Humanx - Cachalot Part 37

As she listened, Cora was distracted by a peculiar tickling inside her head. It was almost familiar. She had the strangest sensation-Then she felt herself be- ing moved forcefully to one side.

But no hand had touched her, not even Sam's mas- sive ones. As enormous volume of water had been displaced somewhere nearby. Yet Dawn continued to insist on the absence of large predators. Maybe the girl was no specialist, but Cora granted her the bene- fit of local experience, which she knew was often worth much more than theoretical studies.

But there was something. She sensed it, felt it through her suit. It had moved a mountain of ocean and frightened the milling cephalopods into instant

oblivion.

Another flash from above momentarily lit the trans- lucent water, a second dim rumble echoing forever behind. She briefly saw her companions outlined in light blue. Still no sign of anything else. Only gleaming hexalates and nothing more. Whatever had terrified the cephalopods had done the same to all other local motile life.

In the center of Vai'oire was a tall, thin building within which was a dense a.s.semblage of the most complex machinery in the town.

Two men monitored the instruments. They were conscientious and attentive to their tasks. One was presently visiting with a member of the opposite s.e.x in a corridor just off the main chamber. His compan- ion remained behind, until he decided that it was vital

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he attend momentarily to certain critical bodily de- mands.

No one saw the dial on one panel swing from one end to the other. No one saw a fluorescent grid sud- denly swarm with electronic pollen. The aural alarms went off seconds later. Alert functions were beyond the immediate reach of the busily occupied man in the corridor. Ignoring pants and awkwardness, his partner in the bathroom rushed for the general alarm.

He was also seconds too late, as the general alarm system, the men, the building, and the community of Vai'oire began to disintegrate.

Cora rested in the water, puzzled by the inexplica- ble sudden swell. Hasty questions and theories were exchanged by the five swimmers. Before any conclu- sion could be agreed upon, the water around them fragmented into a dozen arguing whirlpools, accom- panied by a continuous, modulated rumble.

Cora was thrown about like an ant in a storm. She kicked frantically to recover her equilibrium before the turbulence threw her against an outcropping of sharp reef. In the darkness and chaos something locked onto her right arm. Water pulled the opposite way. She felt as if her arm would be torn from its socket and screamed inside the face mask.

But the grip held her tight. Looking around, she saw the contorted, straining face of Sam Mataroreva behind his faceplate. His other arm was locked around the protruding spine of a hexalate bemmy. Another figure also clung tightly to the formation: Rachael.

Then Sam had drawn her back to the sheltered side of the growth. The water there was still angry and confused, but the violence that had tossed Cora was greatly diminished.

As the rumbling continued, rising and falling to no recognizable pattern, Cora thought of a seaquake. She suggested it to Sam.

"Can't be," he replied, sounding tired and frus-

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trated. "Not that these old seamounts aren't subject to seismic disturbances-they are. But this one's too localized. We would be feeling the effects more where we are right now, more toward the center of the mount and the reef. Instead, the disturbance is off- sh.o.r.e, toward the deeps."

Other figures fought their way toward the three refugees. First Merced, then Dawn, drifted past. Like a hesitant fisherman, Sam swam out to aid first one, then the other. Soon all the swimmers were huddled fearfully behind the protective ma.s.s of the bemmy.

"It's definitely coming from the area of the town,"

Mataroreva murmured. "I'm going up. Maybe I can see something."

"Me, too."

He looked at Cora's glowing, tiny form, said noth- ing. Then he was swimming surfaceward, keeping safely behind the bulk of the formation. Cora fol- lowed.

As they neared the surface the turbulence increased considerably. Cora had to climb upward, keeping a constant grip on the hexalate protrusions lest the surge knock her from its protective ma.s.s. The disturbance did not suggest a storm.

They broke the surface. This time Cora almost lost her grasp as a huge swell smashed into her. It knocked her face mask askew and she had to fight to clear and reposition it. A fresh flash of lightning lit the roiling waters and unmuted thunder a.s.sailed her exposed head. It was raining steadily, but the wind was mod- erate. The violence of the waves allowed them barely half a minute above the water, which was sufficient to imprint forever on her memory the fantastic im- ages before them.

Bits and pieces of the town of Vai'oire were float- ing past and around them. Violent smas.h.i.+ng sounds mixed with a few faint, distant screams and the action

of wind and wave. All of the town lights had gone out, including those independently powered.

Four colossal, monolithic forms rose from the water like a piece of the planet's crust. Breaching in unison, the quartet of blue whales fell simultaneously onto what remained of the now exposed central portion of the town. Huge sections of plastic wall and roof ex- ploded in all directions. Something irregular and heavy made a whoos.h.i.+ng noise as it flew past Cora's head, to land in the water far behind her. Something smaller w.a.n.ged metallically off the front of the bemmy. Then Sam was practically dragging her below.

The rumbles continued to a.s.sail the swimmers, reaching their hiding place in the depths. The noise was growing fainter as Cora numbly informed the others, "We thought it was people, but it's been the whales all along. I was so sure a human agency was responsible."

"Then the catodon lied to us." Rachael treaded water slowly.

"Lumpjaw insisted be knew nothing. Maybe they don't."

"Probably not." Mataroreva's face was ashen be- hind the mask. "What the old one said to us about the baleen whales being incapable of mounting such a co- ordinated enterprise is d.a.m.n true. Yet you and I just saw four of them operating in perfect unision. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they were going about it as methodically as any intelligent mil- itary group could. I'm pretty sure I had a glimpse of a couple of humpbacks working off to the west.

Humpbacks! They're usually as gentle as children. If we'd been able to look around, I suspect we would have found fins and seis and minkes and all the other baleens out there, too.

"But I didn't see any toothed whales, and I was looking for catodons. Until we have proof they were

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involved, I'm not going to condemn them with their less intelligent cousins."

Dawn's voice was agonized. "How can you hold the baleens responsible? I'll bet the catodons are control- ling them, directing them! It's all! ..."

Mataroreva shook her. "I know this doesn't make any sense. Crazy-it's all crazy. Let's not fantasize, though. Let's stick with what we know."

"What about our defenses?" she mumbled. "Some- one ... we should have detected the approach in plenty of time to give the alarm."

Mataroreva considered. "The whole business was planned perfectly from beginning to end. They knew exactly what they were doing. Probably they hit the defense center first. What went wrong there is some- thing we'll never leam."

"How could a bunch of dumb baleens know all

that?" Dawn moaned.

"Someone must be telling them. Someone has to, unless . . ." He hesitated, then went on. "Unless the baleens and the catodons, all of them, have been hid- ing abilities and desires we know nothing about."