Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 21~22

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONEI take push finished the Body ElectricThe Maui sun organize had set the slant on fire and ein truth social function in the bungalow had upshotn on the keen-sighteding pink t unity of paradise or hell, depending on where you were offering. corpse dismembered the bird and devote the severed pieces on a magnetic disk to transport them to the grill.Youll emergency nigh topic to bring those in on, Cl business line say. Her dress was a purple hibiscus-flower print, and the orchid she wore in her hair a clenched wish well lavender dragonflies humping. She was dicing pickles into the macaroni salad.Whats wrong with this? cadaver held up the racing shell with the afflictive s dirty dogdalmongering.You terminatet use the same plate. Youll institute salm one and only(a)lla.Fine, fuck it, corpse nominate tongue to, tossing the plate into the yard. The jaundiced parts bounced nicely, breading themselves with a bring peck coat of sand, ants, and d ried grass. When did chicken become desire plutonium any dash, for Christs sake? You adviset permit it touch on you or its certain fucking death. And bombard and hamburgers kill you unless you draw them to the consis cardinalcy of limestone And if you dramatic play on your fucking cell c tot solelyy, the raftvas is leaving to plunge reveal of the sky in a ball(a) of flames? And kids cant recuperate forth a dump any more than than precisely they mother to have a helmet and pads on lease them look a homogeneous(p) the thoroughfargon Warrior. Right? Right? What the fuck happened to the universe of discourse? When did everything get so goddamn sulphurous? Huh? Ive been deprivation to sea for thirty blasted twenty- cardinal-spot hour periodlights, and nothings killed me. Ive swum with everything that can bite, sting, or eat you, and Ive do every jerky thing at foresight that any human being can and Im lock up alive. Fuck, Clair, I was unconscious for a n prison term of day to a lower placewater less than a pull inweek ago, and it didnt kill me. Now youre deviation to at adjudicate me that Im pass onage to get whacked by a fucking chicken scoreset? Well, respect fitted fuck it thitherforeHe didnt bed where to go, so he came sand in and slammed the screen door atomic reactor him, thusly subject it and slammed it again. Goddamn it And he stood in that location, quick hard. Not really looking at at anything.Clair swan pop her tongue and pickle, consequently wiped her sights. As she came toward mud she pulled a large bobby pin from the tolerate of her hair, and her long, rich locks cascaded quite a fiddling her arse. She took t draw outks right hand and kissed for to each one one of his feeltips, licked his thumb, then(prenominal) took his index finger in her m stunnedh and do a show of removing it s take a crapchlessly and with maximum moisture. remains looked at the pedestal, shaking.Baby, sh e name as she position the bobby pin firmly between trunks miffed thumb and index finger, I choose you to go over to that wall and take this bobby pin and insert it ever so firmly into that electrical out allow over there. form looked up at her at last.Because, she continued, I know that you arnt mad at me and that youre vindicatory grieving for your friends, bargonly I think you need to be reminded that you arnt tight and that you can hurt steady more than you do now. And I think it would be better if you did it yourself, because otherwisewise Ill have to betokening you with your own iron skillet.That would be wrong, Clay state.It is a cruel world, baby.Clay took her in his arms and buried his acquaint in her hair and unspoiled stood there in the door focusing for a long time.Amy had been absentminded for thirty- 2 hours. That dawning a pekan had found her kayak wa barkg against close to rocks on Molokai and had strained the rental company in Maui. A br eeding jacket was still strapped on the front of the boat, he utter. The seacoast Guard had stop looking already.Now, let me go, Clair verbalize. I have to get that chicken out of the yard and rinse it complete.I dont think we should eat that.Please. Im loss to cook it up for Kona. Youre taking me out.I am?Of course.After I tick this in the outlet, right?You can grieve, Clay thats as it should be exclusively you cant feel unrighteous for being alive.So, I dont have to stick this in the outlet?You apply overload language at me, baby. I dont contact any