The Chaos Chronicles - The Infinite Sea Part 20

Antares watched. It was a holographic light image of the abyssalTHE INFINITE SEA * 167 valley, as viewed from the ledge near the factory. The image was amplified and enhanced in some thshion, so that it looked as though they could peer downward through the depths for a mile or more.

This was not sunlight, but monsterlight. A flicker of brightness appeared in the center of the image, and grew. She found it frightening, without quite knowing why. It seemed to be coming toward her, swelling out of the console. Suddenly it opened, like a billowing ring of fire. Amplified through the deepwater haze, it looked like a ghostly presence that was not just frightening, but threaten-lng--as if it were attacking. She pressed her long fingers to her throat, and thought,/Please tell me--does this mean anything at all to you?/ There was no answer, but she sensed that the knowing-stones were focusing just as intently as she. Probably the image did mean something to them, but they were not yet sure what.

"Here's where the real trouble starts," Kailan said, pointing to the dark area in the center of the ring. Antares peered. What was it? She had a.s.sumed rock, but apparently it wasn't.

Kailan pointed to a neighboring screen. This one was in false colors, not a visible light imagel some kind of sonar, a current-mapping thing. A flow was beginning toward the ring, and into the center. "Water currents?" Antares asked.

"Yes."

"Into the ring?"

"Exactly." The obliq touched a control, and the mapping image flicked to a topographical display, which Antares had seen before.

It was changing, as she watched. Where she had just observed the current flowing, there was now an opening in the seafioor that had not been there before, like a tremendous funnel at the bottom of the ocean. It looked as if seawater was draining out of the ocean basin.

"That's impossible," Antares whispered. "Isn't it? Where's the water going?"

Kailan changed the display again, to one showing a global view of the planet. "Watch."

Antares stared at the console. The glowing red funnel appeared to represent the Maw. Apparently the flow of water was going down into the planet, and then.., disappearing.

"That's how it starts. But then--" Kailan touched a control to168 * *

change the display. "This is actually slowing down the image, so you can see it better." Something was changing inside the planet--as if a worm were tunneling through the middle of the globe, looping and curving through an intricate tangle of pathways. When the tunneling was done, the flow was being channeled in impossible loops through the planet's interior. And then out...

"Back into the ocean?" Antares stared in wonder.

"Back into the sea, but not anywhere near here. Somewhere on the other side of the world."

"You're observing this? Measuring it somehow?"

The obliq brushed her finger across the globe. "Those who built our reahn were very thorough. There are measuring units scattered all over the planet--far more widely than we ourselves are scattered.

We only live here--" she pointed to the region near the funnel "--and in smaller settlements here and here--" she pointed to a few places north and south, not far out from the sh.o.r.eline of the neighboring continent "--and a couple of outposts in the arctic zones." She touched two spots much farther north. "There were at one time splinter settlements elsewhere around the globe, but we've lost contact and we no longer have subs that can travel that far." She displayed a sprinkling of dots on the screen. "But here are the sensor locations. Most are still linked to the imagers here.

As they fail, though--" she pointed to a few that were orange rather than blue "--we no longer have any way of replacing them."

Antares flared her nostrils. "What about these other settle-ments--the ones that are closer? Are you in contact with them?"

Kailan's answer was interrupted by the return of Elbeth, carrying a round, lozenge-shaped object the size of a dining plate.

Apparently it was a battery; Elbeth lifted the top of the nonfunc-tioning console and removed a similar object before inserting the new one. Kailan tried the console, and nodded when it came on.

"We are ... to a degree." She looked back up at Antares. "In the past, we were cooperatively interdependent. The other settlements looked to us after their smaller factories began failing, perhaps a hundred and fifty years ago. We were not only the largest city, but the only one that could guarantee new equipment. Still, they performed much salvage of lost technology from our ancestors, and often had richer fishing grounds. The trading was mutually beneficial.''*

THE INFINITE SEA * 169.

"But--" said Antares.

"But not everyone saw it as equally beneficial. Then when our factory failed, we had less to trade. Contact dwindled. As times have grown more difficult, so have our eftbrts to stay united with the other Neri," Kailan said. "We still have communications, through the midwater sound transmission layer--"

"Uuhll?"

"A middle layer of water that is confined by warmer, lighter water above, and colder, denser water below," Kailan explained.

