.

* It is, that is — *

He was tempted to enter the Dream again. But there was, on this level of reality, no time for such things.

This level of reality was where duty lay, for the moment. Later, perhaps. Later he would visit Nukapai again. Perhaps she would show him the untellable things that she heard through the vague avenues of prescience.

He headed back to the airlock of the tiny spaceship. Hikahi, seeing him approach, started warming up the engines.

98 ::: Tom Orley

"… a small group of dolphins spotted a few hundred paktaars north of this location! They were moving north quite rapidly. They may have come this way to see what all the fighting was about. Hurry! Now is the time to strike!"

Tom clicked off the receiver. His head hurt from the concentration it took to speak Galactic Ten rapidly. Not that he expected the Brothers of the Night to believe his was the voice of one of their missing scouts. That didn't matter to his plan. All he wanted to do was stir up their interest before the final jab.

He switched frequency and pursed his lips in preparation to speaking Galactic Twelve.

Actually, this was fun! It distracted him from his exhaustion and hunger and satisfied his aesthetic sense, even if it did mean everyone and his client would be down here shortly, all looking for him.

" . . Paha warriors! Paha-ab-Kleppko -ab-puber ab-Soro ab-Hul! Inform the Soro fleet-mistress we have news!"

Tom chuckled as he thought of a pun that could only be phrased in Galactic Twelve and which, nevertheless, he was sure the Soro would never get.

Something was making the fleets shift all of a sudden. Small squadrons raveled off the battered fleets and joined tiny groups from Kithrup's moons, all heading toward the planet. As they merged, the groups swirled about and tiny explosions took the place of individual lights.

What in the world was going on? Whatever it was, Gillian felt a glimmer of opportunity.

"Dr. Bassskin! Gillian!" Tsh't's voice came over the commspeaker. "We're getting radio traffic from the planet's surface again. It'sss from a single transmitter, but it keeps putting out stuff in different Galactic languages! Yet I ssswear they all sound like one voice!"

She leaned forward and touched a switch. "I'm on my way up, Tsh't. Please call half of the off-duty shift to stations. We'll let the others rest a while longer." She switched off the unit.

Oh, Tom, she thought as she hurried out the door. Why this? Couldn't you have come up with anything more elegant? Anything less desperate?

Of course he couldn't, she chided herself as she ran down the hallway. Come on, Jill. The least you can do is not be a nag.

In moments she was on the bridge, listening for herself.

100 ::: Toshio

Cornered, Toshio couldn't even climb a tree. They were too close, and would be on him the instant they heard him move.

He could hear them as they spiraled closer, tightening the noose. Toshio clutched his needler and decided he had better attack first, before they were close enough to support each other. It would be a small handgun against armored machines and high-powered lasers, and he was no marksman like Tom Orley. In fact, he had never fired at a sentient being before. But it beat waiting here.

He crouched and began to crawl to his right, toward the shoreline. He tried not to snap any twigs, but a minute after leaving his hiding place he flushed some small animal, which fled noisily through the bushes.

Immediately he heard the noise of approaching mechanicals. Toshio slithered quickly under a thick bush, only to emerge facing the broad footpad of a spider.

# Gotcha! Gotcha! #

There was a squeal of triumph. He looked up to meet the mad eye of Sreekah-pol. The fin leered as he commanded the spider to lift its leg.

Toshio rolled aside as the foot crashed down where his head had been. He reversed direction, avoiding a kick. The mechanical reared back, bringing both front legs into play. Toshio saw no place to turn. He fired his small pistol against the armored belly of the machine, and tiny needles ricocheted harmlessly into the forest.

The triumphant whistle was pure Primal.

# Gotcha! #

Then the island began to shake.

The ground heaved up and down. Toshio was jounced right and left and his head hit the loam rhythmically. The spider teetered, then crashed backward into the forest.

The shaking accelerated. Toshio somehow rolled over onto his stomach. he fought the oscillations to rise to his knees.

There was a crunching sound as two spider-riders stumbled into the clearing. One crashed past Toshio in panic. The other, though, saw him and squawked in wrath.

Toshio tried to hold out his needler, but the island's trembling began to turn into a list. It became a race between him and the mad dolphin to see who could aim and fire first.

Then both of them were staggered by a scream that echoed within their heads.

+ BAD! -

— BAD ONES! +

+ LEAVE -

— US +

+ ALONE! -

It was a roar of rejection that made Toshio moan and grab at his temples. The needler slipped out of his grasp and fell to the rapidly tilting ground.

