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nil. Today's ceremony obeyed tradition. The main drive was running
at high thrust; the hum of it was everywhere; yet there was almost
no acceleration.
Pastempeh-keph sensed the immense mass against which
Message Bearer was pushing. Message Bearer was even now
issuing its final direction to the nickel-and-iron residue of an icy
moonlet. She must break loose within a 512-breath, or ride the
Foot down to Winterhorne. Had a lessor personage led these rites
they might have been postponed until after the maneuvers; but
after they separated from the Foot, there would never again be
time. Fathisteh-tulk deserved all honors. And even if he did not, I
could not seem niggardly in granting honor to a former
Herdmaster!
Chowpeentulk watched through glass as Fathisteh-tulk came
rest in the moving earth. Her digits wrapped the child and held it to
her throat to suckle. He was male, eight days old. Under light
thrust he would already have walked. In nearly free-fall he drifted
with waving legs. He seemed to enjoy it.
"My mate was murdered," Chowpeentulk said. "Who?"
"I face too many answers," Pastempeh-keph said. "Your mate
was never careful of whom he might offend."
She trumpeted wildly. The child, startled, flung its stubby
digits across its head and tried to burrow between Chowpeentulk's
legs. In the minuscule thrust its efforts lifted her from the floor. It
was strong for a newborn.
The loss of dignity slowed her not at all. "This crime was
committed against the whole of the Traveler Fithp!" she bellowed.
"Sleepers and spaceborn, how can we hold together unless the
murderers face judgment?"
The Herdmaster let silence follow, letting Chowpeentulk see
how the others, the fithp and the little clump of humans, stared at
her. Then, "We will solve this. You know that I like puzzles. Do you
also know that I must fight a war?" He looked into the funeral pit.
"Farewell, Fathisteh-tulk. You have too much company."
He joined Takpusseh as they were leaving. "Fathisteh-tulk had
always the virtue of asking interesting questions," he said. "Now I
must find my own."
"You will have an Advisor," said Takpusseh.
"Bah. Siplisteph will have to be trained. Breaker-Two, did
Fathisteh-tulk ask you interesting questions?"
Takpusseh snorted. "I did not find them so. He wanted to
interview the humans in privacy."
"Why?"
"He would not say. The humans are not his thuktun. I told him
that I myself would translate, and that I would inform you of all that
transpired. He declined. He said that he would simply wait for me to
do my job."
"Very proper," said Pastempeh-keph. "Did he propose
questions for you to ask?"
"He did not."
A pity. "Will you be on the bridge during Footfall?"
"No. To think of humans as enemy or prey would ruin my
empathy with them. . . such as it is."
Tashayamp left them at the cell door. "You will stay in place. Be
prepared to cling to the walls. First that wall, but change walls when
you are warned. The direction of pull will change often. Before each
change you will hear this." She trumpeted, then spoke in a breathy
trombone chant. "You understand? Good."
They went to the bulkhead. Jeri dug her nails into the rug.
"It is indelicate," Arvid said. "But they gave no indication of
time. It would be well to use the facilities while we are able."
"Good thinking," Dawson said. "Ladies first."
Nobody else wanted to be first, so Jeri went. It wasn't so bad
now that Arvid and Nikolai had rigged a blanket to enclose the
shallow pool.
Jeri went back to the wall. "Melissa, I want you here."
"If you do not object, I will stay with you also," Arvid said.
"Thank you."
"What did you think of their funeral rites?" Arvid asked.
"My anthropology teacher said funeral rites were the most
important clues to a tribal culture," Jeri said. "But I think that was
because she was an archaeologist, and graves are about the only
things they can find with anything important in them."
"The Predecessors must like bad smells," Melissa said.
"Because that place stank."
Gary giggled agreement. Jen said, "There, that's what I meant.
There's nothing arbitrary aboard a spaceship. They don't have to
put up with that smell. They want it. It must be part of the funeral,
the sense that the dear departed is turning into fertilizer, then
plants, then ..."
Arvid said, "You understood more of his speech than I."
"I got some of it too," Wes Dawson said. "The long speech by
the priest. He talked about Fathisteh-tulk 'coming back to Traveler
Fithp.' I wondered if he meant in person."
"Do you think they believe in that?" Jen asked.
"Dunno," Dawson said. "The body recirculates. Maybe they
think the soul does too."
"I think not," Arvid said. "Else why would they make no
mention of the newborn one?"
"The Predecessors are always with us," he said. "How could
that other species join the Traveler Fithp? Their bodies recirculate
and there are the thuktunthp, but--"
"Of course they do not believe bourgeois myths of gods
immortality," Dmitri said. "There is much to admire in these fi'. They
work together, and if need be they give their lives for herd."
John Woodward sniffed loudly and turned away.
"That one didn't," Alice said. "The widow said he was
murdered, and the Bull Elephant wasn't happy about it, either."
"An interesting mystery," Arvid said. "Who might have killed
him?"
"We'll never know," Dawson said.
"Why do you say that?" Dmitri demanded. "The Leader told
the widow that he would find the murderer. He has great resources.
Why would he fail?"
"Why would he tell us? If he did, would we know the name?
Hey, I read mysteries too, but I expect to know the names of
suspects!"
"The Bull isn't a detective," Jen said. "He has too much else to
do. And -- people, I'm kind of scared. All this violent maneuvering,
they're going to do something special, but what?"
"I am very much afraid we all know," Arvid Rogachev said.
Jeri took a fresh grip on the wall carpeting.
"Major! Major, wake up!"
Jenny sat bolt upright. "Yes, Sergeant?"
"Message from Australia, ma'am. They've seen it!"
Oh my God. She strained to open her eyes and peered
through sleep at her watch. Five A.M.
"Comin' fast, about an hour to impact," Sergeant Ferguson
said.
"The Admiral--"
"Mailey already woke him up. 'Scuse me, ma'am, I got to get
the others."
The Threat Team had split into two groups around the
coffeepot and the large globe. Ransom and Curtis already had
coffee, and were tracing paths on the globe.
"Water. I was sure of it," Ransom said.
"Sure," Curtis muttered. "Why at bloody dawn?"
"Why water?" a naval officer asked.
Ransom didn't look up from the globe. "Lieutenant, a
meteorite that size actually does more damage if it hits water. It'll
rip through the water and the ocean floor into the magma. The
energies don't go back to space; the water absorbs them, and you
get even more heat from the exposed magma. It all goes into
boiling the ocean. We think a quarter of a billion tons of seawater
may vaporize. Salt rains all over the world ..."
Jenny shuddered. "How many people will it kill?"
"Lots," Curtis said. "Look." He traced a path northward from
the Indian Ocean. "Bays. They funnel the tsunamis, let them build
even higher before they break. Calcutta, Bombay, the Rann of
Kutch -- all gone. Persian Gulf, same thing. East Africa--"
"We have to warn them!"
"I'm sure the Aussies have done that," Ransom said.
"It does not matter." Admiral Carrell's voice was even.
Jenny reflexively straightened to attention. "Sir?"
"We have no reliable communications with East Africa. I believe
that Mr. Ransom is correct and that the Australians have sent a
warning, but if not--"
"They'll know soon enough," Curtis said. "What about ships?
Subs? We still have communications with the submarine fleet, don't
we?"
"In fact, yes," Carrell said. "Our long-wave devices still
function. I have already given the appropriate orders."
Reynolds came over with coffee. Curtis pointed to a spot on
the globe. Reynolds bent to examine it. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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