Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

situation, not sure at all if he was okay, but he nodded.
    "Okay, Em," Amy said, and Emily stopped whistling.
    Before the crowd could react or a murmur of whaleyspeak start, Amy shouted, "Hey, shut up!"
    And they did.
    "Nate didn't do anything," she continued. "The whole thing was the Colonel's idea, and none of us knew anything about it. He brought Nate here to help him destroy our city, and Nate said no. That's all you need to know. You all know me. This is my home, too. You know me. I wouldn't lie to you."
    Just then the first big female started to recover, and Amy leaped in front of Nate to stand over the killer. "You get up, bitch, I'll knock you on your ass again. Your choice." The female froze. "Oh, fuck it," Amy said, and she zapped the big female on the nose with both stun guns at once, then wheeled on the other one, who was getting up but quickly dropped and played dead under Amy's gaze. "Good," Amy said.
    "So we clear?" Amy shouted to the crowd.
    There was whaleyspeak murmuring, and Amy screamed, "Are we fucking clear, people?"
    "Yeah, clear," came a dozen little mashed-elf voices in English.
    "Sure, sure, sure, you know it," said one little voice.
    "Clear as a window," came another.
    "Just kidding," said an elf-on-helium voice.
    "Good," Amy said. "Let's go, Nate."
    Nate was still trying to find his feet. His knees had gone a little rubbery when he thought his head was going to be bitten off. Emily 7 caught him by the arm and steadied him. Amy started to lead them out of the amphitheater, then stopped. "Just a second."
    She went back to where the lead killer female was just climbing to her feet and zapped her in the chest with the stun gun, which knocked her flat on her back again.
    As Amy strutted past Nate and Emily 7, she said, "Okay, now we can go."
    "Where are we going?" Nate asked.
    "Em says you slept with her."
    Nate looked at Emily 7, who grinned, big and toothy, and snickered.
    "Yeah, slept. Just slept. That's all. Tell her, Emily."
    Emily whistled, actually a tune this time, and rolled her eyes.
    "Really," Nate said.
    "I know," Amy said.
    "Oh." Nate heard squeaks coming from behind them in the corridor. "Wasn't that a little risky, taking on a thousand whaley boys with a couple of stun guns?"
    "I love these things," Amy said, clicking the buttons to make miniature blue lightning arc across the contacts. "No, I didn't take on a thousand whaley boys, I took on one – an alpha female. Know what that makes me?" She smiled and then, without even breaking stride, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "And never forget it."
    "I won't." Then that last week's anxiety about losing her came tumbling back over him. "Hey, where did you go? I thought the Colonel had taken you."
    "I went out on my mother's ship to send a message."
    "What message?"
    "I was calling our ride. All the whaley boys had been put on notice: No pilot was going to take his ship out of here with you on board, still won't. But I could go, so I went out with my mother to pick up some supplies. And I called a ride."
    "What, Emily 7 can't pilot a ship?"
    "Uh-uh," squeaked Emily 7.
    "Only pilots can pilot a ship, duh. Anyway" – Amy checked her watch – "your ride should be in the harbor soon. I have to go by my place and grab something I want to take."
    * * *
    An hour later they stood at the water's edge in the harbor, and Amy was checking her watch again. "I am so pissed," she said, tapping her foot frantically.
    It seemed as if every thirty seconds they had been cornered by some human resident of Gooville, and Amy had to tell the story again. Emily 7 was the only one of the whaley boys, other than the crew of Amy's mother's ship, that was still in the grotto.
    "You think they'll revolt, hurt humans?" Nate asked.
    "No, they'll be fine. That was a first. It's not every day you find out that your messiah is plotting to kill you. Give 'em a day or two to get over the embarrassment – everything will be back to normal."
    "I guess it's just as well that we're getting out of here. You don't want to face those two females you zapped."
    "Bring it on," Amy said, patting the pockets of her shorts. "Besides, I'm sort of special here, Nate. I don't want to sound egotistical, but they really all do know me, know who I am, what I am. No one will bother me."
    Just then Nate spotted a light coming from deep in the mirror-calm water.
    "That's him," Amy said.
    "Him?"
    "Clay, coming to take you home."
    "Me? You mean us."
    "Em, can I get a