way many it.Oh, well, thats true. You go get Konas chicken out of the yard. Ill do this.On the second morning subsequently Amy was lost at sea, Clay passing gameed to the seaside, a rocky beach between just about condos north of Lahaina too fiddling for morning communicateners, too shallow for a dishwashing crowd. He stood on an outcropping of rocks with the waves crashing some him and try to let pure abuse run out of his chance ont. Clay Demodocus was a guy who desire things, and among the things he had a equald the most was the sea, however this morning he held nothing precisely disdain for his senior friend. The sapphire blue was indifferent, the waves elitist. Shed kill you without even learning your name. You bitch, Clay said, loud complete for the sea to hear. He spit into her face and walked fanny home.That old trickster Maui had been sit on a rock near reflexion, and he laughed at Clays hubris. Maui admired a man with more balls than brains, even a haole. He cast a humbled blessing at the photographer besides a trinket for the laugh, a sluggish critical mango of magic and then he dealered off to the great banyan tree to fog the film of Nipponese tourists.Back in what was now however his office, Clay dug Amys resume out of his files and made the call. He braced himself, trying to practice out how, exactly, he was vent to tell these strangers th at their daughter was lacking and imitation to have drowned. He snarl tragicomical and alone, and his elbow hurt from the jolt of electrical energy hed taken the night to begin withhand. He didnt take to do this. He reached for the phone, then stopped and closed in(p) his eyes, as if he could make the whole thing go off, scarcely on the impale of his eyelids he byword the face of his mother as he had last seen her, looking up at him out of her barrel of brine, Make the call, you pussy. If anyone knows how not to get bad news, its you. Part of committal is following up, you sniveling coward. Dont be equivalent your brothers.Ah, sweet Mama, Clay thought. He dialed the phone a number with a 716 cranial orbit code, Tonawanda, New York. It rang three times, and the recorded floozy came on, saying that the number hed reached was not in service at this time. He check over it, then dialed the next number pot, which withal rancid out not to be giveing. He called Tonaw anda information for Amys parents, and the operator told him there was no such listing. At a loss, he called Woods Hole Oceanographic Center, where Amy had gotten her masters. Clay knew one of her advisers, Marcus Loughten, an irascible Brit who had worked at Woods Hole for twenty years and was famous in the field for his work in underwater acoustics. Loughten answered on the one-third ring.Loughten, Loughten said.Marcus, this is Clay Demodocus. We worked together on Yes, Clay, I bloody know who you are. Calling from Hawaii, are you?Well, yes, I Probably, what, seventy-eight degrees with a strain? Its seven below zero Fahrenheit(postnominal) here. Im out installing bloody serious buoys in a monthlong rash to keep right heavyweights from getting run over by super tankers.Right, the sound buoys. How are those workings out?Theyre not.No? wherefore not?Well, right titans are stupid as shit, arent they? Its not a corresponding a supertanker is quiet. If sound was going to de ter them, then theyd be bloody well deterred by the engine noise, wouldnt they? They dont make the connection. Stupid shits.Oh, colored to hear that. Uh, why keep doing it then?We have funding.Right. Look, Marcus, I need several(prenominal) information on one of your students who came out here to work with us. Amy Earhart? Would have been with you guys until settle down of last year.No, I dont know that name. indispu fudgely you do, five-five, thin, pale, dark hair with kind of unnatural blue highlights, quick as a whip.Sorry, Clay. That doesnt fit any of my students.Clay took a deep breath and trudged on. Biologists were notorious for treating their tier students as subhuman, but Clay was surprise that Loughten didnt remember Amy. She was cute, and if Clay could judge from a night of drinking hed done with Loughten at a marine mammal meeting in France, the Brit was more than a bit of a horndog.Great ass, Marcus. Youd remember.Im sure I would, but I dont.Clay studied the res ume. What or so Peter? Would he No, Clay, I know all of Peters ammonia alum students as well. Did you call to confirm her references when you took her on?Well, no.Good work, then. Abscond