Leap - 02

by Michael C. Grumley

  34

  Alison and Chris both turned around, then shot Lee a sarcastic look.

  “Sit down where?”

  Lee looked past them at the small empty hallway. “Oh, sorry. Never mind.” After a chuckle, he whirled around in his chair and restarted his video of DeeAnn and Dulce. “Like I said, I couldn’t find any noticeable discrepancies in the translations. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re not present, but if these were true errors, the frequency alone means we should have seen several hiccups. Words being wrong or maybe a little out of context. But so far, nada. If anything, IMIS is getting faster, which is exactly how it worked with Dirk and Sally on the old system.”

  Alison watched the video while she listened. “Okay, so they aren’t errors, but we still don’t know what they are?”

  Lee smiled slyly. “Or maybe we do.” He slowed the video down dramatically then zoomed in on DeeAnn and Dulce in the middle of the frame. Their slow motion images became clear enough to see their facial expressions. They watched DeeAnn ask Dulce a question.

  “They look like they’re trapped in molasses,” Chris joked.

  After an unusually long wait due to the slow motion, Alison and Chris could see the translated text appear up on Lee’s screen.

  “Would…you…like…to…play…another….game?” she asked.

  The three watched while the sound emanated from DeeAnn’s old vest. They could barely see Dulce’s expression start to change or her mouth move when the red letters abruptly appeared in the computer logs.

  “There!” cried Lee, stopping the video. “Right there! There’s one!” He pointed at the red lettering on the screen. “From here, you see that it takes almost three seconds for Dulce to speak. Yet as far as IMIS is concerned, the translation already happened. We’ve never seen this with Dirk and Sally before.”

  Alison and Chris remained fixed on his screen.

  “And Dulce’s translations have never been wrong?” Alison asked.

  “Not as far as I can tell.”

  “Maybe the camera’s audio and video are out of sync.”

  “Good guess,” Lee offered to Chris. “But they’re not, I checked. Remember, we have multiple cameras surrounding her habitat.”

  “Well, if the translations are happening early, and they’re correct, then IMIS must be anticipating the words to be translated.”

  Lee pointed to her. “I thought the same thing. But our algorithms can’t actively predict behavior. At least not yet. Which leaves only one more possibility. IMIS is picking up on something else.”

  “Something else? Like what?”

  “Okay, remember what DeeAnn told us…that gorillas are quiet communicators. That they’re calm and thoughtful. I remember that because she told me about a thousand times while I was helping code the new software to study primates. Calm and thoughtful. Which means nonverbal, something else DeeAnn says all the time, ‘most of their communications are non-verbal.’”

  “Oh, my gosh,” mumbled Alison, as Lee’s words began to dawn on her.

  “You see,” Lee continued, “the system was never broken. It was just the opposite. If anything, IMIS was working too well. So well in fact, that I think IMIS has begun translating a language with Dulce on a level that humans can’t even detect!”

  Alison and Chris stared at Lee before finally turning to each other. They wore the same look on their faces.

  “Did you say an undetectable language?”

  “Yes!” Lee was so excited that he had to force himself to keep his voice down for Kelly, who miraculously was still sleeping. “It’s the only thing that fits. Dulce is able to communicate on a level, a primate level, which only IMIS is able to pick up on. And it’s fast!”

  Alison took a deep breath. “Wow.”

  Lee eagerly looked back and forth between them. “And that is why I haven’t slept all night.”

  Chris smirked, with the look of shock still on his face. “Well, that’s about the best excuse I’ve ever heard.”

  Alison stood silently, thinking, with the back of her hand covering her mouth. “So, what kind of language is it?” she asked out loud.

  Lee shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  Alison blinked out of her trance and looked down at Lee, who was still seated. “Well, I guess we can be happy the software isn’t broken.”

  “Uh, yeah,” he chuckled in agreement. Just moments later, he became serious again. “This is huge guys. I mean really HUGE.”

  “I agree. And it means we need to get a hold of DeeAnn for a couple of reasons,” Alison said, reading her watch.

