Voyage Sable Keech(Pb) by Neal Asher

Author:Neal Asher [Asher, Neal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Polity Universe
ISBN: 9781405001410
Google: Bv0CAgAACAAJ
Goodreads: 2170017
Publisher: Tor
Published: 2006-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

12

Ocean Heirodont: like the whales, these creatures long ago abandoned the land to return to the sea. Only forty-seven species have been catalogued, for they have obviously not well survived competition with the vast oceanic leech population. They are cast in the same mould as Terran fishes and cetaceans: on the whole, those with horizontally presented cetacean tails are herbivorous, whilst those with sharkish tail fins are predators. They grip their food in mandibles, be that kelp stalks or a struggling turbul, and feed it into the grinding bony plates in their throats. The largest kind can grow half again the size of a blue whale and is a carnivore. Its favoured prey is giant whelks, if it can drag them from the bottom. But even something so large is subject to the predation of giant leeches, sometimes losing a ton or more of flesh to one in a single strike. The only relief these creatures can find from leech attack is to drop below the depth leeches are able to reach, but they must perforce return regularly to the surface for they are air breathers. But even when they go deep enough to avoid leeches, they might still be attacked by giant prill—

From high up, Sniper observed the Skinner’s Island, checked his position by internal tracking, then dropped out of the sky like a brick. He hit the sea in a foamy explosion, and two smaller splashes followed him. Not waiting for the other two drones, he engaged his supercavitating field, opened his tractor drive to full power, and arrowed down into the depths in one sonic explosion. Collapsing the field over the required coordinates, water friction knocked his speed down by half, then he used his drive to decelerate further before putting all his detectors at maximum range. Immediately he picked up wreckage: pieces of exotic metal, the remains of a thruster nacelle—detritus from the Prador ship. He checked the coordinates again, but they were correct. Down below was a cavity in the sea bottom, cut through with the slowly filling burrows of giant packetworms. Despite his earlier discussion he had expected, in his metal heart, to find the Prador ship still here, and some other explanation for recent events. The ship was gone.

‘I see,’ said the Warden, once Sniper had updated the AI over a U-space link.

‘There’s a fading silt trail,’ Sniper continued. ‘I might be able to follow it.’

‘Yes, I noticed that, but I wonder about the underwater shock waves you are currently generating.’

Sniper observed Eleven and Twelve slowly approaching. ‘I should think,’ he said acidly, ‘that a Prador light destroyer might be more of a danger to the environment than my shock waves.’

‘Very well, Sniper, continue your pursuit, but keep me continuously apprised of your location. I will inform Earth Central of the situation.’

‘What?’

‘One must consider recent events in the Third Kingdom.’

‘Oh, so coring human beings is okay now?’

‘Keep me informed, Sniper.’

The link cut and Sniper hung in the depths mulling over the exchange. Things had changed.

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