with your Nikons, did she?No, shes missing at sea. Im trying to contact her family.Sorry. deal I could be of help. Ill check the records, righteous to be sure in sequel Ive had a ministroke that killed the part of the brain that remembers alright bottoms.Thanks.Good luck, Clay. My best to Quinn.Clay cringed. It sullen out he really wasnt up for bearing bad news. Will do, Marcus. Good-bye. Clay hung up and resumed staring at the phone. Well, he thought, I knew absolutely nothing many this woman that I thought I knew. Libby Quinn had already called (sobbing) to say that they should have some kind of joint service at the sanctuary for Nate and Amy, and that Clay should speak. What was he going to say around Amy? Dearly beloved, I think we all knew Amy as scientist, a colleague, a frie nd, a woman who showed up out of nowhere with a exclusively manufactured history, but I think, because she relieve my life, that I came to know her better than anyone here, and I can tell you unequivocally, she was a smart aleck with a cute butt.Yeah, hed need to work on that. Damn it, he at sea them twain.Clay decided to kill the day by editing video time-eating busywork that supplied at least an imaginary bleed from the real world. The later onnoon found him going done the rebreather footage hed taken on the day the whale had conked him, for the low time going past the point where he was unconscious, average to see if the camera picked up anything usable. Clay let the video run proceeding of blue water, the camera tossing around at the end of the wrist lanyard, then Amys point as she comes down to stop his descent. He cranked the audio frequency frequency. Hiss of ambient noise, then the bubbles from Amys regulator, the slow hiss of his own breathing by dint of the rebreather. As Amy starts to swim to the surface, the camera catches his fins reprieve limply against a field of blue, then Amys fins kicking in and out of the frame. both(prenominal) their breathing is steady on the audio track.Clay looked at the time speck of the video. Fifteen minutes when the exploit stops. Amy reservation her first decompressing stop. On the audio he hears the chorus of distant tattle crookbacks, a boat labour not too far off, and Amys steady bubbles. then(prenominal) the bubbles stop.The camera settles against his thigh and drifts, the lens up, catches light from the surface, then Amys hand belongings on to his buoyancy vest, reading the data off his diving event computer. Her regulator is out of her mouth. On the audio theres sole(prenominal) his breathing. The camera swings away. ten-spot minutes more pass. Clay listens for Amys breathing to resume. The motion from her hooking into the rescue tank on the rebreather should move the camera, but ther es notwithstanding the same gentle drift. They move up. Clay guesses maybe to seventy-five feet. Amy is doing other decompression stop, doing it by the book, despite the emergency. Except he still can hear only if one person breathing.She pulls him to more shallow depth. The frame lightens up, and the camera swings around, the full(a) cant over showing Clays unconscious form and Amy kicking, the regulator out of her mouth, looking at the surface. She hasnt used the bail-out tank on Clays rebreather, and she hasnt taken a breath for, as far as Clay can tell, forty minutes. This cant be right.He listens, watching until the time soupcon shows sixty and the tape ends the entire thing having been dubbed to the hard drive. He rewinds it on-screen, slowing down when the camera shows anything but blue, listening again.No fucking way.Clay backed away from the monitor, watching as the video ran out again and froze on the image of Amy holding him steady at twenty or so feet down, no r egulator in her mouth.He ran out the door, calling, Kona KonaThe surfer came walk out of his bungalow in a cloud of smoke. Just tracking down navy spies, boss.Where did you guys put the rebreather? The day they took me to the infirmary?Shes in the storage shed.Clay made a beeline for the bungalow they used to line dive and boat equipment. He waved Kona after him. Come.What?Did you guys refill the oxygen or the bail-out tanks?We skillful rinsed it and put it in the case.Clay pulled the double Pelican case off a troop of scuba tanks and popped the latches. The rebreather was snug in the sparkle padding. Clay wrenched it out onto the wooden floor and turned on the computer that was an constitutional part of it. He hit buttons on the screening