Peter and the Starcatchers (10 page)

Porpoises. Five of them, their sleek bodies keeping pace effortlessly with the lumbering ship.

Mol y leaned over the stern rail and waved frantical y, then caught herself, feeling foolish.

They know I’m here,
she thought.
They see everything.

As if reading her mind, a large porpoise rose straight up, using its powerful tail to lift its head wel clear of the water, dancing on the churning water. It looked at Mol y, grinning, and said, “Hel o.”

Not in English, of course. It spoke in clicks and squeaks. But Mol y had studied enough Porpoise to understand the standard greeting. Struggling to recal her lessons, Mol y squeaked and clicked (the clicks were the hardest) something back, which she hoped was “Hel o.” What she actual y said was “My teeth are green,” but the porpoise was too polite to point that out.

Now the other four porpoises rose from the water, and, observing the protocol, also said “Hel o.” Mol y told them al that her teeth were green. With the pleasantries out of the way, the lead porpoise, whose name was Ammm, made a longer series of clicks and squeaks. Mol y knew just enough Porpoise to understand that Ammm was asking her if she was al right. She expected this question: it had been arranged that the porpoises would check in with Mol y tonight, and the assumption had been that Mol y would tel them yes, she was al right.

“No,” Mol y said, struggling to get the sounds right. “Trouble.”

This set off a chorus of chittering and chirping among the porpoises, al stil standing on their tails. Mol y understood none of it, but they were clearly concerned.

Ammm turned to her again.

“Tel me,” he said.

Mol y had been thinking al day about how, with her very limited Porpoise vocabulary, she could say what she had to say. Leaning forward, speaking as clearly as she could—

but not too slowly, as porpoises cannot understand slow talking—she said: “Message father.”

“Say,” said Ammm.

Mol y’s heart leaped: she was getting through! But now came the hard part.

“Bad man hunt ship,” she said.

“Again,” said Ammm.

Mol y took a deep breath, then: “Bad man hunt ship.”

More chittering among the porpoises. Then Ammm said: “What ship? Mol y ship?”

They had understood!

“No,” said Mol y. “Father ship.”

Ammm paused, then repeated: “Father ship.”

“Yes,” said Mol y, thril ed they were communicating.

Urgent chittering. Then Ammm spoke again: “We go. Good-bye.”

“NO!” shouted Mol y, so upset that she said it in English. But Ammm understood, and looked at her expectantly. The other four porpoises resurfaced, one by one.

“More,” said Mol y.

“Say,” said Ammm.

Mol y struggled to form the sounds: “Box on Mol y ship.”

“What on Mol y ship?” asked Ammm.

“Box,” said Mol y. “Box. Box.”

“What?”

It was no use; the sound she was making for “box” clearly made no sense to Ammm. Mol y stamped her foot in frustration, trying desperately to think of another way to say it.

Maybe she could …

Her thoughts were interrupted by voices getting louder behind her; someone was coming her way! She gestured helplessly to Ammm, turned, and ran to the ladderway, ducking down it just as the two night-watch sailors arrived.

“… somebody back here talking,” one was saying. “Slank says we’re not to al ow …”

“There’s who was talking,” said the other, pointing over the side.

“Wel , I’l be damned,” said the first. “Porpoises making al that noise! What d’you suppose has ’em so roused up?”

“Probably saw some tasty fish.”

“That’s the life, if you ask me. Eat and play, not a care in the world.”

“Looky this big one here! He’s talkin’ to us! A right speechmaker, he is!”

“Probably wants us to throw him a bite to eat.”

In fact, Ammm was saying something very impolite about the sailors and their ancestors. The other four porpoises snorted, then al five turned, arced, sliced smoothly into the dark water, and disappeared.

The two sailors watched them go.

“Yes, indeed, that’s the life,” said the first. “Not a care in the world.”

P
ETER AND JAMES HAD SEEN THE WHOLE THING.

They had crept aft, hoping to find some edible food somewhere, slithering silently past the two gabbing sailors on watch. They were crouched behind a barrel near the stern when they’d seen Mol y emerge from the ladderway, go to the rail, and lean over.

Peter had been about to approach her when she had started making the strangest noises he’d ever heard a human make.

“Peter,” whispered James. “What is she…?”

Peter silenced him with a quick squeeze on his arm. He motioned for James to stay low, and the two boys slid on their bel ies to a spot where they could peer through an opening in the stern rail and look down at what Mol y was seeing. They emitted simultaneous gasps when they saw the five porpoises, which looked as though they were dancing on the water as they used their powerful tails to hold their heads far above the waves.

They watched, astonished, as Mol y and the largest of the porpoises exchanged the odd noises, almost as if—
but that’s impossible
—they were having a conversation.

To Peter, Mol y’s noises sounded increasingly urgent and frustrated, until final y she broke into English and shouted, “No!” Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Peter stood to approach her, only to dive back to his bel y when he heard the night-watch sailors coming. He saw Mol y turn and run back to the ladderway as he and James squirmed back behind the barrel. They waited there, afraid to breathe, as the sailors commented on seeing porpoises. Sailors apparently thought porpoises brought good luck. Final y, the sailors climbed to a higher deck and disappeared.

“Peter,” whispered James, “what did we…?”

“Not now,” whispered Peter. “Go back to our cabin, and don’t get caught.”

“But where are you…”

“Never mind,” hissed Peter. “I’l be along. Just get going.”