  Chris eyed her curiously. “What’s the second?”

  She turned to both of them. “Well, we’re going to need her help trying to validate what Lee just found. And secondly, I’m guessing she’ll want to know that there may not be anything wrong with that new vest of hers after all.”

  35

  The sun’s first rays of the new morning broke over the distant blue horizon and raced across the surface of the earth, illuminating the coast of South America. The trees lit up in a bright green hue, reflecting the lushness of the mysterious jungle laden continent.

  The early twilight splashed over everything close to the water, including Alves’ preserve and Dulce, who was huddled into the corner of her fenced area. She was hiding with her small black head tucked down, from a fear that was now causing her fingers to shake. She was beginning to feel nervous and more than a little irritable. She wanted to help and make DeeAnn happy but deep down, more than anything, she wanted to go home.

  She’d been awake most of the night and a growing wisp of exhaustion was beginning to take its toll on her. She was waiting quietly for her mother.

  The sound from a nearby group of black-goggled tanagers filled the air as the jungle awakened to the cool, humid morning. Other birds began to join in, adding their own morning calls. But it was a different noise that caught Dulce’s attention. It was a very peculiar sound.

  Dulce silently raised her head and looked around behind her, scanning the nearby building less than thirty yards away. She kept watching and listening until she heard it again, this time louder.

  She turned her attention to a small area of the building where the lower wall overlapped with the next structure, providing a darkly shaded corner section of the roof. It was there that Dulce continued to stare until she saw it. A small gray head appeared from the shadow and glanced around. When the small capuchin monkey spotted Dulce observing from the ground, he quickly ducked back into the shadows.

  Dulce’s eyes opened wide and she wrapped her fingers eagerly through the chain link fence. She continued watching the hidden area for several minutes before the gray head appeared again. This time, it was staring curiously at Dulce. After a moment, he tipped his head as if trying to figure her out.

  Thirty minutes later, DeeAnn was surprised when she opened the outside door and found Dulce standing attentively at the fence. She followed Dulce’s gaze up to the roof but couldn’t see what she was looking at. Her curiosity grew when she approached the caged area to find that Dulce was still ignoring her.

  DeeAnn gingerly unlocked the gate and stepped inside, still observing the young gorilla. She began to close the gate when she suddenly froze. Up along the first roofline, she could see something protruding out from the shadows. She eased her breath out slowly. It was the small gray head of Dexter, the capuchin monkey they had spent the last two days searching for. The monkey had never left!

  DeeAnn rolled her eyes. Of course! Why didn’t she realize? With as much time as Luke spent with him, Dexter could just as easily have become comfortable at Luke’s home, especially since his own was so far away. In fact, Dexter probably wouldn’t have left a familiar environment for the unknown unless he was being chased. Instead, frightened from the attack, he found what he considered the safest and closest place to hide. How could she not have thought of that?

  DeeAnn turned as the exterior door to the building opened again, and Juan st
epped out. She immediately put her finger over her lips and signaled him to come quickly.

  It took Juan just a few minutes to locate a ladder near a nearby utility shed. It wasn’t quite tall enough to reach the lower roof, but it was enough to allow Dulce to get within eight feet of the monkey. DeeAnn kept her distance and remained further down the ladder, just within reach of Dulce’s dangling leash. Juan stood immediately behind her, securing the bottom of the aluminum ladder.

  Unfortunately, they couldn’t understand what Dulce was saying to Dexter at the top of the ladder. DeeAnn could not point the vest upward at the correct angle, and Dulce was facing away from her, making a translation impossible. But speak, she did. Dulce stood poised at the top, carefully studying Dexter and exchanging an unending series of sounds and gestures.

  Dexter’s sounds were higher pitched, sounding less like an exchange and more like a screaming match; but step by step, his head and body gradually emerged into the morning sunlight. When he reached the edge of the roof, DeeAnn slowly shook her head in wonder. The full significance of the event would have been lost on anyone else, but to DeeAnn, what she had just witnessed was nothing short of earth shattering.

