I.

worked on my studies of the history of John Bandicut. " / /Oh. I hope you enjoyed it./ "/Idid. What's next?"/ Bandicut stretched slowly./I dunno. More healing, maybe./ "/What I thought.

I wonder what they're talking about in the other room."/ /Let's go see./Bandicut stood, wobbling.

He went next door and was greeted by Hargel, who was pac- ing with three other Negi.

"Corono says most of the swimmers you worked with will problSty recover," Hargel said. "L'Kell and Kailan were able to keep going while you and Ik slept."

"That's good. I notice you said most, not all."THE INFINITE SEA * 249 Hargel's voice became gravelly. "We lost one coming back on the sub, and two more last night. There will be mourning about that.

But it could have been a lot worse. Askelanda wants to see you as soon as you're ready."

"Fine. Where's Ik?"

"He's with Corono and the sick. Want to stop there first?" Hargel beckoned to him to follow.

They found Ik walking back and forth among the Neri patients like a priest murmuring inaudible prayers and sprinkling holy water over everyone in sight. Instead of Hail Marys, Ik was hrrrm'ing and hrah'ing under his breath. He wasn't really saying anything, Bandi-cut thought, just voicing sounds of rea.s.surance. When he saw Bandicut, he gave a wide-fingered wave, but did not cease his patrol.

Bandicut began his own walk among the Neri, touching arms, gripping hands, murmuring encouragement.

"They weren't doing this well when we left last night, were they?"

asked Ik, drawing near.

Bandicut shook his head. "L'Kell and Kailan must have been very busy."

"Hrahh." Ik peered around in satisfaction.

"Where are they? Sleeping? And have you seen Antares or Li-Jared?"

"L'Kell and Kailan are sleeping. Li-Jared stayed with the lander, I understand. And Antares... is with Askelanda. Shall we join her?"

They followed Hargel through the Neri maze to the same domed room where they had once stood and watched the habitat break free, shaken from its moorings by the Maw. They found Antares and the Neri leader seated on cushions on the floor, in the midst of a discussion about when the next eruption might occur. Hargel brought more cushions, and they formed a circle of four, while Hargel waited by the door. Antares peered at Bandicut with questioning eyes, and he whispered, "I'm fine." Antares touched his hand in relief, before turning back to Askelanda.

"We owe you a debt," Askelanda said, leaning forward. "I thank you for the lives of my people."

"You're welcome," Ik murmured, and Bandicut said, "I think L'Kell and Kailan deserve as much thanks as we do."

"So I understand," said Askelanda. "But they could not have done it without your help, and your stones." He hesitated, and for a moment Bandicut thought that the elder Neri was going to ask for his own set of stones. Askelanda rubbed the side of his dusty-250 * *

grey head, as though in contemplation. Then he said, "But we now have other problems to solve. If you would care to offer your thoughts.."

Bandicut inclined his head. Perhaps the Neri was too polite to ask for stones--or too afraid of what they might do to him. Just as well, since he had none to offer. "If we can help, we will, of course.

May I ask, have you spoken yet with the lander--with Harding?"

"The captive is resting quietly, I am told," Askelanda replied, not quite answering the question. His large-eyed gaze seemed very somber. "I understand he has been making demands. We will speak with him, perhaps, when L'Kell and some of the others are with us."

Bandicut nodded silently.

Askelanda gestured to Antares. "Your friend was just describing their efforts to study the thing that awaits us below. I confess I am uncertain what to make of their work. Perhaps your friend could explain."

"We think," Antares said, "that the Devourer--the Maw--might be on the verge of a major eruption. Li-Jared and Kailan have studied certain patterns of activity that have preceded quakes in the past, and they think the signs point to another one approaching. But we don't know how soon."

"Rakh," Ik muttered in dismay. "Do you have any idea what the Maw is yet?"

Antares made a soft clicking sound. "No. But Li-Jared believes that it functions by opening channels in s.p.a.ce-time, much as a..."

