Humanx - Cachalot Part 56

"The baleeen pod leaderr," Latehoht was saying, "knowws not whhy thhey attacked theirr cousins the catodons. Awww . . . theirr reaction if not theirr mo- tivation is noww clearr. They arre ashamed beyond measurre. They say they werre drriven, forrced to at- tack, as if ... as iff ... thhey cannot descrribe it,"

she concluded.

"Never mind how," Merced said quickly. "Tell Wenkoseemansa to see if he can leam who compelled them to attack."

Latehoht pa.s.sed the request on. Minutes went by.

Instead of answers, the water erupted in violence once more. The helmsman was hard put to keep them from being swamped by the behemoth shapes that filled the sea around the s.h.i.+p.

"Now what?" Hwos.h.i.+en wondered aloud, spitting out salt water.

"Commpletely mad thhey hawe gone!" a shout sounded in their headsets. Latehoht maneuvered to avoid s.h.i.+p and catodon alike. "They fight noww to fleeee."

"They mustn't all escape!" Cora yelled frantically, struggling to avoid being thrown overboard as the suprafoil rocked and heeled against the best efforts of the stabilizers. "We must hold one of them at least!"

But Latehoht was now too busy protecting herself to relay requests or information. Those on board had to content themselves with holding on and hoping.

The second fight raged for five minutes before a calmer Latehoht was able to report, "Endded it is.

Ewen whhen restrrained by teeth, the Grreat Cous- ins hawe torrn themmselves away. Too much blood darrkens the waterrrr."

"They got away?" Cora moaned, her muscles ach- ing from the battering she had received from railing, deck, and cabin wall.

"Not all. Twwo-no, thrree rremain. Four. Twwo females and twwo calves."

"Crippled?" Mataroreva inquired.

"No. Exhausted utterrly wwerre thhey by theirr at-

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CACHALOT.

temmpts to escape. Surrounded arre thhey now by the entirre catodon pod."

"Four, and two of them juveniles." Cora looked earnestly at the big man nearby. "We have to ques- tion them ourselves, Sam. The catodons don't seem to have done too well."

Frowning, the peaceforcer turned to Hwos.h.i.+en. The Commissioner said nothing, conveyed nothing via his expression. It was left to Mataroreva.

The suprafoil moved forward. None of the catodons questioned its advance. Indeed, several of them moved to leave it a clear path. Wenkoseemansa and Latehoht flanked the vessel, ready to cry a warning if the four remaining fins should unexpectedly find the strength and will to attack again.

A wall of enormous bodies and slick backs hemmed the captives in. Cora knew the encirclement continued below them.

Lying on the surface and breathing heavily were the two females. A single calf hovered close to one. Both adults were supporting the other calf between them, keeping it up in the life-giving air. The lateral fins and flukes of the females were marked by catodon teeth, though the wounds did not appear serious. The calf they supported was doubtless the reason why they were unable to escape. All four shapes were propor- tionately longer, slimmer, and lighter in color than those surrounding them.

Cora noticed a familiar ma.s.s nearby, leaned out, and yelled via her unit, "May we question them?"

"Madness Reigns! Madness This Is! Do What Thou Likest," the aged leader of the pod announced. But his anger was muted by curiosity.

It took a minute to locate the proper setting on the translator. Then she called out to the four streamlined shapes. "Mothers of the Sashlan! Why have you at- tacked your cousins? Why have your people and the others"-she gave the names of the additional baleen

239.

tribes-"taken to killing humans who mean you no harm?"

The nearest grooved head swung toward the foil.

The helmsman twitched, his hands tightening on the controls. But it was not an offensive gesture.

"Don't . . . know." The female's voice held over- tones of frustration as well as exhaustion and pain.

"Horrible things drive Sashlan and cousins. Mind hurts!"

"Hurts how?" was all Cora could think to ask.

"Deep inside. Thinking blurs. Hard to focus. Easier to let other thoughts rule actions."

"Who?" Merced was so intense on the question he was trembling. "Who is confusing your thoughts and bringing you the mind-pain?"

"Mind hurts," the agonized voice protested. "Not to tell."

"If you tell us," Cora ventured, "we can make the mind-pain go away."

"Would be good thing. No like killing humans. Not enjoy fighting Cousins of the Teeth."

"This thought-thing. Did it just direct you to attack your cousins, and when that failed, to flee?"

"Yes. Hurts bad think about this."

"We'll make the hurt go away," Cora insisted, pray- ing they could do so. "Just tell us who is-"

"Directions," the voice gasped laboriously. "Direc- tions come CunsnuC."

Cora looked expectantly at Mataroreva, who could only shake his head, baffled.

"What is the CunsnuC?" she asked.

"Don't know," the whale said. "Mind-pain hurts!"

The female began to ramble, in a voice pathetic for so ma.s.sive a creature. "Make mind-pain go away.

Calf hurts. Mates hurt. All hurt! Can't... fight."

"If you can't identify it," Mataroreva asked hope- fully, "can you show us where this CunsnuC is?"

"Will show!" the fin emphatically said. Then she

240 CACHALOT.

added in wonderment, "Yes, will show. Pain going now. Feel better. Will show, will show, will show. Not supposed to, but will." Without further comment, the two fins, still aiding the weakened calf between them and the healthier one nearby, began to swim slowly northward.

Mataroreva thought to say something to the pod, but there was no need to. It had listened and under- stood. A path opened for the fins in the ring of cat- odons. But they remained grouped close around their four guides, aware the fins might lose their determina- tion and try yet once more to flee both captors and the mysterious pain that a.s.sailed them.