I didn't answer. The vertical surfaces of the scales folded together, parted, folded again, with the motions of the great creature, and for a moment I lost sight of Vauna. But I could hear her voice as I fought my way down to her hiding place. She was talking through the radio with Campbell.
"You are safe on the big silver ship?... Yes, we are on Kao-Wagwattl. I have been looking after Omosla...."
I could hear the eagerness in Campbell's voice as he asked about Omosla. Vauna answered him in accents of joy. "She has had her baby ... A little girl! Very beautiful. Already she looks like you. She has precious little lines of hair on her eyelids, and above her eyes, just like yours."
The damage was done! There was no point in my lying to Campbell to spare his feelings. Her words were the simple innocent truth. She was happy and proud to tell the wonderful news. Her words implied that Campbell would of course come and join us when his work was done, so he could be Omosla's husband, as all the Benzendellas expected.
About all I could say to Campbell was, "What she says is true, Split. It's a beautiful baby. Any father should be proud. I have nothing to add."
For hours afterward I could think of nothing else. I sat hidden among the deep soft scales, listening. Now and then the gentle movement would cause the crevices around me to gape open, wide enough to reveal a strip of sky. I wondered if sometime I might catch sight of a space ship bolting off into the blue. The only sounds I heard were the faint muffled rumblings of the Kao-Wagwattl moving along, like gentle thunder echoing up from somewhere down in the earth. It lulled me into relaxation, yet I could not dispel the mental image of Campbell sitting there in the ship, alone, brooding over the news. And tempted, no doubt, to touch the controls and leave this planet behind him.
Later I talked with him again, but we did not mention Omosla. He said he was busy with his scientific findings. I relayed to him descriptions of the Kao-Wagwattl—the "inside" story, from one who was concealed within its scales. We were back to our original assignment, now. For days and days to come, we pursued the scientific facts, comparing notes by radio.
At air-cruise speed, Campbell made trips around the planet, and completed his charts and maps. He reported that the beautiful land toward which we were moving was indeed a land of promise. But he gave slower estimates of the Kao-Wagwattl's speed, and he estimated that it would take us the larger part of a year to reach our destination. However, he managed to get an inside view of the larger Benzendella tribes who dwelt there. They were truly waiting for old Tomboldo's return, and were firm in their faith that the rope of life, Kao-Wagwattl, would bring him.
Such were the scientific and ethnological studies that Campbell and I were to share, by radio, in the weeks and months to come....
Now Vauna was beside me. We, like the others, were settled down for the long journey.