The dolphin whistled shrilly as its spider collapsed in convulsions. It wailed in a foxhole lamentation.

# Sorry! Sorry!

# Patron forgive!

# Forgive! #

Toshio stumbled forward. "Forgiven," he managed to say as he hurried past. He couldn't deal with the fin's schizoid conversion. "Come this way if you can!" he called back, as he tried to make it to the shore. The noise in his head was like an earthquake. Somehow Toshio managed to stay on his feet and stumble through the forest.

When he reached the edge of the mound the sea was a froth below. Toshio looked right and left and saw no place that looked any better.

At that moment, a scream of engines pealed forth. He looked back to see a tornado of broken vegetation fly up from a spot only a hundred meters away. The gun-metal gray longboat rose above the rapidly tilting forest. It was surrounded by a glowing nimbus of ionization. Toshio's hackles rose as the island was swept by the throbbing antigravity field. The boat turned slowly and seemed to hesitate. Then, with a thunderclap, it speared into the eastern sky.

Toshio crouched as the boom whipped at him, tugging at his clothes.

There was no time to delay. Either Charles Dart had got away or he hadn't. Toshio pulled his mask up over his face, held it with one hand, and leapt.

"Ifni's boss…" he prayed. And he fell into the stormy waters.

101 ::: Galactics

Above the planet small flotillas of battered warships paused suddenly in their multi-sided butchery.

They had left hiding places on Kithrup's tiny moons, gambling all on the chance that the strange radio broadcasts from the planet's northern hemisphere were, indeed, of human origin. On their way down to Kithrup, the tiny alliances sniped at each other with their waning strength, until a sudden wave of psychic noise hit the entire motley ensemble. It rose from the planet with a power none could have expected, overwhelming psi-shields and striking the crews temporarily motionless.

The ships continued to plunge toward the planet, but their living crews blinked limply, unable to fire their weapons or guide their vessels.

If it had been a weapon, the psychic shout would have cleansed half of the ships of their crews. As it was, the mental scream of anger and rejection reverberated within their brains, driving a few of the least flexible completely mad.

For long moments the cruisers drifted out of formation, uncontrolled, downward into the upper fringes of the atmosphere.

Finally, the psi-scream began to fade. The grating anger growled and diminished, leaving burning after-images as the numb crews slowly came to their senses.

The Xatinni and their clients, having drifted away from the others, looked about and discovered that they had lost their appetite for further fighting. They decided to accept the pointed invitation to depart. Their four ragged ships left Kthsemenee's system as quickly as their laboring engines could manage.

The J'8lek were slow coming around. After succumbing to the numbing mind-scream, they drifted in amongst the ships of the Brothers of the Night. The Brothers awakened sooner, and used the J'8lek for target practice.

Sophisticated autopilots brought two Jophur warships to land on the slope of a steaming mountain, far to the south of their original destination. Automatic weapons kept watch for enemies while the Jophur struggled with their confusion. Finally, as the stunning psychic noise subsided, the crews began to revive and retake control of their grounded ships.

The Jophur were almost ready to lift off again, and head north to rejoin the fray, when the entire top of their mountain blew away in a column of superheated steam.

Gillian stared, slack jawed, until the grating "sounds" finally began to fade. She swallowed. Her ears popped, and she shook her head to clear away the numb feeling. Then she saw that the dolphins were staring at her.

"That was awful!" she stated. "Is everybody all right?"

Tsh't looked relieved. "We're all fine, Gillian. We detected an extremely powerful psi-explosion a few moments ago. It easily pierced our shields, and seems to have dazed you for a few minutes. But except for some momentary discomfort, we hardly felt it!"

Gillian rubbed her temples. "It must be my esper sensitivity that made me susceptible. Let's just hope the Eatees don't follow that attack up with another even closer…" She stopped. Tsh't was shaking her head.

"Gillian, I don't think it was the Eatees. Or if it was, they weren't aiming for us. Instruments indicate that that burst came from very close nearby, and was almost perfectly tuned not to be received by cetaceans! Your brain is similar to ours, so you only felt it a little. Suessi reports hardly feeling a thing.

"But I imagine some of the Galactics had a rough t-time weathering that psi-storm!"

Gillian shook her head a second time. "I don't understand."

"That makes two of usss. But I don't suppose we have to understand. All I can tell you is thisss — at almost the same rime that psi-burst went off, there was an intense ground tremor not two hundred klicks from here. The crustal waves are only now starting to arrive."

