"All Humans, All Whales, Die All Too Soon, Be- fore The Great Mysteries Can Be Explained, The

107.

Great Questions Answered. Those Who Perished On Thy Floating Towns Would Have Perished Soon Enough. Why Waste Time Trying To Learn The Cause Of Their Pa.s.sing? We Work For The Ends Of Thought. No Time To Waste."

"Do youu nott underrrstandd?"

Cora looked down and to the left of the balancing sperm whale. A black and white head peered up the cliff of Lumpjaw's side, unimpressed by the vast ma.s.s hovering near it.

"Whhen willl you slowww swwwimmers underr- standd?" Latehoht asked. "Underrstandd as do the orrca and the porrpoisse, underrstandd as wwe hawe comme to, thhat all liffe and all the questions of liffe, hummman as welll as cetacean, arre interrelated.

Thhat all quesstions that so concerrn catodon allso concerrn mann. Thhat we arre tied togethher on this worrld byy ourr alienness to it."

Lumpjaw slid down into the water, keeping his eyes above the surface. "Ah, Small Cousin, Is It Indeed, Then The Porpoise Who Is The Greater Because He Has Sense Enough Only To Play With Man And Not To Deal With Him? What, Then, Would The Orca Choose To Do? Have Hands And Feet And Walk About On Land?"

There was a splash in front of the great catodon's gnarled forehead as another shape slid whippet-fast past it.

"Ayye, arre you grreaterr in weight and lengthh.

Thhat does nott mean you knnoww the wayyy forr yourrselves anyy morre than you do for alll. Do nott attempt to speakk forr us, to coddle orr tease us,"

Wenkoseemansa warned, "forr you did nott act so superriorr lo those manyy centurries ago on Earrthh, and you arre no morre superriorr noww. We choosse onlly to rrelate to mankindd. Nott to becomme as menn."

Cora moved to stand close to Sam. "I thought

108 .

you just said that cetaceans don't fight among them- selves."

"Only verbally," he explained. "Some bad feelings

between catodon and orca have always existed, though they're among the most closely related of all the whales. I guess it goes back to the ancient times on Terra, when the orca packs would eat any great whale they could kill. Just because the orca no longer eats the catodon doesn't mean they've grown to love one another. Respect, yes. They won't fight physically, but they're not the best of friends. Don't forget that they're

cetaceans together, though."

"Enough Of This!" the irritated old whale roared.

"Enough Time Wasted! We Shall Not Help Thee," he told Cora. "Not Because We Wish To Hinder Thee.

Understand That." He let out a long, modulated whis- tle. In a wonderful demonstration of the unity of thought the old male had talked about, three hundred ma.s.sive backs arched as one. Enormous flukes came up, filled the surface with a temporary forest of gray- brown flowers, and dipped into the ocean with hardly a ripple as the herd vanished beneath the

waves.

In seconds it was as if they had never been more

than a dream.

VIII.

No

to violence marred their pa.s.sing. They were sim- ply gone.

"Simultaneous sounding," Cora murmured.

"Yes." Sam studied the surface. "They'll come up to breathe somewhere far from here, where we won't be around to disturb them. We could track them, of course, but they wouldn't take kindly to that." He smiled. "What the old one-Lumpjaw-said about not fighting with man is very true. In fatal incidents between the great whales and men on Cachalot, the fault has always rested with the persistent stupidities of the people involved. We won't make those kind of mistakes."

"What about letting Wenkoseemansa and Latehoht follow them?" Merced ran a hand idly along the rail.

"To what end?" Sam asked. "You heard their leader. They know nothing about what caused the de- struction of the towns."

"Or they're not saying."

"That's possible," he conceded. "But you're still not taking into account their ma.s.sive indifference toward mankind. That's genuine. They really don't care one whit what we do or what happens to us as long as we leave them alone."

Merced persisted. "Holding back information wouldn't contradict their policy of ignoring us. At the

109.

110 CACHALOT.

same time it would pa.s.sively encourage whatever still unknown force is conveniently ridding their ocean of humanity."

The big man considered that, then leaned over the side. "She-Who-Rises-Above-The-World!" A head ap- peared, dim in the starlight near the bow. It floated back to linger below them.

"Tell me. Beautiful Swimmer, what did you think of the old catodon's comments?"

"Forr all that wwe arre rrelated, theyy arre a con- ceitted rrace," she announced readily. "Likke wwe nott theirr companyy orr theirr philosophyyy."

"Wwe like nott theirr thoughts," Wenkoseemansa added from nearby. "Theirr grreaterr intelligencce has brred in themm a grreat contemptuoussness. Yea, forr all thhat theyy mayy bee the smarrtest of the Ceta- cea."

"Ayye, though theyy mayy bee the smarrtest of us allll," his mate agreed. "b.u.t.t thhat does nott makke themm wise." ___

"No," Sam agreed, "that does not make them wise.

Annoying, yes. But I want you to be more specific about what they said."

"Theyy arre sharrpp and yyet vague, talkatiwe yet coyyy. Annd neverr as prroperrly poetic as wwe,"

Latehoht said.

"Maybe they don't fight, but they snipe," Merced whispered to Rachael. "Certain vices seem to go with expanded intelligence."

"Shush," Cora admonished him, trying to concen- trate on the orca's words.

"Wwe beliewe," Latehoht went on, after consult- ing with her mate, "thhat the Olid Onne was telling the trruth. Wwe listened carreful and close, to worrd and inflection. Wwe slid inn and ammong themm, ammong even the garrulous young, beforre wwe camme to rejoin you. Beforre we lefft the podddd."

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"Thhey murrmurred of manny things," Wenkosee- mansa added. "Of grreat shoals of voula fishh, of battles withh the great mallost inn the depths. Of calwings and matings and arrguments ammong the philosophher bulls. b.u.t.t newerr did we hearr talk- ings of mann orr his worrkks. Not of the towwns destroyyed, not of the people killed and missing. Not of thhose still actiwe, fishhing orr gatherring orr mminning. Theirr callous indifference is as hhonest as it iss monumentally foolishhh."

"Thhat iss all we werre able to learrnnnn," Late- hoht finished. "Whhat noww, frriend Sammmmm?"

"To the Rorqual Station, and the reefs by which it kept company. But slowly. Our ship will follow your path, but we must have some sleep."

"Ahhhwww, poorr humanssss!" Latehoht commis- erated sadly. "Sso little aliwe timme, so muchh of it spent in the brreathing deathh. We'll go and eat, we twwo, and watchh forr youuu." She and Wenkosee- mansa turned as one, vanished supplely beneath the starlit surface.