Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2) - David Brin Page 0,128

at Toshio, then looked down at the pool wistfully.

“Only about a kiloton each,” he sighed. “Hardly big enough to set off decent crust waves, really.” He looked up with large, innocent brown eyes. “They were really only teeny little A-bombs, honest!”

70

Hikahi

The need to run quietly kept her speed to little more than it might have been with a sled. It was frustrating.

Cut off from contact with anyone for more than a day, Hikahi studied the seascape around her to avoid thinking about the possible fate of Creideiki and Streaker. She would find out what had happened sooner or later. Until then worry would only wear her out.

Morning light filtered down to the canyon bottoms as she swung east and then northward. Clots of dangle-weed drifted overhead, and copper-backed fish darted briefly alongside, until the driving skiff left them behind.

Once she caught sight of something long and sinuous that quickly slithered into a sea-cave as she approached. There was no time to stop and explore, but she did take the monster’s picture as she passed.

What will I do if I find Streaker destroyed? The thought came unwanted.

I’ll go back to the Thennanin wreck as an intermediate step. They’d need me there. But I’d be commander, then. And hiding at the bottom of the ocean wouldn’t be a long-term solution. Not on this deadly world.

Can I bring myself to negotiate a surrender?

If she did, she wouldn’t let the Galactics take her personally. She was one of the few who, with the right notes, could plot an accurate course back to the derelict fleet.

Maybe I’d see the crew safely interned and then make a break for it in the skiff, she thought. Not that the skiff could ever make it all the way home, even if it could run a Galactic blockade. But someone has to try to get word back to Earth. Perhaps there would be a way to punish the fanatics … make their behavior so costly to them that they’d think twice before bullying Earthlings again.

Hikahi knew she was dreaming. In a few thousand years humans and their clients might have that kind of power, maybe.

Hikahi listened. There was a sound …

She turned up the gain on the ships hydrophones. Filters removed the background growl of the engines and the tide. She heard the soft scurrying sounds of the ocean creatures.

“Computer! Filter for cetacean output!”

The patterns of sound changed. The sea became quiet. Still, there was a trace of something.

“Increase gain!” The noise level rose. Above the static hiss she heard the faint but distinguishable cries of swimming dolphins! They were desperate sounds of combat.

Was she picking up the echoes of straggling survivors of a disaster? What to do? She wanted to rush to the aid of the distressed fen. But who was pursuing them?

“Machine soundsss!” She commanded. But the detector winked a red light, indicating that there were none within range. So, the dolphins were sledless.

If she attempted a rescue, she risked the only hope of the crew back at the Seahorse. Should she make a detour around the refugees, and hurry toward Streaker as planned? It was an agonizing choice.

Hikahi cut her speed to run still quieter, and sent the skiff due north, toward the dim cries.

71

Charles Dart

He waited until everyone had left before he unscrewed the back of the new robot and checked its contents.

Yes, it was still there. Safely concealed.

Ah, well, he thought. I’d hoped to repeat the experiment. But one bomb should be enough.

72

Streaker

FROM THE JOURNAL OF GILLIAN BASKIN

We’re on our way. Everyone aboard seems relieved to be moving at last.

Streaker lifted off the ocean floor late last night, impellers barely ticking over. I was on the bridge, monitoring reports by the fen outside, and watching the strain gauges until we were sure Streaker was okay. In fact, she sounded positively eager to be off.

Emerson and the crew in the engine room should be proud of the job they’ve done, though, of course, it’s the coils Tom and Tsh’t found, that made it possible. Streaker hums like a starship once again.

Our course is due south. We dropped a monofilament relay behind to keep us in touch with the party on the island, and left a message for Hikahi when she shows up.

I hope she hurries. Being a commander is more complicated than I’d ever imagined. I have to make sure everything is done in the right order and correctly, and all as unobtrusively as possible, without making the fen feel “the old lady” is hovering