Journey Beyond the Sea - 7. Chapter 7

Jem dropped his hand and stepped back even further from the front of the tank holding the alien blob. "What's going on?" He held up his hand and looked at his palm, but it looked just the same as it always did.

His eyes went from Nita to Deera to Nico. All three stared at him questioningly, and that only made things even more unsettling. What the devil had just happened?

Nico was the first to break the spell. He blinked, and a look of concern came over his features. He stepped closer, and put a hand on Jem's arm and gave it a small squeeze. Then he turned to face Nita, his shoulder pressed comfortingly against Jem's.

"Yes. What happened?"

Nita frowned, looked at the creature in the cage, and then back at Jem. "I'm not sure. The blob went silent the moment you touched the tank. But only when you touched it, Jem." She watched him a moment, but then smiled. "Don't look so worried. This is fascinating, but I'm sure it has an explanation." Her frown returned, and she looked at the alien blob again. It had resumed its strange sounds, apparently oblivious to the humans standing outside the tank. Nita cocked her head, as if listening to the song; and then she suddenly smiled. "Maybe...I have an idea. Jem, will you help me?"

Jem took a deep breath, and nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

Deera had her pad out, and turned the volume down a bit more on the speakers, making it easier to talk. Nita came over and took Jem by the arm, and led him back to the tank. "We'll just experiment a little, okay?"

Jem nodded, but felt less than confident in what might come next. What was happening? Why had the blob stopped singing when he had touched the front of the tank? And why only when he touched it, and not the others?

Nita smiled at him again. "You look spooked, Jem, but that's okay. I may have an idea about what might have happened, so relax."

Jem nodded. "What do you want me to do?"

"Lay your hand back on the face of the tank."

Jem raised his hand, spread his fingers, and laid it back on the transparent face of the tank. Again, the blob's song stopped as if turned off by a switch.

"Now...lift your right foot," Nita instructed.

Jem did as he was told. Immediately, the blob's song resumed. Jem just stared at the creature, surprised all over again.

Nita grinned, tossed her head back, and laughed. "Aha!" She reached out and took Jem's other arm, and pulled him away from the tank. "I think I know what happened."

Jem huffed. "Well, can you tell me?"

The biologist nodded. "Sound, Jem. And, specifically, resonant sound."

Jem looked at Nico, who simply shrugged. "You got me."

Nita stepped forward and patted the front of the tank. "This is a big box, filled with water. The blob is emitting sounds at a host of different frequencies inside this box, which is causing the water and the tank itself to resonate. This resonance occurs at a specific frequency, which may or may not be within the range of human hearing, and may or may not be within the range of blob hearing."

She laid her hand flat on the front of the tank. The blob kept right on with its song. "When I lay my hand against the tank, I minutely affect the resonance of the entire box. The change is small, but it does not take much to alter the resonant frequencies. The human body is a resonator, too. We have lungs filled with gas, and our abdominal regions contain a variety of spaces filled with solids, liquids, and gas. I am also standing on the deck, which minutely affects the resonant qualities of my body through the process of dampening. The more area of the deck I contact, the larger the affect I have on the resonance of the tank."

She nodded to herself. "At the same time, touching the tank minutely affects resonant frequencies within my body. When I touch the tank, or Deera or Nico touch the tank, the resultant changes in overall resonance do not produce the exact frequency, or set of frequencies, that the blob will react to. But when you touch the tank, in concert with having both feet upon the deck, the conditions are apparently just so to produce something the blob likes. Or dislikes."

Jem blew a breath out between his lips. "Oh. So when I lift my one foot off the deck, it's changing the resonant frequency again, to one the blob doesn't react to?"

"Exactly. It apparently has to be spot-on to get its attention."

Jem sighed, and then smiled. "And I thought it might be something complicated."

The others laughed.

Nico reached out and poked Jem's arm. "Thought you were haunted, huh?"

"I didn't know what to think!" Jem shrugged at Nita. "So this is just some harmless effect of sound?"

"Oh, no." The biologist shook her head. "This might be important. These creatures use and react to a variety of sounds as a major component of their interface with the world. What I want to do now is get a readout on the frequencies being produced within the tank when the blob sings, and how they are altered when you touch the face plate. If we can locate a certain frequency or set of frequencies that cause the blob to go silent, we may have a method of interrupting their communications with their masters."

Jem felt his eyes widen. "Oh. You mean, like a weapon?"

The girl looked slightly uncomfortable with that definition. "If so, it would be a defensive weapon. If we can isolate the sounds that cause the blob to go silent, we could broadcast that sound from the hull transducers. At the very least it would keep them from reattaching anything more to the hull."

Jem felt a sense of relief. For a moment he had had the strangest feeling that there was more going on. He looked at the blob again, and shook his head. "Did you take a DNA sample from that thing yet? Is it like the riders?"

Deera nodded. "Yes. The DNA of this creature is, in fact, related to that of the riders. The base pairs are identical. We're still analyzing the genome, which is a lot more complex than the rider's, but the basic relationship is clear."

"Same origins," Nita said. "Our visitors must have a pool they work from."

Jem's nerves were slightly on edge after what had happened. He felt a need to move. He paced down to the end of the tank, turned and walked back.

"Jem!" Nico pointed at the tank.

Jem turned and looked. But all he could see was the blob, still singing away. "What?" He turned to look back at his friend. "What happened?"

Nita had turned to look at Nico, too, and Deera came closer now and peered at him. "Did you see something?"

