by Caney, Mark
Slowly, the fleck grew in size, and by mid morning, he could make out the details of it. It was not a typical Walkers’ craft; not one of the huge, noisy, metal monsters that thrashed their way across the waters. This was a wind-craft and it leant away from the pressure of the air and cleaved through the water in silence. The way that it rode the swells like a zeta and its use of the wind reassured Sky. Not all Walkers used their machines to force their will on Ocean then. If Walkers existed that were sympathetic to Ocean’s rhythms, then surely they might be found on a craft such as this?
It made its way past the shore of the island. Sky drew parallel to it and cautiously surfaced briefly to examine it. It was mostly white, with a tall pole protruding from its centre. Two great sheets of white material were suspended from this pole and they were filled with wind, pushing the craft through the sea. It was not particularly fast and it was easy for Sky to keep pace with it. On its front on each side there was a picture and some strange markings. Although it was highly stylised, Sky recognised that the picture was of a turtle. This seemed a good omen.
Towards the back of the craft a Walker stood in a recess, holding a big circle that moved slightly from time to time. The Walker had some blue material about its lower body, brown skin and grey hair on its head. It had what looked like dark pebbles over its eyes. It had more grey hair on its face, and Sky remembered that One Eye had said that this was a fairly reliable way to tell that a Walker was a male.
Soon, another Walker appeared from a hole and came up. The hairy male disappeared down the same hole. Sky judged that this new one was much younger, with a smooth, unblemished skin. It too went to the circle and held it as it turned back and forth. The new Walker was smaller and more slender than the first one and had long hair growing from its head. Sky liked the way this moved in the wind, like golden seaweed being swept about in a swell. This Walker wore two small strips of red material around its body and had no hair on its face. One Eye had said this sometimes indicated a female, but that the best identifier was that the adult females often had bumps on their chest. The upper red strip did indeed seem to be covering some swellings on the Walker’s chest so Sky guessed that this younger one must be female.
Sky was growing in confidence now and he drew closer to the craft, and made higher leaps so that he could see better. Then, during one jump, the Walker turned her head and looked directly at him. Her mouth widened and her white teeth showed clearly against her tanned skin. Cleaners sometimes showed their teeth this way just before attacking, but somehow it did not seem a threatening gesture. The Walker stepped up onto the edge of the craft to look at Sky, shading her eyes with one hand. She stayed like that for some time, as Sky stayed alongside the craft, observing her carefully. During one leap he noticed that the rain squall that had been approaching from behind was nearly upon them. He could see the marks of a blast of air flattening the waves as it sped outwards from the clouds, coming fast, very fast. It hit the Walker craft hard and it lurched over violently. The wind filled the great white cloths from the other side and there was a sudden crack as a rope snapped. Sky watched in mystification as a great pole attached to the bottom of one of the cloths swung across the craft and struck the female from behind. She was thrown hard into the water.
The squall passed and the wind subsided somewhat. The craft carried on its way much as before, the female disappeared below the surface. Sky wondered if she might have entered the water to hunt, but he was reluctant to approach her closely underwater. He watched the craft as it moved away. The older male appeared from the hole suddenly and looked around. He shouted something several times. It sounded to Sky like “Ah-Na, Ah-Na!” then he moved about quickly, pulling things and turning the circle. Gradually, one of the big cloths seemed to roll away and the craft began to turn. It was now quite far from where the female had entered the water so Sky lost interest in it. But now he was beginning to doubt that her dive into the water was intentional. The Walkers did many inexplicable things, but that had seemed like a very abrupt way to initiate a dive. He looked underwater to see if he could find her. He soon did and watched her from a distance. She was just below the surface and slowly sinking. She was motionless and some bubbles were coming from her mouth. Sky was becoming more certain that something was wrong. It was good to be relaxed during a dive but she was not moving at all. And who would waste air by exhaling at the start of a dive? Then Sky saw a large oceanic shark below the Walker. It had clearly seen her and started to cautiously circle her, moving closer, closer. Sky surfaced briefly. The Walker craft had come back, but had gone past him in the opposite direction now. The male seemed agitated, and was still shouting as before, ‘Ah-na! Ah-na!’ The female must be in difficulty. Sky dived down again and saw her body had fallen further. Her golden hair gently streamed above her, her face was blank. The shark bumped her with its snout and made a tight turn back towards her. Sky knew it had done this to test its victim, to make sure it was dead or helpless prey. Now it would eat.
