Metaphase. Part 42

Nerno's pleading voice penetrated her disturbed link. "J.D., stop, stop."

All J.D. could think of to do was shut down the LTMs. They folded beneath the attendants, and cut off their sensors.The attendants fell away from the LTMs. From giant sowbugs to tentacled shrimp, they withdrew and returned to Nemo's side.

"Nemo, what happened?" J.D. was shaking. The dissolution of the link was too much like what had happened to Feral. "That's how I watched your metamorphosis-I thought it would be safe for you!"

"But, J.D., I am different now," Nemo said, "and my attendants are different."

"I'm so sorry."

She did not know what else to say. She locked all the LTMs-her attendants--on pa.s.sive systems only, and set them to record.

"What about my link to Starfarer?"

Nemo hesitated. "It's very strong, and very near. . . ."

J.D. got the hint. She sent a quick message back to Starfarer. I'm okay.

But I'd better shut down communication for a while.

With a word of understanding and regret from Victoria, a yelp of protest from Zev, and a curse of apprehension from Stephen Thomas, J.D.'s perception of her link to Starfarer vanished into silence.

"Did I cause you harm?" J.D. asked Nemo. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm unhurt. But there's not much time."

Nerno's tentacle stretched out, wrapped itself around one of the silken sacs, and drew it in, slowly, painfully.

"What should I do? Can I help?"

"You may help," Nemo said.

J.D. hoped the obvious thing to her was the obvious thing to the squidmoth. She picked up the sac in both304 hands and presented it in front of Nemo. It was astonis.h.i.+ngly heavy.

"What happens now?"

"I combine my genetic material with the genetic material of the juvenile parents of my offspring."

The single tentacle curled around the sac. Nemo's head reared up, exposing a gaping, toothless mouth. Like a frog's tongue, the tentacle drew the sac inside.

"Nemo, what-T'

"I cannot speak with you now, J.D."

Nerno's adult body was slender and mobile, unlike the ponderous squidlike juvenile body. The legs and the feather-gills and the rippling horizontal fin had vanished -transformed into wings? Or was that too simple an a.n.a.lysis?

Nemo's wings began to beat, in a wave from front to back. The motion of the wings eased the bulge of the sac through Nemo's new form, expanding the translucent, peac.o.c.k-hued skin before the sac, contracting behind it. The colors changed over the bulge of the egg sac, flowing from iridescent red through orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

The egg case hesitated at a second, smaller bulge in Nerno's. body, beneath the last free pair of wings. The two shapes touched, merged, engulfed each other; and then the egg case continued to move.

Nerno's wings fluttered faster, harder, creating a low, trilling whirr that filled the air. The giant sowbugs streamed from their congregation and surrounded Nemo's body where it entered the floor. Using their front appendages, they ma.s.saged the egg sac and pushed it along. It disappeared beneath the level of the floor. The whirring wings relaxed, and drooped.

The attendants fell away and crawled blindly around, undirected, slowing as they touched, till they lay again in a compact, pulsating ma.s.s.

"You may help," Nemo said again.

J.D. hurried to the pile of satchels and brought another. Again, Nemo engulfed it. The wings stretched, 305.pulsed, and resumed their flowing, steady beat, pumping the sac on its long traverse.

J.D. fetched another egg case.

"Not yet, not yet," Nemo said.

She stopped.

Maybe it's a reflex, engulfing the egg sac, J.D. thought. Maybe that's why the tentacle is so slow. Maybe the timing is critical.

Another bulge began to form beneath Nemo's posterior full wings. By the time the second sac reached it, it had stopped growing. Again the bulges merged, again the sowbugs pressed the egg bulge out of sight.

Time pa.s.sed.

J.D. continued to bring the egg sacs to Nerno's mouth, leaving the tentacle to conserve its strength for the engulfing. Nemo remained silent, eyes closed, body and wings pulsing with exertion.

J.D. was in awe of the effort Nemo expended. Of course the squidmoth could not talk to her now. But the silence of J.D.'s enhanced link felt huge and empty. She wondered if the change had been futile, just enough to give her a glimpse of Nerno's complete communication.

With each egg sac, the traverse through Nerno's body occurred more slowly. The secondary bulge, the egg, took longer to form.

J.D. helped, and waited, for several hours. Her friends back home would be worried by her silence.

After the fifth egg sac, Nerno's wings drooped. J.D. stroked the heavy, chitinous head. Nemo's tentacle curled; the wings rose, and stretched.

J.D. picked up another egg sac and brought it to the tentacle.

I must be getting tired, too, she thought. These things are beginning to feel heavier and heavier.

Nerno's tentacle wrapped around the egg case, dragging it weakly in. J.D.

stood anxiously by while Nerno's mouth worked around it. The iridescent wings sagged nearly to the floor, and their colors had begun to dull.

