The Lazarus Effect - Destination Void 03
Frank Herbert
Bill Ransom
1983
1. Destination Void
2. The Jesus Incident
-> 3. The Lazarus Effect
4. The Ascension Factor

For Brian, Bruce and PennFyo.r all the years they tiptoed while their father was writing.
Frank Herbert
For all those healers who ease our suffering; for people who feed people, then ask them for virtue; for our friends -- gratitude and affection.
Bill Ransom

The Histories assert that a binary system cannot supporBt ulitfew. e found life here on PandoErxa.cept
for the kelp, it was antagonistic and deadly, but still it wSashipli'fse.judgment is upon us now because we wiped out the kelp and unbalanced this wWorled.few survivors are subject to the endless sea and
the terrible vagaries of the two suTnhs.at we survive at all on our fragile Clone-rafts is as much a curse as a victoryT. his is the time of madness.
-- Hali Ekel, the Journals
Duque smelled burning flesh and scorched hHaeir.sniffed, sniffed again, and whineHdi.s one good eye watered and pained him when he tried to knuckle it Hopisenm. other was ouOt. ut was a word he could say, like hot and MHa.e could not precisely identify the location and shape oHf eoukt.new vaguely that
his quarters were on a Clone-raft anchored off a black stone pinnacle, all that remained of Pandora's land surface.
The burning smells were stronger noTwhe. y frightened himD. uque wondered if he should say something. Mostly, he did not talk; his nose got in theHweayco. uld whistle through his nose, though, and his mother understoodS.he would whistle backB. etween them, they understood more than a hundred whistle-words.Duque wriggled his foreheadT.his uncurled his thick, knobby nose and he whistled -- tentative at first to see whether she was near.
"Ma?Where are you, Ma?"
He listened for the unmistakable scuff-slap, scuff-slap of her bare feet on the soft slick deck of the raft.
Burning smells filled his nose and made him snHeeezeh.eard the slaps of many feet out in the corridor, more feet than he had ever before heard out there, but nothing he could identifTyhaesreMwaa.s
shouting now, words Duque did not knoHwe. sucked in a deep breath and let go the loudest whistle he could muster.His thin ribs ached with it and the vibration made him dizzy.
No one respondedT. he hatch beside him remained closeNdo. covers and held him close.
one plucked him out of his twisted

Despite the pain of the smoke, Duque peeled back his right eyelid with the two nubs on his right hand and saw that the room was dark except for a glow against the thin organics of the corDriudlolr wall.
orange light cast a frightening illumination over the dAecri.d smoke hung like a cloud above him, tendrils of its oily blackness reaching downward toward his Afancde. now there were other sounds outside added to the shouting and the slap-slap of manyHfeeehte. ard big things dragging and bumping along his glowing walTl.error held him curled into a silent lump under the covers of his bunk.
The burning smells contained a steamy, bitter flavor -- not quite the sticky-sweet of the time when the stove scorched their walHl. e remembered the charred melt of organics opening a new passage between their room and the next one along the corrHideor.had poked his head through the burned opening and whistled at their neighborsT.he smells now were not the same, though, and the glowing wall did not melt away.
A rumbling was added to the outside souLnidkse.
a pot boiling over on the stove, but his mother was
not cooking.Besides, it was too loud for cooking, louder even than the other corridorNnoowis,est.here were screams nearby.
Duque kicked off his covers and gasped when his bare feet touched the deck.
Hot!
Abruptly, the deck pitched, first backward and then forwTahred.motion lurched him face-first through the bulkhead.The hot organics of the wall stretched and parted for him like a cookedHneookdnlew.
he was on the outer deck but stumbling feet kept him too busy covering his head and body with his arms. He could not spare a hand to open his goodTheeyeh. ot deck burned his knees and elboDwusq. ue
caught his breath in the sudden onslaught of pain and wrenched out another shrill Swomhisetbleo.dy
stumbled against himH. ands reached under his armpits and lifted him clear of the scorched bubbly that had been the deckS.ome of it came loose with him and stuck to his barDe usqkuine. knew who held
him by the jasmine smell of her hair -- Ellie, the neighbor woman with the short, stubby legs and beautiful voice.
"Duque," she said, "let's go find your ma."
He heard something wrong in her voIitcer.asped low in a dry throat and cracked when she spoke.

"Ma," he saidH. e knuckled his eye open and saw a nightmare of movement and firelight.
Ellie shouldered them through the crowd, saw that he was looking around and slapped his hand away. "Look later," she said".Right now you hang on to my neHcokl.d tight."
After that one brief glimpse, there was no need to repeat theHeordcleurt.ched both arms around Ellie's neck. A small whimper escaped his throEatl.lie continued to push them through a crowd of people -- voices all around saying words Duque did not understManodv.ement against the others peeled away chunks of bubbly from his skIitn.hurt.
That one look at out remained indelibly in Duque's meFmiroeryh. ad been coming out of the dark
water! It coiled up out of the water accompanied by that thick, boiling sound and the air was so full of
steam that people were shadow clumps against the hot red glow of
Sflcarmeaems.s and shouts still
sounded all around, causing Duque to hold even tighter to Ellie'sCnheucnkk.s of the fire had rocketed
into the sky high above their islaDndu.que did not understand this but he heard the fire crash and sizzle through the body of the island into the sea beneath.
Why water burnH? e knew the whistle-words but Ellie would not understand.
The raft tipped sharply under Ellie and sent her sprawling beneath the trampling feet with Duque atop her shielded from the burning decEk.llie cursed and gaspedM. ore people fell around themD.uque felt Ellie
sinking into the melting organics of the deSchke. struggled at first, thrashing like a fresh-caught muree that his mother had put into his hands once before she cooEkleldie'sit.twisting slowed and she began moaning low in her throaDt.uque, still clutching Ellie's neck, felt hot bubbly against his hands and jerked
them away.Ellie screamed.Duque tried to push himself away from her but the press of bodies all around
prevented his escapeH.
e felt the hair at the nape of his neck standinAg quupe.sting whistle broke from
his nose but there was no response.
The deck tilted again and bodies rolled onto DuHqeuef.elt hot flesh, some of it warm-wElelti.e gasped once, very deepT. he air changedT. he people screaming, "Oh, noO!h, no!" stopped screamingM. any people began coughing all around DuqueH. e coughed, too, choking on hot, thick dSuosmt.eone nearby
gasped: "I've got VataH.
elp me.We must save her."
Duque sensed a stillness in ElSlihee.
wasn't moaning anymoreH. e could not feel the rise and fall of her
breathing. Duque opened his mouth and spoke the two words he knew best:

"Ma.Hot, Ma.Ma."
Someone right beside him sa"idW: ho's that?"
"Hot, Ma," Duque said.
Hands touched him and hauled him away from AElliveo. ice next to his ear sa"iIdt':s a childH. e's alive."
"Bring him!" someone called between coug"hWs.e've got Vata."
Duque felt himself passed from hand to hand through an opening into a dimly lightHedis polnacee.good eye saw through a thinner dust haze the glitter of tiny lights, shiny surfaces andHheanwdloensd. ered if
this could be the out where Ma went but there was no sign of Ma, only many people crowded into a small space.Someone directly in front of him held a large naked iHnfeankt.new about infants because
Ma sometimes brought them from out and cared for them, cooing over them and letting Duque touch them and pet themI.nfants were soft and nicTe.his infant looked larger than any Duque had ever seen
but he knew she was only an infant -- those fat features, that still face.
The air pressure changed, popping in Duque's
Seaorms.ething began to humJ.ust when Duque was
deciding to come out of his fears and join in this warm closeness of flesh, three gigantic explosions shook all of them, sending their enclosed space tumbling.
"Boom!Boom! Boom!" the explosions came one on top of the other.
People began extricating themselves from the tumble of fAlesfho.ot touched Duque's face and was withdrawn.
"Careful of the little ones," someone said.

Strong hands lifted Duque and helped him open hisAeypea.le masculine face peered at him -- a wide face with deeply set brown eyeTsh.e man spoke". I've got the other onHe.e's no beauty but he's alive."
"Here, give him to me," a woman said.
Duque found himself pressed close to the inAfanwt.oman's arms held them both, flesh to flesh, warmth
to warmth.A sense of reassurance swept through Duque but it was cut off immediately when the woman spoke. He understood her wordsH! e did not know how he understood but the meanings were there unfolding as her voice rumbled against his cheek pressed to her breast.
"The whole island exploded," the woman s"aIids.aw it through the port."
"We're well below the surface now," a man "sBauidt. we can't stay long with this many people breathing our air."
"We will pray to Rock," the woman said.
"And to Ship," a man said.
"To Rock and to Ship," they all agreed.
Duque heard all of this from a distance as more understanding flooded his awIat rewnaesssh. appening because his flesh touched the flesh of the inHfaent!knew the infant's name now.
"Vata."
A beautiful nameT.he name brought with it a blossoming mindful of information, as though the knowledge had always been there, needing only Vata's name and her touch to spread it through his memory. Now, he was aware of out, all of it as known through human senses and kelp memories . . . because Vata carried kelp genes in her human fHleseh.remembered the place of the kelp deep under
the sea, the tendrils clinging to precious roHcek.remembered the minuscule islands that no longer

existed because the kelp was gone and the sea fury had been unleKaeslhpedm. emories and human
memories revealed wondrous things happening to Pandora now that waves could roam freely around this planet, which was really a distorted ball of solid matter submerged in an endless skin of water.
Duque knew where he was, tiono:a small submersible, which should have had a Lighter-Than-Air carrier attached to it.
Out was a place of marvels.
And all of this wondrous information had come to him directly from the mind of Vata because she had kelp genes, as did hAe.s did many of Pandora's surviving humaGnse.nes . . . he knew about those
marvels, too, because Vata's mind was a magic storehouse of such things, telling him about history and the Clone Wars and the death of all the Hke ps.ensed a direct link between Vata and himself, which endured even when he pulled away from physical contact withDuhqeur.e experienced a great
thankfulness for this and tried to express his gratitude but Vata refused to rHesepounndd.erstood then that Vata wanted the deep sea-quiet of her kelp memoSrhie .wanted only the waitinSg.he did not want to deal with the things she had dumped ontoSheimh. ad dumped them, he realized, shedding
these things like a painful skDinu. que felt a momentary pique at this realization but happiness returned immediately. He was the repository of such wonders!
Consciousness.
That's my department, he thougIht.must be aware for both ofI uasm. which only Vata can open.
the storage system, the Ox Gate,

There were giants in the earth in those days.
-- Genesis, The Christian Book of the Dead
22 Bunratti, 468.
Why do I keep this journTalh?is is a strange hobby for the Chief Justice and Chairman of the
Committee on Vital FormsD. o I hope that a historian will someday weave rich elaborations out of my
poor scribblings?I can just see someone like Iz Bushka stumbling onto my journal many years from now, his mind crammed full of the preconceptions that block acceptance of the truWly onuelwd .Bushka
destroy my journal because it conflicted with his own theoIritehsi?nk this may have happened with other historians in our pasWt. hy else would Ship have forced us to start oI'vmer?convinced that this is what Ship has done.
Oh, I believe in ShLipe.t it be recorded here and now that Ward Keel believes inShSiphipis.
God and
Ship brought us here to PandoTrah.is is our ultimate trial -- sink or swim, in the most literaWl seelnl s.e.
. . almostW.
e Islanders mostly floaIt.t's the Mermen who swim.
What a perfect testing ground for humankind is this Pandora, and how aptlyNnoatmaeds.hard of land
left above its sea, which the kelp once subdOuendc.e a noble creature, intelligent, known to all creatures of this world as Avata, it is now simply kelp -- thick, green anOd usrileanntc.estors destroyed Avata
and we inherited a planetary sea.
Have we humans ever done that befoHrea?ve we killed off the thing that subdues the deadliness in our lives? Somehow, I suspect we havEe.lse, why would Ship leave those hybernation tanks to tantalize us in orbit just beyond our reacOh?ur Chaplain/Psychiatrist shares this suspicioAn.s she says, "There is nothing new under the suns."
I wonder why Ship's imprimatur always took the form of the eye within the pyramid?

I began this journal simply as an account of my own stewardship on the Committee that determines which new life will be permitted to survive and perhaps bWreeedm. utants have a deep regard for the variations that the bioengineering of that brilliant madman, Jesus Lewis, set adrift in the human gene pool. From those incomplete records we still have, it's clear that human once had a much narrower definition. Mutant variations that we now accept without a passing glance were once cause for consternation, even death. As a Committeeman passing judgment on life, the question I always ask myself and try to answer with my poor understanding iWs: ill this new life, this infant, help us all surIvfivteh?ere is the remotest
chance that it will contribute to this thing we call human society I vote to Alent dit Ilivhea.ve been
rewarded time and again by that hidden genius in cruel form, that mind plus distorted body which enrich us all.I know I am correct in these decisions.
But my journal has developed a tendency to waIndhearv. e decided that I am secretly a philosopIher. want to know not only what, but why.
In the long generations since that terrible night when the last of Pandora's true land-based islands exploded into molten lava, we have developed a peculiar social duality, which I am convinced could
destroy us allW.
e Islanders, with our organic cities floating "willy-nilly" on the sea's surface, believe we
have formed the perfect societWy. e care for each other, for the inner other that the skin (whatever shape or shade) protectsT. hen what is it about us that insists on saying "us" and "Itshetmhe"r?e a viciousness
buried in us?Will it explode us into violence against the excluded others?
Oh, Islanders exclude; this cannot be denOieudr.
jokes betray usA. nti-Mermen jokes."Merms," we
call them.Or "pretties."And they call us "MutesI.t"'s a grunt word no matter how you sound it.
We are jealous of MermeTnh.ere it isI.
have written iJt.ealous. They have the freedom of all the land
beneath the seaM.
erman mechanization depends on a relatively uniform, traditional human bFoedwy.
Islanders can compete under middleclass conditions, so they occupy the top of Merman genius or the depths of its slumsE.ven so, Islanders who migrate down under are confined to Islander communities . . . ghettos. Still the Islander idea of heaven is to pass for a pretty.
Mermen repel the sea to surviTvhe.eir living space benefits from a kind of stability underfoot.
Historically, I must admit, humans show a preference for a firm surface underfoot, air to breathe freely
(although theirs is depressingly damp) and solid things all aroTuhnedy.
produce an occasional webbed
foot or hand but that, too, was common all down the lineage of the Mspeercmieasn.
appearance is that
of humans for as long as likenesses have been recorded; that much we can see for oBuerssiedlevse,s.
Clone Wars happenedO.
ur immediate ancestors wrote of thJies.sus Lewis did this to uTsh.e visible
evidence of other is inescapable.

But I was writing about Merman natIutrei.s their self-proclaimed mission to restore the kBeulpt .will
the kelp be consciousK? elp once more lives in the sIeah.ave seen the effects in my lifetime and expect we've just about seen the last of wavewaElxlsp.osed land will surely followY.et, how does that subtract from this nature that I see in the Mermen?
By bringing back the kelp, they seek to control thTehaset ai.s the Merman naturceo: ntrol.
Islanders float with the waves and the winds and the cuMrreenrmts.en would control these forces and control us.
Islanders bend with things that might otherwise overwhelm tThhemey.
are accustomed to change but
grow tired of iMt. ermen fight against certain kinds of change -- and are growing tired of that.
Now, I come to my view of what Ship did wIiththiunsk. it is the nature of our universe that life may encounter a force that could overwhelm it if life cannot Mbeenrdm. en would break before such a force. Islanders bend and drifIt. think we may prove the better survivors.
We bear our original sin in our bodies and on our faces.
-- Simone Rocksack, Chaplain/Psychiatrist

The cold slap of a sudden wave over the side snapped Queets Twisp fulHl eawyaakwen. ed, unkinked his overlong arms where they had tangled themselves in theHtearpw.iped the spray from his face with
his shirtsleeve.Not yet full sunrise, he noteTdh.e first thin feathers of dawn tickled the black belly of the horizon. No thunderheads cluttered the sky and his two squawks, their feathers preened and glistening, muttered contentedly on their tetherHs.e rubbed the circulation back into his long arms and felt in the bottom of the coracle for his tube of thick juice concentrates and proteins.
Blech.
He made a wry face as he sucked down the last of thTehetucboen. centrate was tasteless and odorless, but he balked at it just the same.
You'd think if they made it edible they could make it palatable, he Athtoulegahstt. dockside we'll get
some real foodT. he rigors of setting and hauling fishing nets always built his appetite into a monumental thing that concentrates could support, but never satisfy.
The gray ocean yawned away in all directiNonost . a sign of dashers or any other threat anywThheere.
occasional splatter of a sizable wave broke over the rim of the coracle but the organic pump in the bilge
could handle thatH. e turned and watched the slaw bulge of their net foam the surface behinIdt
them.
listed slightly with its heavy loaTdw. isp's mouth watered at the prospect of a thousand kilos of scilla -- boiled scilla, fried scilla, baked scilla with cream sauce and hot rolls . . .
"Queets, are we there yetB?"rett's voice cracked in its adolescent wOayn.ly the shock of his thick blonde hair stuck out from under their tarp -- a sharp contrast to Twisp's headful of eBbroentty fur. Norton was tall for sixteen, and his pile of hair made him seem eveTnhitsallfeirrs.t season of fishing had already begun to fill in some of his thin, bony structure.
Twisp sucked in a slow breath, partly to calm himself after being startled, partly to draw in patience.
"Not yet," he sai"dD. rift is rightW.
e should overtake the Island just after sunrEisaet. something."

The boy grimaced and rummaged in his kit for his ownTwmiesapl. watched as the boy wiped the spout nearly clean, unstoppered it and sucked down great gulps of the untantalizing brown liquid.
"Yum."
Brett's gray eyes were shut tight and he shuddered.
Twisp smiledI.
should quit thinking of him as "the bSoiyx.t"een years was more than boyhood, and a
season at the nets had hardened his eyes and thickened his hands.
Twisp often wondered what had made Brett choose to be a fishBerrmetat nw. as near enough to
Merman body type that he could have gone down under and made a good life there.
He's self-conscious about his eyes, Twisp thouBghutt. that's something few people notice.
Brett's gray eyes were large, but not grotesTqhuoe.se eyes could see well in almost total darkness, which turned out to be handy for round-the-clock fishing.
That's something the Mermen wouldn't let out of their hands, Twisp thTohuegyh'rte. people.
good at using
A sudden lurch of the net caught both of them off-balance and they reached simultaneously for the rimline. Again, the lurch.
"Brett!" Twisp shouted, "Get us some slack while I haul in."
"But we can't haul in," the boy said, "we'd have to dump the catch . . ."
"There's a Merman in the nAet!Merman will drown if we don't haulTiwn.i"sp was already dragging in

the heavy netlines hand-over-handT.he muscles of his long forearms nearly burst the skin with the effort. This was one of those times he was thankful he had a mutant's extra ability.
Brett ducked out of sight behind him to man their small electriTchescunlel.tlines telegraphed a frantic twisting and jerking from below.
Merman for sure! Twisp thought, and strained even haHrdeerp.rayed he could get him up in time.
Or her, he thoughTt.he first Merman he'd seen netbound was a womBeaanu. tiful. He shook off the memory of the crisscross lines, the net-burns in her perfect, pale . . . deHaed hskauinle. d harder.
Thirty meters of net to go, he thouSgwhet.at stung his eyes and small blades of pain seared his back.
"Queets!"
He looked from the net back to Brett and saw white-eyedTtwerirsopr. followed the boy's gazWe. hat he saw three or four hundred meters to starboard made him fTrhee es.quawks set up a fluttering outcry that told Twisp what his eyes were barely able to confirm.
"A hunt of dashers!"
He almost whispered it, almost let slip the netlines creasing his rock-hard palms.
"Help me here," Twisp shouteHde.
returned to the frantic tugging at theOnuett. of the corner of one
eye he saw the boy grab the port line, out of the other he watched the steady froth of the oncoming dashers.
A half-dozen of them at least, he thouSghhit..

"What'll they do?" Brett's voice cracked again.
Twisp knew that the boy had heard stoNrioesth. ing could match the real thinHgu. ngry or not, dashers hunted. Their huge forepaws and saberlike canines killed for the sheer bloody lovTehoesfeitd. ashers wanted that Merman.
Too late, Twisp dove for the lasgun he kept wrapped in oiled cloth in thFeracnutidcdalyly. , he
scrabbled for the weapon, but the first of the dashers hit the net head-on and their momentum rocked the coracle. Two others fanned to the sides, closing on the flanks likeTawifsipst.felt the two hard hits as he
came up with the lasguHn.e saw the net go slack as slashing claws and fangs opened iTt hwe idrees.t of
the hunt closed in, scavenging bits of meat and bone thrown clear of the frothy mess that had been a Merman. One dasher nipped another and, primed to kill, the rest turned on their wounded mate and tore him to bitsF. ur and green gore splattered the side of the coracle.
No need wasting a lasgun charge on that mItesws!as a bitter thoughIts.landers had long ago given up the hope they might exterminate these terrible creatures.
Twisp shook himself alert, fumbled for his knife and cut the netlines.
"But why . . . ?"
He didn't answer Brett's protest, but toggled a switch under the scull hOonuesinogf. the dashers froze
not a meter from their gunwaIlte.sank slowly, drifting back and forth, back and forth like a feather falling on a breezeless dayT. he others made passes at the coracle but retreated once they felt the edge of the stunshield on their nosesT.hey settled for the stunned dasher, then thrashed their way out to sea.
Twisp rewrapped his lasgun and wedged it under his seat.
He switched off the shield then and stared at the ragged shards that had been their net.
"Why'd you cut loose the neBt?r"ett's voice was petulant, demandinHg.e sounded near tears.

Shock, Twisp thoughAt. nd losing the catch.
"They tore the net to get the . . . to get him," Twisp e"xWplaei'dnedh.ave lost the catch anyway."
"We could've saved some of it," Brett mutte"rAed.third of it was right herBer."ett slapped the rimline at the stern, his eyes two gray threats against a harsh blue sky.
Twisp sighed, aware that adrenaline could arouse frustrations that needed release.
"You can't activate a stunshield with the lines over the side like that," he e"xIpt'lsaingeodt . to be all the way in or all the way oWuti.th this cheap-ass model, anyway . H. i.s" fist slammed one of the thwarts.
I'm as shook as the kid, he thouHgeht.took a deep breath, ran his fingers through the thick kinks of his black hair and calmed himself before activating the dasher-warning signal on hisThraadt iow. ould locate
them and reassure Vashon.
"They'd have turned on us next," he
Hsaeid.flicked a finger against the material between thw"aTrhtsi.s
stuff is one thin membrane, two centimeters thick -- what do you think our odds were?"
Brett lowered his eyeHs.e pursed his full lips, then stuck the lower lip out in a haHlfi-spoguatz.e looked away past a rising of Big Sun come to join its sister star already oBveelrohweadB.ig Sun, just ahead of the horizon, a large silhouette glowed orange in the water.
"Home," Twisp said quietl"yT. he city."
They were in one of the tight trade currents close to the floating mass of humanity in an hour or two.
"Big fucking deal," Brett sa"idW. e're broke."
Isturwfaocuel.d allow them to overtake the

Twisp smiled and leaned back to enjoy the suns.
"That's right," he sai"dA. nd we're alive."
The boy grunted and Twisp folded his meter-and-a-half arms behind hisThheeaedl.bows stuck out like two strange wings and cast a grotesque shadow on the wHaetesrt.ared up across one of the elbows -- caught as he sometimes was reflecting on the uniqueness of his mutant inheTrihtaenscee.arms gangled in
his way most of his life -- he could touch his toes without bending ovBeur t aht isalla.rms hauled nets as though bred for it.
Maybe they were, he museWd.ho knows anymore?Handy mostly for nets and for reach, they made sleeping uncomfortable.Women seemed to like their strength and their wraparound quality, though. Compensation.
Maybe it's the illusion of security, he thought, and his smile wHidiesneodw. n life was anything but
secure. Nobody who went down to the sea was secure, and anybody who thought so was either a fool or dead.
"What will Maritime Court do to uBsr?e"tt's voice was low, barely audible over the splashings of the waves and the continued ruffled mutterings of the two squawks.
Twisp continued to enjoy the drift and the warm sunlight on his face aHnde agrnmaws.ed his thin lips
for a blink, then said, "Hard to
Dsaiyd. you see a Merman marker?"
"No."
"Do you see one now?"
He listened to the faint rustle across the coracle and knew that the boy scanned theTwhiosrpizohand. picked the boy for those exceptional eyTehs.at, and his attitude.

"Not a sign," the boy sa"iHd.e must've been alone."
"That's not likely," Twisp sa"idM. ermen seldom travel aloneB. ut it's a sure bet somebody's alone."
"Do we have to go to court?"
Twisp opened his eyes and saw the genuine fear in Brett's downturned Tmheoubtho.y's wide eyes were impossible moons in his unstubbled face.
"Yep."
Brett plopped down on the thwart beside Twisp, rocking the little boat so hard that water lapped over the sides.
"What if we don't tell?" he ask"Hedo.w would they know?"
Twisp turned away from the bBoyre. tt had a lot to learn about the sea, and those who woTrkheedreit. were many laws, and most of them stayed unwriTtthenis. would be a hard first lesson, but what could you expect of a kid fresh from the insTidhein?gs like this didn't happen at CenLteirf.e there was . . .
nice. Scilla and muree were dinner to people living in the Island's inner circle, they weren't creatures with patterns and lives and a bright final flutter in the palm of the hand.
"Mermen keep track of everything," Twisp said fl"aTtlhye.y know."
"But the dashers," Brett insisted, "maybe they got the other MermaInf, tthoeor.e was another one."
"Dasher fur has hollow cells," Twisp s"aFido.r insulation and flotationT.hey can't dive worth a damn."

Twisp leveled his black eyes at the kid and said, "What about his family waiting baNckowhosmheu?t up."
He knew the kid was hurt, but what theIfheBllr!ett was going to live on the sea he'd better learn the
way of itN.
obody liked being surprised out here, or abandonNeodb. ody liked being boat-bound with a
motor-mouth, either.Besides, Twisp was beginning to feel the proximity and inevitable discomfort of the Maritime Court, and he thought he'd better start figuring out theirNceattsien.g a Merman was serious business, even if it wasn't your fault.
The fearful can be the most dangerous when they gain pTohweyer.become demoniac when they see the unpredictable workings of all that life around thSeemei.ng the strengths as well as the weaknesses, they fasten only on the weaknesses.
-- Shipquotes, the Histories
Except for the movements of the operators, and their occasional comments, it was quiet in Sonde
Control this morning, a stillness insulated from the daylight topside beneath a hundred meters of water
and the thick walls of this Merman compTlehxe.
subdued remoteness filled Iz Bushka with disquHie .
knew his senses were being assaulted by Merman strangeness, an environment alien to most Islanders, but the exact source of his unease escaped him.

Everything's so quiet, he thought.
All that weight of water over his head gave Bushka no special cHonecehrand.
overcome that fear while
doing his compulsory service in the Islander suTbhse.
attitude of superiority that he could detect in the
Mermen around him, that was the source of his annoyaBnucseh!ka glanced left to where his fellow observers stood slightly apart, keeping their distance from the lone Islander in this company.
GeLaar Gallow leaned close to the woman beside him, Kareen Ale, and"Washkyedi:s the launch delayed?"
Ale spoke in a softly modulated vo"iIceh: eard someone say there was an order from the
Chaplain/Psychiatrist -- something about the blessing."
Gallow nodded and a lock of blonde hair dropped to his right eyHeebrobwru.shed it back with a
casual movement.Gallow was quite the most beautiful human male Bushka had ever seen -- a Greek god, if the histories were to be crediAtesd.an Islander historian by avocation, Bushka believed the histories. Gallow's golden hair was long and softly wavHeids. dark blue eyes looked demandingly at everything they encounteredH. is even, white teeth flashed smiles that touched nothing but his mouth, as though he displayed the perfect teeth in that perfect face only for the benefit of oSnloomokeerssa.id he
had been operated on to remove webs from fingers and toes but that could be a jealous lie.
Bushka studied Ale covertlIyt. was said that Mermen were petitioning Ale to mate with Gallow for the sake of beautiful offspringA. le's face was an exquisitely proportioned oval with full lips, widely spaced blue eyes.Her nose, slightly upturned, showed a smooth and straight ridgeHlienre.skin -- perfectly set
off by her dark red hair -- was a pinkish translucence that Bushka thought would require salves and ointments when her duties took her topside into the harsh presence of the suns.
Bushka looked past them at the giant console with its graphic operational keys and largeOnscereens. screen showed brilliant light on the ocean surface far above Athneomth. er screen revealed the undersea
tube where the Lighter-Than-Air hydrogen sonde was being prepared for its upward drift and launch into
Pandora's turbulent atmosphereA.
thin forest of kelp wavered in the background.
On Bushka's right, a triple thickness of plazglas also revealed the LTA launch base with Mermen swimming around itS. ome of the swimmers wore prestubes for oxygen, all encased in their tight-fitting dive suits.Others carried across their backs the organic airfish that Islander bioengineering had pioneered for sustained work undersea.

We can produce it, but we cannot have the freedom of the undersea in which to use it.
Bushka could see where the leechmouth of an airfish attached itself to a nearby Merman's carotid artery. He imagined the thousands of cilia pumping fresh oxygen into the worker's bloodOstrcecaamsi.onally, a
worker equipped with an airfish vented carbon dioxide in a stream of drifting bubbles from the corner of his mouth.
How does it feel to float freely in the sea, dependent on the symbiotic relationship with Iatnwaairsfish? a thought full of Islander resentmenItssl.ander bioengineering surpassed that of the Mermen, but everything Islander genius produced was gobbled up in the terrible need for valuable exchange.
As I would like to be gobbledBut . there's not much hope of that!
Bushka suppressed feelings of jealousHye.
could see his reflection in the pTlahze.
Committee on Vital
Forms had faced no trouble in accepting him as huHmeano.bviously fell somewhere near the
Merman-tip of the spectrumS.till, his heavyset body, his small stature, the large head with its stringy dark brown hair, thick brows, wide nose, wide mouth, square chin -- none of this came near the standard Gallow represented.
Comparisons hurtB. ushka wondered what the tall, disdainful Merman was thinkWinhgy. expression aimed at me?
that quizzical
Gallow returned his attention to Ale, touching her bare shoulder, laughing at something she said.
A new flurry of activity could be seen at the LTA launch base, more lights within the tube that would guide the sonde on the start of its journey toward the surface.
The launch director at the control console s"aIti'dll: be a few minutes yet."
Bushka sighedT. his experience was not turning out the way he had expected . . . the way he had

dreamed.
He sneered at himselFf.antasy!
When he had been notified that he would be the Islander observer at this launch into the realm of Ship, elation had filled himH. is first trip into the core of Merman civilizaAtiotnl!ast!And the fantasyP: erhaps .
. . just possibly, I will find the way to join Merman society, to abandon poverty and the grubby existence topside.
Learning that Gallow would be his escort had fanned his GhoepLeasa.r Gallow, director of the Merman Screen, one who could vote to accept an Islander into their soBcuiet tyG.allow appeared to be avoiding him now.And there had never been any doubt of the man's disdain.
Only Ale had been warmly welcoming, but then she was a member of the Merman government, a diplomat and envoy to the IslandersB. ushka had been surprised to discover that she also was a medical doctor. Rumor had it that she had gone through the rigors of medical education as a gesture of rebellion against her family, with its long tradition of service in the diplomatic corps and elsewhere in the Merman government. The family obviously had won oAutl.e was securely seated among the powerful -- held,
perhaps, greater power than any other member of her faBmoiltyh. the Merman and Island worlds
buzzed with the recent revelation that Ale was a major inheritor in the estates of the late Ryan and Elina
Wang. And Ale had been named guardian of the Wangs' only daughter, NScoubdoid. y had yet put a
number on the size of the Wang estate, but the senior director of Merman Mercantile had probably been the wealthiest man on PandorEa.lina Wang, surviving her husband by less than a year, had not lived long enough to make serious changes in the Wang holdiSnogst.here was Kareen Ale, beautiful and powerful
and with the right words for any occasion. "Delighted to have you with us, Islander Bushka." How warm and inviting she had sounded.
She was just being polite . . . diplomatic.
Another burst of activity rippled through the workers at the console in Sonde TChoentsrocrl.een
showing the surface emitted a series of brilliant flickers and the view was replaced by the face of Simone
Rocksack, the Chaplain/PsychiatristT. he background revealed that she spoke from her quarters at the

center of Vashon far away on the surface.
"I greet you in the name of Ship."
A barely suppressed snort came from Gallow.
Bushka noted a shudder pass through the man's classic body at sight of BthueshCka/P, .accustomed to Islander variations, had never made note of Rocksack's appearaNncoew. , however, he saw her through Gallow's eyes.Rocksack's silvery hair flared in a wild mane from the top of her almost perfectly round head. Her albino eyes projected at the tips of small protuberances on her Hbreorwms.outh, barely
visible under a flap of gray skin, was a small red slit abandoned withouAt ashcahripn. angle of flesh went directly back from beneath her mouth to her thick neck.
"Let us pray," the C/P sa"iTdh. is prayer I offered just a few minutes ago in the presence oIf Vata. repeat it now."She cleared her throa"t.Ship, by whose omnipotence we were cast upon Pandora's
endless waters, grant us forgiveness from Original
GSirna.nt us . . ."
Bushka tuned her ouHt.e had heard this prayer, in one version or another, many Dtiomuebst.less his companions had heard it, toTo.he Mermen observers fidgeted at their stations and looked bored.
Original Sin!
Bushka's historical studies had made him a questioner of tradMitieornm. en, he had discovered, thought
Original Sin referred to the killing of Pandora's sentient Iktewlpa. s their penance that they must
rediscover the kelp in their own genes and fill the sea once more with submerged jungles of gigantic stems and fronds.Not sentient, this time, howeveMr.erely kelp . . . and controlled by Mermen.
The fanatical WorShipers of Guemes Island, on the other hand, insisted that Original Sin came when
humankind abandoned WorShipM.
ost Islanders, though, followed the C/P's leOadri:ginal Sin was that
line of bioengineering chosen by Jesus Lewis, the long-dead mastermind behind today's variations in the human norm.Lewis had created the Clones and "selected others re-formed to fit them for survival on Pandora."

Bushka shook his head as the C/P's voice droneWd hoon. is surviving best on Pandora? he asked himself. Mermen. Normal humans.
At least ten times as many Mermen as Islanders survived on PaItndwoaras. a simple function of
available living spaceU. nder the sea, cushioned from Pandora's vagaries, there was a far greater volume of living space than on Pandora's turbulent, dangerous surface.
"Into Ship's realm I commend you," the C/P "sLaeidt .the blessing of Ship accompany this ventLureet. Ship know that we mean no blasphemy by intruding ourselves into the heLaevtenthsi.s be a gesture that brings us closer to Ship."
The C/P's face vanished from the screen, replaced by a close-up of the launch tubTee'slltablaes .on the tube tipped left to a slow current.
At the console to Bushka's left, the launch director"Csaoindd: ition green."
From the prelaunch briefing, Bushka knew this meant they were ready to release thHe esognladnec. ed
at another of the screens, a view transmitted down a communications cable from a gyro-stabilized platform on the surfaceW. hite froth whipped the tops of long swells up tBheurseh.ka's practiced eye
said it was a forty-klick wind, practically a calm on PanTdhoeras.onde would drift fast when it
broached but it would climb fast, too, and the upper atmosphere, for a change, showed breaks in the clouds, with one of Pandora's two suns tipping the cloud edges a glowing silver.
The launch director leaned forward to study an instrum"Feonrtt.y seconds," he said.
Bushka moved forward, giving himself a better view of the instruments and the launchTdhierecmtoarn.
had been introduced as Dark Panille --"'Shadow' to my frieNndos."overt rejection there; just a touch of
the specialist's resentment that observers could be brought into his working space without his permission. Bushka's Mute-sensitive senses had detected immediately that Panille carried kelp genes, but was fortunate by Pandoran standards because he was not hairPleasnsi.lle wore his long black hair in a single
braid --"a family style," he had said in answer to Bushka's question.
Panille displayed a countenance distinctly Merman-normTahl.e kelp telltale lay chiefly in his dark skin
with its unmistakable undertone of greeHne.
had a narrow, rather sharp-featured face with high planes
on both his cheeks and his noPsaen. ille's large brown eyes looked out with a deep sense of intelligence

beneath straight browsT. he mouth was set in a straight line to match the brows and his lower lip was
fuller than the upperA.
deep crease rolled from beneath his lips to the cleft of a narrow, well-defined
chin. Panille's body was compact, with the smooth muscles common to Mermen who lived much in the sea.
The name Panille had aroused a historian's interest in BuPsahnkiall.e's ancestry had been instrumental in
human survival during the Clone Wars and after the departure ofItSwhiaps. Histories.
"Launch!" Panille said.
a famous name in the
Bushka glanced out the plaz beside hTimhe.
launch tube climbed beyond his vision through green water
with a backdrop of sparsely planted kelp -- thick red-brown trunks with glistening highlights at odd intervals. The highlights wavered and blinked as though in agitaBtiounsh. ka turned his attention to the screens, expecting something spectacularT.he display on which the others focused showed only the slow upward drift of the LTA within the tuBbreil.liant lights in the tube wall marked the asTcehnet. wrinkled
bag of the LTA expanded as it lifted, smoothing finally in an orange expanse of the fabric that contained the hydrogen.
"There!"Ale spoke in a sighing voice as the sonde cleared the top of tIhte dtruifbted. sea current, followed by a camera mounted on a Merman sub.
"Test key monitors," Panille said.
slantwise in a
A large screen at the center of the console shifted from a tracking view to a transmission from the sonde package trailing beneath the hydrogen baTgh.e screen showed a slanted green-tinged view of the sea
bottom -- thin plantations of kelp, a rocky outcTrohpey.
dimmed away into murkiness as Bushka
watched. A screen at the upper right of the console shifted to the surface platform's camera, a gyro-stabilized float.The camera swept to the left in a dizzying arc, then settled on an expanse of wind-frothed swells.
A pain in his chest told Bushka that he was holding his breath, waiting for the LTA to break the surface. He exhaled and took a deep breaTthere! A bubble lifted on the ocean surface and did not break.
Wind flattened the near side of the bItagl.ifted free of the water, receding fast as the sonde package cleared. The surface camera tracked it -- showing an orange blossom floating in a blue bowTlhoef sky. view zoomed in to the dangling package, from which water still dripped in wind-driven spray.

Bushka looked to the center screen, the transmission from the
Istonsdheo.wed the sea beneath the
LTA, an oddly flattened scene with little sense of the heaving waves from which the LTA had recently emerged.
Is this all? Bushka wondered.
He felt let downH. e rubbed his thick neck, feeling the nervous perspiration Athesruer.reptitious glance
at the two Merman observers showed them chatting quietly, with only an occasional glance at the screens and the plaz porthole that revealed Mermen already cleaning up after the launch.
Frustration and jealousy warred for dominance in BusHhkea.stared at the console where Panille was giving low-voiced orders to his operatoHrso. w rich these Mermen werBe!ushka thought of the crude organic computers with which Islanders contended, the stench of the Islands, the crowding and the life-protecting watch that had to be kept on every tiny bit of eIsnlearngdye.rs paupered themselves for a few radios, satellite navigation receivers and sonAanr.d just look at this Sonde ContrSool! casually rich.
If Islanders could afford such riches, Bushka knew the possessions would be keptDsisepclraeyt. of wealth set people apart in a society that depended ultimately on singleness of allIselaffnodretsrs.
believed tools were to be useOdw. nership was acknowledged, but a tool left idle could be picked up for use by anyone . . . anytime.
"There's a willy-nilly," Gallow said.
Bushka bridledH. e knew Mermen called Islands "willy-nillyIss."lands drifted unguided, and this was the
Merman way of sneering at such uncontrolled wandering.
"That's Vashon," Ale said.
Bushka noddedT. here was no mistaking his home IslaTndh.e organic floating metropolis had a distinctive shape known to all of its inhabitants -- Vashon, largest of all Pandora's Islands.
"Willy-nilly," Gallow repeated".I should imagine they don't know where they are half the time."

"You're not being very polite to our guest, GeLaar," Ale said.
"The truth is often impolite," Gallow sHaied.directed an empty smile at Bush"kIa'v.e noticed that
Islanders have few goals, that they're not very concerned about 'getting there.'"
He's right, damn him, Bushka thougThht.e drifting pattern had seated itself deeply in the Islander psyche.
When Bushka did not respond, Ale spoke defensiv"eIslyla:nders are necessarily more
weather-oriented, more tuned to the horizoTnh.at should not be surprisingS."he glanced questioningly at
Bushka. "All people are shaped by their surroundinIgssn.'t that true, Islander Bushka?"
"Islanders believe the manner of our passage is just as important as where we are," BuHsheka said. knew his response sounded weaHk.e turned toward the screenTs.wo of them now showed
transmissions from the sondeO. ne pointed backward to the stabilized camera platform on the suIrtface. showed the platform being withdrawn into the safety of the calm undTehreseao.ther sonde view tracked the drift pathF. ull in this view lay the bulk of VasBhounsh. ka swallowed as he stared at his home Island. He had never before seen this view of it.
A glance at the altitude repeater below the screen said the view was from eighty thousanTdhemeters. amplified image almost filled the screeGnr.id lines superimposed on the screen gave the Island's long dimension at nearly thirty klicks and slightly less than that aVcraosshso. n was a gigantic oval drifter with irregular edges.Bushka identified the bay indentation where fishboats and subs docOkneldy. a few of
the boats in Vashon's fleet could be seen in the protected waters.
"What's its population?" Gallow asked.
"About six hundred thousand, I believe," Ale said.
Bushka scowled, thinking of the crowded conditions this number represented, comparing it with the spaciousness of Merman habitatsV. ashon squeezed more than two thousand people into every square klick . . . a space more correctly measured in cubic Cteurbmbsi.es were stacked on cubbies high above
the water and deep beneath Aitn. d some of the smaller Islands were even more condensed, a crowding that had to be experienced to be believSepda.ce opened on them only when they began to run out of

energy -- dead spaceU. ninhabitable. Like people, organics rotted when they diAed.dead Island was just a gigantic floating carcasAs.nd this had happened many times.
"I could not tolerate such crowding," Gallow
"sIaidc.ould only leave."
"It isn't all bad!" Bushka blurt"eWd.e may live close but we help each other."
"I should certainly hope so!" Gallow snorHteed.turned until he was facing Bush"kWa.hat is your personal background, Bushka?"
Bushka stared at him, momentarily affrontTedh.is was not an Islander questioInsl.anders knew the backgrounds of their friends and acquaintances, but the rules of privacy seldom permitted probing.
"Your working background," Gallow persisted.
Ale put a hand on Gallow's a"rTmo. an Islander, such questions are usually impolite," she said. "It's all right," Bushka sa"idW. hen I got old enough, Merman Gallow, I was a wavewatcher." "A sort of lookout to warn of wavewalls," Ale explained.
"I know the term," Gallow sa"iAd.nd after that?"
"Well. . .I .had good eyes and a good sense of distance, so I did my time as a driftwatch and later in the subs . . . then, as I showed navigational ability, they trained me as a timekeeper."
"Timekeeper, yes," Gallow sai"dY. ou're the ones who dead-reckon an Island's positNioont. accurate, I'm told."
very

"Accurate enough," Bushka said.
Gallow chuckled". Is it true, Islander Bushka, that you people think we Mermen stole the kelp's soul?"
"GeLaar!" Ale snapped.
"No, let him answer," Gallow sa"iId'v.e been hearing recently about the fundamentalist beliefs of Islands such as Guemes."
"You're impossible, GeLaar!" Ale said.
"I have an insatiable curiosity," Gallow s"aWid.hat about it, Bushka?"
Bushka knew he had to answer but his voice was dismayingly loud when he re"sMpoanndyedI.slanders believe Ship will return to forgive us."
"And when will that be?" Gallow asked.
"When we regain the Collective Consciousness!"
"Ahhhh, the old Transition Stories," Gallow snee"rBedu.t do you believe this?"
"My hobby is history," Bushka sa"iId.believe something important happened to human consciousness during the Clone Wars."
"Hobby?" Gallow asked.

"Historian is not a fully accredited Islander job," Ale expl"aSinuepde.rfluous."
"I seeD.
o go on, Bushka."
Bushka clenched his fists and fought down his aGngaellro. w was more than self-important . . . he was truly important . . . vital to Bushka's hopes.
"I don't believe we stole the kelp's soul," Bushka said.
"Good for you!G" allow really smiled this time.
"But I do believe," Bushka added, "that our ancestors, possibly with kelp assistance, glimpsed a different kind of consciousness . . . a momentary linkage between all of the minds alive at that time."
Gallow passed a hand across his mouth, an oddly furtive g"eTsthuere.accounts appear to agree," he said. "But can they be trusted?"
"There's no doubt we have kelp genes in the human gene pool," BushHkae sgaliadn.ced across the control room at Panille, who was watching him intently.
"And who knows what may happen if we revive the kelp to consciousness, eh?" Gallow asked.
"Something like that," Bushka agreed.
"Why do you think Ship abandoned us here?"
"GeLaar, please!" Ale interrupted.

"Let him answer," Gallow sa"idT.his Islander has an active minHde.
may be someone we need."
Bushka tried to swallow in a suddenly dry thWroaast. this all a tesWt? as Gallow actually screening him for entry into Merman society?
"I was hoping . .A.g"ain, Bushka tried to swallow"I.
mean, as long as I'm down here anywayI w. a. s.
hoping I might gain access to the material Mermen recovered from the old RPeedrohuabpts. to your question . . H."e broke off.
An abrupt silence settled over the room.
Ale and Gallow exchanged an oddly veiled look.
"How interesting," Gallow said.
the answer
"I'm told," Bushka said, "that when you recovered the Redoubt's data base . . . I Hmeeacnou.g.he.d" .
"Our historians work full-time," Gallow sa"iAd.fter the Disaster, everything, including the material from the Redoubt, was subjected to exhaustive analysis."
"I would still like to see the material," BushkaHseaicdu. rsed himself silentlyH. is voice sounded so plaintive.
"Tell me, Bushka," Gallow said, "what would be your response if this material revealed that Ship was an artifact made by human beings and not God at all?"
Bushka pursed his lip"sT. he Artifact Heresy?Hasn't that been . . ."

"You haven't answered my question," Gallow said.
"I would have to see the material and judge for myself," BushkHae shaeidld.
himself quite stiNll.o
Islander had ever been granted access to Redoubt dBautat . what Gallow hinted . . . explosive!
"I should be most interested to hear what an Islander historian has to say about the Redoubt accounts," Gallow said.He glanced at Ale".Do you see any reason why we shouldn't grant his request, Kareen?"
She shrugged and turned away, an expression on her face that Bushka could not Dinitsegrupsrte?t.
Gallow directed that measuring smile toward Bush"Ikaq. uite understand that the Redoubt has mystical
implications for IslandersI.
hesitate to feed superstitions."
Mystical?Bushka thought.Land that once had protruded from the
Aseap. lace built on a continent, a
mass of exposed land that did not drift, the last place inundated in the DMiysastsitcearl.? Was Gallow merely toying with him?
"I'm a qualified historian," Bushka said.
"But you said hobby . G. a.l"low shook his head.
"Was everything recovered intact from the Redoubt?" Bushka ventured.
"It was sealed off," Ale said, turning once more to face B"uOsuhrkaa.ncestors put an air-bell on it before cutting through the plasteel."
"Everything was found just as it was left when they abandoned the place," Gallow said.

"Then it's true," Bushka breathed.
"But would you reinforce Islander superstitions?" Gallow insisted.
Bushka drew himself up stiff"lyI . am a scientisIt. would reinforce nothing but the truth."
"Why this sudden interest in the RedoubAtl?e" asked.
"Sudden?"Bushka stared at her in amazeme"nWt. e've always wanted to share in the Redoubt's data base. The people who left it there were our ancestors, too."
"In a manner of speaking," Gallow said.
Bushka felt the hot flush of blood in his chMeeoksst. Mermen believed that only Clones and mutants had populated the drifting IslandDs.id Gallow really accept that nonsense?
"Perhaps I should've said why the renewed interest?" Ale corrected herself.
"We've heard stories, you see, about the Guemes Movement," Gallow said.
Bushka noddedW.
orShip was, indeed, on the increase among Islanders.
"There have been reports of unidentified things seen in the sky," Bushk"Saosmaied.believe that Ship already has returned and is concealed from us in space."
"Do you believe this?" Gallow asked.

"It's possible," Bushka admitte"dA. ll I really know for certain is that the C/P is kept busy examining people who claim to have seen visions."
Gallow chuckled". Oh, my!"
Bushka once more felt frustratioTnh.ey were toying with himT!his was all a cruel Merman gam"We!hat is so amusing?" he demanded.
"GeLaar, stop this!" Ale said.
Gallow held up an admonitory ha"nKd.areen, look with care upon Islander BushCkao.uld he not pass as one of us?"
Ale swept a swift glance across Bushka's face and returned her attention to "GWahllaotw're. GeLaar?"
Bushka inhaled deeply and held his breath.
you doing,
Gallow studied Bushka a moment, th"eWn:hat would be your response, Bushka, if I were to offer you a place in Merman society?"
Bushka exhaled slowly, inhale"dI.
. . . I would acceGprta. tefully, of course."
"Of course," Gallow echoeHd.e smiled at Ale".Then, since Bushka will be one of us, there's no harm in telling him what amuses me."
"It's on your head, GeLaar," Ale said.

A movement at the Sonde Control console caught Bushka's attePnatinoinll.e was no longer looking at him, but the set of his shoulders told Bushka the man was listening iSnhteipntlsya.ve them!Was the Artifact Heresy true, after alWl? as that the great Merman secret?
"These visions causing so much trouble for our beloved C/P," Gallow"Thsaeiyd.are Merman rockets, Bushka."
Bushka opened his mouth and closed it without speaking.
"Ship was not God, is not God," Gallow "sTahide. Redoubt records . . ."
"Are open to several interpretations," Ale said.
"Only to fools!" Gallow snappe"dW. e are sending up rocketBs.ushka, because we are preparing to recover the hyb tanks from orbSith.ip was an artifact made by our ancestOortsh.er artifacts and things have been left in space for us to recover."
The matter-of-fact way Gallow said this made Bushka catch his bSrteoartihes.
about the mysterious hyb
tanks permeated Islander societyW. hat might be stored in those containers that orbited Pandora?
Recovering those tanks, and really seeing what they contained, was worth anything -- even destruction of the Ship-God belief that sustained so many people.
"You are shocked," Gallow said.
"I'm . . . I'm awed," Bushka replied.
"We were all raised on the Transition StorGieasl.l"ow pointed upward". Life awaits us up there."
Bushka nodded". The tanks are supposed to contain countless life forms from . . . from Earth."

"Fish, animals, plants," Gallow sa"idA.nd even some humans.H" e grinned."Normal humans."He waved a hand to encompass the occupants of Sonde Con"tLroikl.e us."
Bushka inhaled a trembling breaYthe. s, the historical accounts said the hyb tanks held humans who had never been touched by the bioengineering machinations of Jesus LTewheisr.e would be people in those
tanks who had gone to sleep in another star system, who had no idea of this nightmare world that awaited their awakening.
"And now you know," Gallow said.
Bushka cleared his throa"tW.
e never suspectedI.
mean . . . the C/P has never said a word about . . ."
"The C/P does not know of this," Ale Tshaiedr.e was a warning note in her voice.
Bushka glanced at the plaz porthole with its view of the LTA tube.
"She knows about that, of course," Ale said.
"An innocuous thing," Gallow said.
"There has been no blessing of our rockets," Ale said.
Bushka continued to stare out the porthHolee.had never counted himself a deeply religious person, but
these Merman revelations left him profoundly disturbAedle.
obviously doubted Gallow's interpretation of
the Redoubt material, but still . . . a blessing would be only common sense . . . just in case . . .
"What is your response, Merman Bushka?" Gallow asked.

Merman Bushka!
Bushka turned a wide-eyed stare on Gallow, who obviously awaited an answer to a Aquestion. question. What had he askedB? ushka was a moment recovering the man's words.
"My response . . . yTehs.e Islanders . . . I mean, about these rocTkheets.Islanders . . . shouldn't they be told?"
"They?" Gallow laughed, a deep amusement that shook his beautiful"Ybooduy.see, Kareen?Already his former compatriots are 'they.'"
The touch of the infant teaches birth, and our hands are witness to the lesson.
-- Kerro Panille, the Histories
Vata did not experience true consciousneSshse.
skirted the shadow-edges of awareneMss.emories
flitted through her neurons like tendrils from the kSeolmp.etimes she dreamed kelp dreamTs.hese
dreams often included a wondrous hatch of hylighters -- spore-filled gasbags that had died when the original kelp diedT. ears mixed with her nutrient bath as she dreamed such things, tears for the fate of

those huge sky-bound globes tacking across the evening breezes of a millionHyeerardsr.eam hylighters clutched their ballast rocks in their two longest tentacles and Vata felt the comforting texture of rock hugged close.
Thoughts themselves were like hylighters to her, or silken threads blowing in the dark of her mind. Sometimes she followed awareness of Duque, who floated beside her, sensing events within his thoughts. Time and again, she re-experienced through him that terrible night when the gravitational wrenching of Pandora's two suns destroyed the last human foothold on the planet's fragilDe ulaqnude. repeatedly let
his thoughts plunge into that experiencAen. d Vata, linked to the fearful mutant like Mermen diving partners on the same safety line, was forced to recreate dreams that soothed and calmed Duque's terrors.
"Duque escaped," she muttered in his mind, "Duque was taken away onto the sea where Hali Ekel tended his burns."
Duque would snuffle and whimpHera. d Vata been conscious, she would have heard with her own ears, because Vata and Duque shared the same life support at the center of VVaasthaolna.y mostly
submerged in nutrient, a monstrous mound of pink and blue flesh with definite human female characteristics. Enormous breasts with gigantic pink nipples lifted from the dark nutrient like twin mountains from a brown seDa.uque drifted beside her, a satellite, her familiar dangling in the endless mental vacuum.
For generations now, the two of them had been nurtured and reverenced in Vashon's central complex -- home of the Chaplain/Psychiatrist and the Committee on Vital Forms, Merman and Islander guards kept watch on the pair under the command of the ItC/wPa. s a ritualized observation, which, in time, eroded
the awe that Pandorans learned early from the reactions of their parents.
"The two of them there like tThhate.y'll always be thereT.hey're our last link with ShAips. live, Ship is with uIst.'s WorShip keeps them alive so long."
long as they
Although Duque occasionally knuckled an eye into glaring wakefulness and watched his guardians in the gloomy surroundings of the living pool that confined them, Vata's responses never lifted to consciousness. She breathed.Her great body, responding to the kelp half of her genetic inheritance, absorbed energy from the nutrient solution that washed against her sAknina.lysis of the nutrient betrayed traces of human
waste products, which were removed by the sucker mouths of blind scrubbOercfcisahs.ionally, Vata
would snort and an arm would lift in the nutrient like a leviathan rising from its depths before settling once more into the murkH. er hair continued to grow until it spread like kelp across the nutrient surface,
tangling over the hairless skin of Duque and impeding the scrubbeTrhfieshC. /P would come into the chamber then and, with a reverence touched by a certain amount of cupidity, would clip Vata's locks.

The strands were washed and separated to be blessed and sold in short lengths as induElvgeennces. Mermen bought themS. ale of Vatahair had been the major source of C/P income for many generations.
Duque, more aware than any other human of his curious link with Vata, puzzled over the connection when Vata's intrusions left him with thinking time of hisSomne.times he would speak of this to his
guardians, but when Duque spoke there was always a flurry of activity, the summoning of the C/P, and a different kind of watchfulness from the security.
"She lives me," he said once, and this became a token label inscribed on the Vatahair containers.
In these speaking times, the C/P would try prepared questions, sometimes booming them at Duque, sometimes asking in a low and reverential voice.
"Do you speak for Vata, Duque?"
"I speak."
That was all they ever got from him on this queSstiinocne.
it was known that Duque was one of the
hundred or so original mutants who had been conceived with kelp intervention and thus bore kelp genes, they would sometimes ask him about the kelp that had once ruled Pandora's now-endless sea.
"Do you have memory of the kelp, Duque?"
"Avata," Duque corrected".I am the rock."
Interminable arguments came out of this answ"Aerv.ata had been the kelp's name for itsTehlfe. reference to rock gave scholars and theologians room for speculation.
"He must mean that his consciousness exists at the bottom of the sea where the kelp lives."

"No!Remember how the kelp always clung to a rock, lifting its tendrils to the sAunldigthhte?
hylighters used rock for ballast . . ."
"You're all wrongH. e's Vata's grip on lifHe.e's Vata's rock."
And there was always someone who would harken back to WorShip and the stories of that distant planet where someone calling himself Peter had given the same answer Duque had given.
Nothing was ever solved by such arguments, but the questioning continued whenever Duque showed signs of wakefulness.
"How is it that you and Vata do not die, Duque?"
"We wait."
"For what do you wait?"
"No answer."
This recurrent response precipitated several crises until the C/P of that time issued an order that Duque's answers could only be broadcast by permission of the TCh/iPs . didn't stop the quiet whispering and the
rumors, of course, but it relegated everything except the C/P's official version to the role of mystical heresy. It was a question no C/P had asked for two generationsCnuorrwen. t interest centered much
more on the kelp that Mermen spread far and wide in Pandora's planetaTrhyesekae.lp was thick and healthy, but showed no signs of acquiring consciousness.
As the great Islands drifted they were seldom out of sight of a horizon touched by the oily green flatness of a kelp bedE. veryone said it was a good thiKnge.lp formed nurseries for fish and everyone could see
there were more fish these days, though they weren't always easy toYcoautchc.ouldn't use a net amongst the kelpB. aited lines tangled in the huge fronds and wereElvoesnt. the dumb muree had learned to retreat into kelp sanctuary at the approach of fishermen.

There was also the recurrent question of Ship, Ship who was God and who had left humankind on
Pandora.
"Why did Ship abandon us here, Duque?"
All Duque would ever say w"aAs:sk Ship."
Many a C/P had engaged in much silent prayer over thBatutonSeh.ip did not answer theAmt. not with any voice that they could hear.
least,
It was a vexing questioWn.ould Ship return?Ship had left the hyb tanks in orbit around PanIdtorwaa. s
a strange orbit, seeming to defy the gravitational index for such
Tthhinegres. were those among
Pandora's Mermen and Islanders who said Vata waited for the hyb tanks to be brought down, that she would awaken when this occurred.
No one doubted there was some link between Duque and Vata, so why not a link between Vata and the dormant life waiting up there in the tanks?
"How are you linked to Vata?" a C/P asked.
"How are you linked to me?" Duque responded.
This was duly recorded in the Book of Duque and more arguments Ietnswuaesd.noted, however, that
whenever such questions were asked, Vata stirrSeodm. faintest movement over her vast flesh.
etimes grossly and sometimes with only the
"It's like the safety line we use between divers down under," an astute Merman o"bYsoeurvecda.n always find your partner."

Vata's tendril-awareness stirred to the linkage with genetic memories of mountain cliTmhbeeyrsw. ere climbing, she and DuqueT.his she showed him many timHese. r memories, shared with Duque, showed a spectacular world of the vertical that Islanders could barely imagine and holes did not doOnjulys,tice.
she did not think of herself as one of the climbers, or even think of hersTehlferaet walals. and the climbing.
only the line,
First, we had to develop a landless life-style; second, we preserved what technology and hardware we could salvage.Lewis left us with a team of bioengineers -- both our curse and our most powerful legacy. We do not dare plunge our few precious children into a Stone Age.
-- Hali Ekel, the Journals
Ward Keel looked down from the high bench and surveyed the two young petitioners in front of him. The male was a large Merman with the tattoo of a criminal on his brow, a wine-red "E" for "Expatriate." This Merman could never return to the rich land under the sea and he knew the Islanders accepted him only for his stabilizing geneTs.hose genes had not stabilized this timThe.e Merman probably knew what
the judgment would beH. e patted a damp cloth nervously over his exposed skin.
The woman petitioner, his mate, was small and slender with pale blonde hair and two slight indentations where she should have had eyeSsh.e wore a long blue sari and when she walked Keel did not hear
steps, only a rasping scrapSe.he swayed from side to side and hummed to herself.

Why does this one have to be the first case of the morning? Keel wIot nwdearseda. morning of all mornings!
perverse fatTe.his
"Our child deserves to live!" the Merman
Hsaiisd.voice boomed in the chambeTrsh.e Committee on
Vital Forms often heard such loud protestation but this time Keel felt that the volume was directed at the woman, telling her that her mate fought for them both.
As Chief Justice of the Committee it was too often Keel's lot to perform that unsavory stroke of the pen,
to speak directly the unutterable fears of the petitioners themseMlvaensy.
times it was otherwise and
then this chamber echoed the laughter of Blifuet. today, in this case, there would be no laugKhetel.
sighed. The Merman, even though a criminal by Merman ruling, made this matter politically sensitive. Mermen were jealous of the births that they called "normal," and they monitored every topside birth involving Merman parentage.
"We have studied your petition with great care," KeelHseaidg.lanced left and right at his fellow Committee members.They sat impassively, attention elsewhere -- on the great curve of bubbly ceiling, on the soft living deck, on the records stacked in front of them -- everywhere but on the Tpehteitioners. dirty work was being left to Ward Keel.
If they only knew, Keel thougAht.higher Committee on Vital Forms has today passed judgment on me
. . . as it will pass judgment on them, eventHuaellyfe.lt a deep compassion for the petitioners in front of him but there was no denying the judgment.
"The Committee has determined that the subject" -- not "the child," he thought --"is merely a modified gastrula . . ."
"We want this childT!"he man fisted the rail that separated him from the Committee's high Tbheench. security guardians at the rear of the chambers came to atteTnthieonw. oman continued to hum and sway, not in time with the music that came from her lips.
Keel leafed through a stack of plaz records and pulled out a sheet thick with figures and graphs.
"The subject has been found to have a nuclear construction that harbors a reagent gene," he reported. "This construction insures that the cellular material will turn on itself, destroying its own cell walls . . ."

"Then let us have our child until that death," the man bHluertsewd.iped at his face with the damp cloth. "For the love of humanity, give us that much."
"Sir," Keel said, "for the love of humanity I caWnneoth.ave determined that this construction is communicable should there be any major viral invasion of the subject . . ."
"Our child!Not a subject!Our child!"
"Enough!" Keel snappedS.ecurity moved silently into the aisle behind the MermKaene.l tapped the bell
beside him and all stirring in the chamber cea"sWede. forms that are not lethal deviants."
are sworn to protect human life, to perpetuate life
The Merman father stared upward, awed at the invocation of these terrible stopped her gentle swaying, but a faint hum still issued from her mouth.
Epovwenerhs.is mate
Keel wanted to shout down at them, "I am dying, right here in fronIt aomf ydoyuin. g."But he bit back
the impulse and decided that if he were going to give in to hysteria he'd do it in his own quarters.
Instead, he said, "We are empowered to carry out measures in the extreme to see that humankind survives this genetic mess we inherited from Jesus LewHies."leaned back and steadied the shaking in his hands and voice". We are in no way refreshed by a negative deciTsiaokne. your woman homeC. are for
her . . ."
"I want one . . ."
The bell rang again, cutting the man short.
Keel raised his voic"eU: sher! See these people ouTt.hey will be given the usual prioritTieesr.minate the subject, retaining all materials as stated in Vital Form Orders, subparagraRpehceBss. ."

Keel arose and swept past the other Committee members without a glance at the rest of the chambers. The grunts and struggles of the heartsick Merman echoed and re-echoed down the corridors of Keel's anguished mind.
As soon as he was alone in his office, Keel unstoppered a small flask of boo and poured himself a stiff shot. He tossed it back, shuddered and caught his breath as the warm clear liquid eased into his bloodstream. He sat in the special chair at his desk then, eyes closed, and rested his long, thin neck against the molded supports that took the weight of his massive head.
He could not make a lethal decision as he had done this morning without recalling the moment when he, as an infant, had come before the Committee on Vital FPoermopsl.e said it was not possible for him to remember that scene, but he did remember it -- not in bits and sketches, but in itHs iesnmtireemtyo.ry
went back into the womb, through a calm birth into a gloomy delivery room and the glad awakening at
his mother's breastA.
nd he remembered the judgment of the CommitTtehee.y had been worried about
the size of his head and the length of his thinWnoeuckld.
prosthetics compensate?He had understood
the words, tooT. here was language in him from some genetic well and although he could not speak until growth caught up with what had been born in him, he knew those words.
"This infant is unique," that old Chief Justice had said, reading from the medica"Hl irsepionrtet.stines must have periodic implantation of a remora to supply missing bile and enzyme factors."
The Chief Justice had looked down then, a giant behind that enormous and remote bench, and his gaze had fixed on the naked infant in its mother's arms.
"Legs, thick and stubbFy.eet deformed -- one-joint toes, six toes, six fingTeorrss.o overlong, waist pinched in.Face rather small in that . t.he." Justice cleared his throat, "enormous heaTdh."e Justice had looked at Keel's mother then, noting the extremely wide pOelbvvisi.ous anatomical questions had lain unspoken in the man's mind.
"In spite of these difficulties, this subject is not a lethal deTvhiaentw."ords issuing from the Justice's
mouth had all been in the medical repKoerte.l, when he came to the Committee as a member, fished out his own report, reading it with a detached curiosity.
"Face rather small . .Th."ese were the very words in the report, just as he remembered"Ethyes,.
one brown and one blueK."eel smiled at the memorHy.is eyes --"one brown and one blue" -- could

peek around from the nearly squared edges of his temples, allowing him to look almost straight back without turning his headH. is lashes were long and droopinWg.hen he relaxed, they fuzzed his view of the world. Time had put smile wrinkles at the corners of his wide, thick-lipped Amnoduthis flat nose,
nearly a handsbreadth wide, had grown until it stopped just short of his Tmheouwthh. ole face, he knew from comparisons, was oddly pinched together, top to bottom, as though put on his head as an afterthought. But those corner-placed eyes, they were the dominant feature -- alert and wise.
They let me live because I looked alert, he thought.
This was a thing he, too, sought in the subjects brought befoBrerahinims. .Intelligence. That was what humankind required to get them out of this mBersasw. n and dexterity, too, but these were useless without the intelligence to guide them.
Keel closed his eyes and sank his neck even deeper into the cushioned sTuhpepobrtoso.
was having its
desired effect.He never drank the stuff without thinking how strange it was that this should come from the deadly nerve runners that had terrified his ancestors in the pioneer days of Pandora when real land protruded above the sea.
"Worm hordes," the first observers had called thTehme. worm hordes attacked warm life and ate out every nerve cell, working their way to the succulent brain where they encysted their clutches of eggs. Even dashers feared themC. ame the endless sea, though, and nerve runners retreated to a subsea vector whose fermentation by-product was boo -- sedative, narcotic, "happy juice."
He fondled the small glass and took another sip.
The door behind him opened and a familiar footstep entered -- familiar swish of garments, familiar smells. He didn't open his eyes, thinking what a singular mark of trust that was, even for an Islander.
Or on Invitation, he thought.
The beginnings of a wry smile touched the corners of his Hmeouftehlt. tongue and fingertipsN. ow in his toes.
the tingling of the boo in his

Baring my neck for the axe?
There was always guilt after a negative decisAiolwn.ays at least the unconscious desire for expiation.
Well, it was all there in the Committee's orders, but he was not fool enough to retreat into that hoary old excuse: "I was just obeying orders."
"May I get you something, JusticTe?h"e voice was that of his aide and sometimes-lover, Joy Marcoe.
"No, thank you," he murmured.
She touched his shoulde"rT. he Committee would like to reconvene in quarters at eleven hundred hours. Should I tell them you're too . . . ?"
"I'll be there.H" e kept his eyes closed and heard her start to
"leJaovye,".
he called, "have you ever
thought how ironic it is that you, with your name, work for this Committee?"
She returned to his side and he felt her hand on his lIetftwaarsma.
trick of the boo that he felt the hand
melt into his senses -- more than a touch, she caressed a vital core of his being.
"Today is particularly hard," she sa"iBdu. t you know how rare that is, anymoSreh.e" waited, he presumed, for his responseT.hen when none came":I think Joy is a perfect name for thisItjorbem. me of how much I want to make you happy."
inds
He managed a weak smile and adjusted his head in the suHppeocrtosu. ldn't bring himself to tell her about his own medical reports -- the final ver"dYicot.u do bring me joy," he sa"iWd.ake me at
ten-forty-five."
She dimmed the light when she left.
The mobile device that supported his head began to irritate the base of his neck where it pressed into the chair's supports.He inserted a finger under the chair's cushions and adjusted one of the contraption's

fastenings. Relief on his left side was transmitted to irritation on theHreighsitg. hed and poured another short dash of boo.
When he lifted the slender glass, the dimmed overhead light shot blue-gray sparkles through tIhte liquid. looked cool, as refreshing as a supportive bath on a hot day when the double suns burned through the clouds.
What warmth the tiny glass containHede! marveled at the curve of his thin fingers around theOsnte .
fingernail peeled back where he had snagged it on his Jrooybew. ould clip and bind it when she returned, he knew.He did not doubt that she had noteTdhis. had happened often enough, though, that she knew it did not pain him.
His own reflection in the curvature of the glass caught his attTehnetiocnu.rve exaggerated the wide
spacing of his eyesT.he long lashes drooping almost to the bend of his cheeks receded into tiny points.
He strained to focus on the glass so close in front oHf ishinmo.se was a giant thinHge. to his lips and the image fuzzed out, vanished.
Small wonder that Islanders avoid mirrors, he thought.
brought the glass
He had a fascination with his own reflection, though, and often caught himself staring at his features in shiny surfaces.
That such a distorted creature should be allowed toTlhiveel!ong-ago judgment of that earlier
Committee filled him with wondeDr.id those Committee members know that he would think and hurt
and love?He felt that the often-shapeless blobs that appeared before his Committee bore kinship to all humanity if only they showed evidence of thought, love and the terribly human capacity to be hurt.
From some dim passageway beyond his doors or, perhaps, from somewhere deep in his own mind, the soft tones of a fine set of water-drums nestled him into his cushions and drowsed him away.
Half-dreams flickered in and out of his consciousness, becoming presently a particularly soothing full-dream of Joy Marcoe and himself rolling backward on herHberedr.obe fell open to the smooth
softness of aroused flesh and Keel felt the unmistakable stirrings of his body -- the body in the chair and
the body in the dreamH.e knew it was a dream of the memory of their first exploratory
Hshiasrihnagn. d
slipped beneath her robe and pulled the softness of her against him, stroking hTerhabtachka.d been the

moment when he discovered the secret of Joy's bulky clothes, the clothes that could not hide an occasional firm trim line of hips or thighs, the small strongJoayrmcsr.adled a third breast under her left armpit. In the dream of the memory, she giggled nervously as his wandering hand found the tiny nipple hardening between his fingers.
Mr. Justice.
It was Joy's voice, but it was wrong.
That was not what she said.
"Mr. Justice."
A hand shook his left arHme. felt the chair and the prosthetics, a pain where his neck joined the massive head.
"Ward, it's wake-upT.he Committee meets in fifteen minutes."
He blinked awakeJ.oy stood over him, smiling, her hand still on his arm. "Nodded off," he saiHd.e yawned behind his han"dI. was dreaming about you." A distinctive flush darkened her chee"kSso. mething nice, I hope."
He smiled". How could a dream with you in it be anything but nice?"
The blush deepened and her gray eyes glittered.

"Flattery will get you anything, Mr. JustiSceh.e" patted his arm".After Committee, you have a call to Kareen Ale.Her office said she would arrive here at thirteen-thIirtoyl.d them you have a full appointment sheet through . . ."
"I'll see her," he saHide.
stood and steadied himself on the edge of his desk coTnhseoleb.oo always
made him a little groggy at first recovIemrya.gine the medics giving him their death sentence and then telling him to knock off the bAoov!oid extremes, avoid anxiety.
"Kareen Ale takes advantage of her position to presume on your good nature and waste your time," Joy said.
Keel didn't like the way Joy exaggerated the Merman ambassador's "naahm-laey: ." True, it was a
difficult name to carry through the cocktail parties of the diplomatic corps, but the woman had Keel's complete respect on the debating floor.
He was suddenly aware that Joy was leaving.
"Joy!" he called".Allow me to cook for you in quarters tonight."
Her back straightened in the doorway and when she turned to face him she"I'sdmliilkeed. that very much. What time?"
"Nineteen hundred?"
She nodded once, firmly, and lIetft.was just the economy of movement and grace that endeared her to him. She was less than half his age, but she carried a wisdom about her that ageHiegntorireedd.to
remember how long it had been since he'd taken a full-time lover.
Twelve years?No, thirteen.

Joy made the wait that much more right in his Hmeirndb.ody was supple and completely hairless -- something that excited him in ways he'd thought he'd forgotten.
He sighed, and tried to get his mind set for the coming meeting with the Committee.
Old farts, he thoughOt.ne corner of his mouth twisted up in spite of himBuset lft.hey're pretty interesting old farts.
The five Committee members were among the most powerful people on VOanshlyono. ne person
rivaled Keel, with his position as Chief Justice -- Simone Rocksack, the Chaplain/Psychiatrist, who commanded great popular support and provided a check on the power of the ComSmimitotenee. could move things by inference and innuendo; Keel could order them done and they were done.
Keel realized, with some curiosity, that as well as he knew the Committee members, he always had trouble remembering their facesW. ell . . . faces were not all that impoIrttawnta. s what lay behind the
face that matteredH.
e touched a finger to his nose, to his distended forehead, and as though it were a
magic gesture his hand called up a clear image of those other faces, those four old justices.
There was Alon, the youngest of them at sixty-seAvleonn. Matts, Vashon's leading bioengineer for nearly thirty years.
Theodore Carp was the cynic of the group and, so Keel thought, aptlyOntahmeresd.referred to Carp
as "Fish Man," a product of both his appearance and his beCaarrinpg.looked fishlikeA.
sickly-pale,
nearly translucent skin covered the long narrow face and blunt-fingered hTahnedsc. uffs of his robe came nearly to the tips of his fingers and his hands appeared quite finlike at firsHt igslalnipcse.were full and wide, and they never smileHd.e had never been considered seriously for Chief Justice.
Not a political enough animal, Keel thouNghot. matter how bad things get, you've got to smile sometime. He shook his head and chuckled to himsMelaf.ybe that should be one of the Committee's criteria for passing questionable subjects -- the ability to smile, to laugh . . .
"Ward," a voice called, "I swear you'll daydream your life away."

He turned and saw the other two justices walking the hallway behinHdadhimhe. hatchway and not noticedP?ossibly.
passed them in the
"Carolyn," he said, and nodded, "and GwyYnens., with luck I'll daydream my life awAarye. you refreshed after this morning's session?"
Carolyn Bluelove turned her eyeless face up to his and s"iAgheddif.ficult morning," she sai"dC. lear-cut, of course, but difficult . . ."
"I don't see why you go through a hearing, Ward," Gwynn Erdstepp"eYosuaidju. st make yourself uncomfortable, it makes us all uncomfortabWle.e shouldn't have to whip ourselves over something like that. Can't we channel the drama outside the chambers?"
"They have their right to be heard, and the right to hear something as irreversible as our decision from those who make it," he sa"idO.therwise, what might we becomeT?he power over life and death is an awesome one, and it should have all the checks against it that we canTmhauts'stero.ne decision that
should never be easy."
"So what are we?" Gwynn persisted.
"Gods," Carolyn snappedS.he put her hand on Keel's arm and said, "Walk these two dottering old gods to chambers, will you, Mr. Justice?"
"Delighted," he saidT.hey scuff-scuffed down the hallway, their bare feet hardly more than sighs on the soft deck.
Ahead of them, a team of slurry workers painted nutrient on theThwisaltlse.am used broad brushes
and laid on vivid strokes of deep blue, yellow and gInreean.week all the color would be absorbed and the walls returned to their hungry, gray-brown hue.
Gwynn positioned herself behind Keel and CaroHlyenr. lumbering pace hurried them oKne. el was distracted from Carolyn's small talk by the constant lurch of Gwynn's hulk behind them.

"Do either of my fellow justices know why we're meeting just hneowas?k"ed."It must be something disturbing because Joy didn't reveal it when she told me about the appointment."
"That Merman this morning, he's appealed to the Chaplain/Psychiatrist," Gwynn sn"Wortheyd. won't they leave it be?"
"Curious," Carolyn said.
It struck Keel as very curioHuse. had sat the bench for a full five years before a case had been appealed to the Chaplain/PsychiatrisBt. ut this year . . .
"The C/P's just a figurehead," Gwynn s"aWid.hy do they waste their time and ours on --"
"And hers," Carolyn interrupte"dI.t's a lot of work, being the emissary to the gods."
Keel shuffled quietly between them while they reopened the ages-old dHeebateu.ned it out, as he'd learned to do years agPo.eople filled his life too much to leave any time forEgspoedcsi.ally now -- this day when the life burning inside him had become doubly precious.
Eight cases appealed by the C/P in this season alone, he thAonudghatl.l eight involved Mermen.
The realization made him extremely interested in the afternoon meeting with Kareen Ale, which was to follow this appeals hearing.
The three justices entered the hatchway to their smaller chamItbewrsa.s an informational room -- small, well-lit, the walls lined with books, tapes, holos and other communications equipMmaettnst. and the Fish Man were already watching Simone Rocksack's introductory remarks on the large view-sSchre n.
would, of course, use the Vashon intercoTmh.e C/P seldom left her quarters near the tank that sustained Vata and DuqueT. he four protrusions that made up most of the C/P's face bent and waved as she talked. Her two eye protuberances were particularly active.

Keel and the others seated themselves quieKtleye.l raised the back of his chair to ease the strain on his neck and its support.
". . . and further, that they were not even allowed to view tIhse thchatildn.ot somewhat harsh treatment from a Committee entrusted with sensitive care of our life forms?"
Carp was quick to respon"dIt. was a gastrula, Simone, purely and simply a lump of cells with a hole in it. There was nothing to be gained by bringing the creature into public view . . ."
"The creature's parents hardly constitute a public viewing, Mr. JuAstnidce.don't forget the association of Creator and creatureL. est you forget, sir, I am a Chaplain/PsychiatWrisht.ile you may have certain prejudices regarding my religious role, I assure you that my preparation as a psychiatrist is most
thorough. When you denied that young couple the sight of their offspring, you denied them a good-bye, a closure, a finality that would help them grieve and get on with theNirolwivetsh.ere will be counseling,
tears and nightmares far beyond the normal scope of mourning."
Gwynn picked up at the C/P's first pause.
"This doesn't sound like an appeal for the life form in quSeisntcioen.that is the express function of an appeal, I must ask your intentions heIrse.it possible that you're simply trying to go on record as establishing a political platform out of the appeals process?"
The nodules on the C/P's face retracted as if struck, then slowly re-emerged at the ends of their long stalks.
A good psychiatrist has a face you can't read, Keel thSoiumgohnt.e certainly fills the bill.
The C/P's voice came on again in its wet, slurpy fa"sIhidoenf.er to the decision of the Chief Justice in this matter."
Keel snapped fully awakTe.his was certainly an unlikely turn of argument -- if it was argHume ent.

cleared his throat and gave his full attention to the sTcrheoesne.
four nodules seemed to hunt out the
gaze of both his eyes and fix on his mouth at the samHeeticmleea. red his throat again.
"Your Eminence," he said, "it is clear that we did not proceed with this case in the most sensitive fashion. I speak for the Committee when I voice my appreciation for your candid appraisal of the matter. Sometimes, in the anguish of our task, we lose sight of the difficulty imposed upoYn ooutrhecres.nsure,
for lack of a better word, is noted and will be actHedowoenv.er, Justice Erdsteppe's point is well made.
You dilute the appeals process by bringing before us matters that do not, in fact, constitute an appeal on
behalf of a condemned lethal deviaDnto.
you wish to proceed with such an appeal in this case?"
There was a pause from the viewscreen, then a barely audibl"eNsoig, hM. r. Justice, I do nIot.have seen the reports and, in this case, I concur with your findings."
Keel heard the low grumbling from Carp and Gwynn beside him.
"Perhaps we should meet informally and discuss these matters," he"Wsaoiudl.d that be to your liking, Your Eminence?"
The head nodded slightly, and the voice slurped, "YYeess,. that would be most helpfIulw. ill make arrangements through our officesT.hank you for your time, Committee."
The screen went blank before Keel could respAonmdi.d the mutterings of his colleagues he found himself wondering, What the devil is she upHteo?knew that it must deal with the Mermen somehow,
and the itch between his shoulder blades told him it was more serious than this conversation suggested.
We'll find out how serious soon enough, he thoIufghitt's.
bad, the appointment will be for me alone.
Ward Keel had done a little psychiatric study himself and he was not one to waHste aressoklivlle. d to be particularly attentive to detail when he met later with KareenThAe leC./P's intrusion coincided with the Merman ambassador's appointment too well -- surely more than coincidence.
Actually, I think I'll cancel the appointment, he thought, and make a feTwhiscamllse.eting had best be on my time, on my turf.

How cruel of Ship to leave everything we need circling out of reach above us while this terrible planet
kills us off one by onSeix.
births last nightside, all mutaTntw. o survive.
-- Hali Ekel, the Journals
Feeling the warmth of the suns through the open hatch, Iz Bushka rubbed the back of his neck and
shook himself.It was as close as he could let his body get to a shudder in the presence of Gallow and the other men of this Merman submersible crew.
Pride made me accept Gallow's invitation, Bushka deciPdreide and curiosity -- food for the eHgeo.
thought it odd that someone, even someone as egocentric as Gallow, would want a "personal historian." Bushka felt the need for caution all around him.
The Merman sub they occupied was familiar enoHugeh.had visited aboard Merman subs before when they docked at VashonT. hey were strange craft, all of their equipment hard and unforgiving -- dials and handles and glowing instrumentsA. s a historian, Bushka knew these Merman craft were not much different from those constructed by Pandora's first colonists before the infamous Time of Madness that some called the "Night of Fire."

