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Kelp lights winked out all around thelutted with shredded fronds and torn vines
"Sister Kelp," Elvira said, following his gaze across the tumultuous surface, "she retracts, saves herself"
"Elvira, I don&039;t want to hear that &039;Sister Kelp&039; crap I want to get us out of here"
"Overflights!" she warned, and pointed to two specks at ten o&039;clock off the port cabin Her hands autoines remained still
"Jammed," she said, her face impassive and dazed "Silt an kelp in the niters"
"Don&039;t sweat it, Elvira," Rico said He patted her ares If they carried all that payload, they&039;re short on fuel At least we&039;re not dealing with a bunch of ot Elvira a towel out of one of the lockers
"Here," he said "Dry yourself off, change into a new dive suit Wesick"
She took the towel, and it see back
"Flattery can track a one-seater coracle frouys can&039;t set down out here, and with Crista Galli aboard they don&039;t dare blow us up Meanwhile, we&039;ve got to get her and Ben to so medicine, and fast"
Two sonic boohts dove in on them and pulled out Rico could make out the pilots&039; faces as the tiny aircraft flashed past
"They&039;re young, Elvira, did you see that? With their whole lives ahead of them they chain theru so in a hatchway somewhere Didn&039;t their ry, Rico, and they&039;re hungry now"
Rico glanced at Elvira with surprise He was accustorunts for reply She was already out of her restraints and fighting the toss of the foil,out there again," he said "The seas are a h here"
"You will calm down," she said, and it sounded like an order Elvira peeled off her dive suit and toweled off her finely toned musculature with the candor typical of Mermen "Care for the others I will clean out the filters"
As she slipped into a fresh suit, Rico realized he&039;d been aroused at the sight of Elvira&039;s pale body Even her thumb-sized nipples seemed muscular in the chill He would never approach Elvira, both of them knew that, but the surprise of his arousal reminded Rico of Snej, and how ical thing, he knew He ticked off a list of priorities
Ben and Crista, he thought Keep the Monitor the radio, prepare for surprises by Vashon security
Elvira swept past hiht the pitch and roll of the foil to the lockers and pulled out threeby handholds in the bulkhead back to the galley On his way, he listened to the crackle of the radio and the report froes away We have your fish, over"
"Roger, Skywatch We mark your position Our bird is launched ETA thirty ht
Their bird must be a foil, and a fast one
Not rooht have a few surprises for them
The radio continued to chatter about the condition of the Flying Fish and speculation on the occupants, but they were quickly out of range
Rico bent over Ben and saw that he was i, but his color wasn&039;t bad He put his cheek to Ben&039;sthe pulse at Ben&039;s neck, he noted that his partner&039;s heart was beating, but only a few beats per minute, His eyes were open, but still They looked dry, so Rico opened and closed the lids a few times to lubricate them, then left theet Ben into one of the dive suits
"We&039;re topside," he said, hoping Ben could hear "They threw soes at the kelp, but I think it&039;s just surface da the intakes Flattery&039;s people have a foil on our tail, they&039;ll be here in no tiroan froainst her restraints
"Your girlfriend&039;s coet into the code book and let Operations knohat&039;s going on Everybody else seems to knohere we are"
He sealed Ben&039;s suit and inflated the collar, just in case When Rico turned to Crista Galli, he saw that she was crying Her red-rimalley deck She seemed to be conscious and aware
"Can you understand me?" Rico asked In spite of her restraints, he remained well out of reach
She nodded
"Yes"
"Have you ever had this reaction before?"
"Yes" Her voice was slurred "Once Before he gave me shots I pretended to take pills, spit the "More of the same Maybe seizures It take a while" She added, in a slurred whisper, "Nobody&039;s everexcept Ben"
Rico noticed that the pupils of her eyes dilated and constricted wildly
Must be sos, he mused Damn that Flattery
"We are in the open," he explained, "and helpless You need to have a dive suit on in case we go into the water"
It flashed on hi, what Operations warned in their instructions: "Do not let her into the water Do not let her contact the kelp" This was speculation, precaution There would be no other choice if Vashon security showed up, there was no point worrying about it
"I can help you with it if you can&039;t do it yourself I&039;m sorry to say this, but I&039;d rather not touch you,"
He held the suit out to her at aret out of this harness," she said
Rico tapped the quick-release mechanism and she was free He recoiled from her, partly as a reflex, partly because the foil pitched his way
At this, she cringed away from him, her face even more pale and her jaw set
"And what do you think I am?" she asked
"I don&039;t know," he said "Do you?"
"I know that I don&039;t thin I can&039;t think that I do thi" She gestured lis," Rico said
He tried to keep the anger out of his voice She needed reassurance, not another ene, not yours"
Her tears, the way she looked at Ben seeenuine article
But look at what happened to Ben, he cautioned himself
"Get your suit on," Rico said "We don&039;t have much time"
Crista had to slip out of her dress to don the dive suit Rico knelt beside Ben, a hand on his forehead He n His breathing was er
Crista did not seem modest at all, nor did she look like a monster
Probably spent so et shy
Rico, like Ben, had been raised aenerally shy lot Rico ads he&039;d ever seen Again, he thought of Snej back at Operations, and sighed He planned to send ahatever he&039;d think of to say to Operations He turned back to Crista Galli
A little pale, he thought
She seeled just to pull her suit on and fasten the seals Her breathing was rapid and shallow Her forehead beaded sweat and she was still e Her eyes were doing their dilation trick and he noticed an uncontrollable treet back into your harness?" he asked
She shook her head
"No," she said, her voice weaker now "It&039;s startin"