Startide Rising (51 page)

“I told … told you we were … wolflings,” he muttered.

When he could, he walked unsteadily to the ragged tear in the side of the ship and leaned on the curled and blackened lower edge, staring out at the drifting fog.

All he had left were his mask, his freshwater still, his clothes, and … oh yes, the nearly worthless hand weapons of the Gubru.

And the message-bomb, of course. The weight pressed against his midriff.

I’ve put off a decision long enough, he decided. While the battle lasted he could pretend he was searching for answers. Maybe he had been procrastinating, though.

I wanted to be sure. I wanted to know the trick had a maximum chance of working. For that to happen there had to be Thennanin.

I met that scout. The Gubru mentioned Thennanin. Do I have to see their fleet to guess there are still some in the battle above?

He realized there was another reason he had been putting the decision off.

Once I set it off, Creideiki and Gillian are gone. There’s no way they’ll be able to stop for me. I was to get back to the ship on my own, if at all.

While fighting on the weeds, he had kept hoping to find a working vessel. Anything that could fly him home. But there were only wrecks.

He sat down heavily with his back to the cool metal and drew out the message-bomb.

Do I set it off.

The Seahorse was his plan. Why was he out here, far from Gillian and home, but to find out if it would work?

Across the blood-smeared deck of the alien cruiser, his gaze fell on the Gubru radio.

You know, he told himself, there is one more thing I can do. Even if it means I’ll be putting myself right in the middle of a bull’s-eye, at least it’ll give Jill and the others all I know.

And maybe it’ll accomplish more than that.

Tom summoned the strength to stand up one more time. Ah, well, he thought as he staggered to his feet. There’s no food anyway. I might as well go out in style.

“
Sunset and evening star
,

And one clear call for me
!

And may there be no moaning of the bar

When I put out to sea
.”

I
t’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.

T
he 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 metzü, 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.