Gillian swam over to Tsh't's station in the glassy sphere of Streaker's bridge. The dolphin lieutenant pointed with her jaw toward a globe model of the planet.

Not far from Streakers position on the globe, a small cluster of flashing red symbols was displayed.

"That's Toshio's island!" Gillian said. "Then Charlie did have a spare bomb after all!"

"Beg p-pardon?" Tsh't looked confused. "But I thought Takkata-Jim had confiscated…"

"Ship rising!" A detection officer announced. "Anti-g and stasis — from the same site as the crust tremors, one hundred and fifty klicks from here. Tracking… tracking… Ship is now heading off at Mach two, due east!"

Gillian looked at Tsh't. They shared the same thought.

Takkata-Jim.

Gillian saw the question in the dolphin officer's eye. "We may face a decision shortly. Have his blip followed to see where he's headed. And we'd better start awakening the rest of the off duty crew"

"Aye, sir. Those that managed to remain asleep through the last few minutes." Tsh't turned and relayed the command. A few minutes later the battle computer began to chatter.

"What now?" Gillian asked.

Bright yellow pinpoints began to glow up and down a long jagged streak on the globe of Kithrup, starting from the site of Toshio's island.

"Detonations of some sort," Tsh't commented. "The computer's interpreting them as bombings, but we've detected no missiles! And why this scattered pattern? The detonations are only occurring along thisss narrow stripe of longitude!"

"More psi disturbances!" an operator announced. "Strong! And from numerous sources, all on the planet!"

Gillian frowned. "Those detonations aren't bombings. I remember seeing that pattern before. That's the boundary of this planetary crustal plate. Those disturbances may be volcanoes.

"I'd say it's the locals' way of showing they're unhappy"

"?" Tsh't queried confusedly.

Gillian's expression was thoughtful, as if she was looking at something very far away. "I think I'm starting to understand what's been going on. We can thank Creideiki for the fact that the psi-disturbances don't affect dolphins, for instance."

The dolphins stared at her. Gillian smiled and patted Tsh't's flank.

"Not to worry, fem-fin. It's a long story, but I'll explain if we have time. I expect the biggest effect all this will have on us is crustquakes. We should be getting some shortly. Will we be able to ride them out down here?"

The dolphin lieutenant frowned. The way humans could change mental tracks midstride was beyond her comprehension.

"Yesss, I think so, Gillian. That is, so long as that-t remains stable." She gestured through a port, toward the seacliff that loomed over their hybrid ship.

Gillian looked up at the hulking mass of rock, visible through cracks in the Thennanin armor. "I'd forgotten about that. We'd better keep an eye on it."

She turned back to the holo display, watching the spreading pattern of disturbances.

Come on, Hikahi! she urged silently. Pick up Toshio and the others and get back here! I have to make a decision soon, and you might get back too late!

The minutes passed. Several times the water seemed to tremble as a low rumble passed through the seafloor.

Gillian watched the blue globe of Kithrup. A string of flickering yellow pinponts spread gradually northward, like an angry wound in the planet's side. Finally, the yellow dots merged with a small group of tiny islands in the northeast quadrant.

That's where Tom is, she remembered.

Suddenly the comm operator thrashed at his station. "Commander! I'm gett-ting a transmission! And it'sss in Anglic!"

103 ::: Tom Orley

He held the microphone awkwardly. It had been designed for alien hands. Tom ran his tongue over his cracked lips. He didn't have time to go over his speech once more: Company would be arriving any moment now.

He pressed the transmit lever.

"Creideiki!" He spoke carefully. "Listen carefully! Record and replay for Gillian! She'll interpret!"

He knew every ship in near-space was listening to this transmitter by now. Probably a large number of them were already on their way here. If he composed his new lies properly, he could make sure even more of them came.

"My direct wire to the ship is broken," he said. "And a hundred kilometers is a long way to have to carry a message, so I'll risk this new coder, hoping it's not been broken in all the fighting here."

That last was a tissue of fantasies for Galactic consumption. Now for the real message. Hidden in context, he had to tell Streaker what he knew.

"Jill? Our egg hatched, hon. And a zoo spilled out. A zoo of fierce critters!

"But I came across only one bedraggled sample of the brand we're shopping for. I've heard clues it's still for sale, on higher shelves, but those have been just clues. You and H and C are going to have to decide on that basis.

