Titan 5 - Over a Torrent Sea by Star Trek

Author:Star Trek [Star Trek]
Language: deu
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2011-02-06T10:07:05.880000+00:00

CHAPTER E LEVEN

SHUTTLECRAFT MARSALIS

Tamen Gibruch stared out at the endless ocean outside the Marsalis’s forward port, so unlike the wide, arid savannas of Chand Aad, and yet so similar in some ways. Here, as everywhere, life vied for survival, embracing every possible strategy—predation, social cooperation, flight, concealment—whatever it took to gain a march over oblivion. That, Gibruch reflected, was the impetus that drove Titan’s crew now, in their unrelenting search for a captain and chief pilot who were probably crushed to paste at the bottom of the ocean. Even when failure was nearly certain, they never gave up. It was a quality Gibruch admired, and one he had seen in Starfleet many times, most of all during the Borg invasion. They may not have had anything growing from the backs of their heads save hair and the odd gill crests or spines, but in their own way, Starfleet people had trunks.

But the instinct for survival drove the life of Droplet as well, and in recent days it had compelled the squales to overcome their timidity and swim closer to the aquashuttles, facing them down threateningly, restricting their movements (at least in the water) beyond the floater colony they’d made their base. They hadn’t attacked yet, still keeping a moderate distance, and Gibruch suspected they might retreat if pressed. But Commander Vale wasn’t ready to test that, feeling they had been antagonized enough.

Instead, Gibruch’s team was assigned to make one more effort to communicate with the squales. Y’lira Modan had taken over Lavena’s role of spokeswoman, brushing up her Selkie for the task; but her dense body structure made her a poor swimmer, so she was relying on hydrophones and submerged speakers, something the squales did not appreciate. It was not going well. Apparently this was a pod consisting of hermaphroditic “mothers” and their children, rather than one specializing in research or governance (if they had governance; the science staff was still uncertain of that). It wasn’t the ideal type of pod to try to communicate with, but it was what they had at the moment. Huilan had volunteered to go out into the water and try his luck; but Gibruch was reluctant to send out the bite-sized counselor under current conditions. In the three standard days since the impact—nearly five Dropletian days—the animal life of the planet had been agitated, aggressive.

“Don’t worry,” Huilan told him. “I can take care of myself. At worst, you can keep a transporter lock on me and beam me to safety.”

“I admire your determination,” Gibruch said. “But my duty is to keep you safe.”

“Our duty is to find the captain and Lavena, if we can. And to try to make amends for our mistakes here. We can’t do that without talking to the squales.”

“That may have to wait,” Y’lira told them, listening to her earpiece. “I’m picking up chatter from the squales. It sounds like a predator alert.”

“Confirmed,” said Eviku at the science console. “I’m picking up something approaching the squale pod. It’s big.”

Soon Eviku was able to call up a magnified image on his screen.

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