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"That what you expected in your race of super-intelligent, space-faring extraterrestrials, Nate?" Poynter wiped blood from his lower lip and flung it at Scooter.
Carl Li
Qui
"It's been a pleasure, Doc," Poynter said. "Have a great trip."
"We'll see you back at base," said Poe. "Now, just relax. You're barely going to contact water. Hold your nose and blow."
Qui
Poynter counted, "One, two —»
"Meep."
Nate was sucked out the orifice, felt a brief chill and some pressure pushing back against his ears, and found himself in a chamber only a little taller than that in the humpback, with a fairly amused woman.
"You can stop blowing now," she said.
"Yet another phrase I didn't think I'd be hearing in this lifetime," Nate said. He let go of his nostrils and took a deep breath. The air seemed fresher than in the humpback.
"Welcome to my blue, Dr. Qui
"Pooped." Qui
"Cute," she said. "Come forward with me, Doctor. I'm sure it's been a while since you were able to stand up straight." She led him down the corridor, which reminded Nate of when, as kids, he and his buddies had explored storm drains in Vancouver. It was tall enough to walk in, but not tall enough to stand in comfortably.
"Actually, Cielle, I'm not a doctor. I have a Ph.D., but the doctor thing —»
"I understand. I'm captain of this rig, but if you call me 'Captain, I'll ignore you."
"I wanted to hear the humpback sing before I left. You know, from the inside."
"You will. There'll be time."
The corridor started to widen as they moved forward, and Nate was actually able to walk normally, or as normally as one can walk when barefoot on whaleskin. This skin had a mottled appearance, whereas on the humpback it had been nearly solid gray. He noticed that on this ship there were wide veins of bioluminescence on the floor, casting a yellow light up upward that gave everything a sinister green glow. Nuñez paused by what appeared to be portals on either side of them.
"This is as good a place as any," she said. "Now, turn sideways and take my hand."
Qui
"WHAT?"
"Okay, Scooter, roll it."
"Scooter?"
"All pilots are called Scooter or Skippy. They didn't tell you?"
"They weren't very forthcoming with information."
"Humpback crews are a bunch of yahoos." Nuñez smiled. "You know the type, like navy fighter pilots topside? All ego and testosterone."
"I got more cretin than yahoo," Nate said.
"Well, with that particular bunch, yes."
The whole corridor started to move.
"Here we go, step, step, step, that's good." They were walking across the walls as the ship rolled. When they were standing on the ceiling, the roll stopped. "Nice, Scooter," Nuñez said, obviously communicating through some sort of hidden intercom. Then, to Nate, "He's so good."
"We were upside down to make the transfer?"
"Exactly. You're a smart guy. Look, these are cabins. She touched a lighted node on the wall, and a skin portal folded back on itself. Again Nate was put in mind of the blowhole of a toothed whale, but it was so big, nearly four feet across, it was just… u
"Bone," Nuñez said, noticing him noticing. "They're as much a part of the ship as the walls. All living tissue. There are shelves and cubbyholes for your stuff in the bulkheads, closed now. Obviously everything has to be stowed for little maneuvers like the one we just performed. The motion isn't as bad as on the humpbacks. You'll find you'll get used to it, and then you can move about just as if you were on land."
"You're right. I didn't even notice we were moving."
"That would be because we're not," said Nuñez.
The sound of whaley-boy snickering wheezed down the corridor toward them.
"You guys are supposed to be working," Nuñez said to the air. "Prepare to get under way." She turned to Qui
"You're offering?" Qui
"Don't pee all over yourself, Qui
The corridor opened up into a large bridge. The head of the blue was huge compared to the humpback's. On either side of the entry a whaley boy stood gri
Nate paused and gri
"Actually, Bernard and Emily 7," said Nuñez.
"You said they all were —»
"I said all pilots were named Skippy and Scooter." She gestured to the front of the bridge, where two whaley boys sitting at control consoles were turning in their seats and gri
"What are you two gri
The pilots frowned and turned back to their consoles.
"Well, crap," Nate said.
"What?"
"Nothing, just another theory shot in the ass."
"Yeah, this operation does that, doesn't it?"
Nate felt something stirring in his back pocket and spun around to see a thin, fourteen-inch-long pink penis that was protruding from Bernard's genital slit. It waved at him.
"Holy moly!"
"Bernard!" Nuñez snapped. "Put that away. That is not procedure."
Bernard's unit drooped noticeably from the scolding. He looked at it and chirped contritely.
"Away!" Nuñez barked.
Bernard's willy snapped back up into his genital slit. "Sorry about that," Nuñez said to Nate. "I've never gotten used to that. It's really disconcerting when you're working with one of them and you ask them to hand you a screwdriver or something and his hands are already full. Coffee?"