"In good conditions, sound can travel around the world through that layer, bouncing endlessly between the two boundaries. It's erratic, but we do send messages. And until recently we still sent the occasional sub, or even groups of swimmers, to call on the other settlements.''

Antares watched the movement in the mapping screen, and recalled the powerful downward currents she had witnessed during the recent eruption. "Do you think there's some purpose to the creation of these currents?"

Kailan was silent a while. "That's what I'd like to know," she said finally. "Certainly/have no idea of the purposes of the Maw--if it has purpose, or intelligence, at all." She looked up at Antares, and now the Thespi sensed a real undercurrent of longing, hope, need. "Do you have knowledge--?"

Antares sighed wistfully before the question was finished. "Perhaps one of my friends will. Perhaps Li-Jared, or--"

"Did I--" bwong "--hear my name?" said the Karellian, striding into the room behind a young Neri guide.

"Li-Jared!" Antares cried. "Have you come alone? Where's Ik?"

"My Hraachee'an friend was called away," Li-Jared said, and Antares felt a darkness in his words, and in his gaze. "There has been a raid of some kind. I'm afraid that it might be a bad business.

But I trust him to take care of himself." He bowed to the young Neri. "Thank you, Maerta." Then to Antares and Kailan, "Can I help?

What is all this?" He waved at the row of consoles.

"Do you have training in sciences?" Kailan asked cautiously.

"I might. You needn't sound so surprised," Li-Jared said.

Antares had to suppress a hiss of laughter. "I think, Li-Jared, that few Neri males are trained in such matters. But I am sure Kailan would appreciate all the help you can offer."170 * .

"Then," said Li-Jared, with a great display of confidence, "let us get down to it, shall we?"

Antares sensed confusing emotions, and could not quite tell if Li-Jared's confidence was genuine or acted. But she had no time to ponder the question, as Kailan continued her explanation as though there had been no interruption at all. "We believe," she said, "that this thing is what killed our ancestors."

"You mean your--"

"Designers. Our forebears. All record of contact with them--or such record as we have--ends at the same time as the Maw's ap- pearance. There are reports of terrible cataclysms, above and below the sea. But we under the sea apparently fared better. Why, we do not know."

"And this was--?"

"About three hundred years ago."

Antares felt an electrifying tingle. Something appeared on this world three hundred years ago, perhaps destroying an entire civi- lization on land, and now endangering another civilization in the '.

sea? Was this why she and her companions had been sent to this world? If so, what could they possibly hope to do about it? But surely '.

they wouldn't have been hurled across the galaxy to this place, if there was nothing they could do...

*A strong likelihood you are correct. We suspect an approaching ,.

convergellce.*

" ,:,. '/Convergence of what?/ ' ".

* Uncertain.*

So. They would still be fumbling their way. But she felt a re- newed sense of hope, that perhaps they were not merely adrift here, without something useful to do. Some purpose. And, perhaps, the tools with which to do it.

Kailan suddenly became agitated and moved to the next con- sole. "There, "she said, pointing to the screen, where irregular red and yellow shapes, cl.u.s.tered incomprehensibly, were sprouting from a slowly scrolling scan of--what was that again? Seismic ac- tivity? "That may be a sign of another flare-up, coming soon."

Antares hissed breath through her teeth. "How bad? How soon?"

"I cannot say. We have not established the meaning of these pat- terns. But they have something to do with gravity-density. And such patterns have at times preceded major events."THE INFINITE SEA * 171 Antares pressed her fingers to her stones in the vain hope that they might have some answer./Please--if you can make sense of this--share it with me./ From her stones she sensed intense interest, with undertones of urgency. But there was no answer at all.DROWNING IN THE DARK [IN THE DARKNESS, it was hard to be sure of anything. But Ik could still hear water streaming into the sub. S'Cali and Delent'l were chattering to each other, too quickly for his stones to follow, and were taking things out of storage '.

areas behind him. Ik, still a bit shaken from the crash himself, was having trouble getting his own thoughts in focus.

:!i He drew a long, measured breath and called out, "Urrr, what is our condition? Are we flooding--" His breath caught as his leg, .

straightening toward the rear of the sub, sank into icy water.

I'. ,.