"Remember when old Jake Demwa took us along with him on that mission to the central Library on Tanith? Remember what he said about hunches? Tell Creideiki about it. It's his decision, but my gut feeling is, follow Jake's advice!"

He felt a thickening in his throat. He should cut this off: No sense in letting the Eatees zero in too closely.

"Jill." He coughed. "Hon I'm out of the game now. Get Herbie and the rest of the data to the Council. And those abos, too. I've got to believe all this has been worth it."

He closed his eyes and gripped the mike. "When you see old Jake, hoist a glass with him for me, will you?"

He wanted to say more, but realized that he was already getting a little too unambiguous. He couldn't afford to let the Galactics' language computers figure out what he was talking about.

He pursed his lips. And bid adieu in a language designed for such things.

* Petals floating by,

* Drift through my woman's hand,

* As she remembers me — *

The carrier wave hissed until he cut the circuit.

He rose and carried the radio outside. Carefully approaching the edge of an open pool, he dropped the transmitter in. If anyone had locked into a resonance with the crystals in the set, that Eatee would have to dive for it.

He stood there, by the pool, and watched the low clouds roll past, dark and heavy with unspent rain.

They'd be arriving any moment. His weapons were at his belt, and his breathing tube, and a full canteen. He was ready for them.

He was standing that way, watching and waiting, when the steaming volcano on the horizon began to growl, then cough, then angrily spout bright fireworks into the sky.

The bridge was a blur. Gillian's eyes swam, but when she blinked the tears would not bead and drop away. Her eyes clung to them, like precious things.

"Shall we answer?" Tsh't spoke softly from next to her."

Gillian shook her head. No, she tried to say. But she could only mouth the word. Telempathically, she sensed the sympathy of those around her.

How can I mourn, she wondered, when I can still feel him faintly? He is still alive out there, somewhere.

How can I mourn?

She felt a swirl of movement as a fin approached cautiously and tried to report to Tsh't without disturbing her.

Gillian pressed her burning eyelids together. The tears flowed at last, in narrow trails down her cheeks. She couldn't reach under her mask to brush them away, so she let them lie. When she opened her eyes, her vision had cleared.

"I heard that, Wattaceti. Which way is Takkata-Jim headed?"

"Toward the Galactic flotillas, Commander. Though the fleets seem to be in chaosss! They are boiling every which way, after the confusion caused by that psi-burst. A major free-for-all is shaping up above… above Mr. Orley's position."

Gillian nodded. "We'll wait a little while longer. Go to condition yellow and keep me informed."

Off-duty personnel were called to their posts. Suessi and D'Anite reported that the engines were warm.

Last chance, Hikahi, Gillian thought. Are you coming?

"Gillian!" Lucky Kaa called. With his harness arm he pointed out one of the ports. "The cliff!"

Gillian hurried over and looked where the pilot indicated. The entire mass of rock was trembling. Cracks began to appear in the great wall that towered over Streaker.

"Lift stations!" Gillian commanded. "Tsh't, take us out of here!"

104 ::: Galactics

Cullcullabra bowed low before the Soro Krat.

"Have you interpreted the human's broadcast?" She snapped.

The stocky Pil bowed again, backing away slightly. "No, Fleet-Mother, not completely. The human spoke in their two doggerel languages called 'Anglic' and 'Trinary.' We have translation programs for both, of course, but they are so chaotic and contextual — unlike any civilized language…"

The Librarian flinched as Krat hissed at him. "Have you nothing?"

"Mistress, we think the last part of his message, in the dolphin-speech, may be the important part. It might have been a command to his clients, or…"

The Librarian piped dismay and dodged back into his station as a ling-plum missed him by inches.

"Hypotheses! Tentative conjectures!" Krat stormed. "Even the Tandu boil with excitement and send expedition after futile piddling expedition to the site on the planet's surface from which the message emanated. And we must, perforce, follow, no?"

She stared about. Her crew avoided her gaze.

"Has anyone even a hypothesis to explain that psi-assault which struck a short time ago, and seems to have disoriented every sophont in the system? Was that also, a chimera of the Earthlings? Are the volcanoes that fill our instruments with static mere trickery?"

The crew tried to look simultaneously busy and attentive. No one wanted to risk the ire of the fleet mother.

A Paha warrior strode from the office of detection.

"Mistress," it announced. "We did not notice before because of the volcanoes, but there has been a launching from the planet's surface."

Krat felt a turn of glee. This was what she had been waiting for! Though she had sent ships of her own to the site of the radio messages, she had kept the core of her fleet together.

