“Yes,” admitted Nick thoughtfully. He was silent for a time. Then he became enthusiastic again. “Wait a minute. The bucket sinks because liquid gets into it, and it is no longer lighter than the liquid it displaces—right?”
“That’s right.”
“Suppose, then, that instead of a bucket we have a closed bag of air? If it’s tied shut the sea can’t get in, no matter how much it rises.”
“But if the sea becomes no more dense than the air?”
“At least when the water boils out of the sea in the morning the bag will float once more.”
“All that is true only if your bag doesn’t leak at all. I’d rather you didn’t risk your lives by staying at sea during the night, though your idea of bags rather than buckets is a good one. It would be smart to make a ship of many bags tied together, so that if some of them do leak you will still float.”
“That’s plain enough. But why shouldn’t we stay out at night? What if night falls before we get the ship across the ocean.”
“You won’t cross the ocean. You’ll work on it during the daytime, and come ashore again at night.”
“But how about Swift?”
“I’ll take care of him. Don’t you plan to keep the agreement we offered to make with him?”
Nick thought for a moment. “I suppose so, if he really agrees. If that was one of his scouts who found the ship last night, maybe he just decided to find it for himself.”
“I still think that find was sheer chance. If it should turn out that you’re right, we’ll solve that one when we face it. Easy is willing to face Swift, she says. Right, young lady?”
“Certainly.”
“Do you like Swift?” Nick asked her in some surprise. “I can’t forget that he killed two of my friends.”
“I’ve never met him,” Easy pointed out. “I admit it was bad for him to attack your village that way, but probably he couldn’t think of any other way to get what he wanted. If you’re smart, Nick, I’ll bet you could have him doing just what you want—and make him think it’s his own idea all the time.”
“I never heard of such a thing!” exclaimed Nick.
“Well, listen in if Swift finds us again,” replied the girl, with a confident tone that surprised even her father. “You’ll learn something.”
Rich signed to Raeker to cut off his transmitter for a moment, and made a comment. “I hope that young squirt isn’t getting too cocky. I admit she’s giving Nick just what I’ve given her on and off all her life; I just hope she’s up to it if the occasion arises. That Swift isn’t human, or Drommian either!”
Raeker shrugged. “I’m hoping she won’t have to try. In the meantime, I’d much rather have her confident than scared senseless.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Rich looked at the screen, where his daughter’s confident expression glowed as she enlarged on her theme to the surprised and still doubtful Nick. Raeker listened with amusement for a while, but finally suggested tactfully that she tell him something about boat-building; Nick knew even less about that than he did about diplomacy, and was more likely to need the information. Easy was perfectly willing to change the subject as long as she could keep talking.
Presently ’Mina, who had kept faithfully to his watchman’s duties at one of the windows, called to her with the information that he thought he could see the surface. Easy broke off and left the control room hastily, calling back after a moment that her young friend seemed to be right. It was not until the upper observation windows of the bathyscaphe had actually emerged into the “air” that Raeker remembered something; he had missed an opportunity to check on the mysterious sea life originally reported by Nick. Aminadorneldo had made no mention of any such creatures during his last period of watch, but Raeker didn’t know the young Drommian well enough to feel sure he’d have reported them without special instructions. This was obviously not the time to ask; Easy’s eager tongue was busy with more up-to-date reports.
“We’re farther out to sea than you thought we would be, Dr. Raeker,” she called. “I can just barely see the shore, at the very limit of our hottest lights. I can’t make out any details, really; but I think maybe there are some points, or maybe islands, sticking out our way.”
“Can ’Mina see anything more?”
“He says not,” came Easy’s answer after a brief pause. “He doesn’t seem to see quite as well as I do, anyway, I’ve noticed.”
“I see. I suppose you can’t tell whether you’re moving or not.”
“The ocean is perfectly smooth, and there aren’t any waves around us. There’s nothing to tell by. The only things to see are those big jellyfish things floating in the air. They’re moving slowly in different directions, more of them toward shore than away from it, I think. Let me watch them for a minute.” It was considerably more than a minute before she could make up her mind that the first impression had been right. Even then she admitted willingly enough that this was not evidence of the bathyscaphe’s motion.
“All right,” said Raeker when this had been settled. “Just keep an occasional eye on the ocean to make sure nothing happens, and give advice to Nick as long as he’ll listen to you. He’ll do what he and Betsey can about it, but that won’t be much before the others get back. They’ll probably be gone until tomorrow night, Tenebra time— between five and six days on your clock.”
“All right, Doctor. We’ll be fine. It’s rather fun watching those flying jellyfish.” Raeker opened his mike switch and settled back thoughtfully, and with some satisfaction. Everything seemed to be progressing properly; perhaps somewhat more slowly than he would have liked, but as rapidly as could reasonably be hoped. This feeling must have showed on his face, for his thoughts were read quite accurately.
“Pleased with yourself, I take it, Man!” The speaker did not need to introduce himself. Raeker endeavored to control both his features and his feelings, with questionable success.
“Not exactly, Councillor—”
“Why not exactly?” shrilled Aminadabarlee. “Why should you feel any remote sense of satisfaction? Have you accomplished anything at all?”
“I think so,” Raeker answered in some surprise. “We know very nearly where your boy is, and we should have a rescue team out there in a week or ten days—”
“A week or ten days! And then you’ll have to give the team members degrees in electrical engineering, and then hope the wiring of that ridiculous craft hasn’t corroded beyond repair in the interval. How long do you think the actual rescue will take?”
“I’m afraid I couldn’t hazard a guess,” Raeker answered as mildly as he could. “As you point out so clearly, we don’t know how much damage may have been done to wiring exposed by the inspection ports. I realize that it is hard to wait, but they’ve been getting on all right for a month now—”
“How stupid can even a human being get?” asked the Drommian of the world at large. “You were talking to the ground just now, and heard as clearly as I did the human child’s remark that my son didn’t see as well as she did.”
“I heard it, but I’m afraid the significance escaped me,” admitted the man.
“Drommian eyesight is as good and acute as that of human beings, if not better, and my son’s has always been normal for his age. If he can’t see as well as the human with him, something’s wrong; and my guess is that the low oxygen concentration is affecting him. I gather your engineers made no particular provision for altering that factor of the vessel’s environment.”
“They probably didn’t, since the crew was to be human,” admitted Raeker. “I did not recognize the emergency, I must admit, Councillor; I’ll try to find means of speeding up the operation—for example, I can probably get pictures of the wiring exposed by the ports from the engineers, and have Nick briefed on what to look for while he’s waiting for the others. My relief is due in half an hour; as a matter of fact, he’d probably be willing to come now if I called