Brightness Reef

Gybz agreed. “It has been treated with proper coatings — for clear vision in the pla

Ur-ro

“This last phase was delicate. Thank you, Gyfz, for the exquisite coatings!”

Ur-ro

That was urrish plains dialect for a master work. One qualifying the maker for craftsman status. It would take Ur-ro

None of the rest of us have started professions, or even decided what we want to do, I thought, a little jealously. On the other hand, urs have to hurry. They don’t get that much time.

I glanced at Urdo

You should know better, I thought, feeling a bit sorry for Urdo

To Ur-ro

“The glass was tested to withstand hydrostatic pressures exceeding those at fifty cords depth,” she commented with evident satisfaction. “And when you add the lanterns and other gear Uriel is kindly lending us—”

“Us?” Huck cut in, breaking the mood. She spun to face Ur-ro

Ur-ro

“I will… if I can.”

“Huck!” I chided. It was mean to rub Ur-ro

Gybz interrupted with another venting, this time pungent like rusty metal.

“If possible, an urrish presence will be called for.” The traeki seemed short of breath. “But even if that proves impossible, fear not. A member from Mount Gue

I had trouble following Gybz’s halting, accented Anglic. Huck and I shared a confused look.

“It is i/we… who shall part-wise accompany… this august group,” Gybz explained, wheezing through the topmost ring. With that, the traeki showed us something none of us expected, shuffling around to expose an oozing blister on its far side, halfway up the fleshy stack. It was no normal swelling, where the traeki might be making another tentacle or readying chemicals for the mill. A crack split the swollen zone, exposing something slick and wriggly within.

Staring, I realized — the traeki was vlen-budding before our eyes!

While the crevice widened, the Master of Mixes seemed to flutter. A complex gurgle of vaguely sickening noises accompanied something that began to emerge, slithering through the opening, then sliding down the traeki’s sloping flank, trailing loose fibers behind it.

“Gosh-osh-osh-osh-osh…” Pincer repeated in turn from each leg-vent, his sensor strip spi

Glistening with slime, the thing landed on the floor with a plopping sound and lay almost still, ripples coursing around its quadruple torus of miniature rings. Meanwhile, realignments quivered under the flaccid skin of the traeki parent.

“Not to … be concerned,” a somewhat altered voice burbled from the oration peak of the old stack of rings, “i/we adjust… reconfigure.”

Reassuring words, but everyone knows vle

“This newly detached self may be addressed — for the time being — as Ziz. To that word-phrase it might answer, if engraved training patterns take hold. After performing its function with merit, it may then return for augmentation as a candidate for full life. Meanwhile, it is schooled … to serve your quest, coming with traits you may require.”

“I don’t know.” Ur-ro

Huck muttered, “Gybz, what are we supposed to—”

The traeki. cut in.

“i/we no longer answer to that name. Our rings vote among ourselves now. Please do not speak or interfere.”

We fell silent, watching in awe as the creature literally wrestled with itself, within itself. A rippling seemed to rise from the base segment all the way up, terminating in a belch of yellow vapor. Waves flowed back and forth, crosswise as well as vertical. This went on for many duras, while we feared Gybz was about to tear erself apart.

Finally, the tremors lessened, then faded away. The traeki sensory organs refocused. Words bubbled from the puckered speech mouth, in a voice transformed.

“It is decided.

“Provisionally, you may call us/me Tyug and have good odds that this stack will answer…”

Another pulse of throbbing.

“That i will answer. Please inform Uriel that this thing is done. Furthermore, tell her that my/our major skill cores seem to be intact.”

Only then did I realize what had been at risk during the vle

Foolish me. I’d been worried the whole time about the poor traeki’s life.

Huphu slithered down my back and approached the new-formed traeki half-entity, which was already gathering an array of flipperlike feet under its bottommost segment, waving clumsy tentacles from its stubby top ring. The noor sniffed suspiciously, then settled back with a satisfied trill.

Thus Huphu was first to welcome Ziz — newest member of our band.

Now if only we had a human kid, we’d be a true six.

Omens can be good things, as any sailor knows. Luck is uttergloss. Fickle, but a damn sight better than the alternative.

I had a feeling we were going to need all of Ifni’s help we could get.