"Quite a bit different from your Islander subs, eh?" Gallow asked.
"Different, yes," Bushka said, "but similar enough that I could run it."
Gallow cocked an eyebrow, as if measuring Bushka for a differen"It subs once," Gallow said".They stink."
wsuaits. on one of your Islander
Bushka had to admit the organics that formed and powered Islander submersibles did give off a certain odor reminiscent of sewageI.t was the nutrient, of course.
Gallow sat at the sub's controls to one side and ahead of Bushka, holding the craft steady on the surface. The space around them was larger than anything Bushka had seen in an IslanBdeurt shueb.had to
avoid bumping into hard edgeBs.ushka had already collected bruises from hatch rims, seat arms and the handles of compartment doors.
The sea was producing a long swell today, gentle by Islander staJnudsatrdas.little wash and slap against the hull.
They had not been long into this "little excursion," as Gallow called it, before Bushka began to suspect that he was in actual danger -- ultimate danHgeer.had the persistent feeling that these people would kill
him if he didn't measure uApn. d it was left to him to find out what "measuring up" might mean.
Gallow was planning some kind of revolution against the Merman government, that much was clear from
the idle chatter". The Movement," he called
Git.allow and his "Green Dashers" and his Launch Base
One. "All mine," he saiIdt. was so explicit and unmistakable that Bushka felt the ages-old fear that crept up on those who'd dared record history while it happened all down thIet hagades.a sweaty side.
Gallow and his men were revealed as conspirators who had talked too much in the presence of an ex-Islander.
Why did they do that?

It was not because they truly considered him one of their own -- too much innuendo indicated otherwise. And they didn't know him well enough to trust him, even as Gallow's personal hBisutsohrikaan.was
sure of thatT. he answer lay there, obvious to someone of Bushka's training -- all of that historical precedent upon which to draw.
They did it to trap me.
The rest of it was just as obviIofuhs.e were implicated in Gallow's scheme -- whatever that turned out to be -- then he would be Gallow's man forever because it would be the only place heGaclolouwld go. did indeed want a captive historian in his service, and maybe Hmeorwe.anted to go down in history on
his own termsH.
e wanted to be historGy.allow had made it clear that he had researched Bushka --"the
best Islander historian."
Young and lacking some practical experience, that was how Gallow rated him, Bushka realized. Something to be moldedA. nd there was the terrifying attractiveness of that other appeal.
"We are the true humans," Gallow said.
And point by point, he had compared Bushka's appearance to the norm, conc"lYudoiun'rge: one of us. You're not a Mute."
One of usT. here was power in that . . . particularly to an Islander, and particularly if Gallow's conspiracy succeeded.
But I'm a writer, Bushka reminded himsI'emlf. not some romantic character in an adventure story.
History had taught him how dangerous it was for writers to mix themselves up with their characters -- or historians with their subjects.
The sub took an erratic motion and Bushka knew someone must be undogging the exterior hatch.
Gallow asked, "Are you sure that you could run this sub?"

"Of courseT. he controls are obvious."
"Are they, really?"
"I watched youI.slander subs have some organic equivalenAtsn. d I do have a master's rating, Gallow."
"GeLaar, please," Gallow saiHd.e unstrapped himself from the pilot's seat, stood up and moved aside. "We are companions, IzC. ompanions use first names."
Bushka slid into the pilot's seat at Gallow's gesture and scanned the cHonetrpoolsi.nted to them one by one, calling out their functions to Gallo"wTr:im, ballast, propulsion, forward-reverse and throttles, fuel mixture, hydrogen conversion control, humidity injector and atmospheric control -- the meters and
gauges are self-explanatoryM.
ore?"
"Very good, Iz," Gallow sa"idY.ou are even more of a jewel than I had hSotpraepd. in.You are now our pilot."
Realizing he had been drawn even further into Gallow's conspiracy, Bushka oTbheeyefdlu. tter in his stomach increased noticeably.
Again, the sub moved erraticalBlyu. shka flicked a switch and focused a sensor above the exterior hatch. The screen above him showed Tso Zent and behind him, the scarred face of Gulf TNhaoksaenotw. o
were living examples of deceptive lookZse.nt had been introduced as Gallow's primary strategist "and of course, my chief assassin."
Bushka had stared at the chief assassin, taken aback by thZeentittlew. as smooth-skinned and schoolboy-innocent in appearance, until you saw the hard antagonism in his small browTnheyes. wrinkle-free flesh had that soft deceptiveness of someone powerfully muscled by much swimAmn ing.
airfish scar puckered at his necZke.nt was one of those Mermen who preferred the fish to the air tanks
-- an interesting insight.

Then there was Nakano -- a giant with hulking shoulders and arms as thick as some human torsos, his face twisted and scarred by burns from a Merman rocket misfGirainllgo.w had already told Bushka the
story twice, and Bushka got the impression that he'd hear it Nagakaiann.o allowed a few wispy beard
hairs to grow from the tip of his scarred chin; otherwise he was hairless, the burn scars prominent on his scalp, neck and shoulders.
"I saved his life," Gallow had said, speaking in Nakano's presence as though the man were not there. "He will do anything for me."
But Bushka had found evidence of human warmth in Nakano -- a hand outstretched to protect the new companion from fallingT. here was even a sense of humor.
"We measure sub experience by counting bruises," Nakano had said, smilingHsihsyvlyo.ice was husky and a bit slurred.
There was certainly no warmth or humor in Zent.
"Writers are dangerous," he'd said when Gallow explained Bushka's fun"cTtihoeny.
speak out of turn."
"Writing history while it happens is always dangerous business," Gallow a"gBreuetdn. o one else will see what Iz writes until we are ready -- that's an advantage."
It had been at this point that Bushka fully realized the peril of his Tphoesyitiohna.d been in the sub, seventy klicks from the Merman base, anchored on the fringes of a huge kBelopthbeGda. llow and Zent had that irritating habit of speaking about him as though he were not present.
Bushka glanced at Gallow, who stood, back to the pilot's couch, peering out one of the small plazglas ports at whatever it was that Zent and Nakano were making ready ouTt htehegrera. ce and beauty of
Gallow had taken on a new dimension for Bushka, who had marked Gallow's deep fear of disfiguring accidents. Nakano was a living example of what Gallow feared most.
Another chanted notation went into Bushka's "true history," the one he elected to keep only in his mind in

the ages-old Islander fashionM. uch of Islander history was carried in memorized chants, rhythms that projected themselves naturally, phrase by phrasPea.per was fugitive on the Islands, subject to rot, and where could it be stored that the container itself would not Peeartmiat?nent records were confined to plazbooks and the memories of chantePrsl.azbooks were only for the bureaucracy or the very rich. Anyone could memorize a chant.
"GeLaar fears the scars of Time," Bushka chanted to him"Tsiemlfe. death but the dying."
is Age and Age is TimNeo.t the
If only they knew, Bushka thougHhet. brought a notepad from his pocket and scribbled four innocuous lines on it for Gallow's official history -- date, time, place, people.
Zent and Nakano entered the cabin without speakSienag. water slopped all around them as they took
up positions in seats beside BushkTah.ey began a run-through on the sub's sensory apparBatoutsh.
men
moved smoothly and silently, grotesque figures in green-striped, skin-tight dive "sCuaimts.ouflage," had been Gallow's response to Bushka's unasked question when he first saw them.
Gallow watched with quiet approval until the check-list had been run, men said, "Get us under way, Iz. Course three hundred and twenty-five degreeHso. ld us just beneath wave turbulence."
"Check."
Bushka complied, feeling the unused power in the craft as he gentled it into Epnoesrigtiyon.
conservation was second nature to an Islander and he trimmed out as much by instinct as by the instruments.
"Sweet," Gallow commentedH. e glanced at Zen"t.Didn't I tell you?"
Zent didn't respond, but Nakano smiled at Bus"hYkoa.u'll have to teach me how you do that," he said. "So smooth."
"Sure."

Bushka concentrated on the controls, familiarizing himself with them, sensing the minute responses transmitted from water to control surface to his haTnhdes. latent power in this Merman craft was tempting. Bushka could feel how it might respond at full thItruwsto. uld gulp fuel, though, and the hydrogen engines would heat.
Bushka decided he preferred Islander suObsrg. anics were supple, living-warmT.hey were smaller, true, and vulnerable to the accidents of flesh, but there was something addictive about the interdependence, life depending on lifIes.landers didn't go blundering about down undAenr. Islander sub
could be thought of as just big valves and muscle tissue -- essentially a squid without a braBinu,t or guts. it gave a pulsing ride, soothing and noiseless -- none of this humming and clicking and metal throbbing, none of these hard vibrations in the teeth.
Gallow spoke from close to Bushka's "eLare:t's get more moisture in the air,YIozu. out?"
want us all to dry
"Here."Nakano pointed at a dial and alphanumerical readout above Bushka's head on the sloping curve
of the hullA.
red "21" showed on the air-moisture repea"tWer.e like it above forty percent."
Bushka increased humidity in gentle increments, thinking that here was another Merman vulnerability. Unless they became acclimated to topside existence -- in the diplomatic corps or some commercial enterprise -- Mermen suffered from dry air; cracked skin, lung damage, bloody creases in exposed soft tissues.
Gallow touched Zent's shoulde"rG. ive us the mark on Guemes Island."
Zent scanned the navigation instruments while Bushka studied the man furWtivhealty.was this?Why did they want to locate GuemesIt? was one of the poorest Islands -- barely big enough to support ten thousand souls just above the lip of malnutritWionh.y was Gallow interested in it?
"Grid and vector five," Zent sa"iTdw. o eighty degrees, eight kilometersH."e punched a button".Mark."
The navigation screen above them came alight with green them.
glirnieds:squares and a soft blob in one of

"Swing us around to two hundred and eighty degrees, Iz," Gallow"Wsea'ride. going fishing."
Fishing?Bushka wondered.Subs could be rigged for fishing but this one carried none of the usual equipment. He didn't like the way Zent chuckled at Gallow's comment.
"The Movement is about to make its mark on history," Gallow anno"uOnbcseedr.ve and record, Iz."
The Movement, Bushka thoughGt.allow always named it in capital letters and frequently with quotation
marks, as though he saw it already printed in a plazWbohoekn.
Gallow spoke of "The Movement,"
Bushka could sense the resources behind it, with nameless supporters and political influence in powerful places.
Responding to Gallow's orders, Bushka kicked the dive planes out of their locks, checked the range
detectors for obstructions, scanned the trim display and the forward scItreheand.
become almost
automatic. The sub glided into an easy descent as it came around on course.
"Depth vector coming up," Zent said, smiling at BuBshuksah.ka noted the smile in the reflections of the screens and made a mental noZtee.nt must know it irritated a pilot to read his instruments aloud that way
without being askedN.
obody likes being told what they already know.
Cabin air getting sticky, Bushka notHedis.
topside lungs found the high humidity stiflHineg. backed off
the moisture content, wondering if they would object to thirty-five peHrceenlto. cked on course.
"On course," Zent said, still smiling.
"Zent, why don't you go play with yoursBeluf?s"hka asked.He leveled the dive planes and locked them.
"I don't take orders from writers," Zent said.
"Now, boys," Gallow intervened, but there was amusement in his voice.

"Books lie," Zent muttered.
Nakano, wearing the hydrophone headset, lifted one earph"oLnoet.s of activity," he sai"dI. count more than thirty fishing boats."
"A hot spot," Gallow said.
"There's radio chatter from the Island, too," Nakano repo"rAtendd. Islander music."
"Is it any good?" Zent asked.
"No lyrics, but you could dance to it," Nakano said.
Bushka shot a questioning look at Gallow.
What did Nakano mean, he would miss Islander music?
"Steady on course," Gallow said.
music.That's one thing I'll miss --
Zent took over Nakano's headphones and said, "GeLaar, you said Guemes Islanders were damned near floating morons.I thought they didn't have much radio."
"Guemes has lost almost half a kilometer in diameter since I started watching it last year," Gallow said. "Their bubbly's starvingT. hey're so poor they can't afford to feed their Island."
"Why are we here?B"ushka asked."If they only have low-grade radio and malnutrition, what good are

they to The Movement?B" ushka experienced a bad feeling about all tAhisv. ery bad feelingA. re they trying to set me upM? ake the Islander a patsy for some of their dirty work?
"A perfect first demonstration," Gallow sa"iTdh. ey're traditionalists, hard-core fanaticsI.'ll give 'em
credit for one piece of good senWseh. en other Islands suggest it might be time to move down under, Guemes sends out delegations to stop it."
Was that Gallow's secret? Bushka wonderDedid.
he want all the Islanders to stay strictly topside?
"Traditionalists," Gallow repeated".That means they wait for us to build land for Tthheemy . think we
like them so much we'll make them the gift of a couple of conKtieneepntsto. ting that rock, slapping that mud! Plant that kelp!"
The three Mermen laughed and Bushka smiled in respHonesed.idn't feel like smiling at all, but there was nothing else to do.
"Things would go much easier if Islanders would learn to live the way we do," Nakano said.
"All of them?" Zent asked.
Bushka noted a growing tension as Nakano failed to respond to Zent's question.
Presently, Gallow said, "Only the right ones, Gulf."
"Only the right ones," Nakano agreed, but there was no force in his voice.
"Damned religious troublemakers," Gallow blurte"dY.ou've seen the missionaries from Guemes, Iz?"
"When our Islands have been on proximate drifts," Bushka"Asaniyd. excuse for visiting is a good one,

then. Mixing and visiting is a happy time."
"And we're always pulling your little boats out of the sea or giving you a tow," "ZFoenr tthsatidy. ou want us to keep slopping mud!"
"Tso," Gallow said, patting Zent's shoulder, "Iz is one of us now."
"We can't get this foolishness under control any too soon for me," Ze"nTthesraeid's. no reason for anyone to live anywhere but down undWere. 're already set up."
Bushka marked this comment but wondered aHt eit.felt Gallow's hatred of Guemes but the Mermen were saying that everyone should live down under.
Everyone living as rich as the MermTehne?re was some sadness to that thougWhth. at would we lose of the old Islander waysH? e glanced up at Gallow"G. uemes, are we . . . ?"
"It was a mistake to elevate a Guemian to C/P," Gallow"Gsuaeimd.ians never see things our way."
"Island on visual," Zent reported.
"Half speed," Gallow ordered.
Bushka compliedH. e felt the reduction in speed as an easing of the vibration against his spine.
"What's our vertical relationship?" Gallow asked.
"We're coming in about thirty meters below their keel," Zen"tSshaiti!d.They don't even have outwatchers. Look, no small boats at all ahead of their drift."

"It's a wonder they're still in one piece," NakanoBsuasihdk. a caught a wry edge to the statement that he didn't quite understand.
"Set us directly under their keel, Iz," Gallow said.
What are we doing here? Bushka wondered as he obeyed theTohredefro.rward display screen
showed the bulbous lower extremity of Guemes -- a thick red-brown extrusion of bubbly with starved sections streaming from iYt. es, Guemes was in bad conditioTnh.ey were starving essential parts of their Island. Bushka inhaled quick, shallow breaths of the thick moisTt haeir.Merman sub was too close for simple observation.And this was not the way you approached an Island for a visit.
"Drop us down another fifty meters," Gallow ordered.
Bushka obeyed, using the descent propulsion system and automatically adjustingHetrimfe.lt proud that the sub remained straight and level as it setTtlhede. upward display, set wide-angle, showed the entire Island as a dark shadow against the surface lAighrti.ng of small boats dappled its edges like beads in a necklace. Bushka estimated that Guemes was no more than six klicks in diameter at the wHateerpliunte.
the depth at three hundred meteLrso.ng strips of organics floated dreamlike in the currents around the Island. Entire bulkheads of bubbly blackened the surrounding water with deadT-hraottc.hings of thin membranous material patched the holes.
Probably spinneret webbing.
Bushka saw raw sewage pumping out of a valve off to his right, sure evidence that the Guemes nutrient plant had suffered a major breakdown.
"Can you imagine how that place smells?" Zent asked.
"Very nice on a hot day," Gallow said.
"Guemes needs help," Bushka offered.

"And they're going to get it," Zent said.
"Look at all the fish around them," Nakano "sIa'lildb. et the fishing's real good right noHwe." pointed at
the upward display as a giant scrubberfish, almost two meters long, floated past the externaHl aslefnsor. of the fish's whiskers had been nibbled away and the one visible eye socket was empty and white.
"It's so rotten around here that even the scrapfish are dying," Zent said.
"If the Island's this sick, you can bet the people are in sad shape," Nakano added.
Bushka felt his face get red, and pressed his lips shut tight.
"Those boats all around, maybe they're not fishing," Zent"Msaaidy.be they're living on their boats."
"This whole Island is a menace," Gallow
"sTaihde. re must be all kinds of diseases up thTehrer.e's
probably an epidemic in the whole system of organics."
"Who could live in shit and not be sick?" Zent asked.
Bushka nodded to himselHf.e thought he had figured out what Gallow was doing here.
He's brought the sub in close to confirm their desperate need for help.
"Why can't they see the obvious?" Nakano asHke .patted the hull beside hi"mO.ur subs don't need nutrient slopped all over themT.hey don't rot or oxidizTe.hey don't get sick or make us sick . . ."

Gallow, watching the upward display, tapped Bushka's shou"ldDeor.wn another fifteen meters, IWz. e still have plenty of room under us."
Bushka complied and again it was that smooth, steady descent that brought an admiring look from
Nakano.
"I don't see how Islanders can live under those conditZioennst."shook his head".Sweating out weather,
food, dashers, disease -- any one of a hundred mistakes that would send the whole pack of them to the bottom."
"They've made that mistake, now, haven't they, TGsoa?l"low asked.
Nakano pointed at a corner of the upward dis"pTlahye.re's nothing but some kind of membrane where their driftwatch should be."
Bushka looked and saw a dark patch of spinnarett webbing where the large corneal bubble should have been, the observer tucked safely behind it watching for shallows, coordinating with the outwNatochers. driftwatch -- Guemes probably had lost its course-correction system,Tthoeoy. were in terrible
condition! Guemes would probably do anything for the offer of help.
"The corneal bubble has died," Bushka told th"eTmhe. y've patched it over with spinnarett webbing to keep watertight."
"How long do they think they can drift blind before scraping bottom someNpalakcaen?o" There was anger in his voice.
muttered.
"They're probably up there praying like mad for Ship to come help them," Zent sneered.
"Or they're praying for us to stabilize the sea and bring back their precious continents," Gallow said. "And now that we're getting it whipped, they'll be crying about bottoming out on the land we've built. Well, let 'em prayT.hey can pray to usG!"allow reached over Zent's shoulder and flipped a switch.

Bushka scanned the displays -- up, down, forward, aft the sub's complement of tools sprang out of their hull sheaths all glittering and sharp -- deadly.
So that's what Zent and Nakano had been doing out there topside! Iz
Trehaeliyz'ded.been checking
manipulators and mechanical armsB. ushka scanned them once morter:enchers, borers, tampers, cutters,
a swing-boom and the forward heliarc welder on its articulatedTahremy . gleamed brightly in the wash of the exterior lights.
"What are you doing?B"ushka asked.He tried to swallow but his throat was too dry in spite of the humidity.
Zent snorted.
Bushka felt repelled by the look on Zent's face -- a smile that touched only the corners of his mouth, no humor at all in those bottomless eyes.
Gallow gripped Bushka's shoulder with a powerful and painful pre"sTsuarkee.
us up, Iz."
Bushka glanced left and rigNhta. kano was flexing his powerful hands and watching a sensor screen. Zent held a small needle burner with its muzzle carelessly pointed at Bushka's chest.
"Up," Gallow repeated, emphasizing the order with increased pressure on Bushka's shoulder.
"But we'll cut right through them," Bushka Hsaeid.felt his breath pumping against the back of his throat. The awareness of what Gallow intended almost gagged "hTimhe.y won't have a chance without their
Island. The ones who don't drown right away will drift in their boats until they starve!"
"Without the Island's filtration system, chances are they'll die of thirst before they starve," Gallow said. "They'd die anyway, look at theUmp. !"

Zent waved the needle burner casually and pressed his left phone tighter to his ear.
Bushka ignored the needle burner's thre"aOt.r dashers will get them!" he protest"eOd.r a storm!"
"Hold it," Zent said, leaning toward his left earphone while he pressed it"Ih'mardgeert.ting free sonics of some kind . . . a sweeping pulse from the membrane, I thZineknt. s.cr.e"amed and tore the earphone from his headB. lood trickled from his nostrils.
"Take it up, damn youG!"allow shouted.
Nakano kicked the locks off the dive planes and reached across Bushka to blow tThheetasnukbs's. nose tipped upward.
Bushka reacted with a pilot's instincHtse. fed power to the drivers and tried to bring them onto an even keel but the sub was suddenly a live thing, shooting upward toward the dark bottom of Guemes Island. In two blinks they were through the bottom membranes and into the IslandT'shekeseul.b kicked and
twisted as its exterior tools hacked and slashed under the direction of Nakano and ZGeanltloswtil.l sat
bent over, holding his ears with both hanTdhse.
needle burner lay useless in his lap.
Bushka pressed hard against his seatback while he watched in horror the terrible damage being done all around. Anything he did to the controls only added to the destruTcthieoyn. were into the Island center
now, where the high-status Islanders lived, where they kept their most sensitive equipment and organics, their most powerful people, their surgical and other medical facilities . . .
The cold-blooded slashing of blades and cutters continued -- visible in every screen, felt in every lurch of the sub.It was eerie that there could be this much pain and not a single Ssocfrte, almiv.ing tissue was no
match for the hard, sharp edges that the sub intruded into this nightmareEvsecreyneb. ump and twist of
the sub wrought more destructioTn.he displays showed bits and pieces of humanity now -- an arm, a severed head.
Bushka moaned, "They're peopl"eT. hey're people."
Everything he'd been taught about the sanctity of life filled him now with rMebeerlmlioenn.
shared the

same beliefs!How could they kill an entire IslanBdu?shka realized that Gallow would kill him at the first
sign of resistanceA.
glance at Zent showed the man still looking stunned, but the bleeding had stopped
and he had recovered the burnNera. kano worked like an automaton, shuttling power where necessary
as cutters and torches continued their awful havoc in the collapsing its own, turning end for end on a central pivot.
TIshlaends.ub had begun to twist on
Gallow wedged himself into the corner beside Zent, his gaze fixed on the display screens, which showed
Island tissue melting away from the heliarcs.
"There is no Ship!" Gallow exult"eYd.ou see!Would Ship allow a mere mortal to do such a thHineg?" turned emotion-glazed eyes on Bushka at the contr"oIlst.old you!Ship's an artifact, a thing made by
people like usG.
od! There is no God!"
Bushka tried to speak but his throat was too dry.
"Take us back down, Iz," Gallow ordered.
"What're you doing?" Bushka managed.
"I challenge Ship," Gallow sa"idH.as Ship responded?"A wild laugh issued from his throOant.ly Zent joined it.
"Take us down, I said!" Gallow repeated.
Driven by fear, Bushka's pilot-conditioned muscles responded, shifting trim ballast, adjusting planes. And he thoughtI:f we get out fast, some of this Island may suGrveinvtel.y, he maneuvered the sub downward through the wreckage left by its terrible ascPelanzt.ports and screens showed the water around them dim with blood, a dull gray in the harsh illumination from the sub's exterior lights.
"Hold us here," Gallow ordered.

Bushka ignored the command, his gaze intent on the exterior carnage -- inert bodies and pieces of bodies glimpsed in the murRk.aw horror everywhere around himA. little girl's dancing frock with white lace ruffles in an ancient pattern floated past a Bpeohritn. d it could be seen strung out the remnants of
someone's pantry, half a lover's portrait pasted against a remnant stoneoubtloinxe:
of a smile without
eyes. Beyond the sub's hot lights, blood rolled and streamed, a cold gray fog reaching down the currents.
"I said hold us here!" Gallow shouted.
Bushka continued to gentle the sub downwAardw. ell of tears brimmed against his eyelids.
Don't let me cry! he prayDeda.mmit! I can't break down in front of these . . . these . . . No word in his
memory could label what his companions had becoTmheis.
realization burned its change in hTimh.ese
three Mermen were now lethal devianTtsh.ey would have to be brought before the Committee. Judgment must be made.
Nakano reached across Bushka and adjusted the ballast controls to bring the sub's descent to a stop. His eyes looked a warning.
Bushka looked at Nakano through a swim of tears, then shifted his gaze ZteontZestniltl. held his left ear, but he watched Bushka steadily, smiling that cold-liver sHmiislel.ips moved silently":Wait till I get you topside."
Gallow reached across Zent's head to the heliarc controls.
"Take us straight ahead," he orderHede. snapped a polarized shield in place and sighted down the twin snouts of the bow heliarc.
Bushka reached to his shoulder and brought his chest harness into place, snapping it closed at his side. He moved with purpose, which brought a questioning stare from BZeefnotr.e Zent could react, Bushka
kicked loose the dive planes, skewed the control surfaces to starboard and blew the rear ballast tanks while he opened the bow valveTsh.e sub surged over onto its nose and corkscrewed toward the
bottom, spinning faster and fasteNr.akano was thrown to the left by the force of theZesnptinl.ost his needle burner while trying to grab for a supHpoisrt.body was thrown against GalloBwo.th men lay
pinned between hull and control paneOlsn. ly Bushka, strapped in at the center of the spin, could move with relative ease.

"You damn fool!" Gallow shoute"dY.ou'll kill us!"
His right hand moving across the switches methodically, Bushka snapped off the cabin lights and all but the exterior bow lighOt. utside the glow of that one beacon, darkness closed in, surrounding them with a gray murk in which only a few shreds of torn humanity drifted and sank.
"You're not Ship!" Gallow screame"dY.ou hear me, BushkaI?t's just you doing this!"
Bushka ignored him.
"You can't get out of this, Bushka," Gallow sho"uYteodu.'ll have to come up sometime and we'll be there."
He's asking if I mean to kill us all, Bushka thought.
"You're crazy, Bushka!" Gallow shouted.
Bushka stared straight ahead, looking for the first glimpse of bAotttotmhi.s speed, the sub would dig in and make Gallow's warning come truNeo. t even plasteel and plaz could withstand a twisting dive into the rocky bottom, not at this depth and this speed.
"You going to do it, BushkTa?h"at was Nakano, voice loud but level and more than a little admiration in the question.
For answer, Bushka eased the angle of dive but kept the hard spin, knowing his Island-trained equilibrium could better withstand the violent motion.
Nakano began to vomit, gagging and gasping as he tried to clear his throat in the heavy centrifugal

pressure. The stench became a nauseating presence in the cabin.
Bushka keyed his console for display of the sub's gas displaceNmoetantti.ons showed ballast was
blown with CO2H.
is gaze traced out the linked linYese.s . . . exhausted cabin air was bled into the
ballast system . . . conservation of energy.
Gallow had subsided into a low growling protest while he struggled to crawl out against the force of the spin. "Not Ship!Just another damn shit-eaterG. onna kill himN. ever trust Islander."
Following the diagram in front of him, Bushka tapped out the valving sequence on the emergency controls. Immediately, an oxygen mask dropped in front of him from an overhead compaArtmll eontth.er emergency oxygen remained securely in placBeu. shka pressed the mask to his face with one hand while his other hand bled CO2 from the ballast directly into the cabin.
Zent began gasping.
Gallow moaned": Not Ship!"
Nakano's voice gurgled and rasped but the words were "cTlehaer:air!He's . . . going . . . to . . . smother us!"

Justice does not happen by chance; indeed, something that subjective may never have happened at all.
-- Ward Keel, Journal
Maritime Court did not go at all as Queets Twisp had exKpeilcltiendg. a Merman in the nets had never been an acceptable "accident" at sea, even when all the evidence said it was unavTohideabemle.phasis
was always on the deceased and the needs of the surviving Merman Mfamerimlye.n were always
reminding you of all the Islanders they saved every year with their pickup crews and search teams.
Twisp walked the long mural-distorted hallway out of the Maritime offices scratching hBisrehttead. almost skipped along beside him, a wide grin on his face.
"See?" Brett said".I knew we were worried for nothiTngh.ey said it wasn't a Merman in our net -- no
Mermen lost, nobody that wasn't accounted fWore.
didn't drown anybody at all!"
"Wipe that grin off your face!" Twisp said.
"But Queets . . ."
"Don't interrupt me!" he snappe"dI. had my face down there in the net -- I saw theRbeldo.oDda. sher blood's green.Now, didn't it seem to you that they got us out of court too fast?"
"It's a busy place and we're small-tiYmoeu. really see blood?"
"Too much for a few beat-up fish."
said that yourself.B" rett paused, then asked, "Did you

The hallway let them out into the wide third-level perimeter concourse with its occasional viewports opening out onto the surging sea and the spume flyingWpeaasth. er had said there was a fifty-klick wind today with chance of raiTn.he sky hung gray, hiding the one sun that had headed downward into the horizon, the other already gone.
Rain?
Twisp thought Weather had made one of its infrequent eHrriosrsf.isherman's sense said the wind would have to increase before any rain came todHaey. expected sunshine before sunset.
"Maritime has other things to do than worry about every small-timBere.tt. b.r"oke off as he saw the bitter expression on Twisp's face.
"I mean . . ."
"I know what you meaWn!e're really small-time nowL.osing that catch cost me everythindge:pth gear, nets, new stunshield charges, food, the scull . . ."
Brett was almost breathless trying to keep up with the older man's longer, firme"rBsutrtidwees. can make another start if . . ."
"How?" Twisp asked with a toss of one long"Iarcman. 't afford to outfit uYso. u know what they'll advise me in Fisherman's HalSl?ell my boat and go back to the subs as a common crewman!"
The concourse widened into a long raTmhpe.y walked down without speaking and out onto the wide second-level terrace with its heavily cultivated truck gardMenas.zelike access lanes crooked their way to the high railing overlooking the wider first leAvesl.they emerged, gaps began to appear in the overcast and one of Pandora's suns made liars out of the meteorologists at WIetabthaetrh.ed the terrace in a welcome yellow light.
Brett pulled at Twisp's sleev"eQ.ueets, you wouldn't have to sell the boat if you got a loan and --"

"I've got loans up to here!" Twisp said, touching his"In'decjku.st cleared my accounts when I brought you on.I won't go through that agaiTnh!e boat goesT. hat means I have to sell your contract."
Twisp sat on a mound of bubbly at the rail and looked out overThthee wsienad. -speed was dropping
fast, just as he'd expecteTd.he surge at the rim of the Island was still high but the spume shot straight up now.
"Best fishing weather we've had in a long time," Brett said.
Twisp had to admit this was true.
"Why did Maritime let us off so eaTsyw?i"sp muttered."We had a Merman in the nEevt.en you know that, kid.Something funny's going on."
"But they let us off, that's the important tIhitnhgo.ught you'd be happy about it."
"Grow up, kid.T"wisp closed his eyes and leaned back against theHreailf.elt the cool water breeze against his neckT. he sun was hot on his heTado.o many problems, he thought.
Brett stood directly in front of Tw"iYspo.u keep telling me to grow Iutp.looks to me like you could do some growing up yourselfI.f you'd only get a loan and --"
"If you won't grow up, kid, then shut up."
"It couldn't have been a tripod fish in the net?" Brett persisted.
"No way!There's a different feeTl.hat was a Merman and the dashers got hTimw.i"sp swallowed."Or
her. Up to something, too, from the look of thinWgsit."hout changing his position against the rail, Twisp listened to the kid shift from foot to foot.

"Is that why you're selling the boat?" Brett a"sBkeedc.ause we accidentally killed a Merman who was where he wasn't supposed to bYe?ou think the Mermen will be out to get you now?"
"I don't know what to think."
Twisp opened his eyes and looked up at BTrheett.kid had narrowed his overly large eyes into a tight squint, his gaze steady on Twisp.
"The Merman observers at Maritime didn't object to the court's decision," Brett said.
"You're right," Twisp saiHd.e jerked a thumb upward toward the Maritime off"icTehse.y're usually ruthless in cases like thiIs.wonder what we saw . . . or almost saw."
Brett moved to one side and plopped himself onto the bubbly besideTThweyispli.stened for a time to the thlup-thlup-thlup of waves against the Island's rim.
"I expected to be sent down under," Twisp "sAaindd.
you with meT.hat's what usually happensY. ou
go to work for the dead Merman's famAilnyd.
you don't always come back topside."
Brett grunted, then":They'd have sent me, not yoEuv.erybody knows about my eyes, how I can see when it's almost darkT.he Mermen would want that."
"Don't give yourself airs, kMid.ermen are damned cautious about who they let into their gene pool. They call us Mutes, you knoAwn. d they don't mean something nice when they saWy ei'rt.e mutants,
kid, and when we go down under it's to fill a dead man's dive suit . . . nothing else."
"Maybe they didn't want this job filled," Brett said.
Twisp tapped a fist on the resilient organics of th"eOr itlh.ey didn't want anybody from topside to

know what that Merman's job was."
"That's crazy!"
Twisp did not responTd.hey sat quietly for a while as the lone sun dipped Glolwanecri.ng over his shoulder, Twisp stared at the horizoInt .bent away in the distance to a bank of black sky and water. Water everywhere.
"I can get us outfitted," Brett said.
Twisp was startled but remained silent, looking at theBrkeitdt,. too, was staring off at the horizon.
Twisp noticed that the boy's skin had become fisherman-dark, not the sickly pale he had displayed when he first boarded the coraclTe.he kid looked leaner, too . . . and taller.
"Didn't you hear me?B"rett asked."I said --"
"I heard youF.or somebody who pissed and moaned most of the time he was out there fishing, you sound pretty anxious to get back on the water."
"I didn't moan about --"
"Just joking, kid.T"wisp raised a hand to stop the objectio"Dnso.n't be so damned touchy."
His face flushed, Brett looked down at his boots.
Twisp asked, "How would you get this loan?"
"My parents would loan it to me and I'd loan it to you."

"Your parents have money?T"wisp studied the kid, aware that this revelation did not surpriseInhaimll .
the time they'd spent together, though, Brett had never talked about his parents and Twisp discreetly had never asked.Islander etiquette.
"They're close to Center," Brett sa"iNd.ext ring out from the lab and Committee."
Twisp whistled between his tee"thW. hat do your parents do that gets them quarters at Center?"
Brett's mouth turned up in a crooked
"gSrilnu.rry. They made their fortune in shit."
Twisp laughed in sudden awarene"sNs.orton! Brett Norton!Your folks are the Nortons?" "Norton," Brett corrected him"T. hey're a team and they bill themselves as one artist." "Shitpainting," Twisp saidH. e chuckled.
"They were the first," Brett sa"iAd.nd it's nutrient, not shIit's processed slurry."
"So your folks dig shit," Twisp teased.
"Come on!" Brett objecte"dI. thought I got away from that when I left scGhrooowl. up, Twisp!"
"All right, kid," he laughed, "I know what slurrHyeisp."atted the bubbly beside hi"mIt.'s what we feed the Island."
"It's not that simple," Brett sa"iId.grew up with it, so I knIot'ws .scraps from the fish processors, compost from the agraria, table scraps and . . . just about everyHtheingr.i"nned."Including shit.My

mother was the first chemist to figure out how to color the nutrient like they do now without hurting the bubbly."
"Forgive an old fisherman," Twisp sa"iWd.e live with a lot of dead organics, like the membrane on the
hull of my coracleI.slandside, we just pick up a bag of nutrient, mix it with a little water and spread it on our walls when they get a little gray."
"Don't you ever try the colored stuff and make a few of your own murals on your walls?" Brett asked.
"I leave that to the artists like your folks," Twisp"I sadiidn't grow up with it the way youWdhide.n I
was a kid, we only had a bit of graffiti, no piIcttuwreass.
all pretty blanbdr:own on grayW.
e were told
they couldn't introduce other colors because that interfered with absorption by the decks and walls and things. And you know, if our organics die .He. .s"hrugged."How'd your folks stumble onto this?"
"They didn't stumbleM! y mother was a chemist and my father had a flair for Tdehseiygnw. ent out with a wall-feeding crew one day and did a nutrient mural on the radar dome near the slurrTyshiadte wriams . before I was born."
"Two big historical events," Twisp jok"eTdh. e first shit painting and the birth of Brett NorHtoen."
shook his head in mock seriousne"sPs.ermanent work, too, because no painting lasts more than about a week."
Brett spoke defensively".They keep recordsH.
olos and suchS. ome of their friends have worked up
musical scores for the gallery and theater shows."
"How come you left all that?" Twisp as"kBeidg.
money, important friends . . . ?"
"You never had some bigshot pat you on the head and say, 'Here's our new little painter.'"
"And you didn't want that?"

Brett turned his back on Twisp so fast that Twisp knew the kid was hiding so"Hmaevtheinn'tg.I
worked out well enough for you?" Brett asked.
"You're a pretty good worker, kAid.little green, but that's part of the bargain on a new contract."
Brett didn't respond and Twisp saw that the kid was staring at the Maritime mural on the inner wall of the second levelI.t was a big and gaudy mural aglow in the hard light of the setting sun -- everything washed a fine crimson.
"Is that one of their murals?" Twisp asked.
Brett nodded without turning.
Twisp took another look at the painting, thinking of how easy it was these days to walk past the
decorated hallways, decks and bulkheads without even noticing the cSoolomre.
of the murals were
sharply geometric, denying the rounded softness of Islander Flaifme.ous murals, ones that kept Norton in constant, high priced demand, were the great historical pieces barely applied before they began their steady absorption toward the flat gray of hungry wTahlles. Maritime mural was something new in a Norton wall -- an abstraction, a study in crimson and the fluidity of Imt ogtlioown.ed with an internal
power in the low light of the sun, seeming to boil and seethe along its rim like an angry creature or a thunderstorm of blood.
The sun lay almost below the horizon, throwing the sea's surface into the litAtle fidnueskli.ne of double
light skittered across the top of the painting, then the sun dipped below the horizon and they were left with the peculiar afterglow of sunset on Pandora.
"Brett, why didn't your parents buy your contract?" Twisp a"sWkeitdh. you'd have made a fine painter."
your eyesight, it seems to me
The dim silhouette in front of Twisp turned, a fuzzed outline against the lighter background of the mural.
"I never offered my contract for sale," Brett said.

Twisp looked away from Brett, oddly moved by the kid's resIptonwsaes.
as though they suddenly had
become much closer friendsT.he unspoken revelations carried a kind of cement, which sealed all of their shared experiences out on the water . . . out there where each depended on the other for survival.
He doesn't want me to sell his contract, Twisp thoHueghkt.icked himself for being so denIste.wasn't
just the fishingB. rett could get plenty of fishing after his apprenticeship with Queets
Theispc.ontract
had increased in value simply because of that apprenticesThwipis. p sighed.No . . . the kid did not want to be separated from a friend.
"I still have credit at the Ace of Cups," Twisp"Lseati'ds . go get some coffee and . . . whatever . . ."
Twisp waited, hearing the little shufflings of Brett's feet in the growinTghedaIrskl.and's rimlights began their nightly duty -- homing beacons for the time between Tshuensl.ights started with a blue-green phosphorescence of wave tops, bright because the night was warm, then grew even brighter as the organics ignited.Out of the corners of his eyes, Twisp saw Brett wipe his cheeks quickly as the lights came up.
"Hell, we're not breaking up a good team, yet," Twisp"Lseati'sd. go get that coffeeH."e had never before invited the kid to share an evening at the Ace of Cups, although it was well-known as a fisherman's hangout.He stood and saw an encouraging lift to Brett's chin.
"I'd like that," Brett said.
They walked quietly down the gangway and along the passages with their bright blue phosphorescence to light the wayT.hey entered the coffeehouse through the wool-lined arch and Twisp allowed Brett a moment to look around before pointing out the really fancy feature for which the Ace of Cups was known throughout the Islands -- the rimside wFarlol.m deck to ceiling, it was solid wool, a softly curling karakul of iridescent white.
"How do they feed it?" Brett whispered.
"There's a little passageway behind it that they use for stTohraegye.roll the nutrient on from that side."

There were only a few other early drinkers and diners and these paid little attention to the newcomers. Brett ducked his head slightly into his shoulder blades, trying to see everything without appearing to look.
"Why did they choose wool?" Brett askHeed. and Twisp threaded their way through the tables to the rimwall.
"Keeps out noise during storms," Twisp s"aWid.e're pretty close to the rim."
They took chairs at a table against the wall -- both table and chairs made of the same dried and stretched membrane as the coracleBs.rett eased himself into a chair gingerly and Twisp remembered the kid's first time in the coracle.
"You don't like dead furniture," Twisp said.
Brett shrugged". I'm just not used to it."
"Fishermen like iIt.t stays put and you don't have to feeWd hiat.t'll you have?"
Twisp waved a hand toward Gerard, the owner, who lifted head and shoulders from the raised well behind the bar, a questioning look on his enormous hTeuafdts. of black hair framed a smiling face.
"I hear they have real chocolate," Brett whispered.
"Gerard will slip a little boo in it if you ask."
"No . . . no thanks."

Twisp lifted two fingers with the palm of his other hand over them -- the house signal for chocolate -- then he winked once for a dash of boo in hisProewsenn.tly, Gerard signaled back that the order was
ready. All of the regulars knew Gerard's problem -- his legs fused into a single column with two toeless feet. The proprietor of the Ace of Cups was confined to a Merman-made motorized chair, a sure sign of affluence. Twisp rose and went to the bar to collect their drinks.
"Who's the kid?" Gerard asked as he slid two cups across t"hBeoob'asr.in the blue.H" e tapped the blue cup for emphasis.
"My new contract," Twisp sa"idB.rett Norton."
"Oh, yeah?From downcenter?"
Twisp nodded.
"His folks are the shitpainters."
"How come everybody except me knew that?" Twisp asked.
"'Cause, you keep your head buried in a fish tote," GerarHd isairdid.ged forehead drew down and his green eyes twinkled in amusement.
"It's a mystery whatever brought him out to fish," Twisp"IfsaIidb. elieved in luck, I'd say he was bad luck. But he's a damned nice kid."
"I heard about you losing your gear and your catch," Gerar"dWshaaidt'.re you going to do?H"e nodded toward where Brett sat watching the"mH.is folks have money."
"So he says," Twisp saHide.
balanced the cups for his return to the t"aSbele. you."

"Good fishing," Gerard saiIdt. was an automatic response and he frowned when he realized he'd said it to a netless fisherman.
"We'll see," Twisp said and returned to the tHabelen.oted that the action of the deck underfoot had picked up slightlyC. ould be a storm coming.
They sipped quietly at their chocolate and Twisp felt the boo settling hisFrnoemrvesso. mewhere in the quarters behind the counter someone played a flute and someone else tapped out a back-up on water drums.
"What were you two talking about?" Brett asked.
"You."
Brett's face flushed noticeably under the dim lights of the coffee"hWouhsaet. saying?"
. . . what were you
"Seems everybody but me knew about you being from downcTenhtaetr's. furniture."
"I got used to the coracle," Brett said.
why you don't like dead
"Not everybody can afford organics . . . or wants them," Twis"pIt scaoidst.s a lot to feed good
furniture. And organics don't make the best small boats because they can go wild when they get into a school of fishT. he subs are specially designed to prevent that."
Brett's mouth began to twitch into a sm"Yiloe.u know, when I first saw your boat and heard you call it a coracle, I thought 'coracle' meant 'carcass.'"
They both laughed, Twisp a little unsteadily from the boo.

Brett stared at him"Y. ou're drunk."
Mimicking Brett's tone, Twisp said, "Kid, I am getting dowright inebIriamteady. even have another boo."
"My folks do that after an art show," Brett said.
"And you didn't like it," Twisp s"aWid.ell, kid, I am not your folks -- neither one of 'em."
A hooter went off just outside the Ace of Cups hatcThhweayw. all pulsed with the blast of sound.
"Wavewall!" Brett shouted".Can we save your boat?B"rett was already up and headed out of the coffeehouse in a press of pale-faced fishermen.
Twisp lurched to his feet and followed, motioning to Gerard not to dog thTehehadtcehc.k outside
already was awash from a few low breakTehrse.
passage was filled with people lurching and splashing
toward hatchways.Twisp shouted at Brett's retreating back far up the passage, N"Koidti!me!Get inside!"
Brett didn't turn.
Twisp found an extruded safety line and worked himself along it out ontoLtihgehtrsimg.lared out there, throwing high contrast onto scurrying people, contorted faPceo.ple were shouting all around, calling
out names.Brett was out on the fishboat slip tossing equipment into the coracle's cubby and lashing it down. As Twisp came up to him, Brett lashed a long line to the coracle's boTwhecwleaint.d howled
across them now and waves were breaking over the outer bubbly of the slip, filling the normally protected lagoon with frothing white water.
"We can sink it and haul it up later!" Brett shouted.

Twisp joined him, thinking that the kid had learned this lesson from listening to some of the old-timers.
Sometimes it worked and certainly it was the only chance they had to save theAclloraalcolneg.
the slip,
other boats had been sunk, their lines dipping down shaTrpwliys.p found a store of ballast rocks near
the slip and began passing the heavy load to Brett, who tossed them into was almost awashB. rett jumped in and lashed a cover over the ballast.
"Open the valves and jump!" Twisp yelled.
Tthhee bfoivaet.-meter craft
Brett reached under the loaAd. strong jet of water pulsed up from the boTttowmis.p reached a long
arm toward Brett just as the wavewall itself swept over the lagoon and crashed into the side of the sinking coracle.Brett's outstretched fingertips grazed Twisp's hand as the coracle went uTnhdeerl.ine to
the bow, passing across Twisp's right arm, played out in a weTtwhisisps.grabbed it, burning his palms, yelling: "Brett! Kid!"
But the lagoon was a boil of white rage and two other fishermen grabbed him and forced him, soaked and still shouting, down the passage and through the hatch into the Ace oGfeCraurdp,s.in his motorized
chair, dogged the hatch against the incoming sea behind them.
Twisp clawed at the resilient wo"oNl.o! The kid's still out there!"
Someone forced a warm drink of almost pure boo against hTisheliplisq. uid gushed into his mouth and
he swallowed.The liquor washed through him in a soothing blanknBeusts.it did not drive away the tingle of Brett's fingertips grazing his own.
"I almost had him," Twisp moaned.

Space is mankind's natural habitAat. planet, after all, is an object in spIacbee.lieve humans have a natural drive to be mobile in space, their true habitat.
-- Raja Thomas, the Histories
The image caught on the small stretched sheet of organics was that of a silvery tube flying through the sky. The tube had no wings or any other visible means of suOpnployrt.that orange glow from one end,
pale fire against the silver and blue of Pandora'sTshkey.process that had caught the image was fugitive and the colors already had begun to fade.
Ward Keel was held as much by the beauty of it as by its unique impImlicaagteiosnsm. ade this way
were a much-loved art form among Islanders, relying on the light-sensitivity of organisms that could be made to adhere in a thin layer on the stretched orgPanicitcusr.es on this preparation formed by exposure through a lens were admired as much for their fleeting existence as for their intrinsicThbiseaiumtya.ge,
however, in spite of its exquisite play of colors and composition, was deemed by its creator to possess holy significance.
Was that not Ship or an artifact from Ship?
The man was reluctant to part with his creation, but Keel used the power of his position to silence argument. He did this kindly and without hurry, relying chiefly on delay -- long and convoluted sentences with many references to trust and the well-being of the Islands, frequent pauses and silent noddings of his massive head.Both of them were aware that the picture was fading and before long would be a flat gray surface ready for renewal and the capture of another imTahgee.man left finally, unhappy but resigned --
a thin, spindly-legged fellow with too-short armAsn. artist, though, Keel had to admit.
It was early on a warm day and Keel sat a moment in his robes, enjoying the breeze that played through the vent system in his quarteJros.y had straightened some of the rumpled disarray around him before

leaving, smoothing the covers on his couch and arranging his clothing across a translucent plaz sling-chair. The matching table surface in front of him still bore the remains of the breakfast she had fixed for them -- squawk eggs and mureeK. eel pushed the plate and chopsticks aside and put the stretched sheet with its
odd image flat on the tabHlee.
stared at it a moment longer, thinkPinrges. ently, he nodded to himself
and called the chief of Inner-Island Security.
"I'll send a couple of people down in two hours," the ma"nWsea'lildg. et right on it."
"Two hours is not getting right on it," Keel"Tsahied.image will be almost faded out by then."
The deeply lined face on the viewscreen frowTnhede. man started to speak, then thought better of it. He rubbed his fleshy nose with a thick finger and lifted hiTs hgeazceh. ief appeared to be reviewing data from a source out of Keel's sight.
"Mr. Justice," he said, presently, "someone will meet you in a few mWinhuetre .will you be?"
"In my quartersI. presume you know where that is."
The chief flushed".Of course, sir."
Keel switched off, regretting his sharpness with SecuTrihteyy.
were irritating, but his reaction had come
from thoughts aroused by that fading imaIgtew.
as a disturbing thinTg.he artist who had captured the
image of that object in the sky had not taken it to thEevidCe/nPc.e of Ship's return, the man thought, but he had taken it to the Chief Justice.
What am I supposed to do about it? Keel wondBeuret dI. didn't call the C/P, either.
Simone Rocksack would resent this, he knHewe . would have to call her soon, but first . . . a few other matters.
The water drum at his door thrummed once, twice.

Security here already? he wondered.
Taking the fading image of the thing in the sky, Keel walked through the hatchway into his main room, sealing off the kitchen area as he pasSseodm. e Islanders resented those who ate privately, those whose affluence removed them from the noisy, crowded press of the mess halls.
At the entrance to his quarters he touched the sense membrane and the responsive organics expanded, revealing Kareen Ale standing in the arched openSinhge. gave a nervous start as she saw him, then
smiled.
"Ambassador Ale," he said, momentarily surprised at his own formTahliety. had been Kareen and Ward off the debate floor for several seasons nSoowm.ething about her nervous posture, though, said this was a formal visit.
"Forgive my coming to your quarters without warning," she"Bsauitd.we have something to discuss, Ward."
She glanced at the image in his hand and nodded, as though it confirmed something.
Keel stood aside for her to enHteer. sealed the door against casual entry and watched Ale choose a seat and sink into it without invitatiAons. always, he was conscious of her beauty.
"I heard about that," Ale said, gesturing at the stretched sheet of organics in his hand.
He lifted the image and glanced a"tYiot.u came topside because of this?"
She held her face motionless for an instant, then shru"gWgeed.monitor a number of topside activities," she said.

"I've often wondered about your spy system," he "sIaiadm.
beginning to distrust you, Kareen."
"What is making you attack me, Ward?"
"This is a rocket, is it noHte?" waved the image at h"eAr.
Merman rocket?"
Ale grimaced, but did not seem surprised that Keel had guessed.
"Ward, I would like to take you back down under wiLthet'ms ec.all it an instructional visit."
She had not answered his question but her attitude was sufficient admWishsiaotnev. er was going on, the
Mermen wanted the mass of Islanders and the religious community left ouKt eoefl after the hyb tanksW! hy was the C/P not asked to bless this enterprise?"
int.odded."You're
"There were those among us .S.he." shrugged."It's a political matter among the leading Mermen."
"You want another Merman monopoly," he accused.
She looked away from him without answering.
"How long would this instructional visit require?" he asked.
She stood". Perhaps a weekP. erhaps longer."
"What subject matter will be covered by this instructional visit?"

"The visit itself will have to answer that for you."
"So I'm to prepare myself for an indefinite visit down under whose purpose you will not reveal until I get there?"
"Please trust me, Ward."
"I trust you to be loyal to Merman interests," he said, "just as I'm loyal to the Islanders."
"I swear to you that you will come to no harm."
He allowed himself a grim smWileh. at an embarrassment it would be to the Mermen if he died down under! And it could happenT.he medics had been indefinite about the near side of the death sentence they had passed on Chief Justice Ward Keel.
"Give me a few minutes to pack my kit and turn over my more urgent responsibilities to others," he said.
She relaxed". Thank you, WardY. ou will not regret this."
"Political secrets always interest me," he sHaied.reminded himself to take a fresh tablet for his journal. There would be things to record on this instructional visit, of that he wasWceorrtdasin.on plaz and
chants in his memoryT.his would be action, not speculative philosophy.

A planet-wide consciousness died with the kelp and with it went the beginnings of a collective human conscience. Was that why we killed the kelp?
-- Kerro Panille's Collected Works
Shadow Panille's thickly braided black hair whipped behind him as he ran down the long corridor
toward Current ControlO.
ther Mermen dodged aside as he passTedh.ey knew Panille's jobW. ord
already had spread through the central complex -- unspecified trouble with a majorBIisglatnrdo.uble.
At the double hatch of Current Control, Panille did not pause to regain hiHs ebruenadtho.gged the
outer hatch, ducked through and sealed the outer latch with one hand while spinning the dog for the inner hatch with his other hanDd.efinitely against Procedural Orders.
He was into the hubbub of Current Control then, a place of low illumLionnagtiobna.nks of instruments and displays glowed and flashed against two wCalCls'.s activity and the displays told him immediately that his people were in the throes of a cErigihs.t screens had been tuned to remotes showing dark blotches of sea bottom strewn with torn bubbly and other Island dSeubrfraisc.e monitors scanned decrepit scatterings of small boats, all of them overcrowded with survivors.
Panille took a moment trying to assess what heTshaews.mall craft bobbed amidst a wide, oily expanse of flotsam.The few Islander faces he saw showed dull shock and hopelesHsneescso. uld see many
injured among the survivorsT.hose able to move attempted to staunch blood flowing from jagged slashes in flesh.Some of the injured twisted and writhed from the effects of high-temperatureAblluronfs.the
small craft drifted nearly awasOh.ne had been piled with bodies and pieces of boAdnieso. lder woman
with gray hair and stubby arms was being restrained in a long coracle, obviously to prevent her from throwing herself into the seTa.here was no sound with the transmission but Panille could see that she was screaming.
"What happened?" Panille demande"dA. n explosion?"

"It may have been their hydrogen plant, but we're not sure yet."
That was Lonson, Panille's daywatch number two, at the central coLnosnosleo.n spoke without turning.
Panille moved closer to the center of acti"vWityh.ich Island?"
"Guemes," Lonson said".They're pretty far out, but we've alerted Rescue and the pickup teams in their area. And as you can see we've lifted scanners from the bottom."
"Guemes," Panille said, recalling the last watch reHpoorut.rs away even with the fastest rescue subs. "What time are we estimating for arrival of the first survivors?"
"Tomorrow morning at the earliest," Lonson said.
"Dammit!We need foils, not rescue subs!" Panille s"aHida.ve you asked for them?"
"First thingD. ispatcher said they couldn't be spareSdp.ace Control has priority.L"onson grimaced. "They would have!"
"Easy does it, LonsoWn. e'll be asked for a report, that's sFurined. scene can spare people to interrogate the survivors."
"You afraid Guemes may have bottomed out?" Lonson asked.
out if the first rescue team on the
"No, it's got to be something eSlsheip. ! What a mess!"Panille's straight mouth drew into a tight lHinee. rubbed at the cleft in his ch"iAn.ny estimate yet on the number of survivors?"

A young woman at the computer-record center said, "It looks like fewer than a thousand."
"Their last census was a little over ten thousand," Lonson said:
Nine thousand dead?
Panille shook his head, contemplating the monumental task of collecting and disposing of that many bodies. The bodies would have to be removTedh.ey contaminated Merman spaceA. nd when they
floated, they could only encourage dashers and other predators to new heights of aggPreasnsiilloen.
shuddered. Few things were more upsetting to Mermen than going out for a sledge job and running into dead, bloated Islanders.
Lonson cleared his throa"tO. ur last survey says Guemes was poor and losing bubbly around its rimline."
"That couldn't account for this," Panille sHaied.scanned the location monitor for the coordinates of the tragedy and the approaching lines of rescue cr"aMftu. ch too deep for them to have bottomed Itout. must've been an explosion."
Panille turned to his left and walked slowly down the line of displays, peering over the shoulders of his operators. As he paused and asked for special views, operators zoomed in or back.
"That Island didn't just fall apart," Panille said.
"It looks as though it was torn apart and burned," an operato"Wr shaaitd.in Ship's teeth happened out there?"
"The survivors will be able to tell us," Panille said.
The main access behind Panille hissed open and Kareen Ale slipped thPraonuigllhe. scowled at her reflection in a dark screeOn.f all the dirty turns of faTteh!ey had to send Ale for his first repTohret!re

had been a time when .W. e.ll, that was past.
She came to a stop beside Panille and swept her gaze along the Pdainspilllaey.saw the shock sweep over her features as the evidence on the screens registered.
Before she could speak, he said, "Our first estimates say we'll have at least nine thousand bodies to collect. And the current is setting them into one of our oldest and largest kelp plaInt'tlaltiboensh. ell itself getting them out of there."
"We had a sonde report from Space Control," she said.
Panille's lips shaped into a soundless ahhh-hHaahd!
she been notified as a member of the diplomatic
corps or as a new director of Merman MercanAtilned? did it make any difference?
"We've been unable to tune in any sonde reports," Lonson said, speaking from across the room.
"It's being withheld," Ale said.
"What does it show?" Panille asked.
"Guemes collapsed inward and sank."
"No explosion?"Panille was more startled by this than by the revelation that the sonde report was being withheld. Sonde reports could be suppressed for many reasoBnust. Islands as big as Guemes did not
just collapse abruptly and sink!
"No explosion," Ale sai"dJ.ust some kind of disturbance near the Island ceGntueer.mes broke up and most of it sank."

"It probably rotted apart," the operator in front of Panille said.
"No way," Panille saiHd.e pointed to the screens showing the maimed survivors.
"Could a sub have done that?" Ale asked.
Panille remained silent, shocked by the import of her question.
"Well?" Ale insisted.
"It could have," Panille sa"idB.ut how could such an accident . . ."
"Don't pursue it," Ale sa"idF.or now, forget that I asked."
There was no mistaking the command in her vTohicee.grim expression on Ale's face added a bitterness to the orderI.t sent a pulse of anger through PanWilleh.at had that suppressed sonde view shown?
"When will we get the first survivors in here?" Ale asked.
"About daybreak tomorrow," Panille sa"idB.ut I've asked for the first rescue team to assign interrogators. We could have --"
"They are not to report on an open frequency," Ale said.
"But --"
"We will send out a foil," she
Ssahied. crossed to the communications desk and issued a low-voiced

order, then returned to Panill"eR. escue subs are too slowW. e must act with speed here."
"I didn't know we had the foils to spare."
"I am assigning new priorities," Ale sSahide.
moved back one step and addressed the room at large.
"Listen, everyone.This has happened at a very bad tiImhea. ve just brought the Chief Justice down under. We are engaged in very delicate negotiatioRnus.mors and premature reports could cause great trouble. What you see and hear in this room must be kept in thisNoroostmor.ies outside."
Panille heard a few muttered grumblinEgvs.eryone here knew Ale's power, but it said something about the urgency of the situation that she would give orders on hAisletuwrfas a diplomat, skilled at
cushioning the distasteful.
"There're already rumors," Panille sa"idI. heard talk in the corridors as I came over."
"And people saw you running," Ale said.
"I was told it was an emergency."
"Yes . . . no matBteur.t we must not feed the rumors."
"Wouldn't it be better to announce that there's been an Island tragedy and that we're bringing in survivors?" Panille asked.
Ale moved close to him and spoke in a low "vWoiec'ere.
preparing an announcement, but the wording .
. . delicateT. his is a political nightmare . . . and coming at such Iat mtimuset. be handled properly."
Panille inhaled the sweet odor of the scented soap Ale used, touching off mHeme opriuessh. ed such thoughts aside.She was right, of course.

"The C/P is from Guemes," Ale reminded him.
"Could Islanders have done this?" he asked.
"Possibly.There's widespread resentment of Guemes fanaticisSmti.ll . . ."
"If a sub did that," Panille said, "it was one oIfsloanudrse.r subs don't carry the hardware to do that kind of damageT. hey're just fishermen."
"Never mind whose sub," she sa"iWd.ho would order such an atrocitAy?nd who would carry it out?" Ale once more studied the screens, an expression of deep concern on her face.
She's convinced it was a sub, Panille thouTghhatt. One of our subs for sure!
sonde report must've been dangerously revealing.
He began to sense the far-reaching political whipGlaushe.mes! Of all places!Islanders and Mermen maintained an essential interdependency, which the Guemes tragedy could disIrsulapnt.der hydrogen,
organically separated from sea-water, was richer and purer . . . and the impending space shot increased the demand for the purest hydrogen.
Movement visible through the plaz port drew Panille's dazed and wandering attAentfiuolnl . squad of Mermen swam by towing a hydrostatically balanced sledTghee.ir dive suits flexed like a second skin, showing the powerful muscles at work.
Dive suits, he thought.
Even they were a potential for trouIbsllea.nders made the best dive suits, but the market was controlled by Mermen.Islander complaints about price controls carried little weight.
Ale, seeing where he directed his attention, and apparently divining his thoughts, gestured toward the

new kelp planting visible out the plaz p"oTrht.at's only part of the problem."
"What?"
"The kelpW.
ithout Islander agreement, the kelp project will slow almost to a stop."
"Secrecy was wrong," Panille sa"idIs.landers should've been brought in on it from the first."
"But they weren't," Ale sa"idA.nd as we expose more land masses above the surfaceSh.e. ." shrugged.
"The danger that Islands will bottom out increases," Panille"Isakidn.ow.This is Current Control, remember?"
"I'm glad you understand the political dangers," she "sIaihdo. pe you impress this upon your people."
"I'll do what I can," he said, "but I think it's already out of hand."
Ale said something too low for Panille to Hhe rb.ent even closer to h"eIr. didn't hear that."
"I said the more kelp the more Tfihshat.
benefits Islanders, too."
Oh, yes, Panille thoughTt.he movements of political control made him increasingly cynIitcawl.as too
late to stop the kelp project absolutely, but it could be slowed and the Merman dream delayed for generations. Very bad politics, thaNt. o . . . the benefits had to be there for all Etvoersyeteh.ing focused
on the kelp and the hyb tanFkisr.st recover the hyb tanks from orbit, and then deal with the dreamers. Panille saw the practicalities, recognizing that politics must deal in the practical while speaking mainly of dreams.

"We'll do the practical thing," he said, his voice almost a growl.
"I'm sure you will," Ale said.
"That's what Current Control is all about," he "sIaiudn. derstand why you emphasize the kelp project to me. No kelp -- no Current Control."
"Don't be bitter, Shadow."
It was the first time since entering Current Control that she had used his first name, but he rejected the implied intimacy.
"More than nine thousand people died out there," he said, his voi"cIef loonwe. of our subs did it . . ."
"Blame will have to be placed squarely," she "sTahide.re can be no doubts, no questions . . ."
"No question that Islanders did it," he said.
"Don't play games with me, ShadoWwe.
both know there are many Mermen who will look upon the
destruction of Guemes as a benefit to all Pandora."
Panille glanced around Current Control, taking in the intent backs of his people, the way they concentrated on their work while appearing not to listen to this charged converTshaetiyonh. eard,
though. It dismayed him that even here would be some who agreed with the sentiment Ale had just exposed. What had been up to now just late-night scuttlebutt, cafe chatter and idle stories took on a new dimension. He felt this realization as an unwanted maturation, like the death of aCpraureelnrt.eality no
longer could be ignoredI.t startled him to recognize that he had entertained dream fancies about the essential good will underlying human interactions . . . until just momenTtsheagaow. akening angered him.
"I'm going to find out personally who did that," he said.

"Let's pray it was a horrible accident," she said.
"You don't believe that and neither doHeI."sent his gaze across the awful testimony of those flickering
screens. "It was a big sub -- one of our S-twenties or scattering layer?"
"There's nothing definite in the sonde report."
"That's what it did, then."
Dlairdgeirt. dive deep and escape under the
"Shadow, don't make trouble for yourself," Ale
"sIa'imd. speaking as a frienKd.eep your suspicions to
yourself . . . no rumor-spreading outside this room."
"This is going to be very bad for business," he"I sauindd.erstand your concern."
She stiffened and her voice took on a coldly clipped q"uIalmityu.st go and get ready to receive the survivors. I will discuss this with you lateSrh."e turned on one heel and left.
The hatch sealed with a soft hiss behind him and Panille was left with the memory-image of her angry back and the sweet scent of her body.
Of course she had to go, he thouAglhet.was a medic and every available medic would be called up in this emergency.But she was more than a medPiocl.itics! Why did every political crisis have the stink of merchants hovering around it?

Consciousness is the Species-God's gift to the individCuoanl.science is the Individual-God's gift to the species. In conscience you find the structure, the form of consciousness, the beauty.
-- Kerro Panille, "Translations from the Avata," the Histories
"She dreams me," Duque saHidi.s voice came strongly from the shadows at the edge of the great organic tub that he shared with Vata.
A watcher ran to summon the C/P.
Indeed, Vata had begun to dreaTmh.ey were specific dreams, part her own memories, part other memories she inherited from the keAlpv. ata memories.These latter included human memories acquired through the kelp's hylighter vector, and other human memories gained he knew not how . . . but there was death and pain involveTd.here were even Ship memories, and these were strangest oNfoanlel. of
this had entered a human awareness in quite this way for generations.
Ship!Duque thought.
Ship moved through the void like a needle through wrinkled fabric -- in at one place, out far away, and all in a blinkS.hip once had created a paradise planet and planted humans on its surface, demanding:
"You must decide how you will WorShip me!"

Ship had brought humans to Pandora, which was not a paradise, but a planet almost entirely seas, and those waters moved by the unruly cycles of two Asunpsh. ysical impossibility, had Ship not doneAlilt.
this Duque saw in the flashing jerks of Vata's dreams.
"Why did Ship bring its humans to me?" Avata had asked.
Neither humans nor Ship answereAdn. d now Ship was gone but humans remainAendd.
the new kelp,
that was Avata, now had nothing but a toehold in the sea and its dreams filled Duque's awareness.
Vata dreamed endlessly.
Duque experienced her dreams as vision-plays reproduced upon his seHneseks.new their source. What Vata did to him had its own peculiar flavor, always identifiable, never to be denied.
She dreamed a woman called Waela and another called HaliTEhekeHl. ali dream disturbed DuquHe.e felt the reality of it as though his own flesh walked those paths and felt thoItsewpaasinSsh. ip moving him through time and other dimensions to watch a naked man nailed to a croDssupqiueecek. new it was
Hali Ekel who saw this thing but he could not separate himself from her expWerhieyncdei.d some of the spectators spit on him and some weep?
The naked man raised his head and called"Foautth:er forgive them."
Duque felt it as a curTsoe. forgive such a thing was worse than demanding revTenogeb.e forgiven such an act -- that could only be more terrible than a curse.
The C/P arrived in the Vata roEomve.n her bulky robes and long strides couldn't disguise the fine
curves of her slim hips and ample breaHstesr.
body was doubly distracting because she was C/P, and
because she was imprisoned inside that Guemian fSachee. knelt above Duque and the room immediately went silent except for the gurgle of the life-support systems.
"Duque," the C/P said, "what occurs?"

"It is real," Duque saHidi.s voice came out strained and troubl"eIdt. happened."
"What happened, Duque?s"he asked.
Duque sensed a voice far away, much farther away than the Hali EkelHderefaemlt .Hali's distress, he
felt the ancient flesh she wore for Ship's excursion to that hill of terrible crosses; he felt Hali's puzzlement.
Why were they doing this thinWg?hy did Ship want me to see this?
Duque felt both questions as his oHwen. had no answers.
The C/P repeated her deman"dW: hat happened, Duque?"
The faraway voice was an insect buzzing in hiHs eeawr.anted to slap it.
"Ship," he said.
A gasp arose from the watchers, but the C/P did not move.
"Is Ship returning?" the C/P asked.
The question enraged DuquHe.e wanted to concentrate on the Hali Ekel dreIfamon. ly they would leave him alone, he felt he might find answers to his questions.
The C/P raised her voic"eIs:
Ship returning, DuqueY? ou must answer!"

"Ship is everywhere!" Duque shouted.
His shout extinguished the Hali Ekel dream completely.
Duque felt anguishH. e had been so closJeu! st a few more seconds . . . the answers might have come.
Now, Vata dreamed a poet named Kerro Panille and the young Waela woman of that earlier dream. Her face merged with drifting kelp, but her flesh was hot against Panille's flesh and their orgasm shuddered through Duque, driving away all other sensations.
The C/P turned her protuberant red eyes toward the watcHheerrse. xpression was stern.
"You must say nothing of this to anyone," she ordered.
They nodded agreement, but already some among them were speculating on who might share this revelation -- just one trusted friend or loIvterw. as too great a thing to contain.
Ship was everywhere!
Was Ship in this very room in some mysterious way?
This thought had occurred to the C/P and she asked it of Duque, who lay half somnolent in postcoital relaxation.
"Everywhere is everywhere," Duque muttered.
The C/P could not question such loSghice. peered fearfully around her into the shadows of the Vata

room. The watchers copied her questioning examination of their surroundiRnegms.embering the utterance that had been repeated to her when she had been summoned, the C/P"Washkoedd:reams you, Duque?"
"Vata!"
Vata stirred sluggishly and the murky nutrient rippled around her breasts.
The C/P bent close to one of Duque's bulbous ears and spoke so low that only the closest watchers heard and some of them did not hear it correctly.
"Does Vata waken?"
"Vata dreams me," Duque moaned.
"Does Vata dream of Ship?"
"Yesssss."He would tell them anything if only they would go away and leave him to these terrible and wonderful dreams.
"Does Ship send us a message?" the C/P asked.
"Go away!" Duque screamed.
The C/P rocked back on her he"eIlss.that Ship's message?"
Duque remained silent.

"Where would we go?" the C/P asked.
But Duque was caught up in Vata's birth-dream and the moaning voice of Waela, Vata's"Mmyother:
child will sleep in the sea."
Duque repeated it.
The C/P groanedD. uque had never before been this specific.
"Duque, does Ship order us to go down under?" she demanded.
Duque remained silenHt. e was watching the shadow of Ship darken a bloody plain, hearing Ship's inescapable voice:"I travel the Ox Gate!"
The C/P repeated her question, her voice almost a mBuo
tant.he signs were cleaDr.uque had spoken
his piece and would not respond furthSelro.wly, stiffly the C/P lifted herself to her Sfeheet. felt old and tired, far beyond her thirty-five yeaHrse. r thoughts flowed in confusioWn. hat was the meaning of this message? It would have to be considered with great cTahre. words had seemed so clear . . . yet, might there not be another explanation?
Are we Ship's child?
That was a weighty question.
Slowly, she cast her gaze across the awed watc"hReersm. ember my orders!"
They nodded, but within only a few hours, it was all over VShasiphohna: d returnedV. awakening. Ship had ordered them all to go down under.
ata was

By nightfall, sixteen other Islands had the message via radio, some in garbleTdhefoMrme.rmen, having overheard some of the radio transmissions, had questioned their people among the Vata watchers and sent a sharp query to the C/P.
"Is it true that Ship has landed on Pandora near VaWshhoant?is this talk of Ship ordering the Islanders to migrate down under?"
There was more to the Merman query but C/P Rocksack, realizing that Vata security had been breached, invested herself in her most official dignity and answered just as sharply.
"All revelations concerning Vata require the most careful consideration and lengthy prayer by the
Chaplain/Psychiatrist. When there is a need for you to know, you will be told."
It was quite the curtest response she had ever made to the Mermen, but the nature of Duque's words had upset her and the tone of the Merman message had been almost, but not quite, of a nature to bring down her official reprimandT.he appended Merman observations she had found particularly insulOtinfg.
course she knew there could be no swift and complete migration of Islanders downIt uwndaser! physically impossible, not to mention psychologically inadvisabTlhe.is, more than anything else, had told her that Duque's words required another interpretatiAonn.d once more she marveled at the wisdom of the ancestors in combining the functions of chaplain with those of psychiatrist.
They that go down to the sea in ships,

That do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, And his wonders in the deep.
-- The Christian Book of the Dead
As he fell from the pier, the coracle's bowline whipping around his left ankle, Brett knew he was going under. He pumped in one quick breath before hitting the wHaitserh. ands clawed frantically for
something to hold him up and he felt Twisp's hand rasp beneath his fingers but there was nothing to grip. The coracle, an anchor dragging him down, hit a submerged ledge of bubbly and upended, kicking him toward the center of the lagoon and, for a moment, he thought he waHs esasvuerdf.aced about ten
meters from the pier and, over the howl of the hooters, he heard Twisp callingThteo Ihsilman.d was receding fast and Brett realized the coracle's bowline had broken free of the docksidHe ecahbaluel.ed
in as much air as his lungs could grab and felt the line on his ankle pull him towardDothuebliInsgland.
over underwater, he tried to free himself, but the line had tangled in a knot and his weight was enough to tug the coracle off the bubbly below the Hpieer.felt the line whip taut, dragging him down.
A warning rocket painted the water over him bloody orTahneges.urface appeared flat, the momentary calm ahead of a wavewaRll.oiling water rolled him, the line on his ankle pulled steadily and he felt the pressure increase through his nose and across his chest.
I'm going to drown!
He opened his eyes wide, amazed suddenly at the clarity of his underwater vision -- even better than his
night vision.Dark blues and reds dominated his surroundinTghs.e ache in his lungs increaseHde.
held
the breath tight, not wanting to let go of that last touch with life, not wanting that first gulp of water and the choking death behind it.
I always thought it would be a dasher.
The first trickle of bubbles squeezed past hisPlainpisc.
began to pulse through hiAm. gush of urine
warmed his crotchH.
e twisted his head, seeing the glow of the urine against him holding back the cold

press of the sea.
I don't want to die!
His superb underwater vision followed the leak of bubbles upward, tracing them toward the distant surface, which was no longer a visible plane but only a hopeless memory.
In that instant, when he knew all hope was gone, a corner of his vision caught a dark flash, a flicker of
shadow against shadowH.
e turned his head toward it and saw a woman swimming below him, her
dive-suited flesh looking unclothedS.he turned, something in her hanAdb. ruptly, the line of his ankle jerked once, then released.
Merman!
She rolled beneath him and he saw her eyes, open and white against a dSahrke sflaicpep.ed a knife into her leg sheath while she moved upward toward him.
The trickle of bubbles from his mouth became a stream, driving out of his mouth in a Thohte release. woman grabbed him under an armpit and he saw clearly that she was young and supple, superbly
muscled for swimmingS. he rolled over himA.
white flash of oxygen despair began at the back of his
head. Then she slammed her mouth against his and blew the sweet breath of life down his throat.
He savored it, exhaled, and again she blew a breath intHo ehismaw.
the airfish against her neck and
knew she was giving him the half-used excess that her blood exuded into heIrt
Islanders heard about, a Merman thing that he'd never expected to experience.
lwuansgsa.
thing
She backed off, dragging him by one
Harem.exhaled slowly, and again she fed him air.
A Merman team had been working an undersea ridge, he saw, with kelp waving high beside it and lights glowing at the rocky top -- small guide markers.

As panic receded, he saw that his rescuer wore a braided line around her waist with weights attached to it. The airfish trailing backward from her neck was pale and darkly veined, deep ridges along its length
for the external gillsI.t was an ugly contrast to the young woman's smooth dark skin.
His lungs ceased aching, but his ears
Hhuert.shook his head, pulling at an ear with his freeShend.
saw the movement and squeezed his arm hard to get his atteSnhteionp.lugged her nose with her fingers and mimicked blowing hardS.he pointed at his nose and noddHede. copied her and his right ear
popped with a snapA. n unpleasant fullness replaced the paHine.
did it again and the left ear went.
When she gave him his next breath, she clung to him a bit longer, then smiled broadly when she broke away. A flooding sensation of happiness washed through Brett.
I'm alive!I'm alive!
He glanced past the airfish at the way her feet kicked so steadily, the strong flow of her muscles under the skin-tight suitT. he light markers on the rocky ridge swept past.
Abruptly, she pulled back on his arm and stopped him beside a shiny metal tube about three meters long. He saw handgrips on it, a small steering rudder andHejetrse.cognized it from holos -- a Merman horse. She guided his hand to one of the rear grips and gave him anotherHberesaatwh. her release a
line at the nose of the device, then swing astraddleSohfe igt.lanced backward and waved for him to do the same.He did so, locking his legs around the cold metal, both hands on thSehegrniposd. ded and did something at the noseB. rett became conscious of a faint hum against his Aleglisg. ht glowed ahead of the woman and something snaky extruded from the hoSrshee. turned and brought a breather mouthpiece
against his lipsH. e saw that she also was wearing one and realized she was easing the double load the airfish had been forced to carrTyh.e fish trailing from her neck and over his own shoulder appeared smaller, the gill ridges deeper and not as fat.
Brett gripped the mouthpiece in his teeth and pushed the lip cover hard against the flesh.
In by the mouth, out by the nose.
Every Islander had some sub schooling and parallel training with Merman rescue equipment.

Blow, inhale.
His lungs filled with rich, cool air.
He felt a lurch then and something bumped his left Sahneklera. pped his knee and pulled him closer to
her back, lifting his handgrips until they formed a brace against her buHtteochkasd.
never seen a naked
woman before and her dive suit left nothing for him to imUangrinoem. antic as the situation was, he liked her body very much.
The horse surged upward, then dived, and her hair streamed backward, covering the head of the airfish and flickering against his cheeks.
He stared through a haze of her hair and over her right shoulder, feeling the water tumble around them. Far down the tunneling shadows of the sea past the smooth shoulder he saw a dazzling play of lights -- uncounted lights -- big ones, small ones, wide oSnheasp. es began to grow visiblwe:alls and towers, fine
planes of platforms, dark passages and cavTehs.e lights became plaz windows and he realized he was descending onto a Merman metropolis, one of the major cenIttehrsa.d to be, with that much sprawl and that much lightT. he dance of illumination enthralled him, feeding through his mutated vision a rapture he had not known himself capable of feeliAng.part of his awareness said this came from knowing he had
survived overwhelming odds, but another part of him gloried in the new things his peculiar eyes could see.
Cross-currents began to turn and twist the hoBrrseet.t had trouble holding his position; once he lost his leg grip.His rescuer felt this and reached back to guide one of his hands around hHererwfaeiest came
back and locked onto hiSs.he crouched over her controls, guiding them toward a sprawling assemblage of blocks and domes.
His hands against her abdomen felt the smooth warmth Hthiesreo.wn clothing seemed suddenly
ridiculous and he understood the Merman preference for dive suits and undersea nudity for the first time. They wore Islander-made dive suits for long, cold work, but their skin served them well for short spurts or warmer currentsB. rett's pants chafed his thighs and cramped him, whipping in the currents of their passage.
They were much closer to the complex of buildings now and Brett began to have a new idea of the structures' sizes.The closest tower faded out of sight above thHeem.tried to trace it into the upper distances and realized that night had fallen topside.

We can't be very far down, he thouTghhatt.
tower could break the surface!
But no one topside had reported such a structure.
Ship save us if an Island ever hit such a thing!
Lights from the buildings provided him with more than enough illumination, but he wondered how his rescuer was finding her way in what he knew to be deep darkness for ordinary humaHne vsisaiwon.
then that she was guided by fixed lights anchored to the bottom -- lanes of red and green.
Even the darkest topside night had never kept him from moving around easily, but here the surface was just a faraway bruiseB. rett drew a deep breath from the tube and settled himself closer to the young woman. She patted his hand on her stomach while jockeying the machine into a maze of steep-sided canyons. They rounded a corner and came onto a wide, well-lighted space between tall buAildings.
dome structure loomed straight ahead with docking lips extruded froMmaniyt.
people swam in the
bright illumination that glared all along the
Bliprse.tt saw the on-off blink of a bank of hatchways opening
and closing to pass the swimmeHrsi.s rescuer settled them onto a ramp with only a small sensation of grating. A Merman behind them took the horse by a rear handThhoeldy. oung woman motioned for
Brett to take a deep breaHthe.
obeyed.She gently pulled the breather from him, removed her airfish and
caged it with others beside the hatch.
Through the hatch they went into a chamber where the water was quickly flushed out and replaced by air. Brett found himself standing in a dripping puddle facing the young woman, who shed water as though she and her translucent suit had been oiled.
"My name is Scudi Wang," she s"aWid.hat is yours?"
"Brett Norton," he saiHd.e laughed self-consciously". You . . . you saved my liTfeh.e" sounded so ridiculously inadequate that he laughed again.
statement
"It was my watch for search and rescue," she"Wsaied'r.e always extra alert during a wavewall if we're near an Island."

He had never heard of such a thing but it sounded reasoLnifaeblwe.as precious and his view of the world said everyone felt the same, even Mermen.
"You are wet," she said, looking him down an"dAruep.there people who should know you are alive?"
Alive!The thought made his breathing quickeAnl.ive! "Yes," he said".Is it possible to get word topside?" "We'll see to it after you're settTlehde.re are formalities."
Brett noticed that she'd been staring at him much the same way he'd been intenHteognuehsesre. d her
age at close to his own -- fifteen or sixSteheen.was small, small-breasted, her skin as dark as a topside tan. She stared at him calmly out of green eyes with golden flecks inHetrhepmu.g nose gave her a
gamin look -- the look of wide-eyed corridor orphans back on VHasehronsh. oulders were sloping and muscular, the muscles of someone who kept in top shTahpee.airfish scar glowed at her neck, a livid pink against the dark wash of her wet black hair.
"You are the first Islander I've ever rescued," she said.
"I'm . . H."e shook his head, finding that he did not know how to thank her for sucHh ea fitnhisnhge.d lamely: "Where are we?"
"Home," she said with a shru"gI. live here.S"he dropped her ballast belt at the jerk of a knot and slung it over a shoulder".Come with meI.'ll get us both some dry clothes."
He slopped after her through a hatch, his pants dripping a trail of
Iwt ewtnaesssc. old in the long
passage where the hatchway left them, but he was not too cold to miss the pleasant bounce of Scudi
Wang's body as she walked away from hHime . hurried to catch uTp.he passage was disturbingly strange to an Islander -- solid underfoot, solid walls lighted by long tubes of fluorTeshceenwcael.ls
glowed a silvery gray broken by sealed hatches with colored symbols on them -- some green, some

yellow, some blue.
Scudi Wang stopped at a blue-coded hatch, undogged it and led him into a large room with storage lockers lining the sidesB. enches in four rows took up the midAdlneo. ther hatch led out the opposite
side. She opened a storage locker and tossed him a blue towel, then bent to rummage through another locker where she found a shirt and pants, holding them up while she looked "aTthBesree'ltlt. probably
fit. We can replace them laterS."he tossed the faded green pants onto the bench in front of him along with a matching pullover shiBrt.oth were a light material that Brett didn't recognize.
Brett dried his face and hHaier. stood there indecisively, his clothes still drippMinger.men paid little
attention to nudity, he had been told, but he was not used to being unclothed . . . much less in the company of a beautiful woman.
She removed her dive suit unselfconsciously, found a singlesuit of light blue in another locker and sat down to pull it over her body, drying herself with a Htoewsetlo. od up, looking down at her, unable to avoid staring.
How can I thank her? he wondeSrehde. seems so casual about saving my Alifcet.ually, she seemed
casual about everythingH. e continued to stare at her and blushed when he felt the tightening erection beginning in his cold wet panWts.asn't there a partition or something where he could get out of sight and dress? He glanced around the roomN.othing.
She saw him looking around and chewed her lower lip.
"I'm sorry," she sai"dI. forgot.They say Islanders are peculiarly modeIsst. that true?"
His blush deepened".Yes."
She pulled her singlesuit up and zipped it closed qu"iIckwlyi.ll turn around," she sa"idW. hen you have dressed, we will eat."
Scudi Wang's quarters were the same silvery gray as the passages, a space about four meters by five, everything squared corners and sharp edges alien to an IslaTndweor. cot-sized bed-settees extruded

from the walls, both covered with blankets of bright red and yellow in swirling geometric Apatterns. kitchen counter occupied one end of the room and a closet theAothhaetrc.h beside the closet stood open to show a bath with a small immersion tub and shEovwereyrt.hing was the same material as the walls, deck and ceilingB. rett ran a hand across one of the walls and felt the cold rigidity.
Scudi found a green cushion under one of the cots and tossed it onto the "oBtheercocmoft.ortable,"
she said.She threw a switch on the wall beside the kitchen counter and odd music filled the room.
Brett sat down on the cot expecting it to be hard, but it gave way beneath him, surprisingHlye resilient. leaned against the cushion".What is that music?"
She turned from an open cupboa"rWd.hales. You have heard of them?"
He looked toward the ceilin"gT.hey're on the hyb tank roster, I've heAardg. iant earthside mammal that lives down under."
She nodded toward the small speaker grill above the sw"Tithcehi.r song is most pleasanIt'l.l enjoy listening to them when we recover them from space."
Brett, listening to the grunts and whistles and thrills, felt their calming influence like a long fetch of waves in a late afternoonH. e failed to focus immediately on what she had Isnaisdp. ite of the whalesong, or
perhaps because of it, there was a sense of deep quiet in the room that he had never before experienced.
"What do you do topside?" Scudi asked.
"I'm a fisherman."
"That's good," she said, busying herself at the cou"nIttepr.uts you on the waveWs.aves and currents, that's how we generate our power."
"So I've heard," he sa"idW. hat do you do -- besides rescues?"

