Chapter Nine

Into the Unknown

The Open Sea was very different from the kelp-infested Kwi Coast. It was a vast stretch of sloping grassy plains sprouting up from a muddy bottom that went on forever. Schools of small red fish swarmed near the surface, but scuttled away in panic at the sight of the oncoming dolphin. On several occasions, Piper saw the rare sea otters that lived in the outer kelp forests and preyed upon spiny sea urchins and starfish. Sights like these were novelties and helped her in coping with her sorrow.

As the day wore on and Piper flapped farther away from Kwi Coast, the remains of the great coastal kelp beds were replaced by thicker patches of sea grass: endless clumps of tall weeds that swayed gently in the lower currents. And she passed over sandy slopes, which at times bore the skeletal remains of dead animals. The bony rubble made Piper uneasy, causing sonic images of hungry HunterKin and Snag-Tooth to creep up into her mind. So she pressed on faster with lightning-quick beats of her flukes.

The realm of the Open Sea also fascinated her. Sometimes the brilliance of this teeming outer world—from which she had long been isolated—caused her to forget her plight and forced the darker incidents of the past few days into some remote corner of her mind. Her life at Kwi Coast now seemed but a wisp of a dream as she experienced the world of undersea hillocks and plains. She swam gracefully over the slopes and valleys that were populated by schools of ugly groupers and hefty bluefish…and always the billowing clouds of misshapen jellyfish. Food would be no problem in the Open Sea, for her favorites, the black mackerel and tasty lantern fish, were everywhere.

One thing Piper discovered, to her delight, was that there were currents in the Open Sea which she could “ride,” allowing her to save energy and providing her also with little bursts of pleasure. Not since infancy—when she had squirted out from her mother, tail-first—had the young dolphin experienced so many thrills of discovery. It was not until late afternoon of that first day, when the clear sunlit waters turned gray, and everywhere the descending gloom began to close in on her, that Piper became fully aware of her plight. All of a sudden, the bubbling, energetic world around her seemed more like an alien dungeon. She thought it might help if she zoomed in a sonic picture of the endearing sea of earlier. Her sonar would guide her through the dark, and with her echo-ranging she could easily home back in on her elegant surroundings. But the sight of the darkening, fogging sea was a grim reminder—a reality she could not escape. She was alone. There would be no company for Piper this night.

The water seemed unnaturally cool as she paddled on. The thriving swarms of sea life had mysteriously vanished with the gradual descent of night, and Piper found herself sorely in need of companionship. Though she had spent a good deal of time alone at Kwi Coast, those were during periods of play…and she had known that QuickFin was always about somewhere if she had needed him. There is only so much solitude a Whistler can endure. They love to chat, play, nag, gossip, and joust. And without that company of one another, they soon suffer an unbearable emptiness. Even a Fury Squad session would have been welcome at this point.

Piper was desperate. She echoed for some sign of familiar life, but all that came back was the grinding of crabs and the distant groans of a few prowling groupers, none of which made for suitable Whistler company. Aside from her own Kin and the Harbor Waif, LoFin, Piper had never even met another Spurter. She knew of no other creatures in the sea that chatted in so similar an idiom.

For six hours she had streamed through the dimming waters. But every time she echoed, it was the same familiar sea sounds. And most disturbing was the grim picture of a dwindling watery wilderness, growing skimpier as she travelled farther out into the Deep. The grassy slopes and teeming valleys below faded off into rotting stalks and blackened mud. And with that, the population also faded. The nocturnal waters were much quieter, and the Snag-Tooth’s keen sensors beneath their rough outer skin could detect prey much more easily then.

Piper did not think of that as she whistled and squeaked and clicked over and over, hoping she might draw the attention of some passing pod of Whistlers—or even a band of Rovers. Perhaps LoFin had heard of what happened at the Hearing, and she and her family were waiting out here, a good safe distance from Kwi Coast. The Rovers had been wise to leave as soon as they’d heard about the Basker incident. If RamStrong had had any chance of linking it to them, the Clan would have dealt most harshly with the porpoise pod. How stupid that would have been, thought Piper, for they were close Kin who should have been helping one another.

She continued echoing out signals for signs of similar life, when suddenly she received the “broadcast” of another creature. It was immense—lengthier even than the Basker! A great feeling of disquiet seeped through her as she sent out another band of echo-waves in the direction of the monster. The echoes that bounded off the distant giant and reflected back etched out an image that chilled her spine nearly into ice. She had homed in on the unmistakable, lateral tail-beat which characterized all Snag-Tooth; for there was the familiar outline of the high dorsal fin, the ridged points covering its skin like chipped stones, and the curved mouth filled with rows of glistening teeth.

Piper trembled. In her confused state she felt the creep of panic bidding for control. The beast was after her. It was quietly tracing her through the nocturnal sea. This was what her frantic calls for companionship had drawn—a Giant of the Deep that would have made even the Commodore tremble.

And then a more frightening thought came to her. Didn’t Arkitu’s Legions emerge from the depths of the Black Waters when night fell upon the Open Sea? And weren’t some of the Snag-Tooth thought to be minions of the Cold Lord? How else could a Snag-Tooth grow to such a size?

Piper pictured the haunting image of scores of ugly fiends swimming just below her in the inky depths, waiting for the command from their Master to seize her and drag her down to his lair. She thought of the gruesome feeding ritual: Lord Arkitu squatting in the center of all his minions as they fed him their catch of hapless Whistlers and Rovers and other tormented wayfarers of the sea. And how the “Lord of Gluttony” accepted the prizes in his spindly arms and gnawed at them with his horny beak.

Piper could no longer bear the grisly scene in her mind. She panicked! She fled wildly through the black fog, which by now had engulfed everything in the sea. The terrified young Whistler sent out frantic directional impulses as she sizzled through the dark waters at a blistering pace, surpassing any speed she had ever reached in the past. Blind, unreasoning fear pushed her on.

****

Long after the probing great white shark had given up, knowing the futility of pursuing a speeding dolphin that was leagues away, Piper was still rocketing through the ebon sea. Now and then she spiraled to the surface and bolted above the swells that rolled on endlessly under a starless sky, her mind wrought with the horror of an unbearable loneliness and the ever-lurking terrors of the Deep. And it would go on and on, day after day, night after night.

Piper felt it might be better just to die as she raced on through the nightly sea.