Distant Thunders (33 page)

Keje laughed. “You have been talking to Letts again!” He grew thoughtful. “But Captain Reddy says the same. As much as he loves his ship, he loves aar-planes just as much—and hates not having them!” He sighed, then laughed again. “Did you know I must go to school? I must learn how to handle my own ship all over again! And Mallory says we must form ‘operational procedures’! ” He shook his head at Selass’s concerned blinking. Her tail was rigid with tension. “Fear not! I will be a model pupil! It does amuse me, though.”

“What?”

“To ‘relearn’ how to handle my very own Home, I must practice by controlling their tiny launch!”

They stood together in silence as the great vessel was maneuvered entirely into the basin. Huge bumpers dropped into place and a tally was made of every object that had once supported the destroyer so they’d know nothing protruded from the flat, permanent trestle below. Only then were the pumps engaged.

“How long will it take?” Selass asked.

“A day. Perhaps more. Not as long as it took to empty for
Walker
.
Salissa
‘displaces’ a great deal more water! Is that not a fascinating term? It has no real meaning in situations other than this, because
Salissa
cannot displace enough water to be even noticed in the wide ocean of the world, but here, because of her size, there is far less water in this dry dock, even though the level is the same as before!”

“I have heard the term,” Selass admitted, “when the Amer-i-caans discuss the size of the new construction ships. Evidently, they do not weigh the ships themselves, but the water they push aside! How can they do such a thing?”

“Mathematics. They are fiends for it in all things. Everything you see that they have made involves mathematics and the most precise measurements imaginable. It is amazing and stirring, but it makes me somewhat sad as well.”

“Why, Father?”

“Well, it is yet another example of how things have changed. Nothing will be built by eye again. Artwork may survive, but the talent, the skills passed down from one maker to the next, will be supplanted by mathematics! The guilds are howling, much like our wing clans did when they learned our Home would lose its wings! I am but an example. I have spent my life learning to move
Salissa
from place to place, and still I do not know everything there is to know about that. Now I must learn to drive a little boat before I will know the
first
thing about moving my Home again.”

“You agreed.”

“Yes, I did, and it is well. I will move her again, and when I do . . . I am informed”—he grinned—“she will be a weapon the Grik cannot match. I would . . . I
have
sacrificed much for that. So will Geran-Eras when she allows the same alterations to
Humfra-Dar
. But what of the builders, the makers of things? Soon, any leeching pit turner will be able to operate a machine that will quickly make things a shipwright has spent his life learning to build!” He shook his head, part in wonder and part in sadness. “What’s more, that pit turner will be able to do it quicker and better and exactly the same every time.”

“You sound as if you wish the Amer-i-caans never came.”

“No. That is ridiculous. They have saved us. We would be filling Grik bellies if not for them. But in a way, as much as we fought to survive, we, the
People
, also fought for things to remain the same. I know that is what Nakja-Mur fought for, but deep down, even he knew it could never be. I will miss the old ways. It was a good, happy life. If this war ever ends, and it
must
end in victory, I know not what the world will be like. I do know it will be different. Let us just hope it will be different in a good way . . . and that we will live to see it.”

 

 

“She’s up!” Clancy shouted, racing up
Donaghey
’s companionway. Matt and those gathered with him on the quarterdeck turned toward the exuberant outburst.
Donaghey
was moored a short distance from the rebuilding dock and many of the AEF’s officers were aboard for a conference of sorts. “She’s up and floating and there’re no leaks worth a mention!
Walker
’s off the bottom and Lieutenant Tucker sends her love!” There was a resounding cheer and Matt’s ears heated just a little.

“Mr. Clancy,” he said, unable to summon a frown, “that’s wonderful news and I’m glad you shared it with us all, but the last part may have been meant as a private message.”

Clancy halted his dash and his face went white. “Uh . . . oh. Ah, sorry, Skipper! I’m so sorry!”

“Oh, shut up,” Garrett said, grinning. “That part isn’t news!” There was more laughter. “What’s the first part say?”