"I mathematic the waves," she sa"iTdh. at is my true work."
Mathematic the wavesH? e had no idea what that meaInt tf.orced him to reflect on how little he knew about Merman lifeB. rett glanced around the roomT.he walls were hard but he was mistaken about the
cold. They were warm, unlike the locker-room waSllcsu. di, too, did not seem coAlds.
she had led him
here along the solid passages, they had passed many peMopolset.
had nodded greeting as they
chattered with friends or workmateEs.veryone moved quickly and surely and the passageways weren't full of people jostling shoulder-to-shoulder all the wEaxyc.ept for workbelts, many had been naked. None of that outside bustle penetrated to this little room, thHoueghc.ontrasted this to topside, where the
organics tended to transmit even the smallest noiHseesr.e, there was the luxury of noise and the luxury of quiet within a few meters of each other.
Scudi did something above her work area and the room's walls suddenly were brightly colored in flowing sweeps of yellow and greeLno.ng strands of something like kelp undulated in a current -- an abstraction. Brett was fascinated at how the color-motion on the walls accompanied the whalesong.
What do I say to her? he wondeArelodn. e with a pretty girl in her room and I can't think of anything. Brilliant, Norton!You're a glittering conversationalist!
He wondered how long he'd been with Thoepr.side, he kept good track of time by the light of the suns and the dark patches betweeDn.own here, all light was similIatr.was disorienting.
He looked at Scudi's back while she worSkheed. pressed a wall button and he heard her murmur something on a Merman transphonSee. eing the phone there impressed him with the technological gulf between Islanders and MermenM. ermen had this device; Islanders were not offered it in the mercantile.
He didn't doubt that some Islanders got them through the black market, but he didn't know how it would be of any use to them unless they dealt with Mermen all thSeomtime eI.slanders didI.slander sub crews
carried portable devices that picked up some transphone channels, but this was for the Mermen's convenience as well as IslanderMs'.ermen were so damned snobbish about their riches!
There was a faint hiss of pneumatics at the counter where Scudi wShoerketudr.ned presently, balancing
a tray carrying covered bowls and utensSilhse. pulled up a cushion for her own back.
placed the tray on the deck between the two cots and

"I don't cook much myself," she s"aTidh.e central kitchen is faster, but I add my own sTpihceeys. are so bland at central!"
"Oh?"He watched her uncover the bowls, enjoying the smells.
"People already want to know of you," she "sIaihda.ve had several callIs.told them to waIit'm. and tired.You, too?"
hungry
"I'm hungry," he agreeHd.e glanced around the roomO.nly these two cotsD. id she expect him to sleep here . . . with her?
She pulled a bowl and spoon up to he"rMlayp.father taught me to cook," she said.
He picked up the bowl nearest him and took a sTphoisonw. as not like Islander feeding ritual, he noticed. Scudi already was spooning broth into her moIustlha.nders fed guests first, then ate whatever
the guests left for themB.rett had heard that this didn't always work well with Mermen -- they often ate everything and left nothing for the hoSsctu. di licked a few drops of broth from the back of her hand.
Brett tasted a sip from his spoon.
Delicious!
"The air is dry enough for yoSuc?u"di asked.
He nodded, his mouth full of soup.
"My room is small but that makes it easier to keep the air the wayAnIdliekaesiiet.r to keep cleaIn.
work topside very oftenD. ry is comfort to me now and I don't feel comfortable with the humidity in passages and public places.S"he put the bowl to her lips and drained it.

Brett copied her, then asked, "What will happen toWmhen?
will I go back topside?"
"We'll talk of this after food," she
Ssahied. brought up two more bowls and uncovered them, revealing
bite-sized chunks of fish in a dark sauWceit.h the bowl she handed him a pair of carved bone chopsticks.
"After food," he agreed and took a bite of the sauceIdt wfisahs. peppery hot and brought tears to his eyes but he found the aftertaste pleasant.
"It is our custom," Scudi sa"iFdo. od sets the body at easIe.can say, 'Brett Norton, you are safe here and well.'But I know down under is alien to Ayonud. you have been in dangYero. u must speak to your
body in the language it understands before sense returns toFoyodu,. speaks."
rest -- these are what your body
He liked the rational sense of her words and returned to the fish, enjoying it more withSceuadcih,
bite.
he saw, was eating as much as he even though she was much chopsticks into the bowl and at the edge of her mouth.
Hsmealiekre.d the delicate flick of her
What a beautiful mouth, he thougHhet. remembered how she had given him that first breath of life.
She caught him staring and he quickly returned his attention to his bowl.
"The sea takes much energy, much heat," she "sIaiwd.ear a dive suit as little as possHibolet . shower,
much hot food, a warm bed -- these are always neDedoedy.ou work the Islander subs topside, Brett?"
Her question caught him off guaHrde.'d begun to think that she had no curiosity about him.
Maybe I'm just some kind of obligation to her, he thIofugyhotu. with them.
save someone, maybe you're stuck

"I'm a surface fisherman for a contractor named Twisp," he"Hsea'isd.the one I most want to get word to. He's a strange man, but the best in a boat that I've seen."
"Surface," she said".That's much danger from dashers, isn't Hita?ve you seen dashers?"
He tried to swallow in a suddenly dry th"rWoaet. carry squawksT. hey warn us, you knowH."e hoped that she wouldn't notice the dodge.
"We're afraid of your nets," she s"aSido.metimes visibility is bad and they can't be sMeeenr.men have been killed in them."
He nodded, remembering the thrashing and the blood and Twisp's stories of other Mermen deaths in the nets. Should he mention that to ScudSih?ould he ask about the strange reaction of the Maritime Court?
No . . . she might not understaTnhdi.s would be a barrier between them.
Scudi sensed this, toHo.e could tell because she spoke too quic"kWly.ould you not prefer to work in your subs?I know they are soft-bellied, not like ours at all, but . . ."
"I think . . . I think I'd like to stay with Twisp unless he goes back he's all right."
Ito'd tshueresulbikse.
to know if
"We will rest and when we wake, you will meet some of our people who Mcaenrmheenlpt.ravel far. We pass along the worYd.ou will hear of him and he of you . . . if that's your wish."
"My wish?"He stared at her, absorbing th"iYs.ou mean I could choose to . . . disappear?"
She shrugged her eyebrows, accenting the gamin l"oWokh.ere you want to be is where you should be. Who you want to be is the same, not so?"
"It can't be that simple."

"If you have not broken the law, there are possibilities down TuhnedeMr.erman world is biWg. ouldn't
you like to stay here?S"he coughed and he wondered if she had been about to say "stay here with me?" Scudi suddenly seemed much older, more worldTlyal.k among the Islanders gave Brett the impression
that Mermen had an extra sophistication, a sense of belonging anywhere they went, of knowing more than Islanders.
"Do you live alone?" he asked.
"Yes.This was my mother's placAe.nd it's close to where my father lived."
"Don't Merman families live together?"
She scowled". My parents . . . stubborn, both of thTehmey.
couldn't live togetherI. lived with my father
for a long time, but . . . he dSiehde."shook her head and he saw the memories pain her.
"I'm sorry," he sai"dW.
here's your mother?"
"She is dead tooS."cudi looked away from him"M.
y mother was net-bound less than a year ago."
Scudi's throat moved with a convulsive swallow as she turned back t"oIt hhimas. been difficult . . . there is a man, GeLaar Gallow, who became my mother's . . .Tlhoavterw. as after . . S.h"e broke off and
shook her head sharply.
"I'm sorry, Scudi," he sa"idI . didn't mean to bring back painful --"
"But I want to talk aboutDiotw! n here, there is no one I can . . . I mean, my closest friends avoid the subject and I . . S.h"e rubbed her left chee"kY. ou are a new friend and you listen."
"Of course, but I don't see what . . ."

"After my father died, my mother signed oveYr o.u. u. nderstand, Brett, that my father was Ryan
Wang, there was much wealth?"
Wang! he thoughMt. erman Mercantile.His rescuer was a wealthy heiress!
"I . . . I didn't . . ."
"It is all righGt.allow was to be my stepfathMer.y mother signed over to him control of much that my father left.Then she died."
"So there's nothing for you."
"What?Oh, you mean from my fathNero. , that is not my probleBme.sides, Kareen Ale is my new
guardian. My father left her . . . many thiTnhgesy.
were friends."
"What . . . you said there's a problem."
"Everyone wants Kareen to marry Gallow and Gallow pursues this."
Brett noted that Scudi's lips tightened every time she spoke Gallow's"Wnahmaet . is wrong with this
Gallow?" he asked.
Scudi spoke in a low voi"cHe.e frightens me."
"Why?What's he done?"
"I don't knowB. ut he was on the crew when my father died . . . and when my mother died."

"Your mother . . . you said a net . . ."
"An Islander neTt.hat is what they said."
He lowered his gaze, remembering his recent experience with a Merman in the net.
Seeing the look on his face, Scudi s"aIidh:ave no resentment toward yoIu.can see that you are sorry. My mother knew the danger of nets."
"You said Gallow was with your parents when theyDdoiedy.ou . . ."
"I have never spoken of this to anyone beIfodroen. 't know why I say it to you, but you are sympathetic. And you . . . I mean . . ."
"I owe you."
"Oh, no!It is nothing like thaIt's just . .I .like your face and the way you listen."
Brett lifted his gaze and met her staring at"Ihsimth.ere no one who can help you?" he a"sYkeodu. Kareen Ale . . . everyone knows about Chaenr.'t she --"
"I would never say these things to Kareen!"
said
Brett studied Scudi for a moment, seeing the shock and fear in hHere faalcrea. dy had a sense of the wildness in Merman life from the stories told among IslanVdieorlse.nce was no stranger down here, if the stories were to be believeBdu. t what Scudi suggested . . .
"You wonder if Gallow had anything to do with the deaths of your parents," he said.

She nodded without speaking.
"Why do you suspect this?"
"He asked me to sign many papers but I pleaded ignorance and consulted IKdaorene'tn.think the papers he showed her were the same ones he brought tSohemeh.as not said yet what I should do."
"Has he . . B."rett cleared his throa"t.What I mean is . . . you are . . . that is, sometimes Islanders marry young."
"There has been nothing like that, except he tells me to hurry and gItroiws aulpl .a jokHe.e says he is tired of waiting for me."
"How old are you?"
"I will be sixteen next monYtho.u?"
"I'll be seventeen in five months."
She looked at his net-calloused han"dYs.our hands say you work hard, for an IslandImerm."ediately, she popped a hand over her mouHthe.r eyes went wide.
Brett had heard Merman jokes about lazy Islanders sunning themselves while Mermen built a world
under the seaH.
e scowled.
"I have a big mouth," Scudi s"aIidf.ind someone at last who can really be my friend and I offend him."

"Islanders aren't lazy," Brett said.
Scudi reached out impulsively and took his right hand in"Ihherasv.e only to look at you and I know the stories are lies."
Brett pulled his hand awaHye.
still felt hurt and bewildereSdc.udi might say something soothing to
smooth it over, but the truth had come out involuntarily.
I work hard, for an Islander!
Scudi got to her feet and busied herself removing the dishes and the remains of tEhevierrymtheinagl. went into a pneumatic slot at the kitchen wall and vanished with a click and a hiss.
Brett stared at the slToth.e workers who took care of that probably were Islanders permanently hidden from view.
"Central kitchens and all this space," he
"sIati'ds . Mermen who have things easy."
She turned toward him, an intent expression on her"Ifsacteh.at what Islanders say?"
Brett felt his face grow hot.
"I don't like jokes that lie," Scudi
"sIaidd.on't think you do, either."
Brett swallowed past a sudden lump in his thSrcouadt.i was so directT! hat was not the Islander way at all, but he found himself attracted by it.
"Queets never tells those jokes and I don't either," Brett said.

"This Queets, he is your father?"
Brett thought suddenly about his father and his mother -- the butterfly life between intense bouts of painting. He thought about their downcenter apartment, the many things they owned and cared for -- furniture, art work, even some Merman appliancQesu.eets, though, owned only what he could store in his boat.He owned what he truly needed -- a kind of survival selectivity.
"You are ashamed of your father?" Scudi asked.
"Queets isn't my fatheHr.e's the fisherman who owns my contract -- Queets Twisp."
"Oh, yesY.
ou do not own many things, do you, BIrestte?e you looking around my quarters and . . ."
She shrugged.
"The clothes on my back were mine," Brett "sWaidh.en I sold my contract to Queets, he took me on for training and gave me what I neTedh.ere isn't room for useless stuff on a coracle."
"This Queets, he is a frugal mIasn?he cruel to you?"
"Queets is a good maAn!nd he's strongH.
e's stronger than anyone I've ever knowQnu.eets has the
longest arms you've ever seen, perfect for working the Tnheetsy.'re almost as long as he is tall."
A barely perceptible shudder crossed Scudi's should"eYrso.u like this Queets very much," she said.
Brett looked away from hTerh.at unguarded shudder told it aIlsll.anders made Mermen shudderH. e felt the pain of betrayal deep in his g"Yutos.u Mermen are all the same," he s"aMidu. tants don't ask to be that way."

"I don't think of you as a mutant, Brett," she"Asnayido.ne can see that you're normalized."
"There!" Brett snapped, glaring at h"eWr.hat's normal?Oh, I've heard the talIks:landers are having more 'normal' births these days . . . and there's always suTrwgeirsyp.'s long arms offend youW? ell, he's no freak.He's the best fisherman on Pandora because he fits what he does."
"I see that I've learned many wrong things," Scudi said, her voi"cQe uleoewts.
Twisp must be a good
man because Brett Norton admires himA." wry smile touched her lips and was g"oHnaev. e you learned no wrong things, Brett?"
"I'm . . . after what you did for me, I should not be talking to you this way."
"Wouldn't you save me if I were caught in youWr onuetl?dn't you . . ."
"I'd go in after you and damn the dashers!"
She grinned, an infectious expression that Brett found himself answering in kind.
"I know you would, BreIttl.ike youI. different, but . . ."
learn things about Islanders from you that I didn't kYnoouw.are
His grin vanished".My eyes are good eyes!" he snapped, thinking this was the difference she meant.
"Your eyes?"She stared at him".They are beautiful eyesI!n the water, I saw your eyes fTirhste.y are large eyes and . . . difficult to escaSphee." lowered her gaze".I like your eyes."
"I . . . I thought . . ."
Again, she met his gaz"eI'.ve never seen two Islanders exactly alike, but Mermen are never exactly

alike, either."
"Everyone down under won't feel that way," he accused. "Some will stare," she agree"dIt. is not normal to be curious?" "They'll call me Mute," he said.
"Most will not."
"Queets says words are just funny ripples in the air or printed squiggles." Scudi laughed". I would like to meet this QueeHtse. sounds like a wise man." "Nothing much ever bothered him except losing his boat."
"Or losing youW? ill that bother him?"
Brett sobered". Can we get word to him?"
Scudi touched the transphone button and voiced his request over the grill in Tthhee wreasllp.onse was too quiet for Brett to heSarh.e did it casuallyH. e thought then that this marked the difference between them more firmly than his own overlarge eyes with their marvelous night vision.
Presently, Scudi said":They will try to get word to VashoSnh.e"
stretched and yawned.
Even yawning, she was beautiful, he thouHghet.glanced around the room, noting the closeness of the

two cots."You lived here with just your mother?" he asIkmemd.ediately, he saw the sad expression
return to Scudi's face and he cursed hims"eI'lmf.
sorry, ScudiI.
should not keep reminding you of her."
"It's all right, BreWtt. e are here and she is nLoitf.e continues . . . and I do my mother's wAograki.n", that gamin grin twisted her mou"thA.nd you are my first roommate."
He scratched his throat, embarrassed, not knowing the moral rules between the sexes down under.
What did it mean to be a roommaSttea?lling for time, he aske"dW:
you do?"
"I told youI. mathematic the waves."
"I don't know what that means."
hat is this work of your mother's that
"Where new waves or wave patterns are seen, AI sgom.y mother did and both her parents before her. It is a thing for which our family has a natural talent."
"But what do you do?"
"How the waves move, that tells us how the suns move and how Pandora responds to that movement."
"Oh?Just from looking at the waves, you . . . I mean, waves are gone just fingers.
Hlikee stnhaapt!p"ed his
"We simulate the waves in a lab," she "sYaiodu. completely around Pandora several times."
"And you can tell when they'll come?"
know about wavewalls, I'm sure," she s"aSido.me go

"Sometimes."
He thought about thiTs.he extent of Merman knowledge suddenly daunted him.
"You know we warn the Islands when we can," she said.
He nodded.
"To mathematic the waves, I must translate them," sheShsaeidp. atted her head absently, exaggerating
her gamin appearance". Translate is a better word than mathematic," she course."
"saAidn.d I teach what I do, of
Of course! he thoughAt.n heiress!A rescuer!And now an expert on waves!
"Who do you teach?" he asked, wondering if he could learn this thing Hsohwe dviadl.uable that would be for the Islands!
"The kelp," she sai"dI. translate waves for the kelp."
He was shockedW. as she joking, making fun of Islander ignorance?
She saw the expression on his face because she went on, q"uTichkelyk:elp learnsI.t can be taught to control currents and waves . . . when it returns to its former density, it will leIartneamchoriet. some of the things it must know to survive on Pandora."
"This is a joke, isn't it?" he asked.
"Joke?"She looked puzzled". Don't you know the stories of the kelp as it Itwfaesd?
itself, it moved
gases in and out of the waTtehr.e hylighters!Oh, I would love to see theTmh!e kelp knew so many

things, and it controlled the currents, the sea itAsellf.of this the kelp did once."
Brett gaped at heHr.e recalled schooltime stories about the sentient kelp, one creature alive as a single identity in all of its parBtsu. t that was ancient history, from the time when men had lived on solid land above Pandora's sea.
"And it will do this again?" he whispered.
"It learnsW.
e teach it how to make currents and to neutralize waves."
Brett thought about what this might mean to Island life -- drifting on predictable currents in predictable depths. They could follow the weather, the fishingA.n. o. dd turn of thought put this out of his Hmeind. considered it almost unworthy, but who could know for certain what an alien intelligence might do?
Scudi, noting his expression, aske"dA:re you well?"
He spoke almost mechanicall"yI.f you can teach the kelp to control the waves, then it must know how
to make wavesA.
nd currents.What's to prevent it from wiping us out?"
She was scornfu"l.The kelp is rationaIl.t would not further the kelp to destroy us or the IsSloandits. will not."
Again, she stilled a yawn and he recalled her comment that she had to go back to work soon.
The ideas she had put into his head whirled there, though, leaving him on edge, driving away all thought of sleep.Mermen did so many thingTs!hey knew so much!
"The kelp will think for itseHlf.e" recalled hearing someone say that, a conversation at the quarters of his parents -- important people talking about important matters.

"But that could not happen without Vata," someone had said in res"pVoantsae.is the key to the kelp."
That had begun what he remembered as a sprightly and boo-inspired conversation, which, as usual, ran from speculative to paranoid and back.
"I'll turn out the light for your modesty," ScudiShsaeidg.iggled and touched the light down through dim
to barely shadowH.
e watched her fumble her way to her bed.
It's dark to her, he thougFhotr.
me she just turned down the glHaree. shifted on the edge of his bed.
"You have a girlfriend topside?" Scudi asked.
"No . . . not really."
"You have never shared a room with a girl?"
"On the Islands, you share everything with everyBonuet . to have a room, two people alone, that's for
couples who are new to each othFeorr.
mating.It is very expensive."
"Oh, my," she saiIdn.
the shadow-play of his peculiar vision he watched her fingers dance nervously
over the surface of her cot.
"Down under we share for mating, yes, but we also share rooms for otherWreoarskonpsa. rtners,
schoolmates, good friendsI.
mean only for you to have one night of recoTvoemryo.rrow there will be
others and questions and tours and much noise S.ti.ll ."her hands moved in that nervous rhythm.
"I don't know how I can ever repay you for being so nice to me," he said.

"But it is our custom," she s"aIifd.a Merman saves you, you can have what the Merman has until you . .
. move onI.f I bring life into this compound, I'm responsible for it."
"As though I were your child?"
"Something like."She sighed, and began undressing.
Brett found he could not invade her privacy and averted his eyes.
Maybe I should tell her, he thouIgth'st.not really fair to be able to see this way and not let her know.
"I would prefer not to interfere with your life," he said.
He heard Scudi slip under her blank"eYtso.u don't interfere," she sai"dT. his is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to mYeo.u are my friend; I like yIosu.that enough?"
Brett dropped his clothes and slipped under the covers, pulling them to hQisueneetcsk.always said you couldn't figure a MermanF.riends?
"We are friends, not so?" she insisted.
He offered his hand across the space between the Rbeeadlsiz. ing that she couldn't see it, he picked up hers in his ownS.he pressed his fingers hard, her hand warm inPrheisse.ntly, she sighed and removed
her hand gently.
"I must sleep," she said.
"Me, too."

Her hand lifted from the bed and found the switch on thTehewawllh. ale sounds stopped.
Brett found the room exquisitely quiet, a stillness he had not imagined pHoessifbellet. his ears relaxing, then, an alertness . . . suddenly listening for . . .Hwehdati?dn't knowS. leep was necessary, thoughH. e had to sleepH. is mind said": Something is being done about informing your parents and QueHeets.w" as alive and family and friends would be happy after their fears and sOadrnessos. he hoped.
After several nervous minutes, he decided the lack of motion was preventingThseleedpis.covery
allowed him to relax more, breathe easHieer. could remember with his body the gentle rocking motion
topside and thought hard about that, tricking his mind into the belief that waves still lifted and fell beneath him.
"Brett?" Scudi's voice was little more than a whisper.
"Yes?"
"Of all the creatures in hyb, the ones I would like most are the birds, the little birds that sing."
"I've heard recordings from Ship," he said, his voice sleepy. "The songs are as painfully beautiful as the whAanleds.they fly." "We have pigeons and squawks," he said.
"The squawks are ducks and they do not sing," she said.
"But they whistle when they fly and it's fun to watch them."

Her blankets rustled as she turned away from him.
"Good night, friend," she whispere"dS.leep flat."
"Good night, friend," he answereAdn. d there, at the edge of sleep, he imagined her beautiful smile.
Is this how love begins? he wondeTrehde.re was a tightness in his chest, which did not go away until he fell into a restless sleep.
The child Vata slipped into catatonia as the kelp and hylighters sicSkheenehda.s been comatose for
more than three years now and, since she carries both kelp and human genes, it is hoped that she can be instrumental in restoring the kelp to sentienOcen.ly the kelp can tame this terrible sea.
-- Hali Ekel, the Journals
It was not so much that Ward Keel noticed the stillness as that he felt it all ovEevr ehnits
shkaidn.
conspired to keep him topside throughout his long life, not that he had ever felt a keen desire to go down under.

Admit it, he told himseYlfo. u were afraid because of all the stories -- deprivation shock, pressure syndrome.
Now, for the first time in his life there was no movement of deck under his bare feet, no nearby sounds of human activity and voices, no hiss of organic walls against organic ceilings -- none of the omnipresent frictions to which Islanders adjusted as infanItts.was so quiet his ears ached.
Beside him in the room where Kareen Ale had left him "to adjust for a few moments" stood a large plazglass wall revealing a rich undersea expanse of reds, blues and washed Tgrheeenssu.btlety of
unfamiliar shadings held him rapt for several minutes.
Ale had said":I will be nearbyC. all if you need me."
Mermen well knew the weaknesses of those who came down Aunwdaerre.ness of all that water overhead created its own peculiar panic in some of the visitors and miAgnradntbs.eing alone, even by
choice, was not something Islanders tolerated well until they had adjusted to it . . A. slilfoewtimlye. of
knowing that other human beings were just on the other side of those thin organic walls, almost always within the sound of a whispered call, built up blind Yspoouts.did not hear certain things -- the sounds of lovemaking, family quarrels and sorrows.
Not unless you were invited to hear them.
Was Ale softening him up by leaving him alone here? Keel wonCdoeurledd.she be watching through
some secret Merman deviceH? e felt certain that Ale, with her medical background and long association with Islanders, knew the problems of a first-timer.
Having watched Ale perform her diplomatic duties over the past few years, Keel knew she seldom did anything casually.She planned.He was sure she had a well-thought-out motive for leaving an Islander
alone in these circumstances.
The silence pressed hard upon him.

A demanding thought filled his miTndh:ink, Ward!That's what you're supposed to be so goodHeat.
found it alarming that the thought came to him in his dead mother's voice, touching his aural centers so sharply that he glanced around, almost fearful that he would see a ghostly shade shaking a finger of admonishment at him.
He breathed deeply once, twice, and felt the constriction of his chest ease Aslnigohthtleyr. breath and the edge of reason returneSd.ilence did not ache as much nor press as heavily.
During the descent by courier sub, Ale had asked him no questions and had supplied no answers. Reflecting on this, he found it odSdh. e was noted for hard questions to pave the way for her own arguments.
Was it possible that they simply wanted him down here and away from his seat on the Committee? he wondered. Taking him as an invited guest was, after all, less stressful and dangerous than outright kidnapping. It felt odd to think of himself as a commodity with some undeterminedCovmalfuoer.ting,
though; it meant they would probably not employ violence against him.
Now, why did I think that? he wondered.
He stretched his arms and legs and crossed to the couch facing the undersTeaheviceowuc. h felt softly supportive under him in spite of the fact that it was of some dead mThaetersitailf.fness of age made the soft seat especially welcomeH. e sensed the dying remora within him still fighting to suArvviovied.
anxiety, the medics told himT.hat was most certainly a joke in his line of Twhoerkr.emora still produced vital hormones, but he remembered the warni"nWg:e can replace it, although the replacements won't last long. And their survival time will become shorter and shorter as new replacements are intrYodouuced.
are rejecting them, you seeH."is stomach growledH.
e was hungry and that he found to be a good sign.
There was nothing to indicate a food preparation area in the Nrooomsp.eakers or viewscreensT.he
ceiling sloped upward away from the couch to the view port, which appeared to be about six or seven meters high.
How extravagant! he thoughOt.nly one person in all this spaAce.room this size could house a large
Islander family.The air was a bit cooler than he liked but his body had aTdjhuesteddim.
light through
the view port cast a green wash over the floor Bthreigreh.t phosphorescence from the ceiling dominated the illumination.The room was not far under the sea's surfHacee.knew this from the outside light level. Plenty of water over him, thougmhi:llions of kilosT. he thought of all that weight pressing in on this space brought a touch of sweat to his upperHleip.ran a damp palm over the wall behind the couch -- warm and firm.He breathed easierT. his was Merman spaceT.hey didn't build anything fragilTe.he wall was

plasteel. He had never before seen so much oTfhiet. room struck him suddenly as a fortrTeshse. walls were dry, testimony to a sophisticated ventilation systMeme.rmen topside tended to keep their quarters
so humid he felt smothered by the Eaxirc.ept for Ale . . . but she was like no other human he had ever met, Islander or MermanT.he air in this room, he realized, had been adjusted for Islander coTmhaftort. reassured him.
Keel patted the couch beside him and thought of Joy, how much she would like thaAt shuerdfaocneis.t, Joy. He tried to picture her resting on the coAuchd.esire for Joy's comforting presence filled him with sudden loneliness.Abruptly, he wondered about himselHf.e had been mostly a loner throughout his life, only the occasional liaisonW. as the proximity of death working a fearful change onThhiem?thought
disgusted him.Why should he inflict himself on Joy, saddle her with the sorrow of a permanent parting?
I am going to die soon.
He wondered briefly who the Committee would elect as Chief Justice to replaHceis hoiwmn.
choice
would be Carolyn, but the political choice would be MHaettsd.id not envy whoever they choIste.was a thankless jobT. here were things to do before he made his final exit, thHoeugshto. od and steadied himself against the couchH. is neck ached, as usuaHl.is legs felt rubbery and didn't want to support him
at first.That was a new symptomT.he deck underfoot was hard plasteel and he was thankful that it, like the walls, was heatedH. e waited for strength to return, then, leaning against the wall, made his way toward the door at his leTfth.ere were two buttons beside the doHore. pressed the lower one and
heard a panel slide back behind the couHceh. looked toward the sound and his heart shifted into triple-time.
The panel had concealed a muHrael. stared at iTt.he thing was frighteningly realistic, almost
photographic. It showed a surface construction site at least half-destroyed, flames everywhere and men wriggling in the tentacles of hylighters drifting overhead.
Hylighters died with the kelp, he thouTghi.s was either an old painting or somebody's imaginative
reconstruction of historyH.
e suspected the formerT.he rich suns-set background, the intimate detail of
hylighters -- everything focused on one worker near the center who pointed a finger at thIet vwieaws er. an accusing figure, dark-eyed and glaring.
I know that place, Keel thougHhot.w is it possibleF?amiliarity was stronger than the flutterings of deja vu. This was real seeing, a memoTryh.e memory told him that somewhere in this room or nearby there was a red mandala.

How do I know this?
He examined the room carefulClyo. uch, plaz port, the mural, bare walls, an oval hatch-Ndooor. mandala. He walked to the view port and toucheCd oiot.l, the only cool surface in the roHomow.
strange the fixed view port installation was -- nothing like it at all on theCoIsulaldnnd'st. be.The flex of
bubbly around the solid plaz would tear away the organics that sealed it and the heavy, solid material would turn into a thing of destruction during a sDtorimft. watchers, mutated cornea, were safer in rough weather even if they did require care and feeding.
The plaz was incredibly cleNaro. thing in the feel of it suggested the extreme density and thicAkness. small, heavily whiskered scrubberfish grazed the outside, cleaning the surBfaecyeo.nd the fish, a pair of Mermen came into view, jockeying a heavy sledge loaded with rocks andThmeyudw. ent past him out of sight beyond a slope to his right.
Out of curiosity, Keel fisted the ptlhauzm: p-thump. The scrubberfish continued grazing, undisturbed.
Anemone and ferns, grasses and sponges waved in the current beneath thDeofziesnhs.
of other fish, a
multicolored mixed school, cleaned the surface of kelp leaves beyond the immediate gLraorwgethr. fish poked along the soft bottom mud, stirring up puffs of gray sedKimeelnth. ad seen this sort of thing in holos but the reality was differeSnot.me of the fish he recognized -- creatures from the labs that had been brought for judgment by the Committee before being released in the sea.
A harlequin fish came up below the scrubber and nudged thKe epellazr.emembered the day the C/P
had blessed the first harlequin fish before their releItaswe.as almost like seeing an old friend.
Once more, Keel turned to his examination of the room and that elusive mWehmyordyi.d it feel so damned familiar?Memory said the missing mandala should be to the right of the Hmeurwala.lked to that wall and brushed a finger along it, looking for another panel sNwoithchin.g, but the wall moved slightly and he heard a clickinHg.e peered at iIt.t was not plasteel but some kind of light, composite maAterial.
faint seam ran down the middle of the wHaell.put a palm against the surface to the right of the seam and pushed. The panel slid back, revealing a passage, and immediately he smelled food.
He opened the panel wide and walked throTughhe. passage made a sharp turn to the left and he saw
lights. Kareen Ale stood there in a kitchen-dining area, her back toA hriimch.
smell of strong tea and
fish broth assailed his nostrilHs.e drew a breath to speak but stopped as he saw the red mTahnedala. sight of it above Kareen's right shoulder brought a sigh fromTKheeeml. andala drew his consciousness into the shapes there, twisting him through circles and wedges toward the Acensitnerg.le eye peered out from the center, out at the univerIste.was unlidded, and rested atop a golden pyramid.

These can't be my memories, he thouIgthwt. as a terrifying experiencSeh. ip memories flitted through his
mind -- someone walking down a long, curved passage, a violet-lighted agrarium fanned out to his left. He felt powerless before the stream of visioKnesl.p waved to him from someplace under the sea and schools of fish his Committee had never approved swam past his eyes.
Ale turned and saw the enraptured expression on his face, the fixed intensity with which he stared at the mandala.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Her voice shocked him out of the other-memoHries.exhaled a trembling breath, inhaled.
"I'm . . . I'm hungry," he
Tsahiedr.e was no thought of revealing the weird memories he had just
experienced. How could she understand when he did not understand?
"Why don't you sit here?" she askSehde. indicated a small table set for two at one end of the kitchen area beside a smaller plaz poTrth.e table was low, Merman-stylHe.is knees ached just thinking about sitting there.
"I've cooked for you myself," Ale said.
Noting his still bemused expression, she add"eTdh:at hatchway in the other room leads to a head with shower and washbasinB. eyond it you'll find office facilities if you require tThheme .exterior hatchways
are out there as well."
He crowded his legs under the table and sat with his elbows on the surface in front of him, his hands supporting his head.
Was that a dream? he wondered.

The red mandala lay directly in front of Hheimw. as almost afraid to focus on it.
"You're admiring the mandala," Ale saSihde.
busied herself once more in the kitchen area.
He lifted his attention and let his gaze trace the ancient lines along their mysterious
Npaoththwinagys.
drew him inward this timSel.owly, bits of his own memories crept into his mind, images flashed behind his eyes and stuttered like a crippled larynx, then caAugwhat.reness reached back to one of his earliest history lessons, a holo being played in the center of a classIrtohoamd. been a docudrama for young children. Islanders loved theatricals and this one had been fascinaHtineg.could not remember the title,
but he did recall that it dealt with the last days of Pandora's continents -- they didn't look small at all in
the holos -- and the death of the kTehlpat.
had been the first time Keel had heard the kelp called
"Avata." Behind the holo figures playing out the drama in a command post there had been a wall . . . and that frightening mural from the outer rooNme.arby, as the holo shifted its focus, there had been the red mandala, just as he saw it noKwe.el did not want to think how long ago he had watched the drama --
more than seventy years, anywaHy.e returned his attention to Ale.
"Is that the original mandala or a copy?" he asked.
"I'm told it's the originIatl's.
very old, older than any settlement on PandYoorau. seem taken by it."
"I've seen it and the mural out there before," he"Tshaeidse. aren't they?"
walls and the kitchen area are more recent,
"The space was remodeled for my convenience," she "sIa'vide. always been drawn to these roomThs.e
mandala and mural are where they've always beAennd.
they're cared for."
"Then I know where I am," he
"sIasilda.nder children learn history through holodramas and . . ."
"I know that one," she sa"iYd.es, this is part of the old RedoOubntc. e it stood completely out of the sea, with some fine mountains behind it, I understand."
She brought food to the table on a tray and set out the bowls and chopsticks.

"Wasn't most of the Redoubt destroyed?" he as"kTehde. reconstructions of a few from before . . ."
documentary holos were supposed to be
"Whole sections survived intact," she sa"iAd.utomatic latches closed and sealed off much of the
Redoubt. We restored it very carefully."
"I'm impressed."He nodded, reassessing the probable importance of Kareen MAleer.men had remodeled a part of the old Redoubt for her conveniSenhcee.lived casually in a museum, apparently immune to the historical value of the objects and building surroundinHgehehra.d never before met a Merman in a Merman environment, and he now recognized this blank spot in his experience as a weakness. Keel forced himself to relaFx.or a dying man, there were advantages to being Hhe ed.idn't have to decide life and death for new Nliofe.pleading mothers and raging fathers would confront him with creatures who could not pass CommittTehe.is was a world away from the Islands.
Ale sipped her teIat. smelled of mint and suddenly reignited Keel's hunHgeer.began to eat,
Islander-style, setting aside equal portions for his hTohste.
first taste of the fish broth convinced him that
it was the richest and most delicately spiced broth he'd ever sWhaarsedt.his the general diet for Mermen? He cursed his lack of down-under experienKcee.el noticed that Ale enjoyed her own helping of the steaming soup and felt insulted at first.
Another cultural thing, he realizeHde.
marveled that a simple difference in table manners could need
translation to avoid international disasteUr.nanswered questions still buzzed in his hePaedr.haps a more devious approach was indicated -- a mixture of Merman directness with Islander obliqueness.
"It's pleasantly dry in these quarters," he said, "but you don't need a Ysopuondgoe.n't oil your skiIn'v. e often wondered how you get by in a topside environment?"
She dropped her gaze from his face and held her teacup to her lips with both hands.
Hiding, he thought.
"Ward, you are a very strange person," she said as she lowered t"hTehactupis. not the question I
expected."

"What question did you expect?"
"I prefer to discuss my immunity from the need for a sYponugese. e, we have quarters down under
that are kept with a topside environmeIntw. as raised in such quarteIr'sm.
acclimated to Islander
conditions. And I adapt very quickly to the humidity down under -- when I have to."
"You were chosen as an infant for topside dTuthye?r"e was hesitation and shock in his voice.
"I was chosen then for my present position," she"Asaidn.umber of us were . . . set aside in the possibility that some of us would meet the mental and physical requirements."
Keel stared at her, astonisheHde.
had never heard of such a cold dismissal of someone's entiArelelife.
had not chosen her own lifAe!nd, unlike most Islanders, she had a body that in no way restricted her from any trade she chosHe.e remembered suddenly how she planned everything -- a planned person
who planned.Ale had been . . . distortSehde. acceptable distortion.
probably saw it as training, but training was just an
"But you do live a . . . a Merman life?" he"Yasokuedf.ollow their customs, you swim and . . ."
"Look."She unfastened her tunic at the neck and dropped the top of it, turning her breasts away from him to expose the shoulderHs.er back was as clear-skinned and pale as weathered bAotneth. e top of
her shoulder blades the skin had been pinched into a short strip of ridge adjacent to Tthheersepisnhee. carried the clear pucker-mark of an airfish, but in a peculiar Hpelaccea.ught the meaning immediately.
"If that mark were on your neck, Islanders might be distracted when they met yoIut, oricgchutr?r"ed to
him that she would have undergone major arterial reshifting to carry this off -- a complicated surgery.
"You have beautiful skin," he added, "it's a shame they marked it up that way at all."
"It was done when I was very young," she"Isahida.rdly think about it anymoIrte's.
just a . . .

convenience."
He resisted the urge to stroke her shoulder, her smooth strong back.
Careful, you old fool! he told himself.
She restored the top of her garment and when her gaze met his, he realized that he had been staring.
"You're very beautiful, Kareen," he sa"iIdn. the old holos, all humans look . . . something like you, but you're . . .H" e shrugged, feeling the exceptional presence of his appliance against his neck and shoulders. "Forgive an old Mute," he added, "but I've always thought of you as the ideal."
She turned a puzzled frown on h"iIm'v.e never before heard an Islander call himself a . . . aIs Mthuatte. how you think of yourself?"
"Not reallyB. ut a lot of Islanders use the teJromk.ing, mostly, but sometimes a mother will use it to get a youngster's attentionL. ike: 'Mute, get your grubby little paws outa that frostOinrg: .''You go for that
deal, my man, and you're one dumb MuStoem.' ehow, when it comes from one of us it's all Wrighhent. it comes from a Merman -- it strikes deeper than I can desIscnri'tbeth. at what you call us among yourselves, 'Mutes'?"
"Boorish Mermen might, and . . . well, it's a rather common bit of slang in somePecrosmonpaalnly,. I don't like the wordI.f a distinction has to be made, I prefer 'Clone,' or 'Lon,' as our ancestors did. Perhaps my quarters give me a penchant for antiquated words."
"So you've never referred to us as 'Mutes' yourself."
A rosy blush crept up her neck and over herHfeacfeo.und it most attractive, but the response told him her answer.
She put a smooth, tanned hand over his wrinkled and liver-spotted f"iWngaerrds,.
you must understand

that one trained as a diplomat . . . I mean, in some company . . ."
"When on the Islands, do as the Islanders do."
She removed her hanTd.he back of his own cooled in disappointm"eSnot.mething like that," she said.
She picked up her teacup and swirled the drKegees.l saw the defensiveness in the gestuArele.
was
somehow off-balance.He'd never seen her that way before, and he wasn't vain enough to attribute it to this exchange with herK. eel believed that the only thing that could bother Ale was something totally unplanned, something with no body of knowledge behind it, no diplomatic precSeodmenett.hing out of
her control.
"Ward," she said, "I think there is one point that you and I have always agSrheedkeopnt."her attention on the teacup.
"We have?"He held his tone neutral, not giving her any help.
"Human has less to do with anatomy than with a state of mind," "sIhnetesllaigide.nce, compassion . . . humor, the need to share . . ."
"And build hierarchies?" he asked.
"I guess that, tooS."he met his gaze".Mermen are very vain about their bodiWese. 're proud that we've stayed close to the original norm."
"Is that why you showed me the scar on your back?"
"I wanted you to see that I'm not perfect."
"That you're deformed, like me?"

"You're not making this very easy for me, Ward."
"You, or yours, have the luxury of choice in their mutGateionnesti.cs, of course, adds a particularly
bitter edge to the whole thinYgo. ur scar is not . . . 'like me,' but one of your frecYkoleusr
ifsr.eckles
have a much more pleasant quality to them than Htheis."tapped the neck suppor"tB. ut I'm not complaining," he assured her, "just being pedanNtico.w what is it that I'm not making easy for you?"
Keel sat back, pleased for once about those tedious years behind the bench and some of the lessons those years had taught him.
She stared into his eyes, and he saw fear in her expression.
"There are Mermen fanatics who want to wipe every . . . Mute off the face of this planet."
The flat abruptness of her statement, the matter-of-fact tone caught him offLigvueasrdw. ere precious
to Islanders and Mermen, this he'd witnessed for himself innumerable times during his manTyheyears. idea of deliberate killing nauseated him, as it did most PandHoriasnso.wn judgments against lethal
deviants had brought him much isolation in his lifetime, but the law required that someone pass judgment on people, blobs and . . . thingsH.e .co. uld never decree termination without suffering acute personal agony.
But to wipe out hundreds of hundreds of thousandHse. r.et.urned Ale's stare, thinking about her recent behavior -- the food cooked by her own hands, the sharing of these remarkable Aqunadr,teorfs. course, the scar.
I'm on your side, she was trying toHseayf.elt the planning behind her actions, but there was more to it, he thought, than callous outlines and assignmenOtsth. erwise, why had she been embarrasseSdh?e was
trying to win him over to some personal viewpWoinhta.t viewpoint?
"Why?" he asked.
She drew in a deep breaTthe simplicity of his response obviously surprised her.

"Ignorance," she said.
"And how does this ignorance manifest itself?"
Her nervous fingers flip-flip-flipped the corner of her naHpkeirn.eyes sought out a stain on the tabletop and fixed themselves there.
"I am a child before you," Keel
"sEaixdp. lain this to me'W.
ipe every Mute off the face of this planet.'
You know how I feel about the preservation of human life."
"As I feel, WarBd.elieve me, please."
"Then explain it to this child and we can get started defeaWtinhgy iwt:ould someone wish death to so
many of us just because we're . . . extranormHael?h"ad never been quite so conscious of his smear of a
nose, the eyes set so wide on his temples that his ears picked up the fine liquid click-click of every blink.
"It's political," she sai"dT. here's power in appealing to base responsAesn.d there are problems over the kelp situation."
"What kelp situation?H" is voice sounded toneless in his own ears, far away and . . . yeWs, iapferaid. every Mute off the face of this planet.
"Do you feel up to a tour?" she aSskheed.glanced at the plaz beside them.
Ward looked out at the undersea vi"eOwu.t there?"
"No," she said, "not out theTrhe.ere's been a wavewall topside and we've got all our crews reclaiming some ground we've lost."

His eyes strained to focus forward on her mSooumthe. how, he didn't believe anyone's mouth could be so casual about a wavewall.
"The Islands?"He swallowed."How bad was the damage?"
"Minimal, WardT. o our knowledge, no fatalitieWs. ave-walls may very well be a thing of the past."
"I don't understand."
"This wavewall was smaller than many of the winter storms you survive eveWrye'yve rb.uilt a series
of networks of exposed lanLd.and above the seaS.omeday, they will be islands . . . real islands fixed to the planet, not drifting willy-nillAy.nd some of them, I think, will be continents."
Land, he thought, and his stomach lurchLeadn.d means shallowsA. n Island could bottom out in shallow water. An ultimate disaster, in the vernacular of historians, but she was talking about voluntarily increasing the risk of an Islander's worst fear.
"How much exposed land?" he asked, trying to maintain a level tone.
"Not very much, but it's a beginning."
"But it would take forever to . . ."
"A long time, Ward, but not foreWveer.'ve been at it for generationAsn. d lately we've had some help. It's getting done in our lifetime, doesn't that excite you?"
"What does this have to do with the kHelep?f"elt the need to resist her obvious attempts to mesmerize him.

"The kelp is the key," she said, "just as people -- Islanders and Mermen -- have saidWaitlhl athloeng. kelp and a few well-placed artificial barriers, we can control the sea cuArlrlenotfs.them."
Control, he thoughTt.hat's the Merman way of Hite.
doubted they could control the seas, but if they
could manipulate currents, they could manipulate Island movement.
How much control? he wondered*
"We're in a two-sun system," he s"aTidh.e gravitational distortions guarantee wavewalls, earthquakes . .
."
"Not when the kelp was in its prime, WAanrdd. now there's enough of it to make a differYenocue'l.l
see. And currents should begin an aggrading action now -- dropping sediment -- rather than degrading."
Degrading, he thoughHt. e looked at Ale's beautDy.id she even know the meaning of the wAord?
technical understanding, an engineering approach was not enough.
Mistaking the reason of his silence, Ale plunged on.
"We have records of everythinFgr.om the firstW.
e can play the whole reconstruction of this planet from
the beginning -- the death of the kelp, everything."
Not everything, he thoughHt.e looked once more at the wondrous garden beyond theGprloawz.th there was so lush that the bottom could only be glimpsed in a fewHpelaccoeusl.d see no rocAk.s a child, he had given up watching drift because all he ever saw was rock . . W. haennd istilwt. as clear
enough or shallow enough to see at Saelel.ing the bottom from an Island had a way of running an icy hand down your back.
"How close are these 'artificial barriers' to the surface?" he asked.
She cleared her throat, avoiding his eyes.

"Along this section," she said, "surflines are beginning to shI oewx.pect watchers on Vashon already have seen themT. hat wavewall drifted them pretty close to . . ."
"Vashon draws a hundred meters at Center," he prote"sTtewdo. -thirds of the population live below the waterline -- almost half a million livHeso!w can you speak so casually about endangering that many . . .
?"
"Ward!"A chill edged her voic"eW.
e are aware of the dangers to your Islands and we've taken that into
account. We're not murderersW.
e are on the verge of complete restoration of the kelp and the
development of land masses -- two monumental projects that we've pursued for generations."
"Projects whose dangers you did not share with nor reveal to the IsAlarnedewrse. your --"
"No one is to be sacrificed!"
to be sacrificed to
"Except by your friends who want to wipe out every Mute on PIasndthoirsa!how they intend to do it? Wreck us on your barrier walls and your continents?"
"We knew you wouldn't understand," she s"aBidu.t you must realize that the Islands have reached their limits and people haven'It. agree that we should have brought Islanders into the planning picture much
earlier, but" -- she shrugged -- "we didAnn'td.
now we areI.t's my job to tell you what we must do
together to see that there is no disasIt'sr.my job to gain your cooperation in --"
"In the mass annihilation of Islanders!"
"No, Ward, dammitI!n the mass rescue of Islanders . . . and MeWrmeenm. ust walk on the surface once more, all of us."
He heard the sincerity in her tone but distrustSehde itw. as a diplomat, trained to lie convincinAglnyd.

the enormity of what she proposed . . .
Ale waved a hand toward the exterior gar"dKenel.p is flourishing, as you can sBeeu.t it's just a plant; it is not sentient, as it was before our ancestors wiped Tithoeukt.elp you see there was, of course, reconstructed from the genes carried by certain humans in the --"
"Don't try to explain genetics to the Chief Justice," Ward growled, "we know about your 'dumbkelp.'"
She blushed, and he wondered at the emotional disIptlawya. s something he had never before seen in
Ale. A liability in a diplomat, no douHbot.w had she concealed it before . . . or was this situation simply too much for normal repressionH?e decided to watch the emotional signal and read it for her true feelings.
"Calling it 'dumbkelp' like the schoolchildren is hardly accurate," she said.
"You're trying to divert me," he accu"sHedo.w close is Vashon to one of your surflines right now?"
"In a few minutes I will take you out and show you," s"hBeutsayido.u must understand what we're --"
"No.I must not understand -- by which you mean accept -- such peril for so many of mSyo
people.
many people, periodY.
ou talk of controDl. o you have any idea of the energy in an Island's movement?
The long, slow job of maneuvering something that Ybiogu?r word, this control of which you seem so proud, does not take in the kinetic energy of --"
"But it does, WarId.didn't bring you down here for a tea pOartya.n argument."She stood."I hope you have your legs under you because we've a lot of walking to do."
He stood at that, slowly, and tried to unkink his Hkniseelse.ft foot tingled in the first stages of waking. Was it possible, all that she saHide? could not escape the in-built fear all Islanders felt at the idea of a
crashing death on solid bottomA.
white horizon could only mean death -- a wavewall or some tidal
exposure of the planet's rocky surfacNeo. thing could change that.

How do Mermen make lovSea?me way every time.
-- Islander joke
The two coracles, one towing the other, bobbed along on the opNenothsienag.
shared the horizon with
them except gray waves, long deep rollers with intermittent white lines of spume at thVeaschreosnts.
was long gone below the horizon astern and Twisp, holding his course by the steady wind and the fisherman's instinct for shifts in light, had settled into a patient, watchful wait, giving only rare glances to his radio and RDFH. e had been all night assembling the gear to hunt for Brett -- raising the coracles, repairing the wavewall damage, loading supplies and gear.
Around him now was a Pandoran late mornOinngly.
Little Sun was in the sky, a bright spot on a thin
cloud cover -- ideal navigation weathDerr.iftwatch had given him a fix on Vashon's position at the time
of the wavewall and he knew that by midafternoon he should be near enough to start search-quartering the seas.
If you made it this far, kid, I'll find you.
The futility of his gesture did not escape TTwhisepr.e was nearly a day's delay, not to mention the ever-prowling hunts of dashersA. nd there was this odd current in the sea, sending a long silvery line

down the sweep of waveIst. flowed in his direction, for which Twisp was thanHkefulc.ould mark the
swiftness of it by the doppler on his radio, which he kept tuned to Vashon's emergenHcey to hear a report of Brett's recovery.
hboanpded.
It was possible that Mermen had found BTrwetti.sp kept looking for Merman signs -- a flag float for a work party, one of their swift skimmers, the oily surge of a hardbelly sub surfacing from the depths.
Nothing intruded on his small circle of horizon.
Getting away from Vashon had been a marvel of secret scurrying, all the time expecting Security to stop him. But Islanders helped each other, even if one of them insisted on beingGaerafordol.had packed
him a rich supply of food gifts from friends and from the pantry at the AceSeocfuCrituypsh. ad been
informed of Brett's loss overboarGd.erard's private grapevine said the kid's parents had set up a cry for
"someone to do something.T"hey had not come to Twisp, thouSgthr.ange, that.Official channels only.
Twisp suspected Security knew all about his preparations for a search and deliberately kept hands off -- partly out of resentment over the Norton family pressures, partly . . . well, partly because Islanders helped each otherP. eople knew he had to do this thing.
The docks had been a madhouse of repair when Twisp went down to see whether he could recover his boat. Despite the hard work going on all around, fishermen made time to heBlprehttimh.ad been the
only person lost with this wavewall and they all knew what Twisp had to attempt.
All through the night people had come with gear, sonar, a spare coracle, a new motor, eelcell batteries, every gift saying": We know.We sympathize.I'd be doing the same thing if I were you."
At the end, ready to set off, Twisp had waited impatiently for Gerard toGearpapredarh.ad said for him
to wait.The big man had come down in his motorized chair, his single fused leg sticking out like a blunted lance to clear the waHy.is twin daughters ran skipping behind him, and behind them came five Ace of
Cups regulars wheeling carts with the food stores.
"Got you enough for about twenty-five or thirty days," Gerard had said, humming to a stop beside the waiting boats."I know you, TwispY. ou won't give up."
An embarrassed silence had fallen over the fishermen waiting on the docks to see TGweirsaprdofhf.ad
spoken what was in all of their minHdosw.
long could the kid survive out there?

While friends loaded the tow-coracle, Gerard s"aWid:ord's out to the MermeTn.hey'll contact us if they learn anything.Hard telling what it'll cost you."
Twisp had stared at his coracles, at the friends who gave him precious gear and even more precious physical help.The debt was greaAt. nd if he came back . . . well, he was going to come back -- and with the kid.The debt would be a bitch, thouAghn.d only a few hours ago he had been considering
abandonment of the independent fisherman's life, going back to the Wsueblls.. . . that was the way it went.
Gerard's twin girls had come up to Twisp then, begging for him to swinTghethceomra.cles were almost ready and a strange reluctance had come over everyone . . . includingHTeweisxpte. nded his arms to let each of the girls grip a forearm tight, then he turned, fast, faster, swinging the children wide while the spectators stood back from his long-armed circTlhe.e girls shrieked when their toes pointed at the
horizon. He stumbled to a stop, dizzy and sweatBinogt.h girls sat hard on the pier, their eyes not quite caught up with the end of the whirl.
"You come back, you hear?" Gerard had s"aMidy. girls won't forgive any of us if you don't."
Twisp thought about that oddly silent departure as he held his course with the wind on his cheek and an
eye to the light and the swift hiss of the current under hTishecraofltd. him in his lonelinessY: our best friend is hope.
axiom of the fishing fleets nurtured
He could feel the tow coracle tug his boat at the Tchrestcsa.rrier hum of his radio provided a faint background to the slap-slap of cross-chop against the Hhuell.glanced back at the toOwn. ly the
static-charge antenna protruded from the lashed covTehr.e tow rode low in the waTtehr.e new motor
hummed reassuringly near his feeIts eelcell batteries had not started to change color, but he kept an eye on them.Unless the antenna picked up a lightning strike, they'd need feeding before nightfall.
Gray convolutions of clouds folded downward ahead of Shoime. time soon it was going to raHine.
unrolled the clear membrane another fisherman had given him and stretched it over the open cockpit of his coracle, leaving a sag-pocket to collect drinking wTatheer. course beeper went off as he finished the final lashings.He corrected for slightly more than five degrees deviation, then hunkered under the shelter, sensing the imminent rain, cursing the way this would limit visiBbiulittyh. e had to keep dry.

I never really get miserable if I'm dry.
He felt miserable, thougWh. as there even the faintest hope he could find theOkr idw?as this one of those futile gestures that had to be made for one's own mental well-being?
Or is it that I have nothing else to live for . . . ?
He put that one out of his mind as beyond dTeobagteiv. e himself physical activity, something to drive
out his doubts, he rigged a handline with a warning bell from the starboard thwart, baited it with a bit of bright streamer that glittered in the waHteer. payed it out carefully and tested the warning bell with a
short tug on the linTe.he tinkling reassured him.
All I'd need, he thougDhtr.ag a dead fish along and call in the dasEhveersn.
though dashers preferred
warm-blooded meat, they'd go for anything that moved when they were hungry.
A lot like humans.
Settling back with the tiller under his right armpit, Twisp tried tSotirlel lanxo.thing on the radio's
emergency band.He reached down and switched to the regular broadcast, coming in on the middle of a music program.
Another gift, a nav-sounder, with its bottom-finding sonar and its store of position memories, rested
between his legsH.
e flipped it on for a position check, worked out the doppler distance figure from the
radio and nodded to himself.
Close enough.
Vashon was drifting at a fairly steady seven klicks per hour backHitshecroer.acle was doing a reliable twelve. Pretty fast for trolling with a handline.
The radio interrupted its music program for a commentary on Chief JusticNe oKweeol.rd yet from the

Committee, but observers were saying that his unprecedented fact-finding trip down under could have
"deep significance to Vashon and all other Islands."
What significance? Twisp wondered.
Keel was an important man, but Twisp had trouble extending that importance beyond Vashon. Occasional grumbles over a decision swept through the Island communities, but there had been few real disturbances since Keel's elevation, and that was some time bSaucrke. sign that he was a wise man.
The C/P had been asked to comment on Keel's mission, however, and this aroused Twisp's curiosity. What did the old Shipside religion have to do with the Chief JusticeT'switsripp?had always paid only
cursory attention to both politics and religiTonh.ey were good for an occasional jawing session at the
Ace of Cups, but Twisp had always found himself unable to understand what drove people to passionate arguments over "Ship's real purpose."
Who the hell knew what Ship's real purpose had
Tbeheenre?
might not have been a purpose!
It was possible, though, that the old religion was gaining new strength among IsItlanwdaesrsc. ertainly an unspoken issue between Mermen and IslandeTrhs.ere was enough polarization already between
topside and down under -- diplomats arguing about the "functional abilities" characteristic of Pandora's split population.Islanders claimed eminence in agriculture, textiles and meteoroloMgyer.men always
bragged they had the bodies best adapted for going back to the land.
Stupid argument!Twisp always noticed that a group of people -- Islander or Merman -- got less intelligent with every member addeIdf. humans can master that one, they've got it made, he thought.
Twisp sensed something big was afoHoet. felt well away from it out in the openNoseaS.hip hereN. o
C/P. No religious fanatics -- just one seasoned agnostic.
Was Ship GodW? ho the hell cared nowS?hip had abandoned them for sure and nothing else of Ship really mattered.
A long, sweeping roller lifted the coracle easily to almost twice the height of the prevaHilieng seas.

glanced around from the brief vantage and saw something large bobbing on the water far ahead.
Whatever it was, it lay in the silvery channel of the odd current, which was adding to his forward speed. He kept his attention ahead until he picked up the unknown thing much closer, realizing then that it was
several things clumped togetherA.
few minutes later he recognized the objects in the clump.
Dashers!
The squawks lay quiet, thougHhe.
glanced at them as he put a hand on the field switch, ready to repel
the hunt when they attackeNd.one of the dashers moved.
That's strange, he thoughNt.ever seen dashers sit still before.
He lifted his head, raising the catchment sag of his cockpit cover, and peereAd sahtheeadc. oracle
neared the clump, Twisp counted seven adults and a tighter cluster of young dashers in the center of the group. They rode the waves together like a dark chunk of bubbly.
Dead, he realizedA.
whole hunt of dashers and all of them dWeahda.t killed them?
Twisp eased back the throttle, but still kept a hand on the field switch . . . jTushteyinwcearsee.dead, though, not pretending as a ruse to lure him cTlohsee.dashers had locked themselves into a protective circle. Each adult linked a rear leg to the adult on eitherThseidye.formed a circle with forepaws and fangs facing out, the young inside.
Twisp set a course around them, staring in at the daHshoewrs.long had they been deaHd?e was tempted to stop and skin at least oDnaes.her skins always brought a good priBceu.t it would take precious time and the hides would rob him of space.
They'd stink, too.
He circled a bit closUerp.
close now he could see how dashers had adapted so quickly to water.
Hollow hairs -- millions of trapped air cells that became an efficient flotation system when sea covered all of Pandora's landL. egend said dashers once had feared the water, that the hollow hairs insulated them
then against cold nights and oven-hot days among the desert rBoecckasu. se of those hollow hairs,

dasher hides made beautiful blankets -- light and wAargma.in, he was tempted to skin some of them. They were all in pretty good shaHpea.ve to jettison part of his survival cargo if he did, thWouhgaht . could he spare?
One of the dashers displayed a great hood that floated out from its ugly, leather-skinned head like a black mantle.Experts said this was a throwback characterisMtico. st dashers had shed the hood in the
sea, becoming sleek killing machines with saber fangs and those knife-sharp claws, almost fifteen centimeters long on the bigger animals.
Lifting a corner of his cockpit cover, he poked at the hooded dasher with a boathook, lifting it far enough to see that the underside had been burnAed.deep, crisp line from brisket to bTelhley. limpness
of the beast told him it couldn't have been dead more than a fewA hhoaulfr-sd. ay, at the mosHt.e withdrew the boathook and refastened the cockpit cover.
Burned? he wonderedW. hat had surprised and killed this entire hunt -- from below?
Swinging the tiller, he resumed his course down the silvery channel of current, checking by compass and the relative signal from VashoTn.he radio was still playing popular muSsioco. n, the mysterious clump of
dashers lay below the horizon astern.
The clouds had lifted slightly and still there was noHeraigna.uged his course by the bright spot on the clouds, the uncertain compass and the ripple of steady wind across the transparent cover aboTvhee him. wind drove spray runnels in parallel lines, giving him a good reading on relative direction.
His thoughts turned back to the dashHeres.was convinced that Mermen had killed them from beneath, but how?A Merman sub crew, maybIef. this were an example of a Merman weapon, Islands were virtually defenseless.
Now, why would I think Mermen would attack us?
Mermen and Islanders might be polarized, but war was ancient history, known only through records saved from the Clone WarAs.nd Mermen were known to go to great trouble to save Islander lives.

But the whole planet was a hiding place if you lived downAunnddeMr.ermen did want Vata, that was true. Always coming up with petitions demanding that she be moved to "safer and more comfortable quarters down under."
"Vata is the key to kelp consciousness," the MermenTshaeiyd. said it so often it had become a cliche, but the C/P seemed to agreTew. isp had never believed everything the C/P said, but this was something he kept to himself.
In Twisp's opinion, it was a power strugVgaltea., living on and on like that with her companion, Duque, beside her, was the nearest thing Pandora had to a livingYsoauintc.ould start almost any story you
wanted about why she lay there without responding.
"She is waiting for the return of Ship," some said.
But Twisp had a tech friend who was called in occasionally by the C/P to examine and maintain the
nutrient tank in which Vata and Duque livTehde.
tech laughed at this story.
"She's not doing anything but living," the tech "sAanidd.
I'll bet she has no idea she's even doing that!"
"But she does have kelp genes?" Twisp had asked.
"Sure.We've run tests when the religious mumbo-jumbos and the Mermen observers have their backs turned. A few cells is all it takes, you knTohwe. C/P would be liviVd.ata has kelp genes, I'll swear to
that."
"So the Mermen could be right about her?"
"Who the fuck knows?T"he tech grinned". Lots of us have 'emE.verybody's different, thoughM.
aybe
she did get the right batcOhr., for all we really know, Jesus Lewis was Satan, like the C/APnsdays. Pandora's Satan's pet project."

The tech's revelations did little to change Twisp's basic opinions.
It's all politicsA. nd politics is all property.
Lately everything came down to license fees, forms and supporting the right politicaIlf gyrouph. ad someone on the inside helping you, things went well -- your property didn't cost you Osothmerwucihse. , forget it.Resentments, jealousy, envy . . . these were the things really running PaAnnddorafe. ar.He'd seen plenty of fear in the faces of Mermen confronted by the more severely changed IPselaonpdle s. even Twisp sometimes thought of as MuFteesa. r bordering on horror, disgust, loathinIgt .was all
emotions and he knew politics was at the bottom of it, too -- "Dear Ship," the horrified Mermen were saying with their unmasked faces, "don't let me or anybody I love own a body like that!"
The beeper interrupted Twisp's black thoughStosn. ar said his depth here was a little under one hundred meters. He glanced around at the open sTeha.e silvery current-channel had been joined by tributaries on both sides.He could feel the current churn beneath his corBaciltes. of flotsam shared the water around
him now -- kelp tendrils mostly, some short lengths of floatingTbhoonse would have to be from squawks. Wouldn't float otherwise.
A hundred meters, he thougPhtr.etty shallow.Vashon drew just about that much at CenMteerr.men preferred building where it remained shallow most of the time, he reWcalalsedt.his a Merman areaH?e
looked around for signsd:ive floats, the surface boiling with a sub's backwash or a foil coming up from the depths.There was only the sea and the folding current that swept him along in its steLaodtys gorfip.
kelp shreds in this currenCt.ould be an area where Mermen were replanting the Tstwufifs.p had found himself taking the Merman side on that project in many a bar argMumoreent.kelp meant more cover and feed for fishN. ursery areas.More fish meant more food for the Islands and for MeIrnmemno. re predictable locations.
His depth finder said the bottom was holding steady at ninety
Mmeetremrse.n had reason to prefer
shallows. Better for the kelpE. asier to trade topside, as long as Islands had plenty of cleaAranndce. there were all those stories that the Mermen were trying to reclaim land on theTshuereacme.ight be a
Merman outpost or trading station nearby and they could give him word on whether they had rescued the kid. Besides, the little he knew about Mermen made him that much more fascinated by them, and the prospect of contact excited him for its own sake.
Twisp began to build a fantasy -- a dream-truth that Mermen had saveHdeBsrceotto. ped a handful of
the kelp and found himself daydreaming that Brett had been rescued by a beautiful young Merman girl and was falling in love somewhere down under.

Damn!I've got to stop that, he thougThht.e dream collapsedB. its of it kept coming back to him, though, and he had to repress them sharply.
Hope was one thing, he thougFhatn. tasy was quite another thing . . . and dangerous.
This may be the better age for the Faith, but this is certainly not an age of Faith.
-- Flannery O'Connor, from her letters, Shiprecords
Those who watched Vata that day said her hair was alive, that it clutched her head andAsshoulders. Vata's agitation grew her shudders became a steadily progressing convulHsieorn.thick spread of hair snaked itself around her and curled her gently into a fetal ball.
The convulsions tapered off and ceased in two minutes, twelve seFcoudr sm.
inutes and twenty-four
seconds after that, the tendrils of her hair became hair aAgatihni.ck spread of it fanned out behind her. She stayed in that position, tight and rigid, through three full shifts of watchers.
The C/P was not the first to equate the agitation in the tank with the sinking of Guemes, nor was she the

last. She was, however, the only one who wasn't surprised.
Not now! she thought, as though she could ever have found a convenient time for thousands of people to die. That was why she needed GalloTwh.is was something she could live with if it were done, but it was
not something that she could dNoo. ne of that diminished the horrors she was forced to imagine as Vata lay writhing in her tank.
And scooped up like that by her hTahiirs! thought raised every thin stalk on the back of the C/P's shoulders and neck.
At Vata's first abrupt stirrings, Duque had stiffened, flinched, then slipped quickly and deeply into shock. His only coherent utterance was a high-pitched, quickly blurted, "Ma!"
Those med-techs among the watchers, Islander and Merman alike, vaulted the rim of the pool.
"What's wrong with him?" a young clerk asSkheed. was chinless and hook-nosed, but not at all unpretty. The C/P noticed her wide green eyes and the white eyelashes that flickered as she spoke.
Rocksack pointed at the telltales above the monitor center across the"Fpaosto, l.high heartbeat, agitation, shallow breathing, steadily dropping blood pressure -- shNocokth. ing touched him and they've ruled out stroke or internal bleedingT.h"e C/P cleared her throa"tP. sychogenic shock," she said. "Something scared him almost to death."

Forceful rejection of the past is the coward's way of removing inconvenient knowledge.
-- the Histories
The weather around Twisp had shifted from scattered showers to a warm wind with clear skies directly overhead. Little Sun was wending its way toward the horiTzwoni.sp checked the rain water he had
recovered -- almost four literHs.e removed the cockpit cover, rolled it forward and lashed it in place where it could be snatched back quickly if the weather changed once more.
He thought only briefly of the daydream he had entertained about Brett and a beautiful Merman woman. What nonsense!Mermen wanted normal childrenB. rett would only find disappointment down under.
One look at his big eyes and parents would steer their daughters away froIsmlanhdiemr. births might be stabilizing, more births in the pattern of Gerard's girls, more near-normals like Brett every season, but that changed nothing in basic attitudeMs.ermen were Mermen and Islanders were IslandeIsrsla. nders were
catching up, thoughf:ewer lethal deviants and longer life spans.
The warning beeper on Twisp's depth finder sounded once, and Hageaignl.anced at it and reset the
lower limit.The sea had been shallowing here for some tOimnely.
seventy-five meters nowF.ifty meters
and he could start trying to see bottOomne.
of his dockside gifts had been a small driftwatcher, organic
and delicately beautifulI.t held corneal material at one end that would focus at his deAmt atnhde. other
end, a mouth-like aperture fitted itself over his eTyhees. thing could only exist immersed most of the time
in nutrient, and it grew inexorably, eventually becoming too large for a smaCllusbtomt.
dictated that it
then be passed along to a larger bToawt.isp ran a hand absently along the smooth organic tube of the thing, feeling its automatic responsHe.e sighed.What could he hope to find on the bottom even if it did get shallow enough?He removed his hand from the little driftwatcher and lifted his attention to his surroundings.
The air felt warm, almost balmy and quite moist after theThraeinsse.as were calmerO. nly that shifting,
boiling current stretched ahead of him and for more than a kilometer on botOhdsdi.deHse.
had never
seen a current quite like it, but then Pandora was always turning up newThtheinognse.
constant was the
weather: It changed and it changed faHste.
looked east at the cloud bank there, noting how far toward
the horizon Little Sun had moveBdi.g Sun would come up soon -- more light, more visiHbielityg.lanced back at the strip of rich blue along the horYizeosn,. it was clearingT.he dark bank of clouds east of him
receded faster than his motor and the current chaseSdunilti.ght tapped his cheeks, his armHse.
settled
back beside the tiller, feeling the warmth like an old fIrtiewnda.s as though Pandora had smiled upon his

venture. He knew he was very close to where the wave wall had struck Vashon, and now visibility opened up.He moved his gaze around the horizon, seeking a black speck that was not the sea.
I'm here, kid.
His gaze, sweeping left, glimpsed a distinct line of Tfrhoeths.ight of it prickled the hairs on his neck and
sent a chill down his spinHee.
sat stiffly upright, staring.
A white line on the sea!
Wavewall?No . . . it wasn't growing larger or receJduinstg.off to the left of his course and dead ahead a white line of foam grew more distinct as he approacShoenda. r read fifty meterHs.e slipped the little driftwatcher from its container and fixed it to the coracle's side with the corneal end undFeitrtwingater.
his forehead to the mouth aperture, he stared downward.
When his eyes adjusted, the view took a moment shaping itself into something idenIttifwiaabslen. ot the
rolling contour of the deeps, which he had seen from theItsuwbass.
not the jagged, surreal landscape of
the danger areasT. his bottom climbed high, almost to the surfTacwei.sp tore his gaze away from the driftwatcher and looked at the sonar readitnwge: nty meters!
He returned his attention to the bottIotmw. as so shallow he could see delicate, sinewy steps -- curving terraces covered with kelp frondRs.ock buttresses and walls guarded the outer edges of the terIrtaces.
all looked artificial . . . manmade.
A core of the Merman kelp project! he thought.
He had seen many segments of the project, but this was vastly different and, he suspected, much larger. Merman engineers experimented with the kelp, he knew Sthuaptp. osedly some of the beds would live
and grow even on land -- if there ever was such aNtohwingT. wisp found himself much closer to
believing -- if this bed was an examMplermen were doing all that they claimed they'dHdeo'd.
seen
the fine latticework strung for kilometers undersea, a structure where the kelp could climb and secure itself. Undersea walls of rock sheltered other plantatioInssla. nders had complained about the latticework
supports, arguing that they were nets to entangle the fishing Tswubissp.
had doubted this argument,
remembering all the stories of net-bound MermIesnla. nder complaints had not stopped the project.

He gave up studying the bottom and looked at the foam lineThaegasiinlv. ery current that carried him curved off to starboard, sweeping close to that disquieting Hlieneg.uessed the intersection to be about
five klicks offA.
distant, recurrent roar accompanied the surfline.
Could it be waves foaming across one of the latticeworks? he wondered.
Both coracles bobbed heavily in a cross-chop, the towed craft pulling at its line and making his job at the tiller a tough one.
Surf! he thoughIt.'m actually seeing surf.
Islanders had reports of this phenomenon, few of them relIitabolcec. urred to him that they were
unreliable only because the incidents were so infrequTenhte.
great Island of Everett, almost as large as
Vashon, had reported a surf sighting just before crashing bottom in a swing-surge of Pandora's sea that left it suddenly awash in a mysterious shalloEwvse.rett had been lost without survivors, bottomed out,
thirty years back.
The course beeper sounded.
Twisp boxed up the driftwatcher, kicked off the warning switch and pulled the tiller hard into his belly. Now he was cutting across the great curve of current that still drifted him toward the foaming white line. The current took on a new characItet r.rolled and twisted along the surface, dispersing waves in its
track. There was a determination about it, a feeling of purpose, as though it were a live thing
remorselessly savaging anything in its waTyw. isp only wanted out of Hite.
had never felt such a force.
He notched the motor up another hundred rAevts.this point a burnout seemed worth the risk -- he had to shake this current.
The coracles twisted at the rim of the surge, forcing him to fight tThheenti,llesru.ddenly, he was through and onto open wavesT.he white line of surf still lay too close but now he felt he coulHd ebeat it. cranked the motor up another notch, pushing full spTeheed. silver line of current grew thinner and thinner as he left it behind hiImt .swept in a great curve around the surfline and disappeared.
What if the kid was caught in that? Twisp wondBerreetdt . could be anywhere.

He crouched over his instruments, read the doppler on Vashon's range signal, and prepared to make a sun-sight to report the location of this danAgerr.ed telltale blinked on his radio -- another Island's signal.
He rotated and homed in on it, identified it as little Eagle Island, off to the Intowrthaesasatl.most at
range limit, too far away to ask for distance and a crossHchisecdke. pth finder had nothing in its memory circuits to match the stretch of bottom under Dhiema.d reckoning, the sun-sight and Vashon's doppler, however, told him the swift current had taken him at least ten klicks to the west of his intended course. The current had moved him rapidly, but the diversion meant he saved no time reaching the coordinates where the wavewall had struck Vashon.
Twisp coded in the bearings and location, keyed the automatic transmitter and actiTvahteedsigitn. al went out for anyone listenin"gD: angerous shallows in this location!"
Presently, he scanned the water around him, squinting and shading hiNs oeyseisg.n of Mermen -- not a buoy, no flag, nothingT.hat terrifying current had become nothing more than a silver thread glinting along the surface.He took a course reading and prepared for another hour or more of careful dead reckoning. In a moment, he knew, he would be back into that watchful waiting from which anything unusual could bring him instantly alert.
A noisy boiling hissing and clatter came from astern, an eruption of sound that drowned out the quiet pulsing of his motor and the slap of waves against his hull.
Twisp whirled and was just in time to see a Merman sub leap nose-first out of the water and fall back onto its sideT. he hard metal glittered gold and greHene. had a brief glimpse of exterior tools on the sub,
all in active mode, whirling and twisting like spastic liTmhbes.sub splashed down not a hundred meters away, sending up a great wave that swept under the coracles and carried TwiHspe hfioguhg.ht for steerage as he watched the sub roll, then right itself.
Without thinking about it, Twisp swung his tiller into his gut, turning to go to tNheo rseuscbued.id that
sort of thingT. he crew could be beaten half to death -- particularly inside one of those all-metal Merman wonders. This crew was in trouble.
As he came around, the sub's hatch popped oApemn.an wearing only green utility pants clambered out onto the hullT. he conning tower already was awash, the sub nosing back under the sAurfwacaev.e
swept the man from his percHhe.
started swimming blindly, great thrashing strokes that took him at an
angle across Twisp's courseT.he sub vanished behind him with a great slurping air bubble.

Twisp changed course to intercept the swimmCeurp.ping his great hands around his mouth, Twisp shouted: "This way!Over here!"
The swimmer did not change course.
Twisp swung wide and pulled up alongside the man, cut the motor and extended a hand.
Now in the coracle's shadow, the swimmer twisted his head upward and gave Twisp a frightened look, seeing the extended hand.
"Come aboard," Twisp saiIdt. was a traditional Islander greeting, matter-of-faNcot.t even an implied question, such as "What in Ship's name are you doing out here?"
The swimmer took Twisp's hand and Twisp pulled him aboard, nearly swamping the coracle as the man clumsily tried to grasp a thwaTrtw. isp pulled him to the center and returned to the tiller.
The man stood there a moment, looking all around, dripping a damp pool into thHeisbiblgarees. chest and face were pale, but not as pale as most Mermen's.
Is this a Merman who lives a lot topside? Twisp wonAdenrdedw. hat the hell happened to him?
The swimmer looked older than Brett but younger than THwisispg.reen utility pants were dark with seawater.
Twisp glanced to where the sub had bOeennly. down.
a slow roiling of the water showed where it had gone
"Trouble?" Twisp askedA. gain, it was the Islander way -- a laconic overture tha"t Wsahiadt: help do you need that I can give?"

The man sat down and lay back against the coracle's deck Hceovderre.w in several deep, shuddering breaths.
Recovering from shock, Twisp thought, studying hTimhe. head.
man was small and heavyset, with a large
An Islander? Twisp wondereHd.e put it as a question, hoping directness would shock the man back to normal.
The man remained silent, but he scowled.
That was a reaction, anywaTyw. isp took his time examining this strange figure from thedasreka:brown hair lay dripping against a wide foreheBadro. wn eyes returned Twisp's gaze from beneath thick brows. The man had a wide nose, wide mouth and squareHcihsins.houlders were broad, with powerful upper arms thinning to rather delicate forearms and slender haTnhdes. hands appeared soft but the fingertips
were calloused and shinyT.wisp had seen such fingertips on people who spent a lot of time at keyboard controls.
Hooking a thumb back to where the sub had gone down, Twisp"Yasokuedc:are to tell me what that was all about?"
"I was escaping.T"he voice was a thin tenor.
"The sub's hatch was still open when it went under," TwisTphsaatidw. as just a comment and could be taken as such if the man desired.
"The rest of the sub was secured," the man"Osanildy.
the engine compartment will flood."
"That was a Merman sub," Twisp said; another comment.

The man pushed himself away from the deck c"oWveer'.d better get out of here," he said.
"We're staying while I look for a friend," Twisp"Hsaeidw. as lost overboard in that last wave wHalel." cleared his throat". You care to tell me your name?"
"Iz Bushka."
Twisp felt that he had heard that name before, but could not make the coAnnnedctinoonw.
as he
looked at Bushka there was a sensation that Twisp had seen this face before -- in a Vashon passage, perhaps . . . somewhere.
"Do I know you?" Twisp asked. "What's your name?" Bushka asked. "Twisp. Queets Twisp."
"Don't think we're acquainted," Bushka saHide. sent another fearful gaze across the water around the coracles.
"You haven't said what you were escaping from," TwispAsnaoidth. er comment.
"From people who . . . we'd all be better off if they weDreamdne!adI . should've killed them but I
couldn't bring myself to do it!"
Twisp remained silent in shocDki.d all Mermen speak so casually of killiHnge?found his voice":But you sent them down under with a flooded engine room!"

And unconscious, tooB! ut they're MermenT. hey'll get out when they recovCero. me on!Let's get out of here."
"Perhaps you didn't hear me, II'mz.
looking for a friend who went overboard from Vashon."
"If your friend's alive, he's safe down unYdoeur.'re the only thing on the surface for at least twenty
klicks. Believe it.I was lookingI.
came up because I saw you."
Twisp glanced back at the distant white line of the"Tshuartf's.
on the surface."
"The barrier?Yeh, but there's nothing elsNe.o Merman base, nothing."
Twisp considered for a moment -- the way Bushka said "MerFmeanr?."Loathing?
"I know where there's a Search and Rescue base," Bushka"Wsaeidc. ould be there by daybreak tomorrow. If your friend's alive . .H.e" left it there.
Talks a bit like an Islander, acts a lot like a Merman, Twisp Dthaomung!htW.
here have I seen him?
Twisp glanced at the distant surfli"nYe.ou called that a barrier."
"Mermen are going to have land on the surTfahcaet'.s part of it."
Twisp let this sink in, not believing it or disbelievFinagsciint.ating, if true, but there were other muree to fry at that moment.
"So you scuttled a sub and you're escaping from people who would be better dead."

Twisp did not believe half of this Bushka's sTtohrey.hospitality of the sea said you had to listen. Nothing said you had to agree.
Bushka sent an agitated gaze over their surroundiSnegcso. nd sun was up but in this season it made a quick sweep and the half-night would be on them sTowoins.p was hungry and irritated.
"Do you have a towel and some blankets?" Bushka a"sIk'medf.reezing my ass off!"
Abruptly contrite because he had failed to provide for the man's comfort, Twi"sTpowsaeild:and blankets are rolled up in the cuddy behind you."
As Bushka turned and found the roll, Twisp ad"Ydeodu:
saw me so you came up hoping I'd save you."
Bushka looked out from beneath the towel with which he was drying any longer it would've killed theImc. ouldn't do it."
"Are you going to tell me who they are?"
"People who'd kill us while eating lunch and not miss a bite!"
"hIifs Ih'dairl.eft them under CO2
Something in the way Bushka said this set Twisp's stomach tremBbulisnhgk.a believed what he said.
"I don't suppose you have an RDC," Bushka Hsaeids.poke with more than a little snobbishness.
Twisp kept his temper and uncovered the instrument near hiHs ifseerte.lative drift compensator was
one of his proudest possessionTs.he compass arrow in its top was pointing now far off their course.

