To the Galactic Rim: The John Grimes Saga (22 page)

“Are you all right, Mr. Grimes?” It was Anderson, giving his famous imitation of a mother hen.

“Of course I’m all right, Chief.”

The water was cool, but far from cold. And there was the exhilarating sensation of weightlessness. It was like being Outside in Free Fall but better, much better. There was the weightlessness but not the pressing loneliness, the dreadful emptiness. And the skin-tight suit was almost as good as nudity, but did not, as did space armour, induce the beginnings of claustrophobia.

Grimes looked down.

Yes, there was the wreck, her canopy gaping open like the shell of some monstrous bivalve. Grimes hoped that it was not too badly damaged by the ejection; if it were not so, the task of sealing the ruptured hull would be much easier. Up through the gaping opening drifted a school of gleaming, golden fish. And that was a good sign; it meant that nothing larger and dangerous, even to Man, had taken up residence.

He relaxed his grip on the cord, felt it slide through his hand as he dropped slowly. Then, raising a flurry of fine silt, his flippered feet were on the bottom. He was about three yards from the sunken dynosoar.

“Calling C.P.O. Anderson,” he said into the built-in microphone. “Making preliminary inspection.” He heard the acknowledgement.

Clumsily at first, he swam the short distance. For several minutes he checked the canopy. Yes, it could be forced back into place and, where too badly buckled, welded over. If necessary, lines could be sent down from the boat to lift the valves to an upright position before their closure. Satisfied, he swam aft, closely inspecting the fuselage as he did so. He could find no damage on the upper surface; the damaged skin must be on the underside, buried in the silt. An air hose to blow the muck clear? Yes, but would it be necessary? After all, when expelled from the hull by air under pressure the water would have to have somewhere to go to, somewhere to get out from, and whatever holes there were in the plating could have been designed for that very purpose.

“Chief!”

“Yes, Mr. Grimes?”

“Tell your men to have the welding gear and the compressor and hoses ready. Then come down yourself as soon as you can.”

“Coming, sir.”

Something made Grimes look up. The big C. P. O. was already on his way, failing like a stone, weighted by the gear that he was grasping in both of his huge hands. Behind him trailed two of the air hoses and another cable, the power line of the welding equipment. Using his flippered feet only he controlled his descent, made a remarkably graceful landing not far from where Grimes was standing.

“And what do you have in mind, Mr. Grimes?” he asked.

“Get the canopy shut and sealed, Chief. Might run an air hose in at that point. Then blow her out, and up she comes.”

“Up she comes you hope, sir. Or she’ll blow up, with the internal pressure. Explode, I mean.”

“There are holes in the fuselage aft, the holes through which the water entered in the first place.”

“Then we have to seal them, Mr. Grimes.”

“That shouldn’t be necessary, Chief. As far as I can see, they’re on the bottom of the hull.”

“Very good, sir. But what if she topples? If I were you, I’d seal those holes and fit ‘em with non-return valves.”

“You aren’t me. And don’t forget that the brute was designed to fly this way up. Surely she’ll
float
this way up.”

Stiffly, “I’m not qualified in aerodynamics, sir.”

“But you are in hydrodynamics. All right, then. Do
you think she’ll topple once she starts to lift?”

Anderson, leaving the tool case and the weighted ends of the hoses with Grimes, swam slowly around the wreck. “No,” he admitted when he returned. “She shouldn’t topple.” He stayed by the fore end of the dynosoar, stood in the silt and tried to lift one of the parts of the open canopy. It moved but with extreme reluctance. Grimes heard the man, a massive, black-glistening giant in his suit, grunt with effort.

“I thought of running lines down from the boat,” he said.

“And pull the boat over, or under? No, sir. That wouldn’t do at all.”

No, thought Grimes. It wouldn’t. Not if he hoped to get any shore leave on this planet.

“We’ll have to cut the flaps and then weld them back into place.”

“Now you’re talking, sir. With your permission?” he asked, then paused.

“Of course. Carry on, Chief.”

“Jones, Willoughby, Antonetti. Down here, on the double. Bring the cutting torches, a bundle of sheeting and that bundle of metal strip. Jump to it!”