She hesitated.

"Stardrive would?" Bandicut asked.

"Exactly," said Antares. "How did you know? Have you spoken with Li-Jared?"

Bandicut shook his head. "No, but in the sunken ship--"

"You reported an encounter--and Li-Jared found activity around the Maw, at the same time." Antares was beginning to stir with excitement.

"Please tell us what happened?"

"Of course. But finish what you were saying," Bandicut urged her.

Antares pushed her fingers back through her hair. "I cannot explain much more, because I frankly do not understand it--but we know that the Maw's functions are somehow connected to the sunken ship. Is it in fact--?"

"A s.p.a.ceship?" Bandicut said. "Yes. I met its.., stardrive.., in person. I was lucky to get out alive, with Harding." He had the at-*

THE INFINITE SEA * 251.

tention of everyone now, especially Askelanda, who fixed him with an intense gaze. "I don't know exactly how they are connected, but I am certain that it was the Maw that caused the starship to crash."

He hesitated a moment, then decided he might as well tell it all.

"And I believe it was through that crash that the people you call the landers came to this world."

He could hear the Neri's breathing sharpen. In surprise, or dismay?

Askelanda gazed at him with an expression he could not quite decipher. "We have had certain legends..." the Neri began, speaking with difficulty. He paused in thought, then seemed to decide something. "They are not from our world, then?"

Bandicut took a deep breath. "They are now," he said. And he realized with a start that his knowledge of the landers was far deeper now than it had been just hours ago. His stones had been busy learning, while they were in Harding's care.

"What do you mean?" Askelanda asked sharply.

Bandicut turned his hands up. "The landers--the Astari, they call themselves--are not native to this world, no. But they have been here for several generations now. And they have no other place to call home."

"Home?" Askelanda cried, raising his hands. "They call it home, but they poison it, and poison our people?"

"I think," Bandicut said softly, "that they have been unaware of the poisoning. I believe their actions have been more thoughtless than malicious. But yes, the s.p.a.ceship is theirs. Or their ancestors'."

The Neri leader's eyes focused on him for a few heartbeats, as if trying to decide if this was the same John Bandicut who had healed his people. Finally he said, "So the ship is connected to our great Devourer. What are we to make of that? Do they control it?

Will they let it keep erupting until it destroys us?"

"They don't control it," Bandicut answered. "How could they, if it was the Maw that caused them to crash on this world in the first place? They too have been at the mercy of the Maw and its quakes."

"How can that be, if they are safe on the land?"

Antares answered, "Were your--ancestors--not safe on the land? And yet Kailan says that the Maw destroyed them."

Askelanda's head jerked a little.

"Your ancestors?" asked Ik. "They are all gone now?"

Askelanda let out a raspy breath and closed his eyes for a moment, muttering some syllables that the translator-stones did not catch. When he spoke again, it was in a more distant-seeming252 .

voice. "There was a great convulsion, many generations ago--not long after the Neri came to the sea. There were quakes and tsunamis. Volcanic blasts. Storms above the sea. Our people only barely survived. But our ancestors died."

"All of them?" Ik asked, his voice strained with the emotions of one who knew what it was like for a planetful of people to die.

"As far as we know. Expeditions ash.o.r.e never found survivors."

Askelanda hesitated, before adding simply, "They are gone."

"Destroyed by the arrival of the Maw," said Antares. In response to questioning looks from the others, she said, "That is is what Kailan believes caused the cataclysm--the arrival of the Maw, from s.p.a.ce.

It is still causing destruction--but probably nothing compared to the moment of its arrival."

Bandicut suddenly realized something that had been staring C I : him in the face. "The arrival of the Maw happened soon after the .i Neri went to live in the sea, didn't it? Was there a feeling--do the Neri fear that the Maw came because the Neri dared to move away ' from the land, into the sea?"

*,., Askelanda's expression froze. "That," he said stiffly, "is a his- torical and spiritual matter. It is something you would have to ask the obliq.