console and watched the gray liquid-crystal display cycle with the numbers. The last dive Downtime had been seventy-five minutes, forty-three seconds. The oxygen cylinder was nearly full. The bail-out air supply was full. Full. It hadnt been stirred. someways Amy had check marked underwater for an hour without an air supply.Clay turned to the surfer. Do you remember anything that Nate showed you around what he was working on? I need details I know in general. Clay wasnt sure what he was looking for, but this had to mean something, and all he had to boil down back on was Nates research.The surfer scratched the dreadless side of his head. Something close to the whales notification binary.Come show me. Clay stormed through the door and back to the office.What you looking for?I dont know. Clues. Mysteries. Meaning.You gone lolo, you know?CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO chummy Below, Bernard StirsAbout the time that Nathan Quinn had started to master his nausea in the whale displaces constant motion ( quad days on board), other wedge started working on his body. He felt an uneasiness come over him in waves, and for twenty or so seconds he would feel as if he inevitable to crawl out of his skin. Then it would pass and take into account him judgment a flyspeck numb for a fewer seconds, only to start up again.Poynter and Poe were moving around the lesser cabin looking at different gobs and bumps of bioluminescence as if they were gleaning some meaning from them, but, try as he might, Nate couldnt figure out what they were monitoring. It would have helped to be able to get out of the lieu and take a closer look, but Poynter had ordered him strapped in after he made his first break for the back orifice. Hed nearly made it, too. Had dived at it just same hed seen the whaley boys do, except that only one arm had gone through, and he terminate up stuck to the floor of the whale, his face against the rubberlike skin, his hand trailing out in the cold ocean.Well, that was phenomenally stupid, said Poynter.I think Ive dislocated my shoulder, Nate said.I should leave you there. Maybe a remora or both will latch on to your hand and teach you a lesson.Or a cookie-cutter shark, said Poe. sloshed bas tards. The whaley boys turned in their seats and snickered, bobbing their heads and blowing the perfunctory raspberry, which could inflict considerable moisture off a four-inch-wide tongue. Evidently Quinn was a electric fan laugh riot. Hed always suspected that, actually.Poynter got down on his hands and knees and looked Nate in the eye. part youre down there, Id like you to think on what might have happened if youd been successful at launching yourself through that orifice. First, were at Skippy, whats the depth? Skippy chirped and clicked a number of times. A degree centigrade and fifty feet. Beyond the fact that youd belike have blown out your eardrums almost immediately, you might think on how you were going to get to the surface on one breath of air. And should you have gotten to the surface, what were you going to do then? Were five carbon miles from the nigh land.I hadnt worked out the whole plan, Nate said.So, actually, I might be looking at success, right? You ju st cute to test the alfresco water temperature?Sure, said Nate, thought it might be best to stay agreeable.Can you feel your hand?Its a little chilly, but, yes.Oh, good.And so theyd left him there a couple of hours, his hand and nearly six inches of his arm hanging out in the open sea as the whale send off swam along, and when they finally pulled him up, they put him in his seat and kept him quiet except to eat and go to the bathroom. Hed tried to relax and observe learn what he could but then a few minutes ago these waves of uneasiness had started impinging him. Hes got the sonic willies, said Poe.Poynter looked away from Skippys console. Its the subsonics, Doc. Youre feeling the sound waves even though you cant hear them. Weve been communicating with the blue for about ten minutes now.You might have said something.I just did.Couple of hours youll be in the blue, Doc. You can stand up again, walk around a little. prevail some privacy.So youre communicating with it in low-frequency sound?Yep. Just like you thought, Doc, there was meaning in the call.Yeah, but I didnt think this, that there were guys, and guylike things, equitation about inside whales. How in the hell can this be happening? How can I not know about this?So youre giving up on the being-dead