creatures, weird slim-snouted things with long thin flagella members that flapped slowly. And bulbous, many- colored things that seemed to hang motionless, hardly alive, with long sinuous tentacles dangling from their globular bodies.
Slowly, slowly, the pictures continued to change. The little round image of the alien rose above the strange creatures, through a smear of blurry colors, and then out into a darkness that was speckled with tiny points of white. As it rose, the blurred colors below it bent into a curve and the curve became another round thing, streaked with colors, while the alien itself became little more than a dot.
The alien went dark.
What does it mean? Leviathan asked.
It’s nonsense, replied one of the Elders. Senseless jibbering, the product of an unintelligent mind.
Perhaps not, signed the Eldest. Perhaps it is a different kind of mind, not unintelligent, but different.
But what does it mean? Leviathan repeated.
It is not of the Symmetry, signed the newest Elder, therefore it has no meaning. It has nothing to tell us. We should ignore it.
We can’t ignore it! Leviathan insisted. It is here. It exists.
It has no meaning, the Elder insisted.
It is not part of the Symmetry, signaled another. It will destroy the Symmetry if we pay any heed to it.
All the Elders went dark, fearful of the threat to the Symmetry. The alien bobbed on its tether, dark also.
Then Leviathan thought, What if the alien has come not to destroy the Symmetry, but to enlarge it?
“That’s the best I could do,” Deirdre said.
“Looked good to me,” Corvus replied. “You showed them where we come from, showed them they live in a planet. Showed them that we come from outside their world.”
His eyes still fixed on the control console’s screens, Dorn said slowly, “I wonder if they can grasp that idea. It must be entirely foreign to them.”
Yeager said, “Well, they’re going to see something else that’s entirely new to them when we pop the next data capsule.”
Dorn nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps it would be best if we disconnected the DBS probe before we fire the capsule.”
“Yeah,” Corvus agreed. “I wouldn’t want to be tethered to that beast if it gets scared and decides to dive deeper.”
Deirdre nodded, but she said, “I’d like to show them what we look like.”
“You can show me what you look like anytime,” Yeager said, breaking into his old leering grin.
“Time line calls for data capsule launch in eight minutes,” Dorn said.
“Disconnect us first,” said Corvus.
“Disconnecting.”
The alien has removed its arm from you, the Eldest pictured.
Leviathan flashed a soft orange sign of agreement. It had hardly felt the alien’s attachment to its hide. The disengagement was even less noticeable. Leviathan saw that the alien remained in the midst of the Elders as its arm slowly withdrew into its spherical body. It is not trying to flee from us, it thought.
New pictures began to glow on the alien’s hide. Leviathan’s sensor parts focused on them while its brain tried to understand what the alien was showing.
First it showed the circle that Leviathan thought represented the alien itself. Then the circle grew larger and shapes took form inside it. Four strange shapes, elongated, with things like tentacles extending from their bodies. But they looked too thick and short to be tentacles. And there was a rounded knob at one end of each body.
What are they depicting? the Eldest asked.
None of the Elders replied; they were all studying the strange images.
Leviathan guessed, Those could be members of the alien’s body, like our own inner organ members.
But they seem to move about inside its body, one of the Elders pointed out.
Strange.
It is alien, Leviathan pictured. Of course it is strange.
The images inside the picture of the alien faded away. For maddeningly long moments the alien showed nothing but the circle representing its own body.
Has it nothing more to tell us? the Eldest asked.
The newest Elder signed, It’s not intelligent enough to show us anything meaningful.
Suddenly the alien’s imagery showed a tubular object leaving its body and speeding upward, toward the cold abyss above.
Leviathan immediately understood. It is telling us that it will dissociate!
The Eldest flared in blue distaste, Dissociate? Here, amongst us?
Revolting, flashed another of the Elders.
Obviously, signaled the Elder next to it, the alien is of a low mentality. Its ways are crude and disgusting.
It is
It is feeble-minded, signed the newest Elder. Slow and feeble-minded.
Leviathan countered, Then how is it that the alien has come into our realm? How could it be feeble-minded if it left its own region in the cold abyss above and came down here to find us?
DECISIONS
“Capsule launch in one minute,” Dorn called out.
Yeager said, “Better hang on tight. If those beasties out there start thrashing around we’re gonna get battered but good.”
“We’ve told them we’re going to launch the capsule,” Corvus said. “They won’t be frightened.”
“You hope,” Yeager snapped, as he wormed his feet firmly into the deck loops and wedged both hands against the overhead.
Deirdre reached for the handholds on her console, noting that Andy and Dorn were doing the same. Her arms felt heavy, weary; every movement she made caused the pain in her chest to flare hotly.
Dorn flexed his prosthetic hand slowly as he said, “Our life-support readouts are nearly touching the redlines. We’ll have to cut our mission short.”
“No,” Corvus snapped immediately. Even in the sound-deepening perfluorocarbon his voice was a high- pitched yelp. “We’re communicating with the leviathans! We’re
“Do we want to die down here?” Yeager growled.
“We haven’t hit any redlines yet, have we?” Deirdre asked. “Can’t we stay until we actually reach the limits?”
Dorn seemed to take a deep breath, then replied, “Capsule launch in thirty seconds.”
Leviathan watched the alien begin dissociating, but it was unlike any dissociation it had ever known or heard of. A solid chunk of the alien shot out of its body like a miniature darter, heading straight up toward the cold abyss
