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with a look of controlled anger about him. Bone-tired at the moment. But
controlling that too.
Jath drew the door shut behind Nile and the otter, took a seat near Doncar.
She held a degree of authority not far below that of the others here, having
spent four years at a Hub university, acquiring technical skills of value to
her people. Few other sledmen ever had left Nandy-Cline. Their forebears had
been independent space rovers who settled on the water world several
generations before the first Federation colonists. By agreement with the
Federation, they retained their inde-pendence and primary sea rights. But
there had been open conflict between the fleets and mainland groups in the
past, and the sleds remained traditionally suspicious of the mainland and its
ways.
Impatience tingled in Nile, but she knew better than to hurry this group. She
answered Pelad s questions, repeating essentially what she had told Jath.
You aren t aware of Dr. Cay s exact location? Pelad inquired. Ticos had
become a minor legend among the sled people who knew of his project.
Nile shook her head.
I can t say definitely that he s within four hundred miles of us, she said.
This is simply the most likely area to start looking for him. When I m due to
pay him a visit, I give him a call and he tells me what his current position
is. But this time he hasn t responded to his call symbol.
She added, Of course there ve been intensive communication interferences all
the way in to the mainland in recent weeks. But Dr. Cay still should have
picked up my signal from time to time. I ve been trying to get through to him
for the past several days.
Silence for a moment, then Pelad said, Dr. Etland, does the mainland know
what is causing the interferences?
The question surprised, then puzzled her. The interferences were no novelty;
their cause was known. The star type which tended to produce water worlds also
produced such disturbances. On and about Nandy-Cline the communication systems
otherwise in standard use throughout the Federation were rarely operable.
Several completely new systems had been developed and combined to deal with
the problem. Among them, only the limited close-contact band was almost
entirely reliable.
Pelad and the others here were as aware of that as she. Nile said, As far as
I know, no special investigation has been made. Do the sleds see some unusual
significance in the disturbances?
There are two views, Jath told her quietly. One of them is that some of the
current communication blocks are gromgorru. Created deliberately by an unknown
force. Possibly by an unnatural one. . . .
Pelad glanced at Jath, said to Nile, The Venntar has decreed silence in this.
But young mouths open easily. Perhaps too easily. We may have reason to
believe there is something in the sea that hates men. There are those who hear
voices in the turmoil that smothers our instruments. They say they hear a song
of hate and fear. He shrugged. I won t say what I think as yet I don t know
what to think. He looked at Fiam. Silence might have been best, but it has
been broken. Dr. Etland is a proven friend of the sleds.
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Fiam nodded. Let the captain tell it to our guest.
Doncar grinned briefly. Tell it as I see it?
As you see it, Doncar. We know your views. We shall listen.
Very well. Doncar turned to Nile. Dr. Etland, so far you ve been asked
questions and given no explanation. Let me ask one more question. Could human
beings cause such communication problems?
By duplicating the solar effect locally? Nile hesitated, nodded. It should
be possible. Is there reason to believe it s being done?
Some of us think so, Doncar said dryly. We ve lost men.
Lost them?
They disappear. . . . Work parties harvesting a float-wood island small
surface craft and submersibles in the immediate vicinity of floatwood. Later
no traces are found. Whenever this occurred, communication in the area was
completely disrupted.
To keep the men from reporting attackers?
That s what s suspected, Doncar said. It s happened too regularly to make
coincidences seem probable. You understand, Dr. Etland, that this isn t a
problem which affects only the Sotira sleds. There have been similar
disappearances near floatwood islands in many sea areas of late.
Nile asked for details, her mind beginning to race. She and Parrol were known
as accomplished trouble shooters. They considered it part of their job; it was
in Giard s interest to keep operations moving as smoothly as possible on
Nandy-Cline. The sledmen had benefited by that in the past, as had the
mainland. And trouble -man-made trouble was always likely to arise. The
planet s natural riches were tempting . . . particularly when some new
discovery was made and kept concealed.
This then might be such trouble on a large scale. The pattern of
disappearances had begun north of the equator, spread down through the Sotira
range. It had started three months ago. And the purpose, she thought,
presumably was to accomplish precisely what it had -accomplished to keep the
sleds away from the islands. For a period long enough to let whoever was
behind the maneuver clear out whatever treasure of rare elements or drugs
they d come across and be gone again.
No local organization was big enough to pull off such a stunt. But a local
organization backed by a Hub syndicate could be doing it
Gromgorru? Nile shrugged mentally. The deeps of Nandy-Cline were only
sketchily explored; great sections of the ocean floor remained unmapped. But
she had very little faith in unknown malignant powers. In all her experience,
whenever there was real mischief afoot, human operators had been found behind
it.
The others here were less sure. There was something like superstitious dread
unspoken but heavy in the air of this cabin, with the deck shuddering
underfoot and the typhoon howling and thudding beyond the thick walls. She
thought Doncar and Jath weren t free of it. Jath had acquired a degree of
sophistication very uncommon among the sledmen. But she still was a woman of
the sea sleds, whose folk had drunk strangeness from the mysteries of ocean
and space for centuries. Space life and sea life didn t breed timid people.
But it bred people who would not go out of their way to pit themselves against
forces they could not understand.
Nile said to Pelad, You spoke of those who hear voices of hate when the
communicators are blanked out.
The Venn s eyes flickered for an instant. He nodded.
Do the other-seeing Nile used the sledmen term for psi sensitives connect
these voices with the disappearances in the floatwood drifts?
Pelad hesitated, said, No. Not definitely.
They haven t said this is a matter men can t handle?
They haven t said it, Pelad agreed slowly. They don t know. They only know
what they ve told us.
So the witch doctors had suggested just enough to stall action. Nile said,
Then there may very well be two things here. One, what the other-seeing
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sense. The second, a human agency which is responsible for the present trouble
in the floatwood. What if the sleds learn that is the case?
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