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.