CACHALOT.

CACHALOT.

65.

Mataroreva shook his head. "They don't have to ship off-world via Mou'anui or any of the other atoll bases. A shuttle could put down anywhere on Cacha- lot and take off fully loaded with refined goods or raw materials."

"Expensive," Hwoshien commented, "but with the produce and booty of an entire town to pay for it, such an operation would be immediately profitable.

Eliminating the populations involved would be the best way of covering such piracy.

"Economically it is feasible. One would think the inherent danger would override such potential profits, but there are people who do not think such things through very clearly, to whom murder and destruction require little in the way of rationalization.

"Actually, we have been questioning the ship folk intensively. But you must understand that the existing rivalry precludes our making any overt accusations without irrefutable facts to back them up. We can't afford to alienate a large segment of the populace by accusing it of something none of its number may be responsible for^Off-world agencies may be involved.

The AAnn, for instance, would enjoy watching and abetting chaos on any Commonwealth world.

"But as I have said, that is not your problem. Spec- ify what equipment you wish, and Sam will have it drawn from government stores or billed to the local Commonwealth account. The question of personal financial recompense was settled, I believe, prior to your departure for Cachalot."

"You say you want to try to keep our purpose here a secret?" Rachael asked.

"You will be treated as visiting specialists engaged in typical commercial exploration. Escorts for such visitors are not uncommon, so Sam's presence among you should not be remarked on." He stared down at his plate. "This destruction must stop. It is bad for living, and bad for business."

They ate on in silence, finished with a dessert that Mataroreva informed them had been produced from the jellied insides of a round creature about the size of his fist. The substance was coated with poisonous spines and had to be properly treated prior to serving or it could kill instantly. The treatment was effec- tive, however, and there were no known deaths at- tributable to comsumption of the delicacy. If he was trying to tease Cora, he had picked the wrong person.

She had eaten far more bizarre products from several oceans. The transparent gelatin was cool and had a flavor like pomegranate.

The graphic description made Rachael queasy, though. Cora finished her daughter's plate as well as her own. She was just downing the last spoonful of her second helping when Merced asked quietly, "What about the whales?"

"What about the whales, Mr. Merced?" Hwoshien was puffing contentedly on another scent-stick.

"They're intelligent, they have no love of mankind.

Couldn't they destroy a town?"

"Sure they could," Mataroreva yelled, "but why should they!" Aware of the effect of his violent re- action on Cora and Rachael, he lapsed into his usual boyish tone. But what the announcement of his pro- fession had begun, his unexpected violence concluded.

For better or worse, the mantle of innocence Cora had bestowed on him had vanished forever.

"They could," he said more calmly, "if they had a reason to, and if they could organize sufficiently. Re- member that every floating town is protected against inimical local life-forms. Each has sophisticated warn- ing systems and large underwater needlers which op- erate automatically in tandem when anything comes too close.

"There are leviathans in Cachalot's ocean larger than the largest whale that ever lived. The town nee- dlers are quite capable of frying even a mallost.

66.

CACHALOT.

"What's a mallost?"

"Something I hope you never see, Rachael." Hwo-

shien answered with such intensity that she subsided.

"As Sam says, one could make short work of a whale, but it couldn't get within tentacle-throwing range of

even a small town.

"A whole pod of whales working in perfect unison

might destroy a town, but they do not think that way.

For one thing, nothing like compet.i.tion exists be- tween the cetaceans and the towns. By and large, the townspeople are after varieties of local life the whales have no interest in. The plankton the towns take and strain for a few types doesn't make a dent in the cope- pod population. There is more plankton on this world than a million times as many baleen whales could ever consume. The baleens are the largest of the Cetacea, and also the dumbest. The toothed whales, which are more capable of considering such an attack,

don't eat plankton."

"And they're either openly friendly," Mataroreva

continued, "or indifferent to us, as I explained before.

Unless.they're bothered, and then their reactions have always been direct and personal. They've shown no interest one way or the other in the towns. They go

after the togluts and the large teleosts.

"While they travel in herds, the catodons, largest

of the toothed whales, have nothing resembling mil- itary guile. They've no experience in organized war- fare-there are simply too many factors against it."

He added an afterthought, "I suppose you have to consider every possibility. That's what you're here for.

I just don't think the whales fit the requirements we've

established for our mysterious cause."

He leaned back in his chair and toyed with his own second helping of dessert, uncomfortably aware of

the reaction his initial outburst had produced.

Cora pushed back her chair, delicately dabbed at

her lips with a napkin, and forced a smile as she spoke

67.

to Hwoshien. "Thanks for the delicious meal. We'll start work in a couple of days, as soon as we've had a chance to become a bit more acclimated."

"Very well." Hwoshien rose and shook hands with her. "I bid you all a good evening."

Mataroreva escorted them out of the mess.

"Isn't there some other way to return to our quar- ters without going through all these corridors?" Cora asked.

"You mean, Cora-doors?" She winced. They turned right, exited the structure.

The door deposited them onto a path paved with jewels, wilder in hue, richer in extent, than any an- cient prince from Haroun al-Rashid on down could have dreamed of. They had started dinner before sun- down. Now the stars shone on gla.s.s sands, making of them an echo of the distant Milky Way.