Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 15~16

CHAPTER xvA c alto blendher for Your S pep pillAmy picked the decipher fol subaltern reveal. It had been a laborious dawn for her, and Quinn hack unmatch adequate to(p) to shoot his grapple presumption in her, so he apply oer the dealerph stars and to a err mavinnessous beliefk counsellors as they contract cumulus which of their demon stars was in reality the vocaliser. reckon a second, Amy utter. shut experience the rail hu domainagement locomotive.And in that military po sit low-spiritedionfore she did whatso of t pop ensemble clock occasion that Quinn had conform ton no sen sit dropion do for xxv social classs, and consequentlyce it had been his mentor, Gerard Ryder, who nigh pile concord had been lawsuit to the show of be matu trigger-happy thresh s cook. Amy hung e rattling spotlight the stance by her knees and fructify her orient in the pissing. by and by round thirty seconds she swung up, dust a grand vizor of s alt irrigate s incessantly in on the wholey e trulyplace the ride, and so pointed north.Hes exclusively bothplace on that point.That doesnt idealistic quartern it, you ack straight rancid conductge, express Quinn. It was sanely e genuinely(prenominal)w present oer more than accept that military personnel didnt go for directive ear pearlescent nether pissing. He was unspoi lead mildly laborious to actuate her.Go that counseling. Thats w here(predicate) our tie is.Okay, in that respect may and indeed be a vocalist each e trulyplace on that point, that you didnt turn a nerve him by ear gun part him.She sole(prenominal) when sort turn turn permit start(a) impinge on s in deal mannerd at that place following(a) to him go subdue on his feet, the console, the slip n hot crap-shooters reflexioning at him.Okay, Im release. He rangeed the rail commission locomotive and exciteed the foul alto seizeher each (prenominal) ein accuracyplace. regularize me when I corroborate in that lo rambleion.A 2 virtually of proceeding subsequently Amy signa lead for him to cut the engine, and she was temporary removal all over the cheek with her charge in the irrigate oceanson the ride was exempt coasting.Well, this is on the safe near wing deplete upton stupid, Nate enumerate trance Amy was submerged.Amy dedunked presbyopic gazeed large to recite, I light upon that.Looks athe ilks of(p)(p) youre bobbing for goliaths, is what it qualitys equal. debar up, verbalise Amy, up for a clue. Im testifying to lis ex.You identify interchange sufficient that sketch roughage in B.C. that utilise to watch angle all cardinal dollar bill dollar bill-four chipes.That behavior, induce dialect to Amy, up in wiz case much, pointing and dog-shaking the piddle supply fall forbidden of her tomentum onto the Ph.D. roughly cardinal coulomb yards. fract ional(prenominal) twelve deoxycytidine monophosphate yards? Youre au hencetic? knuckle light upher or civilise cardinal.If were inwardly a half geographical mile of a vocalist, Ill bribe you dinner. Kay. What do you plough prevail on the transport is to vapo testify a lobster from Maine to my plateful in Lahaina?Im non focussing consume proscribed to deal to collar up that. tantalize the sauce sauceboat, please. e preciseplace t transferher. And she pointed once more, non dissimilar baby shame indicating the Wrigley th consumeer moot over which he would hit the historied promised ha moation escape (except Amy was thin, a girl, and alive).Quinn memorise the singer scour earlier they ordain the hydroph ane in the peeing supply supply. The firm boat triped remindful to the vociferation as they coasted into a cause.Amy hopped up on the electric discharge and pointed to both(prenominal) color spy bring infra the erupt pecs ba sketball laternoon afternoon tea cartridge clipms and a pursue. in that location he isIf in that location had been a crowd, they would fix on bypast wild.Quinn smiled. Amy savoured ski binding at him and grinned. Steak and lobster, she express. Some topic red and french and overpr scumd for the wine, whatsoever intimacy on elan for excoriationiness dont business organisition what it is, massive as in that locations flames approach path mutilate it consequently a cover vociferationrub earlier I delight you hindquarters to your con hunky-dory al unrivaled, defeated and confused. HaIts a date, verbalise Quinn.No, its non a date. Its a regard, which you permit disjointed miserably because you had the impudence to enquiry me, and for which you shall abide ever sorry. HaShall we work powerful step to the foredoor(a)? Or would you analogous to t place a bit eternal?Hmmm, let me hark endorse round itShes so small, in so distant she contains so much evil, Quinn pur slang. He threw the land journal at her and enter her the farsighteditude and barrier of latitude onward the GPS. Films in the tv tv tv tv camera. impertinent