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He cleared his throat. “Ah. Apologies, Commander. What are your orders?”

She clambered to her feet. “Vale to Marsalis. What’s your ETA?”

The response was barely audible through the static. “Ano…lve minutes, Co…der…. ld on.”

The ground jerked forward three meters and left her behind, landing her on her behind. “Easy for you to say,” she groaned.

Rising only into a crouch this time, she drew her phaser. Keru caught her gaze and nodded, raising his weapon as well. Ra-Havreii’s eyes widened. “It’s come to that, then?”

“I’m afraid so, Doc.”

“Do you think they’ll even penetrate those shells?”

“It’s what we’ve got.”

He nodded. “I understand.” He drew his own phaser and waited.

And waited.

It took a few moments for Vale to realize the ringing in her ears was from the sudden silence. She scanned her surroundings. The icebreakers were veering off, wending their way through the detached floater segments as they retreated from the remnant of the islet.

Evesh staggered out of the sensor shed, breathing hard. “They’re singing a new sound pattern. Part of it is a single Selkie word. ‘Yes.’”

Vale closed her eyes and lowered her phaser. Yes. Thank you, Aili Lavena. Thank you for everything.

CHAPTER S

EVENTEEN

TITAN

Riker climbed out of bed as Christine Vale entered, despite the attempts of Doctor Onnta and Nurse Kershul to keep him down. He was still weak, but he was tired of being off his feet, even if they would only support him for a few moments. “Any word on Deanna?”

Vale shook her head. “Not yet, sir.” His heart fell. “But the news from the surface is good.”

“The probes are being deployed?”

“Yes, sir. Lavena did an amazing job getting them past their fears. They’re letting us drop the probes—in fact, they’re even helping. It’s amazing—they’ve already figured out the deployment pattern we’re using, and they’re offering ways to improve it, based on their knowledge of the deep-sea currents. They may mythologize it, but I think they probably have a better scientific understanding of Droplet’s depths than we do. And Cethente’s actually beenthere.”

“Oh, yes, I heard about that. Is it back in one piece?”

“All four legs are reattached and healing nicely,” Onnta said. “Cethente should be back on regular duty within two days.”

“Good, good.” Riker looked back to Vale. “Aili didn’t come back with you?”

She shook her head, which was still tinged midnight blue. “She still needs to stay as an interpreter. But she asked me to send her best.”

He smiled. “She already gave me that. And more.”

After a moment, he realized the others were giving him a very strange look. “I…I didn’t mean that the way it sounded!”

“Oh, of course, sir,” Vale said. “I’m sure you were completely professional while you were naked together for nearly a week.”

“Hey, I had a thong! Unhh…” He suddenly felt dizzy, his feet giving way under him.

Vale was there, catching him and easing him back into the bed. “Uh-huh. Well, like the old punch line says, the thong is over but the malady lingers on.”

He stared at her. “I don’t remember. Were you always this sarcastic?”

She sighed. “Consider it a defense mechanism. This has not been a good week to be the one making the big decisions. I’m really glad to have you back, sir. Really glad.”

He smiled. “Thank you.” Then he cleared his throat. “Then…could you do me a favor?”

“Of course, sir.”

His eyes went to the top of her head. “I am…really sick…of the color blue.”

She laughed. “I’ll get on it right away, sir.”

“When you can spare a moment.”

DROPLET

It took two days to finish replicating and deploying all the probes, and another half a day before the squales began reporting that the dissonance was fading from their magnetic Song of Life. The Song was not fully restored yet, since it would take time for the dying barophiles to heal and the population to replenish itself. The Song would be subdued for a time, and might even be changed once it returned, since the attrition of some species in the dynamo layer might allow other, faster-reproducing species to gain an edge, altering the “orchestration” of the Song. But the squales saw the Song as an evolving thing, and were confident they and their fellow Dropletian life forms would keep up with the changes. When he came back down to Droplet, Riker told them they had the spirit of true jazz musicians.

“And you were amazing too,” he told Aili when he was reunited with her. “I’ve heard the recording…. I never knew you could sing like that.”

“Neither did I, sir,” she said from where she floated in the water, next to the scouter gig where he sat. She still hadn’t donned any clothing, choosing to “go native” as much for the squales’ comfort as her own; but she now wore a field-damped combadge on a choker around her neck, at least. He still wished she’d put something on, but over the past week, he’d come to associate the sight of her nudity with experiences that were less than pleasant, so it evoked no stirrings in him anymore. “But I guess after living with the squales for a time, learning to think and communicate like them, I couldn’t help but improve my singing.”