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was now light green.
"Watch," Caspar cried, and charged it again.
"Don't tease it!" Melanie cried, her fear of the monster becoming sympathy. But she was too late.
This time the squid did not blanch or retreat. Black stripes flickered over its body. Its tentacles reached
forward in a mass and grabbed at Gaspar, who was of course untouched.
"Octopi are timid," Gaspar said. "But squid are bold, and the larger they are, the fiercer. The biggest
ones will fight small whales. I'd never try this in real life."
It looked none too safe even in phase. Startled at the lack of contact, the squid flashed black spots and
grabbed again. It brought one huge eye to bear, trying to comprehend this thing that it could see but
could not hold. It moved up and opened its massive, horrible parrot beak to take a bite. When this also
failed, it turned reddish brown and waved its tentacles angrily.
"It's furious," Melanie said. "Justifiably."
Gaspar laughed. Then the squid quit. It faded to a neutral gray and jetted away smoothly, its long arms
trailing behind.
"See, he learns from experience, and controls his emotions," Gaspar said with a certain pride. He had
evidently decided the creature was male. "He won't try to grab me again, you can be sure."
But to Don it was macabre sport. Had they been on the same plane of existence, the monster could have
devoured them all.
They rode on, but several hours later Glowcloud was back. He checked each rider over, refusing to be
dissuaded by shouts or action. Don was irrationally terrified, and even Pacifa looked quite
uncomfortable as the tentacles passed through her. But Eleph had the most reason to take evasive action,
because of his half-phased thread and balloons. If the squid discovered these, he would have leverage,
and would surely use it.
Perhaps to forestall this, Melanie nerved herself and tried to distract Glowcloud. "Hello, you gorgeous
monster," she said, trying to pet a tentacle. "How many colors can you make, when you feel artistic?"
The squid's reactions were extraordinarily rapid, and his manner disquietingly purposeful. He surely
wanted to understand the nature of these little intruders, so as to consume them, and he intended to keep
after them until he had solved the riddle.
In fact, Glowcloud followed them. He would disappear for hours, but always reappear, no matter how
rapidly they moved. His water-jetting mode of swimming was beautifully effective, and he could and
did swim rings around them. Perhaps it was imagination, but the squid did seem to prefer the company
of Melanie, and she was definitely warming to him. Was it because Glowcloud was hairless?
"Beauty and the beast," Pacifa remarked.
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Melanie, flustered, demurred. "I'm no "
"He's the beauty," Pacifa clarified with a smile. "Look at that color."
"B-but you are too," Don added. Melanie seemed not to hear.
"Good thing Glowcloud's not one of the large ones," Gaspar said merrily. "They grow up to over fifty
feet, with tentacles over thirty feet, and maybe much larger yet."
"In horror magazines," Eleph muttered, again avoiding the creature's advances.
"There's pretty good evidence," Gaspar insisted. "Sperm whales like to eat squid, and tentacles over
forty feet long were found in a whale once. That squid must have weighed over forty tons, alive. But
even that's small compared to the ones that get away."
"From the sperm whales?" Eleph demanded. "How can you judge what the whale doesn't catch?"
"Maybe they tell squid stories," Melanie suggested.
"By the sucker marks," Gaspar said. "You see the suckers on Glowcloud, here? All down his arms?
Well, when a whale goes after a big squid, that squid fights, and his suckers make imprints on the
whale's hide. A fifty footer leaves scars four inches across. But some sperm whales have been caught
with scars eighteen inches across."
"Talk of the kraken!" Pacifa exclaimed, awed.
"They do tell stories," Melanie said, tittering. " 'Hey, Joe, you should have seen the sucker that got
away!' "
"If the ratio holds true," Eleph said, "eighteen inch suckers would indicate a squid over two hundred feet
long, massing over a thousand tons. That would be the largest creature ever to inhabit our world."
Caspar shrugged. "The ocean has secrets yet."
All of which did not make them feel easier about Glowcloud. But the squid was gone again, rocketing
smoothly into the murk. Any notion any of them might have had about clumsiness of such creatures had
been abolished. Octopi might be awkward and slow when traveling, but squid were sleek and fast.
They rode on down a narrowing valley, breathing hard. "I can't catch my breath," Pacifa complained.
"Eleph, will you check the field generator on my bike?"
They stopped, and Eleph checked. Don also felt out of breath, and Caspar's chest was pumping.
Melanie's bosom was heaving in a manner Don would have found interesting at another time.
"The field is in order," Eleph said. "But I must admit "
"Uh-oh," Gaspar said. "I know. We're in a valley that's low on oxygen. Some of these exist in the ocean,
if the water doesn't circulate enough. See almost no life around here. Turn and go back in a hurry."
They retreated with alacrity, but the breathing did not improve. Even if there were more oxygen in the
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water, the field would take time to phase it through.
"Up!" Gaspar said. "Got to get out of the trough, into richer water."
"The map shows a steep rise to your west, as I remember," Melanie said, trying to help.
"Thanks!" Caspar bore west immediately. "The rest of you keep alert for Glowcloud. Where he is,
there's oxygen, sure."
They found the rise, but it was too steep to climb. Pacifa reeled visibly, the first sign of physical
weakness she had shown, and Eleph was almost collapsed over his handlebars. Don felt like lying down
and sleeping, and knew he dared not.
"Glowcloud where are you?" Melanie gasped.
Gaspar found a discontinuity in the impassible face of the cliff, and scrambled up, hauling his bicycle
along. The others followed, helping each other up. This was mountain climbing, for the path was narrow
and the walls bare. Still there was little life.
On they slogged. When Melanie seemed about to fall, just ahead of him, Don simply put the top of his
head against her rear and pushed, and she made it to the next ledge. This was no place for niceties. He
lost track of the others, concentrating on getting himself and Melanie to the higher ground.
A tentacle passed through his face. Don blinked then shouted. "Glowcloud! Glowcloud! He's here!"
Indeed, it was almost as though the giant squid were trying to pull Melanie upward. They struggled a
few more feet, until their heads were buried within the body of the monster, and collapsed. Oxygen!
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