“And a spear gun,” added Grimes. “If we have one.” He had a feeling that the knife at his belt would be inadequate. Helplessly, he looked at the huge, silvery torpedo shape that was approaching them, that was staring at them from glassy eyes as big as dinner plates.

Then, even through his helmet, he heard the muffled whirring of machinery and laughed. “Don’t worry, Chief,” he said. “Just remember what the Captain told us all and comport yourself like a gentleman. You’re on camera.”

Chapter 13

After a while
Grimes decided to leave the frogmen to it. It was obvious that Anderson and his team knew what they were doing. The Lieutenant had tried to lend a hand; he had realized quite soon that any attempt at supervision by himself would lead only to confusion, but the C. P. O. had made it quite plain, without actually saying so, that he was just being a bloody nuisance. So he said, in his best offhand manner, “Carry on, Chief. I’ll take a dekko at this submarine camera of theirs. Let me know if you want me.”

“That’ll be the sunny Friday!” he heard somebody mutter. He could not identify the voice.

He put the busy scene—the flaring torches, the exploding bubbles of steam, the roiling clouds of disturbed silt—behind him, swam slowly toward the robot midget submarine. And was it, he wondered, called a watchfish? At first he thought that the thing was ignoring him; its two big eyes remained fixed on the salvage operations. And then he noticed that a small auxiliary lens mounted on a flexible stalk was following his every movement. He thumbed his nose at it, the rude gesture giving him a childish satisfaction.

Then he swam on lazily. He should, he realized, have brought a camera with him. One of Anderson’s team had one, he knew; but he knew, too, that all the footage of film would be devoted to the raising of the dynosoar. Shots of the underwater life of this lake would have made an interesting addition to
Aries’
film library. More than a score of worlds must have contributed their share of fresh water fauna. There were graceful shapes, and shapes that were grotesque, and all of them brightly colored. Some were fish and some were arthropods and some—he mentally christened them “magic carpets”—defied classification. And there were plants, too, a veritable subaqueous jungle that he was approaching, bulbous trunks, each crowned with a coronal of spiky branches. If they
were
plants. Grimes decided that he didn’t like the look of them, changed course and paddled toward a grove of less menacing appearance, long green ribbons stretching from the muddy bottom to just below the silvery surface. Among the strands and fronds flashing gold and scarlet, emerald and blue, darted schools of the smaller fishes. And there was something larger, much larger, pale and glimmering, making its slow way through the shimmering curtains of waving water weed. The Lieutenant’s right hand went to the knife at his belt.

It, whatever it was, was big. And dangerous? It wasn’t a fish. It had limbs and was using them for swimming. It undulated gracefully through the last concealing screen of vegetation, swam towards Grimes.

It was a woman.

It was, he saw without surprise (now that the initial surprise had passed) Marlene von Stolzberg.

He looked at her. She was wearing a scuba outfit not unlike his own, with the exception of the skintight suit. Her own golden skin was covering enough. And she was carrying what looked like a spear gun, although it was much stubbier than the weapons of that kind with which he was vaguely familiar.

He said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume . . .”

He saw a frown darken her mobile features, clearly visible in the transparent helmet. From his own speaker came her voice, “That was neither original nor funny, Mr. Grimes.” Then, as she saw his expression of astonishment, “It wasn’t much trouble for us to find out what frequency you people are using.”

“I suppose not. Your Highness.”

“I hope, Mr. Grimes, that you don’t mind my engaging in my usual activities. I promise to keep well clear of the salvage operations.”

“It’s your lake,” he said. “And you don’t seem to have any watchbirds with you this time.”

“No,” she agreed. “But . . .” She gestured with a slim arm. Grimes saw, then, that she was not alone, that she was attended by two things like miniature torpedoes. The analogy came into his mind, like a shark with pilot fish. But she was no shark, and pilot fish are mere scavengers.

They hung there in the water, silent for awhile. Grimes found that it was better for his peace of mind to concentrate his regard upon her face. She said at last, “Shouldn’t you be looking after your men?”

“Frankly, Your Highness, they can manage better without me. Chief Petty Officer Anderson and his team are experts. I am not.”

“You’re not very expert in anything, Mr. Grimes, are you?” A grin rather than a smile robbed her words of maliciousness.

“I’m a fairish navigator and a better than average gunnery officer.”

“I’ll have to take your word for that. Well, Mr. Grimes, since the work seems to be going along very well without you, will you accompany me in a leisurely swim?”