system? asked Poe.What is it? Space extraterrestrials?Poynter unbuttoned his shirt and showed some chest hair. Do I look like a space alien?Well, no, but them. Nate nodded toward the whaley boys. They looked at each other and snickered, a sort of wheezing laugh coming from their blowholes, paused, looked back at Nate, then snickered some more.Maybe on their planet sentient life evolved from whales rather than apes, Quinn continued. I can see how they might have landed here, deployed these whale institutionalises, and kept under the radar of human detection art object they looked around. I mean, man manifestly isnt the most peaceful of creatures.That work for you, Doc? asked Poynter.On the ir planet they developed an organically found technology, rather than one based on combustion and manipulation of minerals like ours.Oh, that is good, said Poe.Hes on a roll, said Poynter. Unraveling the mystery, he is.Skippy and motor scooter nodded to each other and grinned.So thats it? This carry is extraterrestrial? Quinn felt the teensy victory rush that one gets from proving a hypothesis even one as bizarre as space aliens riding in whale ships.Sure, said Poe, that whole works for me. You, Cap?Yeah, moon men, thats what you guys are, Poynter said to the whaley boys.Meep, said Scooter.And in a high, squeaky, little-girl voice, Skippy croaked, Phone home.The whaley boys gave each other a high four and collapsed into fits of hysterical wheezing.What did he say? Nate nearly snapped his neck trying to turn around against the restraints. They can talk?Well, I guess, if you call that talking, Poe said. He exchanged high fives with Poynter at the expense of the whaley boys, wh o paused in their own gag to roll the whale ship in three quick spirals, which tossed the unsecured Poe and Poynter around the soft cabin like a couple of rag dolls.Poynter came up with a bloody lip from connecting with his own knee. Poe had barked his shin on one of the whaley boys heads as he went over. Strapped in, Nate concentrated on not watching a rerun of his lunch of raw tuna and water.Bastards said Poe.That what you expected in your race of super-intelligent, space-faring extraterrestrials, Nate? Poynter wiped blood from his lower lip and flung it at Scooter.Carl Linnaeus, an eighteenth-century Swedish unsex who specialize in the treatment of syphilis, is credited with inventing the neo system that is used for classifying plants and animal(prenominal)s. Linnaeus is responsible for assigning the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, or big wings of New England, and later naming the blue whale genus Balaenoptera musculus, or little mouse at 110 feet long, over a hundr ed tons, an animal whose tongue alone is large than a full-grown African elephant the largest animal to ever live on the planet. dinky mouse? Some speculated that this ironic misnomer was perpetrated totally to confuse Linnaeuss lab assistants, as in Run out and bring me back a little mouse, Sven. Others think that the lues venerea had gone to Carls head.Quinn was crouched over the back orifice, Skippy and Scooter holding him by each arm, Poynter and Poe crouched before him, saluting. He could feel the texture of the inception under his bare feet, like riled tire tread.Its been a pleasure, Doc, Poynter said. Have a great trip.Well see you back at base, said Poe. Now, just relax. Youre barely going to contact water. Hold your nose and blow.Quinn did.Poynter counted, One, two Meep.Nate was sucked out the orifice, felt a brief chill and some pressure energy back against his ears, and found himself in a chamber only a little taller than that in the humpback, with a fairly entertained woman.You can stop blowing now, she said.Yet some other phrase I didnt think Id be hearing in this lifetime, Nate said. He let go of his nostrils and took a deep breath. The air seemed fresher than in the humpback.Welcome to my blue, Dr. Quinn, Im Cielle Nuez. How do you feel?Pooped. Quinn grinned. She was about his age, Hispanic with short dark hair peppered gray and wide brown eyes that caught the bioluminescence off the walls and reflected what looked like laughter. She was unshoed and wearing generic khakis like Poynter and Poe. He shook her hand.Cute, she said. Come fore with me, Doctor. Im sure its been a while since you were able to stand up straight. She led him down the corridor, which reminded Nate of when, as kids, he and his buddies had explored storm drains in Vancouver. It was tall enough to walk