CLOSE TO CRITICAL

"How strong do you suppose the wind will get? If it brings the sea farther inland each night, and the sea carries the bathyscaphe with it, how close will those kids be carried to the volcano?"

"I don't think we need worry for quite a while. Wind or no wind, the sea that far inland will be mostly water, and won't float them very far. I'll bet if that thing keeps on, too, there won't even be liquid water wihin miles of it, by night or day."

"Liquid or gas, it might still move the ship. The difference in density isn't worth mentioning."

"The difference in viscosity is." Aminadabarlee heard no more of that one, either; it had given him something to worry about, and he was good at worrying. He started back to the communicating room at top speed, which for him was high; he didn't want anything else to happen while he was out of touch. He managed to reach his goal without hurting anyone, though there was a narrow escape or two as his long form flashed along the corridors.

The scientists had left Easy for the new attraction, and the bathyscaphe screen was blank for the moment.

Aminadabarlee didn't pause to wonder whether the children were asleep or just talking to the cave-dwellers; also, he didn't stop to wonder whether the question he had in mind should be mentioned in their hearing or not. He would have berated Raeker soundly for such a thing; but this, of course, was different.

"Miss Rich! 'Mina!" he shrilled unceremoniously into the microphone. For a minute or so there was no answer, and he repeated the call with what another member of his race would have recognized as overtones of impatience. Few human beings would have caught any difference from his normal tones.

This time Easy appeared on the screen rubbing sleep out of her eyes, a gesture which either meant nothing to him or which he chose to ignore.

"Where's my son?" he asked.

"Asleep." Easy would not normally have been so short.

Organization; Revelation; Declaration 175

"Well, you'll probably do. Did you hear that they've found out what caused the wind?"

"Yes; I gather it's a volcano. I went to sleep just after that. Has anyone come up with more news?"

"Not exactly news. It's occurred to some of those human fortune tellers that your ship may be blown a little closer to the volcano each night, until you're in serious trouble. What does your friend Swift think about that? He's supposed to be able to predict what his planet is going to do, and he seems to have been able to find you each morning so far."

"We'll, we certainly can't get there for several days; we can't see the light from the volcano from here."

"You mean you can't; it's what the natives can see, and what they think, that counts. Have you asked Swift?"

"No. I didn't know about this until just now. Anyway, I'm not worried; if they'd seen the light they'd have mentioned it—they'd have thought it was the robot. We can't possibly reach the volcano for several of Tenebra's days —certainly not by tomorrow."

"Who cares about just tomorrow? How you human beings ever achieved even the civilization you have is a mystery to me. Intelligent people plan ahead."

"Intelligent people don't usually jump to conclusions, either," snapped the girl, in the first display of temper she had shown since the accident. "I'm not worried beyond tomorrow, because by the end of that day we'll be away from here. Please tell Mr. Sakiiro to have the shuttle ready to meet us." She turned her back and walked—stalked, rather—out of the field of view; and Aminadabarlee was too startled even to resent the discourtesy.

XII. CAPITULATION; OPERATION; ELEVATION

EASY was awake again by the time Nick reached the bathyscaphe. He had had no trouble finding it; the glow from its lights was quite visible from the coast. The wind was blowing straight toward the light, but Nick and his friends knew nothing of the volcano at the tune and didn't have to worry about whether they were heading for the right light. They came ashore, shouldered the raft, and headed for their beacon.

Fagin and the other four pupils had arrived before them; travel on foot was a good deal faster, even for the robot, than by the decidedly clumsy raft. Swift seemed to be in a very tolerant mood. He didn't actually greet the newcomers effusively, but he was talkative enough. He took for granted that they were his people—people who had gone a trifle astray, and didn't always know just how to behave, but who might be expected to grow up properly if given time. As long as they treated him as chief, it seemed likely that there would be no trouble.

Within a few minutes of the arrival of John, Nancy, Oliver, Dorothy, and the robot, he had demanded to be shown how to make a fire. Easy, with her two-second advantage in reaction time, told John to go ahead before Raeker even knew the order had been given. John, knowing that the person hi the bathyscaphe was one of his teacher's race, obeyed without question. He took out 176

Capitulation; Operation; Elevation 177

his friction gear and had a blaze going in two or three minutes.

Swift then demanded to be shown how to work the device himself; and by the time Nick, Betsy, Jim and Jane arrived with the raft the chief had succeeded in lighting his own fire and was in the highest of spirits.

This was more than could be said for anyone on the Vindemiatrix. Aminadabarlee was more than ever convinced that human beings were an ugly-tempered, uncooperative lot; and just now he had more than the usual reason for his opinion. Every human being in the ship was furious with the Drommian, taking their lead from Easy Rich. A night's sleep had not restored her usual sunny temper; she was indignant at the alien's insults of the evening before, and not only refused to explain to Aminadabarlee her justification for saying she would escape within a Tenebran day, but would say nothing more about it to anyone for fear he would hear. It was a childish reaction, of course; but then, Easy was a child, for all her adult speech and mannerisms. Her father had been asked to persuade her to talk; he had stared at her imaged face in the screen for a moment, but no word was spoken. Something must have passed between them, though, for after a moment he turned away and said, "Please have Mr. Sakiiro get the shuttle ready to meet the bathyscaphe. I understand it takes some time to install and adjust outside boosters." He promptly left the room, ignoring the questions hurled at him, and disappeared into his own quarters.

"What do we do?" The question was not in the least rhetorical; the geophysicist who put it was a close friend of the Rich family.

"What he says, I should think," answered another scientist. "Rich seems to be sure the kid knows what she's talking about."

"I know he's sure; but does she? He's her father; she's all the family he's had for ten years, and he's done a 178