Free Margaret St. Clair by The Dolphins of Altair Page B

the quake, but they hadn’t . I had a big drink.” She giggled. I thought she sounded a little light-headed.
    “There must have been a big wave here last night,” she said. “Wood’s been washed high up on the beach. But I found a place, sheltered from the wind, where there are still coa ls from a picnic fire. I can bring wood and make up a fire. I can sleep in the sand. There’s nobody here.”
    “Would you like us to bring you fish to cook?” I asked. The broad red disk of the sun was almost under the horizon.
    “No, I’m not hungry. Water is all I want.” She looked at us thoughtfully, pinching her lip. “Don’t go back to the Rock tonight, any of you,” she said. “I don’t know what’s happened to Sven. I wish I knew. But you mustn’t go back to find out about him or —or for anything.” (She was thi n king, I knew, about Blitta.) “The navy will be sweeping the water around the Rock and the other islands, trying to catch any of the sea people they can. Don’t go.”
    “All right.”
    “Tomorrow,” she said, swallowing —her throat was dry again —“we’ll talk about what to do. Tonight —I’m too dizzy. My head’s not clear;”
    We were all nuzzling her hands. “Good night, dear Amtor,” she said. “Good night, dear Ivry, dear Pettrus. Good night.”
    “Good night.”
    After she had been gone a while, we saw a red glow spring u p under the cliffs to the right of where we had put Madelaine ashore. So we knew she had managed to make her fire.
    The night passed. We caught fish, we slept in snatches, we talked a good deal. I kept thinking about Blitta, wondering whether her body was still rolling in the water near Noonday Rock, or whether the navy had found her and had taken her away to dissect. They were always eager to dissect us, so they could find out more about how our bodies worked.
    Several times during the night we tried to make mental contact with Sven, but we always failed. We couldn’t reach Djuna either, and that made us afraid of what might have happened to them. We discussed Dr. Lawrence’s defection, too. We speculated about how he had left the Rock, and what had led hi m to betray us, when he had seemed less disturbed by the prospect of the earthquake than the rest of us had.
    About three o’clock, when Regulus was setting, there was a slight earthquake shock, and a few minutes later we felt another one. There were no mor e shocks after that. The earth had settled down to a new period of repose. We heard planes during the night, too, but I don’t know whether they were navy planes out scouting for us, or just the ordinary air traffic.
    Dawn came. We expected Madelaine from moment to moment, but she didn’t come. It was broad daylight, nearly eight o’clock, before she came wading out through the surf to us.
    “A man saw me,” she said without preamble. Her eyes were large and luminous, and she was trembling. “I went to the foun tain for water, and he saw me. I think he works for the park service.
    “He looked at me as if I were a ghost.” She laughed, her teeth chattering. “He asked me what was wrong with my arm —it was bleeding again —and I told him I’d been hurt in the quake. I do n’t know whether or not he believed me, but he tied my arm up with his handkerchief.
    “Then he went to call the Highway Patrol to have somebody take me to a hospital. He says I need medical care. We must get away before he gets back.”
    I hesitated. Perha ps it would be better for Moonlight to let herself be taken to a doctor. Certainly she needed medical attention, and perhaps she could join us later, after her wound had been dressed. As to our pursuers being able to extract damaging information from her, she could not tell them anything that Dr. Lawrence would not have already told.
    She seemed to read my thoughts. “Take me with you,” she said urgently. “If we are once separated, we will never be able to find each other again. They’ll hold me without bail once