decks where the human crew and passengers lived.
“It’s like being inside the ocean!” she exclaimed.
Corvus nodded happily. “That’s right. It’s as self-contained an ocean environment as the best ecologists on Earth could produce in this limited volume.” He put the square aluminum case he’d been carrying down on the bare metal deck and rubbed his arms. “That bugger is heavy!”
A pair of dolphins slid past, sleek, gray, squeaking and clicking, their mouths turned up in a perpetual silly grin. They reminded Deirdre of Andy.
“Well,” Corvus said, “to work.” And he began to tug off his coveralls.
“You’re not going into the water with them?” Yeager asked, looking a trifle apprehensive.
“Just long enough to insert the transceiver into that youngster there.” He pointed at one of the smaller dolphins. It seemed to be eying Corvus as it swam past.
Once he’d peeled down to black skintight trunks, Corvus opened the big aluminum case and began pulling out a pair of swim fins, a breathing mask, and a cylinder of compressed air. Dorn stepped over and helped him strap the air tank onto his back.
“How do you get into the water?” Deirdre asked.
Pointing behind her, Andy explained, “Easy. Up the ladder to the top of the tank, over the edge up there, then
“You’ve done this before?” Yeager asked.
“Every day since we left lunar orbit, just to get acquainted with the dolphins.”
Deirdre was impressed with Andy’s agility as he scrambled up the metal ladder carrying his fins in one hand. He’d hung the palm-sized metal cylinder of his transceiver around his neck on a metal link chain.
“The water must be cold,” she said to Dorn, standing beside her. Yeager had moved slightly away; he was staring into the tank, watching the fish swimming tirelessly past.
Corvus pulled on his breathing mask and slipped into the water with barely a ripple. One of the dolphins swam up toward him with a barrage of clicks and whistles. Andy jackknifed and dived down toward the smallest of the dolphins. It circled him twice, chattering madly, then dashed away. Two of the bigger dolphins glided alongside Andy, one on either side. The little dolphin obviously wanted to play, but after several minutes of gyrations, the dolphin finally eased into a steady glide and allowed Corvus to slide one arm along its back.
They swam together for several minutes. Deirdre saw that, baby or not, the little dolphin was slightly longer than Andy’s lanky form, swim fins and all. The adults dwarfed him.
At last he was able to insert his transceiver into a slot that had been surgically implanted in the young dolphin’s skull. The two larger dolphins hovered around the youngster, chattering off a rapid-fire clatter of clicks. That’s their language, Deirdre said to herself.
After a few more minutes, Andy kicked up to the surface and climbed out of the tank. Dripping wet, he came down the ladder to join them on the deck.
Dorn pulled a big white terry cloth towel out of the capacious aluminum case and draped it over Andy’s shoulders as soon as he slipped his air tank off. Deirdre couldn’t help wondering if the puddles Andy was dripping onto the deck might be slippery.
Yeager, looking even more ill at ease, had the same thought. “These puddles could be dangerous,” he half growled.
“There’s a mini vac in here someplace,” Corvus said, ducking his head into the case. He pulled the vacuum out and offered it to Yeager. “Here.”
Yeager looked astonished, then almost angry. But he took the tool and sucked up the puddles without complaint. Deirdre was surprised at how loud the machine was; its buzzing noise seemed to echo off the walls of the tank.
Corvus didn’t notice the noise at all. He was busy pulling a gray electronics box out of his carrying case. To Deirdre it looked almost like an old-fashioned notebook computer, perhaps slightly bigger. Sitting it on the lid of the big aluminum case, Corvus opened up the device, turned it on, nodded when its screen brightened.
Then he pulled out a slim metallic circular band that glittered with optronic chips, lifted it in both hands like a royal crown, and settled it onto his matted, still-wet hair.
“Okay,” he said, looking up at Deirdre and the others. “Now we see if it works.”
Corvus seemed to go into a trance. His eyes half closed, his slightly uneven face relaxed into a sleeplike softness as he crouched on his knees by the electronics box. Like a sleepwalker he turned to the curving wall of the aquarium, then pressed his fingertips against the glassteel.
Dorn was watching him intently. Yeager looked edgy. Deirdre stood over Corvus, not knowing what to do, or if she should even try to do anything. Unbidden, the memory of her visit to Dr. Pohan came back into the forefront of her mind. Rabies, she thought. If he can’t synthesize the antidote I could die.
The baby dolphin glided up to Corvus, squeaking and chattering, its two parents hovering not far off. Corvus turned sluggishly and rested his back against the curving glassteel wall of the tank. His chin drooped to his chest, his eyes closed completely. But his fingers twitched slightly.
“Is he all right?” Deirdre wondered.
“He seems to be breathing normally,” said Dorn.
For several nerve-stretching minutes they watched Corvus. Nothing happened. The baby dolphin hovered near Andy, but silently now. The two adults swam smoothly, their powerful tails rhythmically surging up and down. The fish scurried around and around the circular tank endlessly. The adult dolphins had gone quiet, too, Deirdre noticed.
She looked from Corvus’s semicomatose figure up to the circling fish and the silent dolphins, then back to Andy again. “Should we do something?”
“Do what?” Dorn asked.
Yeager gave a disgusted snort. “This is like watching paint dry.” He turned and punched the elevator button.
“You’re leaving?” Deirdre asked.
“I’ve got better things to do with my time than watch him—”
Corvus stirred. His entire body seemed to spasm once, then his eyes opened and he smiled lazily. “Made it,” he said. “How long was I out?”
Reaching down to help Corvus to his feet, Dorn replied, “We didn’t time you.”
“That’s okay,” Corvus said easily as he lifted the circlet off his head. “It’s all in the computer log.”
“You were in contact with the dolphins?” Deirdre asked.
“Sort of,” he said. “It wasn’t really all that good. I couldn’t get much out of her.”
“The little one?”
“Yeah. Baby.” He pointed as the trio of dolphins glided past them, chattering again. “She’s got the transceiver in her skull.” Brightening, he said, “Well, it wasn’t bad for a first try.”
The elevator doors slid open and Yeager stepped into the cab.
“Hey Max!” Corvus called. “Don’t you want to try it?”
“Hell no!” Yeager snapped as the doors slid shut.
“He’s scared,” Corvus said, as if it surprised him.
Dorn shook his head. “Merely cautious. He’s an engineer, after all. He doesn’t plunge into a new experience without checking all the possibilities first.”
Corvus nodded, but he still looked disappointed.
“How about you, then?” he asked Dorn.
METAMORPHOSIS
“Me?” Dorn seemed shaken by Andy’s question.
Corvus nodded hard enough to make a lock of his wetly matted strawberry hair flop over his forehead. “See if you can make contact with them,” he said.
Dorn looked up at the dolphins swimming past, then back at Corvus again. “I don’t know…”