Sky hurtled in and butted the shark hard in the side. It whipped around to face him with its jaws wide but Sky dodged at the last moment. It lunged at him but Sky darted aside, away from the Walker who continued to fall. The shark turned back towards the Walker but Sky hit it again. This time it had had enough and it sped off for the depths, looking for an easier meal.
Sky put his head under the Walker and lifted her to the surface. He remembered that she would have no blowhole so he turned her face uppermost so that her mouth and nose were in the air. She did not breathe so he pressed her hard in the chest like he would if he was helping another zeta. On the third attempt she coughed and retched and began breathing. Her eyes flickered open then gradually focussed on Sky. He knew he was in a very vulnerable position now if this was a dangerous Walker. But she did not seem dangerous. In fact, while he supported her there, and she gradually reached full consciousness, she stared into Sky’s eyes with a look of great intelligence and warmth, and she caressed him softly with her hands.
Then Sky heard the male Walker’s voice. He must have seen them and he guided the craft towards them. He brought it to a stop beside them, and stared over with wide eyes at Sky and the female. He reached down to her, making again the sound ‘Ah-na’ and some more noises. Sky withdrew cautiously, not wishing to be touched by the male in case he was dangerous, and watched him lift the female into the craft. She was still very weak, but alive.
Sky made one last leap before he left them, and as he fell back to the water he saw them looking at him. The female weakly raised one hand to him, as though in greeting or farewell.
The man cradled Anna’s head in his lap and gently brushed her long hair from her eyes. She watched the sleek grey body disappear into the waves then turned to look up at her father, her eyes shining.
‘A dolphin. A dolphin saved my life.’
Chapter 47
“The undisciplined mind confuses misfortune with mistakes.”
- Saturn Over Antares (12,415-12,438 post Great Alluvium)
A little way off the south west corner of Forlorn Island under the familiar steep, rocky cape, Sky hung in the water between two tall rock pillars. This had become his favourite spot. The light in the afternoon was lovely, and today, with the sea barely rippled, he expected it to be an especially good day to observe the Shades. He needed something to lift his mood.
As the sun slowly fell, shafts of light sliced down into the depths, wavering gently like searching eyes. Shoals of the bright orange Anthias swarmed around the twin pillars, gently swimming against the waters that the full moon was dragging westwards. The sun behind the Anthias made each little fish burn like a point of fire. Sky had seen real fires burning on the land before; they looked beautiful but dangerous. He had been told that they were very hot and he hoped one day he might be close enough to one to feel for himself. It was good to have something to look forward to.
The incident with the Walkers had given him something to think about. Seeing what they did to Ocean and
listening to others speak of them had given him the impression that they were selfish, dangerous creatures with no sense of belonging or responsibility to Ocean. But the female Ah-Na had not seemed like that. He had touched her and looked into her strange eyes. She had seemed gentle and kind, and he had felt a connection with her somehow. Although One Eye seemed unable to recognise a real distinction between good and evil, Sky was sure that she had been a “good” Walker. Maybe the zetii should try and make contact with the Walkers. Maybe there could be some way to warn them of what was happening to Ocean.
