“Yes,” she said, her cheeks suddenly warm despite the chill. For a moment, she had been acutely aware of Kralik as a man, rather than an officer.
The Samsumaru lurched and she fought to keep her balance on the wet deck. “I—would hate to be the cause of that.” She rose, using his arm to steady herself, then stopped as his words had a chance to sink in. “Have they spotted a whale then?”
“Sonar has,” he said. “It’s supposed to be early for whales to come through here. According to the literature, gray whales migrate in the fall, so I was rather in hopes we wouldn’t find anything today, but sonar has come up with two promising hits. It looks like we won’t go back empty-handed after all.”
“I see.” She didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know any more, but ignorance had never been an acceptable excuse with her father. See it through, he would have told her. Stockwells may be many things, not all of them admirable, but they’re never cowards. You have to keep trying until the day is done.
She wished this day were done, but wishing in her experience never improved the situation, and longing for what you couldn’t have only made life seem harder.
“I’ll stay on deck, then,” she said. “I don’t want to miss the Governor’s hunt, but you’re right. I will put on a life vest.”
He opened a metal locker and dug out a bright orange flotation vest. The bulky shape was stained and frayed, obviously made before the conquest and having seen better days. She held out her arms as he settled it over her head. Her nose wrinkled. The slick plastic stank of fish—long dead fish, at that.
She buckled the straps herself, then, up by the harpoon mount, one of the Makah guides, John Bowechop, shouted. “Over there!” he kept saying, gazing intently through a pair of battered binoculars. “Hard left! Hard left!”
Caitlin squinted and thought she could make out two large glistening circles on the waves through the rain. The Subcommandant crossed to the Makah’s side with the sure-footedness of a cat. Emerging from the shadows, several Jao from Oppuk’s staff jerked the canvas cover off the harpoon mount as the Governor looked on, his form a study in anticipation.
Banle appeared from the other side of the trawler, wet as a seal and oblivious to Caitlin for the moment.
“We’ll have to get closer,” Kralik said, his face grim. “A lot closer.”
And maybe they wouldn’t be able to, she thought with a glimmer of hope. After all, why would a whale just hang around and wait to be harpooned when it could dive and escape? They were supposed to be fairly intelligent—
The Samsumaru veered to the left as directed and an immense wave inundated the bow, soaking Caitlin and Kralik. She shook the water out of her eyes as he pulled her away from the rail. “You should go below!” he said over the shrill of the wind. “You don’t really want to see this.”
“If I don’t watch,” she said, glancing at the Governor, “who will tell about this day?” Oppuk motioned to Aille to take a position at his side, his own stance triumphant-expectation.
“There are other humans on board,” Kralik said.
“No one who cares,” Caitlin said. “No one but me.”
“Oh, I care,” Kralik said, “for all the good it will do.” He turned back to the sea, staring out across the waves, his gray eyes hard as steel.
He was doing what he had to do, she realized, as were they all.
Twin spumes of spray rose from the ocean’s heaving surface five hundred yards off the bow, still further to the left. One of the Makah shouted and the Governor’s staff readied the harpoon. Hydraulics whined, tiny green indicators flashed. It was really going to happen, she thought, her heart beating wildly.
One of the Jao escort ships swooped low over the trawler, then swept back up into the clouds. Another faceful of spray left her gasping, half-blinded by the stinging salt. Oppuk bent over the harpoon and gazed through its sight.
Caitlin crammed a knuckle into her mouth, then made herself lower the hand. Calm-acceptance, she told herself and tried to let the soothing form flow over her. She’d had a lot of practice with that one. It seemed her whole life called for it.