Leviathans of Jupiter

Leviathan’s sensor parts saw the lights flashing back and forth among the Elders, deep in the core of the Kin’s spherical formation. None of its nearby companions lit up; whatever the Elders were discussing was not being transmitted to the others of the Kin.

The darters were still out there, trailing the Kin at a long distance, just barely within sensor range. They wouldn’t attack the entire family of us, Leviathan thought. We could crush them if they tried to.

But hunger is a powerful force. Leviathan felt it gnawing at its own parts. If the Elders don’t lead us to a new stream of food soon, Leviathan knew, members of the Kin will begin to dissociate, unable to control their starving parts. And once that begins the darters will swoop in and feast.

A message was flashing from one member of the Kin to another, making its way outward from the Elders toward the edge of their formation. When at last Leviathan saw the message glaring from the flank of its nearest fellow, it felt stunned.

The Eldest had decided to leave the group and go off alone to dissociate. Suicide, Leviathan knew. The darters would swarm all over it as soon as it separated itself from the Kin. But the Eldest was firm in its decision. It was willing to sacrifice itself so that the Kin could get away from the darters; willing to allow the predators to devour its parts while the rest of the Kin fled to safety.

Nothing like this had ever happened within Leviathan’s memory. Leviathan protested, flashing a message urging the Elders to turn on the darters and drive them away. We are much stronger than they! Leviathan signaled. We can fight them without sacrificing any of our members.

But the Eldest signaled back, No. Better that one dies and the rest of the Kin survive. There must be new currents of food nearby. Find them while the darters are busy feasting. Grow strong and have many buddings.

Leviathan felt helpless in the face of the Eldest’s decision. Suddenly its sensor parts shrilled an alarm. An alien! Leviathan’s brain recognized what the sensors had detected. One of the strange, cold alien creatures was approaching the Kin. But this one was much larger than any of the previous aliens. Almost as big as a full-grown darter.

Leviathan flashed the information inward toward the Elders. Quickly their reply came back: Ignore the alien. It cannot help us or change what must be.

But Leviathan wondered, Is the alien helping the darters? Is the alien the reason why the food stream disappeared and the darters have grown so bold?

III PREPARATIONS

If everything is under control, you are going too slow.

—Mario Andretti

IMMERSION CENTER

Deirdre had never swum before. Living in the Chrysalis II habitat, the nearest thing to a swimming pool had been an ancient bathtub that her father had imported at tremendous cost from London. The nearest lake or seashore was some three hundred million kilometers away, on Earth.

Even when she made contact with the dolphins she stayed out of the water, under Andy Corvus’s encouraging direction. She experienced what Baby felt like swimming effortlessly through the big aquarium tank, but she had never gotten herself wet.

So she felt more than a little trepidation as she approached the immersion center, Andy at her side. Deirdre had searched station Gold’s storerooms for something to wear in the immersion tank and found a black maillot which, the logistics clerk assured her, was considered very fashionable swimwear back Earthside. It had been left at the station by a planetary physicist who had gotten herself pregnant and transferred back to Selene.

Wearing a white terry cloth robe over the one-piece swimsuit, Deirdre had gone with Andy down to the immersion center.

“Nervous?” he had asked her as they walked along the passageway.

“A little,” she admitted, shaving the truth considerably.

“I’ll have to go through this, too, you know.”

“I know.”

“But not today,” Corvus said. For once, Andy looked dead serious. As they walked down the passageway leading to the immersion center, his slightly uneven face was set in a tight expression of concern.

Deirdre said, “I watched some videos last night of people scuba diving back on Earth. It looked like fun.”

“It’s fun swimming with the dolphins,” he said, trying to sound brighter.

They reached the double-door entrance to the immersion center. Corvus reached for both handles and slid the doors open.

“Well, after you’re finished they want me to go in,” he said.

Deirdre smiled gently at him. I’ll be the test subject for you, she said to herself. After you see me get through it, then you’ll have the courage to do it yourself. But then she thought, If everything goes right. If there aren’t any problems.

Half a dozen people were waiting for them by the immersion tank. Deirdre saw what looked like a modest- sized swimming pool, glowing with light from below its surface that cast strange rippling shadows on the overhead.

But Dorn was nowhere in sight. The cyborg had promised Deirdre that he’d be present to lend her moral support. But he wasn’t there. Deirdre felt disappointed, almost betrayed.

A short, stocky, dark-skinned man in a crisp white laboratory coat came up to her and brusquely extended his hand to Deirdre.

“I am Dr. Vavuniva,” he said. “I am in charge here.”

“Deirdre Ambrose.”

“Yes. Of course.” Vavuniva looked cranky, impatient frown lines creasing his forehead. His dark eyes shifted toward Corvus. “And you?”

“Andy Corvus. I’m scheduled for a dunking this afternoon.”

“Dunking?” Vavuniva snapped. “This is not a frivolous matter, Dr. Corvus.”

“No,” Andy quickly agreed. “Of course not.”

A pretty young woman with a digital clipboard stepped between Deirdre and Dr. Vavuniva. Deirdre saw that she was wearing a colorful flowered dress beneath her white lab coat. She was no taller than Deirdre’s own shoulder, and there was a delicate little flower tattooed on her golden cheek.

“You have viewed the orientation video?” she asked, proffering the clipboard.

“Yes,” Deirdre said, nodding as she signed the form with the attached stylus.

The other technicians were all men, mostly young: Deirdre’s own age, she thought. One of them, a gangling blond youngster, seemed hardly out of his teens. He was staring openly at her. Deirdre smiled at him, and the youngster actually blushed.

Corvus stepped up and put himself between Deirdre and the technician, frowning at the kid. Oh Andy, Deirdre thought, none of the guys can get within ten meters of me without you or Dorn or Max shooing them away. She sighed inwardly. It’s good to have protectors, but still …

The young technician opened the gate in the railing that circled the pool. “This way, Ms. Ambrose,” he said.

The Polynesian woman handed her a belt of weights. “You’ll need this,” she said softly. “We’ve adjusted it