Noise by Hal Clement

Author:Hal Clement [Clement, Hal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf
Published: 2003-08-31T20:00:00+00:00

VII

Glissando

Wanaka did not respond to this suggestion, leaving both Mike and the child wondering whether or not it had been silly enough to cost points.

She also said no more about the forty-five-degree latitude limit. She had managed to scoop up several bits of the floating coral without destroying them, and spent hours during the next days as Mata was borne southward in examining them as closely and thoughtfully as possible. Sometimes she did this alone, sometimes she consulted with Keo or even Mike. ’Ao stayed at the masthead most of her waking time, since in a sense they were under way.

The ship’s equipment did include a small magnifying lens. This had failed to reveal individual grains of the still unknown metal powder, but did make barely visible the separate cells in the coral that apparently held air for flotation but which shattered completely all the way through a particular specimen if given even a slight excuse. The gas might not, actually, have been air, they all realized; destroying one under fresh water—the captain decided the knowledge might be worth the use of that commodity—produced sinking dust motes and rising bubbles, but there was no way to tell what either might consist of. If the solid was at all like any coral she or Keo had seen, it was probably some form of the carbohydrate-protein copolymer that even Mike understood composed lobster shells at home. All the adults could think of ways to measure the density of the dust and become more certain about this, but sadly all the ways needed delicate weighing equipment that was not to be had. Mata, like her parent, was a cargo craft rather than a research vessel. The seed from which she had grown had plans for a basic ship only, with only basic equipment. The seed had not reproduced itself; it had been provided by the original ship-growers as part of the original sale, quite expensively as Wanaka had plainly remarked once or twice. Mike, after hearing the captain describe the deal, had come to regard the seed as a sort of limited warranty, which had now expired. Without actually worrying, he now did feel a little more conscious of the personal risks he had casually accepted.

Another of the huge floating mysteries was sighted in the next few days. Wanaka steered Mata as close as even she dared, but that was not enough to let them see any significant difference from the first one. ’Oloa, on request, reported that they were just forty-five degrees from the equator, plus or minus its—or her, as Mike was beginning to think—current accumulated three-minute uncertainty, but Wanaka said nothing more about working back to city latitudes. Keo asked no questions, and Mike of course followed—or possibly had furnished—this example. ’Ao, he had decided, really didn’t care in the least where they went or how long they took, as long as she could earn an occasional few points toward adulthood. She was not exactly kept at the masthead by orders, but knew it was the most likely place to spot something useful.

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