Jim Ellis retrieved the message form and scanned it. He looked at Captain Reddy and Matt nodded. “It’s true.
Walker
’s been moved to the fitting-out pier and
Big Sal
’s gone in the tank.” He chuckled. “Ben saw fit to celebrate with a flyover. One plane had to land on the bay and be towed in! Let’s see.
Tassat
was launched and has been moved to the new fitting-out pier. The new generators are doing swell, but they’ve had a couple of engine casualties.” He looked at Matt. “Hmm. Hope we don’t have any out here. Says it wasn’t much of a deal, but still.” He looked back at the page. “Still no word from Laumer and ‘Task Force S-19.’ Palmer got that one signal that they were about to try the gizmo, then nothing. He figures it cooked the transmitter.” He glanced at Clancy, who’d suddenly stiffened. He and Palmer had argued a lot over the design. “Anyway, they’re probably fine. Saan-Kakja arrived safely at her brother’s city and they made a successful test transmission of their set—”

“Yes, sir,” Clancy interrupted. “I picked it up.”

“Wow,” said Jim. “Real long-distance comm. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Well, ah . . . you see, they were transmitting the raising of the ship in a kind of blow-by-blow sort of way. . . .”

“Anything else? What about our report of the Grik prisoners?” Matt asked. Jim looked down and chuckled.

“Yeah, it’s got a postscript. ‘Bradford excited.’ ”

“Ha!”

“I do wish we could speak to them,” Safir mused.

“We can,” Alden said. “They just can’t talk to us. Maybe when we ship ’em home, Lawrence can talk to ’em.”

“I doubt it,” said Matt.

“Why not? Most of the ’Cats understand each other okay, except maybe a few of the ones from southern Australia.”

“Yeah, but they’ve been in contact with one another. Look, we now know there’s Grik all over the place, or something like Grik. They seem to fill the niche humans did where we came from. There’s the Grik we fight, from Africa and Madagascar originally, but there’s Grik-like lizards just about everywhere. Lawrence says his people are ‘Tagranesi’ or something. We’ve managed to squeeze enough out of Rasik to know the dead aborigines we found here were snatched from Java and the neighboring islands as slave labor and, well, food. I’m sure they don’t call themselves Grik.”

“I did not even know they were here,” Rolak admitted.

“Maybe they haven’t been for long, or at least not in any numbers. Our first and only meeting with them on Bali proved to us they were pretty smart. They didn’t carry weapons, but then they didn’t really need them, did they? They may have been leaking over here from Bali or other islands for a long time and just staying to themselves. As primitive as they were, compared to our enemies, they actually displayed even better tactical sense. Courtney’s long believed that Grik behavior has more to do with societal conditioning than anything else.”

“That might explain why the prisoners act so different,” Ellis speculated. “After we licked them here, they wandered on their own for a while. Maybe they had time to think things over a little.”

There was silence for a moment while everyone contemplated the significance of that.

“All the more reason we must not give the enemy more time to think things over,” Safir said.

“If I were a member of this Alliance, I would tend to agree with the Queen Protector,” Harvey Jenks said with a touch of irony. It was the first time he’d spoken, beyond civilities, since he’d come aboard. Something had changed in his demeanor ever since he went ashore and saw the aftermath of the Grik occupation for himself. Aryaal and B’mbaado were unusual cities, perhaps unique among Lemurians. Even before the Grik came, they’d been built of stone with stout walls to protect the inhabitants. The devastated architecture was more similar to Imperial construction than any other he’d seen so far, or than he cared to admit. It was as though he’d experienced a premonition of what would happen if the Grik ever threatened his home.

The rabidly gruesome nature of the enemy the Allies faced had been driven in to the hilt as well, and he felt he understood them and their motives much better now. The heads had been taken down and sent to the sky in the fires and much of the debris had been cleared, but the mental image remained. The thaw in his attitude toward the Allies, and Matt in particular, had continued at an accelerated pace. Still, he’d clearly been surprised to be included in this strategy session. He hadn’t given any assurances that he was at their disposal or that he’d help them in any way. He
had
begun to consider himself on their side just a little, however.