After seeing that James had crawled away safely, Peter climbed a rope and slipped under a railing that took him to the upper deck. The night-watch sailors stood talking not twenty feet away. When the nearest one turned his back, Peter edged along the rail and reached a doorway leading down a ladderway into darkness.

Peter looked around, unsure how to get to Mol y’s cabin from here. He waited…waited…and final y the two sailors agreed it was time for tea. They moved on. Peter slipped down the steep ladderway, into a darkened hal way. Yel ow light seeped from beneath several doors in both directions. Peter moved on to the next, sticking his ear to the door. He heard loud snoring.

Assuming that it was Mrs. Bumbrake, he opened the door and slipped inside.

“Peter!” whispered Mol y. “What are you doing here?”

“I must talk to you,” whispered Peter.

“Now?”

“Now,” he said.

Mol y frowned, then whispered, “Al right. But outside in the passageway.” They stepped outside, and Mol y closed the door.

“I saw you,” said Peter.

“Saw me what?” asked Mol y. She kept her voice calm, but Peter could tel he’d surprised her.

“You were talking to that fish.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“You were talking to that fish. You were making strange noises, and it was making them back.”

“Don’t be sil y. Fish can’t talk.”

“Mol y, I
saw
you.”

Mol y stared at him for a moment, weighing something.

Then she sighed and said, “Al right, listen. Those are not fish. Those are cal ed porpoises, and they breathe air, the same as we do.”

“But they look like fish.”

“But they’re not. They breathe air, and they make noises, just like dogs and cats and cows and other animals. I was imitating the noises they make, purely out of curiosity, to see if I could get a response. That’s al you saw. It was nothing.”

“That’s not what it looked like,” said Peter. “It looked like you were talking to them. And you were upset about something. I heard you shout ‘No!’”

“I was just frustrated, because I couldn’t make the noises properly,” said Mol y. “That’s al . Nothing more.”

“You ran away when the sailors came. Why?”

Mol y paused, again weighing something, then answered: “Only because I didn’t want them to report me to Mrs. Bumbrake. She told me to stay in the cabin. Real y, Peter, you’re imagining things.”

She’s lying.

“I am?” said Peter. “And I suppose I imagined the flying rat? And I imagined that you were in that aft hold? What’s going on, Mol y? Tel me what’s going on.”

“Nothing, Peter,” said Mol y. “There’s nothing going on.”

Why is she lying?

“Fine,” said Peter. “If you won’t tel me, I’l find out for myself.”

“No,
” she said with sudden intensity, grabbing his arm with a startlingly powerful grip. “Peter, you must not go down to that room again. You must
not.
” Peter yanked his arm away. “Who’s going to stop me?” he said.

Mol y’s eyes bored into his. She spoke slowly.

“I wil , Peter.”

“How?” he snapped.

“I’l tel Slank,” Mol y threatened.

“You
wouldn’t,
” he said.

“I wil if I have to,” she said.

“Al right then,” said Peter, his cheeks burning, his voice quivering with anger. “I see now that not al the rats on this ship are four-legged.”

“Please,
Peter,” said Mol y, reaching for his arm again. “You don’t understand.”

“Good-bye…
rat,
” said Peter, brushing her hand away.

“Peter,
please..
.”

He faced her. “You know,” he said, “I thought you…I thought we…Wel …I was obviously wrong.”

Peter darted up the ladderway to the relative safety of the darkened deck. He crouched for a moment, breathing deeply, seething with feelings of rage and betrayal.

Thinks she can lie to me, does she? Thinks she can tell me what to do? Well, I’ll show her. I can do this myself, me and Alf. I don’t need her help.

Who does she think she is
?

I
N THE DARKNESS JUST BEFORE DAWN, Leonard Aster paced back and forth on the stern of the
Wasp,
his long legs carrying his lanky frame across the beam in just a few strides each way.

Again and again he looked into the water; again and again he saw nothing.

Where are you?

Final y impatience overcame him. After checking around for observers, he leaned over the rail and made a series of inhuman noises. Almost instantly he saw the glistening silver back of a porpoise break the ship’s wake. It rose on its tail, quickly joined by the other four, facing in different directions, as if keeping watch.

“Hel o,” said Ammm.

“Hel o,” said Aster, anxious to hear news, but observing porpoise protocol.

“Ammm talk Mol y,” said Ammm.

“What say Mol y?” said Aster, leaning forward eagerly.

“Mol y say three things,” said Ammm.

“What things?”

“Mol y teeth green.”

“Mol y teeth green?”

“Yes.”

Aster contemplated that for a moment, and decided the problem was likely Mol y’s limited command of Porpoise.

“What more Mol y say?” he asked.

“Bad man hunt father ship,” said Ammm.

Aster felt a chil .

“Again,” he said, and the response was the same:

“Bad man hunt father ship.”

Bad man.
Aster figured he knew who that would be. He thought for a moment, then squeaked a question to the porpoise.

“Ammm see bad man ship?”

The answer was immediate: “Yes.”

“Where?”

Glittering among the dolphins, then: “Near.”

Damn.
Aster thought furiously. He needed to see the captain. He started to go, then remembered that Ammm had said there were three messages.

“What more Mol y say?”

Ammm hesitated, as if struggling with something, then final y said: “On Mol y ship.”

“What?” said Aster, puzzled.

“On Mol y ship,” repeated Ammm.