Humanx - Cachalot Part 57

The suprafoil followed. Whale backs rose and fell in regular, symmetrical curves against the horizon.

Two days later they were startled by an announce- ment from Wenkoseemansa. He was cruising along- side, easily keeping pace with the ship, when he shouted in surprise, "Painnn!"

"Mind-pain?" a concerned Cora asked the moment she reached the railing.

"Yess. But it is not bad, not unbearable. Feeding it too arre the catodons, feeeling it and rremarrking on itttt."

"How bad is it affecting them?" Mataroreva stared over the bow. Only curved spines and open sea met his stare.

"Not oven-much. Morre surrprrised thhan hurrt they arre, morre currious thhan injurred. A feww swwam into each otherr, but to no real hurrt. Thhey arre resistingggg."

"The mind control. But it's not working on them.

That explains why there were no catodons, or orcas or porpoises, partic.i.p.ating in the attacks on the towns.

Their minds must not be as malleable as those of the baleens. They can fight off the effect."

"We still don't know who's behind this." Merced

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spoke from nearby. "We only have a meaningless word."

"I do."

They looked over their shoulders. Yu Hwoshien stood there, hands behind his back, staring specula- tively over the side at the sweeping backs and con- sistent spouts of the pod.

"I've devoted some considerable thought to it," he continued. "Off-world agents. Some group or or- ganization that wants all humans off Cachalot."

"The AAnn?" Cora suggested, shivering a little at the thought that humanxkind's persistently probing reptilian adversaries might be involved.

"It's possible. But not certain. We might be dealing with another group of humans who think they can slip down here and glean the wealth of this ocean world without any interference or supervision once the existing operations are wiped out. Hazaribagh's type, only on a much more extensive and smarter scale. Or some organization with motives we are not yet aware of."

"Won't they try to escape now?" Rachael won- dered, cuddling her instrument protectively. "They must know that we're hunting them, that their control over these four fins has weakened. They try to com- pensate by taking control of the catodons, but that isn't working."

"I considered that," Hwoshien said. He permitted himself to sound slightly pleased, a break in his usual mood. "Two independent monitor satellites have been tracking us ever since we separated from Haza- ribagh. As soon as we began following our new guides, I ordered a Commonwealth patrol ship to join the watch." He jabbed a thumb skyward.

"It is up there now, waiting and in contact with us.

Anything that attempts to leave the surface within a radius of a thousand kilometers of this ship will be picked up and intercepted. If they try to escape by

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traveling under the sea or by skimming its surface, the satellites will eventually locate them and direct the patrol to their flight path. All surface vessels of known origin have already been plotted and ac- counted for.

"Yes, they will try to escape. But they will not."

He considered a moment, added, "It would be better for them to surrender to us and take their chances with a court before the catodons find them. Or any of the locals."

It was an evaluation none commented on. They didn't have to. The proof was visible for all to see in Dawn's eyes.

XVI.

Another day pa.s.sed before the fins began to show signs of slowing down. The catodon pod slowed with them.

"Verry bad noww thhey say the pain iss," Latehoht relayed to those on the ship. "Feeding it also arre the catodons, but theirr pain iss overrwhelmmed by thheirr angerrrr."

"Is this the closest they can guide us?" Mataroreva asked. He searched the horizon. There was no sign of any ship or floating installation. Yet the baleens'

continuing agony was proof that the source of that same pain lay near. "Below the surface somewhere,"

he muttered. "That'll make it harder."

"Ask them-" Cora began.

Latehoht interrupted her. "Can askk no more.

Cann hope forr no morre help," she said sorrowfully.

"Mind-pain prroves too much, too long." No one said anything.

"Calf die firrst, then otherr youngling. Females go last to the Sea-That-Is-Always-In-Night. Verry woe- fful mad arre the catodons. Most furrious is theirr leaderrr. But therre is nothing they can do.

"CunsnuC is herre. Beloww. But tooo deeep forr the catodoHS, tooo deeep forr the orrcas."

"How far?" Mataroreva inquired. Latehoht could not say. If the catodons couldn't reach the source, he

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CACHALOT.

CACHALOT.

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knew that it must lie more than a couple of thousand

meters down.

"We need to make a decision," he said to Hwoshien. "Whoever's down there won't wait forever before making their own. If they try to escape off- planet, that's fine. We're ready for them. But what if they're gathering all the baleens within their control- ling range? Several thousand might show up at any time. Under cover of another ma.s.sed attack, the per- petrators might be able to get away, out of the grid established by our monitors. So we must try to force

them to the surface."

"I concur, Sam. But they may not come up readily.

Obviously they're prepared to function at consid- erable depths."

"So are we," Mataroreva reminded him. "Even the threat of a small explosive charge should be enough to drive them up. I'll wager they'll take a court rather than explosive decompression." He spoke into his corn. "Can you find anything down there?"

"I'm scanning all the way to the bottom, sir," the sonarizer on duty replied. "We're over an abyssal canyon. Drops eight thousand meters in spots, and it's fairly broad. But I'm not picking anything up. Either they're located in a cave in the side of the canyon, or beneath an overhang, or they have sophisticated anti- detection equipment. None of the towns reported any- thing."

They never had time to, Cora thought.

Hwoshien gave orders. A thick, stubby vessel was swung up and out of the suprafoil's hull, lowered into the water. It had curved wings laterally and straight paired ones above and below that gave it the ap- pearance of a sunfish crossed with a Terran manta.