PART SIX

Scatter

64 ::: Creideiki/Sah'ot

Creideiki stared at the holo display and concentrated. It was easier to talk than to listen. He could call up the words one or two at a time, speak them slowly, shuttling them like pearls on a string.

"… neural link… repaired… by… Gillian and Makanee… but… but… speech… still… still…"

"Still gone," Sah'ot's image nodded. "You can use tools now, though?"

Creideiki concentrated on Sah'ot's simple question. You-can-use-… Each word was clear, its meaning obvious. But in a row they meant nothing. It was frustrating!

Sah'ot switched to Trinary.

* Tools to prod?

The balls

The starships -

* Is your jaw?

The player

The pilot — *

Creideiki nodded. That was much better, though even Trinary came to him like a foreign tongue, with difficulty.

* Spider walkers, walkers, walkers

* Holocomm talkers, talkers, talkers

Are my playthings, are — *

Creideiki averted his eyes. He knew there were elements of Primal in that simple phrase, in the repetition and high whistling. It was humiliating to still have an active, able mind, and know that to the outside world you sounded retarded.

At the same time, he wondered if Sah'ot noticed a trace of the language of his dreams — the voices of the old gods.

Listening to the captain, Sah'ot was relieved. Their first conversation had started off well, but toward the end Creideiki's attention had begun to wander, especially when Sah'ot had started running him through a battery of linguistic tests.

Now, after Makanee's last operation, he seemed much more attentive.

He decided to test Creideiki's listening ability by telling him about his discovery. He carefully and slowly explained in Trinary about the "singing" he had heard while linked to the robot in the drill-tree funnel.

Creideiki looked confused for a long moment as he concentrated on Sah'ot's slow, simplified explanation, then he seemed to understand. In fact, from his expression, it seemed he thought it the most natural thing in the world that a planet should sing.

"Link… link me… pl-please… I… I will… listen… listen…"

Sah'ot clapped his jaw in assent, pleased. Not that Creideiki, with his language centers burned, would be able to make out anything but static. It took all of Sah'ot's subtle training and experience to trace the refrain. Except for that one time, when the voices from below had shouted in apparent anger, the sounds had been almost amorphous.

He still shuddered, remembering that one episode of lucidity.

"Okay, Creideiki," he said as he made the connection. "Listen closely!"

Creideiki's eyes recessed in concentration as the static crackled and popped over the line.

65 ::: Gillian

"Triple damn! Well, we can't wait for her to get here to start the move. It might take Hikahi two days to circle around in the skiff: I want to have Streaker safely inside the Seahorse by then."

Suessi's simulacrum shrugged. "Well, you could leave her a note."

Gillian rubbed her eyes. "That's just what we'll do. We'll drop a monofilament relay link at Streaker's present position, so we can stay in touch with the party on the island. I'll stick a message to the relay telling her where we've gone."

"What about Toshio and Dennie?"

Gillian shrugged. "I'd hoped to send the skiff after them and Sah'ot… and maybe after Tom. But as things are, I'd better have Dennie and Sah'ot head toward your site by sled. I hate doing it. It's dangerous and I need Toshio there watching Takkata-Jim until just before we take off."

She didn't mention the other reason for wanting Toshio to stay as long as possible. They both knew that Tom Orley, if he flew the glider home, would return to the island. He ought to have someone waiting for him.

"Are we really going to abandon Metz and Takkata-Jim?" Suessi looked perplexed.

"And Charlie Dart, apparently. He stowed away on the longboat. Yes, it's their choice. They hope to make it home after the Galactics blow us to kingdom come. For all I know they may be right. Anyway, the final decision's Hikahi's, when she finally shows up and finds out she's in command."

Gillian shook her head. "Ifni sure seems to have gone out of her way to throw us curves, hasn't she, Hannes?"

The elderly engineer smiled. "Luck's always been fickle. That's why she's a lady."

"Hmmph!" But Gillian didn't have the energy to give him much of a dirty look. A light winked on the console next to the holo display.

"Here it is, Hannes. The engine room is ready. I've got to go, now. We're getting under way."

"Good luck, Gillian." Suessi held up an "O" sign, then broke the connection.

Gillian flicked a switch cutting into the comm line from Streaker to the island. "Sah'ot, this is Gillian. Sorry to break in, but would you please tell the captain we're about to move." It was a courtesy to let Creideiki know. Streaker had been his, once.

"Yesss, Gillian." There was a series of high, repetitious whistles in very Primal-like Trinary. Much of it crested over the upper range of even Gillian's gene-enhanced hearing.

"The captain wantss to go outside to watch," Sah'ot said. "He promises not to get in the way."

Gillian couldn't see any real reason to refuse. "All right. But tell him to check with Wattaceti first, to use a sled, and to be careful! We won't be able to spare anyone to go chasing him if he wanders off!"

There was another high series of whistles that Gillian could barely follow. Creideiki signaled that he understood.

"Oh, by the way Sah'ot," Gillian added. "Please ask Toshio to call me as soon as the longboat arrives."

"Yes!"

Gillian cut the connection and got up to dress. There were so many things to juggle simultaneously!

I wonder if I did the right thing, letting Charlie Dart sneak away, she thought. If he or Takkata-Jim behave in a way I don't expect, what'll I do?

A tiny light shone at the corner of her console. The Niss machine still wanted to talk to her. The light didn't flash urgent. Gillian decided to ignore it as she hurried out to supervise the move.

66 ::: Akki

With aching muscles, Akki swam slowly out of the notch in which he had rested until dawn.

He took several deep breaths and dove, scattering a school of brightly scaled fish-like creatures through shafts of morning light. Without thinking, he speared through the school and snapped up a large fish, relishing its frantic struggle between his jaws. But the metal taste was bitter. He flipped the creature away, spitting.

Red clouds spread a pink glow across the east as he surfaced again. Hunger growled in his compound stomachs. He wondered if the sound was loud enough to be picked up by his hunter.

It's unfair. When K'tha-Jon finds me, he, at least, will have something to eat!

Akki shook himself. What a bizarre thought! "You're falling apart, middie. K'tha-Jon is no cannibal. He's a… a…"

A what? Akki remembered the final stretch, yesterday at sunset, when he had somehow made it to the chain of metal-mounds just meters ahead of his pursuer. The chase amidst the tiny islands had been a confusion of bubbles and surf and hunting cries. For hours after he had finally found a hiding place, he listened to staccato bursts of sonar that proved K'tha-Jon had not gone far.