  36

  The metal door burst open, and Alves charged down the hall with Carolina hurrying behind him. Miguel Blanco was waiting near the end of the hallway with arms folded, gazing through another smaller window. He calmly turned when Alves reached him.

  “Tell me!”

  “He was here all along,” Blanco smirked, “hiding upstairs.” He motioned back outside. “We have him contained.”

  “Is he talking?!” Alves blurted, excitedly.

  “Don’t know. The woman asked us to stay inside. She said they needed to establish a level of trust with the monkey first.”

  Alves peered eagerly through the exterior window and across a small open area to where several cages sat at the base of the group of trees. They were too far away to hear. “We need a feed on them!”

  “Enrique’s working on that,” Blanco replied smoothly. He glanced at his watch. “He said he’d have video and audio in ten minutes.”

  Alves nodded anxiously. “Good.” From their angle, they could only see part of Dexter’s tiny frame outside, but it was him. He was sure. After a long pause studying him, Alves turned back to Blanco. “He doesn’t get out of that containment cage! Understand? No matter what!”

  The roof was just the beginning. Coaxing Dexter down was one thing, but once on the ground, watching Dulce ask Dexter a question and then relay the answer back to them left DeeAnn in awe. She was sure she had just witnessed IMIS do something of which Lee Kenwood had never dreamed.

  DeeAnn continued watching, still dumbfounded, as Dulce handed Dexter a small chunk of celery and asked, Hungry?

  The tiny gray monkey studied the vegetable for a moment, but then seized it in a flash. He finished it within seconds. Dulce tilted her head and grinned, then reached for another.

  The two were now in a different caged area. It was smaller and located under the canopy and shade of several dark green, mid-sized mango trees. DeeAnn and Juan were both inside but leaning against the chain link, a distance which Dexter appeared to deem safe.

  They watched intently, and DeeAnn kept her vest pointed carefully, as to allow her to capture both primates within the tiny camera’s field of view.

  What was interesting though was that over the last couple days, the IMIS vest had grown increasingly efficient at translating for DeeAnn, and yet it was unable to translate the exchange between Dulce and Dexter. DeeAnn pondered what that meant. Was there something else happening with the communication between the primates?

  As was the case in human communication, words, gestures, context, and tone were also very commonly used by primates. In fact, many primates knew what humor was and enjoyed playing tricks on their researchers. Even more fascinating was their practice at varying levels of deception. They also demonstrated human characteristics like greed, jealousy, and ire. So why couldn’t IMIS translate their speech? A thought suddenly occurred to DeeAnn, and she dropped her head, contemplating. Unless it was something humans couldn’t do. Or something humans had evolved out of.

  Dulce spoke with Dexter again, who seemed to say something back. Dulce rolled her head sideways with a curious expression and looked at DeeAnn. When she spoke, the words emanated a moment later from the vest’s speaker. He hiding.

  DeeAnn replied softly. “Ask him why he is hiding.”

  They watched Dulce turn back to Dexter, who was barely half as tall as she. His near white fur had a peppering of black, which from a distance gave him a gray hue. After another blurted exchange with yelps and motions, Dulce turned to them again. He hide from bad people.

  DeeAnn looked at Juan with widening eyes. “Do you think that means he saw them?

  “Maybe,” Juan whispered back.

  DeeAnn cleared her voice. “Who are bad people, Dulce?”

  Dulce spoke to Dexter again and waited. He want out cage.

  “Soon. But first, who are bad people?”

  After another exchange, Dulce replied again. Bad people hurt friend.

  DeeAnn gasped. Luke! Was Luke the friend? She took a deep breath, struggling to remain calm. “Who was his friend?”

  Dulce stared at her a moment, trying to understand the question. When she turned and spoke to Dexter, his reply was brief. Teacher.

  “Yes, Dulce! Teacher!” DeeAnn said, gripping one of Juan’s sleeves. “Who hurt the teacher?”

