I shook my head.
"I"d like to, but I doubt it. I don"t give two hoots and a d.a.m.n who gets credit for the catch, so long as I have a part in it. But it won"t happen. That gal"s an egomaniac. She"ll want to operate the Slider, and she can"t."
"You ever meet her?"
"Yeah."
"How long ago?"
"Four, five years."
"She was a kid then. How do you know what she can do now?"
"I know. She"ll have learned every switch and reading by this time.
She"ll be all up on theory. But do you remember one time we were together in the starboard Rook, forward, when Ikky broke water like a porpoise?"
"Well?"
He rubbed his emery chin.
"Maybe she can do it, Carl. She"s raced torch ships and she"s scubaed in bad waters back home." He glanced in the direction of invisible Hand.
"And she"s hunted in the Highlands. She might be wild enough to pull that horror into her lap without flinching.
"...For Johns Hopkins to foot the bill and sh.e.l.l out seven figures for the corpus," he added. "That"s money, even to a Luharich."
I ducked through a hatchway.
"Maybe you"re right, but she was a rich witch when I knew her.
"And she wasn"t blonde," I added, meanly.
He yawned.
"Let"s find breakfast."
We did that.
When I was young I thought that being born a sea creature was the finest choice Nature could make for anyone. I grew up on the Pacific coast and spent my summers on the Gulf or the Mediterranean. I lived months of my life negotiating with coral, photographing trench dwellers, and playing tag with dolphins. I fished everywhere there are fish, resenting the fact that they can go places I can"t. When I grew older I wanted a bigger fish, and there was nothing living that I knew of, excepting a Sequoia, that came any bigger than Ikky. That"s part of it....
I jammed a couple of extra rolls into a paper bag and filled a thermos with coffee. Excusing myself, I left the gallery and made my way to the Slider berth. It was just the way I remembered it. I threw a few switches and the shortwave hummed.
"That you, Carl?"
"That"s right, Mike. Let me have some juice down here, you double-crossing rat."
He thought it over, then I felt the hull vibrate as the generators cut in. I poured my third cup of coffee and found a cigarette.
"So why am I a double-crossing rat this time?" came his voice again.
"You knew about the cameraman at Hangar Sixteen?"
"Yes."
"Then you"re a double-crossing rat. The last thing I want is publicity.
"He who fouled up so often before is ready to try it, n.o.bly, once more." I can read it now."
"You"re wrong. The spotlight"s only big enough for one, and she"s prettier than you."
My next comment was cut off as I threw the elevator switch and the elephant ears flapped above me. I rose, settling flush with the deck.
Retracting the lateral rail, I cut forward into the groove. Amidships, I stopped at a juncture, dropped the lateral, and retracted the longitudinal rail.
I slid starboard, midway between the Rooks, halted, and threw on the coupler.
I hadn"t spilled a drop of coffee.
"Show me pictures."
The screen glowed. I adjusted and got outlines of the bottom.
"Okay."
I threw a Status Blue switch and he matched it. The light went on.
The winch unlocked. I aimed out over the waters, extended an arm, and fired a cast.
"Clean one," he commented.
"Status Red. Call strike." I threw a switch.
"Status Red."
The baitman would be on his way with this, to make the barbs tempting.
It"s not exactly a fishhook. The cables bear hollow tubes; the tubes convey enough dope for an army of hopheads; Ikky takes the bait, dandled before him by remote control, and the fisherman rams the barbs home.
My hands moved over the console, making the necessary adjustments. I checked the narco-tank reading. Empty. Good, they hadn"t been filled yet. I thumbed the inject b.u.t.ton.
"In the gullet," Mike murmured.
I released the cables. I played the beast imagined. I let him run, swinging the winch to simulate his sweep.
I had the air conditioner on and my shirt off and it was still uncomfortably hot, which is how I knew that morning had gone over into noon.
I was dimly aware of the arrivals and departures of the hoppers. Some of the crew sat in the "shade" of the doors I had left open, watching the operation. I didn"t see Jean arrive or I would have ended the session and gotten below.
She broke my concentration by slamming the door hard enough to shake the bond.
"Mind telling me who authorized you to bring up the Slider?" she asked.
"No one," I replied. "I"ll take it below now."