Kushtaka bristled at Murel's friendly interest. Tikka, however, answered immediately. She suddenly slipped out of her otter skin as if it were only a wrap.
Inside of it her skin was a smooth translucent gold, with an inner light that cast soft pastel colors over her. Like them, she had a head and a trunk, but four arms ending in long web-fingered hands and four legs ending in flippers. Her eyes were huge, blue green and somewhat prominent. From the middle of her forehead and extending down her back, a delicate fin waved and floated like a solid sheaf of gleaming hair.
Wow! Murel said. You're beautiful!
Tikka, change back this instant! Kushtaka demanded.
But why, Mother? You heard them. They like how we look in this form. And I like being able to use more than two legs and two arms at a time. Otter form is so inconvenient that way.
You know we must be discreet for the good of all. Your brother was supposed to be watching you. Where is he?
He wanted to see the humanoids and that new species that just arrived. They were on the sursurvu.
The what? Murel asked.
One of our surface surveillance viewscreens, Kushtaka told her. We are constantly studying this world around us, so of course we have sensors of all sorts to help us monitor our surroundings. That is how we realized your father and then you were in danger. It is also how we observed the sea otters enough to see that they are sociable, curious, and clannish, and would respond well to our presence if they were told we were distantly related.
Tikka jiggled all eight limbs impatiently during her mother's explanation, then said, Mother, Jeel was highly impressed by the new species. He liked their teeth. I did not. I don't think I've ever seen such ferocious-looking fish before. But he wants to inspect them more closely.
I hope you mean he's just zooming in with your device from here inside the dome,
Ronan said anxiously. He wouldn't be likely to go outside, would he? Your people don't ever leave here, do you?
Of course we do, Tikka replied. That's how we met the otters and learned to be deep sea otters. It would be way too boring to be cooped up here all the time.
Besides, we're supposed to be exploring and learning about new species, right, Mother?
Your brother went outside the colony without telling me? Kushtaka demanded, whiskers bristling.
Jeel could tell you were busy with your guests, Mother, and didn't want to interrupt, Tikka told her.
They would be the sharks that we were telling you about, Kushtaka, Ronan said.
They eat anything and anybody in their path, and these ones have been cooped up and hungry for a long time.
What's the quickest way out of here? Murel asked. We'll go fetch him back for you.
I will call him, Kushtaka said.
It's better if we go, Ronan tried to insist. Like we told you, the sharks know us and they won't hurt us. Truthfully, he was not all that sure how long shark gratitude lasted. But surely the shark-people refugees would have come with their aumakuas so they'd help control them if necessary.
Also, Murel said, picking up his train of thought even though it was a bit buried for anyone else to catch, there'll be humanoids with the sharks probably and they know us already. We could help hide Jeel so they wouldn't find out about your colony.
Very well, Kushtaka agreed reluctantly. But first we must clear your minds of this place.
How can we help get Jeel back here if you do that? Ronan protested.
He knows the way. If you must stay with him to protect him, you can follow him.
Okay, but hurry up. He's really in danger, honest, Murel said.
It is not a process that can be hurried, Kushtaka replied stubbornly.
Then for his sake let us go now. We won't tell. We promise. We didn't tell before.
You can wipe our memories when we get back if you want to, but if I were you, I wouldn't. You need somebody to warn you about dangerous stuff like this.
Kushtaka finally agreed. This is not according to our protocol, and I will have to answer to our security team for the breach. However, since the situation is an urgent one, I hope they will understand my unilateral decision to compromise. One of you may go to bring Jeel back, but the other one must stay here until Jeel is safely returned. To save more time, we will locate Jeel in the sursurvu so you can find him more quickly and bring him back. Your small companion otter may remain here too, for his own safety.
While Murel and Ronan argued about who would go and who would stay behind, Kushtaka beckoned them to follow. Thrusting her paws to her sides, she kicked her legs in a smooth undulation, and shot upward. She led them into a domed room at the top of the invisible dome enclosing the city.
Tikka, who had not bothered returning to otter form, took Sky's paw by the end of one of her beautiful web-fingered tentacles, and asked, Do you like to slide? See that building over there? It has a spiral slide all the way from the top of the dome down to the sea floor. He ran around her in excited circles as she led him away.
The room was surrounded by what seemed to be open sea, and for a moment the twins thought Kushtaka had changed her mind and led them to freedom. However, when she said Scan, the seascape outside changed so rapidly it felt as if the room were moving, racing in circles toward the surface.
As more light filtered through the water from the sunlit day above, the sharks prowled into view, swimming back and forth beside and behind the hull of a medium-sized boat. Periodically one or more of the sharks dived to scoop up a mouthful of fish, though it looked as if they'd prefer to bite something larger instead. Murel thought the off-limits prey-seal, human, and otter-would remain off-limits only as long as the sharks knew they were being watched.
Then the scene outside the room-though it seemed to be the room itself-swung around to the outside of the sharks and the boat, scanning it first near the surface, then back down again.
A sleek brown shape that looked amazingly small in the vastness of the sea was pumping its way toward the boat and the sharks.
There! Murel said. That's him, right? Call him back now!
He's out of range, Kushtaka said, frantically scanning from the sharks and the boat to her son and back again.
Can't you send your beam thing to get him? Murel asked. Jeel was already so close to the sharks that she doubted she could save him.
By the time we reset the beam, you could be there, Kushtaka said.
I'll go, Ronan said. Lead the way.
No, Kushtaka said. The female will go. It is well known that females among your species-both of them-are more ruthless fighters in defense of young-or in this case, my young. My son is the one in jeopardy because your species, of whom I gather your father is a leader, brought this peril to us. Therefore your father's son will stand surety for Jeel's return.
Murel shot a triumphant "So there!" look at her brother. It nearly masked her fear of returning to waters where other large predators had almost killed her a short time before.
Ronan would have argued, but there was no time. Jeel was on his way to be shark bait. If one of them-and Kushtaka had decided on Murel-didn't get the silly git back before he became a shark snack, Ronan didn't want to think what Kushtaka and her people might do.
Suddenly four of the big otter aliens appeared beside him, each taking hold of one of his flippers in one of their clawed paws as they carried him back down into the city.
Don't worry, Ro, Murel called after him, putting into her thought much more confidence than she felt. I'll be back with Jeel in no time.
Kushtaka guided her beyond the domed room, which looked solid from the outside, to a point somewhat higher where the sea enveloped the city. Then she dropped her otter form, revealing herself to be a larger version of her daughter. She waved a tentacle in front of her and then beckoned Murel forward. Murel felt a little resistance, as if she were penetrating some kind of membrane, then with a slight pop she was free in the cold salt water. Although the interior of the city dome had felt similar to the seawater, now that she was outside the enclosure the difference was marked. Although the water near the volcano was warmer than that closer to shore, it was still much chillier than inside the dome. Nor had the dome smelled as strongly of sulfur as the water out here did, despite the fact that the dome was near enough to a volcanic vent to draw energy from it.