Sky was getting frustrated now, feeling there was something he should be doing to help. Most of his days around Forlorn Island had been pleasant enough at first. He and One Eye met and talked on many days, but sometimes they would not see each other for a day or two as they hunted around the island. Sometimes One Eye would not want to talk at all; he would frequently drift off in his mind in a trance-like state. It had taken Sky many days to slowly recognise that the old dolphin had more than reached the first level of consciousness: oneness with Ocean. All of the previous dolphins Sky had known who had reached that level, such as Silent Waters and Cloud Passing, would enter the state deliberately after a prolonged period of relaxation and meditation. You knew clearly when they were in the first level or not. But One Eye seemed to drift in and out constantly; he sometimes stopped using “i” or “me” completely when conversing, using only “we” and “us”. This had confused Sky at first, but then he had realised the old dolphin was no longer talking about himself at those times; he really felt part of the Everything, the Universal, of Ocean itself. He had somehow achieved the ultimate goal: to reach the stage where you could “no longer see where the zeta ends and Ocean begins” and Sky envied him. One Eye did not miss the company of others; for him there hardly were any “others”, he already felt a part of everything.
Sky was still unclear about what One Eye’s relationship was with the Aligners of the Way. He certainly had been an Aligner at one point, and might still be, but Sky had the impression that he was too much of a maverick even for them. Sky had asked him if he would train him in his duties as an Aligner, but he just laughed, saying that if he could just train Sky to think for himself, it would be enough. And he certainly did force him to think about things constantly. To question everything. To accept nothing.
Sky had been diverted from his troubles for a while by the conversations with One Eye, and had grown a strong affection for him. But for much of the time the old dolphin was on another plane to Sky, and now the full weight of Sky’s loneliness was descending to crush him again.
He missed the clan; Muddy, Deneb, Dusk. He missed Venus In Mist: another lost chance. Only two females had ever appealed to him, and he had lost both by being too slow, too indecisive. Now he was alone. Probably forever. In frustration he closed his eyes and called aloud: ‘What is going to happen to me?’
‘When?’
Sky opened his eyes. One Eye was swimming towards him. Sky shook his head. One Eye never gave a signature call. Sky suddenly realised why: of course, he just didn’t see himself as an individual anymore. ‘I meant, what is going to happen to me in the future?’
‘You want to know the future?’
‘Well, yes; is it knowable?’
‘Which one? Anyway, why would you want to know? What would be the point of life if you knew what was going to happen next? If your future was fixed it would mean that nothing you did in the present would matter. Life would become pointless; you’d just be playing a part, waiting to die on an appointed day. How crushing would that be?’
‘I can see all that I suppose, but I wish you could just give me a straight answer sometimes.’
‘Alright, i will. Here’s what your immediate future holds. You’re going to leave these islands.’
‘Leave? Why? You don’t want me here anymore?’
‘What i want is irrelevant. The time has come for you to develop to your next stage. You’ve learned some hard lessons of late, a few of them here. But now i see encouraging signs. You’ve learned to think for yourself and you seem to be starting to recognise what’s important. Maybe you even know what you want. You’ve started to recognise some of the weaknesses in Ka-Tse society; how all the zetii belief systems are struggling to keep pace with a changing Ocean. Remember when you came here you felt you had some duty to perform? This is it. Go out and do something about it.’
‘Like the way the Guardians want to change things?’
‘No! They are an anathema to Ocean, they are a symptom of the disease, not the cure. There is much of the Way that is good, but the fact that the Guardians can grow as they have shows that the Way must adapt if it is to serve zetii in this world. The zetii need individuals like you to go and tell them what to do. How to face the threat of the Guardians, the Walkers, the changing climate, the lack of food. You have been chosen as an Aligner of the Way. And the zetii need guidance from their Way now more than ever before. ’
‘But I don’t know what to do!’
‘At least your mind is free to think! You don’t have to be shackled by old thinking any more! You can do it. Find the problems with your mind and the solutions with your heart.’
‘How can I help? It’s too big a task.’