Bushka approached and looked down at the R"DAC.Merman compass is more accurate," he said, "but this will do."
"Not more accurate between Islands," Twisp corrected reference."
"hIismla.nds drift and there's no fixed point of
Bushka knelt beside the RDC and worked its settings with a sureness that told Twisp this was not the first time the man had used such an instrumTehnet. red arrow atop the housing swung to a new setting.
"That should get us there," Bushka sHaied. shook his head".Sometimes I wonder how we found any place without Merman instruments."
We? Twisp wondered.
"I think you're an Islander," Twisp accused, barely holding in his"Waneg'erer. a pretty backward lot, aren't we!"
Bushka stood and returned to his position near the opening of the cuddy. "Better work a bit more with that towel," Twisp"Ysaoiud. missed behind your ears!" Bushka ignored him and sat down with his back against the cuddy.
Twisp fed more power to his motor and swung around on the course indicated by the RDC arrow. Might as well go to this Rescue BaDsaem! n that Bushka!Was he one of those down-under Islanders
who had become more Merman than the Mermen?
"You going to tell me what happened on that sub?" Twisp "Ia'smketdh.rough playing and I want to know what I'm into."

With a sullen expression, Bushka settled himself into his former position against thPeresdeenctkly. , he
began describing his trip with GalloWw.hen he got to the part about Guemes Island, Twisp stopped him.
"You were at the controls?"
"I swear to you I didn't know what he was doing."
"Go onW.
hat happened next?"
Bushka picked up his story after the sinking of the ITswlainsdp. stared at him with a hard expression throughout the recitalO. nce, Twisp felt under the tiller housing behind him for the lasgun he stored there
-- a real Merman lasgun that had cost him half a boatload ofTmheureceo.ld touch of the weapon settled his mind somewhaHt. e couldn't help asking himself, What if this Bushka's lying?
When Bushka finished, Twisp thought a moment, t"hYeno:u strapped the crew into their seats, including
this Gallow, and sent them to the bottHomow.
do you know you didn't kill them?"
"They were tied loose enough to get free once they came around."
"I think I'd have . T. w."isp shook his head sharpl"yY. ou know, don't you, that it's your word against theirs and you were at the controls?"
Bushka buried his face in the blanket around his kHniesess.houlders shook and it was a few blinks before Twisp realized the man was sobbing.
For Twisp, this was the ultimate intimacy between twoHmeenh.ad no more doubts that the story was true.
Bushka lifted a tear-streaked face to Twisp at the "tYilloeur. don't know all of Yito. u don't know what a perfect fool I waFs.ool and tool!"

It all came out, then -- the bookish Islander who wanted to be a Merman, the way Gallow had fastened on this dream, luring the innocent Islander into a compromising position.
"Why didn't you take the sub back to this Rescue Base?" Twisp asked.
"It's too farB. esides, how do I know who's with them and who's agIati'snsat? secret organization, even
from most MermenI.
saw you and . I. j.ust had to get away from them, out of that sub."
Hysterical kid! Twisp thoughHt.e said, "The Mermen won't care a lot for your scuttling their sub."
A short, bitter laugh shook Bush"kMa.ermen don't lose anythingT!hey're the greatest scavengers of all time. If it goes to the bottom, it's theirs."
Twisp nodded". Interesting story, IzN. ow I'll tell you what happeneTdh.e part about Guemes, I believe that and I --"
"It's true!"
"I'd like to disbelieve you, but I dIona'lts.o think you got sucked into it by this GaBlluotwI. don't think you're all as innocent as you let on."
"I swear to you, I didn't know what he intended!"
"Okay, IzI.
believe youI.
believe you saw me on the sub's scanYnoeur. came up intending to be
rescued by me."
Bushka scowled.

Twisp nodded". You swam at an angle away from me so I'd be sure to go after you instead of making a try for the subY. ou wanted to pass yourself off as Merman, have me take you to this base, and you
were going to use your knowledge of the Guemes destruction to insure that Mermen really made good on keeping you down underY. ou were going to trade that for --"
"I wasn't!I swear."
"Don't swear," Twisp sai"dS. hip's listening."
Bushka started to speak, thought better of it and remained Asilerenlti.gious bluff usually worked with
Islanders, even if they claimed nonbelief.
Twisp said": What did you do topsideW? hat Island?" "Eagle.I was a . . . historian and pump-control tech." "You've been to Vashon?"
"A couple of times."
"That's probably where I saw yIous.eldom forget a facHe.istorian, eh?Inside a lotT. hat accounts for your pale complexion."
"Have you any idea," Bushka asked, "of the historical records the Mermen have preTsheerved? Mermen themselves don't even know everything they haOvre.the value of it."
"So this Gallow saw you as valuable to record his doings?"

"That's what he said."
"Making history's a little different from writinIg giut.ess you found that out."
"Ship knows I did!"
"Uh huhB. ushka, for now, we're stuck with each otIh'mer. not going to throw you overboaBrdu.t your story doesn't make me comfortable, you understanIfd?there's a base where you say there's one . . . well, we'll see."
"There's a base," Bushka sa"idW. ith a tower sticking out of the water so far you can see it for fifty klicks."
"Sure there is," Twisp sa"idM. eanwhile, you stay over there by the cuddy and I'll stay here at the tiller. Don't try to leave your positioGno. t that?"
Bushka put his face back into the blanket without answBeryingth.e rocking of his body and the shaking sobs, it was obvious to Twisp that he'd heard.

What's so tough about making love to a MFuinted?ing the right orifice.
-- Merman joke
Following Ale at a pace painful for his old and weak legs, Ward Keel stepped through a hatchway marked by a red circlHe.e found himself in a roomful of noisy actiTvhiteyr.e were many viewscreens,
every one attended by a tech, at least a dozen console desks with Merman-style control switches and
graphics. Alphanumerical indicators flashed wherever he lookeHde.
counted ten very large viewscreens
showing underwater and topside vistaIst. all had been crowded into a space only a bit larger than Ale's quarters.
But it's not cramped, he thought.
Somewhat like Islanders, these Mermen had become skillful at using limited areas, although Keel noted that what they thought small an Islander would see as spacious.
Ale moved him around the desks and screens for introducEtiaocnhs. worker glanced up when introduced, nodded curtly and returned to woFrrko.m the looks they shot Ale, Keel could tell that his presence in this room was particularly distressing to several of the Mermen.
She stopped him at a slightly larger desk set on a low dais to command the enAtilree hraodomc.alled the young man at this desk "Shadow" but introduced him as Dark PKaeneilller.ecognized the surname
-- a descendant of the pioneer poet and historian, no dPoaunbiltl.e's large eyes stared out with demanding focus over high cheekboneHs.is mouth moved only minimally from its straight line when he acknowledged the introduction.
"What is this place?" Keel asked.
"Current Control," Ale said, "You'll learn details momentaTrhileyy.
are involved in an emergency right
now. We must not interfereY. ou see those orange lights flashing over theErme?ergency calls for Search and Rescue teams who are on standby duty."

"Search and Rescue?" Keel aske"dA.re some of your people in trouble?"
"No," she replied with a tight set to her jaw, "your people."
Keel clamped his mouth shHuti.s gaze skittered across the room at the intense faces studying each viewscreen, at the cacophony of typing set up by the blur of two dozen technicians' hands at their keyboards. It was all very confusinWg. as this the beginning of that threat Ale had mentioKnedel?
found it difficult to remain silent . . . but she had said "Search and TRheis uwea."s a time to watch carefully and record.
Immediately after the medics had passed their death sentence on him, Keel had begun to feel that he was living in a vacuum that desperately needed fillHineg.felt that even his long service on the Committee on
Vital Forms had been emptieIdt. was not enough to have been Chief JusTtihcer.e must be something more . . . a thing to mark his end with style, showing the love he had for hHies fwelalnowtesd. to send a message down the long corridors that sa"iTdh: is is how much I caredP.e"rhaps there was a key to his need in this room.
Ale whispered in his e"aSr.hadow -- his friends call him that, a more pleasant name than 'Dark' -- he's
our ablest coordinatorH.
e has a very high success rate recovering Islander castaways."
Was she hoping to impress him with her benign concern for IslandeKr elievlespoke in a low voice, his tone dry": I didn't know it was this formalized."
"You thought we left it to chance?" she aKskeeedl. noted the slight snort of disgu"Wst.e always watch out for Islanders in a storm or during a wavewall."
Keel felt an emotional pang at this revelaHtioisn.pride had been touched.
"Why haven't you made it known that you do this for us?" he asked.
"You think Islander pride would abide such a close watch?" Ale "aYsokuedf.orget, Ward, that I live

much topside.You already believe we're plotting against yWouh. at would your people make of this set-up?" She gestured at the banks of controls, the viewscreens, the subdued clicking of printers.
"You think Islanders are paranoid," Keel sHaied.was forced to admit to himself that this room's
purpose had hurt his pridVe.ashon Security would not like the idea of such Merman surveillance, either. And their fears might be correKcte. el reminded himself that he was only seeing what he was shown.
A large screen over to the right displayed a massive section of Island hull.
"That looks like Vashon," he sa"iId.recognize the drift-watch spacing."
Ale touched Panille's shoulder and Keel wondered at the proprietary air of her moPvaenmilleent. glanced up from the keys.
"An interruption?" she asked.
"Make it short."
"Could you put Justice Keel's fears to rHeest?has recognized his Island thereS.h"e nodded toward the viewscreen on the righ"t.Give him its position relative to the nearest barrier wall."
Panille turned to his console and tapped out a code, twisted a dial and read the alphanumerics on a thin
dark strip at the top of his boTarhde.
smaller screen above the readout shifted from a repeat of the hull
view to a surrounding seascapAe.
square at the lower right of the screen flashed "V-200."
"Visibility two hundred meters," Ale sa"iPdr.etty good."
"Vashon's about four kilometers out from submerged barrier HA-nine, moving parallel the wall," Panille said. "In about an hour we'll begin to take it fartheTr hoeutw. avewall had it within two-kilometer range.
We had to do some shuffling, but nothing to worry aItbowuat.s never out of control."

Keel had to suppress a gasp at these figHureesf.ought down anger at the younger man's presumption and managed to ask, "What do you mean, 'Nothing to worry about'?"
Panille said, "We have had it under control --"
"Young man, diverting a mass like Vashon" -- Keel shook his head --"we're lucky to adjust basic positioning when we contact another IslanGde. tting out of the way of danger in a mere two kilometers is not possible."
The corners of Panille's mouth came up in a tight smile -- the kind of know-it-all smile that Keel really hated. He saw it on many adolescents, sophomoric youths thinking that older people were just too slow.
"You Islanders don't have the kelp working for you," Panille"Wsaeidd. o.That's why we're here and we haven't time for your Islander paranoia."
"Shadow!"Ale's voice carried a cautionary note.
"Sorry."Panille bent to his control"sB. ut the kelp gives us a control that has kept Vashon out of real danger through this area for the past few yOeatrhse. r Islands, too."
What an astonishing claim! Keel thougHhet. noted from the edge of his vision how carefully Ale watched every move Panille madTe.he young man nodded at something on his readouts.
"Watch this," he sai"dL. andro!" An older woman across the room glanced back and nodPdaendil.le
called out a series of letters and numbers toSher.tapped them into her console, paused, hit a key, paused. Panille bent to his own boarAd. flurry of movement erupted from his fingers across the keys.
"Watch Shadow's screen," Ale said.

The screen showed a long stretch of waving kelp, thick andThdeeeVp.-200 still blinked in the corner square. From it, Keel estimated he was looking at kelp more than a hundred meAtesrs hteallw. atched,
a side channel opened through the kelp, the thick strands bending aside and locking onto their neighbors. The channel appeared to be at least thirty meters wide.
"Kelp controls the currents by opening appropriate channels," Ale"Ysaoidu.'re seeing one of the kelp's most primitive feeding behaviorsI.t captures nutrient-rich colder currents this way."
Keel spoke in a hushed whisp"eHr.ow do you make it respond?"
"Low-frequency signals," she sai"dW.
e haven't perfected it yet, but we're clToshei.s is rather crude if
we believe the historical recordWs. e expect the kelp to add a visual display to its vocabulary at the next stage of development."
"Are you trying to tell me you're talking to it?"
"In a crude waTy.he way a mother talks to an infant, that kind of Wtheincga. n't call it sentient yet, it doesn't make independent decisions."
Keel began to understand Panille's know-it-all loHookw.
many generations had Islanders been on the
sea without even coming close to such a developmWenht?at else did Islanders lack that Mermen had perfected?
"Because it's crude we allow plenty of margin for error," Ale said.
"Four kilometers . . . that's safKe?e"el asked.
"Two kilometers," Panille sai"dT. hat's an acceptable distance now."
"The kelp responds to a series of signal clusters," Ale said.

Why this sudden candor with Vashon's highest Islander official? Keel wondered.
"As you can see," Ale said, "we're training the kelp as weSuhsee tiot.o"k his arm and stared at the widening channel through the kelp.
Keel saw Panille glance at Ale's intimate grip and caught a brief hardening of the young man's mouth.
Jealous?Keel wondered.The thought flickered like a candle in a breezy rPoeormha. ps a way to put
Panille off-balance.Keel patted Ale's hand.
"You see why I brought you in here?" Ale asked.
Keel tried to clear his throat, finding it painfully restrIiscltaendd.ers would have to learn about this
development, of courseH.
e began to see Ale's problem -- the Merman probTlehmey.
had made a
mistake in not sharing this development earlOier. had they?
"We have other things to see," Ale we're training our astronauts."
"sIaidth. ink the gymnasium next because it's closTehsta.t's where
Keel had been turning slightly as she spoke, scanning the curve of screens across tHheis rmooinmd. was only partly focused on Ale's words and he heard them almost as an afterHtheoulguhrct.hed and stumbled into her, only her strong grip on his arm kept him steady.
"I know you're going after the hyb tanks," he said.
"Ship would not have left them in orbit if it was not intended for us to have them, Ward."
So that's why you're building your barriers and recovering solid ground above the sea."

"We can launch rockets from down here but that's not the best way," above the sea."
"What will you do with the contents of the tanks?"
"shWeesaniede.d a solid base
"If the records are correct, and we've no reason to doubt them, then the riches of life in those tanks will put us back on a human path -- a human way."
"What's a human way?" he asked.
"Why, it's . . . Ward, the life forms in those tanks can . . ."
"I've studied the recordWs. hat do you expect to gain on Pandora from, say, a rhesus moOnrkeay?
python? How will a mongoose benefit us?"
"Ward . . . there are cows, pigs, chickens . . ."
"And whales, how can they help Cuasn?
importance of the kelp . . ."
they live compatibly with the keYlpo?u've pointed out the
"We won't know until we try it, will we?"
"As Chief Justice on the Committee on Vital Forms, and that is who you're addressing now, Kareen Ale, I must remind you that I have considered such questions before."
"Ship and our ancestors brought --"

"Why this sudden religious streak, KareeSnh?ip and our ancestors brought chaos to PandTorhae.y did not consider the consequences of their actioLnos.ok at me, KareenI! am one of those consequences. Clones . . . mutants . . . I ask you, was it not Ship's purpose to teach us a hard lesson?"
"What lesson?"
"That there are some changes that can destroyYouus. speak so glibly of a human way ofHlaifvee!
defined what it is to be human?"
"Ward . . . we're both human."
you
"Like me, KareenT. hat's how we judgeH. uman is 'like meI.n' me.'"
our guts, we saIyt:'s human if it's 'like
"Is that how you judge on the CommittHeee?r" tone was scornful, or hurt.
"Indeed, it isB. ut I paint the likeness with a very broad bHruoswh. broad is your brushF?or that matter, this scornful young man seated here, could he look at me and say, 'like me'?"
Panille did not look up but his neck turned red and he bent intently over his console.
"Shadow and his people save Islander lives," she remarked.
"Indeed," Keel said, "and I'm grateHfuol.wever, I would like to know whether he believes he is saving fellow humans or an interesting lower life form?
"We live in different environments, KareTenh.ose different environments require different customs.
That's all.But I've begun to ask myself why we Islanders allow ourselves to be manipulated by your standards of beautyC. ould you, for example, consider me as a maHtee?"put up a hand to stop her
reply and noticed that Panille was doing his best to ignore their conve"rsIatdion.'t seriously propose it," Keel said". Think about everything involved in Tith.ink how sad it is that I have to bring it up."

Choosing her words carefully, spacing them with definite pauses, Ale said, "You are the most difficult . .
. human being . . . I have ever met."
"Is that why you brought me heIfrey?ou can convince me, you can convince anyone?"
"I don't think of Islanders as Mutes," she "sYaiodu. value to us all should be obvious."
are humans whose lives are important and whose
"But you said yourself that there are Mermen who don't agree," he said.
"Most Mermen don't know the particular problems Islanders Yfaocue. must admit, Ward, that much of your work force is ineffective . . . through no fault of your own, of course."
How subtle, he thoughAt.lmost euphemistic.
"Then what is our 'obvious value'?"
"Ward, each of us has approached a common problem -- survival on this planet -- in somewhat different ways. Down here, we compost for methane and to gain soil for the time when we'll have to plant the land."
"Diverting energy from the life cycle?"
"Delaying," she insisted".Land is far more stable when plants hold it dWowen'll. need fertile soil."
"Methane," he mutteredH. e forgot what point he was going to make in the wake of the new illumination dawning on him". You want our hydrogen facilities!"

Her eyes went wide at the quickness of his mind.
"We need the hydrogen to get into space," she said.
"And we need it for cooking, heating and driving our few engines," he countered.
"You have methane, too."
"Not enough."
"We separate hydrogen electronically and --"
"Not very efficient," he saHide. same.
tried to keep the pride out of his voice, but it leaked through all the
"You use those beautiful separation membranes and the high pressure of deep water," she said.
"Score one for organics."
"But organics are not the best way to build a whole technology," s"hLeoosakidh. ow it's bogged you down. Your technology should support and protect you, help you to progress."
"That was argued out generations ago," he
"sIasilda.nders know what you think about organics."
"That argument is not over," she insis"tAedn.d with the hyb tanks . . ."

"You're coming to us, now," he said, "because we have a way with Htisesuaellso."wed himself a tight smile. "And I note that you also come to us for the most delicate surgery."
"We understand that organics once represented the most convenient way for you to survive topside," she said. "But times are changing and we --"
"You are changing them," he challengHede. backed off at the frustration visible in her clenched jaw, noting the flash of something bright in her blue "eTyiems.es are always changing," he said, his voice softer. "The question remainsH: ow do we best adapt to change?"
"It requires all of your energies just to maintain yourselves and your organics," she snapped, not softening. "Islands starve sometimesB. ut we do not starvAe.nd within a generation we will walk beneath open sky on dry land!"
Keel shruggedT. he shrug irritated the prosthetic supports for his large hHeeadc.ould feel his neck muscles growing tired, snaking their whips of pain up the back of his neck, crowning his scalp.
"What do you think of that old argument in light of this change?" shIet wasaksedv.oiced as a challenge.
"You are creating sea barriers, new surflines that can sink Islands," h"eYosuaidd.o this to further a
Merman way of lifeA. n Islander would be foolish not to ask whether you're doing this to sink the Islands and drown us Mutes."
"Ward."She shook her head before continuin"gW. ard, the end of Island life as you know it will come in our lifetime.That's not necessarily bad."
Not in my lifetime, he thought.
"Don't you understand that?" she demanded.

"You want me to facilitate your kind of change," he"Tshaaidt . makes me the Judas goYato. u know about Judas, Kareen?And goats?"
A shadow of unmistakable impatience crossed her f"aI'cme. trying to impress on you how soon
Islanders must changeT. hat is a fact and it must be dealt with, distasteful or not."
"You're also trying to get our hydrogen facilities," he said.
"I'm trying to keep you above our Merman political squabbles," she said.
"Somehow, Kareen, I don't have confidence in Iyosuu.spect that you don't have the approval of your own people."
"I've had enough of this," Panille interrup"tIedw. arned you, Kareen, that an Islander --"
"Let me handle this," she said, and quieted him with a lift of h"eIfr
ihta'snda. mistake, it's my mistake."
To Keel, she said, "Can you find confidence in retrieving the hyb tanks or settling Cthaen laynodu? see the value in restoring the kelp to consciousness?"
It's an act, he thougShth.e's playing to meO. r to Shadow.
"To what end and by what means?" he asked, stalling for more time.
"To what endW? e'll finally have some real stabiliAtyl.l of usI.t's something that'll pull all of us together."
She seems so cool, so smooth, he thouBguhtt.something's not quite right.
"What're your priorities?" he aske"dT.he kelp, the land or the hyb tanks?"

"My people want the hyb tanks."
"Who are your people?"
She looked at Panille, who said, "A majority, that's who her peopTlheata'sre.how we operate down under."
Keel looked down at hi"mA.nd what are your priorities, Shadow?"
"Personally?"His eyes left the screen reluctant"lyT.he kelp.Without it this planet's an endless struggle for survival."He gestured to the screens, which, Keel reminded himself, somehow had Islander lives balancing on them". You saw what it can do," Panille s"aRidig. ht now it's keeping Vashon in deep water. That's handy.It's survival."
"You think that's a sure thing?"
"I doW.
e have everything that was recovered from the old Redoubt after the inunWdaeti'voen. a good
idea what's in the hyb tankTsh.ey can wait."
Keel looked at Al"eS. ure, things worry meI. know what's supposed to be in those taWnkhsa. t do your records say?"
"We have every reason to believe the hyb tanks contain earthside plant and animal life, everything Ship considered necessary for colonizationA. nd there may be as many as thirty thousand human beings -- all preserved indefinitely."
Keel snorted at the phrase "every reason to beliTevhee.y" don't know after all, he thougThht.is is a
blind shot.He looked up at the ceiling, thinking of those bits of plasteel and plaz and all that flesh swinging in a wide loop around Pandora, year after year.

"There could be anything up there," Keel
"sAaindy. thing." He knew it was fear speakinHge.
looked
accusingly at Ale". You claim to represent a majority of Mermen, yet I sense a furtiveness in your activities."
"There are political sensitivities --" She broke"Woffa.rd, our space project will continue whether I'm successful with you or not."
"Successful?With me?"There seemed to be no end to her manipulative schemes.
Ale exhaled, more of a hiss than a "sIifghI. fail, Ward, the chances for the Islanders lookWbeadw. ant
to start a civilization, not a wDaor.n't you understand?We're offering the Islanders land for colonization."
"Ahhhh, the bait!" he said.
Keel thought about the impact such an offer might have on IslManadneyrs.would leap at it -- the poor Islanders, such as those of Guemes, the little drifters living from sea to Vmasohuothn. might be another matter. But Merman riches were being exposed in this oMffearn.y Islanders harbored deep feelings of
jealousy over those richesI.t would worsenT. he complexity of what Ale proposed began to lay itself out in his mind -- a problem to solve.
"I need information," he sa"idH.ow close are you to going into space?"
"Shadow," Ale said.
Panille punched keys on his consoTlhe.e screen in front of him displayed a pair of images with a dividing line down the middleO. n the left was an underwater view of a tower,- its dimensions not clear to Keel
until he realized that the tiny shapes around it were not fish, but Mermen
Twhoerkveries
on the right
showed the tower protruding from the sea and, with the proportions clear from the left screen, Keel realized that the thing must lift fifty meters above the surface.
"There will be one space launch today or tomorrow, depending on the weather," A"Ale tseasitd, .our first manned shotI.t won't be long after that when we go up after the hyb tanks."

"Why has no Island reported that thing?" Keel asked. "We steer you away from it," Panille said with a shrug. Keel shook his aching head.
"This explains the sightings you've heard of, the Islander claims that Ship is returning," Ale said.
"How amusing for you!" Keel blurt"eTdh. e simple Islanders with their primitive superstitionHs.e" glared at her."You know some of my people are claiming your rockets as a sign the world iIsf eynodui'ndg. only brought the C/P into this . . ."
"It was a bad decision," she s"aWid.e admit itT. hat's why you're hereW. hat do we do about it?"
Keel scratched his heaHd.is neck ached abominably against the prosthetic braHcees.sensed things between the lines here . . . Panille coming in oAn lecusea. ying mostly what she had planned to Ksaeye.l was an old political in-fighter, though, aware that he could not tip his hand tAoole swooann.ted him to learn things -- things she had planned for him to Ilteawrna.s the concealed lesson that he was after.
"How do we make Islanders comfortable with the truth?" Keel countered.
"We don't have time for Islander philosophizing," she said.
Keel bristled". That's just another way of calling us laJuzyst. staying alive occupies most of us full-time. You think we're not busy because we're not building rocWkeet'sr.e the ones who don't have timWee.
don't have time for pretty phrases and planning --"
"Stop it!" she snappe"dI.f the two of us can't get along, how can we expect better of our people?"

Keel turned his head to look at her with one eye and then with tHhe
osuthpeprr.essed a smileT.wo
things amused himS. he had a point, and she could lose her compoHsuerel.ifted both hands and rubbed at his neck.
Ale was instantly solicitous, aware of Keel's problem from their many encounters on the debate floor. "You're tired," she said".Would you like to rest and have a cup of coffee or something more solid?"
"A good cup of Vashon's best would suit me," heHesaitdu.gged at the prosthetic on his ri"gAhtn.d this
damned thing off my neck for a whYiloeu.
wouldn't happen to have a chairdog, would you?"
"Organics are rare down under," she s"aIi'dm.
afraid we can't provide Islander comforts for everything."
"I just wanted a massage," he s"aMide. rmen are missing a bet by not having a few chairdogs."
"I'm sure we can find you a massage," Kareen said.
"We don't have the high incidence of health problems that you have topside," Panille intAergrauipnt,ed.
his eyes were on the screen filled with numbers and he spoke almost out of another conscSitoilul,sness. Keel couldn't let the remark pass.
"Young man," he said, "I suspect you are brilliant in yourDwono'rtkl.et the confidence of that accomplishment spill over into other areYaso. u have a great deal yet to learn."
Turning to lean on Ale's arm, he allowed himself to be assisted out into the passageway, feeling the stares that followed themH. e was glad to get out of that roSoomm.ething about it wriggled chills up and down his spine.
"Have I convinced you?A"le asked.He shuffled along beside her, his legs aching, his head filled with bits of information that he knew would soon inflict themselves upon his people.

"You have convinced me that Mermen will do this thing," h"eYsoauidh. ave the wealth, the
organization, the determination."He lurched and caught himsel"fI.'m not used to decks that don't roll," he explained. "Living on land is hard for an old-timer."
"Everyone can't go onto the land at once," she"Osanildy.
the most needy at firWst.e think other Islands
will have to be moored offshore . . . or rafts may be built for such nearbyTmheoyo'lrlagbee. temporary living quarters until the agricultural system is well along."
Keel thought about this a moment, th"eYno:u have been thinking this out for a long time."
"We have."
"Organizing Islanders' lives for them and --"
"Trying to figure out how to save the lot of you!"
"Oh?"He laughed."By putting us on bedroom rafts near shore?"
"They'd be ideal," she saHide.
could see a genuine excitement in her e"yAess. the need for them
vanished, we could let them die off and use them for fertilizers."
"Our Islands, too, no doubt -- fertilizer."
"That's about all they'll be good for when we have enough open land."
Keel could not keep the bitterness out of his v"Yoiocue. do not understand, KareeIn.can see thaAt. n Island is not a dead piece of . . . ofIt'lsanadli.ve!It is our motherI.t supports us because we give it loving care.You are condemning our mother to a bag of fertilizer."

She stared at him a moment, th"eYno:u seem to think Islanders are the only ones giving up a way of life. Those of us who go back to the surface --"
"Will still have access to the deeps," he "sYaiodu.
are not cutting the umbilical coWrde.
would suffer
more in the transitionY. ou seem willing to ignore this."
"I'm not ignoring it, dammTith!at's why you're here."
Time to end the sparring, he thouTghimt.e to show her that I don't really trust her or believe her.
"You're hiding things from me," he s"aIi'dv.e studied you for a long time, KareTehne.re's something boiling in you, something big and importaYnot.u're trying to control what I learn, feeding me selected information to gain my cooperatioYn.ou --"
"Ward, I --"
"Don't interruptT. he quickest way to gain my cooperation is to open up, share everything wiIthwmille. help if that's what should be doInew. ill not help, I will resist, if I feel you are concealing anything from me."
She stopped them at a dogged hatch and stared at it without focusing.
"You know me, Kareen," he prompt"eId.say what I meaIn.will fight youI. will leave . . . unless you restrain me . . . and I will campaign against --"
"All right!"She glared up at him"R. estrain you?I wouldn't dare consider
Oit.thers might, but I would
not. You want me to shareV?ery well.The bad trouble has already started, WaGrdu.emes Island is under the waves."

He blinked, as if blinking would clear away the force of what she'd said.
An entire Island, under the wav"eSso! ," he growled, "your precious current controls didn't work. You've driven an Island onto --"
"No."She shook her head for emphas"iNs.o! No! Someone has done it deliberatelIyt. had nothing to do with Current ControIl.t was a cruel, vicious act of destruction."
"Who?"He spoke the word in a low, shocked voice.
"We don't know yeBt.ut there are thousands of casualties and we're still picking up survSivhoers." turned and undogged the hatcKh.eel saw the first signs of age in her slow movements.
She's still holding something back, he thought as he followed her into her quarters.
Humans spend their lives in mazIefs.they escape and cannot find another maze, they createWohnaet. is this passion for testing?
--"Questions from the Avata," the Histories

Duque began to curse, rolling in the nutrient bath and pounding his fists against the organic sides until great blue stains appeared along the edge.
The guardians summoned the C/P.
It was late and Simone Rocksack had been preparing foAr tbethde.
summons, Simone pulled her
favorite robe over her head and let it drop over the firm curves of her breasts Tahned rhoibpes.in its purple dignity erased all but the slightest traces of womanliness from her bSehaerinhgu. rried down the passage from her quarters, pulling at her robe to restore some of its daytime crSihspenenst.ered the gloomy space where Vata and Duque existHede.r anxiety was obvious in every momeKnnt.eeling above Duque, she said":I am here, DuqueI.t is the Chaplain/PsychiatrisHt. ow can I help you?"
"Help me?" Duque screame"dY. ou wart on the rump of a pregnant sYoowu! can't even help yourself!"
Shocked, the C/P put a hand over the flap covering her Smhoeutkhn. ew what a sow was, of course -- one of the creatures of Ship, a female swTihnies. she remembered well.
A pregnant sow?
Simone Rocksack's slender fingers couldn't help pressing against the smooth flatness of her abdomen.
"The only swine are in the hyb tanks," sheShsaeidc.oncentrated on keeping her voice loud enough for
Duque to hear.
"So you think!"
"Why are you cursing?" the C/P askSehde.
tried to keep a proper reverence in her tone.

"Vata's dreaming me into terrible things," Duque moa"nHeder. breaking me into little pieces."
hair . . . it's all over the ocean and she's
The C/P stared at DuquMe.ost of his form was a blurred hulk under the nuHtrisnlti.ps sought the surface like a bloated carHp.e seemed to be all in one piece.
"I don't understand," she sa"idY.ou appear intact."
"Haven't I told you she dreams me?" Duque moa"Dnerde.ams hurt if you can't get oI'ullt. drown down there. Every little piece of me will drown."
"You're not drowning, Duque," the C/P assured.
"Not here, baboonI.n the sea!"
Baboon, she thoughTt.hat was another creature from ShWip.hy was Duque recalling the creatures of Ship? Were they at last coming dowBn?ut how could he knowS?he lifted her gaze to the fearful watchers around the rim of the organic taCnoku. ld one of them . . N. o?, it was impossible.
His voice suddenly clear and extremely articulate, Duque proclaimed, "She won'tTlhisetye'rne. and she won't listen."
"Who won't listen, DuqueW? ho are 'they'?"
talking
"Her hair!Haven't you heard a thing I've saidH?e" pounded a fist weakly against the tank side below the C/P.She stroked her abdomen again, absently.
"Are the creatures from Ship to be brought down to Pandora?" Rocksack asked.

"Take them where you want," Duque s"aJiuds. t don't let her dream me back into the sea."
"Does Vata wish to return to the sea?"
"She's dreaming me, I tell ySohue. 's dreaming me away."
"Are Vata's dreams reality?"
Duque refused to answeHr.e merely groaned and twisted at the edge of the tank.
Rocksack sighedS. he stared across the tank at the mounded bulk of Vata, quiescent . . . breathing. Vata's long hair moved like seaweed in the currents of Duque's disturHbaonwce.could Vata's hair be in
the ocean and here on Vashon simultaneousPlye?rhaps in dreamsW.
as this another miracle of Ship?
Vata's hair was almost long enough to be cut once more, it had been oveWr as yaelal r.of that hair that had been cut from Vata . . . was all of it somehow still attached NtoothVinagta?was impossible in the realm of miracles.
But how could Vata's hair speak?
There was no mistaking what Duque had
Vsaaidta.'s hair spoke and Vata would not lisWtenh.y would
Vata not listen?Was it too soon to return to the Wseas this a warning that Vata would lead them all back into the sea?
Again, Rocksack sighedT.he Chaplain/Psychiatrist's job could be troublesomTee.rrible demands were
made upon herW.
ord of this would be out by mornTinhge.re was no way to silence the guardians.
Rumors, distorted storiesS. ome interpretation would have to be made, something firm and supportive. Something good enough to silence dangerous speculations.
She stood, grimacing at a pain in her right Lkonoekei.ng at the awed faces around the tank's rim, she said, "The next lot of Vata's hair will not go to the fEaivtherfyul.clipping must be cast into the sea as an offering."

Below her, Duque groaned, then quite clearly he shouted, "Bittch! Bitch!"
Rocksack placed this reference immediately, having been prepared by Duque's previous mutterings. Bitch was the female of the canine famGilrye.at things were in store for Pandora, the C/P realVizaetda.
was dreaming Duque into wondrous experiences and Duque was calling forth the creatures of Ship.
Looking once more at the awed guardians, Rocksack explained this carSefhuellyw. as pleased by the way heads nodded agreement.
All Pandorans will be free when the first hylighter breaks the sea's surface.
-- Sign over a Merman kelp project
Five water-drum tones sounded a musical call, pulling Brett up . . . up . . . lifting him out of a dream in which he reached for Scudi Wang but never quite touchedAlhwear.ys, he fell back into the depths as he
had sunk when the wavewall swept him off Vashon.

Brett opened his eyes and recognized Scudi's roTohmer.e were no lights, but his light-gathering eyes
discerned her hand across the short distance between their and groped sleepily up the wall toward the light switch.
"It's a little higher and to the right," he said.
Tbehdes.hand reached out from the covers
"You can see?T"here was puzzlement in her voicHee. r hand stopped its groping and found the switch. Brilliance washed the roomH. e sucked a deep breath, let it out slowly and rubbed hisTheeyelisg.ht hurt him all the way out to the temples.
Scudi sat upright on her bed, the blankets pulled loosely around her "bYreoaustsc.an see in the dark?" she persisted.
He nodded". Sometimes it's handy."
"Then modesty is not as, strict with you as I thoSuhgeht.s"lipped from the covers and dressed in a singlesuit striped vertically in yellow and greBenre. tt tried not to watch her dress, but his eyes no longer would obey.
"I check instruments in a half-hour," she
"sTaihde. n I ride outpost."
"What should I do about . . . you know, checking in?"
"I have reportedI. should be finished in a few hoDurosn. 't go wandering; you could get lost."
"I need a guide?"
"A friend," she saiAd.gain, that quick smile".If hunger strikes, there is foodS.h"e pointed toward the
alcove end of her quarter"sW.
hen I get back, you will reportOirn.they may send someone for you."

He glanced around the room, feeling that it would shrink without Scudi here and with nothing to do.
"You did not sleep well?" Scudi asked.
"Nightmares," he said".I'm not used to sleeping stEillv.erything's so . . . dead, so quiet."
Her smile was a white blur in her dark"Ifahcea.ve to goS.ooner out, sooner back."
When the hatch clicked shut behind her, the stillness of the little room boomed in BHreett'sloeoakresd. at the bed where Scudi had slept.
I'm alone.
He knew that sleep was impossibHleis.
attention wouldn't leave the slight impression left by Scudi's
body on the other beSd.uch a small room, why did it feel bigger when she was in it?
His heartbeat was fast, suddenly, and as it got faster he found a constriction of his chest whenever he tried to take a deep breath.
He swung his legs off the bed, pulled on his clothes and started Htois pgaaczee. moved erratically
around the room -- sink and water taps, the cupboards with conchlike whorls in the corners, the hatch to the head . . . everything was costly metal but plain and rigid inThdesiwgna.ter taps were shiny silver
dolphins. He felt them and touched the wall behind thTehme. two metals had entirely different textures.
The room had no ports or skylights, nothing to show the exteriorTwheorwlda.lls with their kelplike undulations were breached only by the two hatcHhees.felt that he had an unlimited amount of energy and nowhere to use it.
He folded the beds back into their couch positions and paced theSormooemth.ing boiled in himH. is

chest became tighter and a swarm of wriggling black shapes intruded on hisTvhiesrieonw. as nothing around him, he thought, but watAer. loud ringing swelled in his ears.
Abruptly, Brett jerked open the outside hatch and lurched into the passaHgeewoayn.ly knew that he needed air.He fell to one knee there, gagging.
Two Mermen stopped beside hiOmn. e of them gripped his shoulder.
A man said, "IslanderH."is voice betrayed only curiosit"yE. asy does it," another man sa"idY.ou're
safe." "Air!" Brett gasped.Something heavy was standing on his chest, and his heart still raced inside his straining chest.
The man gripping his shoulder sa'Tidh:ere's plenty of air, soTn.ake a deep breathL. ean back against me and take a deep breath."
Brett felt the tension clawing at his belly lift a bony finger, then Aanontehwe,r. commanding voice behind him demanded": Who left this Mute alone hereT?h"ere was a scuffling sound, then a shout: "Medic! Here!"
Brett tried to take a fast, deep breath but couHldenh't.eard a whistling in his constricted thr"oRaet.lax. Breathe slow and deep."
"Get him to a port," the commanding voice "sGaiedt. him somewhere he can see outsiTdhea. t usually works."
Hands straightened Brett and lifted him with arms under his shoHulidserfsi.ngertips and lips conveyed
the buzz and tingle of electric shoAck.blurred face bent close to him, inquiring, "Have you ever been down under before?"
Brett's lips shaped a silent "NHo.e" was not sure he could walk.

"Don't be afraid," the blur sa"iTdh. is occasionally happens your first time aloYneo.u'll be all right."
Brett grew aware that people were hurrying him along a pale orange passaAgehwaanyd.
patted his
shoulder. The tingling receded, and the black shapes floating across his vision began toTshherink. people carrying him stopped and eased him to the deck on his back, then propped himHiusprhiegahdt.
was clearing, and Brett looked up at a string of lTighhetsl.ight cover directly overhead had blobs of dust
and bugs insideA.
head blotted out his view and Brett had an impression of a man about Twisp's age
with a backlighted halo of dark hair.
"You feeling better?" the man askBedre. tt tried to speak in a dry mouth, then managed to croak, "I feel stupid."
In the sudden laughter all around him, Brett ducked his head and looked out a wide port iIntto the sea. was a horizontal view of low-lying kelp with many fish grazing between itsTlheiasvews.as a perspective
of undersea life far different from the driftwatch views topside.
The older man patted his shoulder and said, "That's all righEt,vesroyno.ne feels stupid some time or other. It's better than being stupid, eh?"
Twisp would have said that, Brett thouHghet.grinned up at the long-haired Merm"aTnh. anks."
"Best thing for you to do, young man," the Merman said, "is to go back to a qTuriyetberoinogm.alone again."
The thought pumped Brett's pulse rate backHuep.imagined himself alone once more in that little room with those metal walls and all that water . . .
"Who brought you in here?" the man asked.
Brett hesitated". I don't want to cause any trouble."

"You won't," the medic reassured h"imW.e can get the person who picked you up freed from regular duty to make your entry into life here a little easier."
"Scudi . . . Scudi Wang picked me up."
"Oh!There are people waiting for you nearSbcyu. di will be able to guide yLouex. ," he spoke to a man out of Brett's line of vision, "call down to Scudi at thTehleabm."edic returned his attention to Brett. "There's no hurry, but you do have to get used to being alone."
A voice behind Brett said, "She's on her way."
"Lots of Islanders have a rough time of it down under Ia'dt fsiarsyt. every one, in some way or other. Some recover all at once, a few brood for wYeeokus. look like you're getting over it."
Someone on the other side of Brett lifted Brett's chin and pressed a container of water Ttohehis lips. water felt cold and tasted faintly of salt.
Brett saw Scudi rushing down the long passage, her small face twisted withThweoMrrye.rman helped
Brett to his feet, gripped his shoulder, then hurried toward S"Ycuoduir.
friend's had a stress flashT.h"e
man hurried past Scudi, speaking back at "hPeur.t him through the solo drill before he learns to like the panic, though."
She waved her thanks, then helped Brett manage the walk back to her room.
"I should've stayed," Scudi sa"idY.ou were my first, and you seemed to be doing so well . . ."
"I thought I was, too," he said, "so don't feeWl bhaod.was that medic?"
"Shadow PanilleI.
work with his department in Search and Rescue -- Current Control."

"I thought he was a medic, they said --"
"He isE. veryone in S and R holds that ratinSgc.u"di took his arm".Are you all right now?"
He blushed". It was stupid of mIe.just felt I had to get some air, and when I got out into the passage . .
."
"It's my fault," she insiste"dI . forgot about stress flash and they're always telling us abIouftelitt.. . . well, like you'd always been heIre.didn't think of you as a newcomer."
"The air in the passage felt so thick," Brett"Asalmid.ost like water."
"Is it all right now?"
"Yes."He inhaled a deep breat"hK. ind of . . . wet, though."
"It gets heavy enough to do your laundry in someStimomese. Islanders have to carry dry bottles while they're adjusting.If you feel well now, we can reporSt oimn.e people are waiting for youS.h"e shrugged
at his inquiring look".You have to be processed, of course."
He stared at her, reassured by her presence but still nursing an abrupt hollowIslfaeneldienrgs. heard
many stories of the way Mermen regulated everything in their lives -- reports for this, testHs efor that. started to ask her about this processing but was interrupted as a large group of Mermen clattered past carrying equipment -- tanks, hoses, stretchers.
Scudi called after them, "What is it?"
"They're bringing in the accident survivors," one of them hollered.

Ceiling speakers came alive the"nS:ituation Orange!Situation Orange!All emergency personnel to your stations. This is not a driTll.his is not a driKll.eep docking areas clearK. eep passageways clear.
Essential duty stations only for regular personnEesls.ential duty stations onlyA. ll others report to alternate stations.Medical emergencies only in the passages or trauma shed vicSinitiutya.tion Orange. This is not a drill . . ."
More Mermen dashed past theOmn. e shouted back, "Clear the passageways!"
"What is it?" Scudi called after him.
"That Island that sank off Mistral BarTriehre.y're bringing in the survivors."
Brett yelled, "Was it Vashon?"
They ran on without answering.
Scudi pulled at his ar"mH.urry." She directed him down a side passage and pulled up a large hatchway, which slid aside at her touc"hI'.ll have to leave you here and report to my station."
Brett followed her through a double-hatchway into a Bcaofoet.hs with low-set tables lined the walls. More low tables were scattered throughout the roPomlas.teel pillars in rows defined aislewayEsa.ch
pillar was set up as a serving-statiAon.booth in the corner held two people bent toward each other
across the tableS. cudi hurried Brett toward this booAths.
they approached the figure on the right
became clear.Brett missed a stepE. very Islander knew that face -- that craggy head with its elongated neck and its brace worWk: ard Keel!
Scudi stopped at the booth, her hand gripping BrHeettr's.attention was on Keel's companioBnr.ett recognized the red-haired womanH. e'd glimpsed her on VashoUn.ntil he'd met Scudi, he'd considered Kareen Ale the most beautiful woman aliSvceu. di's low-voiced introduction was not necessary.
"There were supposed to be registration and processing personnel here," Ale said, "but they've gone to their stations."

Brett swallowed hard and looked at K"eMelr.. Justice, they said a whole Island's been sunk."
"It was Guemes," Keel said, his voice cold.
Ale looked at Kee"lW.
ard, I suggest that you and young Norton go to my quDarotner'ts.stay long in
the passages and stay inside until you hear from me."
"I must go, Brett," Scudi sa"iId'l.l come for you when this is over."
Ale touched Scudi's arm and they hurried awSlaoyw. ly, painfully, Keel eased himself from the booth. He stood, letting his legs adjust to the new position.
Brett listened to the people rushing through the passage outside the hatchway.
Laboriously, Keel began shuffling toward the exit ha"Ctcohm.
e along, Brett."
As they stepped into the aisle leading toward the exit, a hatch behind them hissed open, gushing the rich smells of garlic fried in olive oil and spices he couldn't Anama.n's voice called ou"tY: ou two!No one
in the passages!"
Brett whirledA.
heavy set man with dark gray hair stood in the open hatchway to theHkisitcrhaethne. r
flat features were set in a scowl, which changed into a forced smile as he looked past Brett and recognized Keel.
"Sorry, Mr. Justice," the man sa"iDd.idn't recognize you at firsBt.ut you still shouldn't be in the passages."
"We were instructed to vacate this place and meet the ambassador at her quarters," Keel said.

The man stepped aside and gestured toward the kitc"Thehnro. ugh here.You can occupy Ryan Wang's old quarters.Kareen Ale will be notified."
Keel touched Brett's shoulde"rT. his is closer," he saiTd.he man led them into a large, low-ceilinged
room flooded with soft lighBt.rett could not find the light source; it seemed to wash the room equally in
gentle tones.Thick, pale blue carpeting caressed Brett's bare fTehete.
only furnishings appeared to be
plump cushions in browns, burnt red and dark blue, but Brett, knowing how Mermen swung things out of walls, suspected other furniture might be concealed behind the hangings.
"You will be comfortable here," the man said.
"Who do I have the pleasure of thanking for this hospitality?" Keel asked.
"I am Finn Lonfinn," the man s"aIidw. as one of Wang's servants and now have the task of caring for his quarters. And your young friend is . . . ?"
"Brett Norton," Brett answere"dI. was on my way to registration and processing when the alarm sounded."
Brett studied the roomH.e had never seen a place quite likIen ist.ome respects, it was vaguely Islander
-- soft cushions, all the metal covered by woven hangings, many recognizably of topside manufacture. But the deck did not movOen. ly the faint sigh of air pulsing through vents.
"Do you have friends on Guemes?" Lonfinn asked.
"The C/P is from Guemes," Keel reminded him.
Lonfinn's eyebrows lifted and he turned his attention to BBrreetttt.felt required to give a rep"lIy.don't think I know anyone from GuemWes.e haven't been in proximate drift since I was born."

Lonfinn focused once more on Ke"eIl.asked about friends, not about the C/P."
In the man's tone, Brett heard the hard slam of a hatch between Merman andTIhselanwdoerrd.
mutant
lay in the air between theSmi.mone Rocksack was a Mute, possibly a friend of Mute Ward Keel . . . probably not.Who could be friendly with someone who looked like Tthhaet?C/P could not be a normal object of friendshipB. rett felt suddenly threatened.
Keel had realized with an abrupt shock that Lonfinn's assumptions of obvious Merman superiority were barbed. This attitude was a common one among less-traveled Mermen, but Keel felt himself filled with disquiet at an abrupt inner awakening.
I was ready to accept his judgmPenatr!t of me has assumed all along that Mermen are naturally better.
An unconscious thing, borne for years, it had unfolded in Keel like an evil flower, showing a part of himself he had never suspecteTd.he realization filled Keel with angLero.nfinn had been asking":Do you
have any little friends on GuemeHs?ow sad that some of your less fortunate playmates have been killed or maimed.But maiming and death are such an integral part of your lives."
"You say you were a servant," Keel
"saAidre.
you telling me these quarters are no longer occupied?"
"They belong rightfully to Scudi Wang, I believe," Lonfinn"Sshaied.says she doesn't care to live hIere. presume they'll be leased before long and the income credited to Scudi."
Brett gave the man a startled look and glanced once more around these spacious quarters -- everything so rich.
Still in shock at his inner revelation, Keel shuffled to a pile of blue cushions and eased himself onto them, stretching his aching legs in front of him.
"Lucky Guemes was a small Island," Lonfinn said.

"Lucky?"The word was jerked from Brett.
Lonfinn shrugged". I mean, how much more terrible if it had been one of the bigger Islands . . . even
Vashon."
"We know what you mean," Keel sHaied.sighed."I'm aware that Mermen call Guemes 'The Ghetto.'"
"It . . . doesn't mean anything, really," LonfinnTshaeirde. realized he had been put on the defensive.
was an undertone of anger in his voice as he
"What it means is that the larger Islands have been called upon to help Guemes from time to time -- basic foods and medical supplies," Keel pressed him.
"Not much trade with Guemes," Lonfinn admitBterde.tt looked from one man to the other, detecting the subterranean argument boilingT. here were things behind those words but Brett suspected that it would take more experience with Mermen before he understood just what those thingsHwe esreen. sed only
the fact of argument, the barely concealed anSgoerm. e Islanders, Brett knew, made slanted references to Guemes as "Ship's LifeboatT."here was often laughter in the label, but Brett had understood it to mean that Guemes held a large number of WorShipers -- very religious, fundamentalist Ipt ewopalse.no surprise that the C/P was a native of GuemSoems.ehow, it was right for Islanders to joke about Guemes, but it rankled him to hear Lonfinn's intrusions.
Lonfinn strode across the room and tested the controls on aHheattcuhr.ned."The head's through this hatch and guest bedrooms are down the hallway here in case you wish Htoe rerestu."rned and looked down at Keel". I imagine that thing around your neck becomes tiresome."
Keel rubbed his nec"kI.t does indeedB. ut I know we all must put up with tiresome things in our world."
Lonfinn scowled". I wonder why a Merman has never been C/P?"
Brett spoke up, recalling Twisp's comment on this very queHsteionre.peated it:"Maybe Mermen have

too many other things to do and aren't interested."
"Not interested?"Lonfinn looked at Brett as though seeing him for the first"Ytiomuen.g man, I don't think you're qualified to discuss political matters."
"I think the boy was really asking a question," Keel offered, smiling at Brett.
"Questions should be asked directly," Lonfinn muttered.
"And answered directly," Keel persisteHde.
looked at Bret"t.This matter has always been in dispute
among 'the faithful' and their political lobMbyo.st of Ship's faithful topside think it would be a disaster to turn over the C/P's power to a MermTahne.y have so much power over other aspects of our otherwise dreary lives."
Lonfinn smiled without humo"rA.
difficult political subject for a young man to understand," he said.
Brett gritted his teeth at the patronizing attitude.
Lonfinn crossed to the wall behind Keel, touched a depression there and a panel sIlitdreavweale.d a
huge port that looked out on an undersea courtyard with transparent ceiling and a watery center where clusters of small fishes flashed and turned among delicate, richly colored plants.
"I must be going," Lonfinn sa"iEdn. joy yourselves.This" -- he indicated the area he had just exposed -- "should keep you from feeling too enclosIedf.ind it restful myselfH."e turned to Brett, paused and said, "I'll see that the necessary forms and papers are sent for you tNoosisgenn.se wasting time."
With that, Lonfinn departed, leaving by the same hatch they had entered.
Brett looked at Kee"lH. ave you filled out these paperWs?hat are they?"

"The papers fulfill the Merman need to feel they have everything pinnedYdoouwr nn.ame, your age, circumstances of your arrival down under, your work experience, any talents you might have, whether you desire to stay . .K.e"el hesitated, cleared his throa"t.. . . your parentage, their occupations and mutations. The severity of your own mutation."
Brett continued to regard the Chief Justice silently.
"And in answer to your other question," Keel continued, "no, they have not required thIi'ms osfurme e.
they have a long dossier on me giving all the important details . . . and many unimportant tidbits, too."
Brett had fastened onto one thing in Keel's statem"Tehnet.y may ask me to stay down under?"
"They may require you to work off the cost of your Areslcoute.of Islanders have settled down under, something I mean to look into before going topLsiidfe here can be very attractive, I knoHwe."ran his fingers through the soft nap of carpet as if for emphasis.
Brett looked at the ceiling, wondering how it would be to live most of his life here away from the suns. Of course, people from down under did go topside lots of times, but still . . .
"The best disaster-recovery team is composed mostly of ex-Islanders," Kee"l Ssoaidsa. ys Kareen
Ale."
"I've heard the Mermen always want you to pay your own way," Br"eBttutsaiitd.shouldn't take long to work off the cost of my .H.e."suddenly thought of ScudHi.ow could he ever repay ScudTi?here was
no coin for that.
"Mermen have a great many ways of attracting desirable and acceptable Islanders," Ke"Yelousaid. appear to be someone they'd be interested in having abHoaorwd.ever, that should not be your chief concern of the momenBt. y any chance, do you have medical training?"
"Just first aid and resuscitation through school."

Keel drew in a deep breath and expelled it qu"iNckolyt .enough, I'm afraidG. uemes went down quite a while ago.I'm sure the survivors they're just now bringing in will require more expert attention."
Brett tried to swallow in a tight throat.
Guemes, a whole Island sunk.
"I could carry a stretcher," he said.
Keel smiled sadly".I'm sure you couldB. ut I'm also sure you wouldn't be able to find the right place to take it.Either one of us would just be in the Awtayth. e moment, we're just what they think of us -- two Islander misfits who might do more harm than gWooed'l.l just have to wait."
We seldom get rid of an evil merely by understanding its causes.
-- C. G. Jung, Shiprecords

"There's a curse in the Histories," Bushka said, "old as huImt saanyss. , 'May you live in interesting times.' I guess we got it."
For some time now, as the coracles cruised through the half-night of Pandora's open sea, Bushka had been telling Twisp what he'd learned from Gallow and from members of Gallow'Ts wcirsepw.could not
see Bushka.Only the thin red light of the RDC's arrow glowed in the cAolrlacelels.e was darkness --
not even stars overheadA.
damp cloud cover had swept over them shortly after nightfall.
"There'll be more open land than you can possibly imagine," Bushka con"tAinsuemd.uch land as you see water around you nowS.o they say."
"It's all bad for the Islands," Twisp
"saidn.d those rockets you say they're launching . . ."
"Oh, they're well-prepared," Bushka saHidi.s voice came out of the darkness with a smug sound that
Twisp did not like".Everything's ready for bringing down the hyb tanWkas.rehouses full of equipment."
"It's hard for me to imagine land," Twisp adm"iWttehde. re will they lift it out of the sea first?"
"The place that the settlers here called 'ColoOnny.'the maps, it's a slightly curved rectanTghlee.
curve
is being widened and lengthened into an oval with a lagoon at itsItcewnatesr.a complete city before the Clone Wars, walled in with plasteel, so it makes a good place tSoomsteatritm. e this year they'll pump it out and the first city will be exposed to the sky."
"Waves will wipe it out," Twisp s"aNido.," Bushka countered". They've been five generations preparing for this.They've thought of everything -- the politics, economics, the kelpHe. .br."oke off as one of the squawks uttered a sleepy bleat.
Both men froze, listening expectantWly.as there a night-roaming hunt of dashers nearTbhye?
remained quiet."Bad dream," Bushka muttered.
squawks
"So Guemes Island with its religious fanatics stood in the way of this land-colonization project, is that it?"

Twisp asked."Them and their 'stick-to-the-Islands-where-Ship-left-us' attitude?"
Bushka did not respond.
Twisp thought about the things the man had reveAaleldif.etime of fisherman's isolation clouded Twisp's imagination. He felt provincial, incapable of understanding matters of worldwide politics and economics. He knew what worked, and that seemed simple enoAugllh.he knew was that he distrusted this grand scheme, which Bushka seemed half-enamored of in spite of the experience with Gallow.
"There's no place in this plan for Islanders," Twisp n"Notoed, .no place for mutantTs.hey're to be
excluded," Bushka saidH.
is voice was almost too low to hear.
"And who's to say what a mutant is?" Twisp demaBnudsehdk. a remained silent for a long timFien.ally,
he said, "The Islands are obsolete, that much I can't argueInwsitphi.te of everything else, Gallow's right about that."
Twisp stared into the darkness where BushkaTshaetr.e was a spot just to the left that felt a little darker
than the restT. hat's where Twisp aimed his attentioAnn.
image of Merman life came to him -- their
habitation, places Bushka had describeHd.ome, he thoughtW.
hat kind of person calls this home?
Everything sounded regular and nearly identical, like some insect Iht ivgea.ve him the creeps.
"This place you're guiding us to," Twisp asked, "whatWishyit?is it safe for us to go there?"
"The Green Dashers are a small organization," Bushka "sLaaidu.nch Base One is huge -- by the numbers alone our odds are better there than anyplace else in decent range."
This is hopeless, Twisp thougIhft.Mermen had not found Brett already, what else could hTehedos?ea
was too big and it had been a fool's errand trying to fix on the place where the wave wall hit Vashon.
"It'll be dawn soon," Bushka sa"iWd.e should be there shortly after dawn."

Twisp heard the spat-spattering of rain on the Htaerpc.hecked his eelcells with the handlight and found that they were turning a noticeable grRayig. ht on cue there was a tremendous deafening lightning thunder flash behind themI.n the aftershock stillness, he heard Bushka holler, "What the fuck was that?"
Twisp flashed the handlight in that directBiouns.hka had gone under the tarp head-first and somehow
got himself turned aroundH. e clutched the edges of the tarp, steadying himself, and in the glow from the handlight, his wide eyes punctuated his bleached face.
"We just charged our batteries," Twisp s"aWid.e might take one more of those if it comes arTohuennd. I'll bring in the antenna."
"Holy shit," Bushka snorted, "fishermen are crazier than I thoItu'sghat. wonder any of you come back."
"We manage," Twisp sai"dT. ell me, how did you become an expert on Mermen so fast?"
Bushka emerged from the tarp".As a historian, I already knew a great deal about them before going down under.And then . . . you learn fast when it's necessary for surTvhivearel."was the sound of
chest-puffing behind his words.
Survival, Twisp thoughHt. e extinguished the handlight and wished that he could see Bushka's face
without having to flash the light on hTimhe.
man was not a total coward; that seemed eviHd e th. ad
crewed in the subs, like many other Islanders putting in their serviceObtivmioeu.sly knew how to
navigate. But then, most Islanders learned that in schWooilt.h all that, Bushka was driven to seek a life down under.According to him, it was because the Mermen had better historical records, some they had never even examined themselves.
Bushka was like some of the Guemes fanatics, Twisp reaDlirzievde.n. A seeker after hidden knowledge. Bushka wanted his facts from the source and he didn't care how he goAt tdhaenrgee. rous man.
Twisp renewed his alertness, sensitive to any shift in Bushka's poTshiteionc.oracle would transmit such movement . . . should Bushka try to take him.

"You'd better believe it's happening," Bushka s"aTidh.ere'll be no place for Islands pretty soon."
"Radio says Ward Keel's gone down under on some fact-finding mission," Twis"pYosuaids.uppose he knew about it all along?"
A foot scraped the deck as Bushka shifted his w"eAigchcto. rding to Gallow, they did it without word topside."
Silence settled between them for a tiTmwei.sp kept his attention on the guiding arrow, a red glowing pointer. How could some of the things Bushka said be belieTvheed?barrier above the sea was real,
though. And there was no doubt Bushka had run-for-it fever -- something truly big and ugly chased him.
For his part, Bushka lay prisoned in his own thouI gshhtos.uld've had the guts to kill thBemut. the thing
Gallow represented was bigger than GalloNwo.
mistaking thatT. o a historian, it was a familiar pattern.
Ship's surviving records reported a plenitude of violence, leaders who tried to solve human problems by mass killing.Until the madness of Guemes, Bushka had thought such things distantly uNnorwea,l. he
knew the madness, a thing with teeth and shadows.
Pale dawn lightened the wavetops and revealed Twisp working over a small cooking burner on the seat beside him.Bushka wondered whether, in the growing clarity of daylight, Twisp might not rather
foreclose on the loan of the kid's shirt and pants.
Seeing Bushka's attention on him, Twisp asked, "Coffee?"
"Thanks."Then: "How could I have been that blind and ignorant?"
Twisp stared at Bushka silently for a while, then asked, simply, "Going along with them, or letting them go?"
Bushka coughed and cleared his throHaits.
mouth felt full of lint as soon as he swallowed the hot coffee.

I'm still afraid, he thougHhte. afraid," he said.
looked up at Twisp, cooling his coffee at the "tIi'lvle .never been that
Twisp noddedT. he signs of fear on Bushka were easily rFeeaadr. and ignorance drifted the same currents. There would be anger soon, when the fear receFdoerd.now, though, Bushka's mind was chewing on itself.
"Pride, that's what made me do it," Bushka "sIaiwd.anted Gallow's story, history in the making, political
ferment -- a powerful movement among the MermOenne. work hard.He knew how grateful I'd be . . ."
of their best took a liking to Hmee.knew I'd
"What if this Gallow and his crew are dead?" Twisp "aYskoeud.scuttled their sub and only you are left to say what happened at Guemes."
"I tell you, I made sure they could escape!"
Twisp suppressed a grim smiTleh.e anger was beginning to surface.
Bushka studied Twisp's face in the gray lTighhet. fisherman was dark in the way of many Islanders who worked out in the weatheVr.agrant breezes whipped Twisp's shaggy brown hair across his Aeyetsw. o
days' growth of beard shadowed his jaws and caught an occasional strand
Eofvehryatihr.ing in the
man's manner -- the steady movement of his eyes, the set of his mouth -- spoke to Bushka of strength and resolution.Bushka envied the untroubled clarity in Twisp's gBazues.hka was sure that no mirror
would ever again return such clarity to his own eyes -- not after the Guemes mBaussshakcare.could see his own death in that butchery.
How could anybody believe I didn't know what was happening until it hapHpoewnedc?an I believe it?
"They tricked me good," Bushka sa"iAd.nd oh, was I readyI !was all ready to trick myself."
"Most people know what it's like to be tricked," Twisp aHgriseevdo. ice was flat and almost devoid of emotion. It kept Bushka talking.

"I won't sleep for the rest of my life," Bushka muttered.
Twisp looked away at the surging sea around tHheemd.idn't like the note of self-pity in Bushka's tone.
"What about the survivors of GuemeHs?e" spoke flatly". What about their dreams?"
Bushka stared at Twisp in the growing lAighgt.ood man trying to save a partner's Bliufseh. ka scrunched his eyes tightly closed but the images of Guemes imprinted themselves on his eyelids.
His eyes snapped open.
Twisp was staring intently off to the right ahead of them. "Where's this Launch Base we're supposed to see at dawn?" "It'll show before long."
Bushka stared at the lowering sky ahead of tAhenmd . when the Launch Base did show . . . what then? The question tightened a band around his chWesot.uld the Mermen believeE?ven if they did believe,
would they act on that belief in a way to protect Islanders?

Never trust a great man's love.
-- Islander proverb
Keel looked down from the observation platform onto a nightmare scene of controlled pandemonium -- rescue sleds wallowed into a small docking basin, coming through hatches lining the far wall of the courtyard below himT. his was no nightmare, Keel reminded himsTelrfi.age teams moved among the
human shapes that littered the decTkr.auma teams conducted emergency surgery on the scene while other survivors were carried or carted oTfhf.e dead, and Keel had never imagined that much death, were stacked like the meat they were against the wall to hAis lloenftg. , oval port above the hatches gave a sea view of the arriving rescue sledges queued up and waiting their turns at theTrhaautmchaest.eams serviced these, too, as best they could.
Behind Keel, Brett uttered a sharp gasp as the shreds of someone's lower jaw tumbled to the deck from a body bag in transit to the mounting pile of similar bags against tShceudwia, lls.tanding beside Brett,
shook with silent sobs.
Keel felt numbH. e began to understand why Kareen Ale had sent Scudi to fetch him anAdleBrheatdt. not really grasped the enormity of this trageSdeye.ing it, she had wanted Islander witnesses to the fact that Mermen were doing everything physically possible for the survivors.
And she'll bring up the dirty work of the dead, he thought.
Keel glimpsed Ale's red hair among the medics working over the few survivors scattered across the courtyard. From the piles of dead, it was obvious that survivors were not even meeting the odds of pure chance. They were a tiny minority.

Scudi moved up beside him, her attention fixed on the deck below"Stohemma.ny," she whispered.
"How did it happen?" Brett demanded, speaking from beside Keel's left elbow.
Keel noddedY. to be certain.
es, that was the real questioHne.
did not want to conjecture on the matter, he wanted
"So many," Scudi repeated, louder this time.
"The last census put Guemes at ten thousand souls," KeeTl hsiasids.tatement surprised him even as it escaped his mouthS. ouls. The teachings of Ship did come to the surface in a crisis.
Keel knew he should assert himself, use the power of his position to demand Haneswoweresd.
it to the
others if not to himselTf.he C/P would be after him the minute he returned, for oneRtohciknsga.ck still had family on Guemes, of this Keel was cerStahien. would be angry, terribly angry in spite of her training, and she would be a force to reckon with.
If I return.
Keel felt sickened by the sight on the deck belowHehimno.ted Scudi swiping at her teaHrse.r eyes
were red and swollenY. es, she had been helping down there, right in the middle of it, during the worst pressures.
"No need for you to stay here with me, Scudi," Kee"lIfsathide.y need you down --"
"I've been relieved of duty," she sSahide. shuddered, but her gaze remained on the receiving area.
Keel, too, could not take his attention from that scene of caTrhneagree.ceiving area had been
cordoned off into sections by color-coded ropEems.ergency medical teams worked throughout the area, bending over pale flesh, moving patients onto litters for transfer.

A squad of Mermen entered from beneath the platform where Keel stood with Brett anTdheScudi. Mermen began sorting through the sacks of bodies, opening them to attempt identifSicoamtioen.of the
bags contained only shreds and pieces of flesh and bTohnee.identification teams moved in a businesslike fashion, but where their jaws were visible, Keel detected clenched muAsclleso.f them appeared pale, even for MermenS. everal of the workers took pictures of faces and identifying mOatrhkesr.s made
notes on a portable trans-slatKe.eel recognized the deviceA. le had tried to interest his Committee in this
system, but he had seen it as another way to keep the Islands in economic
"bEovnedraygthei.ng you
write on the transmitter-slate is sorted and stored in the computer," Ale had said.
Some things are best not recorded, he thought.
A man cleared his throat behind KKeeele.l turned to find Lonfinn and another Merman standing there. Lonfinn carried a plaz box under his left arm.
"Mr. Justice," Lonfinn sai"dT. his is Miller Hastings of Registration."
In contrast to the dark, heavyset Lonfinn, Hastings was a tall, dark-haired man with a thick lower jaw and unwavering blue eyesB. oth men wore crisp Merman suits of plain gray cloth -- the kind of smoothly pressed and well-tended clothing Keel had come to identify with the worst Merman officiousness.
Hastings had turned his attention to Brett standing a few steps to o"nWe esidwee.re told we would find
a Brett Norton up here," Hastings sa"iTdh. ere are a few formalities . . . for yourself, too, I'm afraid, Mr. Justice."
Scudi moved behind Keel and took Brett's hand, an action that Keel's wide peripheral vision took in with some surpriseS. he was clearly frightened.
Hastings focused on Keel's mou"thO.ur job, Mr. Justice, is to help you adjust to this tragic --"
"Shit!" Keel said.

Brett wondered whether he had heard correcTtlhye.
look of surprise on Hastings' face made it apparent
that the Chief Justice and Chairman of the Committee on Vital Forms had, indeed, saiBdre"tSthit."
looked at the Chief Justice's facKee. el had positioned himself with one eye on the two Mermen and the other eye still looking down on that bloody deck below Itthewma.s a split of attention that appeared to disconcert the two MermenB. rett found it natural; everyone knew that some Islanders could do this.
Hastings made another tr"yW:
e know this is difficult, Mr. Justice, but we are prepared for such matters
and have developed procedures, which --"
"Have the decency to leave before I lose my temper," KeeHl isaivdo.ice betrayed no sign of a quaver.
Hastings glanced at the plaz box under Lonfinn's arm, then at Brett.
"Hostility is an expected reaction," Hastings s"aBidu.t the sooner we overcome that barrier, the sooner
--"
"I say it plain," Keel said, "leaveWues.have nothing to say to you."
The Mermen exchanged glanceTs.he looks on their faces told Brett that this pair had no intention of leaving.
"The young man should speak for himself," Hastings Hsaisid.tone was even and cordi"aWl. hat do you say, Brett Norton?Just a few formalities."
Brett swallowedS. cudi's hand in his felt slick with perspiratHioenr. fingers were tense sticks clenched
between his ownW.
hat was Keel doingM? ore important, perhaps:Could Keel get away with Kit?eel
was an Islander and a powerful one, someone to adTmhirise. was not the Island, howevBerr.ett squared his shoulders in sudden decisio"nS.tuff your formalities," he sai"dA. ny decent person would come another time."
Hastings let out a long breath slowly, almost aHsiisghf.ace darkened and he started to speak but Keel cut him short.

"What the young man is saying," Keel said, "is that it's pretty insensitive of you to come here with your formalities while your cousins stack the bodies of our cousins against that wall down there."
The silence between the two groups became
Bstrifeft.t could find no particular familial feeling toward
the mangled dead being brought in from the depths, but he decided that the Mermen didn't need to know this.
Them and us.
But there was still Scudi's hand inBhriest.t felt that the only Merman he could trust might be Scudi . . . and perhaps that medic in the passageway, Shadow PanPiallnei.lle had clear eyes and . . . he cared.
"We didn't kill those people," Hastings s"aPidle. ase note, Mr. Justice, that we have gotten right down to the dirty work of bringing them in, identifying the dead, helping the survivors --"
"How noble of you," Keel sa"iId.was wondering how long it would take to get down tYoouthis. haven't mentioned your fee, of course."
Both Mermen looked grim but they did not appear particularly flustered.
"Someone has to pay," Hastings sa"iNd.o one topside has the facilities to --"
"So you pick up the dead," Keel s"aAidn.d their families topside pay for your trouWbleit.h a tidy profit for certain contractors, too."
"Nobody expects to work for nothing," Hastings said.
Keel rolled one eye toward Brett, then b"aAckn.d when you rescue a live fisherman, you find a way to accommodate him, keeping a close account of the expenses, naturally."

"I don't want anything for my part," Scudi Hsaeird.eyes flashed anger at both Keel and Hastings.
"I respect that, Scudi," Keel sa"iId.wasn't indicting you.But your fellow Mermen here have a different viewpoint. Brett has no fishing gear to seize, no nets or sonar or beaten-uHpobwoawt.ill he pay for his life? Ten years of chopping onions in a Merman kitchen?"
Hastings said, "Really, Mr. Justice, I don't understand your reluctance to make matters easier."
"I was lured here under false pretenses," Keel "sIaihda.ven't been out of sight of my . . . hosts . . . long enough to spit."He pointed to the view port across from th"eLmoo. k there!"He lowered his pointing
finger to indicate the deck belo"wT.hose bodies are shredded, burned, cut to pieGceuse. mes was assaulted! I think a reconstruction will show that it was assaulted from below by a hardshell sub."
For the first time, Hastings appeared as though he might lose cHoinstreoyl.es squinted and his brows
drew down over his beak of a noHsies. jaw clenched and he hissed between his te"eStehe:
only doing what Merman law requires me toIndom. y judgment --"
here!I'm
"Oh, please," Keel interrupted, "judgment is my job and I'm experienceTdoinmiet,. you look like a
pair of leechesI.
don't like leechesP.lease leave us."
"Since you are who you are," Hastings said, "I will accept that for the Tmhoismebnoty., however --"
"Has me here to look out for his interests," Kee"l Tshaiisd.is not the time nor the place for your services."
Lonfinn stepped to one side, casually blocking the exit passage from the observation platform.
"The boy will answer for himself," Hastings said.

"The Justice asked you to leave," Brett said.
Scudi squeezed Brett's hand and said, "PleIaswe.ill be responsible for theAmm. personally to bring them herYe.our presence is disruptive."
bassador Ale sent me
Hastings looked her in the eyes as though he wanted to say, "Big talk for a little girl," but he swallowed it. His right index finger indicated the plaz box under Lonfinn's arm, then dr"oVpepreyd.well," he said.
"We were trying to smooth out the red tape but the situation is diHffeicuslht.o"t a quick glance at the congested deck below them".However, I am required to escort you back to Ryan Wang's quIatrters. may have been a mistake to bring you here."
"I find it agreeable to leave," Keel diplomatic.
"sIa'ivde.
seen enough."His voice was once more smooth and
Brett heard the double meaning in Keel's statement and thought, That old spinnarett has a web or two left in him.
The thought stayed with Brett as they returned to Wang's spacious quItarhteards. been wise to follow
the Chief Justice's leadE.ven Scudi had fallen in with KeSehle.
had kept her hand in Brett's most of the
way back to her father's quarters, in spite of disapproving little glances from Hastings and HLeornfinn. hand in his conveyed a feeling of closeness that Brett enjoyed.
Once inside the plush room of colored cushions, Keel said, "Thank you, genIt'mlemseunr.e we can contact you if you're needed."
"You'll hear from us," Hastings said before he sealed the hatch behind him.
Keel crossed to the hatch and pressed the switch but nothing hapTpheenehda. tch stayed sealedH. e glanced at Scudi.
"Those men worked for my father," she
"sIaidon't like them.S"he slipped her hand from Brett's and
crossed to a dark red cushion where she sat with her chin on her knees and her arms clasped around her

legs. The yellow-and-green stripes along her singlesuit curved as she curved.
"Brett," Keel said, "I will speak openly, because one of us may be able to get back topside to warn the other Islands.My suspicions are being confirmed at every tIurbne. lieve our Island way of life is about to
be drowned in a shallow sea."
Scudi lifted her chin and stared up at him with dBisrmetaty.could not find his voice.
Keel looked down at Scudi, thinking how her pose reminded him of a many-legged mollusk that rolled up into a tight ball when disturbed.
"The popular teaching," Keel said, "is that Island life is just temporary until we get back to the land."
"But Guemes . .B."rett said.He could not get further.
"Yes, Guemes," Keel said.
"No!" Scudi blurted".Mermen couldn't have done thaWt! e protect the Islands!"
"I believe you, Scudi," Keel saHidis.
neck pained him but he lifted his great head the way he did when
passing judgment in his own cou"rTt.hings are happening that the people are not aware of . . . the people topside and the people down under."
Scudi asked Keel, "You really think Mermen did this?"
"We must reserve judgment until all the evidence is gathered," h"eNseaviedr.theless, it seems the most likely possibility."
Scudi shook her heaBd.rett saw sorrow and rejection there.

"Mermen wouldn't do such a thing," she whispered.
"It's not the Merman government," Keel s"aPidri.nciples of government sometimes take one course while people take another -- a political double standAanrdd. perhaps neither really controls events."
What's he sayingB? rett wondered.
Keel continued": Mermen and Islanders both have tolerated only the loosest kind of governImaemnt.
Chief Justice of a most powerful arm of that government -- the one that says whether the newborn of our
Islands will live or diIet. pleases some to call me Chairman and others to call me Chief IJudsoticneo. t feel that I dispense justice."
"I can't believe anyone would just eliminate the Islands," Scudi said.
"Someone certainly eliminated Guemes," Keel saOidn.e sad eye drifted toward Brett, the other remained focused on Scud"i.It should be investigated, don't you think?"
"Yes."She nodded against her knees.
"It would be good to have inside help," Keel"Osanid.the other hand, I would not want to endanger anyone who helped me."
"What do you need?" Scudi asked.
"Information," he said".Recent news recordings for the Merman audienAce.survey of Merman jobs would help -- which categories still have openings, which are filled to overflIowneinegd. to know what's really happening down hereA. nd we'll need comparable statistics on the Islander population that's living down under."

"I don't understand," Scudi said.
"I'm told you mathematic the waves," Keel said, looking at"IBrwetatn. t to mathematic Merman society. I cannot assume that I'm dealing with traditional Merman poIlitiscuss.pect that even Mermen don't realize they're no longer in the grip of their traditional pNoleitwicss. is a clue to fluctuationJos.bs, too. They might be a clue to permanent changes and the intent behind those changes."
"My father had a comconsole in his den," Scudi"Is'maid.sure I could get some of this through it . . . but
I'm not sure I understand how you . . . mathematic it."
"Judges are sensitized to the assimilation of data," Keel"Isapidri.de myself on being a good judGgeet. me this material, if you can."
Brett suggested, "Maybe we should see other Islanders living down under."
Keel smiled". Don't trust the paperwork already, huWh?e'll save that for lateIrt. could be dangerous right now."Good instincts, he noted.
Scudi pressed her palms to her temples and closed her"Meyyesp. eople don't kill," she sa"idW. e aren't like that."
Keel stared down at the girl, thinking suddenly how similar at the core were Mermen and Islanders.
The sea.
He had never before thought of the sea in quite thiHs owwaym. ust their ancestors have adapted to it?
The sea was always there -- interminabItle.was a thing unending, a source of life and a threat of death.
To Scudi and her people, the sea was a silent pressure, whose sounds were always muted by the depths, whose currents moved in great sweeps along the bottom and through the shadows up Ftor litghhet.
Merman, the world was muted and remote, yet pressTinog.an Islander, the sea was noisy and immediate in its demandsI.t required adjustments in balance and consciousness.

The result was a quickness about Islanders which Mermen found chaCrmoilonrgf.ul! Mermen, in
contrast, were often studied and careful, measuring out their decisions as though they shaped precious jewels.
Keel glanced from Scudi to Brett and back to SBcruedtti. was taken by her, that much was cWleaars. it the infatuation of differencesW? as he some exotic mammal to her, or a mKaenel? hoped something deeper than adolescent sexual attraction had been ignited thHeere.did not think himself so crass as to believe that Islander-Merman differences would be solved in the sexual thrashings of the beBdurtoom. the human race was still alive in these two and he could feel it moviTnghethtehmou.ght was reassuring.
"My father cared for both Islanders and Mermen," Scudi"Hsaiisd.money made the Search and Rescue system a system."
"Show me his den," Keel sa"iId.would like to use his comconsole."
She stood and crossed to a passage hatch on the far side of the"Tahtirsiuwma.y."
Keel motioned for Brett to stay behind while he followed PSecruhdaip. s if the young woman were away from the distractions of Brett's presence she might think more clearly -- less defensive, more objective.
When Keel and Scudi had gone, Brett turned to the lockedHheatacnhd.
Keel and Scudi had been
sealed away from whatever the exterior Merman world might reAveleal.had wanted them to see that world, but others objectedB. rett felt this the complete answer to his present isolation.
What would Queets do? he wondered.
Brett felt it unlikely that Queets would stand vacant-eyed in the middle of a strange room and stare stupidly at a locked hatcBh.rett crossed to the hatch and ran a finger around the heavy metal molding that framed the exit.
Should've asked Scudi about communications systems and the ways they move freight, he Htheought.

could remember nothing of the passageways except their sparse population -- sparse by crowded
Islander standards.
"What are you thinking?"
Scudi's voice from close behind him startled Bhirmet.t hadn't heard her approach over the soft carpet.
"Do you have a map of this place?" he asked. "Somewhere," she said".I'll have to look." "Thanks."
Brett continued to stare at the locked haHtcohw.
had they locked iHt?e thought of Island quarters,
where the simplest slash of a knife would let you through the soft organics separating moOstnlryooms.
the laboratories, Security's quarters and Vata's chamber could be said to have substantial resistance to entry -- but that was as much a function of the guards as of the thickness of the walls.
Scudi returned with a thin stack of overlays, on which thick and thin lines with coded symbols indicated the layout of this Merman compleSxh.e put it into Brett's hands as though giving away something of
herself. For no reason he could explain, Brett found her gesture poignant.
"Here we are," she said, pointing to a cluster of squares and rectangles marked "RW."
He studied the overlayTs.his was not the free-flowing, action-dictated environment of an Island, where the idiosyncrasies of organic growth directed the kind of changes that flaunted individIsulanitdys. were personalized, customized, carved, painted and dyed -- shaped to the synergistic needs of support systems and those the systems supporteTdh.e schematic in Brett's hands reeked of uniformity -- identical
rows of cubicles, long straight passages, tubing and channels and access tunnels that ran as straight as a sun's rays through dusHt. e found it difficult to follow such uniformity, but forced his mind to it.

Scudi said": I asked the Justice if a volcano might have destroyed Guemes."
Brett raised his attention from the schema"tWic.hat did he say?"
"There were too many people shredded and not burSnehde."pressed the palms of her hands against her eyelids."Who could do . . . that?"
"Keel's right about one thing," Brett said, "we need to find out who as soon as possible."
He returned his attention to the stack of colloids and its mysteriousAmllazaets.once he was awash with the simplicity of Iit. was clear to him that Mermen must find it impossible to travel any Island,
where sheer memory guided most peopHlee.
set about memorizing the schematics, with their lift shafts
and transport tubesH.
e closed his eyes and confidently read the map that displayed itself behind his
eyelids. Scudi paced the room behind hiBmr.ett opened his eyes.
"Could we escape from here?" he asked, nodding toward the locked hatch.
"I can get us through the hatch," she "sWaihde. re would you go?"
"Topside."
She looked at the hatch, her head shaking a slow "no" from side"Wtohseindew. e open the hatch, they will know.An electronic signal."
"What would those men do if we left here together?"
"Bring us back," she sa"idO.r try.The odds favor themN. othing moves down under without someone knowing. My father had an efficient organizatioTnh.at's why he hired men like thosSeh."e nodded at the hatch. "My father directed a very large business -- a food busHineeshs.ad much trade with Islanders . .
."

Her eyes shifted away from his, then bSahcek. indicated the walls and ceilin"gT.his was his building, the whole thing.As high as the docking tower, all ofShite." defined an area on the schematics with a finger. "This."
Brett drew slightly away from hSehre.
had defined an area as large as some of the smaller IHslearnds.
father had owned iHt. e knew that by Merman law she probably inheriteSdheit.was no simple worker in the seas, an apprentice physicist who mathematicked the waves.
Scudi saw the look of withdrawal in his eyes and touched h"iIs laivrme .my own life," she said, "as my mother did.My father and I hardly knew each other."
"Didn't know each other?B"rett felt shockedH. but he had certainly known them.
e knew himself to be estranged from his own parents,
"Until shortly before he died, he lived at the Nest -- a city about ten kilometers away," "SIncuadlil said. that time I never saw himS.h"e took a deep breat"hB. efore he died, my father came to our room one night and spoke to my mothIer.don't know what they said but she was furious after he left."
Brett thought about what she had sHaiedr. father had owned and controlled enormous wealth -- much of Merman societyT. opside, such matters as Ryan Wang controlled were the property of families or associations, never of one persoCn.ommunity was law.
"He controlled much of your Islands' food production," she contiAnuefldu.sh bloomed across her
cheeks. "A lot of it he accomplished through bribIerkyn. ow because I listened, and sometimes when he was gone I used his comconsole."
"What is this place, the Nest?" Brett asked.
"It is a city that has a high Islander populIattiwona.s the site of the first settlement after the Clone Wars. You know of this?"