Or Corono."

Spiritual matter? Bandicut wondered. Antares glanced at him with an expression of affirmation, and he knew that he had touched on a point of difficult feelings among the Neri. He raised his hands pleadingly. "But is there any evidence of such aconnection?" It seemed unlikely. His guess was that the Maw fell when it fell, and had nothing at all to do with the Neri coming to live in the sea.

Askelanda gazed at him somberly, and started to answer.

But he was interrupted by a call from Hargel, at the door. "Aske- landa, the robots have returned from the factory!"

The robots entered, apparently having been hand-carried up through the pa.s.sageways by the Neri. Napoleon walked to the edge of the discussion circle, Copernicus rolling along behind; Napoleon crouched in a rest position, his scanner-eyes swiveling to take in the entire group. "Captain, we've come back to report. We might have stayed longer, but our sub needed recharging and resupply."

"We're glad to see you," Bandicut said. "What progress have you made?" Napoleon clicked softly. "We have established contact with the*

THE INFINITE SEA * 253.

factory control system, and now have a basic understanding of the operating mechanisms. We think we know what went wrong."

Askelanda leaned forward, thoughts of the Maw apparently for- gotten.

"And what went wrong?" prompted Bandicut.

"It's complicated."

"Okay, it's complicated. What was it?"

The robot clicked again. "The breakdown apparently occurred in several distinct stages. The first stage was caused by a severe seismic disturbance, which damaged a number of internal control pathways, as well as manufacturing elements in the factory."

"Seismic disturbance? You mean, caused by the Maw?" Bandi- cut demanded.

"Probably, Captain. The factory head believes so, but has no di- rect record of the source of the seismic activity."

"Factory head?"

"The primary control system. It ordinarily would have been ca- pable of self-repair, but the damage was too extensive. There may have been fragmentation of certain instructional subsets. In addition, a number of raw materials needed for completion of repairs were unavailable."

"Materials? You mean chemical materials, like minerals, and so on?"

"Affirmative. Minerals that are not present in the output of the volcanic vents, which const.i.tute the primary source of raw materials as well as heat energy. Electrical energy is derived redundantly from radioisotopic generators, as well as from geothermal heat."

Napoleon paused as though for breath and seemed to look to Copernicus for confirmation. Copernicus drumtapped.

Bandicut glanced at Askelanda to see if he was following. It was impossible to tell. "So it was missing raw materials."

"Yes, and that was a contributing cause of failure. But the fac- tory might have survived, with a reduced level of productivity, if it had not been for the programming failure--which itself was likely a cascade effect caused by damaged components that were notproperly repaired at the outset."

Bandicut sensed that the explanation was beginning to get away from some of those listening. "What's the bottom line, Nappy? Were you able to do anything about it?"

"I believe we have made a start, Captain. I was able to exam-254 * .

me the basic programming, and determined that the major failure was something that could be worked around through programming changes, prior to attempting physical repair to the damaged components.''

"Urrr!" said Ik, interrupting. "Are you saying that you will be able to physically repair the machines?"

Napoleon angled a sensor toward the Hraachee'an. "We personally?

No. However, we hope to be able to a.s.sist the factory head in repairing itself--guiding, rather than doing the work for it."

"Hrah!" said Ik. "Just like our healing of the Neri!"

Bandicut grinned, despite himself.

Askelanda interrupted to ask for clarification. The robots had been speaking in a mixture of Neri and English, which Bandicut's translators had been rendering seamlessly to him as English. Bandi-cut quickly summarized what the robots had been saying. "Do I have that right?" he asked Napoleon.

Yes, said Napoleon, "except for one more point. The factory still requires raw materials which it does not have, and which ap-patently it was never expected to find in the volcanic vent stream.

The vents are rich with many chemicals, but the factory was designed with the expectation that it would be regularly supplied by the Neri, or by its designers, with supplemental raw materials, as needed."