Startide Rising (Uplift Trilogy Book 2)

by David Brin

The dolphin writhed in panic. As the shock rolled past them, Keepiru cried out the basic call for air. Desperately, the fin drove for the surface. They breached, and Toshio just missed getting blasted by spume from Keepiru’s blowhole. Keepiru commenced a series of leaps, gyrating to shake loose his unwelcome rider. Each time they went underwater Toshio tried to call out. “You’re sentient,” he gasped. “Damn you, Keepiru … you’re … you’re a starship pilot!” He should be doing his coaxing in Trinary, but it was no use trying, when he could barely hold on for dear life. “You pea-brained … phallic symbol!” he screamed as water slammed against him. “You over-rated fish! You’re killing me, you goddamned … The Eatees own Calafia by now because you fins can’t hold your tongues! We never should have taken you along into space!” The words were hateful. Contemptuous. At last Keepiru seemed to have heard. He reared out of the water like an enraged stallion. Toshio felt his grip tear loose, and he was flung away like a rag doll, to hit the sea with a splash. Only eighteen cases were known, in the forty generations of dolphin uplift, in which a fin attacked a human with murderous intent.