"Yes," he said".One way or another, we all came from there."
Ward Keel, standing in the shadows of the open passage from Ryan Wang's den, had been listening to this exchange for several minuteHs.e shuddered, wondering whether he should interrupt and demand
some answers of this young womaTnh.e anguish in her voice held Keel in place.
"Did those Islanders in the Nest work for your father?" Keel asked.
She didn't turn away from Brett to ans"wSeorm. e of themB. ut no Islander has any high position on anything. They are controlled by a government agenIcyth. ink Ambassador Ale is in charge of it."
"It seems to me that an Islander should head an agency that deals with Islanders," Brett said.
"She and my father were to be married," Scudi"Asaipdo. litical matter between the two families . . . a lot of Merman history that isn't important now."
"Your father and the ambassador -- that would have linked the powers of the government and the food supply under one blanket," Brett saTidh.e insight came so quickly that it startled him.
"That's all ancient history," Scudi sa"iSdh. e'll probably marry GeLaar Gallow nowH."er words came
out with an underlying misery that held Brett speechHleess.could see the dark confusion in her eyes, the frustration of being a piece in some unruled game.
In the shadows of the passage, Ward Keel nodded to hiHmesehlfa.d shuffled back from Wang's den
with a feeling of helpless angIetr.was all there for the discerning eye -- the shifts of control, the quiet and
remorseless accumulation of power in a few hands, an increase in local idAentteitrym.
from the Histories
kept rattling in his memorNy:ationalization. Why did it give him such a feeling of loss?
The land is being restored.
The good life is coming.

This is why Ship gave Pandora to us.
To us -- to Mermen -- not to Islanders.
Keel's throat pained him when he tried to swaTllhoew.kelp project lay at the base of it all, and that had gone too far to be lost or slowItedw. as being taken over, insteaJdu.stifications for the project could not
be denied.The late Ryan Wang's comconsole was full of those justificatWiointsh:out the kelp the suns
would continue to fatigue the crust of Pandora, constant earthquakes and volcanics would ravage them as they had all those generations back.
Lava built up undersea plateaus along fault lMineesr.men were taking advantage of this for their project. The last wave-wall had been a consequence of a volcanic upheaval, not the gravitational swings that inflicted themselves on Pandora's seas.
Brett was speaking":I would like to see the Nest and the Islanders Mthaeyreb.e that's where we should go."
Out of the mouths of babes, Keel thought.
Scudi shook her head in negati"oTnh. ey would find us there easiSlye.curity there is not like here -- there are badges, papers . . ."
"Then we should run topside," Brett s"aTidh.e Justice is righHt. e wants us to tell the Islanders what's happening down here."
"And what is happening?" she asked.
Keel stepped out of the shadows, speaking as he m"oPvaendd:ora is being changed -- physically, politically, socially.That's what's happeningT. he old life will not be possible, topside or down uInder. think Scudi's father had a dream of great things, the transformation of Pandora, but someone else has

taken it over and is making it a nightmare."
Keel stopped, facing the two young peoTphlee.y stared back at him, aghast.
Can they feel iKt?eel wondered.
Runaway greed was working to seize control of this new Pandora.
Scudi jabbed a finger at the schematic, which Brett still"Thheeld.Launch Base and Outpost
Twenty-two," she said". Here! They are near Vashon's current driTfth.e Island will be at least a full day past this point by now but . . ."
"What're you suggesting?" Keel asked.
"I think I can get us to Outpost Twenty-two," she"I'svaeidw. compute Vashon's exact position."
orked thereF. rom the outpost, I could
Keel looked at the chart in Brett's haAndsurge of homesickness surged through the JustTicoe.be in
his own quarters . . . Joy near at hand to care fHore hwimas.
going to die soon . . . how much better to
die in familiar surroundingsA. s quickly as it came, the feeling was suppresEssecda.pe? He did not have the energy, the swiftnessH. e could only hold these young people baBcukt. he saw the eagerness in
Scudi and the way Brett picked up oTnhiety. happening.
might just do
Tit.he Islands had to be told what was
"Here is what we will do," Keel
"sAaidnd.
this is the message you will carry."

Perseverance furthers.
-- I Ching, Shiprecords
A flock of wild squawks came flying past the coracles, their wings whistling in the dull gray light of
morning. Twisp turned his head to follow the birds' pTahtehy.
landed about fifty meters ahead of him.
Bushka had sat up at the sudden sound, fear obvious in his face.
"Just squawks," Twisp said.
"Oh."Bushka subsided with his back against the cuddy.
"If we feed 'em, they'll follow us," Twisp "sIa'vied. never seen 'em this far from an Island."
"We're near the base," Bushka said.
As they approached the swimming flock, Twisp tipped some of his garbage over Tthhee sbidired.s
came scrambling for the handouTt.he smaller ones churned their legs so fast they skipped across the water.

It was the birds' eyes that interested him, he decTihderde. was living presence in those eyes you never saw in the eyes of sea creaturSeqsu. awk eyes looked back at you with something of the human world in them.
Bushka moved up and sat on the cuddy top to watch the birds and the horizon aheaWd hoefrethiesm. that damned Launch BaseT?he motions of the birds kept attracting his attenTtiowni.sp had said the squawks acted out of an ancient instinPcrto.bably true.Instinct! How long did it take to extinguish instinct? Or develop it?Which way were humans goingH?ow strongly were they driven by such inner forces? Historian questions thronged his mind.
"That dull-looking squawk is a female," Bushka said, pointing to the wild"I fwloocnkd. er why the males are so much more colorful?"
"Has to be some survival in it," Twisp Hsaeidl.ooked at the flock swimming beside the coracle, their
eyes alert for another handou"tT. hat's a female, all rightA."
scowl settled over his fac"eO.ne thing you
can say for that hen squawskh:e'll never ask a surgeon to make her normal!"
Bushka heard the bitterness and sensed the old familiar IslanderItstowrays.
getting to be ever more
common these daysA:
lover had surgery to appear Merman-normal, then pressured the partner to do
the same.A lot of angry fights resulted.
"Sounds like you got burned," Bushka said.
"I was crisped and charred," Twisp s"aHida.ve to admit it was fun at first H. e. h."esitated, then:". . . but I hoped it would be more than fun, something more permaHnenst.h"ook his head.
Bushka yawned and stretcheTd.he wild flock took his movement as a threat and scattered in a flurry of splashes and loud cries.
Twisp stared toward the wild birds, but his eyes were not focused o"nHethremna.me's Rebeccah," he said. "She really liked my arms around hNeer.ver complained about how long they were until --" He broke off in sudden embarrassment.

"She chose surgical correction?" Bushka prompted.
"Yeah."Twisp swallowed.Now what set me talking about Rebeccah to this stranAgmer?I that lonesome? She had liked to feed the squawks at rimside every eveHneingh.ad enjoyed those evenings more than he could tell, and remembered details in a flood that he shut off as soon as it started.
Bushka was staring at his own han"Sdhs.e dumped you after the surgery?"
"Dumped me?Naw." Twisp sighed."That would've been easyI. know I'd always feel like some kind of freak around her afterwardsN. o Mute can afford to feel that way, eIt'ser.why a lot of us more obvious
types shy away from the MermeInt's. looking back from the mirror."
the stares and the way we think of ourselves then -- our own eyes
"Where is she now?" Bushka asked.
"Vashon," Twisp said".Someplace close to Center, I'd gueTssh.at's one thing good looks can get you on Vashon.I'd bet big money she's down there where the rich and powerfuHlerlivjeo.b was preparing
people psychologically for surgical correction -- she was sort of a living model of how life would be if they went through everything right."
"She made the choice, and it worked for her."
"If you talk about something like that long enough it becomes an obSsehsesiounse. d to say'C: hanging
some bodies is easyA.
good surgeon knows just where to woMrkin. ds are a little tougheIr.'think she
didn't really listen to herself."
Bushka looked at Twisp's long arms, a sudden insight flooding his mind.
Twisp saw the direction of Bushka's gaze and nod"Tdehda.t's right," he said".She wanted me to get my arms fixed.She didn't understand, not even with all of her psychological crap behinIdwhaesrn.'t afraid
of the knife or any of that eelsIthitw. as that my body would be a lie, and I can't stand liars."

This is no ordinary fisherman, Bushka thought.
"I finally figured it out about her," Twisp "sAaidl.ittle too much boo and she started with this pitch for all
of us to be 'as normal as possibLliek.e'
you, Bushka."
"I don't feel that way."
"'Cause you don't have
Ytoo. u're all ready to join the Mermen on their open land, on their terms."
Bushka found no words to answHeer. had always been proud of his Merman-normal appearaHncee. could pass without surgery.
Twisp pounded his fist against the rim of the coIrtacsltea.rtled the caged squawks, who sat up and fluffed their feathers in frustration.
"She wanted kids . . . with me," Twisp"Csaaind.you imagine thatT?hink of the surprises you'd find in the nursery when all these corrected, lying Mutes started bedding each Aonthderw. hat about the kids growing up to find out that they're Mutes while their parents appear to beNnootrmfosr? me!"His voice was husky."No way."
Twisp fell silent, lost in his own memories.
Bushka listened to the slep-slep of waves against the coracle's sides, the faint rustling of the squawks
preening and stretching in their cagHee. principles.
wondered how many love affairs drowned on Twisp's style of
"Damn that Jesus Lewis!" Twisp muttered.
Bushka nodded to himselYf.es, that was where the problem had starOterd,. at least, where it was

precipitated. The question remained for the historiaWn:hat made Jesus LewisB? ushka looked at Twisp's arms -- muscular, well-developed, tan and over half a length tooThleonIgs.land mating pool was still a genetic lottery, thanks to Jesus Lewis and his bioengineering experiments.
Twisp was still angr"yM.
ermen will never understand what growing up an Islander isSolimkee!one
around you is always frail or dying . . . someone Mclyoslei.ttle sister was such a nice kid T. w.is.p" shook his head.
"We don't say 'mutation' much except when we're being technical," Bushka pro"mApntdedd. eformity is a dirty word'.Mistakes,' that's what we call them."
"You know what, BushkaI?deliberately avoid people with long armThs.ere are only a few of us in this generation." He raised his arm".Are these a mistakeD? oes that make me a mistake?"
Bushka didn't answer.
"Damn!" Twisp said".My apprentice, Brett, he's sensitive about the size of his Sehyite,s.you can't tell anything just by looking at him, but you can't tell himShtihpa!tC. an he ever see in the daIrsk!that a mistake?"
"It's a lottery," Bushka said.
Twisp grimaced". I don't envy the Committee's joYbo. u have any idea of the grotesques and the dangerous forms they have to judgHe?ow can they do iAt?nd how can they guess at the mental mistakes? Those don't usually show up until later."
"But we have good times, too," Bushka prote"stMede.rmen think our cloth is the bYesot.u know the
price we get for Islander weaving down unAdenrd.
our music, our painting . . . all of our art."
"Sure," Twisp sneered".I've heard Mermen pawing over our stu'Hffo.w bright!Such fun.Oh! Isn't this pretty? Islanders are so full of fun.'"

"We are," Bushka muttered.
Twisp merely looked at him for a long Btimuseh.ka wondered if he had committed some unforgivable blunder.
Suddenly, Twisp smiled".You're right.Damn! No Merman knows how to have a good time the way we do. It's either grief and despair or dancing and singing all night because somebody got married, or born, or got a new set of drums, or hauled in a bigMceartmche.n don't celebrate much, I heYaro. u ever see
Mermen celebrating?"
"Never," Bushka admittedA. nd he remembered Nakano of Gallow's crew talking about Merman life.
"Work, get a mate, have a couple of kids, work some more and die," Nakano "hFaudn sisaida. coffee break or hauling a sledge to some new outpost."
Was that why Nakano had joined Gallow's movemPernetc?ious little fun or excitement down under.
Rescue an IslanderW.
ork at building a barrieBr.ushka did not think of life down under as grim for
people like NakanoJ. ust drab.They hadn't the lure of an intellectual goal, nor even the nearness of grief to make them snatch at joByu. t topside, there you found dazzle and color and a great deal of laughter.
"If we go back to the open land, it'll be different," Bushka said.
"What do you mean, 'iJfu'?st a few minutes ago you were saying it was inevitable."
"There are Mermen who want only an undersea emIfpirthe.ey --"
Bushka broke off as Twisp suddenly pointed ahead and blurted, "Ship'sWbhaaltls!is that?"
Bushka turned and saw, almost directly ahead of them, a gray tower with a lace of white surf at its base.
It was like a thick stem to the great flower of sky, a blue flower edgedThien sptionrkm.
that had been

skirting them for the past few hours framed the scene in a halo of blacTkheclotouwd.er, almost the same drab shade as the clouds, climbed up like a great fist out of the depths.
Twisp stared in awIet. wasn't visible for fifty klicks, as Bushka had first stated, but it was impressive. Ship! He'd not expected it to be so big.
Beyond the gray press of sea and sky, the clouds began toThoepeint.errupted horizon became two bright flowers and neither man could take his gaze off the launchIttowaesr. the center of a giant stormcloud whirlpool.
"That's the Launch Base," Bushka sa"iTdh. at's the heart of the Merman space progrEamve.ry political faction they have will be represented there."
"You'd never mistake it for something floating on the surface," Twis"pNsoaimd.ovement at all."
"It clears high water by twenty-five meters," Bushka "sMaiedr.men brag about iTt.hey've only sent up unmanned shots.But things are moving fasTt.hat's why Gallow and his people are acting nTohwe. Mermen expect a manned shot into space soon."
"And they control the currents with the kelp?" Twisp a"sHkoewd.?"
"I don't really knowI'v. e seen where they do it but I don't understand it."
Twisp looked from the tower to Bushka and back to the Tthoewefro.aming collar of surf around its base had expanded as the coracles drew closer, opening up a widerTwviieswp .estimated their distance
from the base at more than five kilometers, and even from that distance he saw that the surf reached left and right of the tower for several hundred meters on eitherMsoirdee.human activity could be seen
there. One of the big Merman foils stood off in the calmer water beyond the surf with smaller craft shuttling back and forth to the towAer.Lighter-Than-Air hovered nearby, either for observation or use as a sky-craneT. he coracles were close enough now to make out Mermen on the breakwater that fanned out from the base near the tower.
The hydrofoil with its hydrogen ramjets sticking out like big egg sacks astern drew Twisp's Haettention.

had seen them only at a distance and in holos beforTe htehisth. ing was at least fifty meters long, riding there easily on its flotation hull with the planing foils hidden underAwawteird. e hatch stood open in its side with much Merman activity around the opening -- bulky objects being lowered on an extruded crane.
Bushka sat with one arm resting on the cuddy top, his other arm hanging loosely aHt ishishesaide. was turned away from Twisp, attention fixed on the Launch Base and its commandingThteorweewr. as
no sign yet that the Mermen had taken notice of the approaching coracles, but Twisp knew they had been seen and their course plotteBdu. shka's reason for bringing them to this particular place seemed clear, if you believed his story about GallTowhe.re was little chance that Gallow's people would be the only ones at this basAe.nd there would be Merman attention on every detail of this opeAraltlion.
factions would hear Bushka's storWy. ould they believe it?
"Have you thought about how they're going to receive you and your story?" Twisp asked.
"I don't think my chances are very good no matter where I turn up," Bushka a"nBsuwt ebrett.er here
than anywhere else."He brought his gaze around to meet Twisp's questioning man any way you look atBiut.t people have got to know."
"sItarteh.ink I'm a dead
"Very commendable," Twisp saiHd.e cut the motor and pulled the tiller into his stomach, holding it there until the two boats circled slowly around each oTthiemr.e to apprise Bushka of the facts as Twisp saw
them after a night's reflection.
"What're you doing?" Bushka demanded.
Twisp stretched both arms across the tiller and stared at B"uIshckaam. e out here to find my apprentice. Kinda stupid of me, I knoIw.tell you true I didn't believe there was such a thing as that base, but I thought there would be something, and I came with you because what you said about help from the Mermen made sense."
"Of course it doeSs!omebody probably picked him up already and --"
"But you're in trouble, BushkDae. ep shit.And I'm in it, too, just by being with Iywouo.uldn't feel right about just dumping you or handing you over to thHeme ."nodded toward the towe"rE. specially if your story about this Gallow happens to be true."

"If?"
"Where's the proof?"
Bushka tried to swallowM. ermen already would be bringing in the Guemes dead and the survHiveors. knew this.There was no turning bacSk.omeone at the Launch Base already had these coracles and their occupants on a screenS.omebody would be sent to investigate or to warn them off.
"What do I do?" Bushka asked.
"You sank a whole fucking island," Twisp grow"Aledn.d you're just now asking yourself that?"
Bushka merely lifted his shoulders and let them fall in a futile shrug.
"Guemes must've had small boats out, some in sight of the Island," Twi"sTphesraei'dll. be survivors and
they'll have their story to teSlol.me of them may have seen your sYuobu. reporting?"
Bushka cringed under the weight of accusation in Twisp's voice.
any idea what they'll be
"You were the pilot," Twisp sa"iTdh. ey'll put you through more than thYiso.u did it and they'll get every detail out of you before you talk to anybody outside of Merman SeIfcuyriotuy. ever get outside their Security."
Bushka lowered his chin to his knHeees.felt that he might vomWit.ith a terrible sense of wonder, he heard coming from his own mouth a groan that pulsed in a risingnnnpnitnch: nnnnnnh nnnnnnh.
There's nowhere I can run, Bushka thouNghotw. here, nowhere.

Twisp was still speaking to him but Bushka, lost in his own misery, no longer understood the words. Words could not reach into this place where his consciousnesWs loaryd.s were ghosts, things that would haunt him.He no longer felt that he could tolerate such haunting.
The thrum of the coracle's little motor being switched on brought Bushka's attention back from its hiding place. He did not dare look up to see where Twisp might be takingAltlheomf .the wheres were baIdt .
was just a matter of time until someone somewhere killedHhisimm. ind floated on a sea while his
muscles pulled him into a tighter and tighter ball so that he might fit into that sea without touching anything there. Voices cried to him, high-pitched screecheHsi.s mind exposed glimpses of a universe fouled by
carnage -- the shredded Island and its broken shards of Dflreyshh. eaves shook his bodHy.e sensed
movement in the coracle, but only vagueSloym.
ething inside of him had to come Houatn.ds touched his
shoulders and lifted him, laying him over the thwAarvt.oice said": Puke over the sideY. ou'll choke to death in the bilge.T"he hands went away, but the voice left one last com"mDeunmt:b fuck!"
The acid in Bushka's mouth was bitterly demanding, strHinegyt.ried to speak but every sound felt like sandpaper bobbing in his larynHx.e vomited over the side, the smell strong in his noPsrterisles.ntly, he dropped a hand into the passing sea and splashed cold salt water over hOisnlyfacthe.en could he sit up and look at TwispB. ushka felt emptied of everything, all emotion drained.
"Where can I go?" he ask"eWd.hat can I tell them?"
"You tell 'em the truth," Twisp s"aDida.mmit. I never heard of anybody as dumb as you, but I do believe you're a dumb fuck, and I don't think you're a killer."
"Thanks," Bushka managed.
"What you did," Twisp said, "you've marked yourNseolf.Mute will ever get the stares you'll Ygoeut. know what?I don't envy you one bit."
Twisp nodded toward the tower ahe"aHd.ere comes someone to get uOsn. e of their little cargo boats. Ship! I'm done for!I know it."

At any given moment of history it is the function of associations of devoted individuals to undertake tasks which clear-sighted people perceive to be necessary, but which nobody else is willing to perform.
-- A. Huxley, The Doors of Perception, Shiprecords
After seeing Scudi expose the master control panel for her father's quarters, find the hatch controls and trace out the exit hatch circuiting, Brett was ready to believe his new friend aShgeenqiuisc.kly argued
against this when he praised her.
"Most of us learn how to do this very young." She g"iIgfglyeodu. r parents try to lock you in . . ."
"Why would they lock you in?"
"Punishment," she said, "if we --" She broke off, threw a circuit breaker and closed the panel cover. "Quick, someone is coming.S"he leaned close to Brett's e"aIr. have set the emergency hatch on manual
and the same with the main hatEchm.ergency is the little hatch in the middle of the big one."
"Where do we go when we get out?"

"Remember the planW. e have to leave here before they guess what I've dSocnued."i took his hand and hurried Brett out of the service room, down a passage and into the entry lounge.
Hastings and Lonfinn were already there and involved in a heated conversation with Keel.
The Chief Justice raised his voice as Brett and Scudi entered the"Aronodmf:urthermore, if you try to blame Islanders for the Guemes massacre, I shall demand an immediate committee of investigation, a committee you will not control!"
Keel rubbed his eyelids with both hanTdhse.
eye looking directly at Hastings focused a hard glare on
him. Keel found he enjoyed the small shudder that the man could not hide.
"Mr. Justice," Hastings said, "you are not helping yourself or those youngHsetergsl.a"nced briefly at
Brett and Scudi, who had stopped just inside the room.
Keel studied Hastings for a moment, thinking how abruptly the mood had turnTedwoughlya.tchetmen!
He passed a glance across Hastings and Lonfinn, noting that they blocked the way to the exit hatch.
"I was always told there were no dangerous insects down under," Keel said.
Hastings scowled but his partner did not change expres"sTiohnis. "Ambassador Ale has asked us to --"
"Let her tell me herself!"
is not a joking matter!" Hastings said.
When Hastings did not respond, Keel s"aSidh:e lured me down here under false pretensSesh.e saw to
it that I didn't bring any of my own Hstearff.stated reason, even as sketchy as that was, does not wash. I have to conclude that I am a prisoDnoer.you deny that?A" gain, he sent a cold gaze across the two
men standing between him and the hatch.

Hastings sighed". You are being protected for your own goYoodu. been a crisis --"
"Protected from whom?"
are an important Islander; there has
Keel watched Hastings deciding what to say, choosing and discarding alternSateiveersa.l times
Hastings started to speak and thought better of it.
Keel rubbed the back of his neck where the prosthetic support already had begun to chafe his neck raw after his brief rest.
"Are you protecting me from whoever destroyed Guemes?" he prompted.
The two Mermen exchanged an unreadable glanHcaes.tings looked back at Kee"lI. would like to be more candid with you, but I can't."
"I already know the structure of what's happening," Keel"Vsaeirdy. collision course among the Mermen."
"And topside!" Hastings snapped.
powerful political forces are on a
"Oh, yesT. he two wild cards -- my Committee and the FWaiitphi.ng out Guemes was a blow at the Faith. But liquidating me would not deter the Committee; they would simply replaIcte's mmeo.re effective to keep me incommunicadOo.r, if I were liquidated, Islanders would be distracted enough
while selecting a new Chief Justice that Mermen could take advantage of the conI funsoiolno.nger think
I can stay down herIe.am returning topside."
Hastings and his companion stiffened.
"I am afraid that is impossible just now," Hastings said.

Keel smiled". Carolyn Bluelove will be the next Chief Justice," he "sYaiodu. with her than you have with me."
Impasse, Keel thought.
won't have any better luck
A loaded silence fell over the room while Hastings and Lonfinn studieKdeehlimco. uld see Hastings
composing new arguments and discarding theHme.
needed the Chief Justice's cooperation for something
-- blind cooperationH.
e needed agreement without revealing the thing to which Keel must Dagidree.
Hastings think an old political infighter could not see through this dilemma?
Where they stood just inside the room, Scudi and Brett had listened carefully to this aSrcguudmi ent.
now leaned close to Brett's ear and whispe"reTdh.e guest head is that hatch over to the
Grigohti.n there
now and open the sealed switch plate by the hTahtcrho.w a glass of water into the swiTtchha.t will short out all the lights in this sectiIonw. ill unlock the emergency hatcCha.n you find it in the dark?"
He nodded.
"We can be out before they even know we're running," she whispered.
"The passageway lights will shine in through the emergency hatch when you open it."
"We have to be quick," she s"aTidh.ey will try to use the main contrIot lsw. ill be a blink before they realize they'll have to use the manual system."
He nodded again.
"Follow me and run fast," she said.

Where he stood confronting Keel, Hastings had decided to expose part of his knowledge.
"Justice Keel, you are wrong about the next Chief Justice," h"eIt'sllaidb.e Simone Rocksack."
"GeLaar Gallow's choice?" Keel asked, working from the knowledge he had gained at the late Ryan
Wang's comconsole.
Hastings blinked in surprise.
"If so, he's in for another surprise," Keel "sCa/iPd.s are notoriously incorruptible."
"Your history's slipping," Hastings sa"idW. ithout the first Pandoran C/P, Morgan Oakes, Jesus Lewis would've been just another lab technician."
A solemn expression settled over Keel's fPaceeti.tioners before him on the high bench had seen this look and trembled but Hastings only stared at him, waiting.
"You work for Gallow," Keel sa"iOd.f course you want total political and economic control of Pandora and you're going to work through the FaDitihd. the C/P know you were going to destroy her family on Guemes to do it?"
"You're wrong!It's not like that!" "Then how is it?" Keel asked. "Please, Mr. JusticeY! ou --"
"Someone has latched on to a basic truth," Keel"Csaoindt.rol the food supply, control the people."

"We're running out of time for argument," Hastings said.
"When we actually run out, will I then become one of the Guemes casualties?" Keel asked.
"The future of Pandora is at stake," Hastings "sRaigdh. t-thinking people will steer a safe course through these hard times."
"And for this, you will kill anyone who opposes you," Keel said.
"We did not destroy GuemesH!"astings said, spacing out his words in a low, cold voice.
"Then how do you know that whoever did it will not turn on you?" Keel demanded.
"Who are you to talk about killinHga?s"tings asked."How many thousands have you destroyed under the authority of your CommitteeH?undreds of thousands?You've been at it a long time, Mr. Justice."
Keel was momentarily stunned by this atta"Bcku.t the Committee --"
"Does what you tell it to Tdhoe!
almighty Ward Keel points his finger and death folElovwesry. body
knows that!What's life to someone like yoHu?ow can I expect a mind that alien to understand our
Merman dilemma?"
Keel was at a loss how to meet this aTtthaecka.ccusation stung himR. everence for life guided his every decision. Lethal deviants had to be weeded out of the gene pool!
As Keel stood silently, wondering what might happen next, Brett stepped toward the hatch to the head. Lonfinn moved to stand between the hatch and theBerxeittt. ignored the man and went into the head,
closing the hatch behind him.

Brett studied the small room for a momTehnet. switch plate was a gasketed cover beside the hIattch.
had two exposed sealing screwBs.rett found the tool Scudi had told him about in the drawer under the sink: a fingernail fileH. e removed the cover, revealing a paired junction, shiny green and blue conducting plastics. The n and p circuits lay exposed to his view beneath the shielded depressions that changed polarity and activated the switch.
Glass of water, Scudi had said.
There was a glass beside the sHinek.filled it and, putting one hand on the hatch dog, flung the water at
the exposed switchA.
blue-green spark flashed up the wall and all the lights weInnt tohuet. same
moment he opened the hatch and slipped out into darkHneasti.ngs was shouting, "Get KeeHl!old him!"
Brett slipped to his right along the wall and bumped into Scudi at thSehehattocuhc.hed his face, then pulled his shoulder closeA. bruptly, the little hatch opened and she was through it, rolling to one side. Brett dove through behind her and Scudi dogged the little hLaetacphi.ng to her feet, she darted off down the passage.Brett scrambled up and followed.
It was the first time in his life that Brett had run more than a hundred meters at Socnuedistwreatcsh.far ahead of him, darting into a side passaBgree.tt skidded around the corner behind her just in time to see her feet disappear through a tiny round hatch low to theSdhe kp.ractically pulled him in behind her as he knelt at the openinTg.he hatch swung closed and she sealed it in darkBnerestst. was panting from the exertion. Sweat stung his eyes.
"Where are we?" he whispered.
"Service passage for the pneumatic systeHmo.ld on to my waistband and stay clWose have to crawl through the first part."
Brett gripped her waistband and found himself almost dragged along a low, narrow passage where his
shoulders brushed the sides and he frequently bumped his head against the
Icteiwlinags. very dim even
for him in here, and he was sure she was operating in total daTrhkenepssa.ssage turned left, then right, then sloped upward for a timSec.udi stopped and reached bacSk.he gripped his hand, taking it forward and placing it on a ladder that disappeared somewhere above them.

"Ladder," she whispered".Follow me up."
He didn't remind her that he could "sWeeh.ere're we going?" he asked.
"All the way uDp.on't slip.It's twenty-one levels with only three ledges to take breaks."
"What's up there?"
"The docking bay for my father's cargo foils."
"Scudi, are you sure you want to do this?"
Her voice came to him small and tightly contro"Illewd.on't believe anything without proof, but they're holding the Justice and they'd have stoppedTuhsa.t's wrong, and it's Ale's doinTgh.e Islands should know at least that much."
"Right."
She pulled away from him, the slither of her clothing and their breathing were the only sounds.
Brett followed her, his hands occasionally touching Scudi's feet on theTrhuengcsl.imb felt long to Brett, and he knew it must seem interminable to Scudi, operating in total daHrkenersesg.retted that he had not started counting the rungs, that would help keep his mind off the ever-growing drop to the deIctk below. was stomach-tightening for him to think about it, and when he did his hands didn't want to move from rung to rungH. e couldn't see to the bottom or the top, just Scudi's trim form working ahead of him. Once, he stopped and looked behind hSimev. eral diameters of pipes were faintly visible to Ohinme.
was hot to the toucTh.here was cold condensation on anothIetr.felt slick when he ran his fingers over it.
Algae, he thoughHt. e was thankful for something familiTarh.ere was no such structure or rigidity on an

Island. Organic conduits grew where they were guided to grow, but guidance had its limits.
At the first ledge, Scudi put an arm around his waist and helped him to a place against another ladder. She waited a blink while he caught his breath, then:
"We have to hurrTy.hey may guess where we've gone."
"Can they know where we are?"
"There are no sensors here, and they won't know I have a key to the service passages."
"How did you get it?"
"From my father's desIk.found it while showing the Justice the den."
"Why would your father have had such a key?"
"Probably for the same reason we're usinEgmite.rgency escape."
She patted his chest gently and turned awWaiyth.
a sigh, she started on the next stage of their climb.
Again, Brett followed.
He pressed faster and faster, but she was always farther up, widening the distance betweTehnenthem. there was the second ledge and Brett drew himself onto it, paSnctuindgi . guided him to the next ladder. When he could control his breathing, he asked, "How do you move so fast?"

"I run the passageways and work out in the gym," sh"eThsaoisde.
of us who will go back to the open
land must be prepared for the demands to be made on our
Ibtodwiielsl. be different from the sea."
He knew it was an inadequate response, but all he could manage was, "Oh."
"Are you rested enough for the last stage?" she asked.
"Lead on."
This time, he stayed with her enough that his hand met her foot from timHe etokntiemwe. she was
setting a slower pace because of him and this painedSthililm, .he was glad for the reserves it might give
him. There was still that yawning void below, a place made even more frightening by its drop into a dim void. When he felt the final rung and another ledge, he wrapped an arm around the ladder's vertical supports and drew in deep, gasping breaths.
Scudi's hand touched his hea"dY.ou all right?"
"Just . . . catching my breath."
She put a hand underneath his right "aCrmom.
e up.I will helpI.t is safer up herTe.here is a railing."
With Scudi's hand lifting, Brett crawled over the lip of theHledsgaew.
the rail and caught a good grip
on it, pulling himself the last few millimeters and then stretching out on the hard metSalcugdriatere. sted a hand on his back and, when she felt his breathing smooth out, drew away.
"Let's review the plan," she said.
She sat with her back against a metal wall.

"Go ahead," he saiHd.e drew himself up beside her, smelling the sweet freshness of her breath, feeling the brush of her hair against his cheek.
"The hatch is directly behind mIt'es. a double hatchT. he docking bay is kept under enough pressure to hold a working level on the waWtere.'ll open in an alcove off the docking Ibfayn.o one is there, we will just go out and walk normally toward one of theYfouils.are my charge and I am showing you around."
"What if someone sees us coming out of the hatch?"
"We laugh and gigglWe. e're young lovers on a rendezvouWs.e may get a lecturIef. so, we should at least appear to be sorry."
Brett looked at the smooth profile of Scudi's face. Clever.Close enough to the truth that he wished it were so. "Where can we hide in this docking bay?" he asked.
"We won't hideW. e will go to one of the foils, one where the operating crew is notWaebowairldl . escape topside in the foil."
"Can you really operate a foil?"
"Of courseI. going to do?"
go topside often in the lab foSihl.e" was all seriousness".Do you understand what we're
"Lead the way," he said.
Scudi slid away from hiTmh.ere was the slightest sound of metal grating against mAetasml. all hatch

swung wide, letting in dim ligIhtt.was bright enough to Brett that he was forced to sSqcuuidnit. slipped out and reached back a hand for hBimre.tt followed, wriggling through the tight openiHnge. found
himself in a low, rectangular space with gray metal wLaigllhst.
came in from a port at the farSecnudd.i
dogged the hatch behind them, then opened the far hAatschs.he had promised, they emerged into a narrow alcove.
"Now," she whispered, taking his ha"nId.am showing you the landing bay and the foils."
She led Brett out onto a narrow platform with a railing and stairs down to a deck about three meters
below them.Brett stopped and resisted Scudi's attempts to drag him farTthery. transparent dome that stretched away from him for several hundred meters.
were under a
Plaz, he thoughHt. as to beN.
othing else could take that pressuTreh.e docking bays were located
inside this gigantic inverted cup that held out theAsepal.az umbrella!He looked up at the surface, no
more than fifty meters away, a milky silver region with the doubled shafts of light indicating that both suns stood above the horizon.
Scudi tugged at his arm.
Brett looked down to the deck -- a giant metal grate with piers stretching out the far side toward the descending lip of the facility's plaz covAesr. he watched, a submerged foil cruised under the far lip and lifted into the bay with a cascade of water off itTs hheulflo. il slid into an empty bay, its engines a painful
growl in his ears even at this low spWeeidth.
the newcomer, Brett counted six of the huge boats lined up
in a rowM.
ermen worked busily around them on the piers, securing the lines of the new arrival, wheeling
cargo on carts to and from the open hatches in the line of craft.
"They're so big," Brett said, craning his neck at the prow of the foil directly aheadSoomf etohneem. was working up there, dreamily scraping a dry skin of green kelp off the extruded fenders.
"Come along," she said, her voice slightly louder than conversation required, "I'll take you aboard one of them. Kareen wants you to see it all."
This, Brett realized, was for the benefit of a Merman who had stopped below them and was watching them with a questioning tilt to his heAasd.Scudi spoke, he smiled and strode away.

Brett allowed her to lead him down the stairs.
"Food transport uses only the seventy-meter cargo model," she"Isnaidsp. ite of their size, they'll do at
least eighty knotsS. omewhat slower in heavy seaIs'm. load."
told they can top a hundred knots with a light
Her hand in his, Scudi guided Brett down the line of foils, weaving in and out of the passing workers and stepping aside for loaded cartAs.t the end, they met six white-uniformed workers wheeling a covered
cart toward them along the pier.
"Repair crew," Scudi explaineSd.he spoke to the first man in the gr"oSuopm. ething wrong with this one?"
"Just a little trouble with the thrust reverser, Miss WAalnlg.s"ix stopped while the leader spoke to
Scudi. They all looked very much alike in their white coveBrarleltst. saw no name tags.
"Can I take our guest aboard to show him aroI'umndf?amiliar with this one," she saBidre. tt thought he detected a note of false petulance in her voice.
"I'm sure you are," the crewman s"aBidu.t be carefulT. hey've just finished refueling it for the test run. You'll have to be out in about an hTohuer. next shift will be loading it then."
"Oh, good," Scudi said, dragging Brett around the repair"Wcaer'tl.l have it all to ourselves and I can show you everything."She called back over her should"eTr.hanks!"
The crewman waved and helped his men trundle their cart down the pier.
Midway down the hull, Scudi led the way up a narrow gangBprleatnt kf.ollowed her into a passage lighted by overhead tubesS.he motioned for him to wait while she peered back out the open hatch. Presently, she pressed a switch beside the haAtchl.ow hum sounded and the gangplank slidThien.
hatch sealed behind it with a soft hiss.

"Quick!" she saidS.he turned and once more they were runnSincgu.di led him up a series of gangways and along a wide corridor, emerging finally into a plaz-windowed control room high above the prow.
"Take the other seat."
She slid into one of the two command couches that faced a bank of inst"rIu'lml eshnotsw. run one of these thingIst.'s really simple."
you how to
Brett watched her, seeing the way she became another person as she touched the Ecvoenrtyrols. movement was quick and sur"eN. ow this one," she said, hitting a yellow button.
A low thrumming could be felt through the deck under theSirevfereat.l Mermen working on the pier below them turned and looked at the foil.
Scudi moved her hand up to a red button labeled "Emergency release -- dockinSghelinteosu."ched the button and immediately drew a lever at her left all the wayThbeacfko.il slid smoothly out of its dock. Mermen below them began to run and wave at the foil.
Before they cleared the dock Scudi began pumping ballast abTohaerdf.oil slipped under the water, banking sharply to the lefSt.cudi lifted a stick from the deck beside Bhreert.t saw that it was socketed into the deck and wondered what it controlHleedr. left hand moved the lever on the other side of her, throwing it full forwardT.he foil dove toward the lip of the inverted plazBrceutpt . looked up as they passed under the lip, watching the lighted edge pass away astern.
Once on the other side, Scudi began blowing ballast as she lifted the bow toward thBerestutrface. swiveled around and saw the docking bay recede behind tThhemer.e was no pursuit yet.
Brett was stunned at the size of the Sbeovaet.nty meters.That's ten coracles long!
"Watch what I'm doing," Scudi order"eYd.ou might have to run one of these things."

Brett turned back to take in the levers, buttons, gauges and switches.
"Hydrogen ramjets for both underwater and surface," she "sFauide.l conservation system reduces our speed underwater.Here's the governor."She indicated a clip-locked toggle between the"mD.angerous
to exceed governed speed but it can be done in an emergency."
She moved the stick in her right hand, swinging it to starboard and pulling back on "iTt hsilsigshtteleyr.s us," she said". Pull back to lift, down to dive."
Brett nodded.
"These . . S."he indicated a bank of instruments across the top of the "bYoaorud.read the labels:
topside fuel flow, ballast -- slower than on aIgsnuibti.on. Air supply for down undeAr.lways remember
to switch it off topsidIef. the cockpit is breached, we're automatically ejecMtedanual ejection is by that red lever at the center."
Brett responded with a series of grunts or "GoHteitw."as thankful that all the switches and instruments carried clear labels.
Scudi pointed overhead where a black hood framed a large, gridded "sCcrheaernt.s are projected there. That's something Islanders have been trying to get for a long time."
"Why can't we have itB?"rett knew the system she had indicatFeids.hermen grouched about it often.
Steeran, the Mermen called transmission stations.
Ait. navigation system that worked by reading Merman fixed underwater
"Too complicated and too costly for upkeYeopu.
just don't have the support facilities."
He had heard that story befoIrsela. nders didn't believe it, but Scudi obviously did.

"Topside," she announced.
The foil broke the surface in a long wave trough that crested undeWr attheermc.ascaded off the plaz all around.
Brett clapped his hands over his eTyehse.
stabbing blast of light made his eyeballs feel like two hot
coals in his headH. e ducked his face down onto his knees with a loud moan.
"Is something wrong?" Scudi askeSdh.e did not look at him but busied herself dropping the foils from their hull slots and increasing speed.
"It's my eyes," he saHide. getting better."
blinked them open, adjusting slowTlye.ars washed over his cheek"sI.t's
"Good," she said".You should watch what I dIot's.
best to put the foil up on the step parallel to the
waves, then quarter into them as you bring it up to Is'lpleegde.t the course in a blink after we're at cruise. Look back and see if there's any pursuit."
Brett turned and stared back along their wake, aware suddenly of how fast they already were moving. The big foil throbbed and bounced under them, then suddenly the ride smoothed and there was only the high whine of the hydrogen rams and the jumping jostle of the foils bridging the waves.
"Eighty-five knots," Scudi sai"dA. re they after us yet?"
"I don't see anythingB."rett wiped at his eyeTs.he pain was almost gone.
"I don't see anything on the instruments," she "sTahide.y must know it's hopelesEs.very other foil in the
bay has at least some cargo aboaWrde.
have none and full fuel tanks."

Brett returned his attention to the front, blinking away the pain as his eyes reacted to the sunlight off the waves.
"The RDF is over to your right, that green panel," sh"eSeseaidif.
you can raise Vashon's signal."
Brett turned to the radio direction finHdeer. saw at once it was a more sophisticated model than the one on which Twisp had trained him, but the dials were labeled and the frequency arc was immediately identifiable. He had the signal in a momeTnht.e familiar voice of Vashon's transmission to its fishing fleet crackled from the overhead speakers.
"It's a good fishing day, everyone, and big cargoes expMecuterde.e are running strong in quadrant nineteen." Brett turned down the volume.
"What is quadrant nineteen?" Scudi asked. "It's a grid position relative to Vashon." "But the Island moves as it drifts!"
"So do the muree, and that's all that's important."
Brett twisted the dials, homed on the signal and read the coord"iTnhaeterse.'s your course," he said, pointing to the dial above the RD"IFs. that sun-relative or compass?"
"Compass."
"Doppler distance reads five hundred and ninety klTichkast.'s a long way!"
"Seven plus hours," she sa"idW. e can run ten hours without stopping to recharge Wfueel.can

regenerate our own hydrogen from seawater during daylight hours, but we'll be sitting squawks if they come after us or try to block us from some station up ahead."
"They could do that?"
"I'm sure they'll trTy.here are four outposts along our course."
"We would need more fuel," he said.
"And they'll be looking for us from down under."
"What about one of the smaller Islands?"
"I saw the latest plot on the current board yesteVrdasahyo. n's closest by more than five hundred klicks."
"Why can't I get on the emergency frequency and tell Vashon what wWe kensohwo.uld report in anyway," he added.
"What do we know?" she asked, adjusting the thrTohttele.foil lurched slightly and tipped, climbing one of the periodic high waves.
"We know they're holding the Chief Justice against hisWweillk.now there are a lot of dead Islanders."
"What about his suspicions?"
"They're his suspicions," Brett said, "but don't you think he deserves a hearing?"

"If he's right, have you thought about what may happen if the Islands try to force his return?"
Brett felt a lump in his thr"oWato. uld they kill him?"
"Somewhere, there seem to be people who kill," she"Gsauiedm.
es proves that."
"Ambassador Ale?"
"It occurs to me, Brett, that Hastings and Lonfinn may be watching her to see that she does not do something dangerous to themM. y father was very ricHh.e warned me often that this created danger for everyone around him."
"I could just call in and tell Vashon I'm safe and returning," Hhe shiodo. k his head".No. To those that listen in --"
"And they are listening," she added.
"It would be the same thing as just spilling the story right now,""Whehasat'lild.we do?"
"We will go to the Launch Base," she "sNaiodt. to Outpost Twenty-two."
"But you told Justice Keel --"
"And if they force him to talk, they will look for us in the wrong place."
"Why the Launch Base?" he asked.

"No single group controls that," she s"aTidh.at's a part of all of our dreams -- get the hyb tanks down from where Ship left them in orbit."
"It's still a Merman project."
"It is all MermaWn. e will say our piece theErev.eryone will hear iTt.hen all will know what a few people may be doing."
Brett stared straight aheaHd.e knew he should feel elation at their escHapee.was in the biggest vessel
he had ever seen, rocketing along the wavetops at more than eighty knots, faster than he had ever gone before. But unknowns crowded in on hiKme. el did not trust the MermeAnn. d Scudi was MermanW. as
she being honest?Had he heard her real reasons for wanting him to avoid theHreadilooked at Scudi. For what other reason could she help him escape?
"I've been thinking," Scudi sa"idIf.
no word has reached them, your family will be sick with worry about
you. And your friend, TwispC. all Vashon.We'll make doM.
aybe my suspicions are foolish."
He saw her throat pulse with a swallow and he remembered her tears over the heaped bodies of the
Islanders.
"No," he said, "we should go to your Launch Base."
Again, Brett concentrated on the sea ahead of tThheme .two suns lifted heat-shimmers off the water.
When he had been much younger, seeing the Island rim for the first time, the heat shimmers had created images for himL. ong-whiskered sea dragons coiled above the ocean surface, giant muree and fat scrubberfish. The shimmer play now was nothing but heat reflected off wHaetefre.lt the warmth on his
face and armsH.
e thought of Twisp leaning back against the coracle's tiller, eyes closed, soaking up the
heat through his hairy chest.
"Where is this base?" he asked.
She reached up and turned a small dial below the overhead Bscerseiedne. the dial, an alphanumerical

keyboard glowed with its own internal lighSthse.
typed HF-i, then LB-T1.he screen flashed 141.2, then
overprinted a spray of lines with a common focal pAoinbtr.ight green spot danced at the wide outer arc of the linesS. cudi pointed at the spot.
"That's us."She pointed to the base of the sp"raWy.e go here on course one forty-one point twShoe." pointed to a dial with a red arrow on the console in front oTfhetheamrr.ow indicated 141.2.
"That's all there is to it?"
"All?" Scudi smiled".There are hundreds of transmitter stations all around Pandora, a whole manufacturing and servicing complex -- all to insure that we get from here to there."
Brett looked up at the screTenh.e spray of lines had pivoted until the bright green dot lay centered on course. The 141.2 still glowed in the lower left corner of the screen.
"If we require a course change, it will sound a klaxon and show the new numbers,"Sstheerasnaid. homing on LB-one."
Brett looked out across the water beside them, seeing the spray kicked up by the foils, thinking how valuable such a system would be to Vashon's fishing Tflheet.sun burned hot on him through the plaz,
but the air felt gooRd.ich topside air blew in the venStcsu. di Wang was at his side and suddenly Pandora didn't seem to be the adversary that he'd always imagEivnend. if it was a deadly place, it had its measure of beauty.

One measure of humanity lies in the lengths taken to right the wrongs perpetrated against others. Recognition of wrongdoing is the first crucial step.
-- Raja Thomas, the Journals
Shadow Panille covered the dead MuHtee. washed his hands in the alcohol basin beside the Tlihteter. rest of the room bustled with the clink of steel instruments againsLt otrway-vs.oiced, one-word
commands and grunts came from several busy groups of doctors and medP-taencihlsle.
looked back
over his shoulder at the long row of litters strung down the center of the room, each one surrounded by medics. Splashes and blotches of blood stained gray gowns and the eyes above the antiseptic masks looked more tired, more hopeless every hoOufr. all the survivors brought in by the pickup teams, only
two had escaped physical harmP.anille reminded himself that there were other kinds of hWarhma.t the experience had done to their minds . . . he hesitated to think of them as survivors.
The Mute behind Panille had died under the knife for lack of replacemenTt hbelomode.dical facility had been unprepared for bleeders on such a tremendous scHaele.heard Kareen Ale snap off her gloves behind him.
"Thanks for the assist," she sa"iTdo. o bad he didn't make Tith.is was a close one."
Panille watched one of the teams lift a litter and carry it toward the recovAetryleaarseta.a few would
make it.And one of his men had said they were herding together the few fishing boats that had escaped and fled the drifPt.anille rubbed his eyes and was immediately soTrrhye.y burned from the touch of
alcohol and started streaming tears.
Ale took him by the shoulder and led him to the sink beside the hIattchhawdaya. tall, curved spout that he could get his head under.
"Let the water run over the eyes," she "sBaliidn.king helps the rinse."

"Thanks."
She handed him a tow"eRl.elax," she said, "that's the last of them."
"How long have we been at it?"
"Twenty-six hours."
"How many made it?"
"Not counting those in shock, we have ninety still breathing in recSoeveral.
hundred with only minor
injuries. I don't knowF. ewer than a thousand, anyway, and six still under the knifeDhoeryeo.u believe what this one told us?"
"About the subI?t's hard to write it off to hallucinations or delirium, considering the circumstances."
"He was clear-headed when they brought himDiidn. you see what he managed to do with his Itl'esgs?
too bad he didn't make it; he tried harder than most people."
"Both legs severed below the knees and he managed to stop the bleeding himself," Pan"Iilledosna'tid. know, Kareen.I guess I don't want to believe hBimut. I do."
"What about the part about the sub rolling upside-down before its Adlievea?s"ked."Couldn't that mean somebody just lost control of the machinSeu?rely no Merman would do something like that deliberately."
"That patient" -- Panille waved towards the litter behind them -- "claimed that a Merman sub deliberately
sank their IslandH.
e said he saw the whole thing, the sub came directly up through their center and --"

"It was an Islander sub," she insis"tMedu. st've been."
"But he said . . ."
Kareen inhaled deeply and sighe"dH.e was mistaken, my dear," she sa"iAd.nd to avoid serious trouble, we'll have to prove it."
They both stepped aside as two attendants carried the litter with the dead Mute out the hatchway, bound for the mortuaryK. areen began to recite what Panille knew would become the Merman"Hleine:
was a MuteM.
utes don't have all of their faculties, even under the best of circumstances."
"You've been spending too much time with Gallow," Panille said.
"But look at what we had to work with here," shHe esraivdo. ice bordered on a whispPera.nille didn't
like it, nor did he like the turn of conversaFtriounst.ration and fatigue brought out a side of Kareen Ale that he had not known existe"dM. issing parts, extra parts, misplaced partSs.h"e gestured with a
whimsical wave of her han"dW.
hat their medical people do for an anatomy class boggles the Nmoi,nd.
Shadow, it must have been an Islander sSuobm. e interior score they were settlinWg.hat could any of us gain by such an acNt?othing. I say we should have a driJnuks.t have a drink and forgetHiot.w about
it?"
"What he described was not an Islander sub," Panille ins"iWstehda.t he described was a kelp sub, with cutters and welders."
Kareen pulled him aside, as a mother might take a troublesome child aside during W"SohraSdhoiwp.!
You're not making senseI.f Mermen sank that Island, then why go to all the trouble to man the pickup teams? Why not just let them gNo?o, we worked hard here to save what we cNouoltd.that it
mattered."
"What do you mean, 'Not that it mattered'?"
"You saw them, their conditioTnh.e best of them were starvinLge.ather on boneT. hey looked like

furniture."
"Then we should feed them," Panille s"aRidy.an Wang didn't develop the largest food distribution in history just to let people starve."
"Feeding them's a lot easier than hauling them in dead," she said.
"These are people!" Panille snapped.
Ale's quick eyes flicked from Panille, around the room to the surgical and trauma teams, tHher lips were trembling, and he saw with surprise that she was only barely under control.
"That patient may have been a Mute, but he was no fool," Panille "iHnseistreedp.orted what he observed, and he did it clearly."
"I don't want to believe him," Ale said.
"But you do.P"anille put an arm around her shoulders.
back.
Ale trembled at his touc"hW. e must talk," she sai"dW.
ould you go back to my quarters with me?"
They rode the tubes, Ale's head lolling on his shoSuhldeers.nored a little, caught herself and settled closer against himH. e liked the feeling of her warmth soaking into Whihme.n their car started into a
curve he held her shoulder a little tighter to keep the movement from waking her, giving himself time to think. Kareen wanted to talkD. id she want to persuadeH?ow would she argueW? ith her body?
Panille decided this thought was unworthy of Hhiem.rejected it.
Twenty-six hours in surgery, he thougShoto. n Ale would face the difficult politics that the surgery

represented. He had noticed the deepening circles of sleepless nights settling under Ale's beautiful eyes.
Panille was glad for one aspect of the surgery -- it brought out the doctor in Ale, a part of her personality
that had become more ghostlike during her brief association with Ryan
TWhaonugg.h she'd been alert
and awake during the whole frustrating business with the Guemes Islanders, Ale had fallen asleep almost before the transport hatch closed on theAms. the Islanders died under the knife one by one, he had watched her blue eyes darken over her mask.
"They're so frail," she had sa"iSdo.
poor!"
The replacement blood had run out in two hPoluarssm. a and oxygen were gone in sixteSeunr.gical supervisors suggested sterilizing sea water and using that for plasma, but Ale refused.
"Stick with what we know," she s"aTidh.is is not the time for experimentation."
In her sleep, Ale's hand reached around Panille's waist and pulled himHcelrosheari.r smelled of antiseptics and perspiration, but he found the mixture comforting because it wHase hleikr.ed the brush
of her hair against his bare neTckh.e hours of sweat in his own hair made him glad he'd kept it braided. He ached for a shower even more than he ached for Paanbiellde. caught himself dozing off just as they jerked to a stopT. he panel above their heads flashed the messaOgreg:anization and Distribution.
"Kareen," he said, "we're here."
She sighed and squeezed his waist tighHteer.pressed the hold button on the panel with his free hand.
"Kareen?"
Another sigh". I heard you, ShadowI.'m so tired."
"We've arrived," he sai"dY. ou'll be more comfortable inside."
She looked up at him but didn't move aHweary.eyes were red and puffy from lack of sleep but she

managed a smile". I just got acquainted with you," she s"aIidt.hought I knew you, but now I'm not letting you out of my sight."
He placed a finger against her l"iIp'lsl. just take you to your quarteWrse.
can talk later."
"What makes this mysterious Shadow Panille tick?" she asked in a wThhisepners.he kissed himI.t was a brief kiss, but warm and powerf"uYl.ou don't mind, do you?" she asked.
"What about Gallow?"
"Well," she said, "the sooner we get out of here the sooner life goes on."
They uncurled themselves from each othHeer. liked the way the warm spots lingered and tingled on his skin. Ale stepped out of the hatch onto the docking bay and reached back a slender hand to pull him through.
"You're beautiful," he said, and her strong grip pulled him right up to her, then she hugged him close. Again, he put down his doubts about her.
"You have a way with words," she said.
"Runs in my family."
"You could've been a surgeon," she s"aYido.u have good handsI.'d like to spend more time studying your hands."
"I'd like that," he murmured against her "hIa'vire.
always wanted to know you betYteor.u know that."
"I have to warn you, I snore."

"I noticed," he saiTd.hey held each other and swayed on the docking"Ybaoyu.
drool, too," he said.
"Don't be crude.S"he pinched him in the rib"Ls.adies don't drool."
"What's this wet spot on my shoulder?"
"How embarrassing," she saiTd.hen she took his hand and guided him up the walkway toward her building. She glanced back at him and said, "Nobody lives long enough for dillydaLlelyt'isngg.et to it."
Panille realized right then that the pace of his life had just turned itself up a Tfuirleldnoatschh.e had been, he sparked with the measure of energy that she injected into the air arounTdhetrheemw.as a new bounce to her step that he hadn't noticed in surHgeerry.body moved smoothly, quickly across the black-tiled foyer and he matched her step-for-stWeph. en they walked into the ambassadorial quarters they were still holding hands.
Pattern is his who can see beyond shLaipfe is his who can tell beyond words.
-- Lao Tzu, Shiprecords

Both suns stood high in the dark sky, raising heat shimmers off thBe rewtta'sters.ensitive eyes, shielded
by dark glasses Scudi had found in the foil's lockers, scanned thTehesefao.il cut through the waves with an ease that thrilled himH.e marveled at how quickly his senses had adapted to sApeefede.ling of
freedom, of escape soothed himP.ursuit could not move this faDsta. nger could only lie ahead, where heat shimmers distorted the horizoOn.r, as Twisp called it, "the Future."
When Brett had been quite young, standing with his mother at Vashon's edge for the first time, the heat-dazzled air had been inhabited by coils of long-whiskered dragToondsa.y's sun felt new on his arms and face, glistening through the canopy onto the instrumTenhtes. suns ignited golden glints in Scudi's
black hair.There were no dragons.
Scudi bent intently over the controls, watching the sea, the dials, the guidance screen above her head. Her mouth was set in a grim line, which softened only when she looked at Brett.
A wide stretch of kelp drew a dark shadow on the water off to Shcisudriigshtet.ered them into the lee of the kelp, finding smoother water theBrere. tt stared out at an ovoid green mat within theAkteltph.e
very center of the oval, this particular green was a vivid reflector of the
Tsuhneligghret.en darkened
away from the center until the kelp patch became yellowed and brown at the edges.
Seeing where he was looking, Scudi said, "The outer edges die off, curl under and fortify the rest of the patch."
They rode without speaking for a time.
Abruptly, Scudi shocked him by shutting down the foil's enTgihneesb. ig craft dropped off the step with a rocking lurch.
Brett looked wildly at Scudi, but she appeared calm.
"You start us," Scudi said.

"What?"
"Start us up.H" er voice was calmly insisten"tW.
hat if I were injured?"
Brett sank into his seat and looked down at the controlBpealonwel. the screen near the center of the cockpit lay four switches and a sticker labeled "Starting Procedure."
He read the instructions and depressed the switch marked "IgniTtihoen."hot hiss of the hydrogen ram came from the rear of the foil.
Scudi smiled.
As the instructions told him, Brett glanced up at the guidance Ascrmeeiniature line-drawing of a foil appeared around a green dot on the screAenr.ed line speared outward from the green Hdeot.touched
the button marked forward and pushed the throttle gently ahead, gripping the wheel tightly with his free hand. He could feel sweat under his palmThs.e craft began to lift, tipping on the flank of a wave.
"Right down the trough," Scudi reminded him.
He turned the wheel slightly and pushed the throttle farther Taheadfo. il came out of the water with a
gentle gliding motion and he gave it more throTthtley.
came up on the step and he saw the
speed-distance counter flicker, then settle on "7T2h."e green dot tracked on the red line.
"Very good," Scudi sai"dI.'ll take it nowJ.ust remember to follow the instructions."
Scudi increased speedC. abin air felt cooler as vents exchanged topside air from a clear and sunny day.
Brett scanned as much of the horizon as he could see from the cabin, a thing he had learned from Twisp,

almost unconsciously.It was his landscape, the view he had known since infancy -- open ocean with long rollers broken here and there by patches of kelp, silvery current intersections and wind-foamed crests. There was a rhythm to it that satisfied Ahilml .the divergent variety became one thing inside him, as
everything was one in the seTah.e suns came up separately but met before they sank below the horizon.
Waves crossed each other and told him of things beyond hisItviwewas. something of this to Scudi.
all oneH. e tried to say
"The suns do that because of their ellipses," she"Isakidn.ow about the waveEs.verything that touches them tells us something of itself."
"Ellipses?" he asked.
"My mother said the suns met at midday when she was young."
Brett found this interesting but he felt that Scudi had missed hiOs rposihnet. didn't want to discuss it. "You must've learned a lot from your mother."
"She was very smart except for men," Scudi "sAaitd.least, that's what she used to say."
"When she was mad at your father?" "Yes.Or different men at the outposts." "What are these outposts?"
"Places where we are few, where we work hard and have our differenWt hweanysI. come into the city,
or even the launch site, I'm aware that I am diffIersepnet.ak differentI.
have been warned about it."
"Warned?"Brett felt undertones of some dark savagery among the Mermen.

"My mother said if I took outpost-talk into the city I couldn'tPebolepnled.would look at me as an outsider -- a dangerous perspective."
"Dangerous?" he asked".To see things differently?"
"Sometimes."Scudi glanced at him".You must blend inY. ou could pass, but I know you for an Islander by the sound of your talk."
Scudi was trying to warn him, he thought.
Or teach me.
He noted that her accent was different out here than it had been back in herIt qwuastne'rts.her
choice of words so much as the way she said Tthheemre. even more direct.
was a sparseness about her noSwh.e was
Brett looked out at the ocean speeding pHaest.thought about this Merman unity, this Merman society
that measured danger in an acceLnti.ke the waves, which met at odd angles, currents in Merman society were refracting off each othe"rI.nterference," the physicists called it; he knew that much.
The ease with which Scudi kept the big foil skipping the wavetops told Brett something oSf hheer past. had only to glance at the guidance screen and out at the ocean to become one witShheallavoofidite.d
the thick stretches of wild kelp and kept them securely on course toward this mysterious Launch Base.
"There's more wild kelp lately," he s"aNido.
Mermen attending it."
"Pandora belonged to the kelp once," she s"aNido.w kelp grows and spreads at the top of an exponential curve.Do you know what that means?"
"The more kelp there is the faster it spreads and the faster it grows," he said.

"It is more like an explosion at this point," she said, "or like the moment of crystallization in a saturated solution. Add one tiny crystal and the whole thing precipitates out one massive Tcrhyastt'asl.what the
kelp will do nexRt. ight now it is learning to care for itself."
Brett shook his hea"dI. know what the history saySsti.ll . . . sentient plants?"
She shrugged off his incredulity like a sh"aIwf lt.he C/P is right -- if they've all been right -- Vata is the key to the kelpS.he is the crystal that will precipitate its consciousnOerssi.ts soul."
"Vata," he whispered, a childlike awe in his vHoiecew. as not one for WorShip, but he respected any human being who had outlived so many generatioNnos. Merman had ever done thDati.d Scudi believe
in that Chaplain/Psychiatrist stuff?
He asked her.
Scudi shrugged". I only know what I can arrange in my mI ihnadv. e seen the kelp learInt .is sentient, but very low-gradeT. here is no magic in sentiency except life and Vtimatea. has kelp genes, that is a fact."
"Twisp says last time it took the kelp a quarter of a billion years to comHeowawwakilel. we ever know . . ."
"We've helpedT. he rest is up to it."
"What does Vata have to do with it?"
"I don't really knowI .suspect she's some kind of catalyTsht.e last natural link with the kelp's ancestor.
Shadow says Vata's really in a comShae.
went into the coma when the kelp dSiheodc. k, maybe."

"What about DuqueO? r any number of us -- Mermen included -- who have kelp Wgehnyes?aren't we the catalysts you talk about?"
"No one human has all kelp genes -- such a being would be kelp, not human,"Esahceh soanide. may have wholly different combinations."
"Duque says Vata dreams him."
"Some of our more religious types say Vata dreams us all," ScuSdhi esasindi.ffed."The fact that you and I were prisoners and escaped, that was no dreSahme."shot him a warm glanc"eW. e are a good team."
Brett blushed and nodded.
"How close are we to Launch Base?" he asked.
"Before nightfall," she said.
Brett thought about the coming encounLtearu. nch Base would be an important place, many people. Among those people might be the ones who had deliberately destroyed GuHeims eIss.lander accent
could mean dangerH.
e turned to Scudi and tried to speak of this casHuaellyd.idn't want to argue with
her or scare herB. ut it became immediately apparent that Scudi had been thinking along the same lines.
"In the red locker beside the main hatch," she"Dsaiivde. the Launch Base."
suits and kitpacksW. e'll be in colder water at
"Hypothermia kills," he saiHd.e had seen the two words in bright yellow on the red locker, reminding him of his earliest survival lessonIssl.and children were taught the dangers of the cold water as soon as they could talkA. pparently Mermen taught the same lesson, although Twisp claimed that Mermen had greater tolerance for cold.

"See if you can find suits to fit us," she"Ifsawide.
have to go over the side S.h.e ."left the sentence
unfinished, knowing it was unnecessary to continue.
The sight of the pile of gray dive suits inside the locker brought a smile to BTrehtet'sorfgaacne.ic suits, of Islander design and manufacture, represented one of the few advancements they held over the Mermen. He selected a "small" and a "medium" and tore open the packages to activatHeethpeimck.ed
up two of the orange kitpacks with the suits and stowed them under the command couch seats in the cabin.
"What are those kitpacks for?" he asked.
"They're survival kits," she sa"idIn. flatable raft, knife, lines, pain pilTlsh.ere are even repellent grenades for dashers."
"Have you ever had to use grenades?"
"No.But my mother did oncOe.ne of her team did not get away."
Brett shudderedD.
ashers seldom came near Islands anymore, but fishermen had been lost and there
were stories of children taken by sneak attacks at an Island'Ssurdidme.nly, the wide ocean around their speeding foil lost some of its warm softness, its protective familBiarreittyt . shook his head to clearHiet.
and Twisp had lived out here on a tiny corFaocrle.the love of ShipA! foil could not be as vulnerable as
a flimsy coracleB. ut they had no squawks on the foil and if they had to take to the water in dive suits . . Could their own senses warn them in timDea?shers were blindingly fast.
The two suns had moved perceptibly closer to each other, nearing their sunset mBreeetttinsgt.ared ahead, looking for the first sign of their gHoeal.knew this fear of dashers was foolishness, something they'd laugh about someday . . .
Something bobbing on the water ahead commanded his whole attention.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing at a spot far ahead and slightly to starboard.

"I think it's a boat," Scudi said.
"No," he mused, "whatever it is, it's two things."
"Two boats?"
The foil's speed was bringing the objects closer at an astonishinHgisravteo.ice was barely audible: "Two coracles."
"One is towing the other," Scudi sSahide. veered the foil toward them.
Brett stood and leaned against the control console, squinting out at the cHoreacwleasv. ed a hand at
Scudi, palm down": Slow down!"She throttled back and he gripped the console to keep his balance as the hull dropped into the water with a surge of the bow wave.
"It's Queets!" Brett shouted, pointing at the man at the"Stihlliepr's.
teeth, it's Queets!"
Scudi shut down one ram and maneuvered the foil upwind of the cBorecttlefsu. mbled at the dogs to the canopy and swung it back, leaning out to shout at the boats only fifty meters d"oTwwniwspin! d. Queets!"
Twisp stood and shielded his eyes with a hand, the long arm held awkwardly against his side.
"Kid!"
Brett tossed him a traditional greeting of fishermen a"tDsoeay: ou have a full load?"

Twisp stood at the tiller, rocking the coracle from side to side, and clapped his hands high over his head. "You made it!" he hollere"dY. ou made it."
Brett pulled back into the cock"pSitc.udi, take us alongside."
"So that's Queets Twisp," she saSihde.
restarted the ram and eased them gently ahSehaed. rounded the
coracles in a wide curve and came alongside the lead boat, opening the access hatch as the coracles drew near.
Twisp grabbed a foil brace and in less than a minute he was inside the cockpit, his long arms wrapped around Brett.His huge hands pummeled Brett's back.
"I knew I'd find youT!w" isp held Brett at a long arm's length and gestured wide to take in the foil, Scudi,
his clothes and dark glasse"sW.
hat's all this?"
"A very long story," Brett sa"iWd.e're heading for a Merman Launch BaHsea.ve you heard anything . .
. ?"
Twisp dropped his arms and sober"eWd.e've been there," he sai"dA. t least, near enough as makes no difference." He turned, indicating the other man in the cor"aTclhea.t bit of flotsam is Iz BushIkat.ried to take him to Launch Base on a piece of very heavy business."
"Tried?" Scudi asked".What happened?"
"Who's this little pearl?" Twisp asked, extending a h"Ia'mnd.Queets Twisp."
"Scudi Wang," she and Brett said at oTnhcey.
laughed.
Twisp stared at her, startleWd.as this the beautiful young Merman rescuer he had visualized in his daydreams? No! That was foolishness.

"Well, Scudi Wang," Twisp said, "they wouldn't listen to us at the Launch Base -- wouldn't let us into the base at all."Twisp pursed his lips".Towed us away with a foil bigger than thisToonlde. us to stay away.
We took their advice.H" e glanced around him".So what're you doing here, anywaWy?here's the crew?"
"We're the crew," Brett said.
Brett explained why they were heading for the base, what had happened to them, the Chief Justice and the political scene down undeBr.ushka stepped into the cabin as Brett was finishBinregt.t's recital had a
marked effect on Bushka, who grew pale and breathed in shallow gasps.
"They're ahead of us," Bushka muttered, "I know they are."
He stared at Scud"iW.
ang," he said". You're Ryan Wang's daughter."
Brett, edging toward a temper flare-up, asked Twisp, "What's wrong with him?"
"Something on his conscience," Twisp saHide., too, looked at Scud"iI.s that right?Are you Ryan
Wang's daughter?"
"Yes."
"I told you!" Bushka wailed.
"Oh, shut up!" Twisp snappe"dR.yan Wang's dead and I'm tired of listening to your
Brett and Scudi". The kid says you saved his lIisfe.that right?"
Hcreapt.u" rned to
"Yes."She spoke with one of her small shruHgesr. eyes stared into the console's instruments.

"Anything else we should know?"
"I . . . don't think so," she said.
Twisp caught Brett's eye and decided to get all the bad neHwes ohuoto.ked a thumb toward Bushka. "This bit of dasher bait here," he said, "piloted the sub that sank GHueemcelasi.ms he didn't know what
they had in mind until the sub chewed into the bottom of theSIasylasnhde. commander, a guy named Gallow."
"Gallow," Scudi whispered.
"You know him?" Brett asked.
"I've seen him many timWes.ith my father and Kareen Ale, often --"
was tricked by the Merman
"I told you!" Bushka interrupteHde. back suddenly, then flung it aside.
prodded Twisp's ribsT. wisp grabbed Bushka's wrist, twisted it
"And I told you to stow it," Twisp Bsareidtt. and Scudi both turned to face Bushka.
He stepped back instinctively.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Bushka a"sTkwedis.p can tell you the whole story -- I couldn't stop them --" He broke off when they continued to stare at him silently.
"They don't trust you," Twisp said, "and neither Bduot Ii.f Scudi delivered you all packaged and safe to
Launch Base, that might be just what this Gallow would Iwf ahnet'.s a manipulator, he'll have people
crawling all over a political scene like tYhaotu.
might just disappear, BushkaT."wisp rubbed the back of

his neck and spoke low"W.
e have to do this one right the first Wtime'ell.
have no way of regrouping.
"Brett and I could take the coracles and get back to Vashon," Twisp said.
"No," Brett insisted".Scudi and I stay together."
"I should go to the base alone," Scudi "sWaihde. n they see me alone, they'll know you and I have separated and others will listen to our story."
"No!" Brett repeatedH. e tightened his grip on her shoulde"rWs.e're a teamW.
e stick together."
Twisp glared at Brett, then his expression and his bearing sof"tSeonedth.at's the way it is?"
"That's the way it is," Brett sHaied.kept his arm firmly around Scudi's should"eIrsk. now you could
order me to go with yoIu'm.
still your apprenticeB. ut I wouldn't obey."
Twisp spoke in a mild voi"cTeh. en I better not be giving any ordeHrse."grinned to take the sting from his words.
"So what do we do?" Brett asked.
Bushka startled them when he spo"kLee. t me take the foil and go to Launch Base aI locnoeu.ld --"
"You could spread the word to your friends and tell them where to pick up a couple of slow-moving coracles," Twisp said.
Bushka paled even furthe"rI. tell you, I'm not --"

"You're an unknown right now," Twisp s"aTidh.at's what you areI.f your story's true, you're dumber
than you lookW.
hatever, we can't afford to trust you -- not with our lives."
"Then let me go back in the coracles," Bushka said.
"They'd just tow you away agaFianr.ther this time."Twisp turned to Brett and Scu"dYi.ou two are determined to stick together?"
Brett nodded; so did Scudi.
"Then Bushka and I go in the coracles," Twisp"Wsaied'r.e better off split up, I'm sure of that, but we don't want to get out of touch agWaine.'ll turn on our locator transmittYero. u know the frequency, kid?"
"Yes, but --"
"There must be a portable RDF on this monster," TwispHesaigdl.anced around the cockpit.
"There are small portable direction finders in all emergency kitpacks," ScudHi esraitdo.e nudged a pack under the seat.
Twisp bent and looked at the small orangeHekits.traightened."You keep them handy, eh?"
"When we think it necessary," she said.
"Then I suggest we follow in the coracles," Twisp"Isfaiydo. u have to take to the water, you'll be able
to find usO.
r vice versa."
"If they're alive," Bushka muttered.

Twisp studied Brett for a momeWnta.s the kid man enough to make the decisBiorne?tt could not be shamed in front of the young womSacnu. di and Brett were, indeed, a teaOmn.e that had a bond he couldn't match.It was the kid's decision, and in Twisp's mind it was making Brett a man.
Brett's arm stroked Scudi's should"eWr. e've already shown that we work well togetWheer. got this far. What we're going to do may be dangerous, but you always said, Twisp, that life gives you no guarantees."
Twisp grinnedG. oing to do . . . The kid had made his decision and the young womaTnhat rweeads. that.
"All right, partner," Twisp sa"idN.o shilly-shally and no regretsH."e turned to Bushka".Got that, Bushka? We're the backup."
"How long can you hang around?" Brett asked.
"Count on at least twenty days, if you need that much."
"In twenty days there might not be any Islands to save," Bre"tWt sea'did.better move faster than that." Twisp took two of the kitpacks for the coracles, and loaded a grumbling Bushka back aboard. Scudi slipped an arm around Brett's waist and hugged"Whime .should get into those dive suits now,"
she said."We may not get time later."
She pulled hers out from under her couch and draped it across the back ofBrthetet sdeiadt.the same. Undressing was easy for him this time, and he thought maybe it was seeing all of those Mermen swimming around their base, most of them with only weightbelts full of tools around theiMr awyabiestsi.t was the ride out from the foil bay with his shirtItopgeanv.e Brett a feeling of security in the integrity of
his own skinB. esides, Scudi didn't react one way or anotHheer. liked thatA.
nd he liked the fact that this

time she didn't comment on his modesHtye. was beginning to get a feel for the matter-of-fact Merman nudity. But he was only beginninWg. hen Scudi slipped out of her shirt, skinning it over her head, he followed every bounce her firm breasts took and knew it would be very hard to keep fromHestaring. wanted to look at her forevSerh.e kicked her deck shoes off in two easy flicks of her feet and dropped her pants behind her coucSh.he had a very small patch of black hair -- wispy, silky and inviting.
He noted suddenly that she was standing with her head cocked to oSnheesimdeo.ved gently, not telling him to quit staring but letting him know that she knew what he was doing.
"You have a very beautiful body," he
"sIaidd.on't mean to stare."
"Yours, too, is nice," she saSihde.
placed her hand in the middle of his chest, pressed her palm against
him. "I just wanted to touch you," she said.
"Yes," he said, because he didn't know what else tHo esapyu.t his left hand on her shoulder, felt her strength and her warmth and the easy smoothness of herHsiksino.ther hand came up to her shoulders, and she kissed himH. e hoped that she liked it as much as heIt dwida.s a soft, warm and breathless kiss.
When she leaned against him her breasts flattened on his chest and he could feel the hard little knots of nipples focused thereH. e felt himself hardening against her thigh, her thigh of such strength and grace.
She stroked his shoulders, then tightened both arms around his neck and kissed him hard, her small tongue tapping the tip of his owTnh.e boat took a sudden lurch and they both fell in a heap on the deck, laughing.
"How graceful," he said.
"And cold."
She was righTt.he suns had set as Twisp and Bushka depaArtelrde.ady there was a stiff chill in the air.
It wasn't the hardness of the deck that bothered him, but the sudden shock of cold metal against his sweaty skin.When they sat up he heard the strange unpeeling sound of damIpt swkains. the sound that sheets of skin made when a friend had unpeeled his sunburned back as a boy.
Brett wanted to loll with Scudi forever, but Scudi was already trying to get up amid the unsteady rocking of the foilH. e took her hand and helped her to her Hfe td.idn't let go.

"It's nearly dark," he sa"idW. on't we have trouble finding the baIsem? ean, it's always a lot darker underwater."
"I know the way," she sa"iAd.nd you have a night vision that could see for usWbeothsh. ould go now .
. ."
This time he kissed hSerh.e leaned against him for a blink, soft and good-feeling, then pulledShbeack. still held his hand, but there was an uneasiness in her eyes that Brett translated as fear.
"What?" he asked.
"If we stay here we will, you know . . . we'll do what we want to do."
Brett's throat was dry and he knew he couldn't talk without his voice cHraeckrienmg.ained quiet,
wanting to hear her ouHt.e didn't know much about what it was that they wanted to do, and if she could give him a few clues, he was reaHdey. did not want her to be disappointed and he did not know what
she expected of himM. ost important, he did not know how much experience she'd had in these matters and now it was important for him to find out.
She squeezed his han"dI. like you," she sai"dI. like you very mucIhf. there's anyone I'd like to . . . to get that close with, it's yoBuu. t there is the matter of a child."
He blushedB. ut it was not out of embarrassmeInt tw.
as out of anger at himself for not thinking of the
obvious thing, for not considering that the step from child to parent could very well happen all at once and he, too, was not ready.
"My mother was sixteen, too," she went"Sohne.
cared for me, so she was never
Sfrhee . never knew
the free movement that others kneSwh.e made the best of it, and I saw much througBhuht eIr. didn't see other children except occasionally."
"So she lost an adulthood and you lost a childhood?"

"Yes.It is not to be regretteIdt .is the only life I know and it is a gooIdt iosnetw. ice good now that I
have met youB. ut it is not a life to repNeaott. for me."
He nodded, took her by the shoulders and kissed her Tahgiasint.ime their chests did not touch but their hands held tight to each other and Brett at least felt relief.
"You are not angry?" she asked.
"I don't think it's possible for me to be mad at you," "hBeesiadieds., we're going to know each other for a good long timIe.want to be with you when the answer is 'yes.'"
. . . self has somewhat the character of a result, of a goal attained, something that has come to pass very gradually and is experienced with much travail.
-- C. G. Jung, Shiprecords

Vata dreamed that something tangled her hSaoirm. ething crawled the back of her neck, tickling her in a
legless way, and settled over her right Teahre.
thing was black, slick and shelled like an insect.
She heard the sounds of pain in her dream, as she had in so many dreams past, and projected all of this into Duque, where it took on more the character of consciouNsnoewss. she recognized some of the
voices as leftovers from other dreamSsh.e had made many excursions into this vSooidm. eone named
Scudi Wang was there and the thing that slithered through Vata's hair snapped cruel jaws at Scudi's voice.
Duque realized that Vata did not like the tShhineg.twisted and tossed her head to get rid Tohfeitt.hing
dug in, set its jaws into her hair and pulled up clumps of hair by
Vthaetarogortos.aned a deep-throated
groan, half-cough.She snatched the wet little bug out of her hair and crushed it in her palm.
The pieces slipped from her fingers and a few muffled screams faded into tDhueqduaerke.xperienced
the sudden awareness that the dream-thing might be Hreeal.had sensed other thoughts in it for just an instant -- terrified human thoughtVs.ata settled herself into a comfortable position and put her mind to
changing the dream into something pleasaAnts.
always, she drifted back to those first days in the valley
her people had called "the NesWt."ithin a few blinks she was lost in the lush vegetation of that holy place where she had been borInt. was all the best that Pandora's land had to offer, and it was now under many cold meters of unquiet seBa.ut things could be otherwise in dreams, and dreams were all the geography
that Vata retainedS. he thought how good it felt to walk again, not letting herself know it was only in a dream. But Duque knew -- he had heard those terrified thoughts in a moment of death and Vata's dreaming was no longer the same for him.
The distresses of choice are our chance to be blessed.

-- W. H. Auden, Shiprecords
In that fading moment before the last of the twilight settled below the horizon, like a dimmed torch quenched in a cold sea, Brett saw the launch toItws egr.ray bulk bridged a low cloud layer and the sea. He pointed.
"That's it?"
Scudi leaned forward to peer through the fading light.
"I don't see it," she said, "but by the instruments it's about twenty klicks away."
"We used up some time with Twisp and that Bushka chaWrachtaetr.did you think of him?"
"Of your Twisp?"
"No, the other one."
"We have Mermen like that," she hedged.
"You didn't like him, either."
"He's a whiner, maybe a killer," she
"sIati'ds. not easy to like someone like that."

"What did you think of his story?" Brett asked.
"I don't know," she sa"idW. hat if he did it all on his own and the crew threw him oveWrbeoacradn?'t believe him or disbelieve him on the little we've heard -- and all of it from him."
The foil skidded across the edge of a kelp bed, slowing then recovering as its sharp-edged supports cut through the tangled growth.
"I didn't see that kelp," Scudi s"aTidh.e light is so bad . . . that was clumsy of me!"
"Will it hurt the foil?" Brett asked.
She shook her hea"dN. o, I have hurt the keWlp.e will have to come off the foils."
"Hurt the kelp?" Brett was mystifi"eHd.ow can you hurt a plant?"
"The kelp is not just a plant," she "sIat'isd.in a sensitive stage of development . . . it's difficult to explain. You'll think me as crazy as Bushka if I tell you all that I know about the kelp."
Scudi reduced the throttlTe.he hissing roar subsided and the wallowing boat slipped down onto its hull,
gently lifting with the heave of the waTvehse.
rams subsided to a low murmur behind them.
"It is more dangerous for us to come in at night," shTehesariedd.
instrument lights had come on
automatically as the light dimmed outside and she looked at Brett, his face under-lighted by the red illumination.
"Should we wait out here for daylight?" he asked.
"We could submerge and sit on the bottom," she"Ista'sido. nly about sixty fathoms."

When Brett did not respond, she said, "You don't prefer it down under, do you?"
He shrugged.
"It's too deep to anchor," she said, "but it is safe to drift if wNeotwhiantgchc. an harm us in here."
"Dashers?"
"They can't penetrate a foil."
"Then let's shut down and drTifht.e kelp should keep us stabIle.agree with you, I don't think we should go in there at nighWt. e want everybody to see us and know who we are and why we're there."
Scudi shut off the murmuring rams and in the sudden silence they grew aware of the slap of waves against the hull, the faint creaking of the vessel around them.
"How far is it to the base again?" Brett aHskeedsq. uinted through the twilight murk toward the tower.
"At least twenty klicks."
Brett, accustomed to judging distance out by the height of Vashon above the horizon, produced a low
whistle. "That thing must be pretty higIth's.
a wonder Islanders haven't spotted it before this."
"I think we control the currents to keep Islands clear of the area."
"Control the currents," he muttered".Yeah, of course.T"hen he asked, "Do you think they've seen us?"

Scudi punched a button on the console and a series of familiar clicks and beeps came from an overhead speaker. He'd heard these sounds from time to time as they skipped across the waves.
"Nothing's tracking us," she sa"idIt. would howl if we were targetTedh.ey might know we're here,
though. This just means we're not under observatioBn.r"ett bent over the button Scudi had punched and read the label:"T-BEAM TEST."
"Automatic," she said".It tells us if we're targeted by a tracking beam."
The foil lurched suddenly counter to a wBavreet.t, used to the uncertain footing of Islands and coracles, was first to catch his balancSec.udi clutched his arm to right herself.
"Kelp," Brett said.
"I think soW. e had better --" She broke off with a startled gasp, staring past Brett at the rear hatch.
Brett whirled to see a Merman standing there, dripping sea water, green paint striped across his face and dive suit in a grotesque patterTnh.e man carried a lasgun at the reaAdnyo. ther Merman stood in the
shadowy passage behind him.
Scudi's voice was a dry whisper in Brett's"Geall:ow. That's Nakano behind him."
Surprise at the stealth that had allowed the Merman to come this close without detection held Brett speechless. He tried to absorb the import of Scudi's rasping whiSsoperth. is was the Merman that
Bushka blamed for sinking GuemeTs!he man was tall and smoothly muscled, and his dive suit clung to him like a second skiWn. hy the green pattern on it? Brett wondeHreids. eyes could not help focusing on the business end of the lasgun.
The Merman chuckled".Little Scudi Wang!Now that's what I call lucWk.e've been having our share of luck lately, eh, Nakano?"

