HE NEVER GOT TO PUT UP MUCH OF A FIGHT.
How could he, with all his weapons sabotaged from the start? Besides, Kaa wasn’t sure he could bring himself to harm one of his own kind.
Clearly, the assailants who attacked the dome had fewer scruples.
The ruined habitat lay far below, its pieces strewn across the continental shelf. Along with Peepoe and Brookida, Kaa barely dodged being pinned by the collapsing walls, escaping the maelstrom of metal and froth only to face the gun barrels of well-armed captors. Herded to the surface, he and the others panted in nervous exhaustion under the waning afternoon sun.
In contrast, Mopol’s sleek form rested almost languidly atop the speed sled that Peepoe had brought from Streaker’s hiding place, governing the engines and armaments with impulses sent down his neural tap. Swimming nearby — wearing a fully charged tool harness — Zhaki explained the situation.
“It’s like this, p-pilot-t.…” He slurred the words in his eagerness. “The three of you are gonna do what we sssay, or else.”
Kaa tossed his head, using his lower jaw to splash water at Zhaki’s eye.
Mopol hissed angrily, but Peepoe laughed at Zhaki’s predicament. To continue his menacing speech now would be an act of obedience to Kaa’s command. It was a minor matter — not exactly a logical checkmate. But Kaa felt it valuable to recover even a little initiative.
“We …” Zhaki blew air and tried again. “Mopol and I are resigning from the Streaker crew. We’re not going back-k, and you can’t make us.”
So that’s what it’s about, Kaa thought.
“Desertion!” Brookida sputtered indignantly. “Letting your crew mates down when they need you mossst!”
Mopol let out a skirl of rejection.
“Our legal term of ssservice ended almossst two years ago.”
“Right-t,” Zhaki agreed. “Anyway, we never signed on for this insanity … fleeing like wounded mullet across the galaxies.”
“You plan to go sooner,” Peepoe fluted, her voice bemused. “Living wild, in this sea.”
Mopol nodded. “Some were already talkin’ about it, before we left-t the ship. This world’s a paradise for our kind. The whole crew oughta do it!”
“But even if they don’t-t,” Zhaki added, “we’re gonna.”
Then he added a haiku for emphasis.
Kaa realized there was nothing he could do to change their minds. The sea would answer his best arguments with its fine mineral smoothness and the enticing echoes of tasty fish. In time, the deserters would come to miss the comforts of civilized life, or grow bored, or realize there are dangers even on a world without big predators. The water had a faint, prescient choppiness, and Kaa wondered if either of the rebel fins had ever been outside during a truly vicious storm.
But then, hadn’t other waves of settlers faced the same choice? The g’Keks, qheuens, and even human beings?
“The Jophur may make it hard on you,” he told them.
“We’ll take our chancess.”
“And if you’re caught by the Institutes?” Brookida asked. “Your presence here would be a crime, reflecting badly on—”
Mopol and Zhaki laughed. Even Kaa found that argument easy to dismiss. Humans and chimps were already on Jijo. If Earthclan suffered collective punishment for that crime, a few dolphins living offshore could hardly make things worse.
“So, what do you plan to do with us?” Kaa asked.
“Why, nothing much-ch. You and Brookida are free to swim back to your precious Gillian Basssskin, if you like.”
“That could take a week!” Brookida complained. But Kaa struggled against involuntary spasms in his harness arms, set off by Zhaki’s implication. Before he could unstrangle his speech centers, Peepoe expressed his dread.
“Jussst Kaa and Brookida? You’re insisting that I stay?”
Mopol chittered assent with such glee that it came out sounding more like gutter Primal Delphin than Trinary.
“That’s the p-plan,” Zhaki confirmed. “We’d make a poor excuse for a c-colony without at least one female.”
Kaa abruptly saw their long-term scheme. Mopol’s spell of malingering sickness had been meant to draw one of Makanee’s nurses out here from the ship. Most were young females, with Peepoe the best catch of all.
“Will you add kidnap-ping to the crime of desertion?” she asked, sounding as fascinated as fearful.
Kaa’s blood surged hot as Zhaki flipped around to streak past Peepoe, gliding along her belly, upside down.
“You won’t call it that-t after a while,” Zhaki promised, leaving a trail of bubbles as he rolled suggestively. “In time, you’ll c-call this your luckiessst day.”
At that point, Kaa reached the limit of his endurance. With a lashing of flukes, he charged—
• • •
There was a blank time after that … and some more that went by all in a haze — half-numb and half- pained.
Drifting, Kaa was sustained by instinct as his body performed the needed motions. Staying upright. Kicking to bring his blowhole above the watery surface. Breathing. Submerging once again. Allowing his unraveled self to knit slowly back together.
“C-come on now, my boy,” the helper told him. “It’sss only a bit farther.”
Dutifully, Kaa swam alongside, doing as he was told. You learned this at an early age … when injured, always obey the helper. It might be your mother, or an auntie, or even some older male in the pod. Someone always was the helper … or else the sea would claim you.
In time, he recalled this helper’s name—Brookida. He also began recognizing the peculiar lap and texture of littoral water, not far from shore. Kaa even recalled part of what put him in this condition … a state so dazed that all speech thoughts were driven from his mind.
There had been a fight. He had charged against harsh odds, hoping to take his enemies by surprise … by the sheer audacity of the attack.
It took just one blast of concentrated sound to knock him in a double flip, with tremors shaking every muscle. Paralyzed, he distantly sensed the two male foes move off … taking his love with them.
“You feeling better now?” Brookida asked. The older dolphin cast a sonar sweep through Kaa’s innards, checking on his progress. Some mental clouds were parting. Enough to recall a few more facts. The shattered habitat — not worth revisiting. The hopelessness of pursuing a speed sled, even one burdened with three passengers, since night was soon approaching.
Both arms of his harness twitched as his rattled brain sent spasmodic commands down the neural link. Kaa managed to lift his head a bit, the next time he breathed, and recognized the shape of nearby coastal hills. Brookida was herding him closer to the native fishing town.
“Mopol and Zhaki wrecked the cables and transmittersss, back at the dome. But-t I figure we can find the lines leading to the spy drones in Wuphon Port, tap into those, and contact the ship-p.”
Some order was slipping into Kaa’s chaotic thoughts. Enough to comprehend a bit of what the old fin said. This return of sapiency left him with mixed feelings — relieved that the loss was not permanent, plus regretful
