The answer was instinct.
But what exactly was that? Some miracle of innate intelligence buried deep inside our genetic code? If so, where? And what exactly did those base pairs look like? And if we all had it, why could some animals stand and walk just hours after birth while humans took months to do the same thing?
Talking to Sally, a new and fascinating thought emerged. Had humans somehow evolved out of our instincts? Perhaps as a trade-off for higher cognition? And if so, given how similar dolphin brains were to human’s, had the same thing happened to them?
In other words, just how much instinct did dolphins still have compared to humans? Her thoughts then drifted to Dulce, and gorillas.
“Sally,” Alison said. “Do you remember your parents?”
A loud beep sounded. IMIS didn’t have a translation for ‘parents’ yet. She tried again. “Do you remember your mother?”
There was a delay before she finally heard IMIS relay the sentence through the underwater speaker. She was a little surprised when it successfully translated mother.
Sally stared at Alison through the glass, considering the question.
Yes.
“Did she teach you too?”
Yes. Mother teach. Much.
Alison smiled. “Just like humans. Do you remember your father?”
Another loud beep.
Alison frowned. IMIS could translate mother but not father? “Sally, do you still talk to your mother?”
For some reason, it felt like an odd question to Alison. And apparently to Sally too. The dolphin stared at her through the glass with just enough change on her gray face for Alison to notice.
Yes.
It was at that moment that Alison felt something. Something completely indescribable. A connection. A link. Something in Sally’s eyes as they peered through the glass at one another. The translations through IMIS were still relatively limited. Even crude by some measures. But in their communication, it felt as though there were something more between them. A reason why she had such a strong bond with Sally. She always had. Ever since rescuing her those years ago.
Yet the look in Sally’s eyes now triggered a different question in Alison. She already knew how similar the dolphin and human brains were. Even genetically, based on the Trio Brain theory as explained by DeeAnn. And for over a year, a single question had been haunting her. It was a question she’d never been sure how to ask. She was not confident that IMIS would understand, let alone relay it correctly. Or even that Sally would comprehend it.
But now, Sally’s ability to understand Alison’s questions was deepening.
Their brains were so similar, but there was still one glaring difference that she desperately wanted to investigate. And it was based on one of the greatest misnomers in human biology.
It was so commonly stated as fact that Alison had long ago given up trying to correct people. Because everyone either didn’t understand the distinction or they simply didn’t care. It was the mass belief that humans only used ten percent of their brain.
The conclusion was simply not true. What most people didn’t know was that modern brain scanning techniques had proven that the vast majority of the human brain was indeed being used. Neurons and synaptic activity could now be monitored with great precision. However, the distinction that most people misunderstood was that the mystery wasn’t about the percent of utilization; it was about the brain’s collective neural capacity!
The size and activity of a brain were easily established. What was far more difficult, and frankly more exciting, was what could be done with it? Or in simpler terms, what was each brain actually capable of?
That was the question that had plagued Alison.
Human brains had been recorded doing things that were simply amazing. Eidetic memories, capable of memorizing any book ever read, or the ability to recall virtually every detail from any day of the person’s life. Mathematical conceptualizations of the universe and physical world that made some of the greatest technological breakthroughs possible. Even works of art and music that could make generations weep.
The human brain had so much neural capacity that it was hard to imagine limits. In fact, some cognitive scientists had recently suggested that, given each brain’s billions of neurons, there were no limits.
But dolphins had just as complex a synaptic network and their brain sizes were even bigger. Much bigger! In fact, studies had suggested that brain intelligence was also associated with the amount of “folding” in a brain’s cerebral cortex. A theory strongly supported by the study of the unusually increased folding of Albert Einstein’s brain. And it was well-established that the only species on Earth to have a cortex more folded than humans was dolphins.
And if human brains had achieved such remarkable feats…then by the same standard, the potential of dolphin brains could be even greater in some ways. They’d already established that dolphins were much smarter than previously thought. Their “echolocation” was vastly superior to man’s best sonar technology. And Sally’s ability to read Alison was becoming almost uncanny.
Alison didn’t take her eyes off Sally. Instead she stepped forward, maintaining eye contact and studying Sally’s expression. Alison turned her mouth only slightly toward the microphone on the desk and when she spoke it was clear and deliberate.
“So, Sally…what else can you do?”
12
Alison was still standing in front of the tank when she was interrupted by the sound of the double doors opening behind her. She turned to see Bruna, the center’s admin assistant, standing between them. Her dark eyes searched across the expansive room before finally finding Alison.
“Miss Alison, someone is here to see you. It’s Mrs. Santiago.”
A look of worry briefly passed over Alison’s face, and she turned to face Bruna. “Sofia?”
The short, overweight assistant shook her head. “She’s alone.”
