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almost as bad a mess as I am without you.'
Bert thought for a moment, and nodded.
'Probably best, yes. You'd better do it while I see the Council. Only for
Pete's sake don't let it slip that
Marie is here.' I' looked properly indignant. 'I'll have one of these folks
show you the way. He ought to be off shift right now, though he often stays
longer than anyone expects. Anyway, you can try his quarters, and then the
farms, before going back to Power Control.' He turned to the others and began
gesturing again. He finally managed to get his wishes across, though it was
still evident that he had spoken the truth about knowing only a little of the
gesture-speech.
I wasn't disappointed to have the girl touch me on the arm and beckon me to
follow. We still had company, but things could have been worse.
Bert must have got across with his gestures just about what he'd written. We
went first to what was obviously a private residence  at least, it was
obvious after we were inside. Its door was just another of many along one of
the tunnels. The girl used the first audible signal I'd heard since arriving -
a very ordinary, though very gentle, knock on a round panel beside the door.
When this went unanswered for half a minute or so she opened the door and swam
in. Evidently standards of privacy were different here. The apartment was
divided into three main rooms, seemingly on a basis of use; one seemed to be
for sleeping, one for reading and similar solo activities and the largest for
more public gatherings. Joey wasn't in any one of them, and the girl led us
out again and off in a new direction. A short swim took us to another of the
upward-slanting tunnels leading to the farm area. I was more alert this time
and caught the change in slope.
Out in the open, she stopped and looked around to see whether Joey was in
sight. I spent some of the time she was looking in trying to calculate the
size of the farm area from what I knew of the population size and the number
visible eating at one time. I decided I'd need a better estimate on how long
the average citizen spent both at meals and between them before my results
could mean much.
It took about five minutes of looking and questioning others for the girl to
find Joey. I spent some of that interval writing my message to him, so that
when we did catch up with him I was able to give it to him without delay. It
merely said that Bert was taking a trip to the surface, and that I understood
I was to start working with Joey as soon as he could use me.
Elfven nodded his head, took the pad, wrote, 'All right, I'll be going back to
work in a few hours. I have to sleep after I finish eating. Can you find your
way to the control room yet?'
'I'm not sure, but I seem to have a good guide,' I replied. He glanced at the
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girl and nodded again.
'I wish I could make something out of one or the other of these communication
methods,' he wrote.
'We're going to have an awful time without Bert. Why is he going himself,
instead of sending you?'
'He seems to feel that he can make a more complete report than I can,' I
answered. 'I suppose he's right.
As long as we're working mostly with each other we won't miss the language too
much.'
Joey shrugged, suggesting that he wasn't entirely in agreement but didn't feel
strongly enough about the matter to write an argument. He resumed his eating.
I took a few mouthfuls myself, but was more concerned with getting back to
Marie; so I touched the girl's shoulder  she was eating, too  and pointed
toward the tunnel mouth from which we had come. I had managed to keep track of
its direction. She nodded and led the way. At least some signs were
understandable to both of us, I guessed.
It took us ten or fifteen minutes to get back to where we had left Marie. She
wasn't there, of course; I
got the impression that my guide had forgotten that the sub had left ahead of
us, though I may be doing her an injustice. At any rate, she promptly set off
in the direction the boat had gone, and in another quarter of an hour we had
reached a place I could remember - the corridor with the big valve which had
admitted my tank when I had taken the pressure treatment.
Knowing more of the general situation now, I paid more attention to the
smaller lock. A close look showed that it had a heavily armored extensible
collar, now retracted, which could be mated easily to the entrance hatch of
any ordinary work sub.
I was a little surprised that Marie's boat wasn't already there. I think the
girl was, too. At least, she looked around as though she didn't quite know
what to do or where to go next, and then looked at me as though expecting some
further request.
All I could do was nod; I was quite sure that this was the right place. It
occurred to me that tunnel size might have forced the others to take a longer
route than swimmers would need, or even to go outside, but I could think of no
way to make this suggestion to my companions. For that matter, I could imagine
no reason why they shouldn't think of it themselves; they certainly knew this
place better than I.
It was Bert who showed up first, accompanied by a man of middle age and alert
appearance. He didn't exactly introduce the fellow to me, but used the writing
pad to tell me that he was the doctor who
would manage the heart-lung equipment and make sure that cavities such as
sinuses and middle ears were taken care of during the pressure change.
They had been with us ten minutes or so when the sub appeared from the
direction of the ocean entrance. At almost the same moment another swimmer
joined us from the opposite direction. I took a casual glance at him,
supposing he must be another of the technicians who would be needed for the
job; then my eyes closed as I tried to clear my retinas of what I hoped was a
false image.
When I opened them again, though, it was still Joey Elfven. I had to admit
that the stage manager, whoever he was, had done a good job.
Chapter Twenty-three
I also had to admit that we should have foreseen it. Joey should never have
been told of the departure plans until Marie and Bert were safely away.
Nothing was more likely than that he would think of some final questions he
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