"It wasn't luck saved us when that stupid Islander sank us," Nakano growled.
"Ahhh, yes," Gallow agree"dY. our superior strength broke the bonds that held Iynodue.ed." He flicked
a glance around the cockp"itW.
here's the crew?We need your doctor."
Brett, at whom Gallow aimed the question, met Gallow's demanding stare with silence, thinking that the interchange between these two Mermen tended to confirm Bushka's odd story.
"Your doctor!" Gallow insisted.
"We don't have one," Brett said, surprised at the force of his voice. Gallow, noting the accent, flicked a scornful glance at S"Wcuhdoi.'s the Mute?" "A -- a friend," Scudi sa"iBdrett Norton."
Gallow looked Brett over in the dim red light, then turned back to"HSeculodoi.ks almost normal, but he's still a MuteY. our daddy would haunt youH!"e spoke over his shoulde"rH. ave a look, Nakano."
The slop-slop of wet footsteps sounded behind Gallow as Nakano turned back down the Hpeassage. reappeared presently and spoke a single wo"rEdm: pty."
"Just the two of them," Gallow s"aOidu.t for a little cruise in one of the big Hbooawts. sweet."
"Why do you need a doctor?" Scudi asked.

"Full of questions, aren't we," Gallow said.
"At least we have the foil," the second man said.
"That we have, Nakano," Gallow said.
Nakano pressed past Gallow into the cockpit and Brett got a full view of Hthee wmaasna.
hulking
figure, his upper arms as thick as some human toTrshoes.scarred face filled Brett with a sense of foreboding.
Gallow strode forward to one of the command sHeeatsb.ent to read the instrumen"tWs. e watched you coming in," he saidH. e turned and sent a baleful glare at Sc"uYdoi.u were in one big hurry and then you stopped. That's very interesting for someone in an empty Wfohila.t're you doing?"
Scudi looked at Brett, who blushed.
Nakano guffawed.
"Oh, my," Gallow taunted, "love nests get more elaborate everyYyese,ary. es."
"Disgusting."Nakano laughed, and clicked his tongue.
"There's a watch-alert out on this foil, Scudi Wang," GallowHissaimd.anner sobered too quickly for
Brett's comfort."You stole itW. a couple of desperadoes."
hat do you think, NakanoL?ooks like the Green Dashers have captured
Brett looked at the grotesque green dive suits on the two MBerlmotcehne. s and splashes and lines of green spilled over from their suits into patterns painted on their faces.

"Green Dashers?" Scudi asked.
"We are the Green Dashers," Gallow s"aTidh.ese suits are the perfect camouflage underwater, particularly around the kelpA. nd we spend a lot of time in kelp, right Nakano?"
Nakano grunted, then sai"dW:
e should've let the kelp finish Wuse.
--"
Gallow silenced him with a flicking gest"uWre.e secured our outpost with one sub and a handful of men. It'd be a pity to waste such talent in the kelp."
Brett saw that Gallow was one of those types who love to hear themselves talk -- more, he was one of those who loved to brag.
"With one little sub and this foil," Gallow said with a sweep of his hand, "we can make sure there's never
any more land than we can contrYool.u don't have to be in charge to run the who do.People will have to come swimming up to me soon enough."
Scudi took a deep, relaxing brea"tIhs. Kareen one of you?"
Gallow's eyes shifted and almost met Scu"dSi'sh.e's . . . insurance . . ."
Jsuhsotwr.uin it for those
"Safe deposit box," Nakano blurted, and both men laughed in that loud way men have when they crack a crude or cruel joke.
Brett realized from Scudi's deep sigh that she was relieved at Gallow's brWagegriengh.er doubts about her father's involvement with Gallow finally laid to rest?
"What about the doctor?" Nakano asked.

Darkness had settled over the ocean and the cockpit was illuminated only by the red telltales and
instrument lights on the consolAe.
macabre red glow filled the space around the two MeTrmheeyn.
stood near the control seats, put their heads close together and whispered while Scudi and Brett fidgeted. Brett kept eyeing the hatchway where the Mermen had entWereads. there a chance to escape down
there to the main hatchB?ut Guemes had been destroyed by a sTuhbe.se Mermen had not swum here from the Launch BaseT.heir sub lay nearby, probably directly beneath the foil's Ahnudll. they needed a doctor.
"I think you need us," Brett said.
"Think?" Gallow asked with a patronizing lift of his eyeb"rMowuste. s don't think."
"You have an injury, somebody needs a doctor," Brett"Hsaoiwd.
do you intend to get help?"
"He's quick for a Mute," Gallow said.
"And you're not strong enough to go in and take a doctor from Launch Base," B"Breuttt ysaoiud.could trade us for a doctor."
"Ryan Wang's daughter could be traded," Gallow
"sYaidou. 're fishbait."
"If you hurt Brett, I won't cooperate," Scudi said. "Cooperate?" Gallow snorted".Who needs cooperation?" "You do," Brett said.
"Nakano will break you two into small pieces if I give the order," Gall"oTwhast'asidc.ooperation."

Brett went silent, studying the two men in that blood-redWlihgyht.were they delayingT?hey said they
needed a doctorT. wisp had always said you had to look beyond words when dealing with people who
postured and braggedG.
allow certainly fitted that descriptioNn.akano seemed to be something else -- a
dangerous unknown.Twisp liked to probe such people with outrageous questions or statements.
"You don't need just any doctor," Brett s"aYido.u want a particular doctor."
Both Mermen focused startled glances on Brett.
"What have we here?" Gallow mutterTedh.e smile he flashed across the dark cabin did not disarm Brett in the least.
Nervous, Brett thoughKt. eep looking.He knew the Merman fear that Islanders had mutated into telepathy, and played on it.
Nakano said, "Do you think --"
"No!" Gallow warned.
Brett caught a bare flicker of hesitation in Gallow's face, which did not show in Tthhee vmoaicne.had superb control of his voicIet. was his tool for manipulation, along with his ready smile.
"That other foil should be along soon," Nakano said.
A particular foil with a particular doctor and a particular cargo, Brett tHhoeuglatn. ced at ScudHi. er tired face was clear to him in the dim lights of the cockpit.
"You don't need us as a trade, you need us as a diversion," BHreett hsealidd. his fingertips to his temples, repressing an excited smile.

One of Gallow's eyebrows lifted, a dark ripple in the smeared green of the camouflage.
"I don't like this," Nakano saTidh.ere was fear in the big man's voice.
"He's thought something out," Gallow sa"iTdh. at's all.Look at himA. lmost normal.Maybe he has a brain after all."
"But he's hit on --"
"Drop it, Nakano!G" allow kept his attention on Bre"tWt. hy would we need you as a diversion?"
Brett dropped his hands and allowed the sm"Iitl'se. pretty simpleY. on this boatI.t's dark out there and all you saw was aPefroioild. ."
ou didn't know we were the ones
"Pretty good for a Mute," Gallow s"aMida. ybe there's hope for you."
"You had to go forward and look at the identification plate on the control console before you realized this was the foil on watch-alert."
Gallow nodded". Go on."
"You hoped it was another foil, a particular one," Bret"tTshaeid.other one will have a Security force aboard. You came in armed and ready for that."
Nakano relaxed, visibly relieveOd.bviously, this reasoning had eliminated his fear of telepathy.
"Interesting," Gallow said".Is there more?"

"So now we're waiting for the other foil," Brett"Wsahidy.
else waste time with uIsf?the Security force
jumps aboard to capture Scudi and me, that's your opportunity."
"Opportunity for what?G" allow's tone said he was enjoying thNisa.kano returned to his fidgeting.
"You want someone in particular on that other foil," Bret"tAsaiddo.ctor.And you want the cargo. Now, you see the opportunity to get not only that but two foilsAnindtacyto. u would've had to wreck the other foil to stop it because all you have is a sub."
"You know, I might be able to use you," Gallow"Ysoauid.want to join up?"
Brett spoke without thinkin"gI.'d sooner swim in shit."
Gallow's face tightened, his body went riNgiadk. ano snickered.Slowly, Gallow's face returned to its
political best.But there was a mad light in his eyes, a red reflection that made Brett sorry he'd spoken at all.
Scudi edged away from Brett toward the command seats, moving as though she feared the consequences of his comment.
Nakano moved closer to Gallow and bent to whisper something into the MermaEnv'seneaars. he
whispered, Nakano shot a kick at Scudi's hand, which had moved toward the eject lever between the command seats.
Scudi leaped back with a cry of pain, holding her wrist tight to her chest.
Brett started to step toward Nakano, but the big Merman put up a warnin"Egashya,ndk.id," he said".I
just stung herN. othing's broken."

"She was going for the eject lever," Gallow Tshaeidre.
was genuine surprise in his voiHce glared at
Scudi. Both men stood on a light seam that divided the forward part of the cabin from the rear.
"It would've cut us to pieces when it blew," Nakano"Nsoatidn. ice."
"She's Ryan Wang's daughter, all right," Gallow said.
"Now you see why you need our cooperation," Brett said.
"We need you tied up and gagged," Gallow snarled.
"And what happens when that other foil pulls alongside for a look?" Bret"tTahsekye'ldl . be very
cautious if they don't see us in hOernee. in their own boat."
or two of their Security will come aboard while the others wait
"Are you proposing a deal, Mute?" Gallow asked.
"I am."
"Let's hear it."
"Scudi and I stay inside in plain sWighet.act like our foil's disableTdh.at way, they won't suspect anything."
"And afterward?"
"You deliver us to an outpost where we can get back to our people."

"Sound reasonable, Nakano?" Gallow asked.
Nakano grunted.
"You have a deal, Mute," Gallow s"aYido.u amuse me."
Brett wondered at the insincerity in the man's vDoidcen.'t he realize his intentions were that transparent? A greased smile couldn't hide a lie forever.
Gallow turned to Nakan"oG. o take a look outsidSe.ee if everything's secure."
Nakano strode through the rear hatchway and was gone for several minutes while Gallow hummed to himself, nodding.His expression was filled with self-satisfactioSnc.udi moved close to Brett, still
clutching her wrist.
"Are you all right?" Brett asked.
"Just bruised."
"Nakano's getting soft," Gallow sa"idH.e pulled that kickH. e can crush your throat, just like that!" Gallow snapped his fingers to illustrate.
Nakano returned, dripping more wat"eWr. e're in kelp and it's holding us pretty steTadhye. sub's
stabilized directly under us and the foil's shadow should hide it until it's too late for them to do anything about it."
"Good," Gallow said".Now, where do we keep these two until it's time for their performHanece?"
thought for a moment, the"nW:
seen right away."
e turn the cabin lights on and put them in the open hatTcheya'lyl. be

"And we wait beside the hatch," Nakano
"saYido.u kids understand?"
When Brett did not respond, Scudi said, "We understand."
"We'll run forward and turn out the lights," Brett"Tsahiadt.'ll make sure the Security people have to come aboard."
"Good!" Gallow said".Very good."
He sure likes the sound of his own voice, Brett thHoueghtot.ok Scudi's arm, careful of her w"rLiset.t's get those lights on and go back to the main hatch."
"Nakano, escort our guests back and see that they're in plain sight," GalloHwe smaiodv.ed to the command console and flipped a series of switcLheigs.hts blazed all over the foil.
Brett suddenly hesitatedO. pen hatch?"Dashers," he said.
Scudi tugged him along toward the corridor into the rear of t"hOeufroiclh. ances are just as good with the black variety," she muttered.
Survival is staying alive one breath at a time, Brett thTohuagthtw. as another of Twisp's sayingAsn. d
Brett thought if he and Scudi survived this, Twisp would have to learn how his teaching haItd helped. was a way of studying things and reacting truly -- something that could not be taught, but could be learned.
"Hurry it up, you two!" Nakano ordered.
They followed him down the long passage to the open hatch, its lip washed in a blaBzereottf light. stared out at a dark flow of kelp-littered waves slapping against the hull.

Nakano said, "You two wait right hAerned. sped up the passage.
you better be standing in plain sight when I come Hbaeck."
"What's that guy doing up there in the cockpit?" Brett asked.
"Probably disabling the starting system," Scudi s"aTidh.ey don't intend to let us go."
"Of course not."
She glanced behind her at the storage locker where Brett had found the surv"ivIfalitkiwtse.ren't for the sub under us, I'd take off right now."
"There's nobody in the sub," Brett s"aTidh.ere's just these two . . . and maybe one who needs the doctor. That one won't be able to do anything about us."
"How do you know?"
"It was obvious from what they said and the way they're Aacntdingre. member what Bushka said? Three of them."
"Then what're we waiting for?"
"For them to disable the starting mechanism," he "sWaied. can't have them dashing around in this thing looking for us."He moved to the storage locker and lifted out two more packs, tossing one to Scudi. "Have they had enough time?"
"I . . . think so."

"I do, too."
Scudi slipped a length of line from an outside pocket on her kit and fixed one end to Brett's belt, the
other to her own wais"tW.
e stay together," she sai"dL. et's go."
Far up the corridor, Gallow's voice suddenly bellowed, "YHoeuy! two!What're you doing?"
"We're going swimming," Brett shouteHdo. lding hands, they leaped off into the ocean.
Without the conscious acknowledgment and acceptance of our kinship with those around us there can be no synthesis of personality.
-- C. G. Jung, Shiprecords
A glut of kelp rasped the coracle's bow in time with theAwatovuecsh.
of reality, Twisp thougThth.e
otherwise silent blackness yawned before the first hint of dTawins.p heard Bushka twisting
uncomfortably near the bow cuddIyn.
the long night since leaving Brett and Scudi, Bushka had not slept

well.
Water's very flat tonight, Twisp thougOhnt.ly the faintest of breezes cooled his left cheek as the coracles drifted slowly in the encumbering kelp.
Twisp tipped his head to look up at a spattering of cloud-framed stars, picking out the familiar arrowhead shape of the Pointers before the frame shifted to a new section of sky.
Still on course, current favorable.
It was always good to check the compass against theTshtearsc.ourse angled toward an unmarked place on the sea where they could turn and make a swift run to TVhaeshRonD.F-RDC announcement
of the Island's distant locator-beep had been silenced for the night but a red light blinked near his knee in time with Vashon's signaHl. is receiver was working.
Dawn would find them still hull-down out of sight of the launch tower but not out of range of the kid and the girl.
Did I do the right thing? Twisp asked himself.
It was a question he had repeated many times, aloud to Bushka and silently toAthitmheselmf.oment of decision, it had felt righBt.ut here in the night . . .
Momentous changes gathered force on their woArlndd.
who were they, pitted against the evils he could
sense in that changeO? ne overage fisherman with arms too long for anything but haulingOnets. whining intellectual ashamed of his Islander ancestry, maybe capable of wholesale mOunrdeerk.id out to
make himself a man, a kid who could see in theAdnadrka.
Merman girl who was heir to the entire food
monopoly of PandoraT. he consequences of Ryan Wang's death had a bad feel.
The squawks began to stir in their cage near Twisp'Fs afienetlty.
at first, then louder, somewhere off to
the right in the thicker kelp, Twisp heard a dasher puPruritntign.g a finger on the stunshield switch, he
waited, straining to see something, anything, in the blackness where that ominous purr stroked the still air.

A purring dasher could mean many thinitgsm: ight be asleep, or well-fed, or responding to the smell of rich food . . . or just generally contented with its life.
Twisp slipped a leg over the tiller, prepared to start the motor and steer away from that perilous noise. With his free hand he groped for and found the lasgun in its hiding place behind his seat.
Bushka began to snore.
The dasher's purr stopped, then began once more on a loweHr andotiet. heard?
Bushka snorted, rolled over and resumed his snoTrinhge. dasher continued to purr, but the sound began to fade, moving farther to the right and behind the drifting coracles.
Asleep, Twisp hopedT. rust my squawksT. he birds had not stirred again.
The dasher's contentment faded away in the distaTnwceis. p listened for movement there, straining to
hear over the sound of Bushka's fatigSuleo.wly, Twisp forced himself to relax, realizing that he had been
holding his breathH. e exhaled, then inhaled a deep breath of the sweet nigAht dariry. the back of his throat.
swallow rasped
Although he could not hear the dasher, tension still rodeAbhriump.tly, the squawks came full awake and began living up to their namTwe.isp flipped the stunshield switcTh.here came the unmistakable
splash of something stiffening in the water close behind, then the frenzied whines and chuckles of dashers feeding.
Filthy cannibals, he thought.
"Whuzzat?" Bushka demanded.

The coracle shifted as Bushka sat up.
"Dashers," Twisp saidH. e aimed the lasgun toward the feeding sounds and fired six quick Tbhuersts. buzzing vibration of the weapon was hard against his sweaty Thhaendt.hin purple beams lanced into the night. At the second shot, the dashers erupted in a frantic cacophony of yelps and scTreheechseosu.nds receded rapidly.Dashers had learned to turn tail at the buzzing, purple shaft of a lasgun.
Twisp turned off the stunshield and reached for his handlight as another sound far off to his left caught his attention: the hiss-hiss-hiss of paddles cutting through wet kHelep.aimed the handlight toward the sound
but the night sucked it dry without sending anything back but the sea's pulse in dark strands of kelp.
A voice called from the distan"cCe:oracle! Do you have a load?"
Twisp felt his heart triple-time against his rib Tcahgaet. was Brett's voice!
"Riding too high!" he shouted, waving the handlight as a lo"Ccaatroerf.ul, there's dashers about!"
"We saw your lasgun."
Twisp could make them out then, an amoebalike blot undulating toward him on the Tlowwo seas. paddles flashed bits of his light back at him.
Bushka leaned against the thwart, tipping it precariously near the water.
"Trim the boat!" Twisp calle"dY.ou, Bushka!"
Bushka jerked back but kept his attention on the approaching Tshhaepep.addles struck the water with splashes that burst like blossoms against the black hull of an inflatable raft.

"It's them," Bushka sai"dT. hey've blown it, just like I warned you."
"Shut up," Twisp growle"dA. t least they're alive.H" e took a deep breath of thanksgiviTngh.e kid had become family and the family was whole again.
"Mother, I'm home!" the kid called, as though reading his thoughts.
So, Brett was sufficiently lighthearted that he could Tjohkine.gs could not be too bad, thTenw.isp listened for dashers.
Bushka laughed at the quip, a laugh with a dry, cracked edge that set Twisp's anger near the boiling point. The raft was in easy talking distance nTow.isp kept the handlight pointed toward the
approaching figures and away from his own face, where tears of fatigue and relief wet hiAs tchaeeks. low word from Brett, both he and Scudi stopped paddBlirnegtt. threw a line to the coracTlwe.isp
caught it and hauled in the raft like a net of muree, snugging it against theOnceoralocnleg. out and grabbed BretTt.he kid's dive suit was soaked and inflated.
arm snaked
The squawks took that moment to set up a warning commotion, but it subsided immDeadsiahteerlsy. patrolled just out of sight, wary of the lasAgunsi.zable hunt of them, Twisp thougHhut.nger drove them in and fear kept them away.
Scudi said, "Should we come aboard?"
"Yes," Twisp said, and heaved Brett aboard, then helped Scudi gently over the gunwale and onto the seat-slat in front of himH.e secured the line to keep the raft tight against the boat, then stowed the handlight under his seaTt.wisp put a hand on Brett's arm, keeping it there, unwilling to break off the reassuring touch.
"They wouldn't listen to you, would they?" Bushka deman"Ydeodu. happened to your foil?"
"Do we run for Vashon?" Twisp asked.
had to run for it agaWinh. at

Brett held both hands up to slow them d"oIwtnh.ink we'd better discuss it," he sHaied. recounted the story of Gallow and Nakano as briefly as he cIotulwda. s a bare-bones account, which Twisp heard with a growing admiration for Brett.
A good head there, he thought.
When Brett had finished, Bushka said, "Let's get away fromThorsee! are devils, not meTn.hey probably followed you and when they come --"
"Oh, shut up!" Twisp snappe"dIf.
you don't, I'll shut you uHp.e" turned to Brett and asked, in a calmer
voice, "What do you thinkT?hey have two foils now and could hunt us down with --" "They're not going to hunt for us, not yet," Bret"tTshaeidy. have other fish to fry." "You're a fool!" Bushka blurted.
"Hear him out," Scudi saHide. r voice was as flat and solid as plasteel.
"They said they were waiting to capture a doctor," Brett continued, "probably true, from the way they
acted. It looked like they tried something and faiTlehde.y were shook up and trying to hide it fromA
lot of bragging."
"That's Gallow," Bushka muttered.
"So what were they doing besides waiting to get a doctor?" Twisp asked.
us.
"They were near the Launch Base," Brett is they want those hyb tanks."
"sWaidi.th Gallow, I suspect nothing is coincidenMcey.
guess

"Of course they do," Bushka sa"iId.told you that."
"He wants them real bad," Brett sHaied.nodded to himselfT.he hyb tanks circling up there in space were the single most speculative subject on PandGoruae.ssing the manifests of the hyb tanks ranked right up there with the weather as a conversational staple.
"But what about this threat that he'll prevent the Mermen from reclaiming more open land?" Twisp asked. "Could he do that with one sub and a couple of foils?"
"I think Vashon's in danger," Brett s"aGidu.emes was much smaller, but still . . . sinking Islands is just too simple a diversion for somebody like Gallow to rAesbisotu. t the time those tanks come down, he'll
try to sink VashonI.'m sure of it."
"Did he say anything specific?" Twisp ask"Cedo.uld he have found a real hyb tank manifest?"
Brett shook his hea"dI.
don't knowS. omething that big . . . he'd have to brag abBo ushikt.a, he ever
say anything to you about what's up there?"
"Gallow has . . . dreams of grandeur," Bushka"Asaniydt.hing that'll feed those dreams is real to Hhiem. never claimed to know what was in the tanks; he just knew the political value of having them."
"Brett's right about Gallow," Scudi said.
Twisp could make out the dark flash of her eyes in the growin"Gg allilgohwt.'s like a lot of Mermen --
they believe the hyb tanks will save the world, destroy the world, make you rich or curse you forever."
"Same with Islanders," Brett said.
"Speculation, but no facts," Twisp said.

Scudi looked from Brett to Twisp and back to HBorewtt. like Twisp Brett soundedL!aconic, practical
-- all based on rocklike integriStyh.e studied Brett more carefully then, seeing the stringy strength in his young body.She sensed the power of the adult he would becBomreett. was already a maYn.oung, but
solid inside.It came over her like a quick-dive narcosis that she wanted him for a lifetime.
Twisp turned to the controls, started up the motor and set a course for TVhaeshcora. cle surged across the kelp into open water.
Scudi glanced around the brightening dSahye.
scratched under the neck seal of her dive suit, and, with
an impatient gesture, shucked out of the suit and spread it across the thwartsShteo ddirdy.this after one smiling glance at Brett, who smiled back.
Twisp glanced once at her, noting the vestigial webs between her toes, but otherwise an ideal, Merman-normal body.He hadn't seen that many up cloHsee. forced himself to look away, but noticed that Bushka, too, could not help staring at ScSuhdei. worked close beside Bushka, turning the dive suit and fluffing it as the wind blew it Tdwryis. p watched Bushka's eyes flick up from the water, over Twisp at the stern, up and down Scudi's body, back to the water.
Twisp had long believed that Mermen didn't have the same drives as Islanders, and he related it to the free display of their perfect bodieSsc.udi's display bore that out in his mMinder.men lived so much of
their lives either without clothes or in skin-clinging dive suits that they would have to develop different feelings about the body than the bulky-clothed Islanders.
Not much difference between nudity and a dive suit, Twisp thHoueghcot.uld see that Bushka was bothered by Scudi's proximity and her nudBityre. tt was doing what any normal Islander might -- giving Scudi the privacy of not looking at Shceur.di, however, was not able to keep her eyes off Brett.
Something going on there, Twisp decidSeodm.
ething strong.He reminded himself that Mermen
sometimes married Islanders, and sometimes it worked out.
Bushka shifted his attention from Scudi to Brett and the look on Bushka's face was like a shouted statement to TwispI.t was the kid's eyes.

Not as normal as I aTmh!at was the look on Bushka's face.
Twisp remembered seeing a long-armed Islander once holding hands with a long-armed woman -- the first time he'd seen two of them in one pIltachea.d taken Twisp a long time to dig out his personal rejection of that scene and with his digging had come a valuable insight.
Like meT. hat's how we define human.
He had traced that thought down its dark trail and come up with his own reason for judging that couple.
Jealousy.
He had only chosen women who were different from himChsealnfc. es of passing along a specific trait to children got too high when similar mutants paiSreodm. etimes it was a genetic time-bomb that didn't show for one or two generations.
Most of us aren't willing to pass along anything except hope.
Something similar was going on in Bushka.
He doesn't like Brett, Twisp thougHhet. doesn't know it yeWt. hen he figures it out he won't know why. He won't want to admit it's jealousy and it wouldn't do much good to tell him.
It was obvious to anyone who looked at her when she studied Brett that Scudi had eyes only for the kid.
Brett had found the larder and quick-heated some fish Wsteitwho. ut looking at Scudi, he said, "Scudi, something to eat?"

Scudi, her dive suit aired out sufficiently, slipped it back over her lithe younSghebfoidnyis.hed closing the seals."Yes, please, Brett," she sai"dI.'m very hungry."
Brett passed her a filled bowl and looked a question at Twisp, who shook Bhiusshhkeaada.ccepted a bowl from Brett after a slight hesitation that spoke loudly to Twisp.
Doesn't want to owe the kid anything!
Brett had been brought up on Islander courtesy over food and so had TBhueshekaarl.y training dominated. Brett completed the usual ritual before filling his own bAowdla.sher couldn't have gobbled it faster. Presently, Brett held his bowl over the side, cleaned it and put iHt eawloayo.ked up at Twisp.
"Thanks," he said.
"For what?" Twisp asked, surpriseTdh.e food belonged to all of them.
"For teaching me how to pay attention, and how to think."
"Did I do that?" Twisp ask"eId.thought people were born knowing how to think."
Bushka heard this exchange with an ill-concealed snHeeer.sat broodingT. he news about Gallow and
his crew -- Green DasherIsn!
striking range!The proximity of the Gallow-Nakano-Zent trio filled
Bushka with terrorT. hey were sure to come looking for the fugitWivehsy.
wouldn't they?Ryan Wang's
daughter was here, for Ship's sakWe!hat a hostage!He thought then about Zent, those glossy, unfeeling eyes with their deep-down delight at paBinu.shka wondered how these two young people had
outsmarted the likes of them, although Gallow was prone to underestimate his oppBosuitsihokna.
looked
straight at ScudiS. hip! What a body!Whoever owned her owned the world, and he knew that was no exaggeration. There could be little doubt that her father had controlled much of Pandora through his food
operations, and now that he was dead it would surely pass to BSucsuhdkia. studied the young couple beside him.
Gallow must've thought them a couple of scared kids.
half-closed his eyes and

Bushka had learned the danger of assumptions while he'd been boat-bound withSTcuwdiispo.bviously had a first-love crush on the kid . . . but that woulIdt aplawssa.ys didH. er father's minions were still
alive. They would put a stop to it once they foundOnocuet. they took a good look at the kid's mutated eyes.
Twisp stood up at the tiller and peered ahead, shading his eyes against the rising b"aFlloiol,f" shuen. said. "It's heading for Vashon."
"I told you!" Bushka shouted.
"Looked like an orange stripe along the cabin top," Twisp"Osfafici.al."
"They're looking for us," Bushka saHidis.
teeth began to chatter.
"Not changing course," Twisp sa"idT.hey're in a real hurryH."e reached down and flipped the switch on his emergency-band radio receiver.
The sound of the Vashon announcer came on in midsen"te. n.ce.: who there was no immediate further threat to Vashon's substructureW. e are hanging bottom on a kelp margin of enormous dimenTsihoenrse.
is exposed land and surf immediately to the east oFfishues.rmen are advised to approach us through the clear water from the southwesWt. e repeat:All downcenter areas are being evacuated because of grounding. Vashon itself is in no immediate danger as long as the calm weatherRehpoaldirss. are
proceeding and Merman help has been assurHedo.urly bulletins will be provided and you are advised to keep tuned to the emergency band."
Scudi shook her head and whispered, "Current Control wasn't supposed to let something like that happen."
"Sabotage," Bushka said".It's Gallow's doingI.
know it."
"Exposed land," Twisp muttereTd.he big change was happeninHg.e could feel it.

Down the course of history, people have been the principal cause of humanItdiesatphos.ssible to alter that course here on Pandora.
-- Kerro Panille, the Histories
Ward Keel's head throbbed in time to his heartHbe to.pened his eyes a crack but shut them quickly against the painful stab of white ligAht.demanding interior whine filled his ears, blotting out the world
around him.He tried to lift his head but faiHleids. neck support had been removeHde.
tried to
remember if he had removed Nito. thing came to himH. e knew there should be things to remember but his throbbing head took most of his attentAiogna.in, he tried to lift his head and gained only a few millimeters. The back of his head thumped onto a hard, flat suNrfaucsee. a gripped his throaKt. eel
gulped quick lungfuls of air to keep from vomiTtihneg. air tasted thick and humid and did not help much.
Where in the name of Ship am I?
Bits of memories flickered into his mAinlde.. And someone . . . that Shadow PanHillee. remembered
now. There had been an argument between Ale and someone in Merman Mercantile -- the late Ryan
Wang's operation.She had ended it by removing Keel to . . . Htoe had left Ale's complexT.hat much he recalled.
.co.ul.d not rememberB. ut they

Thick air all around him now . . . down-undSerlowailry. , he tried opening his left eAye.dark shape loomed over him, haloed by a pair of bright ceiling lights.
"He's coming around."
A smooth, unhurried voice, conversationTalh.e piercing whine in Keel's ears began to wind dHowe n. tried opening both eyes wideSr.lowly, a face came into focus above hcirmis:scrossed scars on the cheeks and brow, a twisted mouTthh.e face turned away like a receding nightmare and Keel saw streaks of green smeared up to the neck below those awful scars.
"Don't fuss over him, NakanHoe. 'll keep."
That was a voice edged in ice.
The scarred face regarded Keel once more -- two deeply set eyes with something far back in there that
refused to emergeN. memory. Blank.
akano? Keel felt that the name and the scarred face should ignite an important
"He's no good to us dead," Nakano s"aAidn.d you hit him pretty hard with that sHtuafnf.d me some water."
"Get it yourselfI. don't tote for Mutes."
Nakano removed himself from Keel's view, returning in a moment to bend closer with a beaker and a straw. A hand striped with green paint put the straw between Keel's lips.
"Drink it," Nakano sai"dI. think it'll help."
Hit him pretty hard?

Keel remembered someone shouting . . . Kareen Ale screaming at . . . at . . .
"It's just water," Nakano saHide.
moved the straw against Keel's lips.
Keel sucked in cold water and felt the soothing splash of it into his crampingHsetomtoaldchh. imself that he should reach for the beaker but his hands refused to cooperate.
Straps!
Keel felt them over his chest and aHrmes.was being restrained, theWn. hy? He took another deep drink of the water and pushed the straw from his mouth with his tongue.
Nakano removed the beaker and released the restraints.
Keel flexed his fingers and tried to say "thanks," but the word was no more than a dry whistle in his throat.
Nakano placed something on Keel's chest and Keel felt the familiar outlines of his neck appliance.
"Took it off when you puked and damn near choked to death," Naka"nCoousaldidn.'t figure how to get it back on you."
Keel felt weak but his fingers knew this familiar Htheingfu. mbled over the slips and catches, putting the support into place around his necTkw. o raw spots pained him where the braces met his shoulders. Someone had tried to pull it off without unfastening it.
Lucky they didn't break my neck.

With the support in place, Keel's thick shoulder muscles carried the burden of lifting his head upright.
The brace slipped into its usual position and he winced at thHe epasianw. rectangular room with gray metal walls.
that he was in a small
"Do you have a celltape?" he askHeids. voice echoed in his ears and sounded much deeper than he remembered. Keel rested his forehead in his hands and listened as someone rummaged through a case. The table that Keel sat on was much lower than he had imIatgiwneadsn. 't a gurney, but a low dining
table, Merman-style, within a cluster of low padded chairs and a out of old, dead materials.
Ecovuecryht.hing seemed constructed
Nakano handed him a roll of celltape and, as if in answer to an unasked question, said, "We put you on the table because you weren't breathing goTodh.e couch is too soft."
"Thanks."
Nakano grunted and sat back down in a chair behind Keel.
Keel noticed that the room was filled with books and Stoapmees. of the bookshelves were packed two deep with well-worn texts of many sizKese.el turned his head and saw behind Nakano an elaborate
comconsole with three viewscreens and racks of taTpehse.
room felt as though it moved -- back and
forth, up and downI.t was an unsettling sensation, even for one accustomed to riding the waves on an
Island.
Keel heard a distant hissinNga. kano stood at his side then and another man, his dive suit smeared with
green paint, sat nearby, his back to thTemhe.
other man appeared to be eating.
Keel thought about eatinHg.is stomach said, "Forget it."
My medication! he thoughWt. here is my caseH? e felt his breast pockeTt.he little case was gonIet.
came over him then that this rectangular space around him actually was moving -- rising and falling on a long sea.

We're still on the foil, he thouTghe.
thick air was a Merman preferenTche.ese two Mermen had
merely done something to humidify the air.
Still on the foil!
He remembered more nowK.areen Ale had taken him aboard a foil to . . . to go to the Launch Base. Then he remembered the other foMil.emories came rushing at himIt. had been after nightfaHll.e could
see daylight now through louvered vents high in the walls of thisthreoodmo:uble yellow-orange of both
suns low in the skMy.orning or evening?His body could not inform hiHme.
felt the borderline nausea of
movement, the constant inner pain of his fatal illness and the headache, now localized in his right temple where, he knew, he had been struck.
Drugged, too, he thought.
The attack had occurred after the foil in which Ale had been taking him to the Launch Base slowed abruptly. A voice had called":Look there!"
Another foil had bobbed dead in the water with only its anchor lights glowing through theItdarkness. drifted slowly in heavy kelp and was not at anAchosrp.otlight from Ale's foil illuminated the identification numbers on the bow of the vessel.
"It's them, all right," she said.
"Do you think they're in trouble?"
"You bet they're in trouble!"
"I mean something wrong with --"
"They're waiting out the night on the kItelhpi.des them from bottom search and they won't drift far in it."

"But why do you suppose they're here . . . I mean, so close to Launch Base?"
"Let's find out."
Slowly, its jets muted, Ale's foil moved up on the other craft while four Security men readied themselves for boarding from the water.
Keel and Ale on the forward pilot's deck had a commanding view of what happeWneidthnoenxlty. a
few meters separating the two craft, four dive-suited men slipped into the water, swam the short distance and opened the main hatch on the other Ofoniel. by one, they crept inside and then . . . nothing.
Silence, for what seemed to Keel an interminable Ittimeen.ded with a jerky rocking action on Ale's foil followed by shouts from the steArnb. ruptly, two green-striped apparitions burst into the pilot's compartment. One of the intruders had been a monstrous Merman with terrible scars on hKiseeflace.
had never seen arms that thickly musclBedo.th men carried weaponsT.here was only time to hear Ale shout: "GeLaar!" Then the blinding pain on his own head.
GeLaar?Keel prolonged his recovery period from the blow, making it appear he was stilHl idsazed. encyclopedic memory pored over names and physical identificatioGnesL. aar Gallow, idealized Merman. Former subordinate of Ryan WanSg.uitor to Kareen AleT. he man at the table pushed a bowl away from him, wiped his mouth and turned.
Keel looked at him, shuddering in the cold appraising stare of those dark blue eyes.
Yes, this is the man himsKelef.el thought Gallow grotesque in the cover of green paint.
A hatch to Keel's right opened and another green-striped Merman en"tBearedd.news," the newcomer said. "Zent just died."
"Damn!"That was Gallow". She didn't really try to save him, did she!"

"He was badly crushed," the newcomer s"aAidn.d she is exhausted."
"If only we knew what caused it," Gallow mumbled.
"Whatever it was," Nakano said, "it was the same thing that damaged Tthhee swubo.nder is he got back to us at all."
"Don't be stupid," Gallow snappe"dT.he sub's homing system brought him baHcke. didn't have anything to do with it."
"Except to activate the system," Nakano said.
Gallow ignored him, turning to the newcom"Wer.ell, how are the repairs going?"
"Very well," the man sa"idW. e got the replacement parts and tools aboard the Launch Base foil marked
as rocket suppliesW.
e should be fully operational by this time day after tomorrow."
"Too bad we can't replace Tso as easily," Nakano"Hsaei'ds. a good man in a figWhta.s."
"Yes."Gallow spoke without looking at Nakano, gesturing instead to the newc"oWmell., get back to your station."
The man hesitated".What about Zent?" he asked.
"What?"

"His body."
"Green Dashers are kelp food when they die," Gallow"Ysaoiud. know thatI.t's imperative if we're to know what happened out there."
"Yes sir."The man left, closing the hatch quietly after him.
Keel brushed at his collar and the front of his
Hjaeckceot.uld smell the sour taint of vomit there,
confirming Nakano's account of what had happened.
So, they want me alivNeo.
. . . they need me alive.
As long as he was alive, Keel could probe for weaknSeuspsers. tition was a weaknessH. e vowed to pursue this curious burial ritual that Gallow employItesd.very mention had brought a hush over the
cabin. They were fanaticsK.
eel could see it in Gallow's expressiAonn.ything was justified by the sacred
nature of their goaAl. nother matter for probingV. ery dangerous.But . . . I'm dying anywLaye.t's see how deep their need for me actually is.
"A small case was taken from my pocket," he"Istaicdo.ntains my medication."
"So, the Mute needs medication," Gallow taun"tLede.t's see how he does without it."
"You'll see quite soon," Keel sa"iYd.ou'll have another body to feed to the kelp."
Keel swung his feet casually over the edge of the table and felt for Athestdaertclked.
look passed
between Nakano and GallowK. eel wondered at iTt.here was shock in that looSko.me nerve had been struck.
"You know about the kelp?" Nakano asked.

Keel said, "Of coursAe. man in my position . H. e."waved off the rest of the bluff as extraneous.
"We need him alive for the time being," Gallow"Gsaeitd.the Mute his medication."
Nakano went to a small storage locker in the rear wall and removed a pocket case of cured organics -- dark brown and with a tie string closure.
Keel accepted the case thankfully, found a bitter green pill in it and gulped theHipsililntdersyti.nes felt
knotted and it would be long minutes before the pill brought relief, but just the knowledge that he had taken it removed some of the discomfoArnt.other remora, that was what he needBedu.t what was the
use even of thatH? is rebellious body would only make short work of another reSmhoorrat.er than the last, and the one before thHati.s first one had lasted thirty-six yeaTrhs.is last one, a month.
"You can always tell," Nakano sa"iSdo. meone who isn't bothered by dying, that one knows about the kelp."
With difficulty, Keel kept his face expressionlWeshs.at was the man saying?
"It wasn't something we could keep secret forever," Gallow"Tsahiedy.
contact the kelp, too."
Nakano looked piercingly at KeIetl.was one of those looks that made a big man like Nakano swell even bigger."How many of you know?" he asked.
Keel managed a noncommittal shrug, which irritated the seating of his brace.
"We'd have heard something before this if it was out," Gallow"Prsoabida.bly just a few of the top
Mutes like this one know anything."
Keel stared speculatively from one Merman to the oStohmere. thing important to know about the kelp. What could that beI?t had to do with dyinWg.ith contact with the kelFp.eeding their dead to the kelp?

"In a little while we'll go out and try to hear Zent's memories," Gallow said, a new and deeply reflective tone in his voice".Then we may learn what happened to him."
Nakano, his voice more matter-of-fact, asked K"eHelo:w do you contact the kelDp?oes the kelp answer every time?"
Keel pursed his lips in thought, delaying his response and gainingTatlikmeto.
the kelpH? e recalled
what Ale and Panille had said about the Merman kelp project -- teaching the kelp, assisting the spread of it under Pandora's universal sea.
"We have to actually touch the kelp," Nakano prompted.
"Of course," Keel snorteAd.nd he thought, Hear Zent's memorieWs?hat was going on hereT?hese violent men were suddenly revealing a mystical side that astonished the pragmatic Keel.
Gallow suddenly laughed".You don't know any more about it than we do, MThuete!kelp takes your memories, even after you're deaTd.hat's all any of us knows, but you Mutes didn't think about what that could mean."
Green Dashers are kelp food when they die, Keel thoAungdht.somehow their memories can be read
by the living - through the keHlpe. recalled the odd stories out of human history on Pandora -- dashers talking with human voices, a fully sentient kelp speaking to the minds of those who toSuochiet dwiat.s
true! And the kelp, genetically rebuilt from the genes carried in a few humans, was recovering that old skill. Did Ale know?And where was she?
Gallow glanced around the room and returned his attention to"VKeereyl. pleasant, this cabin," he said. "Ryan Wang's gift to Kareen Ale -- her personalI ftohiiln. k I'll keep it for my command center."
"Where is Kareen?" Keel asked.

"She's busy being a doctor," Gallow s"aSido.mething she should stick tPoo. litics doesn't suit her. Maybe medicine doesn't, eitherS.he didn't do much for Zent."
"Nobody could've saved Tso," Nakano sa"iId.want to know what got hDimo.es Vashon have a new defense weapon?"Nakano glared at Kee"l.What about it, Mr. Justice?"
"What're you talking abouDt?efense against what?"
Gallow stepped closer".Tso and two of our new recruits were given the simple task of sinking Vashon,"
Gallow said."Tso returned dying and in a damaged sTuhbe.
two recruits were not with him."
Keel was a moment finding his voice, t"hYeno:u're monsters.You would scuttle thousands and thousands of lives --"
"What happened to our sub?" Gallow demand"eTdh.e whole forward section -- it looked as though it had been crushed by a fist."
"Vashon?" Keel whispered.
"Oh, it's still there," Gallow sa"iDd.o I have to tell Nakano he must be more persuaAsinvsew?er the question."
Keel drew in a deep, trembling breath and exhaled slHowerley.was why they kept him aliWveh! atever had happened to the sub, he had no answer, but there was something he cFoourlwd adrdo. section crushed?
"So it worked," Keel said.
Both men glared at hi"mW. hat worked?" Gallow barked.

"Our cable trap," Keel bluffed.
"I thought so!" Nakano said.
"Tell us about this device," Gallow ordered.
"I'm no technic or engineer," Keel protesHteed. put a hand u"pI. don't know how it's made."
"But you can tell us what you do know," Gallow"OsraidI . will direct Nakano to cause you a great deal of pain."
Keel looked at Nakano's massive arms, those bulging muscles, the bulNl onneceko. f that frightened
him, and he knew that Nakano knewThite.
reference to death earlier, it was a bond between them.
"All I know is it's organic and it works by compression," Keel said.
"Organic?Our sub has cutters and burnersG!"allow clearly did not believe him.
"It's like a net," Keel said, warming to his fi"cEtiaocnh.
surviving part can behave like the whAolned.
once it's inside your defenses where your cutters and burners can't reachKiet e.l .sh.r"ugged.
"Why would you make such a thing?" Gallow asked.
"Our Security people determined that we were hopelessly vulnerable to attack fromSboemloewth.ing had to be doneA. nd we were righLt.ook what happened to GuemeWs. hat almost happened to Vashon."
"Yes, look what happened to Guemes," Gallow said, smiling.

Monsters, Keel thought.
"Tso must've done some damage," Nakano s"aTidh.at's why Vashon's grounded."
Keel tried to speak past a pain in his t"hGroraotu.nded?" His voice was a croak.
"On the bottom and abandoning its downcenter," Gallow said, showing obvious relish in hiHs ewords. reached out and tapped Nakano's arm".Keep our guest companIy.will go out and prepare to
commune with Tso's kelp-spiriSt.ee if the Mute here can tell us any way to improve our contact with the kelp."
Keel took a deep breaHthi.s improvisation about a Vashon defense weapon had been acceIptted. would make these monsters more cautiouIts.would give Vashon a breathing space -- if the Island
survived grounding.He took heart from the fact that Vashon had survived groundings in the distant past. There would be damage, though, and economic losBseasl.last pumps would be working frantically to lift
and compress the bottom sections of the IslaHneda.vy equipment would be detached in its own floaters. Mermen would be called in for assistance.
Mermen!Would friends of these vermin be among those summoned for Iht eclpo?uld take days for
Vashon to lift its enormous bulk and reflIofatn.o storm or wavewall came . . .
I have to escape, Keel thougMhty.
people have to know what I've learnTehde.y need me.
Gallow had moved to the hatch, looking back thoughtfully at Nakano and the Hceapotipven. ed the hatch and stood there a moment, th"eNn:akano, he has not given us every detail of their weHapeonh.as not told us how he communes with the kTehlepr.e are things of value in his heIfadh.e does not reveal
them willingly, we will have to feed him to the kelp and hope to recover the information that way."
Nakano nodded, not looking at Gallow.

Gallow let himself out and sealed the hatch behind him.
"I can't protect you from him if he gets angry, Mr. Justice," NakaHnois svaoidic. e was casual, even friendly. "You had better sit down and tell me what you kWnoul.d you like some more wateSro?rry we don't have any boo, that would make things easier -- more civilized."
Keel moved painfully to the table where Gallow had sat and dropped into tIhte wcahsaisr.till warm.
What a strange pair, he thought.
Nakano brought him a beaker of waKteere.l sipped slowly, savoring the coolness.
It was almost as though these two exchanged personalKiteieesl. realized then that Nakano and Gallow
were playing the old Security game with him -- one guard always browbeat a prisoner while the other came on as a friend, sometimes pretending to protect the prisoner from the attacker.
"Tell me about the weapon," Nakano said.
"The ropes are thicker than full-grown kelp," Keel Asanidd. he recalled underwater views of the kelp -- strands thicker than a human torso swaying in the currents.
"A burner would still cut them," Nakano said.
"Ah, but the fibers have some way of reattaching to each other when theCyuttoiutchap. art and put the cut ends together, it's as though there were not cut."
Nakano grimaced". How? How is it done?"
"I don't knowT. hey talk about fibrous hooks."

"Now you understand," Nakano said, "why Mutes must go."
"What have we done except protect ourselves?" Keel deman"Idfedth. at sub hadn't been out to sink the Island, it wouldn't have been harmedE.v"en as he spoke he wondered again about the damaged sub, wishing he could see and examineWith. at had really done iCt?rushed? Truly crushed or damaged by
the bottom?
"Tell me how you commune with kelp," Nakano said.
"We . . . just touch it."
"And?"
Keel swallowedH.
e remembered the old stories, the remnant history, especially the accounts by
Shadow Panille's ancestor.
"It's like daydreaming . . . almost," Keel "sYaiodu.
hear voices."
That much the old accounts had said. "Specific voices?" Nakano demanded. "Sometimes," Keel lied.
"How do you contact the specific dead and gain access to what they knew when alive?"

Keel shrugged, thinking harHd.is mind had never worked this fast, absorbing, correlaStihnigp.! What a discovery! He thought about the countless Islander dead consigned to the sea by mourning relatives. How many of those had been absorbed by the kelp?
"So the kelp doesn't respond to you any better than it does to us," Nakano said.
"I fear not," Keel agreed.
"Kelp has a mind of its own," Nakano "sIa'vied. said that all along."
Keel thought then about the enormous undersea gardens of kelp, forests of gigantic, ropy strands reaching upward toward the sunHs.e had seen holos of Mermen swimming through those green forests, flashing silvery figures among the fish and froBndust. no Merman had ever before reported kelp responding in the way it had done for the first humans on PaTnhdisorma.ust mean full sentience was returning. It must be an avalanche of consciousness sweeping through theMseeram!en thought they controlled the kelp and, through this, controlled the currents.
What if . . .
Keel felt his heartbeat stutter.
A Merman sub had been crushHede. imagined those gigantic strands of kelp wrapped around the sub's hard surface.Cutters and burners flashed in his imaginatiAonn.d the kelp writhed, sending out its
messages of self-protectionW.
hat if the kelp had learned to kill?
"Where are we right now?" Keel asked.
"Near the Launch BasTe.here's no harm in your knowing; you can't escape."
Keel let his body feel the lift and fall of the craft arouTnhde hliimgh.t through the louvered vents had begun to dimN. ightfall? The foil rode on extremely calm seas, for which he was thaVnaksfhuol.n needed

calm seas just now.
Near the Launch Base, Nakano saHyso.w near?But even a short swim was impossible for this old body with its head supported on a prosthetic brHacee.was a cripple in this environmeAnt.Mute.No wonder these monsters sneered at him.
The foil's motion became even steadier and the light dimNmakearn. o flipped a switch, bringing soft yellow illumination into the room from lamps near the ceiling.
"We are going down to commune with the kelp," Nakano"Wsaeida. re in old kelp here, the kind that's most apt to respond to us."
Keel thought about this craft sinking into a forest ofWkhealpte.ver had happened to Tso the kelp now knew. How would the kelp use that knowledge?
I know what I would do with such people in my power, Keel It'hdousqguhat.sh themT. hey are lethal deviants.
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it isF, oirnfminaitne. has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.

-- William Blake, Shiprecords
Twisp considered abandoning the tow coracle with its supApliesse.cond foil had passed nearby without slowing down and he was worried.
We could pick up a few more knots that way, he thItouggahllte.d him that the foils, already lost below
the horizon, would be at Vashon by nightTfahlle. plod along in this damned creeping coracle!
first one probably was arriving right nHowe . had to
He laughed at his own frustratiIotnr.elaxed him to laugh, even if it was just his usual shoVrtasbhaorkn.
might be aground, but the Island had touched bottom before, and in perilously more dangerous weather. Pandora had subsided into a calmer phase; his fisherman's instincts felItt thhaisd. to do with the looping interrelationship of the two suns, distance from primaries and, just possibly, thPeekrhealpp.s the kelp
had finally reached an influential population densCitye.rtainly, kelp fronds were more evident on the surface and the kelp's nursery effect showed itself in the recent fish population boom.
Winters on the open sea were easier every Tyheaer.familiar drone of the little engine, the balmy warmth under scattered clouds and the coracle's rhythmic wallow toward Vashon reminded Twisp that he would get there in his own good time.
And when I do, I'll straighten out this Bushka's story.
Vashon was not a community to take ligThthleyr.e was influence there, power and money.
And Vata, he thoughYt.es, we have VataT. wisp began to see the presence of Vata on his home Island in a new lighSt.he was more than a link with humanity's Pandoran Lpiavsint.g evidence that a myth had substance -- that was what Vata and her satellite Duque represented.
"That last foil must've seen us," Bushka sa"iOd.ur position is known."

"You really think they'll alert your Green Dashers?" Twisp asked.
"Gallow has friends in high places," Bushka growHle .glanced significantly at Scudi, who was sitting back against a thwart, looking at Brett with a quizzical expreBssrieotnt . lay curled up, asleep.
"We don't know what they're saying on the radio," BushkaHesaildo.oked at the device near Twisp's knee. When Twisp didn't respond, Bushka closed his eyes.
Scudi, shifting her attention from one Islander to the other during this exchange, watched a deep listlessness come over BushkaT.he man gave up so easilWy!hat a contrast with Brett.
Scudi thought hard about the escape from Gallow, paddling and sailing, homing on the locator beam from the coracle's transmitterT.hey had inflated only one of the small rafts from the survival kits, holding the other in reserveE.ven this they had delayed until they were more than a kilometer from the foil.
It had been heavy going at first in the thick glut oTfheketlwp.o of them, linked by a single belt line, tended to tangle in the surface fronSdcsu. di had led the first stage of their flight, holding them
hydrostatically balanced with their dive suit controls just under the suWrfahceen.
they came up for air it
was always beneath a cover of kelp and each time they expected to hear sounds of search and pursuit.
Once, they heard the foil start up, but it shut down immeUdinatdeelyr . the protective cover of a kelp frond, Brett whispered to Scud"iT: hey don't dare chase after us right nCowap.turing that other foil is too important to them."
"The doctor?"
"Something more important than that, I think."
"What?"

"I don't know," Brett whispere"dL.et's keep goingW.
e have to be out of sight of them by daybreak."
"I keep worrying that we'll run into dashers."
"I'm keeping a grenade handTyh.ey like to sleep in the keWlpe.'ll have to dive for it if we surprise one."
"I wish I could see better."
Brett took her hand and they moved through the water as silently as possible.
As they brushed through the thick fronds in their maddeningly slow passage, an odd sense of calm came over both of themT.hey began to feel almost invulnerable to dashers -- any variety, green or black.
Under the water, touching the kelp, they moved to deep and stately music, something not quite heard but recognized. When they surfaced for air, the world became different, another reTahleitya. ir felt clean and satisfying.
Breaking through a profound shyness, they told each other about this fTeheeliyngb.oth imagined telling the other and the telling came out just as they had imaTghineeyd.thought they could go on forever this way, that nothing could harm them.
At one break for air, Brett could no longer contain the sense of an alien exHpeeripeuntceh.is mouth close to Scudi's ear".Something's happening down there."
Both of them had grown up on stories of the old kelp days, the mystical detritus of their history, and each suspected what the other was thinking nNowei.ther of them found it easy to put into words.
Scudi looked back at the foil, which lay in a low outline under its anchIot rstliilglhstse.emed much too close. The foil itself appeared so innocent, its hatch a wink against the night.
"You hear me, Scudi?B"rett whispered."Something's happening to us when we're under watWer.h"en she remained silent he said, "They say when you're under water sometimes it's like a narcotic."

Scudi knew what he meaCnto. ld and the deeps could do things to your body that you did not notice until your mind started to come apart at the dreBaumts.this was no depth narcosAisn. d the dive suits
kept them warmT. his was something else and, here on the surface, knowing they should not delay long, she felt suddenly terrified.
"I'm scared," she whispered, staring at the foil.
"We'll get away from them," Brett said, seeing the direction of he"rSegea?zeT.hey're not chasing after us."
"They have a sub."
"The sub couldn't go fast in kTelhpe.y'd have to cut their way througHh.e" pulled himself closer to her along their belt line".But that's not what's scaring you."
Scudi didn't say anything, she floated on her back under a swatch of kelp, conscious of a heavy iodine smell from the leavesT.he weight of the kelp frond on her head was like an old, kindlSyhehaknnde.w
they should be goingD. aylight must not find them in sight of theHfeoril.hand on the concealing kelp, she turned and a bit of the kelp came away in herImgmriepd. iately, she was thrust into the euphoria she had
felt underwater.There was wind all arounAd.
sea bird she had never seen shrieked somewhere in
perfect time with the waveTs.he hypnotic effect unfocused her eyes, then centered them on a human
being -- prone and very oAldn.
old womanT. he old woman existed in a glowing space without any
sense of world around heTr.he vision moved closer and Scudi tried to relax an intense pressure in her stomach. Monotony of waves and the shrieking bird helped, but the vision would not fade.
The old, old woman lay on her back in the blur oAflolingeht. . . breathinSg.cudi noticed a clump of white hair jutting from a mole near the old woman's leTftheare.yes were closedT. he old woman did not appear to be a mutaHnte. r skin was dark and heavily wrinklIetdg. ave off a greenish cast like the beginning patina on a piece of old brass.
Abruptly, the woman sat uHpe. r eyes remained closed but she opened her mouth to say someTtheing.
old lips moved slow as cold
Soiclu. di watched the play of wrinkles released across the face by
movement. The woman spoke, but there was no souSncdu.di strained to hear, pressing close to the wrinkled lips.

The vision dissolved and Scudi found herself coughing, retching, held across her floating survival kit by strong hands.
"Scudi!"It was Brett's voice in a loud whisper close to he"rSceuadri.! What's happening?You started to drown.You just sank under the water and . . ."
She coughed up warm water and took in a choking breath.
"You just started sinking," Brett saHide. was struggling to balance her on theShkeit. pushed herself across its rasping surface and slipped back into the water, holding the kit by oSnehehasanwd.
immediately what Brett had done -- set the kit's hydrostatic controls for surface and used it as a platform to support her.
"It was like you just went to sleep," BrettTshaeidw. orry in his voice seemed amusing to her, but she
restrained a laughD.
idn't he know yet?
Brett glanced back at the foil about a kilometer
Hawaday.they heard?
"Kelp," Scudi chokedH. er throat hurt when she spoke.
"What about itD? id you get tangled?"
"The kelp . . . in my mind," sheAsnadid.she remembered that old face, the open mouth like a black tunnel into a strange mind.
Slowly, hesitantly, she described her experience.
"We've got to get out of here," Brett "sIat idc.an take over your mind."

"It wasn't trying to hurt me," she
"sIatidw. as trying to tell me something."
"What?"
"I don't knowM. aybe it didn't have the right words."
"How do you know it wasn't trying to hurtYyoouu?almost drowned."
"You panicked," she said.
"I was afraid you were drowning!"
"It let go of me when you panicked."
"How do you know?"
"I . . . just . . . knWowit.h"out waiting for more argument, she reset her survival kit's controls, pulled it under and began swimming away from the foil.
Brett, attached to Scudi by the belt line, was forced to follow, towing his own kit and sputtering.
Much later, on the coracle with Twisp and Bushka, Scudi debated recounting the kelp exIpterience. was late morning nowS.till no sign of Vashon on the horizBorne.tt and Bushka had fallen asleeBpe.fore
they had reached the coracle, Brett had warned her to say nothing of the kelp experience to Twisp, but she felt that this time Brett could be wrong.

"Twisp will think we're crazy as shit pumpers!" Brett had in"sKisetelpd. trying to talk to you!"
It really happened, Scudi told hersSelhfe.
looked from the sleeping figure of Brett to Twisp at the
coracle's tiller.The kelp tried to talk to me . . . and it did talk!
Brett came abruptly awake as Scudi shifted her posSithioen.leaned back now with her elbows over the thwart. He looked up and met her eyes, realizing immediately what she had been thinking.
About the kelp!
He sat up and looked around at an empty hoTrihzoenw. ind had picked up and there was spray in the air, scudding off the wavetopsT. wisp swayed with a rhythm that marked both the pitch of the waves and the throb of the enginTeh.e long-armed fisherman stared off across the water ahead of him the way he always did when they were chugging along in the fishBurusnhsk.a remained asleep near the bow
cuddy.
Scudi met Brett's gaze.
"I wonder if they got their doctor," Brett said.
Scudi nodded". I wonder why they needed onNee. arly everyone down under is trained as a med-tech."
"It was something pretty bad," Brett s"aHida.d to be."
Twisp shifted his positioHn.e did not look at any of them and said, "You got doctors to spare down under."
Brett knew what the older man meTanwtisp had spoken of it bitterly many times, as had many Islanders. Topside technology, predominantly organic, meant that most topside biologists who might otherwise go into medicine were lured by higher-status maintenance positions in the cash business of the Islands' bioengineering labsI.t was an ironic twist that had them keeping an Island itself fit while the

Islanders made do with a handful of med-techs and a family shaman.
Bushka sat up, awakened by their voices, and immediately returned to his insiste"Gntalfloewar. will have that sub after us!"
"We'll be at Vashon by tomorrow," Twisp said.
"You think you can get away from Gallow?" Bushka snorted.
"You sound like you want him to catch us," TwispHesaipdo.inted ahead". We'll be in kelp pretty soon. A sub would think twice about going in there."
"They're not Islander subs," Bushka reminded h"iTmh.ese have burners and cuttersH."e sat back with a sullen expression.
Brett stood, one hand steadying him against a thHwearts.tared ahead where Twisp had pointSetdil.l no
sign of Vashon, but the water about a kilometer ahead gave off the dark, oily slackness of a heavy kelp bed. He sank back onto his haunches, still steadying himself against the top roll of the boat.
Kelp.
He and Scudi had inflated one of the rafts while still in the kelp bed and perilously closeBrteottthe foil. had been surprised how easily a raft glided over the big fTrohnedsk.elp did not drag at the raft the way
it did on a coracle's huTllh.e raft slid across the fronds with only the barest whisper ofBauthitshse.
stubby paddles, fitted into sleeve pockets of their dive suits, splashed water into Athnedrathfte. tended to pick up torn pieces of kelp.
Remembering, Brett thoughIt:t happened.No one will believe us but it happened.
paddles
Even in memory, the experience remained frightenHineg. had touched a piece torn from the kelp. Immediately, he had heard people talkinVgo. ices in many pitches and dialects had blended into the hiss

of the raft's passageH. e had known at once that this was not a dream or hallucinHateionw.as hearing snatches of real conversation.
As he touched the torn bits of kelp in the night, Brett had felt it trying to reach up to him, seeking his hands on the paddles.
Scudi Scudi Scudi Brett Brett Brett
The names echoed in his mind with a feeling of music, a strange inflection but the clearest tones he had ever heard -- undistorted by air or wind or the music-devouring dampers of an Island's organic walls.
A wind had come up then and they had raised the raft's cruSdceudsdaiinl.g across the kelp's surface, huddled close in the stern, they had held a paddle between them as aScr uddi ehr.ad watched the little receiver that aimed them toward Twisp's transmitter.
Once, Scudi had looked up at a bright star low on the hSohreizopno.inted at i"t.See?"
Brett looked up to a star that he had known from his first awareness, out onto a Vashon terrace with his
parents on a clear warm nigHhte.
had thought of it as "the fat star."
"Little Double," Scudi sai"dI.t's very close to our sunrise point."
"When it's that low on the horizon, you can see the hyb tanks make a paHsse tphoeirnet.e"d to the horizon directly opposite the position of the fat "sTtawr.isp taught me that."
Scudi chuckled, snuggling close to him for war"mMthy.
mother said Little Double was far off across the
horizon to the north when she was youItn'sg.another binary system, you knoFwr.om Little Double we could see both of our suns clearly."
"To them, we're probably the fat star," he said.

Scudi was quiet for a time, th"eWn:hy won't you talk about the kelp?"
"What's to talk about?B"rett heard his own voice, brittle and unnatural.
"It called our names," Scudi saSihde.
gently pulled a bit of leaf from the back of her left hand.
Brett swallowed hardH. is tongue felt dry and thick.
"It did," she sai"dI. have trailed my hand through it many tiImegse.t images -- pictures like holos or dreams. They are symbols and if I think on them I learn something."
"You mean you still wanted to touch it, even after it almost drowned you?"
"You're wrong about the kelp," Scudi s"aIi'dm. have learned from the kelp . . ."
"I thought you said you taught the kelp."
speaking of the times before, when I worked aIt sea.
"But the kelp helps me, tTooh.at is why I have such good luck when I mathematic the Bwuatvenso.w the kelp is learning words."
"What does it say to you?"
"My name and your nameS.h"e dipped a hand over the side and dragged it across a hug"eIt vsianyes. you love me, Brett."
"That's crazy."

"That you love me?"
"No . . . that it knoYwosu.
know what I mean."
"Then it's true."
"Scudi . . H."e swallowed."It's obvious, huh?"
She nodded". Don't worry.I love you, too."
He felt a hot flush of exuberance plunge out of his cheeks.
"And the kelp knows that, too," she said.
Later, as Brett squatted in the coracle watching the distance to another kelp bed grow shorter and shorter, he heard Scudi's words over and over in his mem"Tohrey: kelp knows . . . the kelp knows . . ." The memory was like the gentle rise and fall of the seas beneath the wallowing boat.
It called our names, he thougAhdt.mitting this did not helIpt. could be calling us to be its dinner.
He turned his thoughts to something else Scudi had said in t"hIe lirkaeft:it that our bodies find comfort with each other."
A very practical womaNn.o giving in to the demands of sex, because that could complicate their lives. She did not hesitate to admit that she wanted him, though, and anticipation counted for soBmrett ing.
sensed the strength in her as he looked across the coracle to where she rested with both elbows hooked over a thwart.

"We're in the kelp," she saSihde.
dropped her left hand over the sBidree.tt wished they could explain
what she was doing, but he felt sure the others would think the explanation proof of insanity.
"Would you look at that!" Twisp sHaied. nodded toward something ahead of them.
Brett stood up and lookeAd. wide lane had opened through the kelp, the fronds spreading wide, then
completely aside, still spreading farther aheaHde. surged forward.
felt the water boil under them and the two coracles
"It's a current going our way," Twisp said, astonishment in his voice.
"Merman Current Control," Bushka sa"idS.ee! They know where we arTe.hey're delivering us someplace."
"That's right," Twisp sai"dD. irectly toward Vashon."
Scudi straightened and brought her dripping hand out of the Swhaetebr.ent forward and moved across the coracle, tipping it.
"Trim ship!" Twisp snapped.
She hesitated". The kelp," she said".It's helping usT. his isn't Current Control at all."
"How do you know?" Twisp asked.
"It . . . the kelp talks to me."

Now she's done it, Brett thought.
Bushka let out a loud snort of laughter.
Twisp, however, stared at her silently for a moment,"Ttheelnl :me more."
"I have shared images with the kelp for a long time," sh"Ae tsaleida.st three years since I first noticed. Now it speaks words in my heTado. Brett, tooT. he kelp called his name."
Twisp looked at Brett, who cleared his throat and said, "Well, that's how it seemed."
"Our ancestors claimed the kelp was sentient," Twisp "sEavide.n Jesus Lewis said community mind.'You're-a historian, Bushka, you should know all this."
"Our ancestors said a lot of crazy things!"
'iTt.he kelp is a
"There's always a reason," Twisp saHide. nodded at the lane through the k"eElpx.plain that."
"Current ControlT. he girl's wrong."
"Put your hand over the side," Scudi
"saTiodu. ch the kelp as we pass."
"Sure," Bushka said".Use your hand for baWit. ho knows what you might catch?"
Twisp merely leveled a cold stare at Bushka, then steered the coracle close to the right side of the open lane and dipped his long right arm over the Psriedsee.ntly, a look of amazement came over his fTahce.
expression hardened.

"Ship save us," he muttered, but he did not withdraw his hand.
"What is it?" Brett askeHde.
swallowed and thought about the sensation of kelp conCtoacutl.d he put
his hand over the side and renew that connectTiohne? idea both attracted and repelled hHime. no
longer doubted a central reality to the night's experience, but the intent of the kelp could not be accepted without question.
Scudi almost drownedT.hat is a fact.
"There's a sub coming behind us," Twisp said.
All of them peered back along their course but the surface gave no sign of what might be under it.
"They have us on their locator," Twisp said, "and they mean to sink us."
Scudi turned around and dipped both hands into the passing kelp.
"Help us," she whispere"dI.f you know what help is."
Bushka sat silent, pale-faced and shuddering at the entrance to the tiny cuddy in "tIht'es Gboawllo. w," he said."I told you."
With a slow stateliness the channel ahead of them began toAclpoasses.age opened to the leCftu. rrent surged into it, swinging the coracles wiTdhe.e towed supply boat pulled far to the rTigwhits. p fought the tiller to center his craft in the new channel.
"The channel's closing behind us," Brett said.

"The kelp is helping us," Scudi s"aIitd.is."
Bushka opened his mouth and closed it without speaAkilnl go. f them turned to stare where he pointed. A black conning tower broke surface, tipped and sank from Ksieglhpt. curled over the scenGe.iant
bubbles began breaking the surface, thick rainbows of air anSdmoailll. forcing the four people in the coracle to hold on to the rimlines.
waves surged under the boats,
As quickly as it had started, the turbulence subsTidheed.coracles continued their agitated rocking. Water splashed across the gunwaleTs.his, too, quieted.
"It was the kelp," Scudi sa"iTdh. e sub cut into the kelp trying to follow us."
Twisp nodded to where the kelp still curled among a few small bHuebbglerisp.ped the tiller with both hands, guiding them through a channel that curved open ahead of them, once more aiming toward Vashon. "The kelp did that?"
"It clogged the sub's intakes," Scudi s"aWid.hen the crew tried to blow ballast and surface, the kelp jammed vines into the ballast porWts.hen the crew tried to get out, the kelp tore them apart and crushed the sub."She jerked her hands out of the water, breaking contact with the kelp.
"I warned you it was dangerous," Brett said.
A stricken look on her face, Scudi nod"dIet'ds . finally learned to kill."

Hasn't the water of sleep dissolved our being?
-- Gaston Bachelard, "The Poetics of Reverie," from The Handbook of the Chaplain/Psychiatrist
Duque woke to a nudge, a deliberate jostling intended to do the wHaekihnagd.
been prodded,
pricked, rubbed, shocked, bled and rocked in his liquid cradle with the great Vata, but this was the first time since childhood that he had been nudgWedh.at surprised him was that it was Vata who did it.
You're awake! he thought, but there was no ansHweerf.elt a focus, a channeling of her presence such
as he had never felt befoFreo.r this he roused himself, twisted an arm up to his face and fisted his good eye open.
That brought the watchers to the Vata Pool on the dWouhbalte.he saw with his one eye was worth
calling those fools poolsideO. ne of Vata's huge brown eyes, her left one, was pressed nearly to his own.
It was openD.
uque swallowed hardH.
e was sure she could see him.
Vata?He tried it aloud":Vata?"
The growing crowd gasped, and Duque knew that the C/P would push her way to them soon.
He felt something breeze through his consciousness like a heavyIt swigahs. in it.But he felt themS.omething big, waiting.
a wind with hidden thoughts
Duque was shockedH. e had long been used to the mind-rocking power Vata could hurl between his eyes. This was the way she threw tantrums, by jamming whatever frustrated her right into hNisowh,ead. she sent him a vision of the C/P, naked, dancing in front of aFomrirsromr. e time now Vata had kept

the naked female thoughts out of his heaAdn. ger!Vata contained angerH.
e blocked out the anger and
riveted his inner eye on the supple, firm-breasted Chaplain/Psychiatrist who thrust her pale hips again and again at the mirrorT.he tank was unbearably warm.
Simone Rocksack's favorite robe lay in a trampled blue heap at hEevr efreyetht.ing in Duque strained to touch this vision, this body of raw beauty that the C/P locked away from the world.
That was when he saw the hanAdsp. air of large, pale hands snaked around her from behind and he watched in the mirror as they cupped her swaying breasts while she moved in a rhythmic step-slide,
step-slide. It was a man, a large man, and he continued his intense caress of her body until she slowed her dance and stopped, quivering, while his lips brushed her shoulders and breasts, her abdomen, those glistening thighs.The man's shock of blonde hair was magnet to her finHgeerrsh. ands pulled him close,
closer, and they began to make love with him standing behind her, facing the mirror.
The vision ended with an angry white flash and the name Gallow blared across his conscWiohuastness. he saw when he refocused on Vata's eye was danger.
"Danger," he muttered".Gallow danger.Simone, Simone."
Vata's great brown eye closed and Duque felt relieved of a massive, clawlike grip that had held his guts tight. He lay back, breathing deeply, and listened as the knot of watchers grew and the babble of their speculations lulled him back to sleep.
When the C/P came to poolside there was nothing visible of the strange thing the watchers reported.

To survive Pandora's time of madness, we were forced to go mad.
-- Iz Bushka, The Physics of Political Expression
Brett woke at dawn, feeling the coracle riding gently undeSr chuidmi . lay curled against his sidTew. isp sat at his usual place by the tiller but the boat chugged along on aButroepttilocot.uld see the little red traveler lights blinking across the face of the receiver, keeping them on course to Vashon.
Scudi sniffed in her sleeAp. light tarp kept the damp night air from both ofBtrheetmt .inhaled a deep
breath through his nose and faced the fact that he would never again accept the stench that surrounded
every place Islanders livedH. e had experienced the Mermen's filtered
Naior.w, the fish odors, the thick
miasma from Twisp's body, all of it forced Brett to think even more deeply about how his life had been changed.
I smelled like that, he thougIth'st. a good thing Scudi met me in the water.
Mermen joked about Islander stink, he knAewnd. sweet air down under.
Islanders returning topside spoke longingly of the
Scudi had said nothing on meeting Twisp, nor on boarding the cBouratctlhe.e distaste on her face had been evident.She had tried to hide it for his sake, he knew, but the reaction was unmistakable.
Brett felt guilty about his sudden embarrassment.
You shouldn't be embarrassed by your friends.

The first long shaft of dawn washed across the coracle, a lazy pink.
Brett sat up.
Twisp, his voice low and muffled at the stern, said, "Take the watIc'lhl ,nkeeidd. a few winks."
"Right."
Brett whispered to keep from waking ScSuhdei. lay curled up close, her back and hips fitting into the socket of his body as if they were built togeOthneer.hand lay flung backward around Brett's waHiset. gently disengaged her light grip.
Looking up at the clear sky, Brett thought, It's going to be a Hhoet solinde.out from beneath the tarp and felt the damp bow spray wet his hair and face.
Brett brushed a thick lock of hair from his eyes and crept aft to take the tiller.
"Gonna be a hot one," Twisp sBairde.tt smiled at the coincidencTe.hey thought alike now, no question about it.He scanned the horizonT.he boats still glided down a narrow avenue of current between the hedging kelp.
"Aren't we going kinda slow?" Brett asked.
"Eelcells are getting low," Twisp saHide. gestured with a foot at the telltale pink of discharge on the cellpack set into the dec"kG. onna have to stop and charge them or raise sail."
Brett wet a finger in his mouth and raised it to Tthheereairw. as only the coolness of their own passage
-- flat calm everywhere he looked, and gently undulating kelp fronds as far as the eye could see.

"We should be raising Vashon pretty soon," Twisp "sIaicda.ught the Seabird program while you were asleep. Everything's going well, so they say."
"I thought you wanted some shut-eye," Brett said.
"Changed my mindI. wanta see Vashon firs'St.ides, I miss all the times we'd just sit up and shoot the shit. I've just been dozing and thinking here since I relieved you at midnight."
"And listening to the radio," Brett sHaied. indicated the half-earphone jacked into the receiver.
"Real interesting, what they had to say," Twisp Hsaeidk.ept his voice low, his attention on the mound that was the sleeping figure of Bushka.
"Things are going well," Brett prompted.
"Seabird says Vashon is in sight of land that is well out of theHewadtesr.cribes black cliffHs.igh cliffs and waves foaming white at the baPseo. ple could live there, he says."
Brett tried to visualize this.
Cliff was a word Brett had heard ra"reHlyo.w could we get people and supplies up the cliff?" Brett asked. "And what happens if the sea rises again?"
"Way I see it, you'd have to be part bird to live there," Twisp"Ifagyreoeud.needed the seAa.nd fresh water might be scarce."
"LTA's might help."

"Maybe catch basins for the rain," Twisp mus"eBdu. t the big problem they're worried about is nerve runners."
In the bow, Bushka lifted himself out of his tarp and stared aft at Brett and Twisp.
Brett ignored the maNn.erve runners!He knew them only from the scant early holos and the histories from before the dark times of the rising sea and the death of the kelp.
"Once there's open land, there'll be nerve runners," Twisp"Tsahiadt.'s what the experts are saying."
"You pay for everything," Bushka saHide. patted the back of his open hand against his mouth, yawning widely.
Something had changed in Bushka, Brett realizWedh.en he accepted that his story about Guemes was believed, Bushka had become a tragicomic figure instead of a villain.
Did he change or is it just that we're seeing him different? Brett wondered.
Scudi lifted herself from beneath her tarp and said, "Did I hear somebody say something about nerve runners?"
Brett explained.
"But Vashon can see land?" Scudi ask"Rede.al land?"
Twisp nodded". So they say."He reached down and tugged at a pair of lines trailing over the side of the coracle.
Immediately, their squawks set up a flapping commotion beside the boat, spattering cold water all

around. Bushka caught most of the splashing.
"Ship's teeth!" he gaspe"dT. hat's cold!"
Twisp chuckled". Wakes you up good," he sa"idJu. st imagine what --" He broke off and bent his head in a listening attitude.
The others heard it, toAol.l turned toward the horizon on their port where the distant pulse of a hydrogen ram could be hearTd.hey saw it then -- a white line far off across the kelp.
"Foil," Bushka said".They're turning toward us."
"Their instruments have locked onto us," Twisp said.
"They're not going to Vashon . . . they're coming to us!" Bushka said.
"He may be right," Brett said.
Twisp jerked his chin down and "uBpr.ett, you and Scudi take your dive suits and thoseYkouits.hit
the water.Hide in the kelpB. ushka, there's an old green duffle bag under the deck forHwaaurdl .it out."
Brett, struggling into his suit, remembered what was in tha"tWbhaagt.'re you going to do with your spare net?" he asked.
"We'll lay it here."
"I don't have a dive suit," Bushka moaned.

"You'll hide under the tarp there in the cuddy," Twisp"Osvaiedr. the side, you twHo.urry it up, Scudi! String that net along the kelp."
Presently, after hurried preparations, Bushka burrowed his way beneath the tarp and crawled under the forward deck.Brett and Scudi rolled backward over the side of the boat, pulling the net wiTthhethem. sound of the approaching foil was growing louder.
Twisp stared toward the sounTdh.e foil was still eight or ten kilometers to port but closing faster than he had thought possibleH. e hauled in his squawks and caged them, then found two hanHdleinebsa.ited
them with dried muree and slung them over the side.
The raft!
It bobbed against the side of the supply coracle like a bTewacisopn. shot out a long arm, grabbed the
line and pulled it to hiHme.
slit it open, rolled the air out of it as fast as he could and stowed it under his
seat. Brett and Scudi, he saw, were getting something out of the supply cHoararcploeo. n? Damn! They had better hurry.
He glanced around his coracle thBenu.shka lay concealed under the bow cudTdyh.e net trailed aft. Scudi and Brett had gone under water into the Wkehlpy. did Brett want a harpoon? Twisp wondered. They were safely under the kelp, though, taking their surface air from beneath huge leaves.
Twisp cut his motor and slipped the lasgun out of its hiding place behHined phuimt i.t under a towel beside him on the seat and kept his hand on it.
"Bushka," he called".Stay as quiet as a dead fiIsfh.it's them . . . well, we don't kIn'lol wg.ive you the
all-clear if it's not.H" e wiped the back of his free hand across his m"oHuetrhe.
they are."
He raised a hand in greeting as the foil circled in over the kelp, scattering torn green fronds Iitn its wake. avoided the net and the side of the channel where Brett and Scudi had taken to the water.
No response came to his greeting, just intense stares from two dark figures in the higThwciospckpit.

saw streaks of green on the figures up thHeere.breathed deeply to slow his heartbeat and steady the trembling in his legs.
Be ready, he warned himself, but don't be jumpy.
The foil swung wide astern and sank into the channel through thTehekejlept. subsided to a faint hAiss. heavy wave rolled out from the foil's bow and rocked the coTrahcelesquawks set up a loud complaint.
Once more, Twisp raised a hand in greeting and waved the approaching foil to the left, indicating the long line of his net with its bobbing flWoahtse.n no more than twenty meters separated the craft, Twisp shouted, "Good weather and a good catch!"
He tightened his grip on the lasgTuhne. thwarts and soaked him.
choppy cross-waves set up by the foil broke over the coracle's
Still no response from the foil, which now loomed high over him and no more than ten mIettsers away.
side hatch slid open and a Merman appeared there in a camouflaged dive suit -- green blobs and stripes. The foil slid alongside and came to a stop.
The Merman standing above Twisp said, "I thought Mutes never fished alone."
"You thought wrong."
"I thought no Mute fished out of sight of his Island."
"This one does."
The Merman's quick eyes flitted over both coracles, followed the line of floats astern, then fixed on
Twisp.

"Your net's strung along a kelp bed," he "sYaiodu.
could lose it that way."
"Kelp means fish," Twisp saHide. where the catch is."
kept his voice level, calHme.
even flashed a smil"eF. ishermen go
Under the foil's bow, too low to be visible to the Merman, Twisp saw Scudi slip up for air, then drift down.
"Where's your catch?"
"What's it to you?"
The Merman squatted on the deck above Twisp and looked down "aLt ishtiemn,. shit-bug, you can
disappear out hereN.
ow I've got some questions and I want answIferIs. like the answers, you keep
your net, your boat, your catch and maybe you keep Daloivey.ou understand?"
Twisp remained silenOt. ut of the corner of one eye he caught a glimpse of Brett's head surfacing under the other side of the foil's boBwre. tt's hand came up gripping the harpoon from the supply coracle.
What's he doing with that thing? Twisp wondeArendd. he's in too close for me to use the stunshield if the chance comes.
"Aye," Twisp said".No catch yetJ. ust got set up.B" rett and Scudi disappeared from his sight around the other side of the foil.
"Have you seen anyone else on the water?" the Merman asked.
"Not since the wavewall."

The Merman looked at Twisp's grizzled, weather-beaten face and said, "You've been out ever since the wavewall?" There was awe in his voice.
"Yeah."
He dropped the aw"eA. nd no catch?" he snappe"dY. ou're not much of a fishermaNno. t much of a liar, either. You sit still, I'm coming aboardH."e signaled his intentions to someone out of view in the foil, then flipped a stubby ladder over the side.
The Merman's movements were deft and controlHleed.used no more than the minimal energy required for each actionT. wisp noted this and felt a deep sense of caution.
This man knows his body, Twisp thouAghntd. surprise. But Twisp knew his own strengthHse. lasgun under his towel.
it's a weaponI.t would be difficult to take this man by had leverage and a net-puller's powHeer. also had a
The Merman began lowering himself into the corOacnle foot probed backward for the thwart and, as the Merman put his weight onto that foot, Twisp moved backward as though compensating for the weight shift.The Merman smiled and released both hands from the laHddeert.urned to make the last
step down into the coraclTe.wisp reached his long left arm out to steady the man and, as he moved,
shifted his weightT. wisp allowed the man to feel a firm grip in the clasp of the hand, steadying him against the roll of the boat until the last possible bTlhinekn., in one smooth move, Twisp shifted farther toward
the Merman, shortened his long-armed grip and tipped that side of the boat completely undeTrhewater. Merman lurched forwardT. wisp twisted his grip, jerking the man toward Thihme. long left arm released
its grip and snaked around the Merman's neck while the other hand came up with the lasgun pressed against the back of his head.
"Don't move or you could disappear out here," Twisp said.
"Go ahead and kill me, MutTe!h"e Merman thrashed against Twisp.
Twisp tightened his griMp.uscles that single-handedly pulled loaded nets over a coracle's rim stood out in sinewy ropes.