Alison gently touched the tank before turning away and heading for the door. Bruna’s announcement was eerily similar to the first time they’d met Lara Santiago. When she had come to talk, it was a plea for her daughter. At the age of eight, Sofia was dying of leukemia. She’d asked if her daughter could talk to their dolphins as one of her last wishes. But Alison and her team arranged more than that.
Now Alison followed Bruna back out and into the wide hallway where Lara Santiago was waiting. Her demeanor was more relaxed than Alison was expecting.
“Hello, Mrs. Santiago,” she smiled. “Is everything okay?”
Lara nodded. “Yes. Thank you for seeing me.”
“How is Sofia?”
The expression on Lara’s face became mixed. “She is doing well,” she replied. “And her blood cell counts have improved dramatically. But improvement is now slowing.”
Alison immediately frowned.
“The doctors think that what Sofia experienced was a temporary change. And that her blood cells and her condition will turn down again into its final stage.”
Alison and Bruna remained quiet, listening.
“My husband and I don’t believe that,” she said. “What Sofia experienced over the last few weeks was too…incredible. It even shocked her doctors. The same ones who now insist it is only temporary.”
Lara Santiago worked to contain her emotion before lowering her voice. “But we don’t want to give up.”
Alison smiled and reached out, squeezing the woman’s arm.
“Miss Shaw,” Lara continued, “I didn’t tell anyone about Sofia’s experience here. Neither one of us did.” She glanced through the glass into the giant tank. “The doctors think it was a temporary remission, but we think it had to do with your dolphins. We…we have to bring her back.”
The smile on Alison’s face faded, and she stared at the woman as if frozen. It was something she’d just said that struck Alison like a hammer. They didn’t tell anyone.
Yet it wasn’t the words she’d spoken––it was how she said them. Lara Santiago had not used them
as a threat, but something in the tone of her voice told Alison that she might. In other words, neither she nor her husband had told anyone, but they would if they had to.
They believed the dolphins were the key to Sofia’s mysterious recovery, and they wanted to get her back into the water. And keeping the secret was their leverage.
Alison glanced at Bruna, the only other witness to the exchange. Her expression gave no indication of having noticed Santiago’s subtle implication, making Alison wonder if she had imagined it. But it didn’t matter. Whether Lara Santiago intentionally implied it or not was almost irrelevant. The message was the same and it underscored exactly what Clay had told her. As soon as someone found out even part of what Alison’s team knew, everything would change. Rumors would spread like wildfire, and attention would focus on them like a giant spotlight. Then eventually on IMIS.
And by then it would be too late.
After a long silence, Alison managed a warm smile. Her hand lay still on the mother’s arm. When she spoke, it was in a quieter voice, matching Lara’s.
“Bring her in.”
***
She found Clay in the lab. Alison entered calmly through one of the heavy double doors, and without saying a word, held them until they closed softly.
Both Clay and Lee watched her cross the room to their workstation where she simply stopped, staring at them.
“Lee, can you give us a few minutes?” She spoke in a low voice.
“Sure,” he said, promptly standing up. “I’ll, uh, go talk to DeeAnn.”
Alison watched him exit through a smaller door at the back of the room, leading outside. The room was momentarily awash in bright sunlight until the door swung back and closed with a loud click.
Alison turned to Clay, seated in front of her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“You’re right,” she said plainly. “As much as I want it not to be true, you’re right.”
Clay raised an eyebrow, curiously.
“IMIS. Dirk and Sally. Everything. It’s not safe. When people find out about it they’ll come for them, won’t they?”
Clay nodded. “It’s human nature.”
Alison lowered herself into the chair next to him and exhaled. “There’s nothing more powerful than the self-preservation of any given species. No matter what the cost.”
“It’s how it’s always been.”
She nodded solemnly. “I just spoke to Lara Santiago downstairs, the mother of Sofia, the girl we helped. She knows it was no fluke. She knows it was the dolphins. Now Sofia’s weakening again, and she wants to bring her back.”
“And?”
“And I don’t think she would take no for an answer.”
Clay leaned back in his chair, ignoring the pain. “There is one thing more powerful than self-preservation.”
Alison nodded. “A parent trying to save their child.”
They both sat quietly as the room fell silent. The monitor on Lee’s desk displayed a small window with a live feed of the habitat downstairs. On it, Lee could be seen approaching DeeAnn, at which point he reached down and patted Dulce’s head.
On the rest of the monitor and behind the video feed, a much larger window displayed part of IMIS’s vocabulary, mapping small parts of audio profiles to corresponding words. The massive system was still discovering new translations. And while most of the word choices seemed obvious, a few did not. They seemed odd, indicating IMIS still had a long way to go in understanding human context.
Alison looked at Clay’s chiseled face and was continually struck at how every time she looked at this guy, he seemed to grow more handsome. She realized it wasn’t merely his face or build. It was his character. He knew she was still fighting the idea of the retraction. But even now, after she finally saw the danger with her own eyes, he would never say, “I told you.” He would never even imply it. He understood what IMIS meant to her. What it meant to all of them. And Alison knew the last thing Clay would ever do was make that struggle worse. Instead, he simply waited for the rest of them to see it.
