But there was work to be done. The Observer slid into the water and swam quickly toward the place where the other unit had been left. The job would take both of them, and both the buds they would be producing shortly, in the unlikely event that these proved, to be viable copies.
The injured unit was still where it had been left, moving slowly around in the thicket of seaweed and occasionally ingesting a mouthful. Bones sympathized; staying in one place and learning nothing, as had happened in the Hemenway jail for so long, was a hideous experience. It was not surprising that the smaller unit, spotting the other’s approach, showed that it could still swim rapidly. The pair embraced briefly, and then left the thicket, swimming at their highest speed toward the south.
South, to the shore where it was closest to Hemenway. Fast, because they must get there before the human vandals. They must reach the Delinquents’ laboratory before it was destroyed and its contents lost. They knew what to salvage; Kahvi had told them that. They knew why it had to be rescued; Earrin, indirectly, had told them that. They remembered the way.
Even if they were seen coming ashore, it shouldn’t matter; they could travel much faster than people.
No one who saw them would know what they were doing, until too late.
And once the reducing culture was safe, they would go into hiding. Their buds would grow, and separate, and either receive memory or be eaten for safety’s sake; and while this was going on, the reducing cultures would grow. Presently there would be enough so that seeding could be expected to take, and spread.
A world with an oxygen atmosphere was interesting even when its existence and qualities could only be inferred. A real one could be watched directly, and the new things to learn would be endless.
The two units swam faster at the common thought.
CONTENTS
Delivery, Delayed
Cooling, Carefully
Morals, Mostly
Unknown, Unless
Captive, Curiously
Invaders, Indefinitely
Captured, Conditionally
Doubt, Duplicated
Arson, Aggravated
Contretemps, Confused
Experiment, Educational
Menace, Misunderstood
Peregrination, Painful
History, Hazily
Debate, Directed
Action, Antagonistic
Mail, Melanic
Variations, Violent
Mystery, Metallic
Answers, Applied