“[A riptide through reefs.]” He fell silent for a bit. Arrow-swift in the chase, his folk were oftenest slow and careful in their serious thinking, as though the skill was new enough to them that they still had great respect for it. Aleka had wondered if that might not be exactly true. A mere few centuries since the experimentation that brought this race into existence—Had the earliest humans likewise pondered their way forward?
“[Kauwa,]” he said, as nearly as he could pronounce the word. The judgment was self-evident, but what followed drew on his knowledge. “[They are not here at this same time by happenstance. No, they are a band, under leadership that planned the foray. Else they would by now have scattered. They must have nets or mesh bags down below, which they were filling with fish to take home. But home, to them, cannot be a fixed rookery, or I would have heard of it. They must shift about between islets, rocks, small uninhabited coves and beaches, according to some scheme. It is the germ of a … a nation, oath-sister.]”
Aleka grimaced. “Nomads. I was guessing as much.” Hadn’t it been inevitable, sooner or later? “Why did they attack when they were caught robbing, why didn’t they flee?”
“[The attack must have been in rage, by those two of them. It is clear that the alpha bull commanded the others to hold back, yet also to stay. He must want to show strength, determination.]”
Her heart stumbled. It quickened again when the croaking, ringing voice went on: “[But perhaps he hopes to bargain or, anyhow, talk. He knows he cannot prevail. If a little wisdom drifts within him, he knows as well that no kauwa nation can long survive, once the landfolk go on hunt. Nor can it be worth surviving, without anything more than what few poor things they can steal, without writing, pictures, robots, machines, tools.]”
Without hands, Aleka thought. Sadness closed teeth upon her. By what right had those scientists bulged out these brains, to make a creature that was neither a good human nor a good seal? Research into the nature of intelligence was no excuse. They should have been downloaded, those scientific minds, so that they could be burning in a virtual hell.
No. She overrode herself. Were it possible to go back in time, by what right could she annul the creation of beings she loved, oath-brethren of the Lahui and fountainhead of its identity? Ka’eo was what he was, a good Keiki Moana. Open a way for his race to find its own fulfillment.
Coolness took over. Her boat was approaching the Authority craft. She cut the drive. Noise died away, the hull came down, waves splashed alongside, casting brine on her lips, and she slid onward to the outlaws.
They had seen her coming and fallen quiet, darknesses awash in the swell. Sunlight gleamed off wet pelts and big eyes. Ka’eo freed his flippers, turned about, and barked at them.
Delgado’s image entered the phone screen. Aleka saw him standing on deck near the turret, amidst his armed crew. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Trying to establish contact, Major,” she answered. “With luck, we’ll negotiate.”
“What? No, you can’t. These are criminals. We’ve been in touch with the station ashore. It’s activated monitors in the range, and the damage that they report has been done—”
“For favor. We two aren’t about to make a treaty. We may find how to end this business without further bloodshed. Our chances are best if we aren’t disturbed meanwhile. If they aren’t.”
Delgado flushed, then swallowed, nodded, and stepped aside. He was an able officer, Aleka realized. He’d simply been placed in a situation he didn’t comprehend. How well did she?
Wake swirled behind a long form. It reached her boat. A scarred head lifted to look over the gunwale. After a moment, Ka’eo slipped overside to join the chieftain.
What happened in the next hour was not altogether clear to the woman, and sometimes unknown. The Keiki Moana communicated among each other by far more than speech. Often they dived below, remaining for minutes; or they swam off through the pack, touching noses here, stroking flipper across back there; or they floated mute and motionless. Two frigate birds cruised on high, wings and split tails like drawn swords. Clouds in the west loomed larger, glooms grew beneath them, a rainstorm fell blue-gray and she heard the whisper of it across the kilometers.