Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

great. You rolled the top open, put the food in, then promptly lost your appetite.
    "Let's get you something to wear today," Cielle said. "Those khakis are on loan. Only the whale-ship crews are supposed to wear them."
    As they walked, a half dozen whaley kids followed them, chirping and giggling all the way.
    "So I'd get in trouble if I started kicking whaley kids down the street?"
    "Of course," Cielle laughed. "We have laws here, just like anywhere else."
    "Evidently not ones that forbid kidnapping and unjustified imprisonment."
    Nuсez stopped and grabbed his arm. "Look, what are you complaining about? This is a good place to be. You're not being mistreated. Everyone's been kind to you. What's the problem?"
    "What's the problem? The problem is that all you people were yanked out of your lives, taken away from your families and friends, taken from everything that you knew, and you all act like it doesn't bother you in the least. Well, it bothers me, Cielle. It fucking bothers me a lot. And I don't understand this whole colony, or city, or whatever this thing is. How does it even exist without anyone knowing about it? In all these years, why has no one gotten out and spoiled the secret of this place?"
    "I told you, we were all going to drown -"
    "Bullshit. I don't buy that for a second. That gratitude toward your rescuer only lasts for a short while. I've seen it. It doesn't take over your life. Everyone I've met is blissed out. You people worship the Goo, don't you?"
    "Nate, you don't want to be locked in, you won't be locked in. You can have the run of Gooville – go anywhere you want. There's hundreds of miles of passages. Some of them even I haven't seen. Go. Leave the grotto and go down any one of those passages. But you know what? You'll be back looking for your apartment tonight. You are not a prisoner, you're just living in a different place and a different way."
    "You didn't answer my question."
    "The Goo is the source, Nate. You'll see. The Colonel -"
    "Fuck the Colonel. The Colonel is a fucking myth."
    "Should we get some coffee? You seem grumpy."
    "Damn it, Cielle, my caffeine headache is not relevant." Actually it was, sort of. He hadn't had any coffee today. "Besides, how do I know it's coffee we're drinking? It's probably some mutant sea otter/coffee bean hybrid beverage."
    "Is that what you want?"
    "No, that's not what I want. What I want is a doorknob. And not an organic nodule thing – I want a dead doorknob. One that always has been dead, too. Not something that you used to be friends with."
    Cielle Nuсez had backed away from him several feet, and the whaley kids who'd been following them had quieted down and gone into a defensive pod formation, the big kids on the outside. People who were out walking, and who normally made a point of nodding and smiling as they passed, took a wide detour around Nate. There was an inordinate amount of whistling among the milling whaley boys.
    "That going to do it for you?" Nuсez asked. "A doorknob. I get you a doorknob, you're a happy man?"
    Why should he be embarrassed? Because he'd scared the kids? Because he'd made his captors uncomfortable? Nevertheless, he was embarrassed.
    "I could use some earplugs, too, if you have them. For sleeping." For ten hours out of twenty-four, the grotto went dark. Cielle explained that this was for the comfort of the humans, to help them keep some semblance of their normal circadian rhythms. People needed day and night – without the change many people couldn't sleep. The problem was, the whaley boys didn't sleep. They rested, but they didn't sleep. So when the grotto went dark, they went on about their business. In the dark, however, they were all constantly emitting sonar clicks. At night the grotto sounded like it was being marched upon by an army of tap dancers. Consequently, so did Nate's apartment.
    Nuсez nodded. "We can probably do that. You want to go get a steaming hot cup of sea otter now?"
    "What?"
    "I'm just kidding. Lighten up, Nate."
    "I want to go home." He'd said it before he even realized it.
    "That's not going to happen. But I'll send word. I think it's time you met with the Colonel."
    They spent the day going to shops. Nate found some cotton slacks that fitted him, some socks and underwear, and a pile of T-shirts from one tiny shop. There was no currency exchanged. Nuсez would just nod to the shopkeeper, and Nate would take what he needed. There was little variety in any of the shops, and most of what