Nico stared at Jem a moment, and then pointed at the blob. "When Jem walked that way, and then came back, the blob...it followed his movements!"

All four of them turned to look at the alien.

"How do you mean?" Nita asked, coming to stand by Nico.

Nico licked his lips, and gave a little shake of his head. "I know I saw it! When Jem moved, that black circle on the front of the blob followed him. I mean, the whole blob turned...you know what I mean!"

Nita cast a quick, surprised glance at the alien, and then turned to Jem. "Would you mind repeating what you just did?"

Jem felt another tingle of dread run up his spine. Was there more to this than they'd thought? But he nodded, and carefully retraced his steps; but this time, he watched the blob as he moved. And Nico was right! As he walked slowly to the end of the tank and back, the blob turned with his stride, and the black circle on the front of its body remained aimed at Jem.

Jem stopped next to Nita. "Is this more of this resonance thing?'

The biologist scratched her head, looking puzzled. "You're not even close to the tank, Jem." She pointed across the large room to the large tables with the blocky legs. "Walk over there, and then come back."

Jem complied, walking slowly over to the big slabs. He noticed when he got there that each of the tables had a depressed center with a drain in it, and a sort of trough that ran all the way around the rim. This was where the big machines hanging from the overhead above sliced up the prepared orx carcasses, and created the cuts of meat that would be frozen and returned to Nocksic Bay. Jem immediately shut down further imaginings on the subject, not wishing to add mental pictures of butchery to everything else already going on.

He turned and headed back, noting that the others split their attention between watching him, and watching the alien blob within the tank.

Nita's gaze came back to him as he drew up beside her. "Nico's right. Our friend here seems aware of your movements, Jem." She shook her head. "I can't explain that just yet."

"Maybe it tuned into him, somehow, when he touched the tank," Nico suggested. He came over beside Jem and dropped a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a fond squeeze. "Maybe it senses his magnetic personality."

Nico was plainly offering his support, and Jem had to smile. "This would be the first time I've ever attracted an alien with it. It works better on humans."

Nico's eyes sparkled, and he nodded. "It certainly does."

"Something new at each step with these creatures," Deera said, eying Jem. "We've taken internal scans of our blobby friend, and it seems loaded with organs whose functions are a complete mystery."

"That's true," Nita agreed. "The blob has a larger brain than the riders, a four-lobed affair that has a host of ancillary organs associated with it. It's much more complex than anything I've seen before."

Jem looked at the blob with new respect. "So...is it an animal, or...what?"

Nita smiled. "If you're asking me if this is one of the invaders, I would have to say no. I don't know yet how much of its brain capacity is relegated to complex thought, but as you can see, it absolutely lacks any of the necessary appendages a tool-using intelligence would require. If the aliens came here in ships, those vehicles had to be the culmination of a long period of technological development, and that means tool-users of some kind."

Jem nodded. "So...what's next?"

"I know it's getting late, but I'm of a mind to conduct the sound test right now. I can't take the chance that what happened is a fluke, that some combination of the contents of your stomach or digestive tract might affect the results."

Jem grinned. "You mean, if I use the head, it might change my resonance?"

Deera rolled her eyes, and Nico laughed, but Nita simply nodded. ""Fraid so. Do you mind?"

"How long will it take?"

"No more than fifteen or twenty minutes, I would say. Less time to do the initial comparison, actually, but we'll want to run the test at least three times to avoid errors."

"We don't have anything planned," Nico said, smiling at Jem.

"No, we don't. Okay, I'm game." Jem sighed, rolled his shoulders to relax them, and nodded. "What would you like me to do?"

"Stand right where you are, for the moment." Nita pointed at Deera. "Can you help me?"

The two women went to the desk where Deera had been sitting earlier, and bent over the display there.

Nico walked around behind Jem, and just for a moment pressed against him. "I've got your back."

Jem grinned. "I can feel that much."

Nico laughed, and came around to face him. "You're not worried, are you?"

Jem considered that, and shook his head. "No. I mean, the whole experience was a little unsettling, but I'll get over it." He turned to look at the blob, which now somehow seemed to be looking back at Jem. "It's just strange to think I have any kind of a bond with something so...something like that."

Nico rubbed his chin, and nodded. "It's a little weird, I'll admit. But this whole thing has been weird, right from the start."

That was true. When Jem had decided to go to sea to learn more about the world, he had no idea that he would be exposed to so much that was new. So far, this journey had far exceeded anything he had ever imagined. And he had imagined quite a lot!.

Nita came back to them. "We're sampling the tank again now and comparing the results to earlier recordings, just to make certain nothing has changed in the frequencies that are present while the blob sings. It already looks like the sounds the creature makes vary across the spectrum. What we are hearing over the speaker excludes a great deal that falls above or below the human range of hearing."

"So once you have a record of that, I'm going to put my hand on the tank, and then you'll see what's changed?"

"Yes. That's about it."

"Tough job, but I know you can do it," Nico said, smiling.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Jem returned drily.

The sounds the alien blob had been making had already been recorded for some time now. They varied in regularity in frequency, but there was a pattern, and once determining that they were the same pattern as recorded earlier, Nita selected a sample and put it up on the display above Deera's desk.

"Okay, Jem, we're ready for you. Just do like you did before."

Jem nodded, and walked to the face of the tank and laid his hand upon it. Again the alien sounds cut off in mid-stream. Nita and Deera watched the patterns on the secondary display, while the AI analyzed the comparison between the samples of sound from the tank.

