Ocean on Top

Marie to come to the port, recognize me, get over whatever shock the recognition may have caused her and freeze up again.

She claims now that she was glad to see me for the first half second or so. She says she even yelled my name, in spite of my known feeling about that. By the time I was aware of my surroundings again, though, she was certainly showing no sign of pleasure. She was glaring at me. I could see her lips moving, but I couldn’t yet hear her words over the ringing and pounding still in my ears. I held my hands over them for a moment and tried to signal her to wait, but her lips kept right on moving.

I gave up on the signals and got to work with the stylus. By the time I had filled the sheet with writing, I was begi

What I wrote was, ‘Don’t say anything likely to get me in trouble with these people. Why did you stay down here?” That was supposed to divert her attention from the question of why I was here myself, apparently enjoying all local rights and privileges. It might even give her the thought that I was playing spy. It was partly successful; at least, the strong language stopped, and she took time out to think before she spoke again.

Then she answered, ‘I’m here to find Joey. He disappeared down here — you know that as well as I do. I’m staying here until I know what’s become of him.”

“Wouldn’t there be some point in going up to tell the Board about this place?” I asked. ‘Then a really well ma

I thought of that,” she admitted, ‘but when Bert told me I could go back and report everything I knew, I was sure there was some trick behind it. Besides, I was more worried about Joey, and they wouldn’t tell me anything about him.”

“Didn’t Bert say you could stay if you wanted?”

"Yes. That’s what made me suspicious. How could any decent person agree to stay here? It was just a trick to help make sure I couldn’t go back. Once you’re changed to breathe water, you can’t change back, obviously.”

I almost pointed out that the liquid wasn’t water, and then I almost asked what was obvious about her conclusion. I realized that the first point was irrelevant and that she’d dismiss it as quibbling, and the second was likely to bring up the subject of my own conversion. Besides, any argument was likely to force me to use information I’d have to admit came from Bert, so she probably wouldn’t believe it.

Come to think of it, I realized with a sudden jolt, I had only Bert’s word for it that the change was reversible to the extent of letting me go back to the surface. Well, if he were mistaken or lying to me, it was too late now. I was writing again as those thoughts flickered through my mind.

“But what do you expect to accomplish just sitting here in your sub? What have you done in the six weeks since we last saw you?” She ducked that one.

“I don’t know what I can do here, but if I leave I’m shut — off from further information. I still hope I can get something out of Bert. I’m sure he knows where Joey is, even though he denies it.”

“How can you get any word out of him if you won’t talk to him? You told me to get out just now when you thought I was Bert.”

She gri

“I just think it’s better technique to keep him wanting to talk to me” was her answer. I couldn’t understand the rationale of that one, but there was much about Marie I’d never understood, and she knew it.

“Well, I’m here now,” I wrote, ‘and whether it turns out to be for keeps or not I can at least move around and get something done. Subject to your approval, I plan to devote my time to getting information which you can take back to the surface when you go — I assume you don’t plan to spend the rest of your life here.”

“I don’t plan it, but I rather expect it,” was her reply. Before I could write any comment she went on, ‘Of course, I’ll have to give up and start back some time, but I know they’ll dispose of me when I do. That’s assuming they did the same thing with Joey, and I’m very sure they did. If I do find him alive, of course, what I do will depend on him.” She fell silent, and after a moment to make sure she had finished I wrote again.

“But you’d like me to find him for you.”

She looked at me with what I hoped was a tender and sympathetic expression, though I couldn’t be quite sure through the port. She knew how I felt about her, of course. I’d never made any secret of it, and even if I’d tried to, a woman would have had to be a lot more stupid than Marie to miss the evidence. Most of the girls in our section are more stupid than she, and it’s a standing joke with them.

Marie didn’t answer for several seconds, and I decided I still had the conversational ball. I resumed writing.

“Of course, he’s part of the job anyway. I came down to find out what I could about the three, of you. I know about Bert and you, now, but the job’s not finished. There are other things here to learn. I’ve got to pick up the technical information that makes this place possible, especially its ability to ignore power rationing, and there’s a little question which talking to you has brought up. If you’re so sure they’ve disposed of Joey, and are pla

“I’ve been thinking about that last,” Marie answered, this time without hesitation. ‘When I first staged this sit-down, it was meant to test them on that point — ‘ She saw me start writing and stopped while I finished.

“Weren’t you taking some chances with that sort of test?” I asked. ‘Suppose they’d failed it. Would you have lived to report the results?”

“Well, no. I wasn’t really caring what happened to me about that time, but I did think I stood a chance of driving out of here and making a decent try for the surface, with something really worthwhile to report.”

“Marie, I’ve always thought as much of your brains as of your other qualities, but for the last few minutes you’ve been dithering. You must know it. Are you going to give me straight data, or do I have to work here even more alone than I’d hoped? I repeat, why do you think they haven’t killed or at least starved you?”

That was taking a chance, I realized, but it worked. She started to frown, then fought it off with a visible effort, thought for a moment with her lips pursed and then began talking more quietly.

“All right. I didn’t trust any of the juice-breathers out there, and I’m not sure I trust even you” — I was grateful for the ‘even” — ‘but I’ll take a chance. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking here; I’ve had nothing much else to do. I’ve come up with one explanation, and I haven’t been able to think of any others or find any holes in it. It accounts for their not killing me and their letting you and Bert join them. It suggests that Joey might possibly be alive, though if he is it doesn’t explain why he hasn’t come to see me the way you and Bert have.” She paused to think for a moment and then went on. ‘It’s quite simple in principle, but it could do with some detailed facts. That’s one reason I’m telling it to you.” She paused again, and looked at me hard before going on.

“They must need us. There’s something they’re short of that you, and Bert, and Joey, and I, and maybe anyone else from the surface can supply. It’s the only sensible answer.”