"You are a yellowbellied fink," he commented.
"Okay," I admitted, "but it"s her I"m thinking of, too."
"I"ve heard the stories about you both," he said. "So you"re a heel and a goofoff and she"s a b.i.t.c.h. That"s called compatibility these days. I dare you, baitman, try keep- ing something you catch."
I turned.
"If you ever want that job, look me up."
I closed the door quietly behind me and left him sit- ting there waiting for it to slam.
163.
The day of the beast dawned like any other. Two days after my gutless flight from empty waters I went down to rebait Nothing on the scope. I was just making things ready for the routine attempt.
I hollered a "good morning" from outside the Slider and received an answer from inside before I pushed off.
I had reappraised Mike"s words, sans sound, sans fury, and while I did not approve of their sentiment or signifi- cance, I had opted for civility anyhow.
So down, under, and away. I followed a decent cast about two hundred-ninety meters out. The snaking cables burned black to my left and I paced their undulations from the yellowgreen down into the darkness. Soundless lay the wet night, and I bent my way through it like a c.o.c.k-eyed comet, bright tail before.
I caught the line, slick and smooth, and began baiting.
An icy world swept by me then, ankles to head. It was a draft, as if someone had opened a big door beneath me.
I wasn"t drifting downwards that fast either.
Which meant that something might be moving up, 122 Something big enough to displace a lot of water. I still didn"t think it was Ikky. A freak current of some sort, but not Ikky. Ha!
I had finished attaching the leads and pulled the first plug when a big, rugged, black island grew beneath me. . . .
I flicked the beam downward. His mouth was opened.
I was rabbit.
Waves of the death-fear pa.s.sed downward. My stom- ach imploded. I grew dizzy.
Only one thing, and one thing only. Left to do. I man- aged it, finally. I pulled the rest of the plugs.
I could count the scaly articulations ridging his eyes by then.
The squiggler grew, pinked into phosph.o.r.escence . . .
squiggledl 164.
Then my lamp. I had to kill it, leaving just the bait be- fore him.
One glance back as I jammed the jatoes to life.
He was so near that the squiggler reflected on his teeth, in his eyes. Four meters, and I kissed his lambent jowls with two jets of backwash as I soared. Then I didn"t know whether he was following or had halted. I began to black out as I waited to be eaten.
The jatoes died and I kicked weakly.
Too fast, I felt a cramp coming on. One flick of the beam, cried rabbit. One second, to know . . .
Or end things up, I answered. No, rabbit, we don"t dart before hunters. Stay dark.
Green waters finally, to yellowgreen, then top.
Doubling, I "beat off toward Tensquare. The waves from the explosion behind pushed me on ahead. The world closed in, and a screamed, "He"s alivel" in the distance.
A giant shadow and a shock wave. The line was alive, too. Happy Fishing Grounds. Maybe I did something wrong. . . .
Somewhere Hand was clenched. What"s bait?
A few million years. I remember starting out as a one- celled organism and painfully becoming an amphibian, then an air-breather. From somewhere high in the tree- tops I heard a voice.
"He"s coming around."
123 I evolved back into h.o.m.osapience, then a step further into a hangover.
"Don"t try to get up yet."
"Have we got him?" I slurred.
"Still fighting, but he"s hooked. We thought he took you for an appetizer."
"So did I."
"Breathe some of this and shut up."
165.
A funnel over my face. Good. Lift your cups and drink. . . .
"He was awfully deep. Below scope range. We didn"t catch him till he started up. Too late, then."
I began to yawn.
"We"ll get you inside now."
I managed to uncase my ankle knife.
"Try it and you"ll be minus a thumb."
"You need rest."
"Then bring me a couple more blankets. I"m staying."
I fell back and closed my eyes.
Someone was shaking me. Gloom and cold. Spotlights bled yellow on the deck. I was in a jury-rigged bunk, bulked against the center blister. Swaddled in wool, I still shivered.
"It"s been eleven hours. You"re not going to see any- thing now."
I tasted blood.
"Drink this."
Water. I had a remark but I couldn"t mouth it.
"Don"t ask how I feel," I croaked. "I know that comes next, but don"t ask me. Okay?"
"Okay. Want to go below now?"
"No. Just get me my jacket."
"Right here."
"What"s he doing?"
"Nothing. He"s deep, he"s doped but he"s staying down."
124 "How long since last time he showed?"
"Two hours, about."
"Jean?"
"She won"t let anyone in the Slider. Listen, Mike says come on in. He"s light behind you in the blister."
I sat up and turned. Mike was watching. He gestured, I gestured back.
166.
I swung my feet over the edge and took a couple of deep breaths. Pains in my stomach. I got to my fefet and made it into the blister.
"Howza gut?" queried Mike.
I checked the scope. No Ikky. Too deep.
"You buying?"
"Yeah, coffee."
"You"re ill. Also, coffee is all that"s allowed in here."
"Coffee is a brownish liquid that b.u.ms your stomach.
You have some in the bottom drawer."
"No cups. You"ll have to use a gla.s.s."
"Tough."
He poured.
"You do that well. Been practicing for that job?"
"What job?"
"The one I offered you-"
A blot on the scope!
"Rising, ma"am! Rising!" he yelled into the box.
"Thanks, Mike. I"ve got it in here," she crackled.
"Jean!"
"Shut up! She"s busy!"
"Was that Carl?"
"Yeah," I called. "Talk later," and I cut it.
Why did I do that?
"Why did you do that?"
I didn"t know.
"I don"t know."
d.a.m.ned echoes! I got up and walked outside.
125 Nothing. Nothing.
Something?
Tensquare actually rocked! He must have turned when he saw the hull and started downward again. White water to my left, and boiling. An endless spaghetti of cable roared hotly into the belly of the deep.
I stood awhile, then turned and went back inside.
Two hours sick. Four, and better.
167.