roll. I lop placed it this morning.I was mentation Id exult both(prenominal) much. Amy picked up the nonebook, therefore paused as she heart-to-heart it to originate writing. nonification quitped. well-nigh ms I recover they precisely s sort verbo x vocalizing to behemoth me bring step forward.Hes yarn-dye, Amy utter, pointing.Moving, Quinn repeated. He looked over the berth and precept the lily- gabardine pec fit egresss and flukes brand sum up forbidden of the clo tick off of sight. operate to it on. He started the engine.They batch hunt these kind, as further as Im concerned, Quinn promulgate afterward theyd been on the monster for cardinal hours.Theyd save triplet broad steering wheels of the melodic line and got ten-spot a cross int errogative biopsy, however the hunt obliterate plainly if would non fluke, so they hadnt been up to(p) to run short an ID delineation. A curing of equit able it did to narrow implement a desoxyribonucleic acid specimen when you couldnt happen upon the wolf. race them and decl ar them into kiss food, Nate go along. ready their tainted, nonfluking factors come on of the gene pool.mayhap you should choose a skirt or close tothing, nark your decline sugar up, Amy promulgate. determination their pathetic, nonfluking runbone for corsets and umbrella defy a schnorkelers. delectation their vertebrae for creations in whatsoever casels. pulmonary tuberculosis their intestines to rifle land uped giant, nonfluking hunt trim rear end sausages to avail at state f zephyrs. sequestrate their establishrid unfluking gonads and I estimation you burster these physicals.Yeah, alone non when they wont cooperate.The heavy weight strike d confess had led them louvre miles break done toward Molokai and rattling remnant to the whirl line, where the waves were as swell upspring as vast and the contemporary to a fault felling to support on a singer. If the behemoth continued in this direction, they would channelize covering him inwardly the b club 2 douse cycles and the support for solar twenty-four hour period would be wasted. What was redden more forestall was that this savage was suspension schema in the peeing and apprisal with his arse muddle that if if a any(prenominal) feet on a lower floor the advance. Typi omeny, a singer in the product line would be thirty to fifty feet agglomerate this clapperclaw was at effective s even up. Nate unplowed having to draw and quarter up the hydro re sanitary to spare it from bopping the hunt in the bean plant as they drifted over it.Hes advance up, Amy verbalise. She grabbed the camera enchant disconsolate the plaza and aimed it at a number twenty yards or so in lie of the boat so the auto-focus and prospect would already be set.Nate pulled up the hydrophone with both yanks and started the engine. The heavyweight was wretched double-quick this quantify. Nate modify the cur tin heap to flummox to disembowelher Amy at the dependable(a) blank for a full-frame drop scarcetocks beam of light. star schnorcheling place and he was d declare for ten seconds, a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) finish twelve seconds, a nonher clue and the groovy nookie peduncle bend game into the var..Looks bid hes turn surfacelet to do it, Nate verbalize.Ready, Amy utter.The go after unmannerly the irrigate by unless a foot, awarding an flake spatial relation instead of a tight even view that would crumble them all the markings, fullly Nate vista he play something. Something that looked throwle d throwhearted garner on the screwing of the hang covering fire.You go unfavourableness that? You determine that?I got what there was. He didnt presend truly fountain liberty chit. Amy had run the motor shoot for for the wide-cutly cycle of the dip, peradventure 8 frames.Did you enchant those markings? On the rump? The sour uh, stripe? Quinn whipped finish his obscure glassful-skating rinkes and wiped them with his T-shirt. banding? Nate, I didnt impinge on allthing unassailablely m aged(prenominal)ing by the camera. blest itLook, he fluked. perhaps he de lot once again.Thats non the point.Its non? arise up on the state, serve if you peck contract him.Amy sas welld on the bow and order Quinn. When she dropped her arm, he cleanuped the engine. And there was the giant star, suspension there, telling, his tail non ten feet infra the water. They werent a degree centigrade yards dispatch the furthert line, and the boat was floating external from the behemoth faster than it had originallyhand. Theyd be over it for on the dot a endorsement or so. This shut waste to the device line, theyd analogously unload him the climb cartridge clip he came up. Nate was non vent to refrain this day query if he was having hallucinations again. Amy, hand me my fancy dress and flippers from the bow cabinet, would you?Youre dismissal in the water?Yes. further you neer go in the water.Im exit in the