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ments and actions.
"Here," he said, handing the headsets around.
"These are analogs of the speaker-receiver units in
your gelsuits. If you want to listen in or join the con-
versation, you'll need one of these." He was wear-
ing one already.
Like two racing spacecraft in a blue-green void, the
orcas drew alongside the bobbing suprafoil. Cora
studied the black and white coloring through the clear
water. The sandy bottom was still only some fourteen
meters below them, and the orcas hung within that
medium, floating as if suspended in air.
Whistles and squeaks came from Sam, and she hur-
riedly adjusted her own headset. His voice was dis-
torted by the electronic diaphragm, but the words
were now understandable.
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"These are our lookouts and helpfriends," he was
saying. "I've known them both for a long time. The
big male is Wenkoseemansa. In orca that translates
roughly as Double-White-Death-Scar-Over-Right-Eye.
78 CACHALOT
You can see it when he rolls to port. Got it when a
calf in a fight with a sunmori fish. His mate is Late-
hoht She-Who-Rises-Above-The-World."
"What is the origin of? " Merced started to ask.
Before Mataroreva could reply, the question was an-
swered by action.
Cora stumbled backward in spite of herself, in spite
of all her supposed scientific preparedness, and fell to
the deck. Rachael gave a scream and ran into Merced,
nearly knocking him over. Only Mataroreva wasn't
affected. He ducked, bent over as much from expecta-
tion as from laughter.
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All seven meters and nine tons of Latehoht had
exploded in a geyser of salt spray. Cora lay on her
back, staring in horror and fascination as the enormous
body flew completely over the low bow of the Caribe,
to land with a tremendous splash on the starboard side.
She fought the wildly rocking deck as she scrambled
back to her feet, dripping water and shouting angrily
at Mataroreva. "Why the hell didn't you warn us?" He
was laughing too hard to reply. She had to admit she
was more embarrassed than frightened. "Why didn't
you'. "
"Awwwoman awwwoman!" She was so startled by
the unexpected, mellifluous voice that suddenly
sounded in her ears that she forgot her embarrassment
and Sam completely. In a daze she turned and walked
to the starboard railing. She had studied many tapes
of cetacean talk, both in the natural state and trans-
lated into terranglo. But it was one thing to hear such
an alien yet warm voice on tape, quite another to ex-
perience it in reality.
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A massive blunt head protruded above the water.
Two tiny, almost imperceptible eyes of vitreous black
were staring up at her as the head moved slowly from
side to side. The mouth was open, showing startlingly
white, sharp teeth. The sounds uttered from within
CACHALOT 79
reached Cora not as squirps and squeals but as rich,
clean terranglo.
"You drop in fear. You worrry and wince with
your body and soullll. She-Who-Rises-Above-The-
Worid intimidates and does not pleasse you in herr
greeting-time." Then, more quietly, "I do not knoww
if I like this one-she, Sammm."
"I'm sorry," Cora said automatically. "Really I am."
She ignored the whistles and yelps that blasted from
her headset speaker, concentrated on forming the
words with her lips. "I was startled, that's all. Prob-
ably," she continued more confidently, "I could do
some things which would startle you."
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"She of surprise, she of mystery haunts my dayyy.
Unknowwwn neww quality. Can it be that a female
human has such capability, Samm?"
"I don't know," he said. "But in the case of this one,
it is possible-thing." He grinned at Cora, then spoke
again to the distraught orca. "You should not be up-
set, little one."
A second, more massive head emerged from the
water next to Latehoht's, rose to the railing, and turned
one eye on Cora. She did not pull back. White teeth
were centimeters from her face. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]