After several minutes, Nita turned her head and looked over her shoulder at Jem. "Now lift your right foot again."

Jem did as instructed, and the blob immediately started up with its sounds. Nita turned back to the display, and Jem quickly began to feel slightly stupid standing there with one hand on the tank and one foot raised in the air. Nico grinned at him, but Jem could see the fondness there, behind the obvious humor. He smiled back, and made silent gestures with his eyes. Just you wait until later!

The other boy's grin widened, and his own eyes made signals right back. I can't wait!

Finally, Nita turned back to Jem again. She looked at him a moment, and then smiled herself, obviously appreciating the slightly ludicrous stance Jem had adopted. "Um...okay. You can disengage, Jem. Foot down, hand back."

Jem sighed and withdrew from the tank. Nico immediately moved closer, and bumped his shoulder against Jem's. "I was laughing with you, not at you."

Jem nodded. "Uh huh. I could see that."

Nico gave a little pout, and looked briefly over his shoulder at the women. They had both gone back to watching the display. Nico darted his head forward, and deposited a swift peck on Jem's cheek. "I'm really on your side," Nico whispered.

Jem knew that, and relaxed. Not caring if they were seen, he turned his head and leaned close to the other boy, and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Thanks."

The women started talking in low voices, and Jem turned again to look at the alien blob in its tank. It was fascinating the way the dark circle on the front of the creature vibrated, causing it to blur into a kind of misty unreality. Jem gave his head a little shake, just amazed that life could take so many different forms. He took a step forward, and then another, watching as the alien turned with him. It seemed to be a twisting motion of the body, as the base of the creature did not turn at all. Jem walked to the end of the tank, turned and went back to where he had started. The black disc followed his every move.

"That's eerie," Nico observed, when Jem had returned to stand beside him. But he gave Jem a gentle poke with his elbow, and laughed. "I think you've found a new friend."

Jem shook his head, staring at the blob. "Of all the things in this universe to form an attachment to me, it had to be something like this."

"Yeah. Just remember, I was here first."

It took a moment for that to sink in; and then Jem turned to the other boy and took a playful swat at him. Nico danced back, his eyes full of merriment. "I was just defending my place!"

Nita turned away from the display and came towards them. Jem tossed a last promising look at Nico, who grinned back at him; and then both boys turned to face the scientist.

"I think you can go now, if you want, Jem. I won't have a result right away. There are some very interesting things going on when you touch the tank. Some very subtle harmonizing of frequencies, some unexpected resonances, and --"

The girl broke off, staring between the boys, over their shoulders. Her eyes widened, and Jem and Nico immediately turned to follow her gaze.

Inside the tank, the alien blob was still happily singing away. It took Jem a moment to see that something had changed. But when he did, he felt the same sense of shock that Nita must be feeling.

The rounded top of the blob had become pointed, as if stretching upwards. It continued to stretch even as he watched, and suddenly a thin tube burst forth from the upper side of the beast, and began to elongate upwards, smoothly growing in length, until the end of it was lost from sight behind the upper frame of the transparent face.

"Is there a top on this tank?" Jem suddenly asked.

Nita made a startled sound. "Yes. We've already seen that this creature can move itself about. We didn't want it strolling about the ship, so we fabricated a cover to keep it inside the tank."

Jem stepped forward, and placed his face against the transparent face of the tank, peering upwards. "The water doesn't go all the way to the lid?"

"No," Deera said then, joining them. Jem had not seen her coming over from the desk; but obviously, she had heard what was going on. "There's about a meter of airspace at the top."

Jem stared at Nita. The first idea that had come to mind was an alarming one. "Could that be a...a snorkel?"

Nita also pressed her face against the transparency, and peered upwards. For a moment she said nothing; but then she pushed off the tank and turned away. "One way to find out. Come around back."

They followed the girl around the end of the tank to a door. She opened it, and they went through. The room beyond was well-lit, and the large cubes of the tanks were visible here. They proceeded to the rear of the end tank, and turned a corner. A stairway climbed the back of the tank at an angle, to a deck that ran around the upper edge. Nita took the steps two at a time, and Jem was right behind her. He could hear Nico and Deera bounding upwards behind him.

They reached the top, and spread out to look down into the tank through the transparent cover. Jem immediately spied the new tube that had extruded from the blob below. The end of it stood a good half meter above the surface of the seawater, and had spread itself into a small, trumpet-like shape.

Nita shook her head. "It could be a snorkel. If it is, it means our friend can breathe air as well as draw oxygen from the water." She looked surprised at her own statement, squeezed her eyes shut a moment, and then clapped herself on the side of the head. "Of course! When we first discovered this thing clinging to the side of the ship outside the storage cabin, it was above the waterline. It must be able to breathe atmosphere, as well as oxygenate from the sea." She shook her head. "I must be slipping."

"You still have a ways to go," Deera said, placatingly. "None of the rest of us thought of that, either."

Nita laughed. "Yeah, but I'm supposed to be trained at this stuff." She scratched one eyebrow, and shook her head. "This is a whole different game now." She pulled out her pad and entered several commands, and the display lit to reveal a previous internal scan of the blob. "One of the reasons I didn't think of it is that none of these mysterious organs obviously serves the function of a lung. And if you look closely, you will see that none of them are connected to anything that looks like a snorkel. There is nothing in the upper portion of this beast that even remotely resembles such a thing."

