Suddenly aware of the restrictions in his movements, the small size of Starfarer, Zev felt closed in. Orcas could travel a hundred kilometers in a day. He was on board a vessel a few kilometers in circumference, twice that in length. Its ocean took up only a narrow ring along one end. Swimming hard through the cold water, anxious to meet J.D., Zcv passed the source of the chill current: a small glacier, flowing and dripping down one narrow angle of the cylinder's end. Zev swam as fast as he could. Bits of ice, calved by the glacier, bobbed on the waves. They were too small to be icebergs, or even ice floes. They were ice cubes, nearly freezing the water, chilling the air. His breath steamed.
Zev was not arctic adapted. Divers had discussed adapting themselves for polar life, but Zev liked the temperate climate of the Puget Sound wilderness. During most seasons back home, the water was cold. But not this cold. He had never swum in such cold water before. His body reacted, his metabolism kicking into high gear, pumping out heat as fast as the cold drained it.
The webs between his fingers paled as his capillaries contracted, conserving heat within his body. He pushed himself to keep going. He could hear the end of the cold water, not very far ahead: his searching voice echoed against the rough interface where the cold current plunged beneath the warm gulf stream.
In the distance, J.D. swam toward him. But she was slower than usual. She was swimming plus-spin. She would feel as if she were going uphill.
Zev asked Arachne if the current was always this cold, and found that the computer web was attempting to solve the problem of the unseasonably warm weather. He began to shiver, deep and hard. He called out to J.D.
She answered, greeting him, teasing him. New energy propelled him.
J.D. heard Zev's call. She replied to him, caressing him with her voice. She heard a change in the water.
She paused for a moment to look ahead. The surface turned from soft blue to dark, dense blue. Zev was fifty meters past the boundary. She did not know what the difference was until she plunged into the frigid current. She gasped and nearly stopped, kicked her metabolic enhancer, and ploughed into the swirling mix of currents.
Zev swam doggedly forward, his stroke rough and noisy instead of smooth and silent.
"Whew!" J.D. said in true speech. "It's cold over here! "
She flip-tumed beside him and matched his speed and direction. She laughed in delight at the change from plus-spin to minus-spin, as if she had caught a wave.
She swam very close to Zev, letting her motion pull him along. Zev let his arms relax against his sides, and rode J.D.'s strength through the rough boundary.
They broke out of the cold, into a current so warm it felt tropical. Zev whistled in pleasure and relief, spiraled out of J.D.'s wake, and let himself sink.
J.D. sank beside him, immersing herself in the heat. "Are you okay?"
"Just cold," he said.
"Your hands are freezing!" She chafed his chilly fingers, then rose with him to the surface, expelled her breath, and drew in fresh air. She wished she had the artificial lung that had aided her when she lived with the divers. She had left it back in the wilderness. Zev had lent the lung to Chandra, then released it.
J.D. put her arms around him. He held her tight, his head on her shoulder. They drifted downward again.
"You rescued me!" Zev said.
"Nonsense." She blew a stream of bubbles at him. "You were all of thirty meters from the gulf stream."
"I.didn't know it would be so cold," he said. "Or maybe I wouldn't have swum all the way around."
"It was cold back there, wasn't it?" J.D. said.
Zev warmed up quickly.
"Do you want to rest?" J.D. asked. She felt full of energy, exhilarated with the effort of the swim.
"No," he said. He grinned. His eyes were bright. "It's good to know everything isn't safe on Starfarer. "
They surfaced and sidestroked against the warm current, facing each other. J.D. let her fingers caress Zev from collarbone to groin. She kissed him.
He had just learned to kiss. She explored his lips and his sharp canine teeth with her warm, soft tongue, then reluctantly drew away.
"Come on, let's go meet Victoria."
"Do we have to use land manners?" Zev said.
"No," J.D. said. "Not here. Not at all."
Victoria was a strong but inexperienced swimmer. J.D. had not wanted to criticize her, but she lost a lot of the power of her stroke because she did not know exactly how to place it. She churned valiantly ahead. J.D. was impressed that she had kept swimming through the open water, rather than heading to shore and waiting in the shallows.
Zev dove. The pressure of the water caressed J.D. as he passed her. He swam close beneath Victoria.
He startled her: she stopped swimming and trod water, kicking hard. He surfaced. Victoria grinned at him, and then, to J.D.'s surprise, jackknifed and dove beneath them both. Victoria's back touched J.D.'s knees, her feet. She surfaced, sputtering water. J.D. faced her, astonished, delighted, and Victoria flicked drops of water from her fingertips into J.D.'s face. Zev circled them both, reaching out with quick touches of his long-fingered hand, his sharp-clawed toes.
J.D.'s body produced energy, heat, adrenaline. She dove, swam between Victoria's feet, and kicked toward the surface. She slid up behind Victoria, stroking her from her heel up her leg, along her buttocks and her spine. Victoria turned to catch her. Their bodies pressed together.
They sank beneath the surface. Bubbles escaped from J.D.'s mouth and nose, tickling Victoria's face.
Victoria broke away and kicked toward the surface. J.D. and Zev rose beside her.
"It's okay," J.D. said. "We're right here."
"I know," Victoria said. She was apprehensive, but not panicked. "It's too deep for me. Let's go closer to shore."
"I wish we had swimming lungs," J.D. said. But even artificial lungs were not the same as swimming free, like a diver.
Victoria set out toward a calm, sandy cove, a small sheltered beach, making good speed despite her thrashing swimming stroke. Zev glided up beside her and J.D. swam on her other side, helping draw her along.
"Swim smooth," Zev said. He showed her a good surface stroke. "You won't get tired so fast, and you won't attract sharks."
"Sharks!" She took in a mouthful of water and sputtered it at him. "There aren't any sharks! The biggest predator is tuna fish."
"Maybe you'll attract tuna fish," he said.
J.D. deliberately put some splash into her swimming stroke. "I love tuna fish," she said. "Is this all I have to do to get one?"
Exasperated, Zev dove. J.D. felt him swimming below her. Soon she noticed that Victoria was swimming more smoothly.
The bottom shoaled up beneath them. The water was blue and clear and warm, the bottom bright with coral and fish.
"It's so beautiful here," J.D. said.
Victoria turned to float face down, her eyes open, gazing into the bright water. J.D. dove beneath her and swam face to face. She reached up. Tentatively, they touched hands. J.D. let herself rise. She kissed Victoria, quick and soft. Zev joined them, brushing his hand up Victoria's back and down across her small breast, her dark nipple. He dove between them, stroking them both with his body and his hands.
J.D. spun out and surfaced to breathe. The sea bottom shoaled up again. The coral gave way to soft bright sand.
They reached a spot where Victoria could stand. The water reached to her shoulders. J.D. came up behind
her. The sea buoyed J.D.'s heavy breasts. She put her arms around Victoria. Victoria turned and drew her down to kiss her, deep and long.
"Is this how divers play?" Victoria whispered, holding her, pressing her body close to JDA.