Uplift - Startide Rising Part 41

"I am going to avenge you, Brother!

"I am going to slay all in this sea who think!

"I am going to bring darkness upon all who hope!

"I am going to ..."

There came a loud splash. He let out a small "urk" sound as something heavy fell from above onto his right side and wrapped long legs and arms around him.

As the Brother of Twelve Shadows struggled, he realized in stupefaction that his enemy was a human! A half-sentient, frail-skinned, wolfling human!

"Before you do all those other things, there's one thing you'll do first," the voice rasped in Galactic Ten, just behind his hearing organs.

The Brother wailed. Something fiery sharp pierced his throat near the dorsal nerve-chord.

He heard his enemy say, almost sympathetically, "You are going to die."

83 ::: Gillian "All I can tell you, Gillian Baskin, is that he knew how to find me. He came here aboard a 'walker,' and spoke to me from the hallway."

"Creideiki was here? Tom and I figured he'd deduce we had a private high-level computer, but the location should have been impossible ..."

"I was not terribly surprised, Dr. Baskin," the Niss machine interrupted, covering the impoliteness with a soothing pattern of abstract images. "The captain clearly knows his s.h.i.+p. I had expected him to guess my location."

Gillian sat by the door and shook her head. "I should have come when you first signaled for me. I might have been able to stop him from leaving."

"It is not your fault," the machine answered with uncharacteristic sensitivity. "I would have made the request more demanding if I thought the situation urgent."

"Oh sure," Gillian was sarcastic. "It's not urgent when a valuable fleet officer succ.u.mbs to pressure atavism and subsequently gets lost out in a deadly alien wilderness!"

The patterns danced. "You are mistaken. Captain Creideiki has not fallen prey to reversion schizophrenia."

"How would you know?" Gillian said hotly. "Over a third of the crew of this vessel have shown signs since the ambush at Morgran, including all but a few of the Stenos-grafted fen. How can you say Creideiki hasn't reverted after all he's suffered? How can he practice Keneenk when he can't even talk!"

The Niss answered calmly. "He came here seeking specific information. He knew I had access not only to Streaker's micro-branch Library, but the more complete one taken from the Thennanin wreck. He could not tell me what it was he wanted to know, but we found a way to get across the speech barrier."

"How?" Gillian was fascinated in spite of her anger and guilt.

"By pictograms, visual and sound pictures of alternate choices which I presented to him quite rapidly. He made quick yes or no sounds to tell when I was getting-as you humans say-hotter or colder. Before long he was leading me, making a.s.sociations I had not even begun to consider."

"Like what?"

The light-motes sparkled. "Like the way many of the mysteries regarding this unique world seem to come together, the strangely long time this planet has lain fallow since its last tenants became degenerate and settled here to die, the unnatural ecological niche of the so-called drill-tree mounds, Sah'ot's strange 'voices from the depths' ..."

"Dolphins of Sah'ot's temperament are always hearing 'voices." Gillian sighed. "And don't forget he's another of those experimental Stenos. I'm sure some of them were pa.s.sed into this crew without the normal stress tests."

After a short pause, the machine answered matter-of-factly.

"There is evidence, Dr. Baskin. Apparently Dr. Ignacio Metz is a representative of an impatient faction at the Center for Uplift ... ."

Gillian stood up. "Uplift! Dammit! I know what Metz did! You think I'm blind? I've lost several dear friends and irreplaceable crewmates because of his crazy scheme. Oh, he 'hot-tested' his sports, all right. And some of the new models failed under pressure!

"But all that's finished! What does uplift have to do with voices from below, or drill-tree mounds, or the history of Kithrup, or our friendly cadaver Herbie, for that matter? What does any of it have to do with rescuing our lost people and getting away from here!"

Her heart raced, and Gillian found that her fists were clenched.

"Doctor Baskin," the Niss replied smoothly. "That was exactly what I asked your Captain Creideiki. When he put the pieces together for me I, too, realized that uplift is not an irrelevant question here. It is the only question. Here at Kithrup all that is good and evil about this several-billion-year-old system is represented. It is almost as if the very basis of Galactic society has been placed on trial."

Gillian blinked at the abstract images.

"How ironic," the disembodied voice went on, "that the question rests with you humans, the first sophont race in aeons to claim 'evolved' intelligence.

