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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 competition 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
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
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
CACHALOT 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 glass sands, making of them an echo of the
distant Milky Way. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]