She entered several more commands, and the scan changed. The new tube was clearly outlined, and terminated on a dark oval deep inside the alien blob. "That wasn't there before."

"Then where did it come from?" Deera asked.

Nita shook her head. "The only thing I can suggest is that it grew it on demand."

No one said anything. Jem looked around, and saw expressions that ranged from wonder on Nico's face to apprehension on Deera's. Nita simply looked thoughtful, and maybe a little baffled.

"So it's able to breathe underwater, why would it shoot this snorkel up here?" Nico asked.

"Maybe it's trying to tell us something," Jem suggested. "Like, 'let me out of this tank!'"

Nita grunted. "You may be closer to the truth than you think. Our visitor may be looking for a way out of its cage. It 'sees' by echolocation, so it obviously knows it's currently confined within walls."

Jem nodded at that. It seemed apparent to him that the creature was exploring its new home, and that it had detected the airspace above the water surrounding it. It certainly would consider that direction an avenue for departing its current confinement, if that was what it had in mind.

He frowned. "What about all the noise it's making? Can that be heard through the hull of the ship?"

"Some of it, certainly," Deera answered first. "Ship sounds travel fairly far in water."

"Agreed." Nita nodded. "That the blob is still trying to talk to its own kind is something I've been worrying about since it came aboard. Another reason why this resonance study of the frequencies you're producing when you touch the tank may be important. We don't want this thing yelling for help for the rest of our journey."

Jem looked at the blob anew. Somehow, he had been considering the sounds the thing made as the equivalent of, 'Here they are! Come and get them!' That it might be a cry for help instead painted things in a different light. He sighed. "Aw. Maybe the poor thing is just homesick."

Nico smiled at him. "I would be, in its position."

"We just don't know anything," Nita ceded. "I'd love to be able to take a look at the inside of this thing. I mean, more than just scan it."

"You wouldn't!" Jem said, aghast. "You can't just kill it!"

Nita looked appalled. "Of course not. But if I was back in my lab I'd have access to much better equipment than we have here. The imaging devices aboard Vespris are designed simply to assist in the butchering of orx. They don't have the kind of resolution or analysis modules I need to really examine our new friend."

Jem shook his head. "You don't think it can get out of this tank, do you?"

Deera shook her head. "No. When we need to place an orx carcass inside for inspection, the entire tank rolls out into the next room, like a drawer. The crane places the carcass inside, and the drawer rolls back. It has to close so that the scanners can function. Then, some of my drones climb up the same way we just did, get into the water, and assist with the inspection." She extended a foot and gently tapped the new transparent cover. "But the tank is sealed now, with this top on it. Our guest has no choice but to stay inside his room."

"The water is heavily oxygenated and continually circulated," Nita added. "Enough so that our friend doesn't need to move much in order for its exchange mechanism to function. It's sea water, too, so should have the same dissolved nutrients, if any. I have no idea what the thing eats...I have no idea how it takes in nutrients, at all. There is no mouth, or any other opening of that sort." She let out a frustrated sigh. "I really need better equipment to examine this creature."

Jem frowned at the creature in the tank. "It won't starve, will it?"

"I won't let that happen," Nita assured him. "If worse comes to worst, I'll get with Master Terpin and get authorization to return this creature to the sea. It must gain its nutrients from the water in some way." She also stared at the green blob. "I guess."

Nico sighed. "This is a lot to take in in one day."

Jem closed his eyes, and nodded. "Yeah. I'm tired."

Nico put an arm around him and gave him a small, reassuring hug. "Can we go now, Nita? I think we've had enough excitement for the day."

The girl smiled sympathetically. "Not just you. I'll be lucky to be able to sleep tonight." She reached forward and patted Jem's arm. "Will you be willing to assist with further studies, if I need you?"

Jem nodded. "Sure. Just remember I have regular duties I'm supposed to be seeing to, as well."

Deera made a humorous sound. "Oh, we'll only steal your personal time, Jem."

They descended the stairs again, and returned to the catch room. Jem paused for a moment to look again at the strange alien blob inside the tank, wondering what is was trying to communicate by all the sounds it was making, and to whom. Surely there were no more of the alien discs nearby?

The strange sounds the creature made followed them to the door leading back to the corridor, and were not entirely gone from Jem's hearing until they were almost back to their own cabin.

* * * * * * *

Nico held Jem in the near dark, rubbing his back gently and nuzzling the side of his face. They were in Jem's bunk this time, having made a habit of taking turns inviting each other to sleep. But even though they were both tired, sleep seemed not to be coming.

A soft radiance came in through the transparent section of hull, not really a light, but an almost light. The seas of Benteen were rife with things that glowed in the darkness, both animal and plant. Mobile life forms of every sort, that chased and fled through the dark waters, and other, more placid yet no less dangerous life, that was simply carried upon the waves. It was almost as if the northern sea had made up for the fact that Benteen's moon never lit its dark waves, never parted the perpetual cloud cover long enough to fill those gentle ridges with the softly sparkling reflections that the seas at the equator knew, and for which the seas back on Old Earth had once been praised.

The glow was companionable in a way, restive in another. The motion of the sea beyond the hull caused the faint glow to ripple about the walls of the cabin, suggesting more movement than there actually was. But that Vespris was going places even as they lay there seemed plain.

Where was Master Terpin taking them? Jem wondered. They were still heading west, and the farther west they went, the closer the great sheets of northern ice seemed to press against them. Large icebergs drifted past the ship now, while smaller cakes of shattered pack ice bobbed all about them. The temperature outside was too cold now, even in the daytime, to be outdoors without a polar mask. Yet Vespris continued to the west, taking them farther and farther from home with each passing moment.