“So now what?” Clay asked.
Alison didn’t answer. Instead, she felt her mouth resisting to say the words. She thought of all they had done and the many young children who visited them, especially those wearing the blue T-shirts with pictures of Dirk and Sally. The children loved those dolphins. And finally, painfully, she thought of little Sofia. When the words came, it was an effort just to get them past her lips. “We undo it.”
Clay said nothing. Instead, he merely nodded and reached for one of his crutches, gripping the metal poles tightly in his hand. Alison noticed the strong, almost determined muscles flex in his forearm.
She redirected her focus to Lee’s lab, scanning first the shelves of books and equipment, followed by the fluorescent lighting overhead. “This is going to be harder than anything I ever could have imagined.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
She tried to joke. “You know, a year ago, I would have tried to blame it all on you.”
Clay smirked humorously. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“And you know that after this you can never break up with me.”
Clay’s face spread into a smile at her attempt to break the tension. “Finally, a silver lining.” He continued staring into Alison’s eyes. The joke’s timing was more than ironic, given his plans.
“So where do we move IMIS?”
“I don’t know. We’re working on a plan.”
“It won’t be easy. But you guys did steal it once before.”
This time, Clay’s eyes narrowed playfully. It was something she’d reminded him about many times. By “you guys” she meant the Navy. And while they had stolen the original system, he had not been part of it. Something she always seemed to leave out of the joke.
“Well, at least this time you’re in on it.”
She chuckled, then reached out and wrapped both hands affectionately around his. “How long do we have?”
“Not long,” he replied. “What about Dirk and Sally?”
Alison exhaled, thinking. “I have an idea.”
Clay glanced again at Lee’s screen and the live video feed from the habitat downstairs. “What about DeeAnn and Dulce? And your new little friend?”
She peered at the screen with him and took a deep breath. “I don’t have a clue…yet.”
As Clay stared at the video, his thoughts quietly shifted to another very different concern. Something he hadn’t shared with the rest of the team yet. A recent and private conversation between Clay, Caesare, and Admiral Langford.
There was still something missing in all of this. A question that hadn’t been answered. One last piece that had been missing since the Guyana Mountains, where the Chinese had made their great discovery.
The uncomfortable fact was that the U.S. had only stumbled onto all of this through the capture of a Russian submarine, which had evidently been watching the Chinese as they brought the plants out of the jungle. A sub found to be equipped with a highly advanced system, allowing it to travel almost undetected underwater. And oddly, that particular submarine was one of Russia’s oldest.
The submarine, called the Forel, had ultimately escaped Guyana only to be destroyed in tandem with the Chinese warship. And that led to the question at the root of it all.
How did the Russians tie into all of this?
13
The answer to Clay’s question was walking briskly down a long, brightly painted hallway in Saint Petersburg. More specifically, on the third floor of the General Staff Building in Palace Square and home to the Russian Defence Ministry’s Western Military District.
The twelve-story building was situated28 just blocks from the famed Neva River, the route used by Nazi forces during the “Siege of Leningrad.” Its legacy as the symbolic capital of the Russian Revolution came when Adolf Hitler set a goal to burn both the city and its people to the ground. The battle lasted more than two years and resulted in a devastating loss for Nazi German
y.
Dressed in a dark blue Caraceni suit, Dima Belov was tall and lean. He was covering the distance easily with long strides, at least compared to the two shorter guards walking shoulder to shoulder beside him.
Belov was no stranger to the building, having been received there several times before.
But today was different.
A dour expression painted his aged face, reflecting the seriousness of his visit, under armed guard. This time, Belov wasn’t here by choice, or to engage in political brinkmanship with some of Russia’s powerful military leaders. This time, Belov was here for one reason and one reason only: to save his own life.
At the end of the hall, two ebony wood doors swung outward to where two more men in modern green uniforms and berets awaited Belov. As he had with the first two, the older man detected a faint sense of disgust in the faces of his guards. Judgment for a situation Belov wondered if they knew anything about.
Still, Belov fought to remain calm in spite of the subtle shaking in both of his hands. After reaching the final door, his new guards halted with a firm stomp of their boots. Here, a fifth man stepped forward and began patting the older man down.
He raised his arms up to either side and peered through the thick glass wall to where Admiral Oleg Koskov waited in his office. From his chair, the thick brow of the admiral hung heavily over a set of dark and ruthless eyes.
Belov would have mused at how quickly the tables had turned were it not for the very real prospect of leaving this building as a dead man.
The officer in front of him stepped out of the way, forcefully pushing Belov into the large office and causing him to stumble through the doorway. Once clear, the officer quickly pulled the thick glass door closed behind him.
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