"Diversions! They were all diversions! The radio calls, the psi attacks, even the volcanoes!"

A part of her was curious about how the Earthlings had managed the last two. But that question would be solved when the humans and their clients were captured and interrogated.

"The Earthlings waited until much of the battle had moved near the planet," she muttered. "And now they make their attempt to escape! Now we must…"

Cullcullabra came up to her side and bowed. "Mistress, I've done a deep search of the Library, and I think I know the source of the psi and the…"

The Pil's eyes bugged out as Krat stabbed him in the abdomen with her mating claw. Krat stood up, carrying the Librarian in the air, then flung his lifeless body over to the wall.

She stood over the body breathing deeply of the death odors. No trouble would come over this killing, at least. The idiotic Pil had actually interrupted her! No one would deny that she had been within her rights this time.

She sheathed her claw. It had felt good. Not quite like mating with a male of her own race, who could fight back in kind, but good.

"Tell me about the Earthling ship," she crooned to the Paha.

She noticed it waited a full second after she finished speaking to begin. "Mistress," it said. "It is not their main vessel. It appears to be a scout ship, of some sort."

Krat nodded. "An emissary. I wondered why they did not try to work out a surrender agreement before this. Move the fleet to intercept this vessel. We must act before the Tandu notice it!

"Have our new Thennanin allies take the rear. I want them to understand that they are junior partners in this enterprise:'

"Mistress, the Thennanin have already begun preparations to leave us. They appear to be eager to join the chaos at the planet's surface."

Krat grunted. "Let them. We are even with the Tandu again. And the Thennanin are almost used up anyway. Let them depart. Then we proceed after the scout ship!"

She settled back onto the vletoor cushion and hummed to herself.

Soon. Soon.

The masters demanded too much. How could they expect the Acceptor to report specifically when so much was happening!

It was beautiful! Everything was going on at once! Sparkling little battles over the planet's surface… bright hot volcanoes… and that great psychic roar of anger that had poured out of the planet itself only a little while ago!

The anger still steamed and spurned. Why were the masters so uninterested in something so unique? Psi from below a planet's surface? The Acceptor could tell the Tandu so much about that angry voice, but they were only interested in shutting it out. It distracted them and made them feel vulnerable.

The Acceptor witnessed it all in bliss, until the punishment came again. The masters applied a neural whip. Its legs jerked at the unpleasant sensation that coursed through its brain.

Should it let the "punishment" alter its behavior this time? The Acceptor considered.

It decided to ignore the "pain." Let them cajole and shout. The Acceptor was enthralled by the angry voices that churned below, and listened with all its might.

105 ::: The Skiff

"What the devil… ?"

Dennie was rolled off the dry-shelf to splash into the water below. Sah'ot squawked in confusion as the tiny ship's hold tipped.

Then, in addition to the physical tossing, a rolling wave and psychic discomfort began to fill their heads. Dennie coughed water and grabbed a wall stanchion. She wanted to cover her ears.

"Not again," she moaned. She tried to use the techniques Toshio had taught her…focusing on her heartbeat to drive out the grinding static in her head. She hardly even noticed when Sah'ot shouted, "It'sss them!"

The fin pressed the hatch button with his beak and sped out into the hallway. He streaked into the tiny control room.

"Creideiki!" he began, forgetting for a moment that the captain could not understand him. "It's them. The voices from below!"

Creideiki looked back at him, and Sah'ot realized that the captain already knew. In fact, he seemed hardly surprised. Creideiki crooned a soft melody of acceptance. He appeared content.

From the pilot's station, Keepiru announced, "I'm getting neutrinos and anti-g flux! They're coming from dead ahead. A small ship taking off."

Hikahi nodded. "Probably Takkata-Jim. I hope Gillian's right that he's been taken care of."

They continued to drive underwater toward the east. About a half-hour later, Keepiru shouted again. "More anti-g! A big ship! Taking off from near to the southwest!"

Creideiki's flukes struck the surface of the water.

* Up, up!

Up and Look!

* Look! :

Hikahi nodded to Keepiru. "Take her up."

The skiff surfaced. Seawater slid in sheets off the ports.

They clustered around a southern port and watched as a distant wedge-shaped object erupted from the horizon, and lumbered into the sky, slowly gathering speed. They watched as it flew south, passing the speed of sound, finally disappearing into the high clouds.

They watched even after Streaker's contrail began to drift and slowly come apart under Kithrup's contrary winds.