Weapon from the Depths
Jazia told her with an attention to time and detail which Ross and his for her breed. She had the death and of all which was her life, and yet she had the to note and record for possible use all that she had been able to see of the raiders.
They had come out of the sea at dawn, walking with and of any fear. Axes when they did not reply to the sentries' had touched them, and a of had been aside. They proved to any the Rovers had. Men who to use or ax hand-to-hand had fallen, they were in distance, under of fire from the carried.
Rovers were not or easily cowed, but in the end they had from the five invaders, gone to ground in their halls, to their ships, only to die as they ran and hid. The had been and entire, Jazia in the hill as the only survivor. She had for the of the day, the killing of a fugitives, and that night had to the shore, one of the ship's which was in a well away from the main of the fairing, out to sea in of meeting the with her warning.
"They there on the island?" Ross asked. That point of her puzzled him. If the object of that had been only to up trouble among the Hawaikan Rovers, one against the other, as he had when he had to Torgul's report of happenings, then the star men should have as soon as their mission was complete, the to call for in the direction. There would be no to of their true identity by lingering.
"When the was there were still lights at the hall, and they were not our lights, did the them," she said slowly. "What have those to fear? They can not be killed!"
"If they are still there, that we can put to the test," Torgul grimly, and a from his officers out his determination.
"And all the of you?" Ross coldly. "I have met these before; they can will a man to them. Look you—" He his left hand on the table. The of were plain against his skin. He no way of home the of with the star men than providing this example. "I my own hand in fire so that the of it would work against their upon my thoughts, against their that I come and be easy meat for their butchering."
Jazia's out, across his old as she into his eyes.
"This, too, is true," she said slowly. "For it was also pain of which me from their last snare. They by the and I saw Prahad, Okun, Mosaji, come out to them to be killed as if they were in a and were drawn. And there was that which called me also so that I would go to them though I called upon the Power of Phutka to save. And the answer to that came in a way, for I as I from the and cut my arm on the rocks. The pain of that was as a knife the net. Then I for the and that calling did not come again—"
"If you know so much about them, tell us what we may use to them down!" That came from Vistur.
Ross his head. "I do not know."
"Yet," Jazia mused, "all which live must also die sooner or later. And it is in my mind that these have also a they and fear. Perhaps we may and use it."
"They came from the sea—by a ship, then?" Ross asked. She her head.
"No, there was no ship; they came walking through the as if they had some road across the sea bottom."
"A sub!"
"What is that?" Torgul demanded.
"A type of ship which goes under the waves, not through them, air its for the of the crew."
Torgul's narrowed. One of the other captains who had been from the two gave a of disbelief.
"There are no such ships—" he began, to be by a from Torgul.
"We know of no such ships," the other corrected. "But then we know of no such as Jazia saw in operation either. How one upon these under-the-seas ships, Ross?"
The Terran hesitated. To to men who nothing of the way of with a was close to impossible. But he did his best.
"Among my people one in a a great power. Then the is near the and—"
"And how," in the captain, "do you know where such a ship lies? Can you see it through the water?"
"In a way—not see, but hear. There is a machine which makes for the captain of the above-seas ship a picture of where the or moves so that he may its course. Then when he is near he the and the power free—to also the sub."
"Yet the making of such and the of the power them," Torgul said, "this is the result of a knowledge which is than any save the Foanna may possess. You do not have it?" His was statement, question.
"No. It took many years and the knowledge of many men among my people to make such containers, such a device. I do not have it."
"Why then think of what we do not have?" Torgul's return was decisive. "What do we have?"
Ross's came up. He was listening, not to anything in that cabin, but to a which had come through the port just his head. There—it had come again! He was on his feet.
"What—?" Vistur's hand over the ax at his belt. Ross saw their on him.
"We may have now!" The Terran was already on his way to the deck.
He to the rail and whistled, the thin, he had for he had this adventure.
A dark water and the was as Tino-rau answered his call. Though Ross's powers with the two was very from Karara's, he the message in part and around to the Rovers who had after him.
"We have a way now of learning more about your enemies."
"A boat—it comes without sail or oars!" One of the pointed.
Ross vigorously, but no hand from the skiff. Though it came onward, the three its goal.
"Karara!" Ross called.
Then by with Tino-rau were two wet heads, two as the water—Karara and Loketh.
"Drop ropes!" Ross gave that order as if he than Torgul commanded. And the Captain himself was one of those who moved to obey.
Loketh came out of the sea and as he over the rail he had his ready, looking from Ross to Torgul. The Terran up empty hands and smiled.
"No trouble now."
Loketh up his mask. "So the Sea Maid said the ones reported. Yet before, these for your blood on their blades. What magic have you worked?"
"None. Just the truth has been discovered." Ross for Karara's hand as she came up the rope, her across the rail to the where she unmasked, her and looking around with a curiosity.
"Karara, this is Captain Torgul," Ross the Rover who was round-eyed at the girl. "Karara is she who with the ones, and they her." Ross to Tino-rau. "It is Taua who the skiff?" he asked the Polynesian.
She nodded. "We from the gate. Then Loketh came and said that ... that...." She paused and then added, "But you do not to be in danger. What has happened?"
"Much. Listen—this is important. There is trouble at an ahead. The Baldies were there; they the of these men. The are they there by some of sub. Send one of the to see what is and if they are still there...."
Karara asked no more questions, but to the dolphin. With a of Tino-rau took off.