"Your discovery in the so-called Shallow Cl.u.s.ter may result in a war that fills the Five Galaxies, or it may fade away like so many other chimerical crises. But what is done here on Kithrup will become a legend. All of the elements are there.

"And legends have a tendency to affect events long after wars are forgotten."

Gillian stared at the hologram for a long moment. Then she shook her head.

"Will you please tell me what the b.l.o.o.d.y d.a.m.n h.e.l.l you are talking about?"

84 ::: Hikahi/Keepiru "We mussst hurry!" the pilot insisted.

Keepiru lay strapped to a porta-doc. Catheters and tubes ran from the webbing that kept him suspended above the water's surface. The sound of the skiffs engines filled the tiny chamber.

"You must relax," Hikahi soothed. "The autopilot is in charge now. We're going as fast as we can underwater. We should be there very soon."

Hikahi was still somewhat numbed by the news about Creideiki, and shaken by Takkata-Jim's treachery. But over it all she could not bring herself to accept Keepiru's frantic urgency. He was obviously driven by his devotion to Gillian Baskin, and wanted to return to her aid instantly, if possible. Hikahi looked at things from another perspective. She knew Gillian probably already had things well under control back at the s.h.i.+p. Compared with the disasters she had been fantasizing the last few days, the news was almost buoyant. Even Creideiki's injury could not suppress Hikahi's relief that Streaker survived intact.

Her harness whined. With one waldo-hand she touched a control to give Keepiru a mild soporific.

"Now I want you to sssleep " she told him. "You must regain your strength. Consider that an order, if, as you say, I am now acting captain."

Keepiru's eye began to recess; the lids drooped together slowly. "I'm shorry, sir. I ... I guessss I'm not much-ch more logical than Moki. I'm alwaysss causssing t-trouble ..."

His speech slurred as the drug took hold. Hikahi swam almost underneath the drowsy pilot and sighed a brief, soft lullaby.

Dream, defender- Dream of those who love you And bless your courage-

85 ::: Gillian "You're saying these ... Karrank% ... were the last sophonts to have a license to the planet Kithrup, a hundred million years ago?"

"Correct," the Niss machine replied. "They were savagely abused by their patrons, mutated far beyond the degree allowed by the codes. According to the Thennanin battles.h.i.+p's Library, it caused quite a scandal at the rime. In compensation, the Karrank% were released from their indenture as clients and granted a world suited to their needs, one with low potential for developing pre-sentience. Water worlds make good retirement homes for that reason. Few pre-sophonts ever arise on such planets. The Kiqui seem to be an exception."

Gillian paced the sloping ceiling of the lopsided room. An occasional clanking, transmitted by the metal walls, told of the final fittings being made to secure Streaker into the Trojan Seahorse.

"You aren't saying the Kiqui have anything to do with these ancient ..."

"No. They appear to be a genuine find, and a major reason why you should endeavor to escape this trap and return to Earth with what you have learned."

Gillian smiled ironically. "Thanks. We'll do our best.

"So, what was done to the Karr ... the Karrank%," she did her best with the double glottal stop, "to make them want to hide away on Kithrup, never to a.s.sociate with Galactic culture again?"

The Niss explained. "In their pre-sentient form, they were mole-like creatures on a metal-rich world like this one. They had carbon-oxygen metabolisms, such as yours, but they were excellent diggers."

"Let me guess. They were bred as miners, to extract ores on metal-poor worlds. It would be cheaper to import and breed Karrank% miners than to s.h.i.+p large quant.i.ties of metals across interstellar s.p.a.ce."

"A very good guess, Dr. Baskin. The client-Karrank% were indeed transformed into miners, and in the process converted to a metabolism extracting energy directly from radioactives. Their patrons thought it would help serve as an incentive."

Gillian whistled. "Such a drastic s.h.i.+ft in their structure couldn't have been very successful! Ifni, they must have suffered!"

"It was a perversion," the Niss agreed. "When it was discovered, the Karrank% were freed and offered recompense. But after a few millennia trying to adapt to standard starfaring life, they chose to retire to Kithrup. This planet was ceded them for the duration of their race. No one expected them to survive for long.

"Instead of dying out, however, they seem to have continued to modify themselves, on their own. They appear to have adopted a life style unique in known s.p.a.ce."

Gillian brought together the threads of the earlier part of the conversation, and made an inference. Her eyes widened. "You mean to tell me the metal-mounds ...?"