‘Remember this if nothing else: if you want something badly enough, if it consumes your mind, if it is in your thoughts in every waking moment and fills your dreams, then it will happen. Life is full of countless possibilities and little coincidences. Call them luck. If you’re focussed on your goal you’ll seize each useful opportunity that passes and ride every wave and current that takes you towards your goal. Nature colludes with the driven mind.’
The dolphins faced each other in the water between the columns. Sky swam gently forward and pressed his head for a moment against One Eye’s. Quietly he said, ‘Thank you, Jeii.’ He pulled away again and then froze. There was a sound: sonar. Dolphins were coming, several of them. One Eye must have heard it too but he kept looking at Sky as though this was completely expected.
Then, out of the blue, four common dolphins appeared, travelling fast. They slowed, the leader gave his signature call; Sky replied with his. The leader asked a question, but Sky barely understood a word. To his surprise, One Eye answered in what sounded like fluent Xenthos. They spoke for a while, then he turned to Sky. ‘They are scouts with a big clan close behind them. They are rather hostile; it seems that they think the Ka-Tse have broken some kind of agreement.’
‘What agreement?’
One Eye spoke some more in Xenthos.
‘As i understand it, the Ka-Tse were supposed to send an envoy to spend time with the Xenthos to show good will and to prove that food quotas were being maintained. But the Ka-Tse envoy never arrived.’
‘What? Ask them if there is one with them called Trevally Outpaced.’
One Eye translated the question.
‘Yes, he’s amongst their clan.’
‘Please ask them to send him to me urgently; I have to talk to him. Please.’
Soon after Sky was face to face with Trevally Outpaced. The mass of the Xenthos clan, hundreds strong, teemed past behind him as they moved to their next feeding grounds.
Sky looked into the suspicious eyes of Trevally Outpaced and started hesitantly, ‘My friend, Deneb Rising, was designated as the Ka-Tse who would meet you and spend time with your clan.’
‘Your “friend” insulted the Xenthos race and made me seem a fool to my Council!’
‘Deneb is an honourable zeta. He would never break his word.’
‘I only know that we agreed a day and place to meet during the Grand Council meeting. We arrived at the rendezvous on time; he never appeared.’
‘But, you changed the day of the meeting. Didn’t you bring it forward a day?’
‘No. The day was never changed. The Xenthos kept their word.’
‘Are you certain?’
‘Absolutely. We made no changes. Now I go to join my clan.’ Trevally Outpaced
turned and sped off to join the retreating throng of common dolphins.
Sky turned to One Eye. ‘I have to go back to the Dune Coast Clan immediately. Something is terribly wrong.’
One Eye nodded. ‘There’s one more thing i have to tell you before you go. i told you once before that a zeta stayed here a while ago; that he had been hurt by the Guardians.’
‘Yes, I remember you saying. Was he hurt badly?’
‘Very badly. Physically and mentally. He told me he had been the leader of their clan and had been attacked by a younger rival.’
Sky stared at One Eye, as this sank in. ‘A younger rival?’
‘That’s what he said. A zeta called Storm Before Darkness. He became the new leader.’
Sky spoke slowly, softly, ‘Then the zeta who came here was my father.’
‘i thought there was something about you that was familiar.’
‘What did he say to you?’
‘We did not talk a lot. But he kept saying that he felt betrayed, let down. Felt that Ocean had taken everything from him, he had lost his family and two clans. He said that those he should have been able to trust the most, had treated him the worst.’
Sky was afraid of what the answer to his next question would be. ‘And what happened to him?’
‘Like i said he was very badly hurt by that other zeta. i did what i could but he was too far gone and had lost his spirit. i’m sorry, he lasted two days, then he died.’
‘Storm killed him?’
‘Yes.’
‘And I never got to meet him again. I hate that Storm Before Darkness!’
‘Be careful with hate. It has a way of taking over.’
‘I think I really must go now.’
‘Yes. Farewell boy. Keep thinking for yourself.’