Part 16 (1/2)

Orley hummed to himself a melody that few other human beings could attempt. Small gene-crafted sinuses reverberated under his skull, sending a low refrain into the water around him.

In sleep, your caring Touches me, Where, waking, I let it not In distance, I will Call to you, And touch you as you sleep *

Of course Gillian couldn't actually hear his gift poem. His own psi powers were quite modest. Still, she might pick up a hint. Other things she had done had surprised him more.

The dolphin escort had gathered at the sled. Suessi had awakened and was checking his las.h.i.+ngs with Lieutenant Tsh't.

Tom launched himself from his aerie toward the group. Tsh't saw him and took a quick breath from an airdome before swimming up to meet him halfway.

”I wish you would reconsider doing thisss,” she implored when they met. ”I'll be frank. Your presence is good for morale. If you were lossst it would be a blow.”

Tom smiled and put a hand on her flank. He had already come to terms with his poor chances of returning.

”I don't see any other way, Tsh't. All the other parts of my plan can be handled by others, but I'm the only one who can bait the hook. You know that.

”Besides,” he grinned, ”Creideiki will have one more chance to call me back if he doesn't like the plan. I asked that he send Gillian to meet me at Hikahi's island, with the glider and the supplies I need. If she tells me his answer is no, I'll be back at the s.h.i.+p before you.”

Tsh't looked away. ”I doubt he'll sssay no,” she whistled low and almost inaudibly.

”Hmm? What do you mean?”

Evasively, Tsh't answered in Trinary.

Creideiki leads us- Is our master Yet we imagine- Secret orders *

Tom sighed. There it was again, the suspicion that Earth would never let the first dolphin-commanded vessel go out without disguised human supervision. Naturally, most of the rumors centered around himself. It was bothersome, because Creideiki was an excellent captain. Also, it detracted from one of the purposes of the mission, to make a demonstration that would boost neo-fin self-confidence for a generation.

Then in my leaving- Learn a lesson, Aboard Streaker- Is your captain. *

Tsh't must have been running low on the breath she had taken at the sled's airdome. Bubbles leaked from her blowmouth. Still she looked back at him resignedly and spoke in Anglic.

”All right-t. After Suessi leaves, we'll get you on your way. We'll continue working here until we get ordersss from Creideiki.”

”Good.” Tom nodded. ”And you still approve of the rest of the plan?”

Tsh't turned away, her eyes recessed.

Keneenk and logic Join to sing Its tune The plan is all between Us and Our doom We'll all do our part Tom reached over and hugged her. ”I know we can count on you, you sweet old fish-catcher. I'm not worried at all. Now let's say good-bye to Hannes, so I can be on my way. I don't want Jill to get to the island before me.”

He dove toward the sled. But Tsh't remained behind for a moment. Although the air in her lungs was growing stale, she lay still, watching him swim away.

Her sonar clicks swept over him as he descended. She caressed him with her hearing, and sang a quiet requiem.

They cast their nets to catch us- Those of Iki, Yet you are there- To cut the nets.

Good Walker; Always, You cut the nets- Though they'll take In payment Your life ...

26 ::: Creideiki The most formal Anglic, spoken carefully by a neo-dolphin, would be difficult for a human raised only in Man-English to understand. The syntax and many root words were the same. But a pre-s.p.a.ceflight Londoner would have found the sounds as strange as the voices that spoke them.

The dolphin's modified blowhole provided whistles, squawks, vowels and a few consonants. Sonar clicks and many other sounds came from complex resonant cavities inside the skull.

In speech, these separate contributions were sometimes in phase and sometimes not. Even at the best of times, there were stretched sibilants, stuttered t's, and groaned vowels. Speech was an art.

Trinary was for relaxation, for imagery and personal matters. It replaced and greatly expanded on Primal Dolphin. But Anglic linked the neo-dolphin to the world of cause and effect.

Anglic was a language of compromise between the vocal abilities of two races-between the hands-and-fire world of Men and the drifting legends of the Whale Dream. Speaking it, a dolphin could equal most humans in a.n.a.lytic thought, consider past and future, make schemes, use tools, and fight wars.

Some thoughtful humans wondered if giving the cetacean Anglic had really been much of a favor, after all.

Two neo-dolphins alone together might speak Anglic for concentration, but not care if the sounds resembled English words. They would drift into frequencies beyond human hearing, and consonants would virtually disappear.

Keneenk allowed this. It was the semantics that counted. If the grammar, the two-level logic, the time-orientation were Anglic, pragmatic results were all that mattered.

When Creideiki took Hikahi's report, he purposely spoke a very relaxed form of fin-Anglic. By example he wanted to say that what went on here was private.

He listened to her while he took the kinks out of his body, diving and racing back and forth across the exercise pool. Hikahi recited her report on the planetology meeting, enjoying the sweet smell of real air in her main lungs. Occasionally, she paused and sped alongside him for a stretch before continuing.

Right now her words sounded nothing like human speech, but a very good voicewriter could have translated them.

”He feels very strongly about it, Captain. In fact, Charlie suggests that we should leave a small study team here with the longboat even if Streaker tries to escape. Even Brookida is tempted by the idea. I was a bit stunned.”

Creideiki pa.s.sed in front of her. He burst out a quick question.

”And what would they do if we left them behind, and we were then captured?” He dove back underwater and sped on toward the far wall.

”Charlie thinks he and a detached team could be declared noncombatants, and the Sudman-Sah'ot group out on the island, as well. He says there are precedents. That way, whether we get away or not, part of the mission is preserved.”

The exercise room was in Streakers centrifugal ring, ten degrees up the side of the wheel. The walls were canted and Creideiki had to watch out for shallows in the pool's port side. A cl.u.s.ter of b.a.l.l.s, rings, and complex toys floated to starboard.

Creideiki swam quickly under a cl.u.s.ter of b.a.l.l.s and shot out of the water. He spun as he sailed through the air and landed on his back with a splash. He did a flip underwater, then rose up above the surface on his churning tail. Breathing heavily, he regarded Hikahi with one eye.

”I've considered the idea already,” he said. ”We could leave Metz and his records, too. Getting him off our tails would be worth thirty herring and an anchovy dessert.”

He settled back down into the water. ”Too bad the solution is immoral and impractical.”

Hikahi looked puzzled, trying to figure his meaning.

Creideiki felt much better. The frustration which had built to a peak when he listened to Tom Orley's message had now abated. He could put aside, for a while, the depression he felt when he agreed to the man's plan.

All that remained was to get the formal advice of the s.h.i.+p's council. He prayed they'd come up with a better idea, though he doubted they would.

”Think,” he asked his lieutenant. ”Declaring noncombatants might work if we are killed or captured, but what if we escape, and draw our ET friends chasing after us?”

Hikahi's jaw dropped open slightly-a borrowed human mannerism. ”Of course. I hear it. Kths.e.m.e.nee is so very isolated. There are only a few routes in and out. The longboat probably couldn't make it back to civilization all alone.”

”Which would mean?”