He still wasn’t convinced. “Our people must have looked for us. Sent out shuttles.”

“They knew our people were looking for something. Some of them suspected it was us, since we were silent inside the healing pods. But once we were released and our people still didn’t come for us, they didn’t know what to think.”

Riker nodded. “So now that they understand?”

“I think they’d be happy to reunite us, sir. Since we won’t go through the change, it’s our only chance. They don’t want us to die.”

“Even the ones who blame us for ruining their Song?”

“They just want us to leave so their world can be pure again.”

He perked up. “Then they’ll help us find Titan?” he asked, his voice strengthening. Aili had been right; the news had been nourishment in itself.

“They’re waiting for me now,” she replied with a smile. “We just need to dive to the deep sound channel and start asking around, track down the nearest crew from Titan. It shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”

For the first time in days, the familiar Riker grin was on his gaunt face. “Then you’d better get started, Ensign. That’s an order.”

She beamed back. “Aye, Captain.”

Xin Ra-Havreii wished Aili Lavena were still around. Not only because he missed her and feared for her survival, but because he wasn’t entirely sanguine about his own at the moment.

All of Titan’s available shuttles were spreading out planetwide to initiate the probe deployment, after depositing further crews with their own probe allotments on the main floater-island base and other floater colonies across the planet; by following the currents, they would be able to cover a wide swath of Droplet’s surface and drop probes at regular intervals, turning the floaters into additional “vessels” at Titan’s disposal. Vale herself was supervising from the main base; she had brought Ra-Havreii with her to oversee the first drop. He had demurred that he was more a man of theory than execution and that Lieutenant Tylith or Ensign Crandall could supervise the deployment effectively. But Vale had wanted him there for his communication skills, to try to inform the squales that the aliens seemingly invading their world and dropping hundreds of large technological devices into its depths were acting in their best interests.

And so here he was, out in the middle of the open sea in a tiny scouter gig, facing down a pod of angry squales and trying to negotiate with them in Selkie, a language he had studied recreationally but had limited fluency in. Aili, he reflected, would be so much better for this on every level. At least they had been willing to listen to her.

This pod, however, didn’t seem to be in the mood for listening, despite the new EM dampers on the gig and equipment. It was a largish pod, nearly two dozen members, and thus presumably was aggregated from several smaller pods, banded together for mutual protection. Many of the squales were scarred or missing limbs. They seemed to be swimming in rather a hurry for a region several hundred kilometers south of the main base, a heavily defended location containing multiple large spiral structures that appeared to serve an agricultural function. Normally, Ra-Havreii wouldn’t have dreamed of getting in their way. But this was the first pod that had passed near enough to the base to engage with.

But they were too angry, too embittered by the growing turmoil of their world. They didn’t deign to respond to his Selkie entreaties in kind, but Y’lira Modan had deciphered enough of their own language by now to get a rough idea of their response. “They say we corrupt the sea by being here,” she told Ra-Havreii from her seat behind him in the gig, studying her tricorder. “They object to our fouling the sea with any more of our devices.”

He sighed. “Yes, I could’ve guessed that. The fact that our devices are more squale-friendly now hasn’t changed their opinions, has it?”

“Apparently not, sir.”

“Of course not,” he muttered. “They’ve made up their minds.” Tapping he combadge, he called Vale at the base. “Commander, we’re not getting anywhere here, and we don’t have time to keep going in circles. I say just deploy the first probe. At least we explained first, whether they listened or not. Once they sense the magnetic field healing and the biosphere calming down over the next few days, maybe they’ll realize we were telling the truth.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”came Vale’s voice.

“I think we’re beyond having the luxury of good ideas. It’s what we’ve got.”

“Strangely, I can live with that. Okay, we’re deploying the first probe.”

Naturally, it didn’t prove that easy. According to the reports Ra-Havreii received from the base camp, as soon as the probe was released from the floater island, sensors showed a pod of squales racing to intercept it. They must have been ready for this, since they managed to catch it within a minute and proceeded to carry it to a barren, dead floater islet on the outskirts of the cluster, pushing it up and out onto the surface.

“I think they’ve made their point,”Vale said. “So you’d better make ours again.”

Feeling set upon, Ra-Havreii tried again. He explained to them why the planet’s magnetic field was causing them discomfort and how the probes would repair the problem. He promised them that Titan’s crew would gladly leave their world alone once the balance had been restored. He offered them medical help to tend their wounds, assuring them that Titan’s medical facilities could provide treatments they would find miraculous. Oddly, Y’lira reported that they reacted to that with amusement.

Finally, he lost his patience. “The simple truth,” he intoned in awkward Selkie, “is that you can’t stop us. You can’t prevent all our probes from descending. And what do you plan to do with the ones you catch and hold on the surface? Everything on this world sinks eventually, you know!”

Y’lira stared at him. “Doctor, I’m unfamiliar with this style of diplomacy.”