[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
transparent armor. "To thhis placce has comme a sadness," the killer whale moaned. "Inn the waterr lingers still the effluvia of deathhh." "Don't believe a word she says." Page 62 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Cora looked around, saw the graceful bulk of Mataroreva moving up to join them. "Latehoht revels in the rhythms of languid depression." "I doo notttt!" the orca whistled indignantly. "Thhe smmell iss herre. It does too linnger." She left Cora, twisted to charge Sam. At the last second he ducked below her rush. She swatted at him with her tail, but he anticipated the swing and clutched tight to one fluke. He hung on for several seconds until she flipped free, came up and around to bump him in the belly. Cora heard him grunt. Kicking around, he snatched at her dorsal fin. There followed several minutes of violent chore- ography as she half tried to buck him off, but he was not as easy to shake from her back as he had been from her tail. "Pilay theyy well together, well annd frreeee." "Yes, they do." Cora managed not to jump this time, although Wenkoseemansa's approach had been stealthy. "Hawe I enjoyed to thhink, in momments of quiet contemmplation, in timmes of idle speculation, thhat the humman Sammm would hawe made a passable cetacean." "Certainly," she admitted, unsure of how to inter- pret the orca's observation, "he's built more like you than like most of us." "Iss he? You mmust underrstandd, and carreful I amm not to sayy thhis with derrogatorry intent, thhat you hummans arre so smmall thhat to us any phhysi- cal differrences of sizze orr shhape arre so superrfi- cial as to makke us strrain to notice them." "Yet for all our smaller size, we have a greater va- riety of features." Wenkoseemansa considered. "Thhat only adds to ourr confusionnnn." She looked back through the clear water, trying hard to ignore the wondrous diversity of alien pisca- torial life swarming about her in order to concentrate on the problem at hand. Where were Rachael and Merced? Had they sneaked off somewhere? "Rachael!" "Over here, Mother!" She turned a circle. "Where?" "I esppy thhemmmm." Wenkoseemansa swung his seemingly weightless mass around, presented a black and white wall to her gaze. It occurred to her that he was offering her a ride. "Theyy are a modest distance, byy your standards. I will convey you to yourr offspring." She hesitated only a second before locking her gloved palms over the front of the towering dorsal fin. Then the water was rushing past her so fast it put pressure on her suit. In an instant (or so it seemed) she had traveled several hundred meters through the clear water. Rachael was swimming alone beside a crystal cas- tle. It looked like an interlocked series of colored, spi- raled shells that rose to within two meters of the surface. Several smaller constructs, miniature versions of the larger, grew from the reef base farther down. "Isn't it grand. Mother?" "Isn't what grand? Yes, it's beautiful, but " 116 CACHALOT "I'm sorry. How could you know? Listen!" Rachael held a small metal sampling tool. She used it to tap one side of the growth. A distinct, mellifluous tone ran through the water. "It must be partially hollow." Yellow and blue stripes ran around the shell spirals, a collection of unicorn Page 63 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html horns. The shells were pale green to transparent. In the center of each shell pulsed crimson organs, sending colorless fluid throughout the individual organisms. "Okay, it's grand." Cora glanced around, relieved to find that Merced was nowhere in sight. She still couldn't keep herself from asking, "Where's Pucara?" "Off somewhere, investigating on his own. Think he follows me everywhere?" "Doesn't he?" Cora quickly added, "I'm sorry, that's none of my business." "That's right. Mother," Rachael agreed with dis- arming cheerfulness. "It's none of your business." She swam up a meter or so and tapped the spiral central cone where it tapered considerably. Again Cora heard the ringing, only an octave higher this time. "I'll bet several people working in unison could play these." So that was it. For just a moment, Cora had be- lieved her daughter's scientific interests had been stim- ulated by the cone creatures. "Must you always be thinking of music?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
W trosce o komfort korzystania z naszego serwisu chcemy dostarczać Ci coraz lepsze usługi. By móc to robić prosimy, abyś wyraził zgodę na dopasowanie treści marketingowych do Twoich zachowań w serwisie. Zgoda ta pozwoli nam częściowo finansować rozwój świadczonych usług.
Pamiętaj, że dbamy o Twoją prywatność. Nie zwiększamy zakresu naszych uprawnień bez Twojej zgody. Zadbamy również o bezpieczeństwo Twoich danych. Wyrażoną zgodę możesz cofnąć w każdej chwili.