11 ::: Creideiki & Orley
“So we’re armed again,” Creideiki sighed. ‘After a fashion.”
Thomas Orley looked up from the newly repaired missile tubes and nodded. “It’s about as good as we’re going to get, Creideiki. We weren’t expecting any trouble when we popped out into a battle at the Morgran transfer point. We were lucky to get away with as little damage as we took.”
Creideiki agreed.
“Just ssso,” he sighed moodily. “If only I had reacted faster.”
Orley noticed his friend’s mood. He pursed his lips and whistled. His breather mask amplified a faint sound-shadow picture. The little echo danced and hopped like a mad elf from corner to corner in the oxywater-filled chamber. Workers in the weapons pod lifted their narrow, sound-sensitive jaws to follow the skipping sonar image as it scampered unseen, chittering in mock sympathy.
* When one commands,
One is envied by people—
But, oh! the demands! *
The sound-wraith vanished, but laughter remained. The crew of the weapons pod spluttered and squawled.
Creideiki let the mirth settle. Then, from his brow came a pattern of chamber-filling clicks that merged to mimic the sounds of thunderclouds gathering. In the closed room those present heard raindrops blown before the wind. Tom closed his eyes to let the sound-image of a sea squall close over him.
They stand in my road,
The mad, ancient, nasty things
Tell them “move, or else!” *
Orley bowed his head, acknowledging defeat. No one had ever beaten Creideiki at Trinary haiku. The admiring sighs of the fen only confirmed this.
Nothing had changed, of course. As Orley and Creideiki turned to leave the weapons pod, they knew that defiance alone would not get this crew through the crisis. There had to be hope, as well.
Hope was scarce. Tom knew that Creideiki was desperately worried about Hikahi, though he hid it well.
When they were out of earshot, the captain asked, “Has Gillian made any progressss studying that thing we found ... the cause of all this trouble?”
Tom shook his head. “ I haven’t spent more than an hour with her in two days, so I don’t know. Last I checked, the ship’s micro-Library still claims nothing like Herbie ever existed.”
Creideiki sighed. “It would have been nice to know what the Galacticsss think we found. Ah, well ...”
They were stopped by a sudden whistle behind them. Tsh’t, the ship’s fourth officer, flew into the hallway in a cloud of bubbles.
“Creideiki! Tom! Sonar reports a dolphin at long range, far to the eassst, but apparently swimming this way at high speed!”
Creideiki and Orley looked at each other. Then Tom nodded at the captain’s unspoken command.
“Can I take Tsh’t and twenty fen?”
“Yesss. Get a team ready. But don’t leave until we find out who this is. You may want to take more than twenty. Or it may be hopelesss to go at all.”
Tom saw pain in the captain’s eye. The next hour or so of waiting would be hard.
Orley motioned for Lieutenant Tsh’t to follow him, then he turned to swim at top speed down the flooded corridor toward the outlock.