"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 head. As 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 said. "In spite of their size, they'll do at least eighty knots. Somewhat slower in heavy seas. I'm told they can top a hundred knots with a light load."
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 carts. At the end, they met six white-uniformed workers wheeling a covered cart toward them along the pier.
"Repair crew," Scudi explained. She spoke to the first man in the group. "Something wrong with this one?"
"Just a little trouble with the thrust reverser, Miss Wang." All six stopped while the leader spoke to Scudi. They all looked very much alike in their white coveralls. Brett saw no name tags.
"Can I take our guest aboard to show him around? I'm familiar with this one," she said. Brett thought he detected a note of false petulance in her voice.
"I'm sure you are," the crewman said. "But be careful. They've just finished refueling it for the test run. You'll have to be out in about an hour. The next shift will be loading it then."
"Oh, good," Scudi said, dragging Brett around the repair cart. "We'll have it all to ourselves and I can show you everything." She called back over her shoulder. "Thanks!"
The crewman waved and helped his men trundle their cart down the pier.
Midway down the hull, Scudi led the way up a narrow gangplank. Brett followed her into a passage lighted by overhead tubes. She motioned for him to wait while she peered back out the open hatch. Presently, she pressed a switch beside the hatch. A low hum sounded and the gangplank slid in. The hatch sealed behind it with a soft hiss.
"Quick!" she said. She turned and once more they were running. Scudi 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 instruments. "I'll show you how to run one of these things. It's really simple."
Brett watched her, seeing the way she became another person as she touched the controls. Every movement was quick and sure. "Now this one," she said, hitting a yellow button.
A low thrumming could be felt through the deck under their feet. Several 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 - docking lines." She touched the button and immediately drew a lever at her left all the way back. The foil 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 aboard. The foil slipped under the water, banking sharply to the left. Scudi lifted a stick from the deck beside her. Brett saw that it was socketed into the deck and wondered what it controlled. Her left hand moved the lever on the other side of her, throwing it full forward. The foil dove toward the lip of the inverted plaz cup. Brett 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 the surface. Brett swiveled around and saw the docking bay recede behind them. There was no pursuit yet.
Brett was stunned at the size of the boat. Seventy meters. That's ten coracles long!
"Watch what I'm doing," Scudi ordered. "You 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 said. "Fuel conservation system reduces our speed underwater. Here's the governor." She indicated a clip-locked toggle between them. "Dangerous 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 it slightly. "This steers us," she said. "Pull back to lift, down to