The two Neri fell silent, and for an instant he heard only the gur- ::' ,;.

gle and sucking of water. Then S'Cali answered, "Yes, Ik--sorry.

i '. '

We are flooding. But we have some time yet. The drain membranes i?.:.

will keep us from filling up too fast." There was more rustling, and .

then a glow appeared from the rear of the cabin. S'Cali had un- sheathed some kind of trouble light; it shone like a chemolumi- nescent globe, in a seaweed bladder.

Ik turned himself around, with difficulty. He robbed his eyes, and the salt.w.a.ter made them sting. "What do you mean, about the drain membranes?" he asked. The two Neri were holding pieces of the diving gear they had stowed for his benefit. He shuddered at the thought of venturing out as a free diver in this water, not even close to the undersea city.

"The one-way membranes," S'Cali explained, "are letting water out. But not as fast as it's coming in."

"Ah. But we're going to have to abandon ship. Is that what you'resaying?"*

THE INFINITE SEA * 173.

"Yes. Now, let's see if we can get this hood on you." The thing S'Cali held out looked like a large, open-ended bladder with hoses attached. It was made of a cloudy material that reminded him of seaweed.

Ik rubbed his fingers against his chest, trying to think optimistically.

They were in a disabled, flooding sub, yes, with diving gear made for alien children. But there were a lot of other Neri around to a.s.sist. Except most of them were sick or wounded. He had come to rescue them. Surely other subs were being sent from the city, though. Or would be, if a message had been sent.

S'Cali handed him the helmet, and he examined it in the dim light. Remade from equipment designed for Neri young, the hood had been reshaped for his much larger head. The glue-seams looked .. fragile. Apparently the nanos.h.i.t changers were not reprogram-mable to make this change; it had been done by hand. Attached to the hood by the hoses was a strange-looking apparatus which seemed to contain feathers, enclosed in a semirigid housing made of a flimsy, transparent material. This was probably the oxygen extractor and gas-exchange mechanism. There were no tanks, just a small, flexible air bladder. He could not imagine how it would work efficiently enough to provide for his needs, but he had to a.s.sume that it would. He hoped his physiologic needs were reasonably close to that of the Neri young.

"Did you, urrrr, happen to get a signal out to the city, telling them what happened?" he asked, hefting the helmet.

"Unfortunately not," S'Cali said, gesturing to him to put it on.

"We were already inside the salvage ship. But eventually they're bound to check on us."

Ik sighed through his ears and put the helmet on. The Neri craftsmen had done their best to fit it, in the short time available to them; nevertheless, it fit snugly on the crown of his head, and loosely around the neck. He couldn't see anything except shadows through the hood. "Can we still talk?" he asked, his voice echoing around his ears.

"We can hear you," answered Delent'l, who was busy attaching the other components to the hood. His voice sounded m.u.f.fled, but understandable. "Once we're in the water, it'll be a little more difficult.

The techs didn't have time to finish the comm unit." The Neri touched the side of the helmet. "So if you need to say something when we're out there, speak clearly."174 * .

Ik grunted. "What do we do, once we're outside?"

S'Cali gestured toward the nose of the sub. Peering through the foggy hood material, Ik imagined that he saw a couple of swimmers in the gloom. "We'll regroup with the others," S'Cali said. "And you can show us how to avoid this radiation sickness."

"Ah," said Ik, wondering how he could even remotely hope to do that, swimming blind, in freezing, pikarta-infested waters.

"We'll meet with the wounded," said S'Cali. "I understand that you star people have the power to heal? I think there are plenty of injured waiting for you."

Ik could only stare in dismay.

Seawater was swirling around his legs now, but S'Cali and Delen- t'l seemed in no hurry to get out. They were sorting equipment, so Ik took off his hood and used the time to ask about the layout of the wreck. He had two main concerns: finding his way around, and trying to guess where a leaking reactor might be.

The Neri, it seemed, did not map the layout the way he would ".

have done it, in terms of ups and downs and relative spatial loca- tions. Instead, they spoke of moving "with the slow current, until I.

the walls open," and stopping where "turbulence brings you to a '.

still spot, and the water is staler ad saltier," and then swimming "just above the bottom-hugging, faster current..." This was no help at all to Ik in trying to build a mental picture of the layout. But then '.

something clicked in his mind. Delent'l had just said," .. into the ., ,.

corridor where the current runs warmer...

"What was that you just said?" Ik asked, as the Neri continued his description.

Delent'l seemed puzzled."Which?"

"Something about warm water? Warmer than the rest?"