"What are you thinking about?" Nico asked then. "Where are you?"

Jem laughed. "Is it so apparent?"

"Yes. I can sense that you're not here with me - not completely."

Jem pushed his face against the other boy's and smiled. "I'm sorry. Just wondering where we're going. What...what might happen next."

"Oh. I know what you mean. I can't help wondering, myself. But we're in good hands, I think."

Jem kissed Nico again. "I know I am, anyway."

The other boy sighed. "I love being with you, Jem. I had no idea it would be so...so--"

"Fun?" Jem smiled. "It has been fun."

Nico nodded. "Yes. But not just fun. It's--" The boy sighed, and offered a sweet kiss. Jem accepted it happily, and returned it with the same fervor.

"I might be in love with you," Nico whispered.

Jem smiled, feeling happy at the notion. "I might be in love with you, too."

"You don't know?" There seemed a small sadness in the question.

Jem gave a little laugh. "Yes. I do know. " He offered another kiss. "I do love you."

Nico sighed, and hugged him mightily. "I'm so glad. I love you, too."

They held each other tightly, the faint motion of the ship upon the sea somehow reassuring. Jem's thoughts whirled about inside his head, caught between having found Nico on the one side, and having found himself immersed in this strange adventure on the other. Certainly, just being here on Vespris was the realization of his dreams; but having found Nico to share the adventure with had made it that much more exciting. With the mystery of the strange alien blob added in now, and the black disc from another world - it was almost overwhelming. It certainly made chasing ustric and siffle around the mountains with his dad seem tame!

Jem finally sighed. "There's just so much going on. It's like I just can't get my mind around it all."

"I know. I've made a list in my head of what's happening, and all the things I should be thinking about. But right now, all I can think about is you."

Jem rolled onto his back, pulling Nico atop him. "Then all I want to think about now is you." He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms gently about his friend, and made an effort to push away every thought that was not about that very moment. It was easier than he had thought it would be, and soon a gentle drowsiness overcame him. He could feel the warmth of Nico's body against his, the slow cycle of his breathing delivering warmth against the side of Jem's face with each exhalation. It was beyond comforting, and Jem felt the many questions within his mind falling away, retreating into the night, not to return again until morning.

* * * * * * *

The light of daybreak was visible beyond the outer wall of the cabin when Jem started into wakefulness. Once again the high-pitched stridulation of the call to action was playing in the cabin. The engines were silent, and that said that they were currently under sail.

"Attention. Sonar contact. Will all crew please report to their stations. Attention--"

Nico was still there beside him, close and comforting. The other boy took a breath and grunted, and his eyes opened. Jem smiled at the look of surprise on his friend's face, even as he rolled to the edge of the bunk and sat up. "Come on, sleepyhead. Let's go see what's going on!"

Nico wasted no time in getting up. "I wasn't expecting another hunt!"

"Neither was I, after what's been going on," Jem returned, getting into his clothing. "That was Moira, so maybe she's just instructed to call action stations at a contact, and then wait for the master to get there to make the final call."

They dressed quickly and left the cabin, again meeting Mya near the weather door to the main deck. Nita was with her this time, just putting on her polar mask. Jem and Nico donned their own, and the four of them pushed through the door into an icy morning breeze.

"We were surprised to hear the alarm," Jem said, as they moved along the deck.

Mya nodded. "Not just you. After what happened last time, I was thinking we were going to be a sightseeing voyage from now on. But I guess not!"

They split up then, Mya and Nita heading for the starboard hunt station, while Jem and Nico went to the port station. Jem quickly waved the display into action, and he and Nico peered at what was shown in the sonar field.

"A loner!" Nico exclaimed, grinning at Jem.

Jem nodded, watching the screen. This orx not only seemed aware of them, but also seemed intent on putting some distance between itself and Vespris. It had dived deep, and kept turning at opposing angles to the ship's direction of travel. Moira was on it, however, and Vespris was doing her nimble best to keep up.

"This one acts normal," Jem decided, watching the contact turn and evade. "Maybe there's no rider here!"

Master Terpin's face appeared in the display. "I'm going to go for this one, but I want you all to be aware of the position of the ice pack. If this orx goes for it, we will not follow closer than two kilometers from the ice, and then will turn away. Watch your displays, and be alert for other contacts. I don't want an orx tied to us if we have to run."

Jem acknowledged, and heard Mya respond, too.

"He's mostly staying on our side," Jem pointed out, as the ship closed in once again. "This might be our first solo!"

Nico nodded. "This is your station, and your call, Jem. But I've got your back."

Jem grinned at him. "You stand right here next to me. I'll need you!"

Again the orx turned to port, and tried to run away from them. Jem assumed that the master was at the helm now, and the speed with which Vespris turned to follow was impressive. They closed again, and Jem watched as the distance between them quickly diminished.

"I think this one is yours, Jem!" Mya called through the display.

Jem nodded to himself, watching as the orx turned once again. Maybe...

With a swiftness that was startling, the image of the orx in the sonar display suddenly doubled back and came at them. Jem's finger darted to the icon for prods, and a spread of them hissed away from the first mount, diving quickly into the sea. They sped deep and detonated beneath the orx, which immediately turned and fled towards the surface in the opposite direction. Vespris turned into the same curve as the orx, but once again the orx turned end-for-end with astonishing swiftness, darted beneath the hull of the ship, and headed deep again on Mya's side.

