Humanx - Cachalot Part 62

SMOOTH-SIDES, BUT THEIR MINDS WOULD RESIST.".

"The catodons and the other toothed whales," Ra- chael murmured, fingering her neurophon.

"We cannot leave Cachalot," Hwos.h.i.+en insisted.

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CACHALOT.

261.

"YOU MUST! ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, YOU MUST.

GO. OR YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED.".

The transparent skin of the colossus pressed up against the ports. Cora forgot to breathe. Rachael

gasped behind her.

Within the skin of the CunsnuC were several glow- ing green bubbles. Within those bubbles were a dozen people. They were alive and their mouths were work- ing, their hands pressed against the fleshy envelopes that contained them and supplied them with air.

Cora could see that they were screaming, though noth- ing could be heard inside the submersible.

Matarovera recognized one of them and swore quietly. A member of his slim planetary command.

The suprafoil and factory s.h.i.+p had not made it back to Mou'anui. Another bubble drifted nearer, and a horrified Cora recognized the short, dark-skinned man within. He flailed at the film of the bubble, and his eyes were wide and desperate.

As the CunsnuC moved away from the ports, the bubbles moved toward the epidermis. They pa.s.sed through the skin, and thus unprotected by internal reg- ulation, immediately burst under the tremendous pres- sure. The hapless humans contained within imploded

before they could drown.

This explained the complete absence of bodies at the sites of the destroyed towns. Either the baleens carried them to the depths, where they could be trans- ferred to the CunsnuC for disposal, or else the CunsnuC rose to the surface to perform the task them- selves. Occasionally survivors were found. Hazaribagh and his companions and guards had been brought to provide an example for the crew of the submersible.

Others had doubtless been ingested alive to be ques- tioned.

As expected, it was Hwos.h.i.+en who finally broke the

silence. "Let us compromise." Cora gaped at him. He sounded as if he had not just witnessed the deaths of a

dozen people and was bargaining as usual with a group of off-world traders for fis.h.i.+ng rights to a par- ticularly desirable reef.

"We humans will restrict our activities to prescribed areas of the surface. There is enough room on this world for all of us."

"THIS IS THE WORLD OF THE CUNSNUC. THE.

CUNSNUC ARE THE WORLD!" There was no hint of vanity or presumptuousness in that statement, Cora mused. It arose from a different approach to rationality, much as man and cetacean differed. The CunsnuC perception of reality was sculpted as much by their size and mental ability as by their ignorance of the greater universe beyond Cachalot.

"WE DO NOT WANT YOU IN OUR WORLD, IN OUR-.

SELVES," the voice continued firmly.

"We'll retreat to only the few above-water islands,"

Hwos.h.i.+en proposed. "We'll build nonthinking devices, machines, to do all of our work."

"NO. NO, NO, NO!" A spoiled child, Cora thought.

Spoiled and very dangerous. This time she had a faint impression, despite what the creature had said of col- lective thought, of several different CunsnuC joining to generate the chorus of negativity.

"Lie to them," Mataroreva suggested. "Tell them we'll do what they say. We can work out a way."

"No. Any agreement I make I will keep. Besides, I'm not sure you can produce a telepathic lie, Sam.

Remember what they/it said about 'pulling out' our thoughts. I think they will tend to pull out the truth."

"THAT is so," the voice said, confirming the Com- missioner's suspicions. "AS IT is so IN YOUR COMPAN- ION'S MIND THAT HE WILL NOT AGREE TO LEAVE. AS.

IT IS IN YOUR OWN. BUT YOU WILL DIE WITH HONOR.".

In the darkness inside her head Cora found to her horror that Sam was beginning to remind her more and more of Silvio. Why now, why here? Why tor- ment yourself with thoughts of that distant awfulness

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in moments of stress? she asked herself. And had no

answer.

Hwos.h.i.+en stood stiff-backed against a wall. "They can't hurt us in here. They've already tried and failed."

"ALSO TRUE. WE CANNOT PENETRATE YOUR ARTI-.

FICIAL Sh.e.l.l." Cora was knocked off her feet as the submersible was rocked once again. "BUT WE CAN

PREVENT YOU FROM RISING. WE KNOW THAT YOU.

REQUIRE THE GAS BEYOND THE SKY IN ORDER TO EXIST.

WE CAN KEEP YOU HERE, WILL KEEP YOU HERE,.

UNTIL THE QUANt.i.tY YOU DESCENDED WITH HAS BEEN.

USED UP.".

Mataroreva immediately moved to try the necessary controls. The submersible rocked several times, bounc- ing against the creature that hovered above it. Then he flipped the activation switch slowly, looked wor- riedly at his friends.

"We're not rising. I could try a full ballast drop, but if that didn't work . . ." He let the sentence trail away. Much as their air would trail away.

The submersible was caught in a gigantic box cre- ated by the six huge forms.

"Lie to them! Deal with them!" Mataroreva shouted

at his superior.

Hwos.h.i.+en looked at the big man uncertainly.