“Jenks is right,” agreed Rolak. “We cannot linger here. Has that vile creature”—he referred to Rasik-Alcas—“spilled any more beans?”

Matt shook his head. “He’s told us all he knows about what happened here, and a little more about his activities while in exile, but he knows we’ve already measured him for a noose. No matter how fair we make it, the outcome of any trial is a foregone conclusion. He’s guilty as hell and he knows everybody knows it. When he’s not off in the land of Oz, he’s sharp enough to be scary. The guy’s a real psycho.”

“No clues about what he found?” asked Ellis.

Matt shook his head. “The crummy thing is, I think there
is
something. Everything we thought we knew about the Squall that brought us here is changing all the time. First, we thought it was just us and
Mahan
. Then the PBY. Then we learned about
Amagi
. Why wasn’t it there when the Squall passed? Okada said they came out of it in the
dark
, probably sometime during the night after we did. Unlike us, they were moving with it, not through it. Is it possible that by staying in it longer, they experienced its effects longer too?” He shook his head. “I doubt even Courtney has an answer for that. Anyway, we now know the sub came through as well. It was pretty far away, judging by the log we brought back, but close enough to hear our fight on the surface. How close was the PBY?” He shrugged. “Up till now, we’ve assumed we were it, but what if we weren’t? That was a big squall and the track it took might have sucked up anything. Why some things and not others? No clue. Maybe the energy or local intensity had something to do with that. Anyway, we need to start thinking about the possibility that other stuff
did
come through, and if it did, we damn sure want to find it before the Japs and Grik do.” He snorted. “His Nasty Highness did confirm that they watched a bunch of Japs get off Esshk’s ship when it stopped here, roam around unattended, then get back on, so I guess they didn’t eat the bastards after all.”

“Pity,” Ellis said.

“Yeah. The thing is, though, Rasik thinks if he tells us what he found, we’ll just kill him anyway. He insists on
showing
us.”

“We promised him clemency; what more does he expect?” spat Safir. It was the first time she’d agreed to the “deal” that had been proposed. She hated the very idea of letting Rasik live. Chack, who’d remained uncharacteristically silent, put a hand on her shoulder and stroked it.

“It does not matter,” Rolak grumbled. “He still expects to be killed. He views all things in terms of what he would do in our place.”

“I’ll get it out of him,” Alden promised.

Matt laughed. “Pete, I bet you and Boats could get him to confess he painted the moon, but that wouldn’t do us much good.” He thought for a moment, staring at the bleak shoreline. There was a lot of activity: building a new dock, erecting tents, and preparing materials for structures that would serve as forward supply depots. Few would remain at first, when the Allies moved on. They had more pressing business. Aryaalans and B’mbaadans would return, however, and begin the work of rebuilding.

“Here’s the deal,” he said at last. “We have to move. The scout we sent to Singapore reports the Grik are pulling out there too. We need to get there before they leave it like this.” He gestured shoreward. “We also have to know if Rasik’s pulling our chain. He says the things he found are accessible by sea, near Tjilatjap—Chill-chaap.” He looked at Jim. “Not
at
Chill-chaap, but near it, so your guys would have missed it when they went ashore there.”

Jim winced slightly. They hadn’t exactly been
his
guys at that point.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Matt continued. “You take
Dowden
and a company of Marines and see what Rasik has to show you. If you can do it without puking, try to buddy up to him. He doesn’t really know you, after all. Maybe he’ll let something slip.”

“May I command the Marine company, Captain Reddy?” Chack asked.

Matt hesitated. “I’d rather have you with me, but I guess so. Just don’t remind the silly bastard you’re the one who trapped him with fire and left him to be eaten by the Grik!”

“He cannot know that,” Chack said.

“Right. Say, talk to Koratin. Maybe he can convince him he’s on his side. Might get something out of him. Anyway, while you’re doing that I’ll take the rest of the fleet and all the troops we can transfer out of
Dowden
and head for Singapore. You meet us there if you can. Stay in wireless contact. If something breaks down you can’t fix, come back here.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper. We’ll meet you at Singapore,” Jim promised. “If there’s a fight, I don’t want to miss it.”