"Yess, what is it!" he snapped.
An agitated dolphin, harness arms flexing and unflexing, nodded nervously. It was the ship's purser, Suppeh.
"Sssir! Sssomething strange has happened. We weren't sssure we should wake you, but-t-t…"
Takkata-Jim found the fin's Underwater Anglic almost indecipherable. Suppeh's upper register warbled uncontrollably.
"Calm down and talk slowly!" he commanded sharply. The fin flinched, but made an effort to obey.
"I… I was in the outlock-k. I heard someone say there was an alert-t. Heurka-pete sent Haoke and Mold after sled-sounds…"
"Why wasn't I informed?"
Suppeh recoiled in dismay. For a moment he appeared too frightened to speak. Takkata-Jim sighed and kept his voice calm. "Never mind. Not your fault. Go on."
Visibly relieved, Suppeh continued. "A f-few minutes later, the light on the personnel outlock-k came on. Wattaceti went over, and I p-p-paid no heed. But when Life-Cleaner and Wormhole-Pilot entered…"
Takkata-Jim spumed. Only dire need to hear Suppeh's story without delay prevented him from crashing about the room in frustration!
. . tried to stop them, as you ordered, but-t Wattaceti and Hiss-kaa were doing back flipsss of joy, and dashed about fetching for them both-th!"
"Where are they now?" Takkata-Jim demanded.
"Bassskin entered the main bay, with Wattaceti. Hiss-kaa is off, spreading rumorsss throughout the ship. Keepiru took a sled and breathers and is gone!"
"Gone where?"
"Back-k-k out-t-t!" Suppeh wailed. His command of Anglic was rapidly dissolving. Takkata-Jim took advantage of what composure the purser had left.
"Have Heurka-pete awaken Doctor Metz. Have Metz meet me at sick bay with three guards. You are to go to the dry-wheel dressing room, with Sawtoot, and let-t no one enter! Understood?"
Suppeh nodded vigorously, and his image vanished.
Takkata-Jim prayed that Heurka-pete would have the sense to recall Moki and Haoke and send them after Keepiru. Together, between Haoke's brains and Moki's feral ruthlessness, they might be able to cut the pilot off before he reached the Thennanin wreck.
Why isn't K'tha-Jon back yet? I chose him to go after that middie in order to get him out of the ship for a while. I was afraid he was becoming dangerous even to me. I wanted some time to organize without him around. But now the Baskin woman's returned sooner than I expected. Maybe I should have kept K'tha-Jon around. The giant's talents might be useful about now.
Takkata-Jim whistled the door open and swam out into the hall. He faced a confrontation he had hoped to put off for at least another forty hours, if not indefinitely.
Should I have seen to Creideiki before this? It would have been easy… a power failure in his gravity tank, a switched catheter… Metz would not approve, but there was already much of which Metz did not know. Much that Takkata-Jim wished he didn't know.
He swam hard for the intrahull lift.
Maybe I won't need K'tha-Jon in order to deal with Gillian Baskin, he thought. After all, what can one human female do?
49 ::: The Psi-Bomb
The mound of partly dried weeds formed a dome on the sea of vines. Tom had propped up a low roof using salvaged bits of strutting from his sledge, making a rude cave. He sat in the entrance, waiting in the pre-dawn dimness, and munched on one of his scarce foodbars.
His wounds were cleaned as well as possible, and coated with hardening dabs of medicinal foam. With food in his stomach and some of the pain put down, he almost felt human again.
He examined his small osmotic still. The upper part, a clear bag with a filtered spout at one end, held a thick layer of saltwater and sludge. Below the filter, one of his canteens sat almost filled.
Tom looked at his watch. Only five minutes remained. There was no time to dip for another load of scummy water to feed the still. He wouldn't even be able to clean the filters before the bomb went off.
He picked up the canteen, screwed its cap tight, and slipped it into a thigh pouch. He popped the filter out of its frame and shook most of the sludge out before folding it tightly and tucking it under his belt. The filter probably didn't take out all the dissolved metal salts in the water. It hadn't been designed with Kithrup in mind. Nonetheless, the little package was probably his most valuable possession.
Three minutes, the glowing numbers on his watch told him.
Tom looked up at the sky. There was a vague brightening in the east, and the stars were starting to fade. It would be a clear morning, and therefore bitterly cold. He shivered and zipped the wetsuit tight. He pulled in his knees.
One minute.
When it came it would be like the loudest sound he had ever heard. Like the brightest light. There would be no keeping it out.
He wanted to cover his ears and eyes, as if against a real explosion. Instead, he stared at a point on the horizon and counted, pacing each breath. Deliberately he let himself slide into a trance.
" . . seven… eight… nine… ten…" A lightness filled his chest. The feeling spread outward, numbing and soothing.
Light from the few stars in the west diffracted spiderweb rays through his barely separated eyelashes as he awaited a soundless explosion.
"Sah'ot, I said I'm ready to take over now!"
Sah'ot squirmed and looked up at Toshio. "Just-t another few minutess, OK? I'm listening to ssssomething!"
Toshio frowned. This was not what he had expected from Sah'ot! He had come to relieve the dolphin linguist early because Sah'ot hated working with the robot probe!
"What's going on, Tosh?"
Dennie sat up in her sleeping bag, rubbing her eyes and peering in the pre-dawn dark.
"I don't know, Dennie. I offered to take over the robot, so Sah'ot wouldn't have to deal with Charlie when he calls. But he refuses to let go."
Dennie shrugged. "Then I'd say that's his business. What do you care, anyway?"
Toshio felt a sharp answer rise to his lips, but he kept them locked and turned away. He would ignore Dennie until she awakened fully and decided to behave civilly.
Dennie had surprised him after Gillian and Keepiru left, by taking his new command without complaint. For the last two days, she hadn't seemed much interested in anything but her microscopes and samples, ignoring even Sah'ot's desultory sexual innuendo, and answering questions in monosyllables.
Toshio knelt by the comm unit attached by cable to Sah'ot's sled. He tapped out a query on the monitor and frowned at the result.
"Sah'ot!" he said severely. "Get over here!"
"In a ssssec…" The dolphin sounded distracted.
Toshio pursed his lips.
* NOW, you will to HERE
Ingather
* Or shortly cease ALL
Listening further! *
He heard Dennie gasp behind him. She probably didn't understand the Trinary burst in detail, but she got the basic idea. Toshio felt justified. This was a test. He wasn't able to be as subtle as Gillian Baskin, but he had to get obedience or he would be useless as an officer.
Sah'ot stared up at him, blinking dazedly. Then the fin sighed and moved over to the side of the pool.
"Sah'ot, you haven't taken any geological readings in four hours! Yet in that time you've dropped the probe two hundred meters! What's got into you!"
The Stenos rolled from side to side uncertainly. Finally, he spoke softly. "I'm get-tting a sssong…
The last word faded before Toshio could be sure of it. He looked at the neo-fin civilian, unable to believe his ears. "You're getting a what?"
"A ssssong… ?"
Toshio lifted his hands and dropped them to his sides. He's finally cracked, he thought. First Dennie, now Sah'ot. I've been left in charge of two mental cases!