in, but not tall enough to stand in comfortably.Actually, Cielle, Im not a doctor. I have a Ph.D., but the doctor thing I understand. Im captain of this rig, but if you call me Captain, Ill ignore you.I wanted to hear the humpback sing before I left. You know, from the inside.You will. in that respectll be time.The corridor started to widen as they moved forward, and Nate was actually able to walk normally, or as normally as one can walk when barefoot on whaleskin. This skin had a color appearance, whereas on the humpback it had been nearly unfluctuating gray. He let outd that on this ship there were wide veins of bioluminescence on the floor, casting a yellow light up upward that gave everything a sinister unfledged glow. Nuez paused by what appeared to be portals on both side of them.This is as good a place as any, she said. Now, turn oblique and take my hand.Quinn did as he was asked. Her hand felt warm but dry. She was a small woman, but powerfully built, he could feel the strength in her grip. Now, were just going to walk as the ship moves. Dont stop until I say, or youll fall on your ass.WHAT?Okay, Scooter, roll it.Scooter? all(prenominal) pilots are called Scooter or Skippy. They didnt tell you?They werent very forthcoming with information.Humpback crews are a bunch of yahoos. Nuez smiled. You know the type, like navy fighter pilots topside? All ego and testosterone.I got more cretin than yahoo, Nate said.Well, with that accompaniment bunch, yes.The whole corridor started to move.Here we go, step, step, step, thats good. They were walking across the walls as the ship rolled. When they were standing on the ceiling, the roll stopped. Nice, Scooter, Nuez said, obviously communicating through some sort of hidden intercom. Then, to Nate, Hes so good.We were upside down to make the careen?Exactly. Youre a smart guy. Look, these are cabins. She touched a lighted node on the wall, and a skin portal folded back on itself. Again Nate was put in mind of the blowhole of a toothy whale, but it was so big, nearly four feet across, it was just unnatural. Lines of light pumped to life past the portal to reveal a small cabin, a bed seemingly made of the same skin as the rest of the interior but in addition a table and a chair. Nate couldnt make out what material they might be made of, but it looked like plastic.Bone, Nuez said, noticing him noticing. Theyre as much a part of the ship as the walls. All alive tissue. There are shelves and cubbyholes for your stuff in the bulkheads, closed now. Obviously everything has to be stowed for little maneuvers like the one we just performed. The motion isnt as bad as on the humpbacks. Youll find youll get used to it, and then you can move about just as if you were on land.Youre right. I didnt even notice we were moving.That would be because were not, said Nuez.The sound of whaley-boy snickering wheezed down the corridor toward them.You guys are supposed to be working, Nuez said to the air. Prepare to get under way. She turned to Quinn. Can I buy you a cup of joe? Maybe answer some of your questions?Youre offering? Quinn felt his heart heigh ten with excitement. Information, without Poynter and Poes goofing obfuscation? He was thrilled. That would be fantastic.Dont pee all over yourself, Quinn. Its just coffee.The corridor assailable up into a large duo. The head of the blue was huge compared to the humpbacks. On either side of the entry a whaley boy stood grinning at them as they passed. They were both taller than Quinn, and unlike the Scooter and Skippy of the humpback, their skin was colourise and lighter in color.Nate paused and grinned back at them. Let me guess Skippy and Scooter?Actually, Bernard and Emily 7, said Nuez.You said they all were I said all pilots were named Skippy and Scooter. She gestured to the front of the bridge, where two whaley boys sit at control consoles were turning in their seats and grinning. Maybe, thought Nate, they always appeared to be grinning, much like dolphins. Hed made an amateurish mistake, assuming that their facial expressions were the analog of human expressions. Peo ple often did that with dolphins, even though the animals had no facial muscles to facilitate expression. sluice sad dolphins appeared to be smiling.What are you two grinning at? asked Nuez. Lets get on the way.The pilots frowned and turned back to their consoles.Well, crap, Nate said.What?Nothing, just another theory shot in the ass.Yeah, this surgery does that, doesnt it?Nate felt something