Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

'Well, is he? Name me one useful thing he's done so far.'

'My dear lady,' Johanson spread his arms, 'if an idea's worth having, what does it matter who came up with it?'

Oliviera grinned. 'That's how second-rate people try to kid themselves. Fine. Let him do what he wants – but I'm not convinced that it's useful.'

SEDNA

Anawak walked to the edge of the basin. The deck was still flooded. Delaware and Greywolf, in neoprene suits, were knee-deep in water, unharnessing the dolphins. The room was filled with noise. Aft, one of the Deepflight submersibles was being lowered from the rail, Roscovitz and Browning overseeing the process from the control desk. Slowly the vehicle sank towards the basin, touched down and rocked gently on the water. Light from the sluice shone up to the rippling surface.

'Taking the subs out again?' Anawak called.

'No.' Roscovitz pointed to the Deepflight. 'This baby's developed a quirk – a fault with the vertical steering.'

'Is it serious?'

'We need to check it over.'

'That's the one we were in, isn't it?'

'Don't worry. It's not your fault.' Roscovitz laughed. 'It's probably a glitch in the software. We'll have it ironed out in a couple of hours.'

A tide of water swept over Anawak's feet.

'Leon!' Delaware beamed up at him. 'Come and join us.'

'Excellent idea,' said Greywolf. 'I'd like to see you do something useful.'

'I have been,' Anawak protested.

'I bet.' Greywolf stroked one of the dolphins, as it nuzzled up to him and made chattering noises. 'Grab yourself a suit.'

'I only wanted to see how you are.'

'Very kind of you.' Greywolf patted the dolphin and watched it speed away.

'Any news?'

'We're about to send out MK7,' said Delaware. 'MK6 haven't noticed anything unusual since this morning when they warned us of the orcas.'

'And that was before any of the sensors noticed they were there,'

Greywolf added with pride.

'Yeah, their sonar is-'

Anawak got another soaking, this time from one of the dolphins, as it shot out of the water like a torpedo and showered him with spray. It seemed to be enjoying itself. It squeaked, poking its beak out of the water.

'I wouldn't bother if I were you,' said Delaware to the dolphin. 'Leon won't come in. He's not prepared to freeze his butt off because he's not a real Inuk. He's just a show-off. If he was a real Inuk he'd have-'

'OK, OK!' Anawak made a gesture of defeat 'Where's the damn suit?'

FIVE MINUTES LATER he was helping Delaware and Greywolf fit the second fleet with cameras and tags when he remembered something. 'Why did you think I was a Makah?' he asked Delaware.

'I knew you had to be some kind of Indian – you're not exactly blond and blue-eyed. But now I know the truth, well…' she beamed at him '. . . I've got something for you.' She fastened the strap round the dolphin's chest. 'I found it on the web. I thought you might be pleased. I learned it by heart. It's the history of your world.' She said it with a flourish.

'Wow.'

'Not interested?'

'Oh, he is,' said Greywolf 'Leon's dying to hear about his beloved homeland. He just hates to admit it.' He swam towards them, flanked by two dolphins. In his padded suit he looked like a sea monster. 'He'd rather be taken for a Makah.'

'You can talk!' Anawak protested.

'Don't argue, boys!' Delaware lay on her back and drifted. 'Do you know where whales, dolphins and seals really come from? Shall I tell you?'

'The suspense is killing me.'

'Well, it all started when people and animals were still one. Many years ago, a girl lived near Arviat.'

Now she had Anawak's attention.

'Where's Arviat?' asked Greywolf.

'It's the southernmost settlement of Nunavut,' Anawak replied. 'Was the girl called Talilajuk?'

'Yes,' Delaware said. 'She had beautiful hair, and all the men courted her, but the only one who could win her heart was a dogman. Soon Talilajuk became pregnant, and bore all kinds of children, Inuit and canine. One day, while the dogman was out hunting, a dashing birdman arrived in his kayak at Talilajuk's camp. He invited her to climb into his boat and, to cut a long story short, they eloped.'

'The usual.' Greywolf was inspecting the lens of one of the cameras. 'And when do the whales come into it?'

'All in good time. One day Talilajuk's father came to visit them, only to find the dogman howling because Talilajuk had gone. The old man paddled back and forth across the ocean until he found the birdman's camp. While he was still out to sea, he spotted his daughter sitting outside her tent. Well, he ordered her to go home, so she followed her father dutifully to the kayak, and they set off. It wasn't long before they noticed that the ocean swell was rising. The waves grew steadily higher, and a fearsome storm broke out. The waves washed over the boat, and the old man worried that they might drown. It was the revenge of the birdman, but Talilajuk's father had no desire to die. Since he was furious with his daughter, he reached over, grabbed her and flung her overboard. Talilajuk clung to the side of the kayak, but her father told her to let go. She held on all the more tightly. The old man went crazy with fear. He picked up his axe, swung it and chopped off her fingertips. They had barely touched the water when they turned into narwhal, her nails forming their tusks. Talilajuk still refused to let go, so the old man hacked her fingers down to the joints, and they turned into white whales – belugas. Still his daughter clung to the side. She paid for her stubbornness with the last of her fingers, and a pod of seals appeared. Talilajuk wouldn't give in. Even though her hands were stumps, she clung to the kayak, which was filling with water. The old man was terrified. He struck her in the face with the paddle, and she lost her left eye. She let go slowly, and sank beneath the waves.'

'Brutal customs they had back then.'

'But Talilajuk didn't die or, at least, not a normal death. She was transformed into Sedna, the spirit of the sea, and since then she's ruled the creatures of her realm. Stretching her mutilated arms in front of her, she glides through the water with only one eye. Her hair is as beautiful as ever, but she has no hands to comb it. That's why it gets tangled, and you can tell that she's angry. But anyone who manages to comb and plait her hair is granted the freedom to hunt the creatures of her kingdom.'

'I remember that story from long winter nights when I was little,' Anawak said softly. 'I heard it countless times, and it was never exactly the same.' He wondered what had made her dig up the ancient legend of Sedna for him. It seemed to him that she hadn't stumbled on it by chance. She'd been on the look-out for a story of the sea. It was a present, proof of their friendship. He was touched.

'Rubbish.' Greywolf summoned the last dolphin with a whistle, and started to attach the hydrophones and cameras. 'Leon's a scientist. You can't tell him stories about the spirit of the sea.'

'You two and your feud,' said Delaware.

'Besides, the story's all wrong. Do you want to know how it really started? There wasn't any land. There was only a chief who lived under water in his cabin. He was a lazy so-and-so who never got up – he just lay on the seabed with his back to the fire, which was kept alight with crystals. He lived on his own, and his name was Wonderful Creator. One day his attendant rushed in and told him that the spirits and supernatural beings couldn't find any land to settle on. They wanted the chief to do something about it, and be worthy of his name. The chief lifted two rocks from the seabed and gave them to his attendant with the instruction to cast them into the water. He did as he was told, and the rocks formed the Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland.'