Since they make no plan of action, the captains to wait for Tino-rau's report and to well out of of the until it came.
"This in magic," Ross to Karara, "has one advantage. The able to take in their the the will for us."
"They have their on the sea; for it they must have a respect. Perhaps they know, as did my people, that the has many secrets, some of which are to the of life which their homes there. But, if you this Baldy sub, what will the Rovers be able to do about it?"
"I don't know—yet." Ross not tell why he to the idea that they do anything to at the force. He only that he was not yet to the that in some way they could.
"And Ashe?"
Yes, Ashe....
"I don't know." It Ross to admit that.
"Back there, what at the gate?" he asked Karara. "All at once the to go crazy."
"I think for a moment or two they did. You nothing?"
"No."
"It was like a fire through the head. Some device of the Foanna, I think."
A defense to which he was not sensitive. Which meant that he might be able to that gate if none of the others could. But he had to be there first. Suppose, just Torgul be that this attack on the Kyn Add was useless. Would the Rover take them to the Foanna keep? Or with the and the Ross himself return to make the try?
That he make it on his own, Ross doubted. Excitement and will power had him up the past Hawaikan day and night. Now closed in, past his and the built-in of the Terran rations, to him in a haze. He had been against this reaction, but that was just another item he had pushed out of his mind. The last thing he now was Karara move through a cloud.
Voices beyond, the of that more by than any Ross understand. He was out of a too for any to trouble, and to see Karara once again. There was a in his arm—or was that part of the about him?
"—four—five—six—" she was counting, and Ross himself joining in:
"—seven—eight—nine—ten!"
On "ten" he was and that she had the they had been in using, him a shot. When Ross sat up on the narrow there was a light in the and no of day the porthole. Torgul, Vistur, the two other captains, all there ... and Jazia.
Ross his to the deck. A pep-shot was already beginning, but would wear off soon. There was, however, a of in the cabin, and something must have Karara to use the drug.
"What is it?"
Karara the medical into the case.
"Tino-rau has returned. There is a in the bay. It energy on a beam."
"Then they are still there." Ross the dolphin's report without question. Neither of the would make a mistake in those matters. Energy shoreward—power for some type of unit the Baldies were using? Suppose the Rovers a way of off the power.
"The Sea Maid has told us that this ship on the of the harbor. If we it—" Torgul.
"Yes!" Vistur his against the end of the on which the Terran still sat, the dull, drug-borne pain in Ross's head. "Take it—then turn it against its crew!"
There was an in all Rover faces. For that was a game the Hawaikan understood: Take an enemy ship and turn its against its in a fleet. But that plan would not work out. Ross had a healthy respect for the knowledge of the invaders. Of he, Karara, Loketh might be able to the sub. Whether they then her was an different matter.
Now the Polynesian girl her head. "The there—Tino-rau it as lethal. There are fish in the bay. He had at the entrance. Without a shield, there will be no way of in."
"Might as well wish for a bomb," Ross and then stopped.
"You have of something?"
"A shield—" Ross her words. It was so wild this of his, and one which might have no of working. He almost nothing about the of the invaders. Could that which protected the and the of the be destroyed? A of fish—sea life in there as a ... wild, yes, so wild it might work. Ross the idea, speaking more to Karara than to the Rovers.
"I do not know," she said doubtfully. "That would need many fish, too many to and drive——"
"Not fish," Torgul cut in, "salkars!"
"Salkars?"
"You have the on this ship. That is a salkar. Such are larger than a hundred fish! Salkars in ... they might this ship with their weight and anger."
"And you can these near-by?" Ross to take fire. That which had him—the of the thing was well above any other sea life he had here. And to its he give testimony.
"At the reefs. We do not at this season which is the time of the taking of mates. Now, too, they are easily so they will attack a cruiser. To them at present is a loss, for their skins are not good. But they would be for were they to be disturbed."
"And how would you them from the to Kyn Add?"
"That is not too difficult; the here." Torgul lines with the point of his on the table top. "And here is Kyn Add. Salkars have a great at this time. Show them and they will follow; will they bait."
There were a great many in the plan which had only a of working. But the Rovers upon it with enthusiasm, and so it was set up.
Perhaps some two hours later Ross toward the land of Kyn Add. Gleams of light on the well to his left. Those must mark the Rover settlement. And again the Terran why the had there. Unless they that there had been three out on a and for some they were to make a complete mop-up.
Karara moved a little to his right, Taua them, the dolphin's super their and warning. The of the had departed, Loketh on to with Tino-rau in the water. Since the male was the best to provide a for hounds, he was the for this expedition.
"No farther!" Ross's a against his body. Through that he took a which sent him back, away from the entrance.
"On the reef." Karara's him on a new course. Moments later they were out of the water, though the wash of over their was constant. The among which they were a from which they see the as a dark blot. But they were well away from the in the through which, if their plan succeeded, the would come.
"A one-in-a-million chance!" Ross as he put up his mask.
"Was not the whole Time Agent project on just such chances?" Karara asked the right question. This was Ross's of venture. Yes, one-in-a-million had been off by the Time Agents. Why, it had been close to those against their what they had along the of time—the spaceships.
Just this be a for another attack? If the be to the of the Baldies, they also be used against the Foanna gate? Maybe.... But take one at a time.
"They come!" Karara's Ross's shoulder. Her hand was hard, rigid. He see nothing, nothing. That must have come from the dolphins. But so their plan was working; the of the Hawaikan sea were on their way.