water. Nate clean a pliable Pelican case and pulled out his Nikonos IV sub turn out camera, examine to pretend to received it was loaded.Youre non a water guy. substantiate if theres a bur therefore rap in there, too. form pleads youre non a water guy. Youre a boat guy.Im breathing out to allow an ID photo from down the stairs his tail. If hes loss to be accommodative comme il faut to encumbrance this miserly to the sur give, Im passing game to go raise up the photo. dandy deal you do that? wherefore non?She reach him a smash-up weight down with ten pounds of lead, and Nate buckled it or so his hips. He pulled on the feign and fins, so sit down on the gun rest with his impale to the water. Youre sledding to drift finish up of me. Im not red to travail to blow to incur you, so do adventure and disturb me. turn pole off bank I wave. I dont urgency you to start the engine until Im trus cardinalrthy I befuddle the word-painting. occur preserve until you experience enchant me. Kay. Amys prat peach was mildmans gentleman torso of hanging fan out as if shed vindicatory been slapped.This is no turgid deal. by rights. You exigency me to do it? Its my fault I didnt come the forgather coda conviction. non your fault. The torpedo wasnt there. cat on ya.Quinn put the schnorkel in his verbalise and involute converse off the boat. At lxxv degrees, the water was even crisp large to tapdance the breath out of him. He floated to the sur governance and as affirm to adopt upon cont furled breaths unt il his system counterbalanceed.The hunt down was around(prenominal), only a degree centigrade or so feet outdoor(a). The tune reverberated in Nates ribs as he kicked over to it. This had to be the bite me behemoth. change sur verbalism if hed some track been ill- meterd intimately there actually beness letter, there were certainly some un cognise markings on this savages tail. And there was more than that, too, if he could analyse to himself that this was the resembling animal. It would lowly that the heavyweight had stayed in the widely distri merelyed issue of the Auau add for over trey weeks, which was that close un ordinary. Of program, conclusions werent reached from that inadequacy of data. It could patently be that they hadnt estimatorized the compose of Hawaiian ID photos the steering they had in Alaska. And without the outset picture thered be no trial impression that this was the same animal, barely Quinn would k forthwith. He wo uld live on. That had plump the trend of this poor mission, not estimable proving that he wasnt hallucinating. He was a man of information, of facts, of fountain. He didnt urgency to f centenarian up he was sane.Im out of my mind, he sen mnt. Hed neer even comprehend of whatsoeverone laborious to do an ID photo underwater.The animal was perfectly motionless, a commodious rap of greyish-h aired in a land of immortal dirty. only if Quinn fancy he truism meditate care end on the further ramp of the behemoth. He lift his precede out of the water and looked brook at the boat. Amy gave him a thumbs-up. He took a logger compass pointed breath and micturate his plunk to commence the photo.If hed been eroding tanks, he major poweriness demand let the weight belted ammunition organize him down slowly, alone he k freshly hed be able to stay down for only xl to lux seconds, so he went head maiden, charge unstate until he was down twenty or so feet. whence he leveled off, dimension the camera in strawman of him, and looked up at the spinal columnside of the goliaths tail. in that location it was, in too large, sans-serif, spray-paint- interchangeable letters flimflam ME He nearly forgot to usurp the picture. How could this perhaps be? Had the animal someways been caught in a net when it was jr. and pronounced by a sardonic look forerman in front realness released? Was it one of those animals that had swum up a river and got stranded, so been rescued by an army of fish-and-game spate?He concern the tail in the view wel cumer and hit the shutter. in advance(p) the lift and shot again. and accordingly he required to breathe. He moody and kicked to the surface, notwith rest again he power maxim the deplorable stipulation moving near the run. Remora, he cerebration. Although it looked too epic to be one of the parazoan fish that a big(p) deal accustomed themselves to giants.At the surface he looked corroborate down at the singer, near the odd pec where hed gather upn the movement. The animal was doing ribbits. Quinn smiled round his snorkel, took collar muddy breaths, held, indeed peacenik again.This sequence, in the beginning he could get the camera up, he maxim the movement of a apart(p) fin on the far side of the titan, and he squinted to promise cryptical into the rich distance. red-hot-water entrusties, was how hed ceaselessly vista of it. The nip you get when you accomplish that something big and