“Cor stiffen the bleedin’ crows, Chiefie,” remarked an almost inaudible voice, “officers don’t half have it good!”

“Watch your welding, Willoughby,” came Anderson’s reprimand. “That’s all that
you’re
good for.”

There was a gusty sigh, and then, “Well, I suppose we can’t
all
be fairish navigators and better than average gunnery officers . . .”

Grimes wished that he were wearing only a breathing mask and not a full helmet. The cool touch of water would have soothed his burning face. He heard the girl’s light, tinkling laughter. But he knew that Anderson would deal with matters back at the wreck. And he knew, too, that the petty officer would never report to higher authority that Grimes had wandered away from the work in progress. What was it that he, Anderson, had said once? “You’ll be a captain, and higher, while I’m still only a C. P. O. Why should I make enemies?” Then, when asked why he, himself, did not put in for a commission, he had replied, “I like things the way they are. I enjoy reasonable standards of comfort and authority without responsibility. A junior officer has responsibility without authority.”

The Princess Marlene was swimming away now, slowly. She paused, made a beckoning gesture. Should he follow? Yes. To hell with it, he would. He said, “Chief Petty Officer Anderson.”

“Sir?”

“One of the . . . er . . . local ladies has offered to take me on an inspection of the lake bottom. It could be useful. Let me know when you want me.”

“Very good, sir.”

As Grimes followed the girl it was not the lake bottom that he was inspecting.

He caught up with her. One of the silvery miniature torpedoes dashed toward him threateningly, then suddenly (in response to a telepathic command?) sheered away. He said, “You have vicious pets, Your Highness.”

“Not vicious, Mr. Grimes. Just faithful.”

“That’s an odd word to use about machines.”

“These, like our watchbirds, are more than mere machines. They have organic brains. These pilot fish of mine, for example, are essentially the small but highly intelligent cetaceans of Algol III with mechanical bodies.” She must have read his expression. “Come, come, Lieutenant. There’s no need to look so shocked. This is no worse than the dog’s brains used by your Psionic Radio Officers as amplifiers. Not so bad, in fact. Our watchbirds and watchdogs and pilot fish have freedom to move about in bodies which, in fact, are rather superior to their original ones.”

“It’s . . . it’s not the same.”

She laughed scornfully. “That’s what I’ve been telling you, my good man. One of your poodle’s brains in aspic would sell its soul for the motility enjoyed by our guardians.”

“Is that what you call them?”

“That is the general term. Yes.”

“And their prime function is to protect their owners?”

“Their only function. Yes.”

“So if I . . . tried to attack you?”

“It would be the last thing you ever did, Mr. Grimes.”

He laughed grimly. “I don’t think I’ll try it out, Your Highness.”

“You’d better not. But would you like a demonstration?”

“Not on me.”

She stopped, holding herself stationary in the water with gentle movements of her long, graceful limbs. She pointed with the hand holding the gun. “Look! Do you see the rock ogre?”

“The
what?
I see something that looks like a slime-covered rock.”

“That’s it. Perhaps the only really dangerous denizen of these waters. Native to Australis. Excellent eating, properly prepared. That’s why we introduced it.”

“It looks innocent enough.”

“But it’s not. Keep well back and watch closely.”

She swam toward the thing. Then, with explosive suddenness, three triangular flaps sprang back on the top of the rough shell and, uncoiling with lightning rapidity, a thick stalk shot out straight at the girl, a glistening limb tipped with a complexity of writhing tentacles and gnashing mandibles. Grimes cried out in horror and pulled his useless knife, but he was not fast enough, could never have been fast enough.

The pilot fish were there before him, flashing past him at a speed that, even under the water, produced a distinct whine. One of them dived into the orifice from which the stalk had been extruded, the other attacked the ogre’s head. It was over almost as soon as it had been begun. Mere flesh and blood, from whatever world, could not withstand the concerted onslaught of the little, armoured monsters. Only seconds had elapsed, and the girl was hanging there in the water, laughing, while the pilot fish frisked around her like dogs demanding an approbatory pat. An unpleasant, brownish mist was seeping up from the base of the stalk and from the debris of torn and severed tentacles, still feebly twitching, and broken mandibles at the head of it.