They heard the hiss of a mount on the other side of the ship, as prods were launched and sped into the deeps. They detonated in a string of tiny explosions, and again the orx fled from the pressure waves. Vespris turned again and went into a tail chase, and again closed the distance with the fleeing beast.

"This one is simply fast," Jem said, shaking his head. He looked at Nico a moment, and nodded. "I think when we get near to it, it's going to turn back on us again, dive under the ship, and come out on our side. If it does, I want to fire a spread of shockers and the capture lances at the same time. I'll get the shockers, you be ready with the capture lances. I want to stop this beast and tag it with capture lines at the same time, so it doesn't sink out from under us. Okay?"

Nico nodded. "I'm ready."

Vespris closed on the orx again. Jem looked up and saw that they were making for the distant pack ice now, and that several towering bergs were also in their path. He judged the distance to be no more than five kilometers, and dwindling fast.

"We don't have much time," he told Nico. "Watch when we get just within lance range. I think this one will come back to us."

The boys watched the screen as the distance to the ice field wound down. This orx was unusually fast, and amazingly nimble for such a large beast. Jem wondered if this one had been chased before, and had successfully used these same tactics to avoid capture.

"Coming up on the cutoff range to the ice," the master's voice said. "Turning now to --"

The orx suddenly turned back on them, just as Jem had predicted. It went deep again and passed beneath the hull even as Vespris started into a turn to avoid getting closer to the ice field.

"Now!" Jem yelled, swiping at the icon for the shockers. Nico swiped the capture lance icon at virtually the same moment, and two mounts hissed and buzzed as the two sets of powered arms fired away into the sea. Jem held his breath, his ears buzzing with the sound of the capture lines streaming from their frictionless spools, watching as the devices almost magically closed the distance, until--

"Contact!" Jem yelled, hopping up and down with excitement. Nico slapped him on the back, looking just as excited, and the two of them watched as the orx went dead in the water and slowly began to sink.

There was a clack-clack-clack sound above them as the sails were drawn in, and the ship immediately slowed to a walking pace. She was headed into the westerly current now, and in no hurry to deal with it.

"Good job!" Mya called over the com, sounding impressed even to Jem's ears. "That was quite a catch!"

Til's face appeared in the display, covered with smiles. "That was a sterling performance, Jem," he said, nodding. "You knew what the orx was going to do?"

"I suspected," Jem admitted. He turned and pulled Nico close and put an arm around his shoulders. "This was a joint effort, if ever there was one!"

The man nodded. "I was watching and listening. You two make a good team." He laughed. "At least I feel like I can lay here now and mend, and not worry about the port station. It's in good hands, obviously."

Jem felt his face get warm, and could only nod at the compliment. It had just seemed obvious to him that the orx would repeat its maneuver to avoid them, and he and Nico had simply been ready for it. They had been fortunate, this time, and Jem was already marking out in his mind not to let his head get big over this one success. He had guessed right...this time.

The lines continued to wind in, and soon the orx carcass was alongside of them. Deera and her drones appeared, and quickly went to work. Mya and Nita walked over to watch, and both women stood silently as the drones trimmed the carcass of tentacles and snorkel, and made their inspection. Deera checked its progress in the screen of her pad, and then finally looked up and smiled at them when all the drones were once again aboard ship. "No sign of the pattern that a rider would have left behind. This was the real thing."

"It certainly felt like it to me," Mya said. She reached out and patted Jem on the shoulder. "This is what a normal hunt is like."

"It was exciting," Jem admitted. "And much more like I was expecting."

"About thirteen tons," Deera said then. "A fine catch, you two."

Jem grinned at Nico, and the other boy seemed equally pleased. That they had done this thing together meant something special to both of them, and once again Jem felt a small pang of worry over who might ultimately wind up with the shotsman's position. But he pushed the thought aside for now, vowing to himself to talk about his worries with Nico later.

"Let's get this beast aboard quickly," Master Terpin said from the display. "I'd like to put more distance between us and that ice."

Deera went back to the rollback doors in the deck, and the crane arm appeared and quickly retrieved their capture from the sea. The ship's engines started then, and Vespris turned her tail to the ice and made for clearer waters. It felt good to have that steady vibration beneath their feet again.

The drones climbed aboard the carcass, and Jem released the barbs on the capture lances. The drones withdrew the lances, and Jem reeled them in, and soon the spent lances lay on the deck by the mounts, awaiting cleaning and inspection. Kel called to them on the com, and said he was on his way with replacement heads for the shockers and prods.

Mya headed back to her station, and Nita went below with Deera and the drones. The big rollback doors closed, and then it was just Jem and Nico by the port station, and the sea about them. Vespris was on a southwest course now, and the line along the northern horizon that was pack ice and icebergs retreated to just a hint.

Nico rubbed up against Jem, and Jem put an arm around him. "That was amazing, Jem. How did you know the orx would come back on us?"

"I just... guessed. It felt right, after what it had done before."

Nico shook his head. "I didn't feel that would happen." He sighed. "I just guess it shows you're best for this position."

Jem sighed, shook his head, and bent forward and kissed the other boy gently on the lips. "It does not show that. I just guessed right this time. I've already told myself I got lucky, and not to let my head swell over it."

Nico laughed, and leaned back a little, eying him. "It looks the same size."