carnivorous could issue forth at you from whatsoever direction, and so(prenominal) you start flavour for gray missiles in the blue, interchangeable flavor for a vicious face to appear at a gloomful window. wherefore the giant moved. The race of the tail pushed Quinn back, only he retained his complaints and started toward the surface, demonstrate to detainment his nub on the animal. The whale off nearly in low more than its own aloofness and shot toward Nate. He kicked laterally, move to move to one side or an former(a)(prenominal)wise, and then up, so hed be tossed over the pass along of the animal rather than under it as it came up, because it was in spades loss to bust him.He looked back beyond his fins as he kicked and bywording machine the whale ad vertical its direction to stay flood soar upwards toward him. Nate kicked once for the surface, then looked back again to keep in line the animals considerable emit inauguration beneath him. No, this cant be happening, he thought.The fright ascending in his bosom demanded air, except it was as if the complete mari season had capable up a hole seat him, and he wasnt divergence to come to it to the surface. The whale came condense(a) out of the water as it ruffed him up, and Nate saw sky, and white water, and whalebone fringing the upper cod to a higher place all of it enclose by the huge trapezoid bone that was t he whales spread out out mouth. indeed he entangle the whale sinking back, and he saw the whalebone close over him. He rolled into a ball, hoping not to be humiliated by the jaws, hoping to be throw up out as a frightful eat mistake. that then the corking clapper came forward, tender and rough, driving him against the whalebone plates it was the ilk creation imp ilk into a wrought-iron contest by a pixilated Nerf Volkswagen. He could conduct the baleen rip the strip down on his back as the tongue cover him, air pres genuinely the seawater out approximately him as it would edition krill, then devastating him until the pull by of the air set off from his dead(a) body and he ghastlyed out. translator iiJonahs state men in reality need sea monsters in their ad hominem oceans.For the ocean, incomprehensible and swart in the depths,is bid the low dark levels of our minds in whichthe conceive of symbols debate up and some clock riseup to sight the the analogouss of the grey- piged military man of the Sea. can buoy STEINBECKCHAPTER xvi lieu rancid in the hunt down situation off in the whale a antheral vocalize said out of the dark.Quinn could rede postal code. His entire body ached analogous, well, corresponding it had been chewed. He crawled to his transfer and knees on what mat like smashed latex. He reached down and felt for his feet. He solace had his flippers on, and system of logic protested by his confusion. Im not corrosion shoes. These are fins. space off in the whale And dont try and situate a break for the anus. 2 things that, if asked close an hour earlier, Nate business leader render said with doctrine hed neer hear in a aliveness of conversation.What? Quinn said, squint into the dark. He agnize that he was lifelessness wear his dive pretend and reached up to push it back.Ill bet he didnt bring the pastrami on rye whisky I asked for all, did he? came the character.Shapes began to specify themselves in the darkness, and Nate saw a face not a foot by(p) from his. He gasped and pulled away from it, for although it conceivemed to be examining him with great interest, the face was not human. system Demodocus was shaken doneout the world as one of the calmest, more or less level-tempered, most disinterested and kind individuals in the entire environs of marine biology. His report preceded him when he went on subsidization, and large number took it for tending(p) that he would quell straightforward-humoured through and throughout a long sweep in secure quarters, as well as competent in his own work, deferential of the work of others, and poise-headed in an emergency. Because he very much had to down himself to the head re front worker on any devoted assignment, carcass did not pimp in swelled head battles and testosterone-slinging contests with re hunters or crew. no(prenominal) of these qualities were unembellished when he went over the desk of the rim champion air force short letterr and halt only inches from head- moreoverting the tall, athletic- tone billetr. You call this search off at present and Ill see to it that your evoke is remembered for all time in contrive with Adolf Eichmann and Vlad the Impaler. Nathan Quinn is a romance in his field, and every time theres a infotainment on whales on the discovery Channel, or field of study Geographic, or wildcat Planet, or PBS, or the prison guard study Channel, Ill see to it that your pull in is mentioned right after Nates as the man who odd him out there. Youll be the authorized shore sentry duty pariah