  Teacher friend.

  “Yes, yes. Teacher is friend. Who hurt teacher? Where is teacher?!”

  Dulce asked again. IMIS didn’t translate, but DeeAnn could tell Dexter’s answer was different this time. She stared apprehensively at Dulce, waiting.

  Dulce looked at DeeAnn but didn’t speak immediately. She waited, staring, as her small face slowly changed expressions to one of sadness. Her answer struck DeeAnn like a freight train. Teacher die.

  Juan’s eyes widened and he turned to DeeAnn. Her face went instantly white. Her knees wobbled and she looked as though she were going to collapse when Juan quickly reached out and grabbed her.

  Dulce watched DeeAnn with sorrow and finished the translation. Friend die teacher.

  37

  DeeAnn’s eyelids fluttered open, and she looked around with blurry eyes. After taking some time for them to adjust, she finally recognized her room on Alves’ estate.

  She turned her head and saw Juan’s face hovering above her. Alves and Blanco stood behind him, looking questioningly.

  “Dee, can you hear me?”

  “Yes.” She blinked and focused on Juan’s young, tan face. “What happened?”

  “You fainted.”

  “Fainted?” she said, confused. “I did?”

  “Yeah.” Juan looked to the other two men, then back down at her. “How do you feel?”

  DeeAnn blinked again. “Fine.” Her mind was fully aware now and trying to rewind. All at once, she remembered and was instantly overcome with heartbreak. Luke!

  She remembered what Dulce had repeated. Even worse, she knew what it meant. She had been hoping against hope that Luke was still alive, but she always knew the chances were remote. Deep down she knew that Luke was dead, but she wouldn’t let herself come to believe it. Until now. They were just words. From a monkey, no less, but she knew it was true. She finally had to admit it. Luke was gone.

  Her eyes began to well up until streams fell from the corners, running down each of her cheeks. DeeAnn closed her eyes and gently rolled her head back and forth. What on earth was she doing here? She just wanted to go home.

  She opened her eyes again and reached for Juan’s hand. “Help me up.”

  “Hold on.” He loosened his grip and gently placed his other hand on her shoulder. Leaning forward, he brushed her hair off her forehead. “I think there’s more here than just fainting. You look like you might have a case of heatstroke. You’re sweating quite a bit. Are you thirsty?”

&
nbsp; “Yes.”

  “You’ve been pushing yourself pretty hard, Dee. I think you need take it easy for a while.”

  She took a deep breath and forced her limbs to relax. “What about Dulce and Dexter?”

  Alves peered over Juan’s shoulder with a concerned look. “Don’t you worry about them. They’re safe and they’re not going anywhere. You need some rest. In fact,” he said, with a sigh, “I think we all do.”

  DeeAnn nodded. “They need to be separated without me in there with them. And fed too.”

  “Already done,” smiled Juan. “Let’s just take the afternoon to get some rest.” He turned to Alves and Blanco. “If you gentlemen don’t mind.”

  A flash of surprise passed over both of them, but they nodded and headed for the door. With a quick glance back, they stepped out and Blanco closed the door softly behind them.

  DeeAnn looked up at Juan and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Juan. I brought us on a wild goose chase, and I shouldn’t have.” She reached up and laid a hand over her eye. “I thought I could do something to help Luke before it was too late. But in my heart, I already knew it was too late. And now I’m worried about Dulce. I know you can’t tell, but she’s not coping well. And here I am, with a case of heatstroke.” She took a deep breath and let it out quickly. “I know this sounds harsh, Juan, but if Luke really is gone, I don’t think we’re going to find out who did it. At least not soon. I think it would take a while. Longer than Dulce could handle.” She frowned at him. “We need to go home. Before things get worse.”

  “I understand.” Juan nodded and gingerly patted her hand. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  DeeAnn nodded. “I’m fine.”

  “Good,” said Juan, lowering his voice. This time it was his turn to take a deep breath. “Because I think we have a problem.”

  DeeAnn wrinkled her brow. “What?”