"Tell your mates to step out on deck!" Twisp growled.
"He won't come out and he's going to kill you," the Merman
Hcheoktwedis. ted again in the powerful
grip. One foot braced against a thwart and he tried to push Twisp backward.
Twisp lifted the lasgun and brought it down sharply against the manT'shheeaMd.erman grunted and went limp.Twisp lifted the lasgun's barrel toward the open hatch and started tHoeridsied.n't like the idea of going up that ladder fully exposed.
Brett appeared in the hatchway, saw the lasgun directed at him and ducked, s"hWouet'ivneg:got the foil! Don't shoot!"
Twisp noted blood down Brett's left side, then, and felt his stomach "tYigohutenh.urt?"
"No.It's not meB. ut I think we killed this guy in hSecrued. i's trying to help himB."rett shuddered."He wouldn't stop.He came right at the harpoon!"
"Only one in there?"
"Right.Just the two of themT.his is the foil Scudi and I stole."
"Bushka," Twisp called, "practice your knots on this the coracle's motor box.
Honee.h"eaved the unconscious Merman across
Bushka crept aft, trailing a length of line from theHbeowlo.oked fearful, and kept well back of the
Merman.
"Know him?" Twisp asked.

"Cypher.Works for Gallow."
Scudi appeared in the hatchway behind BSrehtte.
looked pale, her dark eyes wide.
"He's dead," she sai"dH. e kept telling me I had to feed his body to theHkeerlph."ands didn't know what to do with their smears of blood.
"This one wouldn't give up, eitheTrw."isp looked to where Bushka was tying the limp Merman's hands behind his back and then to his f"eTeht.ey're crazy."Twisp returned his attention to ScuSdih.e slipped a black-handled survival knife back into its sheath at her thigh.
"How'd you get inside?T"wisp asked.
"There's a diver's hatch on the other side," Brett"Ssaciudd.i knows how to work Wit.e waited until that
one stepped off into the boat before boardTinhge.
pilot didn't suspect a thing until we were right behind
him." Brett was talking fast, almost breathle"sWs. hy'd he keep coming for me, QueeHtse? could see I
had the harpoon."
"He was stupid," Twisp sa"idY.ou weren't."He glanced at Scudi above him, then at her knife.
She followed the direction of his gaze and said, "I didn't know if he was faking."
That one can take care of herself, Twisp thought.
Bushka stood up from tying the MermHaen.looked the foil over approving"lyW. e've got ourselves a machine."
The Merman on the deck beneath him stirred and muttered.

"Kid!"Twisp used the command tone that Brett remembered so well from their daysHaet sea. responded without thinking": Sir?"
"You think we should move aboard the foil?"
Brett flashed a wide gr"inY.es, sir.It's bigger, faster, more mobile and more seaworIthcye. rtainly do think we should move aboard, sir."
"Scudi, can we get my coracles aboard of her?"
"The cargo hatch is plenty wide enough," she said, "and there's a winch."
"Brett," Twisp said, "you and Scudi start moving our gear aIbzoaarndd. of this chunk of eelshit."
I will just ask a few questions
"If you want to help the kids," Bushka said, "I can handle this oneHealonnued.g"ed the Merman at his feet with a toe.
Twisp studied Bushka for a couple of blinks, noting the new tone of assurance in the mAann'gs evr oice. crawled across Bushka's face now and it was directed at the captive.
"Find out what he was looking for," Twisp "sWaihda. t was he doing out here?"
Bushka nodded.
Twisp took his boat's bow line and tied it to a foil strut below the boardinTghelyadbdeegra.n shifting gear, moving presently to the tow coracle.

When both coracles were emptied, Twisp pausHeed. heard Brett and Scudi shifting gear aboard the foil. In the dozens of trips they'd made packing supplies, the two youngsters had touched, bumped against each other or brushed together as often as appeared discreetly poTsswibislep. felt good just watching them.Nothing in the world ever felt as good as love, Twisp thought.
Below Twisp, Bushka sat back on his heels, glaring at the captive Merman.
"You getting anything from him?" Twisp asked.
"They've taken the Chief Justice."
"Shit," Twisp snapped".Let's haul that tow coracle aboarKde. ep at him."
Even with the winch, it was sweaty work getting the first coracle Sacbuodairdo. pened a cargo compartment aft of the loading hatch and the three of them wrestled the boaTt hienysidlea.shed it against cleats in the walls.
Scudi stepped out onto the loading deck, glanced behind her and sti"fYfeonuedb. etter come out and look," she saidS. he was pale as a sun-washed cloud.
Twisp hurried outside, followed by Brett.
Bushka stood over the bound MermTanh.e man was no longer lashed to the coracle's Tbhoew.naked
Merman had been pulled to a hanging position, hung by the wrists, bound up behind his shoulder blades. His dive suit lay in ragged pieces about the deck and his knees barely touched thBeusfhlokoarsh.eld a
fish-knife in his right hand, its slender tip directed at the Merman's belly.
The muscles of the captive's arms stood out red but his thin drawn lips weHreis wshoitue.lders strained at their socketsH. is penis was a shrunken stump of fear tucked against his pelvis.

"All right," Twisp demanded, "what's going on?"
"You wanted information," Bushka sa"idI'.m getting informationT. rying out a few tricks Zent bragged about."
Twisp squatted in the opening, suppressing feelings of revul"sTiohna.t so?"He kept his voice level.
When Bushka turned, Twisp realized that this was not the whining castaway he had jerked out of the
sea. This one talked slow and eveHne.
did not take his eyes off the target.
"He claims the kelp makes them immortal," Bushka "sTahide.y have to be fed to the kelp when they die. I told him we'd burn him and keep the ashes."
"Take him off the cleat, Iz," Twisp
"sYaido.u shouldn't treat a man that wHaya.ul him aboard here."
A sullen expression flitted across Bushka's face and was Hgoenteu.rned and cut the captive dowTnh.e
Merman flexed his arms behind his back, restoring circulation.
"He says the kelp keeps your identity, all your memories, everything," Bushka said.
Scudi pulled Brett close and whisper"eTdh: at may be possible."
Brett merely nodded, looking down at where Bushka had been torturing the Hcaeptfivoue.nd the thought of what Bushka had done revolting.
Sensing Brett's reaction, Scudi sa"idD:o you think Iz would really have killed and burned him?"
Brett swallowed in a dry throHaot.nesty forced him to sa"yI: harpooned the guy in the foil."

"That was differentT!hat one would've killed yoTu.his one was tied and helpless."
"I don't know," Brett said.
"He scares me," Scudi said.
The foil lurched slightly, and agaSionm.
ething uncoiled into the sea behind them.
"Net," Brett whispered".Twisp cut it loose.A" nd it broke his heart, he thougFhist.h dying for nothing always breaks his heart.
A chill wind passed over them and they both lookeTdhinupc. louds had begun a drift in from the north and there was a light chop to the water where the kelp opened that stranTghee llaannee. still pointed
them directly toward Vashon.
"I thought it was going to stay hot," Brett said.
"Wind's changed," Twisp sai"dL. et's get this boat aboarVd.ashon might be in for a bad time after all."
They secured the boat, sealed the hatch and joined Scudi and Bushka in the pilSoct uhdoi utsoeo. k the command chair, with Bushka standing to one side, flexing his fiRngaegres. still seethed in Bushka's eyes.
"Iz," Twisp said, his voice lo"wW.ould you really have cooked that Merman alive?"
"Every time I close my eyes, I see Guemes and GaBlluoswh.k"a glanced aft where they had left the
Merman secured."I'd be awful sorry, I know, but .H.e .s"hrugged.

"Not much of an answer."
"I think I'd burn him," Bushka said.
"That wouldn't help you sleep any better," Twisp Hsaeidn. odded at Scud"i.Let's get this thing to
Vashon."
Scudi fired up the ram and gently lifted the foil up onto Iints astmepi.nute they were scudding along the kelp channel with a slight bouncing motion against the chop.
Twisp directed Bushka to a couch at the rear of the pilotSihtotiunsge.beside Bushka, Twisp asked, "Did he say how they captured Keel?"
"Off another foiTl.hey had two foils then."
"Where's Gallow?"
"He's gone to Outpost Twenty-two on the other foil," Bushka"Tshaaidt'.s the rocket pickup statioHn.e thinks there's an army in the hyb tanWksh.oever opens them owns themH.e wants control of both launch and recovery and obviously he thinks he can get it."
"Is it possible?"
"An army in the hyb tanks?" Bushka sno"rAtendy. thing's possible.They could come out shooting for all we know."
"What does he want with Keel?"

"Trade.For Vata.He wants Vata."
"Gallow's crazy!" Brett blurte"dI.'ve been downcenter and seen the Vata support sysItte'sm.big.They couldn't possibly . . ."
"Cut out the whole support complex with a sub," Bushka"Sseaaild.it off, tow it oTuth.ey could do it."
"They'd need doctors --"
"They have their doctor," Bushka sa"iWd.hen they snatched Keel they picked up Kareen GAallel.ow's covering all angles."
Silence came over the pilot cabin while the ram pulsed aroundThtheemfo.ils slapped the seas in a well-absorbed rhythm.
Twisp looked forward to Scudi in the pilot's "sSecaut.di, can we make radio contact with Vashon?"
"Anyone could hear," she spoke without looking back.
Twisp shook his head once in frustrated indecision.
Without warning, Bushka yanked the lasgun from Twisp's pocket and jammed it against his ribs.
"Up!" Bushka snapped.
Stunned, Twisp obeyed.

"Very careful how you move," Bushka s"aIidk. now how strong you are."
Brett saw the lasgun in Bushka's ha"nWd.hat's --"
"Sit!" Bushka ordered.
Brett sank back into the seat beside ScSuhdei. glanced aft, eyed the scene and jerked her attention back to her course.
"Whether we radio or take the message to Vashon in person, it's all the same," Bu"sGhkaalloswaid. learns that his secret is oButu. t right now, we have the advantage of surpHriese.thinks this is his foil."
"What do you mean?" Twisp asked.
"Turn this foil around, Scudi," Bushka orde"rWed.e're going after GallowI. should've killed him when I
had the chance."
Don't call me her fathIerw.
as nothing more than an instrument of Vata's concep"tFioanth.er" and
"daughter" don't applyV.
ata was born more than the sum of our pI acrtasu. tion the sons and the

daughters after usR: emember that Vata is more mother to us than sister to you.
-- Kerro Panille, Family Papers
Shadow Panille stood in the gloom of Current Control thinking that at last he had found the woman of his life. With Kareen Ale, he had the faith that only Merman-normal offspring could evidence.
Current Control was aswarm with work, the usual routines preempted by the impending launch and the code yellow grounding of Vashon.
"Too many people working too hard for too long," he muttered to hImimpsuellsfe.s moved out into the kelp from Current Control, signals of drift sensors flashed in their cobalt-blue nuLmTeAralsr.eports
were rolling on the number six screen.
Wouldn't get me up in one of those things, he thLoiugghhtet.r-Than-Air craft challenged a medium where unstable currents and the unforeseen were standard isAsuire.was much more dangerous than water.
Safest down under, he thougShta.fety had taken on a new attraction to more time with this woman.
Hhiem.wanted to live to spend
Where is Kareen right nowH?e found himself facing this question constantly since their separaBtiyon.
now she would be at Launch BaPsaen. ille didn't like to think of the distance separating them . . . distance was time, and after that last night he didn't want to spend any time without her.
His head had ached and he had been dizzy with fatigue but still sleep had
Enovterycomtime.e his
eyelids slipped his head filled with visions of Guemes survivors littering the triagTeofrlnoofrl.esh, blood, moans and whimpers still ghosted around him in the dim bustle of Current Control.
Kareen, too, had been drained of enerTghye.y had gone to her quarters with little discussion, each aware only of the need to be together, alive after wading through all thaTthdeyeathha.d walked from

the tube station, holding handPsa. nille had held himself under tight control, sure that a white-tipped anger might explode if he once relaxeSdo.mething hot and twisting clenched his guts.
Where plaz lined the corridors, the ripple effect of surface light combined with the cadence of their steps to mesmerize Panille into a dreamy detachmeHnet. felt that he floated above himself, watching their
swaying progress.There was tenderness in the arms, the bone-weary arms, and in Kareen's cheek as it
brushed his shoulderH.
er muscles worked their smooth magic and he no longer suspected that she might
try to rule him with her body.
At her quarters, Panille had stared out at a different kind of undersea, a garden lush with ferns waving and butterfly fish grooming the leavAes. thick column of kelp spiraled upward out there, twisting and untwisting with some distant surge.
No death hereN. o signs of the Guemes disaster.
Just at the edge of visibility lay the Blue Reef with corridors of pale blue vine-tulips that opened and closed like small mouths beyond the plBazri.ght orange flashes of minuscule shrimp darted in and out, feeding on the vine-tulip stamenKs.areen led him to her bedroom.
They did not hesitatKe.areen stood tiptoe and pressed her mouth againstHheirs. open eyes watched
his eyes and he saw himself reflected in her black pHueprilsh. ands pressed at first against his chest, then slipped around his neck and unfastened his brHaiedr. fingers felt strong and suSreu.rgeon's fingers, he thought. His black hair spread over his shouldePrasn. ille brought his hands down from her shoulders to her tunic, releasing it clasp by clasp.
They undressed each other slowly, wordlessWlyh. en she stepped out of her underwear, the light caught and danced in the flaming red triangle of her Hhearir.nipples pressed like children's noses against his
ribs.
We have decided to live, he thought.
The vision of Kareen Ale was a mantra that shut out all doubts about hNisotwhionrglde. xisted in memory except the two of them and their perfectly complementary bodies.

As they had started slipping into sleep, Kareen startled them both with a sudSdheen ccluryn.g to him then like a child.
"Bad dreams," she whispered.
"Bad reality is worse."
"Dreams are real while you're in them," she "sYaiodu. away. We heal each other."
know, every time I think of us, the bad goes
Her words and the pressure of her against him stirred Panille fully Kaawreaekne. sighed, rolled astride him in one smooth movement and gripped him deep insideHehrerb. reasts brushed his chest as they swayed back and forthH. is breath was her breath then, and she called out his name as she collapsed, gasping, against him.
Panille held her gently, stroking her back.
"Kareen," he said.
"Mm?"
"I like to say your name."
He remembered this as he stood watch in Current Control and murmured her name under hItis breath. helped.
The main entry hatch to Current Control behind Panille swung open with a sharp hiss, indicating quick entry without waiting for the outer lock to Sseuarlp.rised, Panille started to turn and felt hard metal
pressed against his backA.
downward glance showed him a lasgun against his fPlaenshil.le recognized
the man holding it -- Gulf Nakano, Gallow's mNak.ano's bulky form stepped clear of the entry way,

pushing Panille ahead of himN.akano was followed by three other Mermen, all dive-suited, all armed and all thin-lipped serious.
"What is this?" Panille demanded.
"Shhhh," Nakano hissedH. e motioned the others around him, th"eAn:ll right!Everybody stand up!"
Panille watched the other intruders move swiftly, methodically to equidistant positions near the center of the room.One operator protested and was clubbed to the dPeacnki.lle started to speak but Nakano
thrust a huge palm against his mouth, saying, "Stay alive, PIatn'sillbe.etter."
The three attackers set their lasguns on short-flame and began demolishing Current CPloanztrmol.elted and popped, control boards sizzleSd.mall black snakes of vinyl precipitated out of theEvaeirry. thing
was done with a chilling deliberatioIn. less than a minute, it was all over and Panille knew they would be at least a year replacing this . . . brain.
He was outraged but the destruction daunted in their eyes.
Hhiims .assistants leaned against one wall, shock and fear
One woman knelt over the downed operator, dabbing at the side of his face with a corner of her blouse.
"We have Kareen Ale," Nakano sa"iId'm.
told that would interest you."
Panille felt his chest tighten.
"Your cooperation insures her safety," Nakano s"aYido.u are to come with us, on a litter as a casualty we're transporting for the medics."
"Where are we going?"

"That's not your concerJnu.st tell me whether you will come quietly."
Panille swallowed, then nodded.
"We're welding the inner hatch closed as we leave," Nakano"Esvaeidry. one here will be safWe. hen the next shift tries to get in, you'll get out."
One of the Mermen stepped forwa"rNd.akano," he whispered past Panille, "Gallow said we should --" "Shut up!" Nakano sai"dI.'m here and he's noTt.he next shift doesn't come in for at least four hours." At Nakano's nod two of his men brought an emergency litter from the space between the hatches.
Panille lay on the litter and was strapped Ato bitl.anket was tucked around him.
"This is a medical emergency," Nakano s"aWid.e hurry but we don't ruCna.rry him through all
hatchways headfirst.Panille, you close your eyeYs.ou're unconscious and I want you to stay that way or
I'll make it real."
"I understand."
"We don't want anything nasty happening to the lady."
This thought haunted Panille as they maneuvered through the hatchways and corridor.
Why me?Panille couldn't imagine being that important to Gallow.
They stopped at a transport tube and Nakano tapped out the EmergencyThceodnee.xt car stopped and a half-dozen curious faces peered out at Panille's form on the litter.

"Quarantine!" Nakano said, his voice cu"Ertv. erybody out.Don't get too close."
"What's he got?" one woman askSehde.
skirted the litter widely.
"Something new picked up from the Mutes," Nakano "sWaied'.re getting him out of CoTreh.is car will be sterilized."
The car emptied quickly and Panille's bearers hustled him iTnshieded. oors snicked closed and Nakano chuckled. "Every sniffle, every ache and pain will have sickbay crowded for days."
"Why all this rush?" Panille ask"eAd.nd why cook Current Control?"
"Launch countdown has been resumed now that the Guemes matter iMs oedviecra.l emergency guarantees us a fast, nonstop trTiph.e rest . . . trade secrets."
"What does the launch have to do with us?"
"Everything," Nakano said".We're headed for Outpost Twenty-two, the recovery station for the hyb tanks."
Panille felt the hot surge of adrenalTinhee.
hyb tanks!
"Why take me there?" he asked.
"We've set up a new current contYroolu. 're going to direct it."

"I thought you were too smart to get caught up in Gallow's wake," Panille said.
A slow smile touched Nakano's heavy f"aWce.e're going to free hundreds, maybe thousands, of
humans in hybW.
e're going to liberate the prison they've endured for thousands of years."
Panille, strapped on the litter, could only look from Nakano to the three heAnclhl mtherne.e wore the same bliss-ninny grins.
"People from the hyb tanks?" Panille asked, his voice low.
Nakano nodded". Genetically clean -- pure humans."
"You don't know what's up there," Panille
"saNido.body knows."
"Gallow knows," Nakano saiTd.here was hard belief in his voice, the kind of tone that indicates the necessity to believe.
The transport capsule's overhead panel came to life and a recorded male voice droned: "Lighter-Than-Air, Base Bravo loading facility."
The hatches hissed opePn.anille's litter was picked up and carried out onto the loading platform with near-surface light trickling through heavy plaz panels overhead.
Panille watched as much as he could through slitted eyelids.
An LTA facility? he wondereBdu. t they said we were .T.he. him to the outpost!
truth dawned -- they were going to fly
He almost opened his eyes but restrained himBselolfw. ing it now would not bring him closer to Kareen.

The litter moved with swift lurches and Panille heard Nakano's voice behin"dMehdimic:al emergency, clear the way."
Panille's slitted eyes showed him the LTA gondola interior -- a squashed sphere about ten meters in diameter. It was nearly all plaz, with a canopy of gray above the orange hydrogHeen fboaugn.d himself
both excited and fearful, filled with confusion at this fierce acHtiveityh.eard the hatch seal behind him and Nakano's unruffled voice.
"We made iYt. ou can relax, PanilleE.verybody in here is secure."
Panille's straps were loosed and he sat up.
"Tether release in two minutes," the pilot reported.
Panille looked up at the orange canopy -- the bag was a taper of pleats, its long folds hung down against
the cabin's plazO.
nce they were up and clear of the tube, more hydrogen would flow into the bag and fill
it out.He glanced right and left, saw the two hydrogen jets that would propel them once they were topside.
The whine of a cable winch filled the gondolaTtheenp. ilot said, "Strap down, everyonAe. bit rough up there today."
Panille found himself dragged backward into a seat beside NaAkanstor.ap was fitted around his waist.
He kept his attention on the piNloot. mollusks.
one spokeS. witches clicked like the hard-shelled chatter of
"Topside hatch open," the pilot said, speaking into a microphone at his throat.
A halo of white light filtered around the bag above them.

The cabin lurched and Panille glanced out to his left, momentarily dizzy with the sensation that the gondola had stayed stationary and the launch tube was moving downward past him at increasing speed.
The winch sound silenced abruptly and he heard the hiss of the bag against the tubTeh'se wbaglls.
cleared the tube then and light washed the caPbainni.lle heard a gasp behind him, then they were clear of the water, into a cloudy gray day, swaying beneath the expanding hydrogeTnhebajge.ts swung out with
a low whine and were igniteTdh.e swaying motion of the gondola steadiAedlm. ost immediately, they entered a rain squall.
"Sorry, we won't be able to see the rocket launch because of this weather," the
Hpielotfliscakiedd. a
switch beside him and a small screen on the panel in front of him cam"eWaeligchant. watch the official coverage, though."
Panille couldn't see from where he sat and the pilot had the sound turneTdhedogwondola emerged from the rainstorm, still pelted by the runoff from the bag oveTrheayd.began swaying wildly and the pilot fought to control the motioHni.s flurried movement had little effePcat.nille noted with some
satisfaction that the Merman guards had green expressions that had nothing to do with their camouflage.
"What's going on?T"his was a woman's voice from behind PanAillev. oice he could not mistakHee.
froze, then slowly turned and stared past his capKtoarrse. en. She sat beside the entry hatch where she
had been hidden from him as he enteHreedr. cheeks, and she did not meet his gaze.
face was very pale, her eyes dark shadows above her
Panille felt a hard emptiness in his stomach.
"Kareen," he said.
She did not respond.
The gondola continued to lurch and sway.

Nakano looked worried".What's going on, pilot?"
The pilot pointed to a display on the board to hisParnigilhlet. tore his gaze away from Kareen Ale's
ashen face.He could not see all that was indicated on the control panel, only the last two numbers of a digital display and those were changing so rapidly they were a blur.
"Our homing frequency," the pilot explain"eIdt . won't stay on target."
"We can't find the outpost without locking on the right frequency," NakanTohesraeidw. as fear in his voice.
The pilot withdrew his hand and this revealed once more the display for the launch bTrhoeadcast. picture was gone, replaced by wavelike lines and pulsing colored ribbons.
"Try your radio," Nakano ordere"dM. aybe they can talk us in."
"I am trying it!" the pilot sHaied.flipped a switch and cranked up the volume coAntrokle.ening, rhythmic sound filled the gondola.
"That's all I'm getting!" the pilot s"aSido.me kind of interferenceW. eird music."
"Tones," Panille murmured".Sounds like computer music."
"What's that?"
Panille repeated iHt. e glanced back at KareeWn. hy wouldn't she meet his eyeSsh?e was very pale. Had they drugged her?
"Our altimeter just went out," the pilot ca"lWlede.'re adrift.I'm taking us up above this weather."

He punched buttons and moved his contrTohlse.re was no apparent response from the LTA.
"Damn!" the pilot swore.
Panille stared once more at the screen on the pilot's Tboheardp.attern was familiar, though he wouldn't
tell Nakano.It was a pattern Panille knew he had seen on his own screens in Current Control -- a kelp response. It was what they saw when the kelp complied with an instruction to shift the great currents in Pandora's sea.
The repressed share the psychoses and neuroses of the cAagsedth.e caged run when released, the repressed explode when confronted with their condition.
-- Raja Thomas, the Journals
17 Alki, 468I.n captivity at Outpost 22.

Jealousy is a great teacher if you alloEwveint. the Chief Justice can learn much from his jealousy of Mermen. Compared to Mermen, we Islanders live squalid liWvese. are poorT. here are no secrets among the poorT. he squalor and close sweat of our lives oozes information and rEuvmenor.the most
clandestine arrangements become publicB. ut Mermen thrive on secrecIyt. is one of their many luxuries.
Secrecy begins with privacy.
As Chief Justice of the Committee on Vital Forms I enjoy private qNuoartmerso.re stacked cubbies pressed head to foot along some rimside bulkheNaod. more feet stepping on hands in the night or grunting lovers bumping against your back.
Privilege and privacy, two words that share the sameBruototd.own under, privacy is the norm.
My imprisonment represents a special kind of privaTcyh.ese Green Dashers do not understand that. My captors appear exhausted and a little boBreodr.edom opens paths into secrecy, thus I anticipate learning something of their lives because their lives are now mHyolwife.little they understand of true secrecy. They do not suspect the chanting in my head that records these things that I may share with others if I wish . . . and if I survive thaTt hleosneg.fanatics give no quarteGr.uemes is proof that they
can commit murder skillfully and easily . . . perhaps even cheeIrfhuallvye. chances here.
few illusions about my
Little can survive me except my record on the CommI itatedem. it to a little pride about that recAonrdd.
some regrets about my other choiceTsh.e child that Carolyn and I should have had . . . she would have been a daughter, I thinBk.y now there would be grandchildreDni.d I have the right to prevent that generation out of fearT?hey would have been beautifuAl!nd wise, yes, like Carolyn.
Gallow wonders why I sit here with my eyelids opened only Stoomsleitism. es, he laughs at what he
sees. Gallow dreams of dominating our worIlnd. that, he is no different from Scudi's faRthyearn.
Wang
fed people to control themG.eLaar Gallow killsT. heir other differences are just as profouInds.uppose death is a form of absolute contrTohl.ere are many kinds of deaIth.see this because I have no grandchildren. I have only those whose lives have passed through my hands, those who have survived because of my word.
I wonder where Gallow sent that big assistant, NakWanhoa?t a monster . . . on the outsTihde. very vision of a terrorisBt. ut Nakano's goals are not on the surfaNcoe. one could call him transpareHnti.s hands are gentle when there is no need for his great strength.

They have suspended this foil beneath the surfMacoer.e secrecy.More privacy.Such stillness can be
frightening. I am beginning to find it captivating -- I see that my mind jokes with me in its choice of words. Privacy, too, is captivatingI.slanders do not know this reality of life down uTnhdeyr. imagine only the
privacy. They envy the privacyT.hey do not imagine the stillneWss.ill my people ever encounter this immense quiet?I find it difficult to believe that the C/P will order all Islanders to move dowHnowunder. could she do thisW? here could the Mermen put us and not lose their precious prBivuatcye?ven more
than fear of Ship, our envy would cause us to Iobceayn.not believe that Ship enters into such a scheme except by innuendoA. nd the innuendo of Ship suffers a sea of change in human interprAetation.
moment's reflection back through the histories, especially upon the writings of that maverick C/P, Raja
Thomas, makes this as clear as plAazh., Thomas, what a brilliant survivor you wIerteh!ank Ship that
your thoughts have come down to mFoer.
I, too, know what it is to be caIgkendo. w what it is to be
repressed. And I know myself better because of ThomLaiks.e him, I can turn to my memory for
company, and he is there, toNoo. w, with kelp to record us, no lock seals the hatchway to memory . . . ever.
If you don't know about numbers you can't appreciate coincidence.
-- Scudi Wang
Brett marveled at Scudi's contrAoll.l during the ordeal in the control cabin her attention remained on the operation of the foiSl.he kept them skimming along the edge of the kelp in the bright light of morning,
avoiding stray tangles of leaves that might catch the sTtrhuetsre.
were moments when Brett thought the
kelp opened special channels for the fDoiilr.ecting them?Why would it do thaSt?cudi's eyes widened

from time to timeW. hat did she see in the kelp channels to cause that reaHcteior nt?an face paled at
what she heard behind her where Twisp and Bushka argued, but she kept the foil cruising smoothly toward its rendezvous with Gallow.
Her reaction was not natural, Brett thouBghuts.hka was crazy to think they could surprise Gallow and overcome him -- just the four of them hVearesh. on had to learn what was happeniSncgu. di must realize this!
Within an hour they came out of the heaviest kelp infestation onto open water where the seas were steeper and the motions of the foil more abrupt.
Bushka sat alone on the command couch at the rear of the cabin, forcing Twisp to sit on the floor well away from himB. etween them, trussed like a kelp-tangled dasher, their captive Merman lay quiet. Occasionally he opened his eyes to study his surroundings.
Twisp bided his timBe.rett understood the big fisherman's silent waitiTngh.ere was a limited future arguing with a man holding a lasgun.
Brett studied Scudi's profile, the way she kept her attention on the water ahead of them, the way she tensed when she corrected coursAe. muscle in her cheek trembled.
"Are you all right?" Brett asked.
Her knuckles whitened on the wheel and the tremble disappeSahreedl.ooked childlike in that big seat
with the spread of instruments around hSecru. di still wore her dive suit and he could see a red irritation where it rubbed against her necTkh.is made him acutely conscious of the constrictions in his own suit.
"Scudi?"
She barely whispered":I'm OK."

She took a deep breath and relaxed against the paddedHeseasat.w the whiteness retreat from her
knuckles. The foil lurched and shuddered along the wavetops and Brett wondered how long it could take such punishment.Twisp and Bushka began a conversation too low for Brett to make out more than the occasional word.He glanced back at them and focused on the lasgun still held firmly in Bushka's hands. Its muzzle pointed in the general direction of Twisp and the Merman.
What was Bushka really doinWg?as it only rageS?urely Bushka could never escape memories of his part in the Guemes massacrKe.illing Gallow wouldn't erase those memories, it would only add more.
Scudi leaned toward Brett then and whispered, "It's going to be a bad storm."
Brett jerked his attention around and looked out the sweep of plaz, aware for the first time that the
weather was changing dramaticallyA.
gusting wind from port had begun to blast the tops off the waves,
whipping scuds of foam along the surfaAce.gray curtain of rain slanted into the sea ahead, closing the
tenuous gap between black clouds and gray waTtehre.
day suddenly had the feel of cold mHeteal.
glanced up at the position vector on the overhead screen and tried to estimate their time to Gallow and his hunt of Green Dashers.
"Two hours?" he asked.
"That's going to slow us.S"cudi nodded toward the storm line ahe"aFda.sten your safety harness."
Brett swung the shoulder strap across his chest and locked it in place.
They were into the rain thVenis.ibility dropped to less than a hundred metGerrse.at pelting drops
roared on the foil's metal fabric and overcame the airblast wipers on the cabSincudpilazb.acked off the throttle and the foil began to pitch even more with the steepening waves.
"What's going on?" Bushka demanded.
"Storm," Scudi said".Look at it."

"How soon will we get there?" Bushka asked.
His voice had taken on a new note, Brett reaNlizoet de. xactly fear . A. n. xiety? Uncertainty? Bushka had the Islander's dreamlike admiration for foils but really did not understandHtohwemw. ould the foil survive a storm?Would they have to stop and submerge?
"I don't know how long," Scudi s"aAidl.l I know is we're going to have to slow down more, and soon."
"Don't waste any timeB!"ushka ordered.
It had grown darker in the cabin and the wave action outside looked mean -- long, rolling combers with their tips curling whiteT.hey were still in kelp, though, with a broken channel through it.
Scudi switched on the cabin lights and began paying more attention to the screens overhead and in front of her.
Brett saw his own reflection in the plaz and it startleHd ishitmhi.ck blonde hair fanned his head in a wild halo. His eyes were two dark holes staring back at Thhime .gray of the storm had become the gray of
his eyes, almost dasher-blackF.or the first time, he realized how close to Merman-normal he appeared.
I could pass, he thought.
He wondered then how much this fact figured in his attraction forIt Swcuadsi.an abrupt and startling thought, which made him feel both closer and more removed fromThehyer.were Islander and Merman and they always would bWe. as it dangerous to think that they might pair?
Scudi saw him staring toward the plaz in front of them.
"Can you see anything?" she asked.

He knew immediately she was asking whether his mutant eyesight could help them now.
"Rain's just as bad for my eyes as it is for yours," he "tTolrdustheyro. ur instruments."
"We've got to slow down," she s"aAidn.d if it gets much worse we'll have to submIe'vrgee.never --"
She broke off as a violent, creaking shudder engulfed the foil, rattling the hardware until Brett thought the boat might splitS. cudi immediately backed the throttlTe.he foil dropped off the step with an abrupt
plowing motion that sent it sliding down a wave face and pitched it up the Bnerexttt ownaes. against his safety harness hard enough to take his breath away.
hurled
Curses and scrambling noises came from behind Hhiem.whirled and saw Bushka picking himself up off the deck, clutching the grabs beside the couch he had occuHpiisedr.ight hand still gripped the lasgun. Twisp had been dumped into a corner with the captive Merman atoOp nheimlo.ng arm came out of the
tangle, pushing the captive aside, finding a handhold and lifting himself to a standing position at the side of the cabin.
"What's happening?" Bushka shouteHd.e shifted his grip to a handhold behind his couch and eased himself onto the cushions.
"We're into kelp," Scudi sa"idIt.'s fouled the strutsI.'ve had to retract them, but they're not coming fully back."
Brett kept his attention on BushTkha.e foil was riding easier, its jet only a low murmur far back in the stern. It was in Scudi's hands now and he half suspected she had exaggerated the nature of their predicament. Bushka, too, looked undecidedH. is large head bobbed in the constant motion of the foil as he tried to peer past Scudi at the stoBrrmet.t was suddenly struck by how Mermanlike Bushka
appeared -- powerful shoulders tapering to sinewy, almost delicate hands.
The assault of the wind and waves against the hull increased.

"There's a heavy kelp bed in our path," Scudi"Istaisdh.ouldn't be hereI. think it may have broken loose in the stormW. e don't dare go up on the step again."
"What can we do?" Bushka demanded.
"First, we'll have to clear the struts so I can retract them," s"hHeusllaiidn.tegrity is vital for control. Especially if we have to submerge."
"Why can't we just clear the struts and go back up on the foils?" Bushk"Wa easkheadv.e to get to the outpost before Gallow suspects!"
"Lose a strut at high speed, very bad," ScudiSshaeidg. estured at the captive Merma"nA.sk him."
Bushka looked at the man on the deck.
"What does it matter?T"he Merman shrugged". If we die in kelp we are immortal."
"I think he just agreed with you," Twisp "sSaoid, . how do we clear the struts?"
"We go out and do it by hand," Scudi said.
"In this?"Twisp looked out at the long, white-capped rollers, the gray bleakness of theThsteorfmoi.l
rode the waves like a chip, quartering into them and twisting at every crest when the wind hit it with full force.
"We will use safety lines," Scudi s"aIidh. ave done it beforeS."he hit the crossover switch to activate Brett's controls."You take it, BretWt. atch out at the crestTs.he wind wants to take it and the struts being half-out that way makes it hard to control."

Brett gripped the wheel, feeling perspiration slippery against his palms.
Scudi released her safety harness and stood, holding fast to her seatback against the roll and pitch of the foil. "Who's going to help me?"
"I will," Twisp sai"dY. ou'll have to tell me what to do."
"Just a minute!" Bushka snappeHde.
studied Twisp and Scudi for a long b"liYnko.u know what
happens to the kid if you cause me any trouble?"
"You learned very fast from this man Gallow," Twisp"Asaried.you sure he's your enemy?"
Bushka paled with anger but remained silent.
Twisp shrugged and made his way along overhead grabs to the rear"Shcautdcih?."
"All right."She turned to Bret"t.Hold it steady as you caInt's.
going to be rough out there."
"Maybe I'm the one should go with you."
"No . . . Twisp has no experience handling a foil."
"Then he and I could --"
"Neither of you knows how to clear the sTtrhuitss. is the only waWy. e will be careful.A" bruptly, she leaned down and kissed his cheek, whispering, "It is all right."

Brett was left with a warm sense of completeHne sf.elt he knew exactly what to do at the foil's controls.
Bushka checked the Merman's restraints, then joined Brett at the coHnterotlos.ok Scudi's seatB. rett only spared the slightest glance for him, noting the lasgun still at theHereaavdyy.seas swept them steadily sideways at every crest and the foil barely had enough headway to rBerceotvt elri.stened to voices out on the deck, Scudi shouting to TwAisps.teep swell broke over the cabin, then anoTthwero. long rollers swept under them, then one more breaking crest curled over thTeheplfaozi.l stood almost vertical on its stern, slapped back into the trough and the crest crashed onto the cTabhien-btoopa.t shuddered and wallowed in a side-slip while Brett fought to bring its nose back into the weather.
Twisp shouted somethingA. bruptly, his voice came crying up the passa"gBer:ett! Circle port!Scudi's lost her safety line!"
Without any thought for whether the foil could take it, Brett cranked the wheel hard left aTnhde held it. boat turned on a crest, slipped sideways down a wave, lifted at the stern and water washed down the long passage into the cabiInt. swirled around their feet, lifting the captive and sending him against
Bushka's thigh.The foil almost rolled over on the next wIatvcea. me up broadside to the weather as it continued its mad circleB. rett felt the sea slosh through the cabin and realized that Twisp had opened the rear hatch to be heard.
Get her, Brett prayeHd.e wanted to abandon the wheel and run back to help but knew he had to keep the foil tight in this patteTrnw. isp was experienced -- he would know what to do.
A wave in the cabin broke almost up to his waist and BushkaBcreutrtsesda.w that Bushka was struggling to keep the Merman in one place.
Brett's mind kept repeatinSg:cudi Scudi Scudi . . .
The storm's roar in the cabin diminished slightly and Bushka shouted, "He's closed the hatch!"
"Help them, Bushka!" Brett hollere"dD.o something for once!"

The foil lifted once more over a crest, rolled heavily with the weight of the water they'd taken on.
"No need!" Bushka shoute"dH. e has her."
"Get back on courseI.t" was Twisp's voice behind Brett, but Brett dared not"Ituhrna.ve her and she's all right."
Brett swung the foil's bow back into the seas, quartering into a high comber that rolled over them at the crest. Water sloshed through the cabin as the foil pitched down into the next Tthroeugsohu. nd of pumps
chuffing below decks came clearly to Brett's eHares. risked a glance back and saw Twisp backing into the cabin, Scudi's limp form over his shoulHdeer.dogged the hatch behind him and dumped Scudi on the couch where Bushka had been.
"She's breathing," Twisp saiHd.e bent over Scudi, a hand on her n"ePcukl.se is strongS. he hit her head on the hull as we tipped."
"Did you clear the struts?" Bushka demanded.
"Eelshit!" Twisp spat.
"Did you?"
"Yes, we cleared the damn struts!"
Brett looked at the overhead screen and brought the foil around ten degrees, putting down a surge of rage against BushkaB. ut Bushka was suddenly busy with the keyboard at his position.
"Finding how to retract these foTilhs.at was the whole idea, wasn't iBt?u"shka's fingers flurried over the keys and a schematic appeared on the screen in front oHf ehimstu. died it a moment and manipulated controls at his side of the boaWrdi.thin blinks, Brett heard the hiss and clunk of struts retracting.

"You're not on course," Bushka said.
"As close as I can be," Brett s"aWide.
have to quarter these seas or we'll pound ourselves to pieces."
"If you're lying, you're dead," Bushka said.
"You take it if you know better than I do," BreHtt esalift.ed his hands from the wheel.
Bushka brought the lasgun up and pointed it at Brett's"Shteeaedr. us the way you have to but don't give me any shit!"
Brett dropped his hands onto the wheel in time to catch the neTxthecyreswt.ere riding easier nowA. green light showed at the "Foils Retracted" marker.
Bushka swiveled his seat and hunched down, positioning himself to watch both Brett andThTewisp. captive Merman lay beside Bushka, his face pale but he was breathing.
"We're still going after Gallow," Bushka sTaihde.re was a note of hysteria in his voice.
Twisp strapped Scudi into the couch and sat besideHehehr.eld a grab near her head for balance. Twisp looked forward past Bushka, then up at the overhead di"sWplahya.t's that?" he asked, nodding at the screen.
Bushka did not turn.
Brett glanced up at the screAen.green diamond-shaped marker flashed near the course line and off to the right.

"What is it?" Twisp repeated.
Brett leaned forward and punched the identity key under the screen.
"Outpost 22" flashed on the screen beside the diamond.
"That's the pickup station for the hyb tanks," Brett"Tsahiadt.'s where Gallow's supposed to bSec.udi's brought us out right on target."
"Get us in there!" Bushka ordered.
Brett turned onto the new heading while he tried to recall everything Scudi had told him about the hyb-tank recovery projectT. here wasn't much.
"Why's it flashing?" Twisp asked.
"I think it does that when you get within range," Bre"ttI stahin.k it's a warning that we're getting close to the shallows around the outpost."
"You think?" Bushka snarled.
"I don't know this equipment any better than you do," Brett cou"nTtearkeed.over any time you want."
"Throw some water on that woman, get her awake," Bushka orAdegraeidn., that note of hysteria in his
voice. He brought the lasgun around until it pointed at B"Yreottu. ordered. "Or the kid gets burned."
stay put back there, Twisp!" Bushka
With his free hand, Bushka began working the keyboard in front "oIfnchoimpetents," he muttered.

"Everything's right here if you just ask forChita."rt-reading instructions scrolled upward on his screen. Bushka bent to read them.
"Ship's balls!" Twisp shoute"dW.
hat's that?"
Through the spray-drenched plaz ahead and to his left, Brett saw a great splash of bright orange,
something floating a wave out theHree.
bent forward to peer through the salted pItlawz.as a long
orange something that stretched into the anonymous gray of the sKtoerlmp .lay tangled all around it.
The foil was coming up on the orange thing fast, bringing it close to their port side.
"It's an LTA bag," Bushka sa"iSdo. mebody's gone down."
"Can you see the gondola?" Twisp ask"Bedr.ett! Stay downwind from iTt.he bag will act like a sea anchor. Don't get fouled in it."
Brett swung the foil to the left and it wallowed in a trough, rocking dangerously at the crest, then into the next trough.At the following crest, he saw the gondola, a dark shape awash in the loTnhge soeraasn. ge
bag trailed out behind it with kelp laced acroTssheit.gondola was coming up on their riTghe.
seas
were smoother there, flattened by the great spread of theAbnaogth. er crest and Brett saw faces pressed against the gondola's plaz.
"There are people in there!" Twisp shou"tIeds.aw faces!"
"Damn!" Bushka said".Damn, damn, damn!"
"We have to take them off," Brett
"saWide.
can't leave them there."
"I know that!" Bushka snarled.

Scudi took this moment to begin muttering . . . words Brett couldn't understand.
"She's all right," Twisp sa"idS.he's coming out of while I get a line aboard that gondola."
"How're you going to do that?" Bushka asked.
Bit.ushka, you come back here and look after her
"I'm going to swim it ovWerh! at else?Brett, hold us steady as you can right here."
"They're Mermen," Bushka sai"dW.
hy can't they bring a line to us?"
"The minute they open their hatch, that gondola is going down," Twis"pIt'llsafiidll. float."
Scudi's voice came clearly the"nW: hat's . . . what's happening?"
like a punctured
Bushka released his safety harness and made his way back Btorehtterh. eard the hatch open and close. Bushka's voice, quite low, gave Scudi her answer.
"An LTA?" she aske"dW.
here are we?"
"Near Outpost Twenty-two.T"here was a scuffling sound and Bushka's vo"iSceta:y down there!"
"I have to get to the contrIot'lss!shallow hereV. ery shallow!In these seas --"
"All right!" Bushka sai"dD. o what you have to do."

Scuffing footsteps on the deck, then water sloshing from a wet diSvceudsui'ist. hand gripped Brett's
shoulder. "Dammit, but my head hurts," she saHide.r hand touched his neck and he felt a flash of pain on the side of his templIet. was a throbbing pain, as though something had struck him there.
Scudi leaned across him, her hand over his shoulder to steady hTehresierlf.cheeks touched.
Brett felt something flow between them, creating a moment of panic followed by a sudden inrush of awareness. His neck hair prickled as he realized what had happeHneedf.elt that he was two people become one but aware of the separation -- one person standing beside the other.
I'm seeing with Scudi's eyes!
Brett's hands moved automatically on the wheel, a new expertise he had not known he pTohsesessed.
foil gentled its way close to the gondola and hung there with just enough headway to counteract the wind.
What's happening to us?
The words formed silently in their minds, a simultaneous question, shared in an instant and answered in an instant.
The kelp has changed uWs!e share our senses when we touch!
With this odd double vision, Brett saw Twisp swimming now, moving through a channel in the kelp and very close to the gondolFa.aces peered out through the plazB. rett thought he recognized one of those
faces and, with that recognition, came a bursting daydream, instantaneous -- a sense of people talking inside the gondolaT. he sensation vanished and he was left staring at white-whipped waves breaking across the LTA, Twisp clinging there while he fastened his line to a handgrab beside the plaz lock.
Scudi whispered to Bret"tD: id you hear them talking?"

"I couldn't make out the words."
"I couldG.
allow's people are in there and they have prisonTehres. prisoners are being taken to Gallow."
"Where is GallowH? ere?"
"I think so, but I recognized a prisoner -- it's Dark Panille, SIh'vaedowwo.rked with him."
"The man who treated me in the passageway!"
"Yes, and one of the captors is that Gulf NaIk'manog.oing to warn BushkHa.e has the weaponW. e will have to lock them into one of the cargo bays."
Scudi turned away and worked her way back to Bushka, steadying herself along the overhead grabs. Brett heard her explain the situation to Bushka, saying she had recognized Nakano through the gondola's plaz.
"They've opened their hatch," Brett sa"iPde.ople are coming ouIt. see Shadow . . . there's Nakano. Waves are slopping into the hatcEhv.erybody's coming out."
Scudi slipped into the command seat beside B"rIe'ltlt.take itY. ou help Bushka at the entry hatch."
"No tricks!" Bushka yelled as he followed Brett down the passageway.
"We've got to get Twisp out of there!" Brett said.
"He's staying at the gondola to unfasten the line when it goes under."

They were at the hatchway then, wind whipping around them and spray in thBeirretteywesa.s thankful
for his dive suiIt.n spite of the chill, sweat poured from his bTohdey.muscles of his arms and legs were
tightly humming bandsA.
wave broke against the hull below thBemre.tt sighted along the line -- a long
row of bobbing heads worked their way toward theHfeoilr.ecognized Nakano in the lead, staying close to Panille.The line snaked up and down the waves.
"We'll bring them aboard one at a time, right into the cargo bay behind me," Bushka said.
"We'll have to disarm them."
Nakano was first through the hatHchis.
face had the single-minded aggressiveness of a bull dasher.
Bushka leveled the lasgun from the far side of the hatchway, slipped a similar weapon from the thigh pocket of Nakano's dive suit, grabbed a knife from Nakano's waist sheath and motioned with his head for the Merman to enter the open hatch to the cargo bay.
For a blink, Brett thought Nakano would attack Bushka despite the lasgun, but the man shrugged and ducked through into the bay.
Panille stayed down below to help others and the next person through was a woman, red-haired, beautiful.
"Kareen Ale," Bushka sai"dW.
ell, well."He sent his gaze licking over her body, saw no weapon and
nodded toward the cargo hatc"hI.n there, please."
She stared at the lasgun in Bushka's grip.
"Do it!"
A shout from below the hatch brought Brett whirling around to face the sea.

"What is it?" Bushka demandeHde.
was trying to divide his attention between the open cargo hatch and
the outer hatch where survivors still waited to be brought aboard.
Brett peered out across Panille, who hung below the hatch with an arm wrapped through a loop in his safety line.The gondola beyond him had begun to sink, slowly dragging the orange LTA bag under the waves. The safety line lay across the waves with Twisp pulling himself alSoonmg eitth.ing was happening
about midway along the line, though, and Brett tried to make out what had caused the shout.
"What's happening?" Bushka asked.
"I don't knowT. here's a length of kelp across the lTinweisp released the line from the gondola and it's already under.But something's . . ."
A human hand came out of the water near the kelp and one, two kelp strands whipped across the hand and the hand vanishedT.wisp reached the kelp barrier and hesitated thAereq. uesting strand of kelp
touched his head, paused there and withdreTww.isp continued his way along the line, stopping finally beside Panille, exhaustedP. anille put an arm under Twisp's shoulder and helped supportWhaimve.s
lifted both men and lowered them beside the foil.
"Shall I help bring him up?" Brett called.
Twisp waved a hand to stop h"iIm'll. be all right.O" ne of his long arms snaked up the line and took a firm grip.
"Two people," Twisp sai"dT. he kelp took themI.t just took them, wrapped around them and took them."
He hauled himself up the line, quivering every muscle on thHe ewsalyu.mped through the hatch, then turned to help PanilleB. ushka waved Panille toward the cargo bay.
"No," Brett saidH. e stepped between Bushka and Panil"leS.hadow was a prisonerH. e helped me. He's not one of them."

"Who says?"
"The kelp says," Twisp said.
Control the religion and the food and we own the world.
-- GeLaar Gallow
Vata's growing restlessness sloshed nutrient over the rim of herAt ntikm. es she arched her back as if
in pain, and the pink knobs of her nipples broke the surface like the bright peaks of two blue-green mountains. A relief attendant, an Islander high on boo, reached out to tweak one of the gnarled,
vein-swollen things and was discovered catatonic, his blasphemous thumb and forefinger still held in position over the vat.
This event redoubled C/P Simone Rocksack's efforts to effect the Islander move downStournideser.of
"The Wrath of Vata" circulated freely and no one on the C/P's staff made any effort to sort fact from fantasy. Rocksack silenced one underling who objected to the rumors by saying, "A lie is not a lie if it serves a higher moral purposTe.hen it is a gift."

Vata herself, locked inside her tank and her skull while generation after generation of her people evolved around her, explored her world with the tender new frond-tips of the kelp.
Kelp was fingertip and ear to her, nose and eye and tWonhgeure massive stalks lazed on the sea's
bright surface she witnessed pastel sunrises, the passage of boats and Islands, the occasional ravages of a hunt of dashersS. crubberfish that cleaned the kelp's broadest leaves whiskered the deep crevasses of
her opulent flesh.
Like herself, the kelp was single, incomplete, unable to reproMduecrme.en took cuttings, rooted them
in rock and mudS.torms ripped whole vines loose from the mother plant and some of the wounded stragglers wedged safely into rock and grew thFeorer. two and a half centuries, at least, the kelp had not bloomed. No hylighter broke the surface of the sea to rise on its hydrogen bag and scatter its fresh spores to the winds.
Sometimes in her sleep Vata's loins pulsed with an ancient rhythm and a sweet emptiness ached in her abdomen. These were the times she curled close to Duque, her massive body engulfing him in a frustrating approximation of an embrace.
Now her frustration focused on GeLaar GallAowj.ungle of kelp strained each strand to reach the walls
and hatchways of Outpost 22, with no succTeshse.
perimeter was too wide, the stalks too short.
New pairs of eyes joined the kelp to reveal Gallow's treaTcheryc.learest of these eyes belonged to
Scudi Wang.Vata enjoyed the company of Scudi Wang, and it became more difficult to let her go each time they met.
Vata met Scudi in the keAlp.few bright glimpses of a fresh young mind, and she searched for Scudi
daily. When Vata dreamed the terrors of kelp, storm-ripped from its ballast-rock and dying, the touch of Scudi's skin on vine or frond smoothed those churning dreams to a warmThcoaslemt.imes Vata, in turn, dreamed back to ScudiS.he dreamed small histories, images and visions, to keep the fear of
kelp-madness out of Scudi's heaVd.ata had dreamed to others who had never come out of the dream. She knew now that Scudi's mother was one of those lost dreaSmtuenrnse. d by the hot dream sparking
into her from the kelp, the woman had floated wide-eyed and helpless into a pasTsihneg tneentd.er
airfish at her neck was crushed and she drowAnendd. the Merman crew supporting her had made no move to rescue herD. eliberate!
Vata watched the strange odyssey that worked its way back toward OutpSohset 2fl2e.xed her kelp when the gondola went down and acquainted herself with Bushka and Shadow PTahnisillPe.anille, he

was blood to her.
Brother, she thought, and marveled over the wSohred. trusted Bushka and Panille to Scudi's presence. The message she sent Scudi was simple and cFleinard: Gallow, drive him ouKt.elp will do the rest.
Life is not an option, it is aDgeiaft.h is the option.
-- Ward Keel, Journal
It was late evening, but Ward Keel had lost all inclination toHesleaecpc.epted the buzz of fatigue as a logical consequence of captivityH. is eyes refused to stay closeTdh.ey blinked slowly and he glimpsed
the brush of his long lashes in the plaz besideHhisimb.rown eye faced itself in the pIltazw. as a small dark blur.Beyond it lay the perimeter of kelp, almost gray at this Hdeisptphr.ison cubby was warm, warmer even than his quarters on Vashon, but the gray of down under washed his psyche cold.
Keel had been watching the kelp for hours as Gallow's men streamed into theAotuftpirostst.the kelp pulsed as usual with the curreFnrt.onds waved at full extension downcurrent like a woman's long hair in an evening breezeN. ow there was a different rhythAmn. d the larger kelp fronds downcurrent of the outpost stretched directly toward KeeTl.he currents were no longer consisteTnth.e outpost was being battered by sudden changes of current that had the kelp outside flickering in a firelight dance.

Gallow's morning crew had never arrivHedis.
medical team was losKt.eel could hear Gallow's rantings
from the next roomT.he syrupy voice was cracking.
Something strange about that kelp, Keel thouSgthrta.nger than moving against the current.
Keel never even considered that Brett and Scudi might beIndetahde. reverie generated by the gentle undulations of the kelp, Keel thought often about his young friends.
Had they reached VashonH?e worried about thaBt. ut he heard no echoes of this in Gallow's angry words. Surely Gallow would be reacting if that message had reached Vashon.
GeLaar Gallow is attempting to take over Merman Mercantile and the recovery of the hyb tanks. Merman rockets are being sent into space for the tManekrsm. en are changing our planet in ways Islands cannot survive.If Gallow succeeds, Islanders are doomed.
How would the C/P react? Keel wondeHreed.might never know.
Keel held out little hope for himsHeilsf. gut had begun to burn again, precisely as it had four years ago. He knew that all traces of the remora were gWoniteh.out it, the food he ate would pass undigested and
his intestines would gnaw at themselves until he either bled to death or Tsthaervredw. as no reason to
doubt the word of his personal physician, and the evidence was too painfully immediate to disguise, even to himself.
It used to make me tired all the time, he thWouhgyht.won't it let me sleep noBwe?cause last time he'd almost bled to death in his sleep, and now sleep was impossible.
It wasn't the constant burning that kept him awPaine. he had learned to bear over the years of ill-fitting support devices for his long neTckh.is was the crisp wakefulness of the condemned.
Wakefulness had brought Keel's attention to the kSeolmp.etime in midmorning the kelp stalks began
defying the currents and reaching toward the outpTohste.
perimeter of growth began about two hundred

meters from the outpost wallTs.he outpost itself lay in the center of this massive kelp project like a jewel in a fat ringT.he fish were gone, toKo.eel's few earlier glimpses of the outer compound had shown a richness of fishes that rivaled the gardens at Core -- fanlike butterfly fish with iridescent tails, the
ever-present scrubberfish grazing leaves and plaz, mud-devils raising and lowering the tall sails of their dorsal fins with every disturbancNe.one was visible now and the gray filter of evening quickly washed itself black.Just the kelp remained, sole proprietor of the world beyond the outpost's perTimhiestedr.ay
Keel felt that he had watched the kelp go from graceful to stately to full alert.
That's my translation, he reminded himsDelof.n't attribute humanity to other creatureIts.limits studyA.
quick shudder iced his spine when he realized that this kelp had been grown from cells carried by mutant humans.
The kelp had an infinite memoTryh.e histories said that, but so did GeLaar GalCloown.clusion? he asked himself.
It's waking up, he answereAdn. d it absorbs the memories of the living and the newlyTdheredi.n lay great temptation for Ward Keel.
I could leave more than scratchings in these journals, he thIoucgohutl.d leave everythingE.verything!
Think of that!He entered these thoughts into his journal, and wished that he had his journals and his life's collection of notes around him noIwt .was possible, he knew for fact, that no Islander had given more
direct thought to life and life forms than Justice
SKoemele.
of these observations he knew to be unique
-- sometimes illogical, but vital every oTnhe.ese data he hated to see lost when a struggling humanity needed them so very much.
Someone else will think those thoughts, in tIifmteh.ere is more time.
His attention was caught by the arrival of another sub oveTr heads.ub gave the kelp a wide berth. Gallow's orders.As the sub disappeared on its way to the interior docking bay, Keel marveled at the movement of the kelpH. uge stalks tracked the sub's path even though it came in against the Lcuikrerent.
a blossom following the slow arc of sunlight across the sky, the kelp followed all of the incoming Mermen. An occasional blur of gray moved amongst the tendrils as one snapped out suddenly toward an intruder, but all Mermen kept well out of reach.
If the kelp is waking, he thought, the future of all the humans left may be at stake.

Perhaps after contacting enough humans the kelp would find some way of saying, "LIfikyeoum'ree. human, you're like me.T"here was a biological kinship, after Kalel.el swallowed, and hoped silently that
it was true that Vata was the key to the Hkeelph.oped, too, that mercy was a part of Vata's personality.
Keel thought he detected a change in the perimItetwera. s hard to tell, with night coming on and visibility so poor anyway, but he was sure that the two-hundred-meter perimeter had Nclotsemd.uch, but
enough to notice.
Keel cast about in his memory for all the information that he'd ever stored onSethnetieknetl,p.capable
of nonverbal communication by touch, firmly anchored to ballast-rocks and mobile in its bloom state --
except the bloom state had been extinct for hundreds of
Tyehaarts.was the kelp the first humans on
Pandora destroyed.What surprises lay in store with this new kTehlpis? creature had been regrown from gene-prints present in human carrierCs.ould it be that the kelp has learned how to mItovdeid?n't feel
like a trick of the imaginatioTnh.e dark outside was now nearly total, only a thin barrier of light escaped from the outpost itself.
Morning will tell, he thougIhft.there is a morninHg.e chuckled to himselfW. ith most of his world dark,
Keel was left staring at himself in the port, haloed by the glare of the one
Hbaeremloigvhetd.
away from
the plaz after a passing glance at his nIot ssep. read over his face like a mashed fruit, the tip touched his upper lip whenever he pursed his mouth in thought.
The hatch door behind him slammed into the wall and startleHd ishimsto. mach took a bad turn, then turned again when he saw Gallow, alone, carrying two liters of Islander wine.
"Mr. Justice," Gallow said, "I thought I'd liberate these from thIe pmresne.nt them to you as a gesture of hospitality."
Keel noted that the label showed that the wine was from Vashon, not Guemes, and breathed easier.
"Thank you, Mr. Gallow," he saHide.
allowed his head to drop in a slight "bIowse.ldom have the
pleasure of a good wine anymore -- sour stomach comes with age, theKyeesal ys.a"t heavily and indicated the other chair next to his bu"nHka.ve a seatC. ups are on the sideboard."
"Good!"Gallow flashed the wide, white smile that Keel was sure opened many a reluctant hatch.

And many a lady, he thougHhet. shook it off, suddenly embarrassed by himsGealfl.low took two stoneware cups from a shelf and set them on the Tdheeskh. andles, Keel noted, were thick to accommodate the calloused fingers of outpost riders.
Gallow poured but did not sit.
"I have ordered supper for us," Gallow
"saOidn.e of my men is a passable coTohke.
outpost is
crowded, so I took the liberty of ordering the meal deliveredI hheorpee.
that meets your approval?"
How very polite, Keel thougWht.hat does he wantH? e took a cup of the amber wBinoet.h lifted cups, but Keel only sipped.
"Pleasant," Keel saidH. is stomach churned with bitter wine and the thought of lumps of hoIt churned at the prospect of listening to more of Gallow's egocentric prattle.
food.
"Cheers," Gallow said, "and to the health of your childItrewn.a"s a traditional Islander toast that Keel acknowledged with a raised eyebrowS.everal acid replies teased the tip of his tongue, but he bit them back.
"You Islanders have mastered the grape," Gallow formaldehyde."
"sEaivde.rything we have down under tastes like
"The grape needs weather," Keel said, "not racks of lTamhapts's.
why each season has its own distinct
flavor -- you taste the story of the grFaoprem. aldehyde is an accurate summation of conditions down under, from the grape's point of view."
Gallow's expression darkened for a blink, the barest hint of a Afrgoawinn,. the wide, winning gri"nB. ut
your people are anxious to leave all this behTinhdey. they have developed a taste for formaldehyde."
prepare to move down under en maIstses.eems
So it would be that kind of a meeKtienegl. had heard these conversations before -- the justifications of men and women in power for their abuse of that pHowe eirm. agined that many a condemned man had
to listen to the guilty prattle of his jailer.

"Right is self-evident," Keel sa"idIt. for?"
needs no defense, just good witneWssh. at is it that you come here
"I come here for conversation, Mr. Justice," Gallow Hsaeidb.rushed a stray shock of blonde hair back from his forehead". Conversation, dialogue, whatever you might call it -- it's not readily available among my men."
"You must have leaders, officers of some Wsohrty.
not them?"
"You find this curiousP?erhaps a bit frightening that the one privacy of your imprisonment is breached here? At your ease, Mr. Justice, conversation is all I'm Maftyer.men grunt, my officers plan, my enemies plot. My prisoner thinks, or he wouldn't keep a journal, and I admire anyone whoThtheinrkatsi.onal
mind is a rare creature, one to be respected and nurtured."
Now Keel was positive that Gallow wanted something -- something particular.
Watch yourself, Keel cautioned, he's a charmTehre.
sip of wine found the hot spot deep in Keel's belly
and started its slow burn into his intestiHnees. was tempted to end this conversatiHono.w much respect
did you have for the minds on GuemBeus?t he couldn't afford to end the conversation, not when there was a source of hard information that the Islanders might desperately need.
As long as I'm alive I'll do what I can for them, Keel thought.
"I'll tell you the truth," Keel said.
"The truth is most welcome," Gallow answeAredd. eferential nod graced the comment, and Gallow drained his wineK. eel poured him another.
"The truth is that I have no one to talk with, either," Ke"eI l asmaido.ld, I have no children and I don't want to leave the world emptier when IMgyo.journals" -- Keel gestured at the plaz-jacketed notebook

on his bunk --"are my childreIn.want to leave them in the best possible shape."
"I've read your notes," Gallow sa"iMd.ost poetic.It would please me to hear you read from them aloud. You have more interesting musings than most men."
"Because I dare to muse when your men dare not."
"I am not a monster, Mr. Justice."
"I am not a Justice, Mr. GallYowou. as C/P.My influence is minimal."
have the wrong persoSn.imone Rocksack is Justice now, as well
Gallow toasted him again with the w"iMneo. st perceptive," he said".Your information is correct -- Simone is Chief Justice and C/AP. first.But because of the memory of one corrupt C/P, others have always been under scrutinyY. ou, as Justice, have satisfied the people that there is a balance of power. They wait to hear from yoItu.is you who can relieve their worries, not SimAonnde. for good reason."
"What is the reason?"
Gallow's easy smile uncurled and his eyes leveled their cold blue power at Keel.
"They have good reason to worry, because Simone works foSrhemea.lways has."
"That doesn't surprise me," Keel said, though itHdeidt.ried to keep his voice even, conversational.
Get everything out of him, he thought, that's the only skill I have left.
"I think it did surprise you," Gallow the only ones trained in observation."
"sYaido.ur body betrays you in subtle waYyso.u and the C/P aren't

"Yes, well . . . I find it hard to believe that she'd go along with the Guemes massacre."
"She didn't know," Gallow said, "but she'll adSjuhset'.s a very depressing woman when you get to know her. Very bitter.Did you know that there's a mirror on every wall in her quarters?"
"I've never been to her quarters."
"I have."Gallow's chest swelled with the stateme"nNt.o other man hasS.he raves about her ugliness,
tears at her skin, contorts her face in the mirror until she can bear its natuOranllyfotrhmen. her room.Such a sad creature.G" allow shook his head and freshened his cup of wine.
"Such a sad human, you mean?" Keel asked.
"She doesn't consider herself human."
"Has she told you this?"
"Yes."
"Then she needs helFp.riends around herS. omeone to --"
will she leave
"They only remind her of her ugliness," Gallow interru"pTtehda.t's been triedP. ity, she has a succulent body under all those wrapIs.am her friend because she considers me attractive, a model of what humanity could beS. he wants no child to grow up ugly in an ugly world."
"She told you this?"

"Yes," Gallow said, "and moIre.listen to her, Mr. JusticYeo. u and your Committee, you tolerate her. And you lost her."
"It sounds like she was lost before I ever knew her."
Gallow's white smile returne"dY. ou're right, of course," he sa"idB.ut there was a time when she could
have been wonA.
nd I did iYt. ou did notT. hat may shape the whole course of history."
"It may."
"You think your people will continue to revel in their deformities foOrhev, enr?o.They send their good
children to usY.
ou take in our rejects, our criminals and cripWplehsa.t kind of life can they build that
way? Misery. Despair . . .G" allow shrugged as though the matter were unarguable.
Keel didn't remember Islander life that way aItt awlla. s crowded beyond Merman belief, trIusela.nds stank, also trueB. ut there was incomparable color and music everywhere, always a good Awnodrd.
who could explain to someone under the sea the incredible pleasure of sunrise, warm spring rain on face and hands, the constant small touchings of person to person that proved you were cared for merely by being alive.
"Mr. Justice," Gallow said, "you're not drinking your wIsinthe.e quality not to your liking?"
It's not the winKe.eel thought, but the companAy.loud, he said, "I have a stomach problIemha. ve to take my wine slowI. generally prefer boo."
"Boo?"Gallow's eyebrows lifted in genuine surpri"seT.hat nerve-runner concoction?I thought it --"
"That only degenerates drank Pite?rhaps. It's soothing, and to my taste even if it is dangerous to collect the eggs.I don't do the collectingT."hat's one he can relate to.

Gallow nodded, then his lips pressed into a firm, whit"eI lihneea.rd that boo causes chromosome damage," he said". Aren't you Islanders pushing your luck with that stuff?"
"Chromosome damage?" Keel snorteHd.e didn't even try to suppress a lau"gIshn.'t that a little like roulette with a broken wheel?"
Keel sipped his wine and sat back to see GallowTfhuellylo. ok of disgust that shadowed the Merman's face told Keel that Gallow had been reached.
Anyone who can be reached can be probed. Keel thoAungdht.anyone who can be probed can be had. His position on the Committee had taught him this.
"You can laugh at thatG?"allow's blue eyes blazed".As long as you people breed, you endanger the whole species.What if . . . ?"
Keel raised his hand and his vo"iTceh.e Committee concerns itself with matters of 'what if,' Mr. Gallow. Any infant that carries an endangering trait is terminaFtoerd.a people trained in life-support, this is a
most painful eventB. ut it guarantees life to all the othTeersll. that there are only harmful, ugly or useless mutations?"
me, Mr. Gallow, how can you be so sure
"Look at yourself," Gallow sa"idY.our neck can't support your head without that . . . Ythoiunrg.eyes are on the sides of your head --"
"They're different colors, too," Keel sa"iDd.id you know that there are more brown-eyed Mermen than blue-eyed by four to oneD?oesn't that strike you as a mutatioYno?u're blue-eyed.Should you, then, be sterilized or destroyed?We draw the line at mutations that actually endangerYloifue. prefer cosmetic genocide, it seemsC. an you justify that to mCe?an you be sure that we haven't 'bred' some secret weapons to meet the contingency you've presented us?"
Find his worst fears, Keel thought, and turn them on himself.
The clatter of loose dishes sounded from the hatchway and a small cart bounced over the Ttheeshold. young man who pushed it stood in obvious awe of GaHllioswe.yes took in every move his boss made

and his hands shook as they distributed the dishes on a small foldinHg etasbelerv. ed the steaming food
into bowls and Keel smelled the delicious tang of fish Wsthewen.
the steward finished laying out the
bread and a small cake dessert he picked up a small dish of his own and spooned a taste of everything.
So, Keel thought, Gallow's afraid he's going to be poisHoneedw.as glad to see the orderly delicately taste Keel's portions, as weTll.hings are not going quite as Gallow would like us to bKeleieevlec. ouldn't let the moment pass.
"Do you taste to educate your palate?" he asked.
The orderly shot a quizzical look at Gallow and Gallow smiled"Ablal cmk.en in power have enemies," he said."Even yourself, I'm toldI. choose to encourage protective habits."
"Protection from whom?"
Gallow was silenTt.he orderly's face paled.
"Very astute," Gallow said.
"By this you imply that murder is the current mode of political expression," K"eIesl thsaisidt.he new leadership you offer our world?"
Gallow's palm slapped the tabletop and the orderly dropped his Itboswhal.ttered.One shard of it skidded up to Keel's foot and spun there like an eccentric top windingGdalolowwn. dismissed the
orderly with a sharp chop of his haTnhde.
hatch closed quietly behind him.
Gallow threw down his spooInt .caught the edge of his bowl and splattered Keel withGsatleloww. dabbed at Keel's tunic with his cloth, leaning across the rickety table.
"My apologies, Mr. Justice," he sa"iId'm.
generally not so boorisYh.ou . . . excite mPel.ease, relax."

Keel nursed the ache in his knees and folded them under the short table. Gallow tore a piece of bread from the loaf and handed Keel the rest. "You have Scudi Wang prisoner?" Keel asked.
"Of course."
"And the young Islander, Norton?"
"He's with her.They are unharmed."
"It won't work," Keel sa"idIf.
you hinge your leadership on stealth and prisoners and murder then you
set yourself up for a long reign of the same Nthoingo.ne wants to deal with a desperate mKaing. s are made of better stuff."
Gallow's ears pricked at the word "kinKge.e"l could see him trying it on his tongue.
"You're not eating, Mr. Justice."
"As I said before, I have a stomach problem."
"But you have to eHato. w will you live?"
Keel smiled". I won't."

Gallow set his spoon down carefully and dabbed at his lips with hHisecklontiht. his smooth brow in an expression of concern.
"If you choose not to eat, you will be fed," Gallow w"Sarpnaerde. yourself that unpleasantryY. ou won't starve yourself out of my care."
"Choice has nothing to do with it," Keel "sYaiodu. and the food merely passes undigested."
snatched inferior merchandiseE.ating causes pain,
Gallow pushed himself back from the squat table.
"It's not catching, Mr. Gallow."
"What is it?"
"A defect," Keel sai"dO. ur bioengineers helped me up to this point, but now the Greater Committee takes matters out of our hands."
"The Greater Committee?G" allow asked."You mean that there is a group topside more powerful than yours? A secret clan?"
Keel laughed, and the laugh added frustration and confusion to Gallow's otherwise perfect face.
"The Greater Committee goes by many names," Keel "sTahide.y are a subversive bunch, indeeSdo.me
call them Ship, some call them Jesus -- not the Jesus Lewis of your school-day Thhisitsoriisesa.
difficult
committee to confront, as you can sIete.makes the threat of death at your hands not much of a threat at all."
"You're . . . dying?"

Keel nodded". No matter what you do," he said, smiling, "the world will believe that you killed me."
Gallow stared at Keel for a long blink, then blotted his lips with theHenaepxktirnic. ated himself from the table.
"In that case," Gallow announced, "if you want to save those kids, you'll do exactly as I say."
. . . it comes to pass that the same evils and inconveniences take place in all ages of history.
-- Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses, Shiprecords
From his position at the foil's controls, Brett watched the late afternoon sun kindle a glow in the cloud bank ahead of himT.he foil drove easily across deep storm swells, picking up speed on each downslope, losing a bit on each advancing waIvte.was a rhythm that Brett had come to understand without
conscious attention.His body and senses adjusted.
A gray wall of rain skulked a couple of hundred meters above the wavetops toAthelinreigshtto.rm, it

appeared to be rolling away from them.
Brett, his attention divided between the course monitor above him and the seas ahead, abruptly throttled back. The foil dropped off its step and moved with minimal headway beside a kelp bed that stretched away into the storm track.
The change in motion aroused the others, who, except for Bushka and the captive Merman, whom Bushka had locked in the cargo bay with the survivors of the LTA, were sprawled around the cabin catching what rest they coulBd.ushka sat in regal isolation on the couch at the rear of the cabin, his eyes oddly indrawn, his face a mask of concentration as he stroked a fragment of kelp that lay across his lap. The bit of kelp had come up from the sea on Twisp's rescue line and had attracted little attention until Bushka plucked it off and kept it.
Panille spoke from the copilot's seat as he came abruptly"Saolemrte.thing wrong?"
Brett indicated the green glow of their position on the course m"oWniet'orer. only a couple of klicks out." He pointed at the line squa"lTl.he outpost is in there."
Twisp spoke from behind the"mB:ushka, you still going through with this?"
"I have no choiceB."ushka's voice carried a distant tonHee. begun to dry and crisIpt. rasped under his hand.
stroked the fragment of kelp, which had
Twisp nodded at the net of weapons Bushka had taken from the LTA su"rTvhivenorsm. aybe we all better be armed."
"I'm thinking on it," Bushka saAidg.ain, his hand rasped across the drying kelp.
"Panille," Twisp said, "how are outposts defended?"
Scudi, seated on the deck across from Twisp, answered for"Ohuimtp.osts aren't expected to need

defenses."
"They have the usual sonar, perimeter alarms against dashers, that sort of thing," Pan"iElleachsaid. outpost has at least one LTA for weather observation."
"But what weapons?" Twisp asked.
"Tools, mostly," Scudi said.
Bushka nudged the netful of captured weapons at his"Tfheey. people."
will have lasgunsG. allow arms his
"But they'd be effective only inside the outpost compound," Panille"Wsaei'dre.
safe in the water."
"Which is why I stopped here," Brett
"saido. you think they know we're here?"
"They know," Bushka sai"dT. hey just don't know who we arHe.e" peeled the dried kelp from his dive suit and dropped it to the deck.
Scudi stood and moved to Brett's side, resting an arm on the back of"Thihseysewati.ll have welders, plasteel cutters, some stunshields, knives, pry-baTrso.ols are very effective weaponsS."he looked at Bushka. "As Guemes should have taught us."
Panille swiveled and looked at the passage that led back to the cargo comp"aSrtommeent.of those people back there might know some details about what we can expect down there --"
"This is stupid!" Brett sa"idW. hat can we do against Gallow and all his men?"
"We will wait for nightfall," Bushka s"aDida.rkness is a great equalizerH."e looked at Scud"i.You say

you've worked at this outposYt.ou can draw up a plan of the access hatches, the power station, tool storage, vehicle bays . . . that sort of thing."
Scudi looked at Brett, who shrugged.
Twisp glanced once at the lasgun in Bushka's hand, then at h"iYs ofaucer.eally mean for us to attack them, don't you?"
"Of course."
"Unarmed?"
"We will have the inestimable arm of surprise."
Twisp let out a barking laugh.
"Let me talk to Kareen," Panille s"aSidh.e can't be one of theSmh.e may have learned --"
"She's not to be trusted," Bushka s"aSidh.e belonged to Ryan Wang when he was alive, and now she belongs to Gallow."
"No, she doesn't!"
"Men are so easily manipulated by sex," Bushka sneered.
Panille's dark face darkened further with anger, but he held his silence forTahebnl:i"nTkh. e kelp!The kelp can tell us what we need to know!"

"Do not trust the kelp, either," Bushka
"sEaivde.ry sentient thing in this universe thinks of itselfWfirest.
don't know what the kelp fears or desires."
Panille glanced at the bit of dried kelp on the"Sdceuckd.i, what do you say about the keYlpo?u've worked in and around it more than any of us."
"She is Ryan Wang's daughter!" Bushka bla"rYedo.u ask the enemy for advice?"
"I ask where I might get an answer," Panille"Asanid. if you're not going to use that lasgun, quit waving it around."He turned from a flabbergasted Bushka to Sc"uWdi.hat's the kelp's range, from your experience?"
"Worldwide," she said, "and almost instantaneous."
"That fast?"
Scudi shrugged". And what it learns, it never forgeStsh."e noted the look of surprise on Panille's face
and went on". We've made reportsM.
ost supervisors don't go out there, so they write this off to narcosis
and keep us out of deep water for a week."
"What else might help us?"
"There are weak spots," Scudi sa"iIdm. mature kelp is strictly a conductMor.ature kelp carries a presence all its own."
"What do you mean?" Twisp asked.
"If I touch a young patch of kelp and you touch a mature one, we sense eBaucth nootwher. . . it is doing something moreB. ushka's right that it may do things on its own."

"It has learned to kill," Bushka said.
Scudi said, "I always thought it could transmit, but not translate."
Bushka asked, "How many people can the outpost support?"
Scudi juggled the question a mome"nTth. ey have accommodations, food and other supplies for about three hundred.But they have open land at the cenTtehre.y could shelter a lot more people."
Brett turned to Bushk"aD. oes Gallow have three hundred people?"
Bushka nodded". More."
"Then we can't confront them," Twisp s"aTidh.is is crazy."
"I'm going to kill Gallow," Bushka said.
"That's it?" Twisp demande"dT. hat's all?Then they'll quit and go home?"
Bushka would not meet Twisp's ga"zAe.ll right," he said with a flick of the weapon, "let's see what
Kareen Ale has to saPy.ut the foil on autopilot, Brett."
"Autopilot?" Brett asked".Why?"
"We're all going back to see Kareen," Bushka "sEavide.rybody move easily, no sudden surprises."

No one argued with those jumpy, glittering eByreest.t and Scudi led the way through the hatch and
down the passagewayA.
t the cargo hatch Bushka motioned Twisp to the lock.
"Open the exterior hatch first," he orde"rWed.e might want to throw something overboard."
Slowly, reluctantly, Twisp obeyeAd. fresh breeze tasting of iodine and salt ricocheted through the hatchway. Wave-slaps against the hull were loud in the passage.
"Open the cargo hatch and stand aside," Bushka said.
Twisp lifted the security bar, released the latch and slid the hatch to one side.
Without warning, Brett was knocked down by something wet and ropy coming from behAindlahrgime . strand of kelp snaked past him, swerved left and slammed the LTA's survivors against the bIut lkhead. held them thereT. he thumpings of the kelp turned the passageway into a great Bdrreutmt .snatched a
grab, caught his balance and saw the rapt features of Iz Bushka, who was held in loops of kelp.
Bushka stood with both arms upraised, the lasgun still clutched in his riSgthrat nfdisst. of kelp caressed
his body, their leaves particularly drawn to his face and hManodrse. strands lay like ropes on the deck, fanned out on both sideSs.cudi and the others were not in sight.
A branch of kelp detached itself from the captives and undulated towardThBerefrtto.nded tip lifted and enclosed Brett's face.
Brett heard whistling -- the wind against the foil, but enhanced, every tonal component ideHnteifiable. felt his senses amplified -- the touch of the deck, other people around him . . . many others . . . thousands. He sensed Scudi then, as though the kelp gave her to him with her thoughBtsuschlkeaar.was there, an enraptured Bushka drinking from the kelp's reservoir of memAoriheiss.torian's paradise:
firsthand history.
Scudi spoke in Brett's hea"dT:he rocket is upT.hey're on their way to get the hyb tanks."

Brett saw it then, a fiery ascent that flamed through the cloud cover and became an orange glow on the
gray until it vanished and only the clouds remaiWneidth.
the vision went a questioning thought, a
profound wonder that was not humaTnh.e rocket was a wondrous thing of anticipation in this thoItught. was a seeking after great surprises.
The thought and the vision vanishBedre. tt found himself sitting on the deck in the foil's passage and looking into the cargo baBy.ushka sat there sobbingT.he bay behind him was empTtyh.e kelp was
gone.
Brett heard others then and Scudi's voice came over"loBurdet.t! Are you all right?"
He scrambled to his feet, turniSncgu. di stood there with movements of others behind her, but Brett could focus only on Scud"iA. s long as you're here, I'm all right," he said.
Symbols are worth a damn.
-- Duque Kurz
19(?) Alki, 468O. utpost 22.
When they call me "Mr. Justice" I feel the scales of law and life freeze inI maym pnaolmt .Ward Keel
to them, the big-headed man with the long neck and stiff shuffle, but some god who will see the right thing
and do itA.
nd good will comeG. od and good, evil and devil -- words are the symbols that flesh out our
world. We expect thatW.
e act on it.
Resentment, that's expectation gone baId.must admit, our crises are legion, but we live to confront our crises and that's something no god ever promised.
Simone Rocksack thinks she knows what Ship has promTisheadt'.s her job, she saySs.he tells the

faithful what Ship meant and they believe Thehre.
Histories are there for the readiIngc.ome to my own
conclusions: We are neither rewarded nor punisheWd.e are.My job as Chief Justice has been to keep as many of us being as possible.
The Committee's foundations were in science and Oferairg.inal questions were quite simplkei:ll it or
care for itT. erminate if dangerousT. hat power over life and death in a time of much death lent an aura to the Committee that it should never have accepItnedl.ieu of law, there is the Committee.
It is true that the C/P asserts the law of Ship and it is also true that her peoplTe heyfogricvee iut.nto
Ship that which is Ship's . . . together we keep the human world flowing.
"Flow" is the right woWrd.e Islanders understand current and floWw.e understand that conditions and times change.To change, then, is normaTl.he Committee reflects that flexibilitMy.ost law is simply a matter of personal contracts, agreementCs.ourts deal with squabbles.
The Committee deals with life and life alSoonme.ehow that has extended to politics, a matter of group survival. We are autonomous, elect our own replacements, and our word is as close to absolute law as Islanders get.They trust nothing fixedR. igidity in law appalls them as much as cold statuary.
Part of our enjoyment of art derives from its transitory nItatiusrem. ade constantly new and if it is to survive over time it does so in the theater of meWmoeryI.slanders have great respect for the mIitndis.
a most interesting place, a tool at the base of all tools, torture chamber, haven of rest and repository of symbols. All that we have relies on symbWoli.th symbols we create more world than we were given, we become more than the sum of our parts.
Anyone who threatens the mind or its symbolizing endangers the matrix of humaniItyhiatvse f.tried to explain as much to GallowH.e has the ears for it; he simply doesn't care.