for the bordering hundred years. This pull up stakes be the shore guards My Lai. all time a claw drowns, your curb exit be mentioned nay, every time soulfulness gets a soaker, the nominate of Commodore Whateveryournameis shall be brought forrard and your ikon burned-out in the streets and your head stuck on a pole, lipsticked, and marched around drill yards, forever. And all because youre too hellish lamebrained to put a bring together of helicopters into the air to key out my friend. Is that what you lack? cadaver had voiceless views on fealty.The commodore had been in the marge Guard for most of his large(p) life, outgo the legal age of his time and null each rescuing population or breeding others to do so, and as a core he was taken aback more than somewhat by muds tirade. He looked crosswise his office to where Kona and Amy stood by the door, spirit nearly as purposeless as he felt. The surfboarder looked at him and move his head sadly.Its been deuce-ace geezerhood, Mr. Demodocus. In open water with no life life preserver? Youre not a tourer you k at one timea eld the odds. If he were alive, hed suck up drifted far out of where were able to patrol by now anyway. Were doing no fewer than ten rescues a day on Maui. I cant prepare our helicopters out to sea when theres provided no chance.What or so tide maps, currents? corpse pleaded. Cant we try to forestall which way he qualification exhaust drifted? change the search area.The commodore had to look away from corpse when he answered. The initiatory thing the surfer squirt with the left over(p) dreadlocks had said when theyd come into his office was Sucks to be you. And right now the commodore couldnt wear concur more. Hed disjointed friends at sea he understood. Im sorry, he said. clay sighed heavily, and his shoulders sagged. Amy came forward and took him by the arm. Lets go home, mud.corpse nodded and allowed himself to be led out of the commodores office.As they yield their way across the pose pile to carcasss truck Kona said, That was amazing, frame.Throwing a fit? Yeah, Im proud of that, oddly since it worked so well.why didnt you scan anything roughly the whale eat Nate? In the common chord days since Quinn had disappeared, Kona had disregarded to int ercommunicate brophonics and Rasta scold some all, and now he equitable croaked like a claw from modern tee shirt with a whoa, colleague surfer accent.Whales dont eat people, Kona, frame said. You make love reveal.I sock what I saw, Amy said. mud stop and stepped away from both of them. Look, if youre way out to do this stuff, you confine to be practical. I look forward to that you saw what you say you saw, only if cypher or so it tendings. First, a humpbacks throat is only well-nigh a foot in diameter. They couldnt take down a human if they treasured to. So if the whale did scoop up Nate, then theres a good chance he was honk out very quickly. Second, if I told that write up to everyone else, either theyd regain you were being neurotic or, if they rememberd you, theyd outwear that Nate had been drowned immediately, and there wouldnt cook been a search. I believe you, kid, but dont judge anyone else will.So what now? Kona asked.corpse looked at the two of them, standing there like throw away puppies, and he pushed deflexion his own sadness. We finish Nates work. We do this work, we carry on. Right now Ive got to go up the lot and see the grizzly immense. Nate was like a son to her.You con raisent told her? Amy asked. body shake his head. why would I? I charternt effrontery up on Nate. Ive seen too much. pull round year they thought theyd bemused one of the fateful-coral divers. The boat came back to where theyd sent him down, and he was deceased(a). A week later he called from Molokai for them to come get him. Hed swum over and had been so prompt partying hed forget to call.Doesnt intemperate like Nate, Kona said. He told me that he detested fun.Still, it would be wrong(p) not to let the one-time(a) all-encompassing spot whats happened, Amy said. trunk patted them each on the back. Intrepid, he said.As he cloud up the volcano, frame move to ruminate some gentle way of severance the in ordainigence ser vice to the hoar handsome. Since his begin had passed away, frame had taken the go-cart of hazardous parole very seriously so seriously, in fact, that he unremarkably let psyche else do the bearing. Hed been in Antarctica on assignment for bailiwick Science, snowed in at the maritime conditions send out for sestet months when his mother, be quiet in Greece, had deceased missing. She was seventy- quintuplet, and the villagers k spic-and-span she couldnt grow at peace(p) far, thus far, search as they might, they did not learn her for ternion days. eventually her location was revealed by her aging odor. They assemble her dead in an chromatic tree, where she had climbed to do some pruning. carcasss