glared at Brett, then his expression and his bearing softened. "So that's the way it is?"
"That's the way it is," Brett said. He kept his arm firmly around Scudi's shoulders. "I know you could order me to go with you. I'm still your apprentice. But I wouldn't obey."
Twisp spoke in a mild voice. "Then I better not be giving any orders." He grinned to take the sting from his words.
"So what do we do?" Brett asked.
Bushka startled them when he spoke. "Let me take the foil and go to Launch Base alone. I could -"
"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 further. "I tell you, I'm not -"
"You're an unknown right now," Twisp said. "That's what you are. If your story's true, you're dumber than you look. Whatever, 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 again. Farther this time." Twisp turned to Brett and Scudi. "You two are determined to stick together?"
Brett nodded; so did Scudi.
"Then Bushka and I go in the coracles," Twisp said. "We're better off split up, I'm sure of that, but we don't want to get out of touch again. We'll turn on our locator transmitter. You know the frequency, kid?"
"Yes, but -"
"There must be a portable RDF on this monster," Twisp said. He glanced around the cockpit.
"There are small portable direction finders in all emergency kitpacks," Scudi said. Her toe nudged a pack under the seat.
Twisp bent and looked at the small orange kit. He straightened. "You keep them handy, eh?"
"When we think it necessary," she said.
"Then I suggest we follow in the coracles," Twisp said. "If you have to take to the water, you'll be able to find us. Or vice versa."
"If they're alive," Bushka muttered.
Twisp studied Brett for a moment. Was the kid man enough to make the decision? Brett could not be shamed in front of the young woman. Scudi and Brett were, indeed, a team. One 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 shoulder. "We've already shown that we work well together. We got this far. What we're going to do may be dangerous, but you always said, Twisp, that life gives you no guarantees."
Twisp grinned. Going to do ... The kid had made his decision and the young woman agreed. That was that.
"All right, partner," Twisp said. "No shilly-shally and no regrets." He 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," Brett said. "We'd 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 him. "We 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 of the seat. Brett did 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 their waists. Maybe it was the ride out from the foil bay with his shirt open. It gave Brett a feeling of security in the integrity of his own skin. Besides, Scudi didn't react one way or another. He liked that. And he liked the fact that this time she didn't comment on his modesty. He was beginning to get a feel for the matter-of-fact Merman nudity. But he was only beginning. When 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 from staring. He wanted to look at her forever. She kicked her deck shoes off in two easy flicks of her feet and dropped her pants behind her couch. She had a very small patch of black hair - wispy, silky and inviting.
He noted suddenly that she was standing with her head cocked to one side. She moved gently, not telling him to quit staring but letting him know that she knew what he was doing.
"You have a