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mass hovering near it.
"Whhen willl you slowww swwwimmers underr-
standd?" Latehoht asked. "Underrstandd as do the
orrca and the porrpoisse, underrstandd as wwe hawe
comme to, thhat all liffe and all the questions of liffe,
hummman as welll as cetacean, arre interrelated.
Thhat all quesstions that so concerrn catodon allso
concerrn mann. Thhat we arre tied togethher on this
worrld byy ourr alienness to it."
Lumpjaw slid down into the water, keeping his eyes
above the surface. "Ah, Small Cousin, Is It Indeed,
Then The Porpoise Who Is The Greater Because He
Has Sense Enough Only To Play With Man And Not
To Deal With Him? What, Then, Would The Orca
Choose To Do? Have Hands And Feet And Walk
About On Land?"
There was a splash in front of the great catodon's
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gnarled forehead as another shape slid whippet-fast
past it.
"Ayye, arre you grreaterr in weight and lengthh.
Thhat does nott mean you knnoww the wayyy forr
yourrselves anyy morre than you do for alll. Do nott
attempt to speakk forr us, to coddle orr tease us,"
Wenkoseemansa warned, "forr you did nott act so
superriorr lo those manyy centurries ago on Earrthh,
and you arre no morre superriorr noww. We choosse
onlly to rrelate to mankindd. Nott to becomme as
menn."
Cora moved to stand close to Sam. "I thought
108 CACHALOT
you just said that cetaceans don't fight among them-
selves."
"Only verbally," he explained. "Some bad feelings
between catodon and orca have always existed,
though they're among the most closely related of all
the whales. I guess it goes back to the ancient times on
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Terra, when the orca packs would eat any great whale
they could kill. Just because the orca no longer eats
the catodon doesn't mean they've grown to love one
another. Respect, yes. They won't fight physically, but
they're not the best of friends. Don't forget that they're
cetaceans together, though."
"Enough Of This!" the irritated old whale roared.
"Enough Time Wasted! We Shall Not Help Thee," he
told Cora. "Not Because We Wish To Hinder Thee.
Understand That." He let out a long, modulated whis-
tle. In a wonderful demonstration of the unity of
thought the old male had talked about, three hundred
massive backs arched as one. Enormous flukes came
up, filled the surface with a temporary forest of gray-
brown flowers, and dipped into the ocean with
hardly a ripple as the herd vanished beneath the
waves.
In seconds it was as if they had never been more
than a dream.
VIII
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No
to violence marred their passing. They were sim-
ply gone.
"Simultaneous sounding," Cora murmured.
"Yes." Sam studied the surface. "They'll come up
to breathe somewhere far from here, where we won't
be around to disturb them. We could track them, of
course, but they wouldn't take kindly to that." He
smiled. "What the old one Lumpjaw said about
not fighting with man is very true. In fatal incidents
between the great whales and men on Cachalot, the
fault has always rested with the persistent stupidities
of the people involved. We won't make those kind of
mistakes."
"What about letting Wenkoseemansa and Latehoht
follow them?" Merced ran a hand idly along the rail.
"To what end?" Sam asked. "You heard their
leader. They know nothing about what caused the de-
struction of the towns."
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"Or they're not saying."
"That's possible," he conceded. "But you're still not
taking into account their massive indifference toward
mankind. That's genuine. They really don't care one
whit what we do or what happens to us as long as
we leave them alone."
Merced persisted. "Holding back information
wouldn't contradict their policy of ignoring us. At the
109
110 CACHALOT
same time it would passively encourage whatever still
unknown force is conveniently ridding their ocean of
humanity."
The big man considered that, then leaned over the
side. "She-Who-Rises-Above-The-World!" A head ap-
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