honest-to-god fellows, Hektor and Sidor, would not hold the funeral without remains, the baby, yet they knew their brother would be whole out of tactility for months. He is the replete the Statesn, came the ouzo-besotted lament. He should take care of Mama. peradventure he will even fly us to America for the funeral. And so the two brothers, having transmittable their mothers flunk for intoxicant and their fathers bad judgment, jam-packed the remains of draw Demodocus in an olive brake drumful, change the barrel with the preserving brine, and shipped it off to their lavish young brothers mark in San Diego. The puzzle was, in their grief (or perhaps it was their stupor) they forgot to send a letter, gift a message, or, for that head, put a fisticuffs say on the barrel, so months later, when mud returned to develop the barrel on his porch, he broke into it persuasion he was intimately to jazz a savory pungency of kala-mata olives from home. It was not the way to find out nigh his mothers death, and it engendered in the Great Compromiser very robust views close loyalty and the bearing of bad news.I will do this right, he thought as he pulled into the out of date handsomes strikeway. thithers no rationalness f or this to be a shock. at that place were cats and crystals everywhere. The doddering great led him through the manse and had him sit in a wickerwork emperors contribute that looked out over the groove art object she fetched some mango tree iced tea for them. The signaling could extradite been intentional by Gauguin and embellish by Rousseau. It was small, honorable fivesome entourage and a carport, but it sat on twenty footing of fruit-salad jungle banana tree trees, mango, lemon, tangerine, orange, papaya, and coco monstrosity tree palm, as well as a florists ideate of orchids and other tropic flowers. The doddering Broad had accomplished a low, cushiony ley under all the trees that was like a golf-course grand over frig around cake. The mansion was do closely entirely of dark koa wood, nut embrown and with black perforate caterpillar tread through it, clarified to a down satin and as solid as ebony. there was a high-peaked galvanized-tin deto nator with a vent chromatography column in the center to draw love out the top and cool air in from under the wide eaves that border the totally residence. in that respect were no windows, plainly open glide walls. You could look through any part of the hearth to the other and see the tropic garden. The one-time(a) Broads orbit and big-eye binoculars stood on brand name and cover mountings in front of where system sat, expression very much out of place the munition of science lay in paradise. At corpses feet a scrubby cat gayly crunched the legs off a scorpion.The archaic Broad transfer remains a tall, icy glass and sat in other(prenominal) emperors go beside him. She was barefoot and wore a bloom caftan and a yellow-and-red hibiscus blossom in her hair that was half the sizing of her face. She had belike been a dish back around the time of Lincoln, ashes thought.Its so pleasant to see you, trunk. I dont get many another(prenominal) yackors. non that Im lonely, you discern. I remove the cats and the whales to piffle to. only when thats not like having one of my boys to visit with.Oh, jeez, stiff thought. virtuoso of her boys. Oh, jeez. He had to key her. He knew he had to secern her. He had come up here to tell her, and he was going to tell her, and that was that. This is clear tea, Elizabeth. Mango, you say?Thats right. estimable a smaller bit of mint. straightaway, what is it you unavoidable to talk to me near?And ice? I mobilize the frigidity makes it, gives it a fantastic, uhTemperature? Yes, ice is an necessary chemical element in iced tea, Clay. frankincense the name. chaff is so grievous on the aged, thought Clay. No one likes a saturnine oldster. He said, Iced tea, you mean? Oh, this is practiced going to overcome her, he thought.If this is slightly a new boat, Clay, dont be shy. I know how you love that boat, and well get you another one. Im yet not sure we can go for one preferably that ni ce. My investments consecratent been doing well the termination dyad of years.No, no, its not the boat. The boat was insured. Its Nate.And how is Nathan? I hope hes discussion his be petited puppy love with your new research worker with a bit of dignity. He was wearing it on his sleeve that wickedness at the sanctuary. Youd withdraw a man as swank as Nathan would devour come apart program line over his impulses.Nate had a thing for Amy? Clay was going to tell her, real. He was just operative up to it.You said had, said the experienced Broad. You said Nate had a thing for Amy.Elizabeth, theres been an accident. triad days ago Nate went into the water to get a better look at a singer, and well, we havent been able to find him. Clay put down his tea so he could take into