Right after the metamorphosis, Nerno's body had looked sleek and well-fed. Now it had begun to shrivel.306 Nemo's sunken flanks defined the egg case in more detail. The long wings labored to continue their beat. Even the attendants moved slowly, tentatively.

The egg case merged with the egg bulge, and disappeared, and the giant sowbugs tumbled away from each other in response to the renewed throbbing of the wings.

The tentacle sagged out of Nerno's mouth, twitching and searching. J.D.

hurried to bring the seventh sac. Nemo engulfed it, and the first set of wings moved it with agonizing slowness.

Six more egg cases remained in the pile. J.D. felt frightened, because Nemo could never ingest them all before Starfarer hit transition. She should give herself at least an hour to get back.

Nemo quivered, exhausted. J.D. stroked Nerno's tentacle, the pulsing flanks.

Nerno's wings swept down, trembled against the floor, and lifted themselves slowly, painfully.

The pa.s.sage is going to take at least an hour, J.D. thought. If I'm quick- She touched her link to Nemo. "I'll be right back." She gently squeezed the furred tip of Nerno's tentacle. Hoping the squidmoth could hear her, could still understand her, she rushed back to the Chi.

On board Starfarer, the sun tubes brightened with morning. The temperature rose slowly. All over campus, the snow began to melt. Icy drips collected at the ends of branches and splashed to the ground; rivulets rushed down hillsides, formed tiny new streams, flowed into the rivers.

Infinity's boots squished in mud and crunched the ice crystals that remained beneath the surface.

He reached the dripping orange grove, stopped, and looked around.

The emergency measures had saved most of the trees. The fruit was another story. About half the ripe 307.oranges had fallen, and the blossoms for the next crop had wilted and died.

Infinity sighed.

Guessed real wrong on this one, he thought.

His inside coat pocket scrabbled against his chest.

He opened the coat and slid his hand into the pocket.

11OW!" He jerked back his hand and inspected his nipped finger.

"Is that the thanks I get for saving you from freezing?" Infinity said aloud.

The meerkat burrowed deeper, her claws catching on the material of his coat.

"What is it you want?" He had tried to let the meerkat loose near her burrow, but she would not go.

I bet this critter is Europa's house pet, Infinity thought. And I'll bet she wants to live in a nice warm house.

Especially since she's about to have kittens.

Someone squelched through the deep mud toward him. Infinity caught a glimpse of Gerald Hernminge on the other side of the orange grove.

Listening to Gerald say "I told you so" was the last thing Infinity needed.

The last thing, except maybe having Gerald find out about the meerkat.

J.D. rushed back to the Chi. The Chi's transmission to Starfarer had not troubled Nemo, so J.D. could safely open her link.

Zev's image popped into being before her.

"J.D.! We thought-I was afraid-"

"I'm fine, Zev. How much got through before I pulled the plug?"

J.D. grabbed sandwich makings out of the cupboard and started some coffee.

Victoria's image appeared near Zev."Just enough to scare us. We've been so worried about you!" Victoria floated in the sailhouse, helping Jenny position Starfarer for transition.

Jenny still did308 not, could not, trust Arachne. That left Victoria to buffer her, in the same position Feral was in when he died.

"You're worried about me?" J.D. asked. She slapped a sandwich together and wolfed down a bite.

"At least everybody knows where I am." Victoria smiled wryly.

"I'm right here," J.D. said. "I'm going back inside in a minute."

Satos.h.i.+ appeared, surrounded by the complex equipment of the observatory.

"How mad is Nemo?"

J.D. swallowed another bite of sandwich.

"Nemo's not mad at all, as far as I can tell." She glanced at the imageArachne created of Nemo's planetoid. Several of the craters bulged with distended silk.

"You aren't in any danger?" Victoria asked.

"I'm sure not."

Esther Mein's image appeared. "I can bring help with the transport. It's ready."

"Thanks, Esther. But it isn't necessary. Really. I better get back."

"How much longer?" Victoria asked.

"I just can't say."

"You're cutting it awfully close!"

"I can't help it."

"But what are you doing?" Zev asked.

"I guess . . . I'm acting as midwife. I have to go, Zev, I love you. Keep an eye on those other craters. I think . . ." She smiled. "I don't know for sure. But I think you should watch them."

She rushed back through the tortuous silken path. The curtains continued to deteriorate. J.D. followed a trail of her own footprints, bruises in the silk, back to Nemo's chamber.

Infinity patted the nest of towels on the floor of the closet. In the comer, the meerkat stood in sentry position, her paws crossed on her rounded belly.

She fixed 309.him with a suspicious gaze through her mask of black fur.

"Oh, my G.o.d," Esther said behind him.

"Don't scare her," Infinity said.

"I can't believe Europa left her behind! What a rotten thing to do." She knelt beside Infinity and tried to pet the meerkat. The meerkat snapped at her. Esther s.n.a.t.c.hed back her hand.

"I think we better leave her alone."