Jem pulled him back closer. "Thanks. It feels the same, too." He watched his friend, smiling at the affection he could see in the other boy's eyes. "This was one hunt, Nico. It's way too early to decide anything."

The other boy sighed, and nodded. "Okay. I'll go along with that."

The master's voice spoke from the display then: "I've completed a long-range sweep with radar and sonar, and there's nothing showing but ice. If you three would like to come in to get warm and eat something, I'll alert you if we have another contact. Good job, all of you."

Jem gave Nico a little prod with a finger. "Care to join me for breakfast?"

Nico gave a little bow. "It would be my honor, sir."

Jem rolled his eyes, but pulled Nico closer as they made their way to the centerline to meet Mya. They were bumping together playfully as they joined her, and it was obvious that she noted the high spirits between them. But she just smiled and nodded at them. "Great hunt, guys. That was the best first catch I've ever seen."

Jem grinned at Nico, and both boys laughed. Mya rolled her eyes, stepped between them, took an arm on either side, and moved them towards the weather door. "It may take a while for the giddiness to wear off," she said. She looked at Jem, and then at Nico, noted the grins they wore, and smiled again. "Well, the part that's going to wear off, anyway."

* * * * * * *

The rest of the day was quiet. As they went west, Master Terpin carefully edged them closer to the ice pack again and lowered their speed. Huge chunks of ice drifted past them now, and the ship picked its way between them carefully, always ensuring that none came too close. Orx liked the ice, and could often be found close to both bergs and the pack ice itself. Or even laying out of the water upon the flatter sections of ice, if Old Kebin's stories were correct.

The master wanted to be close enough to hunt, but not close enough to risk being swarmed by orx as they had been during the attack. The fact that their recent capture had not borne a rider gave hope to the idea that that plague had not yet reached this far west. If the aliens had just begun their campaign to deny the seas to humans, it might not be widespread at all, Jem considered.

Darkness fell, and the evening meal was attended by most of the crew. The mood was upbeat. They now had six orx in storage - not a record by any means, but a fine haul, guaranteed to make the diet coordinators at Nocksic Bay pleased, as well as the two other colony towns with which Nocksic Bay shared her catch for the winter. The five north sea towns shared seafood with the five warm southern coast towns, while those towns shared their outdoor crops and greenhouse produce. Together, they all made it through the harsh winter months with everyone eating a healthy diet.

Vespris moved slightly south again for the night, both to reduce the ice traffic and to keep a safe distance from the ice pack. While there was no indication yet that the aliens were active at night, there was no evidence to the contrary, either. The master felt it wise to allow for more than enough warning in case of another attack.

After dinner, Jem and Nico stayed in the mess and talked awhile with Kel and Mya, revisiting the day's hunt. The consensus seemed to be that locating an orx without a rider gave hope to the idea that the menace was small in scale, and looked to coincide with the idea that a single alien ship had been stranded at Benteen when the Righoff lines had shifted so long ago. Why their visitor had waited until now to act was still a mystery; but at least the problem had been given some sort of scale now, and that they had a good chance to deal with it made plain. It would be tough to fight an entire world; but dealing with just some small part of it seemed an idea much easier to assimilate. Humans had been dealing with their small part of Benteen for five centuries now.

After their talk, Jem and Nico went back to their cabin. They had just settled themselves, and were considering what to do with the remaining hours before bed, when Jem's pad chimed for his attention.

It was Nita. "Jem, are you busy?"

Jem and Nico were seated together on the sofa, but had yet to decide on what to do next. "Not terribly...yet. Why? Do you need me for something?"

"Maybe. Our friend is acting ...odd. I wonder if you and Nico wouldn't mind stopping down for a bit?"

Jem looked at Nico, who immediately nodded.

"Uh, sure. We'll be down in a couple of minutes."

"Thank you, Jem. I can't say we need you, but I can't say we don't."

Jem frowned and stared at the girl's image on the screen of his pad, but it gave nothing away. "Everything okay there?" he asked.

"Yes. Deera and I just want your...opinion might be the right word...on something our friend is doing just now."

Nico laughed. "She's being mysterious."

Nita obviously heard the comment. "I don't mean to be. I just don't know what to make of this. You'll have to see what I mean."

"You know I know absolutely nothing about this creature," Jem reminded.

"That's two of us," Nita said, tiredly. "Will you come?"

"Sure. We'll be right down."

They closed out the call, and Jem and Nico headed for the catch room.

When they arrived, it was to find Nita and Deera standing before the tank. Nita had her hands on her hips and looked frustrated, and Deera simply looked mystified. There were no sounds at all coming from the speakers now, and Jem was only a few steps into the room when he noticed that the tank appeared to be empty. He looked at Nico, and both boys sprinted forward to stand next to the women.

"What happened?" Jem asked. "Where'd it go?"

Nita took Jem by an arm and drew him up to the transparent face of the tank, and pointed upwards. "It's there."

Nico and Deera joined them. Jem pressed his face against the front of the tank and looked up. The alien blob was now attached to the side of the tank, all the way at the top, entirely within the air space between the water and the lid. The tube that they had suspected was a snorkel had retracted almost all the way into the top of the creature, with just the trumpet-like projection visible now.

"It's out of the water!" Nico exclaimed. He turned to Jem. "So it can breathe in the air, too."

"That's established," Nita agreed. "You notice anything else?"

"It's not singing anymore," Jem said.

"But it's not completely quiet, either." She drew out her pad and entered a command. The speakers gave a small click, and were silent a moment longer. But then a strange sound erupted forth: "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzup!"