When power shifts, men shift with it.
-- George Orwell, Shiprecords
The argument was over whether to arm NakBanuosh. ka favored it and Twisp did nAolte.
and Panille
remained aloof, listening but not watchinTgh.ey stood, each with an arm around the other's waist, looking out on the lowering gray sky visible through the open hatcThhweayfo. il circled on autopilot in a
wide pool of open water surrounded by kTelhpe.
outpost lifted from the sea about ten klicks away -- a
foam-collared pillar of rock set in a ring of Akelkpe. lp-free area surrounded the outpoTsth.e rock appeared to be at least one klick away from this vantage.
Brett found himself alarmed by the change in BuWshkhat had the kelp done to Bushka there in the cargo bay?And where were the other captive MermeOnn?ly Ale, Panille and Nakano remained of those rescued from the LTA.
Twisp voiced it for all of th"eWm:hat did the kelp do to you, Iz?"
Bushka looked down at the net of weapons by his righHt isfogoat.ze passed over the lasguns he had already distributed to the others -- to everyone except NakAanloo.ok of childlike bewilderment swept over Bushka's face". It told me . . . it told meH.e. b.r"ightened."It told me we must kill Gallow and it
showed me how."He turned and stared past Ale and Panille at the kelp drifting on the surgingA waves. rapt expression came over his face.
"And you agreed, Nakano?" Twisp demanded.
"It makes little difference," Nakano said, his voice g"Truhfef. kelp wants him dead but he will not be

dead."
Twisp shuddered and looked at Scudi and B"rTehtta. t's not what it said to mHeo.w about you, kid?"
"It showed me the launching of the rocket."
Brett closed his eyeSs.cudi pressed herself against him, leaning her head into his shoHuledekr.new the experience they had sharedt:housands of people alive now only in the kelp's memoTrhie .last agony of
the Guemes Islanders was there and everything the dead had ever thought or drHeaemheadd. Scudi exclaiming in his min"dN: ow, I know what it feels like to be a Mute!"
heard
Scudi pushed herself a bit away from Brett's embrace and looked at "Thweiskp because I'm one of its teachers."
e. lp said it's my friend
"What did it say to you, Twisp?" Brett aBskrett. opened his eyes wide and stared hard at the long-armed fisherman.
Twisp inhaled a deep, quick breath and spoke in a sharp"Ivtojiucest: told me about myself."
"It told him he's a man who thinks for himself and likes to keep his thoughts private," N"aIktano said. told me we're alike in thIissn. 't that it, Twisp?"
"More or less.T" wisp sounded embarrassed.
"It said our kind's dangerous to leaders who demand blind obedience," Nakan"oThseaidk.elp respects this."
"There!You see?"Bushka smiled at them, lifting a lasgun out of the pile of weapons he had taken from the people off the LTAH.e balanced the lasgun on his open palm, staring at it.

Panille turned from the hatchway and looked at Bu"sYhkoau.
all accept this?H" is voice was flaHt. e
glared at Nakano". Only you and Kareen and I are leHfte!" jerked his chin toward the hatchway. "Where are the others?"
Silence settled over the group.
Panille turned toward the perimeter of kelp visible in the darkeningHeligrhetm. embered hurdling the glut of kelp and reaching for Kareen as a giant vine releaseSdhehehra.d grabbed him close and they had clung to each other while cries of fear lifted all around them.
In that instant of kelp-awareness, he had been inundated by KGaraelelonw: 's captive -- sent with Nakano to be used as bait in the capture of Dark PSahneilleh.ad her loyalty problems, toHoe.r family, with all its power, wanted a hold on Gallow in case he was vicBtourtioKusa.reen loathed Gallow.
Kareen's fingers had held a painful grip on Panille's water-frizzed hair while she cried against his neck. Then the kelp had returned . . . and touched them onceTmheoyreh. ad both felt the kelp's selective fury, sensed the leaves and vines writhing seaward . . . bottomPwraersde.ntly, the hatchway had framed a
churning gray sea, not a sign there to betray the fact that humans had been removed from the foil . . . and drowned.
But that was the paBstu. shka cleared his throat, breaking Panille's reve"riTeh. ey were Gallow's people," Bushka said". What does it matter?"
"Nakano was one of Gallow's people," Twisp said.
"It's not an easy choice," Nakano s"aGida.llow saved my life oncBe.ut so did you, Twisp." "So you go with whoever saved you most recently," Twisp said, scorn in his voice. Nakano spoke in a curious lilting to"nI eg: o with the kelTp.here is my immortality."

Brett's throat went drHy.e had heard that tone in Guemes fanatics, the hardest of the hard-core
WorShipers.
Twisp, obviously having a similar reaction, shook his head from side Ntoaksaidneo. he killed!The kelp justified everything!
did not care who
"Gallow wants Vata," Bushka sa"idW. e can't allow that.H" e passed the lasgun to Nakano, who slipped it into its holster at his thigh.
At Bushka's movement, Twisp put his hand on his own wHeaepodni.d not relax even when Nakano displayed empty hands and smiled at him.
"Seven of us," Twisp sa"idA.nd we're supposed to attack a place that could have more than three hundred armed people in it!"
Bushka closed the hatchway before looking at Tw"Tishpe. "Do you doubt the kelp?"
"You're damned right I do!"
kelp told me how to kill Gallow," he said.
"But we are going to do it," Bushka Hsaeidp.ushed past Twisp and went up the passageway toward
the pilot cabinB. rett took Scudi's hand and followeHde. muttering: "Stupid, stupid, stupid . . ."
could hear the others coming after them, Twisp
For Brett, Twisp's voice lay immersed in what the kelp had insisted, a chant imprinted on the vocal centers. Certainly this was what the kelp had told Bushka.
Drive Gallow ouAt. vata will do the rest.
The chant surged there, background to a persistent image of Ward Keel imprisoned in plaz, beckoning

to him.Brett felt sure that Keel was Gallow's prisoner at this outpost.
Panille went to the left-hand pilot's seat and checked the instruTmheentfso. il was making minimal headway in the wide circle of open water enclosed by kelp fronds.
Brett stopped near the pilot statiFoene. ling Scudi's hand tremble in his, he squeezed her hand firmly.
She leaned against himH. e looked out the plaz to his riFgrhatm.
ed there was a churning gray sReain
slanted with a stiff breezKe.elp fronds lifted and danced on the wavetops, smoothing them and dampening the chopE. ven as he looked, darkness settled over the Aseuato. matic lighting came on to rim the edges of the cabin ceilinCgo. urse vector lights winked on the screens in front of Panille.
Twisp had stopped at the entrance to the cabin, his hand on the lasgun, his attention on Nakano.
Noting this, Nakano smileHd.e moved across in front of Brett and went to the pilot station beside
Panille, activating the exterior lightAs. spotlight fanned brilliant illumination across the open water and the
edge of kelpA.
bruptly, swift motion entered the illuminated area.
"Dashers!" Panille said.
"Look at that big bull!" Nakano said.
Brett and Scudi stared out at the scene, the blanket of kelp, the hunt of dashers.
"I've never seen such a big one," Ale said.
The hunt swept along in an undulating glide behind the monsteNrabkuanllo.
tracked them with the
spotlight. They circled the dark perimeter of kelp, then worked into the leaves.
Nakano turned from the control station and opened the plaz hatch beside him, letting in a damp rush of wind and rainL. ifting his lasgun, he sent a burning arc at the hunt, tumbling the lead bull and two
followers. Their dark green blood washed over the kelp fronds, foaming in the waves.

The rest of the hunt turned on its own dead, spreading blood and torn flesh across the fan of light. Abruptly, kelp stalks as thick as a man's waist lifted from the sea, whipped the gore to a foam and drove the dashers from their feed.
Nakano drew back and secured the ha"tcYho.u see that?" he asked.
No one answeredT. hey had all seen it.
"We will submerge," Bushka sa"idW. e will go in with the foil underwaNteark.ano will be visibleT.he rest of us will appear to be captives until the last blink."
Brett released Scudi's hand and crossed to confront Bu"sIh'lkla.not have Scudi used as bait!"
Bushka made a grab for his lasgun but Brett caught the man'Ys owurnigst.muscles, made powerful by months of hauling nets, flexed once, twisted Bushka's wrist and the lasgun dropped to tBheretdt eck. kicked it toward Twisp, who picked it up and hefted it.
Bushka eyed the weapons he had left near the passage entrance.
"You'd never make it," Twisp sa"iSdo.
relax."He held the lasgun casually, muzzle pointed downward,
but his manner suggested poised readiness.
"So what do we do now?" Ale asked.
"We could run for the Launch Base and alert everyone to what's happening," Panille said.
"You'd start a civil war among Mermen and the Islanders would be drawn into it," Bushka Hperotested. rubbed at his wrist where Brett had twisted it.

"There's something else," Scudi saSidh.e glanced at Brett, then at Twi"sCph. ief Justice Keel is being held prisoner here by Gallow."
"In Ship's name, how do you know that?" Twisp demanded.
"The kelp says it," Scudi said.
"It showed me a vision of Keel in captivity," Brett said.
"Vision!" Twisp said.
"The only important thing is to kill Gallow," Bushka muttered.
Twisp looked at Kareen A"leT.he only reason we went back to the cargo bay was to ask you for advice," he said". What does the ambassador suggest?"
"Use the kelp," she sa"idT.ake the foil down to the inner edge of the kelp in sight of the outpost . . . and we wait.Let them see Scudi and mTeh.at should tempt Gallow to come oAunt.d yes, Justice Keel is
there. I've seen him."
"I say we run for Vashon," Brett said.
"Let me remind you," Ale said, "that the hyb tanks will be brought doTwhne hpeircek.up team is at this outpost."
"And they're either Gallow's people or Gallow's captives," Twisp sne"Aerneyd. way you look at it, the hyb tanks are his."

Ale glanced at the chrono beside the control p"aInf eal.ll goes well, the tanks could be here in a little more than eight hours."
"With seven of us aboard, we couldn't stay down eight hours," Panille said.
Bushka began to giggle, startling the"mEm. pty argument," he said".Empty words.The kelp won't permit us to leave until we do its biddIitn'sg.kill Gallow or nothing."
Nakano was the first to break the subsequent sil"eTnchee.n we'd better get busy," he sa"iPde.rsonally, I like the ambassador's plan but I think we also should send in a scout party."
"And you're volunteering?" Twisp asked.
"If you have a better idea, let's hear it," NakanoHesairde.turned to the cabin's rear bulkhead and opened a supply locker, exposing fins, air tanks, breathers and dive suits.
"You saw the kelp crush that sub," Brett reminded T"wAinsdp. you saw what happened with the dashers."
"Then I'm the one who goes in," Twisp "sTahide.y don't know meI.'ll carry our message so they get it real clear."
'Twisp, no!" Brett protested.
"Yes!"Twisp glanced at the others, focusing on each face for a blink",Wthitehn:the exception of the ambassador there, who can't go in for obvious reasons -- they want her, for ShipB'sut seaxkcee!pt for her, I'm the obvious onIe'l.l take Nakano with meT."wisp sent a dasher grin at Nakano, who looked both surprised and pleased.

"Why you?" Brett aske"dI.
could --"
"You could get yourself in eelshit for no good reYaosoun'v.e never dealt with people who want to get
the best of you, kiYd.ou've never had to drive the best bargain you could for youIr kfnisohw. deal with such people."
"Gallow is no fish dealer," Bushka said.
how to
"It's still bargaining for your life and everything you want," Twis"pThsaeidk.id stays here with Panille.
They keep an eye on you, Bushka, to see you don't do somethingMcer,azI'ym. just what he gets -- so much and no more!"
Do that which is good and no evil shall touch you.
-- Raphael, Apocrypha, The Christian Book of the Dead
going to tell this Gallow
Within the first minute of the dive, Twisp tumbled along, flailing his long arms, his fins thrusting inefficiently. He watched helplessly as the gap between himself and Nakano widWenheyd. was Nakano speeding off that way?

Like most Islanders, Twisp had trained with Merman-style breathers for emergency use; he had even considered at one time that he might permit himself to become one of the rare Islanders fitted for an
airfish. But airfish were a cash crop and the operation was outrageously net pulling, were not suited to swimming.
Aconsdtlyh. is arms, superb for
Twisp struggled to keep Nakano in siHghet.skimmed the bottom, his fins puffing sand along a
blue-black canyon illuminated by Merman lights set into the Trohcek.sea above him remained a black remoteness hidden in the short-night.
When Panille had locked the foil against a rocky outcrop within the outpost's kelp perimeter, he had warned them:"The current's ranging between two and four knIotdso. n't know where the current came from, but it'll help you get to the outpost."
"Kelp is making that current," Bushka had said.
"Whatever is causing it, be careful," Panille had "sYaoidu.'ll be moving too fast for mistakes."
Brett, still protesting the assignment of duties, had deman"Hdeodw:
will they get back to us?"
"Steal a vehicle," Nakano had said.
As he had sealed the dive hatch behind them and prepared to flood the foil's lock, Nakano had said:
"Stay close, TwispW.
e'll be about ten minutes getting to the outpost hIa'ltlchto. w you the last few
meters. Make it look like you're my prisoner."
But now Nakano was far ahead in the chill, green-washed disTtahnecefl.oppy bubbles of his exhalations raced upward behind him, creating strange prism effects in the artificiaTl hleighMt.erman obviously was in his element here and Twisp was the muree-out-of-water.
I should've anticipated that! Twisp thought.

Abruptly, Nakano rolled to one side in a powerful turn, clutched one of the light mountings anchored in the canyon's wall and held himself against the current, waiting for Twisp's Nararkivaanl.o's air tank
glistened yellow-green along his back and his masked face was a grotesque shadow beside the rock.
Twisp, somewhat reassured by the Merman's action, tried to change course but would have missed Nakano had not the latter pushed off smoothly and grabbed the breather valve at Twisp's left shoulder. They rode along together then, swimming gently as the current slackened near the underwater cliff into which the outpost had been planted.
Twisp saw a wall of black rock ahead, some of it looking as though it were part of the sea's natural basement complex, some appearing man-changed -- great dark shapes piled one atop aAnotwheidr.e
plaz dive lock outlined in light had been set into this construNcatikoann.o operated controls at the side of
the plaz with one hanAd.
circular hatch opened before theTmh.ey swam into the lock, Nakano still
holding Twisp's breather valve.
It was an oval space illuminated by brilliant blue lights set into thAe wplaalzls.hatch on the inner curve revealed an empty passage beyond.
The outer hatch sealed automatically behind them and water began swirling out of the lock through a floor vent. Nakano released his grip on Twisp when their heads emerged from the water.
Removing his mouthpiece, Nakano sa"idY:ou're being very intelligent for a MuItec.ould've shut off your air at any tim"eY. ou'd have been eelbait."
Twisp removed his own mouthpiece but remained siNleontth. ing was important except getting to
Gallow.
"Don't try anything," Nakano warne"dI . could break you into small pieces with only one hand."
Hoping Nakano was playing a part for any would-be listeners, Twisp looked at the Merman's heavily muscled body.Nakano's threat could be real, Twisp thought, but the Merman might be surprised at the strength in a net-puller's arms . . . even if those arms did appear to be mutated monstrosities.

Nakano took off his tank and harness and held the equipment in his leTfwt ihspandw.aited for the last of the water to swirl through the floor vent, then shucked off his owHne thaenlkd. it loosely cradled in
one long arm, feeling the weight of it and thinking how potent a weapon this would be if hurled suddenly.
The inner hatch swung aside and Twisp tasted hot, moiNstakaairn.o pushed Twisp ahead of him through the hatchway and they emerged into a rectangular space with no other visible exit.
Abruptly, a voice barked at them from an overhead "vNeankta: no! Send the Mute topsideY. ou get off at level nine and come to mI ew. ant to know why you didn't bring the foil straight in."
"Gallow," Nakano explained, looking at Twi"sAp.fter I get off, you go straight on up."
Twisp's gut felt suddenly empHtyo. w many people did Gallow have heWre?as Gallow so confident of his Security that he could release an Islander prisoner to wander around without aOgr uwarads? this a ploy to disarm the stupid Islander?
Nakano looked up at the veTnwt.isp, peering at the ceiling construction, saw the glittering oval of a
Merman remote-eye.
"This man's my prisoner," Nakano sa"iId.presume there are guards topside."
"The Mute can't run away anywhere up there," Gallow's voice sn"aBppuetdh. e had better wait near the lift exit.We don't want to hunt all over for him."
Twisp felt himself get heavier then and realized that the entire rectangular room waPsrersiesnintlgy., it
stopped, and a thin seam in the back wall opened to reveal a hatch and a well-lighted passage with many armed Mermen in it.
Gallow grasped Twisp's dive tanks by the harn"eI'slls.take them," he sai"dW. these as a weapon."
ouldn't want you using

Twisp released his hold on the equipment.
Gallow went out and the hatch sealed.
Again, the room lifteAd.fter what seemed to Twisp an interminable wait, the room again came to a stop. The hatch opening was haloed in dim liHghets.itantly, Twisp stepped out into hot, dry Haeir. looked up
and around at high, black cliffs and open sky -- dawn light, still some starsEvveinsibales. he looked,
Big Sun lifted over the cliffs, illuminating a great rock-girdled bowl with much square-edged Merman construction in it and an LTA base in the middle distance.
Open land!
Twisp heard someone nearby using a sTawhe.
sound was reassuring, a thing heard often in an Island's
shop areas -- metal and plastics being cut by carpenters for assemblage into necessary nonorganic utensils.
The rocks were sharp under Twisp's bare feet and Big Sun blinded him.
"Abimael, simple oneC! ome here out of the sun!"
It was a man's voice and it came from a building ahead ofHTe wsaiswp. someone moving in the shadows. The sound of sawing continued.
The air in his lungs felt hot and dry, not the cool metallic dampness of the dive tanks nor the warm moisture that blew so often across VashTonh.e surface underfoot did not move, eithTewr.isp felt this as
a dangerous, alien thingD. ecks should lift and move!
All the edges are hard, he thought.
He stepped gingerly forward into the building's shTahde. sawing stopped and now Twisp discerned a

figure in the deeper shadows -- a dark-skinned man in a diaperlike gaLromnegntb. lack hair frizzed out from the man's head and he had a gray-streaked bIetarwda. s one of the few beards Twisp had ever seen, reaching nearly to the man's navTewl.isp had heard that some Mermen grew beards and the beard-gene cropped up occasionally among Islanders, but this luxurious growth was something new.
As the man moved in the shadows, Twisp saw the evidence of great physical strength, particularly in the shoulders and upper bodyT. his Merman would make a good net-puller, Twisp thouTghhet. Merman's
midsection displayed the preliminary settlings of middle age, howeTvweri.sp guessed the man at a
hard-driven forty or forty-five . . . very dark-skinned for a MeHrmisasnk. in glowed with a layer of red within the leathery tones.
"Abimael, come now," the man sa"iYd.our feet will burnC. ome have a cake till your mama finds you."
Why does he call me AbimaTewl?isp glanced around at the basin enclosed by the high blackAcliffs. squad of Mermen worked in the middle distance, sweeping the ground with flamethrowers.
It was a dreamlike scene in the hot light of swiftly rising BTiwg isSpunf.eared suddenly that he had been narced. Panille had warned him about "iDt:on't swim off into a deep area and you be sure to breathe
slow and deepO.
therwise you could be narced."
Narc, Twisp knew, was the Merman term for nitrogen narcosis, intoxication they sometimes encountered in the depths when using pressurized air taTnhkesr.e were stories -- narced divers releasing
their tanks at depth and swimming away to drown, or offering their air to passing fish, or going off into a euphoric water-dance.
"I hear the flamethrowers," the old carpenter said.
The matter-of-fact confirmation of what Twisp saw eased his Nfeoars. . . . this is real land . . . open to the sky.I am here and I am not narced.
"They think they'll sterilize this land and they'll never have nerve runners here," the carpe"nTtehre said. fools are wrong!Nerve-runner eggs are in the sea everywheFrlea.methrowers will be needed for as long as people live here."

The carpenter moved across his shadowed area toward a brown cloth folded on Ha ebesnact ho. n the
end of the bench and opened the cloth, revealing a paper-wrapped package of cakes, dark brown and glossy. Twisp smelled the sweet stickiness rising from the caTkhees. carpenter lifted a cake in thick
knuckle-swollen fingers and held it toward Twisp.
In that instant, Twisp saw that the man was Tblhiende. yes were cloud-gray and empty of recognition. Hesitantly, Twisp accepted the cake and sampledRiict.h brown fruit in the cake sweetened his tongue.
Again, Twisp looked at the scene in the bowl of openHelanhdad.
seen pictures and holos from the
histories but nothing had prepared him for this experieHnece.felt both attracted and repelled by what he saw. This land would not drift willy-nilly on an uncertainThseear.e was a sense of absolute assurance in the firmness underfootB. ut there was a loss of freedom in it,Ittowo.as locked down and enclosed . . . limited. Too much of this could narrow a man's vision.
"One more cake, Abimael, and then you go home," the carpenter said.
Twisp stepped back from the carpenter, hoping to escape silently, but his heel encountered a stone and he tumbled backward, sitting sharply on another stoAnne. involuntary cry of pain escaped him.
"Now, don't you cry, Abimael!" the carpenter said.
Twisp heaved himself to his fe"eI'tm.
not Abimael," he said.
The carpenter aimed his sightless eyes toward Twisp and sat silent for a mome"nIt,htehaern:that now. Hope you liked the cakYe.ou see Abimael anywhere around?"
"No one in sight but the men with the flamethrowers."
"Damned fools!"The carpenter swallowed a cake whole and licked the syrupy coating off his fingers. "They're bringing Islanders onto the land already?"

"I . . . I think I'm the first."
"They call me Noah," the carpenter s"aYido.u can take it as a joSkaey. you badly deformed, Islander?"
Twisp swallowed a sudden rise of anger at the man's bluntness. "My arms are rather long but they're perfect for pulling nets." "Don't mind the useful variations," Noah s"aWid.hat's your name?" "Twisp . . . Queets Twisp."
I was the first out heArere.
"Twisp," Noah said".I like that nameI.t has a good sounWd. ant another cake?"
"No, thank youI.t was good, thoughI. just can't take too much sweetneWssh. at're you making here?"
"I'm working with a bit of wood," Noah "sTahidin. k of that!Wood grown on PandoraI!'m fashioning some pieces that will be made into furniture for the new director of thiYs opulamcee.t him yetN? ame's Gallow."
"I haven't had that . . . pleasure," Twisp said.
"You willH. e sees everybodyD.
oesn't like Mutes, though, I'm afraid."
"How were you . . . I mean, your eyes?"

"I wasn't born this waIyt .was caused by staring at a sun too Bloentg.you didn't know that, did yoIfu?
you stand on solid ground so you don't move around, you can stare right at the sun . . . but it can blind you."
"Oh."Twisp didn't know what else to sNayo.ah seemed resigned to his fate, though.
"Abimael!"Noah raised his voice into a loud call.
There was no answer.
"He'll come," Noah sai"dS. aved a cake for himH.e knows it."
Twisp nodded, then felt the foolishness of the gesHtueres.tared across the enclosed basTinh.e land glared at him from all sides, everything highlighted by the brightness of BTigheSubnu.ildings were stark
white, shot through with streaks of browWna.ter or the illusion of water shimmered in a flat area near the far cliffs.The flamethrowers had been silenced and the Merman workers had gone into a building toward the center of the basiNn.oah returned to his woodworkinTg.here was no wind, no sound of seabirds, no sound of Abimael, who was supposed to be coming to his fatherN'sotchailnl.g. Twisp had never before
heard such silence . . . not even underwater.
"They call me Noah," Noah sa"iGd.o to the records and look up the histoIriecsa.ll my first-born
Abimael. Do you dream strange things, TwisIp?used to dream about a big boat, called an ark, in the time when the original Terrahome was floodTedh.e ark saved lots of humans and animals from the flood
. . . kinda like the hyb tanks in that, you know?"
Twisp found himself fascinated by the carpenter's voTihce. man was a storyteller and knew the trick of flexing his voice to hold a listener's attention.
"The ones who didn't get on the ark, they all died," Noa"hWshaeind. the sea went down, they found
the stinking carcasses for monthTs.he ark was built so animals and people couldn't climb aboard unless they were invited and the ramp was lowered."

Noah mopped sweat from his brow with a purple "cSlotitnhk. ing carcasses everywhere," he muttered.
A slight breeze came over the cliff walls and wafted the heavy stink of burned things acrHoses Twisp. could almost smell the rotting flesh Noah described.
The carpenter hefted two joined pieces of wood and hung them on a peg in the wall behind him.
"Ship made a promise that Noah would live," Noah"Bsauitd.watching that much death was very bad. When so many die and so few live, think how dead the survivors mTushteyfeenle!eded the miracle of Lazarus and it was denied them."
Noah turned away from the wall and his blind eyes glittered in reflectTedwilsigphts.aw that tears rolled unchecked down the man's cheeks and onto his dark, bare chest.
"I don't know whether you'll believe it," Noah said, "but Ship has talked to me."
Twisp stared at the tear-stained face, fascinaFteodr. the first time in his life, Twisp felt himself to be in the presence of an authentic mystery.
"Ship spoke to me," Noah sa"iId.smelled the stink of death and saw bones on the land still clotted with rotting flesh. Ship said':I will not again curse the ground for mankind's sake.'"
Twisp shudderedN.
oah's words came with a compelling force that could not be rejected.
Noah paused, then went o"nA:nd Ship said, 'The imagination of man's heart is evil from his Wyohuatth.' do you think of that?"
For mankind's sake, Twisp thought.

Noah frightened him then by speaking it once more a"lFoourd:mankind's sake!As though we begged for it!As though we couldn't work out something better than all that death!"
Twisp began to feel a deep sympathy for the carpTenhtiesr.Noah was a philosopher and a profound thinker. For the first time, Twisp began to feel that Islander and Merman might achieve a common understanding. All Mermen were not Gallows or Nakanos.
"You know what, Twisp?N"oah asked."I expected better of Ship than slaughAtenr.d to say He does it for mankind's sake!"
Noah came across the shadowed work area, skirting the bench as though he could see it, and stopped directly in front of Twisp.
"I hear you breathing there," Noah s"aSidh.ip spoke to me, TwisIp.don't care whether you believe
that. It happened."Noah reached out and grasped Twisp's shoulder, moved the hand downward and explored the length of Twisp's left arm, then returned to trace a finger over Twisp's face.
"Your arm is long," Noah sa"iDd.on't see anything wrong in that if it's usYefouul. got a good facLe.ots of wrinkles.You live outside a loYt.ou see any sign of my Abimael yet?"
Twisp swallowed". No."
"Don't you be frightened of me just because I talk to Ship," No"aThhissainde. w ark of ours is out on dry land once and for aWll.e're going to leave the sea."
Noah pulled away from Twisp and returned to the workbench.
A hand touched Twisp's right arSmta.rtled, he whirled and confronted NakanToh.e big Merman had approached without a sound.
"Gallow wants to see you now," Nakano said.

"Where is that Abimael?" Noah asked.
And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off.
-- Genesis 8:11, The Christian Book of the Dead
Duque ignored the gasps of the watchers ringed around the constant gloom of the VHatias
Peaorosl.
did not register the strangled moan that came clearly from the wide, flaccid throat ofTthhee hCe/aPv.y fist that Vata clamped to his genitals captured Duque's attention complHeteerlyf.ervor hurled him painfully out of pseudosleep, but her touch softened with every Tbhlienkp. oolside gasps were replaced by sporadic mutterings and a few hushed giggWlehs.en Duque's hand began its complementary stroking
of Vata's huge body the room stillVeda.ta moaned.The poolside watchers were soaked by the wave set up under the rhythmic strokes of her mighty hips.
"They're going to pair!"
"Her eyes are open," one said, "and look, they move!"

Vata licked her lips, pinned Duque to the bottom of the pool and straddled hHimer theraed.
and the
tops of her shoulders broke the surface and she gasped great, long breaths with her head thrown back.
"Yes!" Vata said, and the C/P's mind registered, Her first word in almost three hundrHedowyears. could the circumstances of that first word be explained to the faithful?
It's to punish mTe!he thought flooded Simone Rocksack's minSdh.e saw it alTl.he C/P wondered, then, what sort of punishment Vata might have in mind for Gallow.
It was then the C/P noted that the sloshing from the Vata Pool was not all resulting from the activity inside. The decks themselves heaved in the same slow rhythm.
"What's happening?"The C/P caught herself muttering the question and glanced around to see that she had not been overheard.
A series of tight-throated moans from Vata, then another explosive, breathless D"Yuqeus!e" was nearly undetectable under her rippling flanks and hamlike hands.
The C/P's eyes widened in horror and humiliation as she realized that Vata's performance with Duque was a grotesque parody of her last hours with GaHlloewr .position wouldn't even allow her to leave the
room, to escape the heat that crept outward from the collar of her blue robe to burn her cheeks and her breasts. A trace of sweat graced her upper lip and temples.
Someone burst into the room and shouted, "The kTelhpe!"voice strained to reach over the babblings of
a crowd that was well into a serious hyst"eTrihae. fucking sea!"
kelp's rocking the IslanIdt.'s rocking the whole
The little stump-legged messenger clapped a fingerless hand over his mouth when he caught sight of the
C/P.
There were three sudden cries that brought a chill to the C/P's spine; Vata's thighs shuddered in their

grip on Duque and Vata fell back into the pool, wide-eyed and smiling, still anchored to him by their short but stout tether.
The heavy rocking of the decks slackenTehde.
crowd at poolside had stilled with the outburst from
Vata. The C/P knew better than to lose this momSehnet. swallowed hard, lifted her robe to clear her ankles and knelt at the rim of the quieting pool.
"Let us pray," she said, and bowed her hTehaindk. , she thought to herself, thinHke! r eyes squinted shut against fear, reality and those difficult traitors, tears.
Physically, we are created by our reverie -- created and limited by our reverie -- for it is the reverie which delineates the furthest limits of our minds.
-- Gaston Bachelard, "The Poetics of Reverie," from The Handbook of the Chaplain/Psychiatrist
On the way down to confront Gallow, Twisp ignored the spying devices in the ceiling and spoke openly to Nakano.Twisp no longer doubted that Nakano was playing a devious double Wgahmate.did it
matter? Meeting the carpenter, Noah, had heartened TwiGspa.llow would have to accept the new realities of Pandora. The kelp wanted him dead and would have him Tdheeado. pen land belonged to everyone. Gallow could only delay the inevitable; he could not preveHnet iwt.as a prisoner herAe.ll of his people were prisoners here.

Nakano only laughed when Twisp spoke of "tHhies. knows he's a prisoneHr.e knows Kareen and
Scudi are out there, one step out of reach."
"He'll never get them!" Twisp said.
"Maybe notB. ut he has the Chief JusticAe. bargain may be possible."
"It's strange," Twisp sai"dB. efore I met that carpenter up there, I didn't really know what I was bargaining for."
"What carpenter?" Nakano asked.
"The man I was talking to topsNidoea. h. Didn't you hear him talking about the ark and Ship speaking to him?"
"There was no man up theYreo!u were alone."
"He was right therHe!ow could you have missed himL?ong beard down to hereT."wisp passed a hand across his belt line".He was calling for a child -- Abimael."
"You must've been hallucinating," Nakano said, his voice "mYilodu.
were probably narced by the dive."
"He gave me a cake," Twisp whispered.
Remembering the fruity flavor of the cake, the sticky feeling of it on his fingers, Twisp lifted his right hand
to the level of his eyes and rubbed his fingers togTethheerre.
was no stickinessH. e smelled the fingers.
No smell of the cakHe.e touched his tongue to his fingeNrso.
taste of the cake.

Twisp began to tremble.
"Hey!Take it easy," Nakano soothe"dA. nyone can be narced."
"I saw him," Twisp whispere"dW. e spoke togetherS. hip made him a promis'eI: will not again curse the ground for mankind's sake.'"
Nakano took a backward step away from Tw"Yispo.u're crazy!You were standing out in the sun all alone."
"No workshop?" Twisp asked, his voice plaint"iNveo.
bearded man in the shadows?"
"There were no shadowYs.ou probably had a touch of the sNuon. hat.Big Sun beating down on you. Forget it."
"I can't forget
Iit.felt him touch me, his finger on my Hfaecew. as blind."
"Well, put it behind yoWu.e're about to see GeLaar Gallow and if you're going to bargain with him you'll need your wits about you."
The moving cubicle came to a stop and the hatch opened onto a Npaasksaangoe. and Twisp emerged and were flanked immediately by six armed Mermen.
"This way," Nakano sai"dG. allow is waiting for you."
Twisp took a deep, trembling breath and allowed himself to be escorted along the Merman corridor with its sharp corners and hard sides, its unmoving, solid deck.

That Noah was really there, Twisp told himTsehlef. experience had contained too much sense of reality. The kelp!He tingled out to the tips of his fingers with realizSaotimone.how, the kelp had insinuated itself into his mind, taken dominion over his senses!
The realization terrified him and his step faltered.
"Here!Keep up, Mute!" one of the escort barked.
"Easy does it," Nakano cautioned the gu"aHrde.'s not used to a deck that doesn't move."
Twisp was surprised by the friendliness in Nakano's voice, his sharpness with theDoeescsorNt.akano really sympathize with me?
They stopped at a wide, rectangular hatchway open to the paTsshaeger.oom exposed beyond it was large by Islander standards -- at least six meters deep and about ten or eleven metGerasllowwides.at before a bank of display screens near the back Hweallt.urned as Twisp and Nakano entered, leaving the escort in the passage.
Twisp was immediately struck by the even regularity of Gallow's features, the silkiness of that long golden mane, which reached almost to the Merman's shouldTehres. cold blue eyes studied Twisp
carefully, pausing only briefly on Twisp's long arGmasl.low came to his feet easily as Nakano and Twisp stopped about two paces from him.
"Welcome," Gallow said".Please do not consider yourself our prisonIerl.ook upon you as a negotiator for the Islanders.
Twisp scowledS. o Nakano had revealed everything!
"Not you alone, of course," Gallow add"eWd.e will be joined presently by Chief Justice KGeeall.l"ow's voice was softly persuasiveH. e smiled warmly.

A charmer, Twisp thoughDt.oubly dangerous!
Gallow studied Twisp's face a blink, those cold blue eyes peeling the I"sIla'mndetor.ld" -- he glanced at
Nakano standing near Twisp's left shoulder, then back to Twisp --"that you do not trust the kelp."
Nakano pursed his lips when Twisp glanced at "hIti'ms .true, isn't it?N" akano asked.
"It's true."The admission was wrenched from Twisp.
"I think we have created a monster in bringing the kelp to consciousness," Gall"oLwet smaied. tell you
that I have never believed in that part of the kelp pIrtojwecats. against everything human."
demeaning . . . immoral . . . treachery
Gallow waved his hand, the gesture saying clearly that he had explained himself sufHficeietnutlryn.ed to Nakano. "Will you ask the guard out there if the Chief Justice has recovered enough to be brought in here?"
Nakano turned on one heel and went out into the passage where a low-voiced conversation could be heard. Gallow smiled at TwispP.resently, Nakano returned.
"What's wrong with Keel?" Twisp demand"eRde. covered from what?"And he wondered:Torture? Twisp did not like Gallow's smile.
"The Chief Justice, as I prefer to call him, has a digestion problem," Gallow said.
A scuffling sound at the entrance to the room brought Twisp's attention Hareousntadr.ed hard as two
of the escort brought Chief Justice Ward Keel into the room, supporting him as he shuffled stiffly along.
Twisp was shockedK. eel looked near deathW. here his skin was visible it was pale and mTohiesrte.
was a glazed look in his eyes and they did not track together -- one peering back toward the passage,

the other looking down where he placed each painful Ksteeepl.'s neck, supported by that familiar prosthetic framework, still appeared unable to support the man's large head.
Nakano brought a low chair from the side and placed it carefully behinTdheKeslc.ort eased Keel gently into the chair, where he sat a moment, panTtihneg.escort departed.
"I'm sorry, Justice Keel," Gallow said, his voice full of practiced commise"Brautitonw. e really must use what time we haveT.here are things that I require."
Keel raised his attention slowly, painfully to look up at G"aAllnodw.what Gallow wants, Gallow gets," Keel said.His voice came out faint and trembling.
"They say you have a digestion problem," Twisp said, looking down at the familiar figure of the Islander who had served so long as a center of topside life.
One of Keel's oddly placed eyes moved to take in Twisp, noting the long arms, the Islander stigmata. Twisp's Islander accent could not be denied.
"You are?" Keel asked, his voice a bit stronger.
"I'm from Vashon, siMr.y name's Twisp, Queets Twisp."
"Oh, yesF. isherman. Why're you here?"
Twisp swallowedK.
eel's skin looked like pale sausage casiTngh.e man obviously needed help, not this
demanding confrontation with GallowT.wisp ignored Keel's question and turned on Gallow.
"He should be in a hospital!"

A faint smile tugged at Gallow's mo"uTthh.e Chief Justice has refused medical help."
"Too late for that," Keel sa"iWd.hat's the purpose of this meeting, Gallow?"
"As you know," Gallow said, "Vashon is grounded near one of our bTahreriyerhs.ave survived a storm, but took severe damageF.or us, they are now a sitting target."
"But you're trapped here!" Twisp said.
"Indeed," Gallow agreed".But then, not all of my people are with Omteh.ers are placed strategically throughout Merman and Islander societTy.hey still do my bidding."
"Islanders work for you?" Twisp demanded.
"The C/P among themA."gain, that faint smile touched Gallow's mouth.
"That's remarkable after what he did to Guemes," KeelHseaidsp. oke almost normally, but the effort of sitting upright and carrying it off was apparPeenrts. piration dotted his wide forehead.
Gallow pointed a finger at Twisp, eyes glitte"riYngo.u have Kareen Ale, fisherman TwispV! ashon has
Vata. I will have both!"
"Interesting," Keel saidH. e looked at Twisp".You really have Kareen?"
"She's out there in our foil, just within the kelp line where Gallow and his people can't go."
"I think Nakano could go there," Gallow
"sNaidak. ano?"

"Perhaps," Nakano said.
"The kelp passed him unmolested coming in here," Gallow said, smiling at"DTwoeisn.'t it appear likely that Nakano has immunity from the kelp?"
Twisp looked at Nakano, who once more stood passively at one side, obviously listening but not focusing his eyes on any of the speakers.
It came to Twisp then that Nakano did, indeed, belong to thTehekeblpig.
Merman had made some
kind of pact with the monster presence in theTsoeaT! wisp, Nakano appeared the embodiment of
Merman killer-viciousness, all of it concealed within a warmly reasonable
Wmaassk.that Nakano's
value to the kelpT?here could be no missing the fanatic's tone when Nakano spoke of the kelp.
"The kelp is my immortalityT.h"at was what Nakano had said.
"Really, there should be no need for violence and killing," Gallow"Wseaida.re all reasonable meYn.ou have things you want; I have things I wSaunrte.ly there must be some common ground where we can meet."
Twisp's thoughts darted back to that odd topside encounter with the carpenter,IfNthoath.was really the kelp projecting hallucination into his mind, what was the purWpohsaet? was the message?
Slaughter was wrongE.ven if Ship commanded it, slaughter was wroTnwgi.sp had felt this strongly in
Noah's manner and words.
The ark has grounded and the land no longer will be cursed bTywiSshpipk.new vaguely of the ark legend . . . was there a message from Ship here, sent through the kelp?
Gallow, on the other hand, represented treachery, a man who would do anything to gainDhidis ends. the C/P really work for himIf? so, an evil pact had been forged.

And what if Noah was just hallucinatiNona?kano could be rightI: might have been narced.
Nakano focused abruptly on Twisp and ask"eWd:hy aren't you nauseated?"
It was such a startling question, suggesting Nakano had read Twisp's mind, that Twisp was a moment focusing on the possible implications.
"Are you also sick?" Keel asked, peering up at Twisp.
"I am quite well," Twisp saHide. tore his gaze away from Nakano and looked more closely at Gallow, seeing the marks of self-indulgence in the man's face, the sly twist of the smile, the frown lines in the forehead, the downturned creases at the corners of the mouth.
Twisp returned then to the knowledge of what he had Stpoeadkoin. g slowly and distinctly, directing his words at Gallow, Twisp sai"dT: he imagination of your heart has been evil from your youth."
Ship's words as reported by Noah came easily from Twisp's mouth and once he had said them, he felt their lightness.
Gallow scowled, then":You're not much of a diplomat!"
"I'm a simple fisherman," Twisp said.
"Fisherman, but not simple," Keel saAid.chuckle turned into a weak, dry cough.
"You think Nakano has immunity from the kelp," Twisp"Isawida.s his passporWt. ithout me, he would have joined the othersH. e has told you about the others that the kelp drowned, hasn't he?"

"I tell you the kelp is out of control!" Gallow"Wsaeidh. ave loosed a monster on PandoOrau.r ancestors were right to kill it off!"
"Perhaps they were," Twisp agree"dB.ut we'll not be able to do it again."
"Poisons and burners!" Gallow said.
"No!"The word was torn from NakanoH. e glared at Gallow.
"We will only prune it back to manageable size," Gallow said, his voice s"oToothoinsgm. all a number to be conscious but large enough to preserve our dead forever."
Nakano nodded curtly but did not relax.
"Tell him, Nakano," Twisp ordere"dC.ould you really return to the foil without me?"
"Even if the kelp passed me, the crew probably wouldn't let me aboard," Nakano said.
"I don't see how you're going to sink Vashon when it's already aground," KAeelpasianifdu.l smile curved the edges of Keel's mouth.
"So you think I'm helpless," Gallow said.
Twisp glanced back at the open hatchway into the passage, the guards clustered there trying to make it appear that they were not listening.
"Don't your people know how you've trapped them?" Twisp demanded, his voice loud and "cAarsrying. long as you live, they're prisoners here!"

Blood suffused Gallow's fac"eB. ut Vashon --"
"Vashon is in a perimeter of kelp that you can't penetrate!" Twis"pNosbaoidd.y you send against
Vashon can get through!H" e looked at Keel".Mr. Justice, isn't that --"
"No, no," Keel huske"dG. o on.You're doing fine."
Gallow made a visible attempt to control his anger, taking several deep breaths, squaring his shoulders. He said:"LTAs can --"
"LTAs are limited in what they can do," Nakano interru"Yptoedu. know what happened to the one I
was on.They are vulnerable."
Gallow looked at Nakano as though seeing the man for the fir"sDt otimIeh. ear my faithful Nakano correctly?"
"Don't you understand?" Nakano asked, his voice softly penetra"tIitngd.oesn't matter what happens to us. Come, I will go into the kelp with Lyeotu.it take us."
Gallow backed two steps away from Nakano.
"Come" Nakano insisted".The Chief Justice obviously is dyinTgh.e three of us will go togethWere. not die.We will live forever in the kelp."
will
"You fool!" Gallow snappe"dT. he kelp can dieI!t was killed once and that could happen again!"
"The kelp does not agree," Nakano s"aAidv.ata lives forever!"His voice lifted on the last sentence and a wild light came into his eyes.

"Nakano, Nakano, my most trusted companion," Gallow said, his voice pitched to its most persuasive
tone. "Let us not permit the heat of the moment to swaGy aullso.w"
sent an apprehensive glance toward
the listening guards at the hatchwa"yO.f course the kelp can live forever . . . but not in such numbers that it threatens our existence."
Nakano's expression did not change.
Keel, watching the scene through pain-glazed eyes, thouNgahkt:ano knows him!Nakano does not trust him!
Twisp entertained a similar thought and knew he had found the ultimate leverage to use against Gallow. Nakano can be turned against his chief.
Gallow constructed a rueful smile, which he turned toward "KMere.l.Justice Keel, let us not forget that the C/P is still minAe!nd I will have the hyb tanks."
That's his best shot! Keel thought.
"I'll bet the C/P doesn't know it was you who sank Guemes," Keel managed.
"Can anyone carry such an accusation to her?" Gallow aHskeedlo.oked blandly around him.
Is that our death warrant? Twisp wondeWredil.l we be silenced permanentlyH?e decided on a bold attack.
"If we do not return to the foil, they will broadcast that accusation and Bushka's statement confirming it."
"Bushka?"Gallow's eyes showed both shock and gl"eDe.o you mean Bushka, the Islander who stole our sub?"Gallow smiled at Nakano".Do you hear thatT?hey know where to find the sub thief."

Nakano did not change expression.
Gallow glanced at the chrono beside his communications term"Winaell.l, well!It's almost time for the midday meal.Fisherman Twisp, why don't you stay here with the Chief JuIs'ltliche?ave food sent in. Nakano and I will dine together and consult on possible compromYiosues.and the Chief Justice can do the same."
Gallow moved to Nakano's sid"eC.ome, old friend," Gallow sai"dI. didn't save your life to provide myself with an opponent."
Nakano glanced at Twisp, the thought plain on the bigWfhayce.did you save my life?
Twisp chose to answer the unspoken quest"ioYno.u know why."And he thoughtI:
because you were in dangeNr.akano already knew this.
Nakano resisted the pressure on his arm.
saved you simply
"Do not quarrel with me, old friend," Gallow "sBaoidth. soon. There's much yet for us to do."
of us will go to the kelp in time, but it's too
Slowly, Nakano allowed himself to be guided from the room.
His muscles trembling so hard that his great head shook with visible tremors, Keel lifted his attention to Twisp. "We do not have much time," Keel s"aCidl.ear that table at the end of the room and help me to stretch out on it."
Moving quickly, Twisp swept the objects off the table, then returned tSoliKppeienlg.
his long arms
under the Chairman, Twisp lifted the old body, shocked at how light the mKaneelwwasa. s nothing but thin bones in a loose sack of sGkienn. tly, Twisp carried the Chairman across the room and eased him onto the table.

Weakly, Keel fumbled with the harness of his prosth"Heseislp. gasped.
me get this damned thing off," he
Twisp unbuckled the harness and slipped the prosthesis away from Keel's back and shoulders, letting it drop to the floor.
Keel sighed with relie"fI.
prefer to leave this world more or less as I came into it," he grated, every
word draining him". No, don't objectB. oth of us know I'm dying."
"Sir, isn't there anything I can do to help you?"
"You've already done
Iit.was afraid I'd have to die in the midst of strangers."
"Surely, we can do something to . . ."
"Really, there's nothingT.he best doctors on Vashon have conveyed to me the verdict of that higher Committee on Vital FormsN. o . . . you are the perfect person for this moment . . . not so close to me that you'll become maudlin, yet close enough that I know you care."
"Sir . . . anything I can do . . . anything . . ."
"Use your own superb good sense in dealing with GaYlloouw'v.e already seen that Nakano can be turned against him."
"Yes, I saw that."
"There is one thing."

"Anything."
"Don't let them give me to the kIedlpo.n't want thaLt.ife should have a body of its own, even such a poor body as this one I'm about to leave."
"I'll --" Twisp broke oHffo. nesty forced him to remain sileWnt.hat could he do?
Keel sensed this confusio"nY. ou will do what you can," he s"aIidk. now thatA. nd if you fail, I am not your judge."
Tears filled Twisp's eye"sA. nything I can do . . . I'll do." "Don't be too hard on the C/P," Keel whispered. "What?"Twisp bent close to the Chairman's lips.
Keel repeated it, addin"gS: imone is a sensitive and bitter woman and -- and you've seen Gallow. Imagine how attractive he would seem to her."
"I understand," Twisp said.
"I'm filled with joy that the Islands can produce such good men," Ke"Iel asmaidr.eady to be judged."
Twisp wiped at his eyes, still bending close to hear the Chairman's lastWwheonrdsK. eel did not continue, Twisp became aware that there was no sound of breathing from the supineTwfiigsuprep.ut a
hand to the artery at Keel's neNcko.
pulse.He straightened.

What can I do?
Was there anything combustible here to burn the old body and prevent the Mermen from consigning
Keel to the seaH? e looked all around the rooNmo. thing. Twisp stared helplessly at the body on the table.
"Is he dead?I"t was Nakano speaking from the hatchway.
Twisp turned to find the big Merman standing just inside the room.
The tears on Twisp's face were sufficient ans"wHeer'.s not to be given to the kelp," Twisp said. "Friend Twisp, he died but he need not be dead," Nakan"oYsoauidc. an meet him again in Avata." Twisp clenched his fists, his long arms tremb"liNngo.! He asked me to prevent that!"
"But it's not up to us," Nakano
"saIfidh. e was a deserving man, Avata will wish to accept him."
Twisp jumped to the side of the table and stood with his back to it.
"Let me take him to Avata," Nakano
Hsaeid.moved toward Twisp.
As Nakano came within range of those long arms, Twisp shot out a net-calloused fist, leaning his shoulder behind itT. he blow struck with blinding speed on the side of Nakano'Ns ajkawan.o's heavily muscled neck absorbed most of the shock but his eyes gBlaezfeodr.e he could recover, Twisp leaped forward and wrenched one of Nakano's arms backward, intending to throw the man to the deck.
Nakano recovered enough to tense his muscles and preventHtehitsu.rned slowly against Twisp's pressure, moving like a great pillar of kelp.

Abruptly, the guards swarmed into the roOomth.er hands grabbed Twisp and jerked him aside, pinning him to the deck.
"Don't hurt him!" Nakano shouted.
The pressures on Twisp eased but did not leave.
Nakano stood over Twisp, a sad look on the big face, a touch of blood at the corner of his mouth.
"Please, friend Twisp, I mean you no hIarme. an only to honor the Chief Justice and Chairman of the
Committee on Vital Forms, a man who has served us so well for so long."
One of the guards pinning Twisp down snickered.
Immediately, Nakano grasped the man by a shoulder and lifted him like a sack of fishmeal, hurling him aside.
"These Islanders you sneer at are as dear to Avata as any of us!" Nakano who forgets this will answer to me!"
"bAelnloywaemd.ong you
The abused guard stood with his back to a bulkhead, his face contorted with fear.
Indicating Twisp with one thick finger, Nakano
"sHaido:ld him but let him upN."akano went to the table
and lifted Keel's body gently in his arHmes. turned and strode past the guards, pausing at the hatchway. "When I have gone, take the fisherman to our leGadeeLra. ar Gallow is topside and has things to say." Nakano looked thoughtfully at Twis"pH. e needs your help to get the hyb tanks -- they're on their way down."

Hybernation is to hibernation as death is to sCleleopse. r to death than it is to life, hybernation can be lifted only by the grace of Ship.
-- the Histories
While Brett held Bushka down, Ale tied off the stump of Bushka's left arm with a length of dive harness. Bushka lay just inside the main hatch, the sea surface visible through the plaz port behBiingd Shuinm,.
just entering its afternoon quadrant, painted oily coils across the kelp fronds out there, now bright and now dulled as clouds scudded overhead.
A moan escaped Bushka.
The foil rolled gently in a low Asleea.braced herself against a bulkhead while she worked.
"There," she said as she tied off the dive haBrnleososd. suits were red with it.
smeared the deck around them and their dive
Ale turned and shouted up the passage behind B"Srehtat.dow! Do you have that cot ready?"

"I'm bringing it!"
Brett took a deep breath and looked out the plaz at the quiescent kelp -- so harmless-looking, so tranquil. The horizon was an absurd pinkish gray where Little Sun would soon lift into view, joining its giant companion.
It had been a hellish half hour.
Bushka, meandering aimlessly around the pilot cabin, had lulled them into a sense of security by his casual movements.Abruptly, he had dashed down the passageway and hit the manual override on the main hatch.Water had come blasting in at the high pressure of their depth -- almost thirty-five meters down. Bushka had been preparedS.tanding to one side of the blasting water, he had grabbed an emergency tank-breather outfit stored beside the hatch, slipping swiftly into the harness.
Brett and Panille, running after him, had been spilled and tumbled in the wash of water boiling down the passage. Only Scudi's alertness in sealing off a section between them and the open hatch had saved the foil and its occupants.
Bushka had kicked easily out into the kelp-jungle where the foil lay on bottom.
Scudi, faced with tons of water in the foil, had blown tanks and started the pumps, shouting for Kareen to help Brett and ShadowT.he foil had lifted slowly, floating upward through the massed kelp.
Brett and Panille, splashing their way back into the cabin, had accepted a hand fromScKudair,een.
seated at the controls, spared a glance for Brett to reassure herself that he was safe, then returned her attention to the watery world visible through the plaz.
"It's tearing him apart!" Scudi gasped.
The others sloshed to a position behind Scudi and looked oTuthseidefo. il slithered upward against giant kelp fronds, giving those inside the pilot cabin a dimly lighted view of Bushka close besOidneethem.

large kelp tentacle, wrapped around his body, held Bushka fast while another tentacle gripped his left arm. A cloud of dark liquid flooded the water around Bushka's arm.
Kareen gasped.
Brett understood then -- the clobuldo:od! The arm had been torn from Bushka's body.
As though it wanted to spit him out, the kelp tentacles whipped away from Bushka and shunted him swiftly upward.
Scudi tipped the foil's nose up and drove for the suTrhfaecye.found Bushka there, half-conscious and bleeding dangerously.A hunt of dashers, coming to the smell of blood, was whipped back by kelp fronds.
Later, after Kareen had treated Bushka, Brett and Panille lashed him to the cot and carried him forward. Ale walked alongside". He's lost a lot of blood," she s"aTidh.e brachial artery was wide open."
Scudi remained at the helm, sparing only a brief glance at Bushka's pale face as the cot was lowered to the deck behind herS.he held the foil in a tight circle within a kelp-freeChaorepap.y waves drummed a
dulled tunk-tunk against the huTll.he last of the unwanted water had gone overboard but the decks were still damp with it.
Scudi, the image of Bushka's injuries fresh in her mind, thSohuigphts:ave us!The kelp has turned vicious!
Panille stood above BushkAa.
wash of agony grayed Bushka's face but he appeared consScieoeuins.g
this, Panille demanded, "What were you trying to do?"
"Shhhh," Ale cautioned.
"'S'all right," Bushka manage"dW.
as gonna kill Gallow."

Panille could not suppress his outra"gYe.ou almost killed us all!"
Kareen pulled Panille away.
Brett slid into the seat beside Scudi and looked out at the dark pile of the outpost with its foam-laced base. Little Sun had risen and the water was bright with the double light.
"Kelp," Bushka said.
"Hush," Ale said".Save your strength."
"Gotta talkK.
elp has all the Guemes dead . . . Ainll itth. ere.Said I tore off arm of humanity . . .
punished me in kindD. amn! Damn!" He tried to look at the place where his arm had been but the lashings on the cot restrained him.
Scudi stared wide-eyed at BreWtt.as it possible the kelp took on the personality of all the dead it had absorbed? Would all the old scores be settleGdi?ven consciousness finally and words in which to
express itself, the kelp spoke in violent actSiohne. surrounding the foil.
shuddered as she looked out at the green fronds
"There are dashers all over the place," Scudi said.
"Where . . . where's my arm?" Bushka moaned.
His eyes were closed and his large head looked even larger against the pale fabric of the cot.
"Packed in ice in the cooler," Ale chance for reattachment."
"sWaide.'ll interfere as little as possible with the wound tiBsseuttee.r

"Kelp knew I was just a fool that Gallow . . . took advantage of," BushkaHegrotwanisetde.d his head from side to side".Why'd it hurt me?"
A heavy gust of wind popped the foil hard and thrust it sideways against Atheloukdelpth. ump sounded amidships and the foil heeled, righting itself with a rasping hiss.
"What is itW? hat's that?" Ale demanded.
Brett pointed to the sky above the outp"Iostth. ink we've just had our attention called to something. Look! Have you ever seen that many LTAs?"
"LTAs hell!" Panille sai"dS. hip's guts!Those are hylighters!Thousands of them."
Brett stared open-mouthedL. ike all Pandoran children, he had watched holos of the kelp's spore carriers, a phenomenon unseen on Pandora for generatioPnasn.ille was right!Hylighters!
"They're so beautiful," Scudi murmured.
Brett had to agreTe.he hylighters, giant organic hydrogen bags, danced with rainbow colors in the doubled sunlight.They drifted high across the outpost, moving southwest on a steady wind.
"It's out of our hands now," Panille
"sTaihde.
kelp will do its own propagating."
"They're coming down," Brett sa"idL.ook. Some of them are trailing tentacles in the water.
The flight of hylighters, well past the outpost now, moved in a gentle slope of wind toward the sea.

"It's almost as though they were being directed," Scudi"Ssaeied.how they move together."
Once more, something hard banged against the foil's Ahucllh.annel opened beside them, spreading outward toward the place where the hylighters were coming down close above theSlwowatleyr. at first, a current moved the foil into the new channel.
"Better go along with it," Panille said.
"But Twisp is still there at the outpost!" Brett objected.
"Kelp's directing this show," Panille sa"iYd.our friend will have to take his own chances."
"I think Shadow's right," Scudi venturSehde.
pointed toward the outpos"tS. ee? There are more
hylighters. They're almost touching the rock."
"But what if Twisp comes back and we aren't . . ."
"I'll bring us back as soon as the kelp lets us," ScuSdihesafiidre. d up the ramjets.
"No!I'll take breather tanks and go out to --"
"Brett!"Scudi put a hand on his ar"mY.ou saw what it did to Bushka." "But I haven't hurt it . . . or anTyhoante.Merman would have killed me." "We don't know what it'll do," Scudi said.

"She's right," Panille sai"dW.
hat good would you be to your friend without arms?"
Brett sank back into the seat.
Scudi pushed the throttles ahead and lowered the Tfohiels.boat gathered speed, lifted and swept down the channel toward the descending hylighters.
Brett sat in silencHe.e felt suddenly that his Mermen companions had turned against him, even Scudi. How could they know what the kelp wantSeod?it opened a channel through its heavy groSwoth!it
directed a current through that channTelw! isp might need him back there where they were supposed to be waiting.
Abruptly, Brett shook his heaHde.
thought how Twisp would react to such protDesotsn.'t be a fool!
The kelp had spoken without misunderstandinBgu. shka . . . the channel . . . the current -- words could say no clearer what had to be done nSocwud. i and the others had merely understood and accepted it more quickly.
With a quick chopping motion, Scudi cut the power and the foil settled in a heaving surge that sent waves curling outward on both sides.
"We're blocked," she said.
They looked aheadN. ot only had kelp closed the channel through which the foil had come, but fronds and stalks lifted out of the water ahead of tAhemlo.w, thick forest of green blocked their passage.
Brett glanced lefTt.he outpost loomed high there, no more than three klicks to descend about a klick ahead of them, massed flocks of them.
Hawyaliyg.hters continued
Panille spoke from directly behind Br"eItt.don't remember them as being that colorful in the holos."

"A new breed, no doubt of it," Kareen said.
"What do we do now?" Brett asked.
"We sit here until we find out why the kelp directed us to this place," Scudi said.
Brett looked up at the descending flocks of hylighDteark. tentacles reached down toward the water. Sunlight flashed rainbow iridescence off the great bags.
"The histories say the kelp makes its own hydrogen the way you Islanders do," Pan"Tillhee sbaaidg.s are extruded deep underwater, filled and sent flying to spread the sOponreeso.f my ancestors rode a hylighter." He spoke in a breathless whisp"eTr.hey've always fascinated meI.'ve dreamed of this day."
"What are they doing?" Scudi ask"eWd.hy would they bring spores herTe?here's kelp all around us."
"You're assuming they're intelligently directed," Kareen s"aTidh.ey're probably going wherever the wind takes them."
Panille shook his head sharp"lyN. o. Who controls the currents controls the temperature of the surface water. Who controls that directs the winds."
"Then what are they doing?" Scudi repea"tTedh.ey're not drifting very fast anymoIrte's. were assembling here."
"The hyb tanks?" Kareen asked.
as though they
"How could the kelp --" Scudi begSahne. broke off, then":Is this where they're supposed to come down?"

"Near enough," Kareen sai"dS. hadow?"
"The correct quadrant," he saHide. overdue."
glanced at a chron"oB. y the original schedule, splashdown's already
"There's a strange hylighter," Brett sa"iOd.r is that really an LTAH?"e pointed upward, his finger almost touching the overhead plaz.
"Parachute!"Panille said."Ship's guts!There comes the first hyb tank!"
"Look at the hylighters!" Scudi said.
The colorful bags had begun a swirling motion, opening a space in theirThceenotepre. n space drifted somewhat south and a bit west, presenting a net of sea to catch the descending parachute.
Something could be seen dangling from the parachute now -- a silvery cylinder that reflected bright flashes from the suns.
"Ship!That thing is big!" Panille said.
"I wonder what's in it," Kareen whispered.
"We're about to discover that," Brett s"aLido.ok! Above the parachute -- there comes another one . . . and another."
"Ohhhh, if I could only get my hands on one of them . . . just one," Panille said.
The first hyb tank was now little more than a hundred meters above thIet dweascteern. ded swiftly, the actual splashdown concealed within the ring of hylightAerss.econd hyb tank fell into the open circle, a

third . . . fourth . . . The watchers counted twenty of them, some larger than the foil.
The circle of hylighters closed in as the last tank hit theImwmaetedri.ately, a lane through the kelp began to spread from the foil's blocked position to where the hylighters had collected.
"We're being asked to join them," Scudi
Ssahied. fired up the rams and eased the foil ahead at hull
speed, keeping it just off the stAep.bow wave spread on both sidTehs.e hylighters parted as the foil drew near them, opening a passage into a kelp-free circle where the great tanks bobbed.
The occupants of the foil stared in wonder at the vista opened tHoytlhigehmte.r tentacles could be seen working over the closure mechanisms of the tanks, opening them and snaking Winisdiede.curved
hatches swung aside to the probing tentaclAesb.ruptly, one of the opened tanks tipped, admitting a surge of water.White-bellied sea mammals emerged and immediately dove into the water.
"Orcas," Panille breathed".Look!" He pointed across Brett's shoulde"rH. umpback whales!Just the way they looked in the holos."
"My whales," Scudi whispered.
The channel that had been opened for the foil curved left now, directing them to a cluster of six tanks being held side by side in a nest of Hkeyllpig. hter tentacles could be seen writhing and twisting into the
tanks.
As the foil neared this cluster, a dark tentacle emerged with a struggling human form -- pale-skinned and naked. Another tentacle came up with another human . . . another . . . anoAthespr e.ct.ru.m of skin
shades came out of the tanks -- from darker than Scudi to paler than Kareen Ale.
"What are they doing with those poor people?" Kareen demanded.
The faces of the people being taken from the tanks betrayed obvious terror, but the terror began to subside even as the foil's occupants watchSeldo.wly, hylighters carrying humans began to drift toward
the foil.

"There's why we were brought in," Brett
"saCiodm.
e on, ShadowL. et's open the hatch."
Scudi silenced the foil's je"tWs. e can't handle that many people," she sSahide.
pointed at the massed
hylighters removing other humans from the adjacent tanMkos.re than a hundred human figures could be
seen grasped in hylighter tentacles and more humans were being removed from the tanks every second. "That many will sink us!" Scudi said.
Brett, hesitating in the passageway to follow the direction of Scudi's pointing fing"eWr, es'lalidh:ave to tow them to the outposWt. e'll see if we can get a line to thHeme .w" hirled and dashed down the passage toward the main hatcPha. nille could be heard running behind him.
Hylighters already were clustering around the hatchway when Brett openAedteint.tacle snaked in the opening and grasped BretHt. e froze.Words filled his mind, clear and perfect, without any secondary sounds to distort them.
"Gentle human who is loved by Avata's beloved Scudi, do noWt efebaring you Shipclones to live in peace beside all of you who share Pandora with Avata."
Brett gasped and sensed Panille beside hmimud: dy thoughts -- nowhere near as clear as those bell-like words entering his senses through the hylighter tentacPleasn.ille projected awe, schoolboy memories of holoviews displaying hylighters, family stories of that first Pandoran Panille . . . then fear that the mass of humans being delivered by the hylighters would sink the foil.
"Hylighters will buoy you," the tentacles transmit"tDedo.
not fearW.
hat a splendid day this Wis!hat
marvelous surprises have come to us, the gift of blessed Ship."
Slowly, Brett regained the use of his own seHnseesf.ound himself braced against loops of hylighter tentacles. Naked humans were being slipped through the hatchway one after anHotohwer.tall the newcomers were!Some of them had to duck in the passageway.
Panille looked dazed in a similar tentacle grHasep.waved the newcomers up the passage toward the control cabin.

"Some of you can go into the cargo bays along this passage," Brett called.
They went where Brett and Panille directed them . . . no questions, no arTguhmeyenatsp.peared to be in shock from awakening into the tentacles of hylighters.
"We're being moved toward the outpost," Panille
Hsaeid.nodded toward the edge of black rock visible
out the hatchwayT. he sound of the surf against the base of the outpost was clearly audible.
"Gallow!" Brett said.
As Brett spoke, the hylighter tentacles unwound from his Pbaondiyll.e, too, was releasedT. he space around them remained crowded with silent newcomeMrso.re could be seen held in hylighter tentacles, other tentacles clutching the lip of the hatchwSaloyw. ly, he began squeezing his way forward, apologizing, feeling the pressure of naked skin that made way for him.
The pilot cabin was not quite as crowded as the paSspsace had been left around the unconscious form of Bushka on the cMot.ore space insulated the command seats where Scudi and KareeAn sat. lacework of hylighter tentacles covered most of the plaz, leaving only small framed bits of the forward view. The outpost loomed high there, the surf sound loud.
"Kelp is right up against the outpost now," Kareen"Lsaoiodk.
at it!There's almost no open space left."
One of the newcomers, a man so tall that his head almost touched the top of the cabin, came forward and bent to peer through a small opening in the lacework of hylighter teHnteacsltersa.ightened presently
and looked down at the webs between Scudi's toes, then to the similar growth on KareHene's feet. brought his attention at last to Brett's large eyes.
"God save us!" he sa"idIf.
we breed on this planet will our offspring all be deformed?"
Brett was caught first by the man's accent, an odd lilting in the way he spoke, then byThthee words. man looked at Mermen and Islanders with the same obviously revolted expression.

Kareen, shocked, shot a glance at Brett and then at the cabin full of giant humans, the looks of dazed
withdrawal slowly vanishing from all of those faces -- those strangely similarKfaarceeesn.
wondered
how these people could identify each other . . . except for the variations in sTkhineytoanlle.looked so much alike!
It dawned on her then that she was seeing Ship-normals . . . human-nSohrem, awlsi.th her small stature and partly webbed toes, she was the freak.
Ship!How would these newcomers take to people like the Chief Justice or even Queets Twisp with his ungainly arms?What would they say on encountering the C/P?
The foil grated against rock then . . . again . . I.t surface.
"We've arrived," Scudi said.
aligftaeidn. slightly and was set down hard on a solid
"And we're going to have to deal with GeLaar Gallow somehow," Panille said.
"If the kelp hasn't already done it for us," Kareen said.
"There's no telling what it'll do," Panille "sIa'mid. afraid Twisp was righIt's not to be trusted."
"It can be damned convincing, though," Brett said, recalling the touch of hylighters at the hatchway.
"That's its real danger," Panille said.

Fools! who slaughtered the cattle sacred to the sun-king; behold, the god deprived them of their day of homecoming.
-- Homer, Shiprecords
Twisp could hear Gallow's people talking down in the basin, a nervousness in their chatter that told him the strength of his own positioGna. llow had brought him up a narrow trail cut in the rock and out onto a flat promontory that jutted seaward on the southeastern edge of the ouAtpborset.eze blew against
Twisp's face.
"One day, I will have my administrative building here," he said, gesturing expansively.
Twisp glanced around him at the black rock sparkling with mineral fragments in the light of Hbeoth suns.
had seen many days such as this one -- both suns up, the sea rolling easily under a blanket of kelp -- but never from such a vantagNe.ot even the highest point on Vashon commanded such a view -- high, solid
and unmoving.
Gallow would build here?
Twisp tried to catch snatches of the conversations from below them, but mostly it was words of nervousness that permeated this placGe.allow was not immune to it.

"The hyb tanks will be coming down soon," he said, "and I'll have them!"
Twisp looked out at all that kelp, remembering Nakano's w"Horedsn. eeds your help."
"How will you recover the tanks?" Twisp asked, his tone reasoHneabflelt no need to mention the ring
of kelp around this rocky outcrop lifting from theFrsoema.
this vantage, it appeared to Twisp that the
kelp was even closer than it had been when he and Nakano had swum away from the foil.
"LTAs," Gallow said, pointing at the partly filled bags of three LTAs waiting on working around the LTAs appeared to be the only purposeful figures in the basin.
Tthheeir Mpaedrm. en
"It would help, of course, if we had your foil," Gallow"I'msaidp.repared to offer a great deal in return for that."
"You have a foil," Twisp sa"iId.saw it anchored next to the lee side of this pHlaecek.e"pt his tone
casual, thinking how like so many other times this was -- bargaining for the best price on his catch.
"We both know the kelp won't give passage to our foil," Gallo"wBustaiidf. you were to return to your foil with Nakano . . ."
Twisp took a deep breaYthe. s, this was like bargaining for his catch, but there was a profound difference. You could respect the fish-buyers even while you opposed tGheamllo.w revolted himT. wisp fought to keep this emotion out of his voice.
"I don't know that you have anything to offer me," he said.
"Power!A share in the new Pandora!"

"Is that all?"
"All?"Gallow appeared truly surprised.
"Seems to me the new Pandora's going to happen anyI wdaoyn.'t see where you're going to have much influence in it, the kelp wanting your hide and all."
"You don't understand," Gallow sa"idM. erman Mercantile controls most of the food sources, the processing. Kareen Ale can be bent to our needs and her shares will --"
"You don't have Kareen Ale."
"With your foil . . . and the people in it . . ."
"From what I could see, Shadow Panille has KareenAAndle.as far as Scudi Wang is concerned --"
"She's a child who --"
"I think maybe she's a very wealthy child." "Exactly!Your foil and the people in it are the key!" "But you don't have that kIeyh.ave it."
"And I have you," Gallow said, his voice hard.
"And the kelp has Chairman Keel," Twisp said.

"But it does not have me and I still have the means of recovering the hTyhbe tLanTkAss. clumsier and slower, but they can do it."
will be
"You're offering me a subordinate position in your organization," Twisp"Wsahiadt.'s to prevent me from grabbing it all once I'm back on the foil?"
"Nakano."
Twisp chewed his lip to keep from laughGinagll.ow had very little buying powNero. ne at all, really,
with the kelp against him and the foil in the hands of someone who wanted to beat him to the tanks. Twisp looked up at the skTyh.e tanks would be coming down within sight of this place, GallowHissaid.
people at the Launch Base had alerted GallAownd. followers in many places . . . Islanders as well.
But the hyb tanks!
that was another consideratioGn:allow had
Twisp could not prevent a deep sense of excitement at the thought oHfethheamd. grown up on stories speculating about the tanks' contentTs.hey were a bag of prizes meant to humanize Pandora.
Could the kelp prevent that?
Twisp turned and looked at the LTNAos. doubt those things could move above the kelp's rBeaucth. would the kelp let airborne humans pluck the prize from thIet saelal ?depended on where the tanks came down.There was kelp-free sea surface visible from this high pAoinvte.ry uncertain lottery, though.
Gallow moved up beside Twisp to "share his view of the outpost's interior basin and its waiting LTAs.
"There's my fallback position," Gallow saHide. nodded toward the LTAs.

Twisp knew what he would do now if this were bargaining for hiTshcreaatctehn.
to go to another
buyer. Get caustic and let this buyer know he had no status in the larger game.
"I think you're nothing but eelshit," Twisp "sCaiodn. centrate on the factsI.f the tanks land in kelp, you're finished. Without hostages, you're just a pitiful handful of people on one little bit Yofoulamnda.y have
followers elsewhere but I'm betting they'll desert you the second they recognize how powerless you really are."
"I still have you," Gallow grat"eAd.nd don't make any mistakes about what I can do to you!"
"What can you do?" Twisp asked, his voice at its most reaso"Wnaeb'lree. alone up hereA. ll I have to do is grab you and dive off this place into thTeheseak.elp will get us both."
Gallow smiled and slipped a lasgun from the pouch pocket at his waist.
"I thought you'd have one of those," Twisp said.
"I would take great pleasure in cutting you into pieces slowly," Gallow said.
"Except that you need me," Twisp s"aYido.u're no gambler, GallowY. ou like sure things."
Gallow scowled.
Twisp inclined his head toward the LTTAhse. hydrogen into them.
"Those are not a sure thing," Twisp said.
bags were beginning to sweSlol.meone was pumping

Gallow forced his features into a semblance of a
"Why are we arguing?"
"Is that what we're doing?" Twisp asked.
Hsmeilleo.oked down at the weapon in his hand.
"You are stalling," Gallow sa"idY.ou want to see where the tanks come down."
Twisp smiled.
"For an Islander, you're pretty smart," Gallow anything you want -- money, women . . ."
"sYaido.u know what I'm offerinYg.ou could have
"How do you know what I want?" Twisp asked.
"You're no different from anyone else in that," GallowHseaidse. nt his glance along Twisp's long arms. "There might even be a few Mermen women who wouldn't find you objectionable."
Gallow pocketed his lasgun and displayed his empty h"Sanede?. what I can give you."
I know what'll work with yoIu.know
Twisp shook his head slowly from side to Asigdaei.n, he looked at the LTAOsb. jectionable? One step and he would have his long arms on the most objectionable human he had eTvwero mmeot.re steps and they would be over the side into the sea.
But then I might never know how it came out.
He thought about finding himself conscious in the kelp's vast reservoir of awHarensehssa.red Keel's revulsion to that endD. amn! And I couldn't help the old mGana!llow owes us for that!

A shadow passed across Twisp, bringing an immediate coolness from the breeze that tuggedHeat him. thought it just another cloud but Gallow gasped and something touched Twisp's shoulder, his cheek -- a long and ropy something.
Twisp looked up into the base of a hylighter then, seeing the long, dark tentacles all around, feeling them grab him.Somewhere, he could hear screaming.
Gallow?
A flawless voice filled Twisp's senses, seeming to come at him along every nerve channel -- hearing, touch, sight . . . all of him was caught up in that voice.
"Welcome to Avata, fisherman Twisp," the voice
"sWaidh.at is your wish?"
"Put me down," Twisp gasped.
"Ahhh, you wish to retain the flTeshhe.n Avata cannot put you down heTrhe.e flesh would be
damaged, very likely destroyedB. e patient and have no feAarv. ata will put you down with your friends."
"Gallow?" Twisp managed.
"He is not your friend!"
"I know that!"
"And so does AvatGa.allow will be put down, as you so quaintly phrase it, but from a great height. Gallow is no longer anything but a curiosity, no more than an abeBrreattieorn.to consider him a disease, infectious and sometimes deadlyA. vata is curing the infected body."

Twisp grew aware then that he dangled high in the air, wind blowing pAastgrheiamt .expanse of kelp spread out far below himA. sudden feeling of vertigo tightened his chest and throat, filled him with dizziness.
"Do not fear," the flawless voice s"aAidv.ata cherishes the friends and companions of beloved Scudi
Wang."
Twisp slowly twisted his head upward, feeling the ropy tentacles holding him tight around the waist and legs, seeing the dark underside of the bag that suspended this twining mass.
Avata?
"You see what you call hylighter," the voice told"Ohinmce.
more Avata spawns in the mother-sea.
Once more there is rocTk.hat which humans destroyed, humans have restorTedh.ereby, you learn from your mistakes."
A great feeling of bitterness welled up in T"wSiosp.you're going to fix everythinNgo! Everything perfect in the most perfect of worlds."
more mistakes.
A sense of laughter without sound permeated Twisp Tthheen.flawless voice came light and cajoling:
"Do not project your fears upon AvaHtae.re is only the mirror that reveals yourseTlhf.e"
voice changed,
becoming almost strident". Now! Here below you have your friendTsr.eat them well and share your joys with them.Have not Islanders learned this lesson well from the human errors of the past?"

If war does come, the best thing to do will be to just stay alive and thus add to the numbers of sane people.
-- George Orwell, Shiprecords
The forward bulk of Vashon was close enough in the darkness that Brett could pick out the lights of the
more prominent structuresH. conversations behind himM.
e sat beside Scudi in the control seats of the foil, hearing the low-voiced ost of the Shipclones had been deposited on the outpost amidst the fearful
and chastened Green DashersT. he task of feeding all those newcomers had become a primary problem. Only a representative few of the people from the hyb tanks remained in Tthhee fCoillo.ne called Bickel
stood close behind Brett, watching the same night view of their approach to Vashon.
That Bickel would be one to watch, Brett thoAughdte.manding, powerful manA. nd large.All of these
Shipclones were big!This amplified the food problem in a daunting way.
Someone came up from the rear of the cabin and stopped near the big Shipclone.
"There will be a lot of debriefing once we get
Tthheere.v"oice was Kareen Ale's.
Brett heard Twisp cough at the rear of the cDaebbirni.efing? Probably. Some of the old routines still had value.Twisp's experience in the grip of the hylighter must be added to all of the other new knowledge.
. . . beloved Scudi Wang.
Brett glanced at Scudi's profile outlined in the dim lights from the instruments aheaSdomofethienrg. filled his breast at the very thought of ScBuedlio.ved, beloved, he thought.

The twin lane of blue lights that marked Vashon's main harbor entrance loomed deaSdcuadhiead. dropped the foil down onto its hull.
"They'll have medical people waiting for Bushka," Scudi "sBaeidtt.er get him back to the hatch."
"Right."Ale could be heard leaving.
"Is that land just beyond the Island?" Bickel asked.
Brett shudderedT. he newcomers always sounded so loud!
"It's land," Scudi said.
"It must be at least two hundred meters high," BretHt esaihda.d to remind himself that neither this newcomer nor Scudi could see the land mass as clearly as he could.
The foil was into the enclosing arms of Vashon's harborBrthetetn.popped the cabin emergency hatch beside him and leaned out into the wind, seeing the familiar outline of this haven he had known so intimately. That other time of intimacy with this place seemed to him now eons in Hthies poasitt.ion in
the foil's control cabin gave him a commanding view of the approach -- the rimlights, Islanders racing to grab the foil's lines as Scudi backed the Tjehtes. hissing of the jets went sileTnht.e foil rocked and then
was snugged against the bubbly at the docksSidceu.di turned on the cabin lights.
Familiar faces looked up at Brett -- Islander faces he had noticed in passing maAnyndtimweitsh. them came the old familiar stench of Vashon.
"Whew!" Bickel said".That place stinks!"
Brett felt Scudi's arm go around his neck and her head bent clos"eI tdoonh'its.mind the smell, love,"

she whispered.
"We'll clean it up when we get on land," BretHt esaildo.oked up at the great mass of starlighted rock that dominated the sky behind VashoWn.as that where he and Scudi would Ogor?would they return down under and work to reclaim other places like this one?
A voice called up to them from dock"siTdhea. t you, Brett Norton?"
"Here I am!"
"Your folks are waiting at the Hall ofSaAyrt.they're anxious to see you."
"Would you tell them we'll meet them at the Ace of Cups?" Bret"tI'cvaellegdo.t some friends I want them to meet."
"Jesus Christ!"Bickel's voice was a sharp exhalation behind B"reLtot.ok at the deformitiesH! ow the hell can those people live?"
"Happily," Brett said".Get used to it, ShipclonTe.o us, they're beautiful.G" ently, he pressed back against Scudi, indicating that he wanted to get out of the control seats.
Together, they slid out of the seats and looked up at the towering figure of Bickel.
"What'd you call me?" Bickel demanded.
"Shipclone," Brett said".Every living human being Ship brought to Pandora was a Clone."
"Yeah . . . yeahB."ickel rubbed at his chin and glanced out at the throng on doTckhseidnee.wcomers emerging there towered over the Islanders.

"Jesus help us," Bickel whispere"dW. hen we created Ship . . . we never suspectedHe. .sh."ook his head.
"I would be careful who you tell your story of Ship's origin," Brett ca"uCtieorntaeidn. WorShipers might not like it."
"Like it or lump it," Bickel grow"lSedh.ip was created by men like mOeu.r goal was a mechanical consciousness."
"And when you achieved this . . . this consciousness," Scudi said, "it . . ."
"It took over," Bickel sa"idIt.
said it was our god and we were to determine how we would worship it."
"How strange," Scudi murmured.
"You better believe it," Bickel sa"iDd.oes anyone here have any idea how long we were in hybernation?"
"What difference does it make?" Brett ask"eYdo.u're alive here and now and that's what you'll have to deal with."
"Hey, kid!"It was Twisp calling from the passagew"aCyo. me on!I've been waiting for you dockside. Lots of things happeningW. e've got Merman Patrols underwater all around that land mass -- burning dashers. Dashers want back on the land, too."
"We're coming."Brett took Scudi's hand and headed toward the passage.
"Vata and Duque are gone," Twisp s"aSido.meone broke open the Vata Pool and they're just gone."

Brett hesitated, feeling the sweat start in his hand against SGcuadllio'sw. ? No . . . Gallow was dead. Then some of Gallow's peopleH?e quickened his pace.
A raucous sound came from the dockside, echoing up the passage.
"What was that?" Scudi asked.
"Haven't you ever heard a rooster crow?" Bickel demanded from close behind them.
"A hylighter brought them," Twisp called ahead of t"hCehmic. kens, they're calledT. hey're something like a squawk."
In the world you shall have tribulatbiount: be of good cheeIr.have overcome the world.
-- The Christian Book of the Dead

Vata lolled on a buoyant bed of kelp fronds, her head held high to give her a view across Duque nestled sleeping in the curve of her great left Tarhme. dawnlight of Little Sun cast a sharp horizontal illumination
across the sceneT. he sea lifted and fell in gentle waves, their crests damped by the giant leaves.
When either of them hungered, minuscule cilia from the kelp wormed into a vein and nutrients flowed -- kelp to Vata . . . kelp to DuAquned. back from Vata flowed the genetic information stored in its purest
form within her cellsV: ata to Avata.
What a wonderful awakening, Vata thought.
Probing kelp tendrils had crept through the walls of her pool in the depths of Vashon, admitting a great wash of sea water that swept away the watchers and the Chaplain/PsychTiahterisstw. iftly darting
tendrils had encased Duque and herself, pulling them out into the sea and up to the nighttime surface. There, a swift current had hurried them away from Vashon's injured bulk.
At some distance from the Island, hylighter tendrils had plucked the two of them from the sea and brought them to this place where only the sea prevailed.
In the grasp of the hylighter tendrils, Vata had found her true awakening.
How marvelous . . . all of the stored human lives . . . the voices . . . what a woSntdraenrfguel
thiantg.
some of the voices objected to their preservation in theSkheelph. ad heard the exchange between Avata and one called Keel.
"You're editing me!T"hat was what Keel had sa"idM. y voice had flaws and I could always hear them. They were part of me!"
"You live in Avata nowH."ow all-encompassing, how calming that beautiful voice.
"You've given me an unflawed voiScteo!p it!"

And true enough, when next she heard Keel's voice it had a different tone, something of hoarseness in it, throat clearings and coughs.
"You think you speak the language of my people," Keel ac"cWusheadt. nonsense!"
"Avata speaks all languages."
That was telling him, Vata thougBhut.t Duque, sharing her awareness of this internalized conversation, had grinned agreement with Keel.
"Every planet has its own language," Keel
"sIatidh. as its own secret ways of communication."
"Do you not understand Avata?"
"Oh, you have the words down well enoAugnhd. you know the language of actioBnus.t you've not penetrated my heart or you wouldn't have tried to edit me and improve me."
"Then what would you have of Avata?"
"Keep your hands off me!"
"You do not wish to be preserved?"
"Oh, I have enough curiosity to accept Ythoaut.'ve showed us your Lazarus trick and I'm thankful I no longer have that old body's pains."
"Is that not an improvement, then?"

"You can't improve mIe!can only improve myselYf.ou and Ship can stuff your miraclTehs!at's one of the real secrets of my language."
"A bit uncouth but understandable."
"That language was born on the planet where Lazarus lived and died anMd ylivkeindd.
first learned to
speak there!The original Lazarus knew my meaninBgy.
all the gods, he knew!"
When Vata awakened Duque and expressed her puzzlement to him, Duque la"uYgohueds.ee?" he shouted. "We care who forces our dreams onto us!"