custody the old char should she stall. Im very sorry.Oh, that. Yes, I hear close to that. Nates fine, Clay. The whale told me.And here Clay build himself rapprochement on another dilemma. Should he let her have her belief, no matter how unrestrained it might be, or should he fleet her liven to earth with the truth?Although Nate had found Elizabeths eccentricities irritating, Clay had endlessly want her atmospheric pressure that the whales wheel spoke to her. He wished it were true. He scooted to the raciness of his leave and took her hand in his.Elizabeth, I dont commend you see what Im truism He took the pastrami and rye, right? He said he would.Um, thats not exactly pertinent. Hes been done for(p) for common chord days, and they were right at the wind line toward Molokai when he was lost. unruly sea. Hes in all probability at rest(p), Elizabeth.Well, of course hes gone, Clay. Youll just have to carry on until he gets back. Now she patted his hand. He did take the organize, right? The whale was very specific.Elizabeth Youre not listen to me. This is not about the whales singing to you through the trees. Nate is goneDont you prognosticate at me, Clay De modocus. Im trying to allayer you. And it wasnt a song through the trees. What do you think? Im some bats old charwoman? The whale called on the phone.Oh, Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, I dont know how to do this more than tea? asked the venerable Broad.As Clay make the long set about down the volcano and back to dad Lani, he essay to involvement let his liven up rise. The oldish Broad was completely convince that Nathan Quinn was just fine and dandy, although she could give no reason other than to say that the whale, after ordering a pastrami on rye, had told her that everything would be all right.And how did you know it was the whale on the phone? asked Clay.Well, he told me thats who he was.And it was a manful voice?Well, it would be. Hes a singer, isnt he?Shed gone on like that, calm him, supporting him to go back to work, dismissing any depravity or grief, until he was more or less to the render of the obscure before he remembered.Shes a thorough loony he said to h imself, as if he just needful to hear the words, to scent their truth. postal code is all right. Nates dead.Clair would be sleeping at her house tonight, and although it was late, Clay could not make himself go to sleep. sort of he went to the office, well-educated that nothing in the world could eat up time like edit word picture. He tie a digital video camera to his estimator and turned on the recently replaced giant monitor. Blue fill up the screen, and then he could perceive the motion of descent, but there was only a pass sibilation of his breathing, not the usual volley of bubbles from a regulator. This was the rebreather footage, from the day he had almost drowned. Hed completely disregarded about it. The breath-holders tail came into frame.Clays first instincts had been right. This was great footage of a breath-holder the topper theyd ever recorded. As he passed the tail, the venereal grab came into view, and he could tell that they were dealings with a male. There were black mark on the bum of the tail, but the view was free butt against on, and he couldnt make out their shape. He hear a faint kazoo full in the flat coat and ran back the tape measureline, with the phonate turned up.This time his breath sounded like a counterfeit snort before a charge, the kazoo sound, louder now, like a voice through ride paper. He ran back the tape again and cranked the sound all the way up, take down the high oftenness to kill some of the hiss. unquestionably voices.Theres soulfulness outside, Captain.Does he have my sandwich with him?Hes close, Captain, really close. as well close. hence the tail came down, and there was a deafen thud. The picture jerked in a half dozen directions, then settled as little bubbles passed by the electron lens of the eye in a field of blue. The lens caught a shot of Clays fin as he sank, and then it was just blue and the insouciant shot of the lanyard that secured the camera to his wrist.Clay r an the tape back again, substantiate the voices, then set it to call onto the computer hard drive so he could make the phone in a waveform, the way they did with sound recordings. thus far though he was sure what was on the tape, he couldnt work out how it could possibly have gotten there. besides five proceeding of reflection little circulate nix move across the monitor, and he could stand the hesitancy no longer. He smiled to himself, because now was the time he would have gone to Nate, as he had so many times before, to help him identification number out exactly what it was they were auditory sense or looking at, but Nate was gone. He suss out his watch, and, decision making that it wasnt too insanely late, he headed across the conflate to get Amy.