"Are larvae of an intelligent life form which dwells in the crust of this planet. Yes. I might have surmised this from the latest data sent by Dr. Dennie Sudman, but Creideiki had leapt to the conclusion before we had even heard from her. That is why he came to see me, to get confirmation of his hypothesis."

"Sah'ot's voices," Gillian whispered. "They're Karrank%!"

"An acceptable tentative deduction," the Niss approved. "It would have been the discovery of the century, were it not for the other things you've already turned up on this expedition. I believe you humans have an old expression in English-'It doesn't rain but it pours-it's quaint, but apropos."

Gillian wasn't listening. "The bombs!" She slapped her forehead.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I let Charlie Dart steal some low-yield bombs from our armory. I knew Takkata-Jim would confiscate them and begin transforming them into fuel. It was part of a plan I had cooked up. But ..."

"You a.s.sumed Takkata-Jim would confiscate all of the bombs?"

"Yes! I was going to call him and tip him off if he overlooked them, but he was quite efficient and discovered them right away. I had to lie to Tos.h.i.+o about it, but that couldn't be helped."

"If all went according to plan, I do not see the problem."

"The problem is that Takkata-Jim may not have seized all of the bombs! It never occurred to me that Charlie could harm living sophonts if he still had one! Now, though ... I've got to get in touch with Tos.h.i.+o, at once!"

"Can it wait a few minutes? Takkata-Jim probably was thorough, and there is another matter I wish to discuss with you."

"No! You don't understand. Tos.h.i.+o's about to sabotage his comm set! It's part of my plan! If there's even a chance Charlie's got a bomb we have to find out quickly!"

The holo patterns were agitated.

"I'll make the connection at once," the Niss announced. "It will take me a few moments to worm through Streakers comm system without being detected. Stand by."

Gillian paced the sloping floor, hoping they would be in time.

86 ::: Tos.h.i.+o Tos.h.i.+o finished the re-wiring, slapped the cover over the transmitter on Thomas Orley's sled, and spread a light smear of mud on the plate to make it seem long unopened.

Then he unhitched the monofilament line from the unit, tied a small red marker ribbon to the end, and let the almost invisible fiber drift down into the depths.

Now he was out of touch with Streaker. It made him feel more alone than ever-even lonelier than when Dennie and Sah'ot had departed early in the morning.

He hoped Takkata-Jim would follow orders and wait here until Streaker left. If he did, Gillian would call down as they blasted away, and warn him of the modifications that had been made to the longboat and this transmitter.

But what if Takkata-Jim were, indeed, a traitor? What if he took off early?

Charles Dart would probably be aboard then, as well as Ignacio Metz, three Stenos, and perhaps three or four Kiqui. Tos.h.i.+o wished none of them harm. It was an agonizing choice.

He looked up and saw Charles Dart happily muttering to himself as he played with his new robot.

Tos.h.i.+o shook his head, glad that the chimp, at least, was happy.

He slid into the water and swam over to his own sled. He had jettisoned its tiny radio an hour ago. He strapped himself in and turned on the motors.

He still had to make one more splice below the island. The old robot, the damaged probe Charles Dart had abandoned down near the bottom of the drill-tree shaft, had one last customer. Creideiki, hanging around Streaker's old site, still wanted to talk to Sah'ot's "voices." Tos.h.i.+o figured he owed the captain the favor, even if it did feel like he was humoring a delusion.

As the sled sank, Tos.h.i.+o thought about the rest of his job here ... the things he might have to do before he could leave.

Let Tom Orley be waiting for me when I come back up, he wished fervently. That would solve everything. Let Mr. Orley be finished with his job up in the north, and land up there while I'm below.

Tos.h.i.+o smiled ironically And while you're at it, Ifni, why not throw in a giant fleet of good guys to clear the skies of baddies, hmmmm?

He descended down the narrow shaft, into the gloom.

87 ::: Gillian "Drat! Triple h.e.l.l! The line's dead. Tos.h.i.+o's already cut it."

"Don't be overly alarmed." The Niss spoke rea.s.suringly. "It is quite likely that Takkata-Jim confiscated all of the bombs. Did not Mids.h.i.+pman Iwas.h.i.+ka report that he saw several being dismantled for fuel, as you expected?"

"Yes, and I told him not to worry about it. But it never occurred to me to ask him to count them. I was caught up in the minutiae of moving the s.h.i.+p, and I didn't think Charlie would do any real harm even if, by some chance, he managed to keep one!"