penetrate a foil."
"Then let's shut down and drift. The kelp should keep us stable. I agree with you, I don't think we should go in there at night. We 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 asked. He squinted 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 high. It'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." Then 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 said. "It would howl if we were targeted. They might know we're here, though. This just means we're not under observation." Brett 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 wave. Brett, used to the uncertain footing of Islands and coracles, was first to catch his balance. Scudi clutched his arm to right herself.
"Kelp," Brett said.
"I think so. We 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 pattern. The man carried a lasgun at the ready. Another Merman stood in the shadowy passage behind him.
Scudi's voice was a dry whisper in Brett's ear: "Gallow. 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 whisper. So this was the Merman that Bushka blamed for sinking Guemes! The man was tall and smoothly muscled, and his dive suit clung to him like a second skin. Why the green pattern on it? Brett wondered. His eyes could not help focusing on the business end of the lasgun.
The Merman chuckled. "Little Scudi Wang! Now that's what I call luck. We'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 agreed. "Your superior strength broke the bonds that held you. Indeed." He flicked a glance around the cockpit. "Where'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 Scudi. "Who's the Mute?"
"A - a friend," Scudi said. "Brett Norton."
Gallow looked Brett over in the dim red light, then turned back to Scudi. "He looks almost normal, but he's still a Mute. Your daddy would haunt you!" He spoke over his shoulder. "Have a look, Nakano."
The slop-slop of wet footsteps sounded behind Gallow as Nakano turned back down the passage. He reappeared presently and spoke a single word: "Empty."
"Just the two of them," Gallow said. "Out for a little cruise in one of the big boats. How 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 the man. He was a hulking figure, his upper arms as thick as some human torsos. The scarred face filled Brett with a sense of foreboding.
Gallow strode forward to one of the command seats. He bent to read the instruments. "We watched you coming in," he said. He turned and sent a baleful glare at Scudi. "You were in one big hurry and then you stopped. That's very interesting for someone in an empty foil. What're you doing?"
Scudi looked at Brett, who blushed.
Nakano guffawed.
"Oh, my," Gallow taunted, "love nests get more elaborate every year.