Jem jumped, it was so sudden, and so unexpected. "It that the blob?"

"Yes." Nita sighed. "Every five minutes or so, it makes that sound. It emits at between one hundred and one hundred sixty-five hertz, just like a human voice. And it makes the same sound each time."

Jem stared upwards through the transparent face of the tank. "Kind of hard to observe him, when he's up by the roof."

"Deera and I were watching him through the transparent upper panel from the rear deck. The blob seems quite happy there, attached to the wall, completely out of the water."

"Can I make a suggestion?" Nico asked.

"Absolutely."

Nico reached out and touched the face of the tank. "Can you drain the water out? Maybe it will come back down if the tank is empty."

Nita nodded. "We thought of that, but we're still not certain the creature doesn't need the water somehow for nutrients. We can't take a chance on damaging or killing it."

"How about some of the water, then?" Nico continued. "Leave maybe a half-meter or so in the bottom? That way it can still submerge if it needs to, but the top part will be above water."

Nita looked at Deera, who shrugged. "I can fill it very quickly again, if need be."

Nita considered that, and then nodded. "Okay, we'll try it. Bring the water level down to a half-meter."

Deera pulled out her pad and entered some commands. There was a slurping sound somewhere inside the walls, and the water immediately started draining from the tank. They watched the level come down quickly, and then stop when the water was about at knee height.

The speakers emitted another, "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzup!", but that was the extent of the creature's response.

"Can it hear us?" Jem asked, an idea coming to him then.

"I would not be surprised if some sound makes it to the creature. But if you're asking if the speaker is currently a two-way system, the answer is 'no."

Jem nodded. "Can you change that, so that he can hear us?"

Nita laughed, but nodded. "Don't tell me you're going to talk to it?"

Jem grinned. "Why not? It should be interesting to see if it can imitate sounds, don't you think?"

Nita and Deera looked at each other. The catch supervisor frowned. "I guess it can't hurt to see what happens."

"Do one thing for me first, Jem, if you will," Nita said. "Walk up and down in front of the tank again. I want to see if this thing is still fixed on you."

Jem complied, while Nita pressed her face against the tank and peered upwards. "Um...the view is a little distorted at this angle, but I do believe the blob is still following you, Jem."

Nico smiled. "Like I said, it's that magnetic personality."

Jem gave him a gentle push. "Oh, shut up."

Nico placed a forefinger to his lips, but his smile never wavered.

"Now make it so it can hear me," Jem said.

Nita entered another command on her pad, and then nodded.

Jem leaned against the face of the tank, waiting for the blob to make its sound again. It soon came: "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzup!"

Jem tried not to smile, but it was hard. He took a deeper breath, and let it out in a good approximation of the creature's call: "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzup!"

There was only a moment of silence following, and then the speakers burst forth with a complex cacophony of sound, much like the original song the creature had been making the day before. Jem jumped back from the front of the tank, and all the others took a startled step back.

Jem gasped as the blob suddenly dropped to the floor of the tank. It landed upright on its suckers, amidst a splash of seawater, and the black disc of the sound membrane on the creature's front turned towards Jem.

"I think you got its attention!" Nico whispered.

Jem gave a nervous laugh, but nodded. "I sure didn't expect that!"

The black disc blurred into vibration, and again the speakers gave forth the same sound: "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzup!"

Nita shook her head. "It sounds almost like it means something."

Jem blinked at that. "Maybe it does." He stepped closer to the tank again, watching as the black sound disc followed his movements. "Bzup," he said, this time, shortening the sound.

"Bzup," the alien bob returned.

"Oh," Nita breathed, shaking her head. "This is incredible."

Nico came to stand beside Jem. "Do you think it means something?"

"I don't know," Jem admitted.

"Idontknow," the blob said. It was all one word, but it was quite clearly the same thing Jem had just said.

Jem's jaw dropped, and Nita danced up beside him. "Say something else, Jem."

"Like what?"

"Likewhat," the blob repeated.

Nita shook her head. "It only repeats what you say, Jem. It's fixated on you somehow, probably from the resonance incident yesterday."

Jem swallowed, feeling a sense of unreality come over him. He looked at Nico, and there must have been something in his expression that gave away his unease, because the other boy immediately stepped closer and put an arm around his back. "It's okay." He grinned. "Magnetic personality, huh?"

"I need to get Master Terpin down here to hear this," Nita said, moving off and pulling out her pad.

Jem stared at the alien creature, wondering now just what it was, exactly, he was looking at. At first they'd thought it was a spy - a tracker of some kind. Was recording the sounds it heard part of that? Was this a living machine, as Nita had suggested, designed for one thing, to spy on the enemy? Or was there more to it than that?

"He's on his way," Nita said, coming back. She leaned closer to Jem. "Say something else, Jem."

Jem nodded, thinking. He raised a hand, and gently waved it back and forth. He wasn't sure, but it did seem as if the creature moved incrementally in concert with Jem's own movement.

He brought his hand back, and laid it upon his chest, "Jem."

"Jem," the blob spoke. "Bzup!"

Nita shook her head. "That wasn't just imitation. It spoke your name, and then followed it with that same sound, only compressed this time, just as you spoke it earlier. I can't be positive, but I do think it's possible this is an attempt at communication."

Jem stared at her. "You mean it's trying to talk to us?"

"Youmeanitstryingtotalktous," the blob repeated.

Nita shook her head. "No, Jem. Not to us. Just to you."