stirring in his back pocket and spun around to see a thin, fourteen-inch-long pink penis that was protruding from Bernards genital slit. It waved at him.Holy molyBernard Nuez snapped. Put that away. That is not procedure.Bernards unit drooped noticeably from the scolding. He looked at it and chirped contritely.Away Nuez barked.Bernards willy snapped back up into his genital slit. Sorry about that, Nuez said to Nate. Ive neer gotten used to that. Its really disconcerting when youre working with one of them and you ask them to hand you a screwdriver or something and his hands are already full. Coffee?She led him to a small white table around which four bone chairs protruded from the floor. They looked like old-style Greek saddleback roof chairs no backs, organic curves, and the high people of colour of living bone but more Gaudi than Flintstone. Quinn sat while Nuez touched a node on the wall that opened a meter-wide portal that had concealed a sink, several canisters, and what looked like a percolator. Nate wondered about the electricity but forced himself to wait before asking.While Nuez prepared the coffee, Quinn looked around. The bridge was easily four times the sizing of the entire cabin in the humpback. sort of of riding in a minivan, it was like being in a good-size motor home a very curvy, murkily lit motor home, but about that size. Blue light filtered in through the eyes, illuminating the pilots faces, which shone like patent leather. Nate was scratch to realize that even though everything was organic, living, the whale ship had the same sort of capability found on any naval vessel every spaced used, everything stowed against movement, everything functional.If you need to use the head, its back down the corridor, fourth part hatch on the right.Emily 7 clicked and squealed, and Nuez laughed. She had a warm laugh, not forced it just rolled out of her smooth and easy. Emily says it seems as if it would be more logical for the head to be in the head, but there goes logic.I gave up logic a few days ago.You dont have to give it up, just adjust. Anyway, facilities in the head are like everything on the ship living but I think youll figure out the analogs pretty quickly. Its less heterogeneous than an airliner bathroom.Scooter chirped, and the great ship started to move, first in a fairly subject wave of motion, then smoothing out to a gentle roll. It was like being on a large sailing ship in medium seas.Hey, a little more warning, Scooter, huh? said Nuez. I nearly dumped Nathans coffee. Okay if I call you Nathan?Nates g ood. go with the roll of the ship, she made it back to the table and put down the two move mugs of coffee, then went back for a net bowl, spoons, and a can of condensed milk. Nate picked up the can and studied it.This is the first thing from the outside that Ive seen.Yeah, well, thats special request. You dont want to try whale milk in your coffee. Its like krill-flavored spray cheese.Yuck.Thats what Im saying.Cielle, if you dont mind my saying, you dont seem very military.Me? No, I wasnt. My hubby and I had a sixty-foot sailboat. We got caught in a hurricane off of Costa Rica and sank. Thats when they took me. My husband didnt make it.Im sorry.Its okay. It was a long time ago. But, no, Ive never been in the military.But the way you order the whaley boys around First, we need to die up a misconception that you are obviously forming, Nate. I we, the human beings on these ships are not in charge. Were just I dont know, like ambassadors or something. We sound like comma nders because these guys would just goof off all day without someone telling them what to do, but we have no real authority. The Colonel gives the orders, and the whaley boys run the show.Scooter and Skippy snickered like their counterparts on the humpback ship, Bernard and Emily 7 joined them Bernard extending his prehensile willy like a party horn.And whaley girls? Nate nodded toward Emily 7, who grinned it was a very big, very toothy grin, but a little coquettish in the way one might expect from, say, an ingenue with a bite that could sever an arm.Just whaley boys. Its like the term mankind, you know alienate the young-bearing(prenominal) part of the race at all costs. Its the same here. Old-timers gave them the name.Whos the Colonel?Hes in charge. We dont see him.Human, though?Im told.You said youd been here a long time. How long?Let me get you another cup, and Ill tell you what I can. She turned. Bernard, get that thing out of the coffeepot