by J C Ryan
“I have no idea what that is,” she said slowly. “I’ll have to check the original dots and see if they’ve been corrupted.”
Sam took the time to notify Carter, and while she examined the dot that corresponded to the file in question, Carter, Mackenzie, and Liu all listened to the odd sounds.
“That sounds familiar,” said Liu. “I can’t quite place it.”
Just then, a series of high pitched squeaks that sounded like “ack, ack, ack,” followed by chittering noises comparable to a chimpanzee’s laugh came through the speakers.
“I know! It’s dolphins!” Liu clapped her hands in delight that she’d remembered. “I used to hear them on my parents’ boat. When we would go fishing, sometimes the dolphins would come and beg for scraps of our catch.”
Mackenzie looked at her strangely. “That’s interesting. How did you know they were begging?”
“Oh, by their body language, and they always made the same sounds. They’d come upright and halfway out of the water, and lurch backwards like they wanted us to throw something. And they made the same sounds every time.”
“You sound almost like you could communicate with them, Liu.”
“It seemed like we could. At least, we thought we knew what they wanted. And when we threw them some, they’d make something like a bow, and a different sound, and then they’d swim away.”
“Remarkable,” muttered Carter, who was still attuned to the squeaks and other sounds. “Is it possible that person talking there and the dolphin were having a conversation?”
“That’s it!” Mackenzie cried. “I’ll bet anything they were. It’s been proven they communicate in a language we don’t understand yet, and that they are self-aware, and even have names!”
“Well, having names sounds a bit rich to me, but it certainly seems this female giant and a dolphin were having a conversation,” Carter marveled. “So maybe at one time humans did understand dolphins and vice versa. How can we verify this is indeed the case?”
“I can check the wavelength, frequency, and patterns and confirm if the sounds are within the dolphin audio spectrum,” Samantha volunteered.
“It is, I’m sure,” Mackenzie and Liu said, almost in unison.
Carter said he would ask Professor Wasserman to spend some time translating the parts of the file that were uttered by the giant in her language, and that would give them some idea of what the “conversation” was about. He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the real possibility that a giant and a dolphin were conversing. “What if it’s just some giant mimicking a dolphin?” he asked.
“I’d just about guarantee it isn’t,” said Mackenzie. “But there’s an easy way to find out. Dolphin sounds are in a much broader range of the audio spectrum than we have. Sounds we can’t even hear. We need to get some sound analysis of these files going, and see if there’s anything recorded that we can’t hear. If there is, we can be certain it’s genuinely dolphins, speaking genuine Dolphinese.”
“Maybe there’s something about it in the index of the text files,” Sam suggested. “I could write a search routine and find it pretty fast.”
“People, we have our work cut out for us. Sam, nukes first, then dolphins.
“Liu, I need you to help me with the text translations as soon as Sam has identified them.
“Mackie, you have an interest in dolphin intelligence. Could you put together a white paper on how this communication could be possible, including any references you think relevant?
“Professor Wasserman, would you translate the conversation on this file and on any others like it you can find, and work with Sam to try to figure out the dolphin language, if this is indeed a conversation? After she finds the references, that is. Translation first, then analysis.”
Each person agreed to their assignments and went to work immediately, paying no attention to the fact they’d only had two hours’ sleep. A bombshell of this nature was a remarkable energizer.
Carter experienced a twinge of uneasiness but kept it to himself. He’d discovered some controversial stuff in his time and had always been able to back it up with fact. This . . . whatever it was . . . interspecies communication, might be the most controversial discovery of his career. There was no doubt that, although it took his entire research team to make and verify the discovery, it would be his reputation on the line when they announced it. If they were ever allowed to announce it. His imagination was running wild with the implications.
What if they could send dolphins to explore under the water and never had to mount a dangerous expedition until they knew exactly where to look? What if the dolphins would know where that city was, help them find those nukes? He brought himself up short. There was still a lot of work to do before any of those things would be possible. He had to stop chasing squirrels and focus on the most important thing — finding those nukes before someone else did. But still, wouldn’t it be cool if they had dolphins as allies?
Meanwhile, Liu and Sam were chattering like magpies about the wonder of it all with Mackenzie listening. Interspecies communication, proven and demonstrated for the first time! And if the dolphin language of today was the same or similar to that of fifty thousand years ago, maybe they themselves could talk to another species for another first!
“Not for the first time,” Mackenzie pointed out. “What about my wolves, and Jeha with Liam? We’ve had this conversation before. The more we experiment and learn, the more I’m convinced that many species of animals are just as intelligent as we are, and some are more so in some ways. We should approach this as if we fully believe the giants, whom we know have been far more advanced than we are now, and the dolphins could communicate and collaborate. Stranger things have been proven true.”
“Your wolves?” Sam asked. Of course, she’d seen the wolves on occasion, but she hadn’t been told about their behavior during the time Mackenzie and Liu had been captives of Algosaibi. While Mackenzie made a list of the subjects she wanted articles for from A-Echelon, since her computer would not be connected to the Internet, Liu filled Sam in on the case of the clairvoyant wolves.
When she’d finished, Sam whistled, a low sound of astonishment. “That is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said.
“Stick around, and you’ll hear a lot more,” Liu assured her. “It’s like Shakespeare said in Hamlet, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Samantha, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’”
“Hmm, I’m pretty sure that was Horatio Hamlet was talking to, not me,” Samantha said, laughing. “But I get your point.”
Chapter 50 -
Hold onto your skivvies
At dinner, a few days later, Mackenzie couldn’t wait to share some of her research about dolphins. So much of it confirmed what she’d always believed or suspected. Even people who didn’t know much about dolphins usually knew there were legends about people riding on them or them rescuing humans in trouble. The enormous data dump about dolphins she got from A-Echelon, contained several documented stories about individual rescues, including one where three dolphins put themselves between a man who’d been swimming with them and a Great White shark, protecting him until he could be rescued by fellow sailors.
“That’s remarkable,” Sam said. “Don’t Great Whites prey on dolphins?”
“Well, yes, presumably. But full-grown dolphins aren’t easy to prey on. They are more intelligent than sharks and have been proven to strategize and cooperate in many pursuits. Attacking sharks is one of them. Dolphins will ram them in the gills to try to kill them. In this case, the shark eventually gave up and left the area. I guess it was smart enough to know that the human the dolphins were protecting wasn’t worth the price of the meal.” Mackenzie laughed.
“There are so many stories about dolphins interacting with humans. Do you remember in the news not long ago, a dolphin came and asked a diver for help with a hook and some fishing line?” Liu asked.
“Oh, yes, and I watched that video today. It was amazi
ng. The dolphin stayed close to the diver and remained very calm as he removed the hook from its fin and used scissors to remove as much of the line as he could. And then it just swam away. I’ll tell you, from everything I had already read, I almost expected it to say ‘thank you’ and tip its hat.”
“What else, Mackenzie?” Liu asked, very keen to hear more.
“Well, I’ve confirmed that they ‘talk’ among themselves. Scientists have identified bursts of sound that may represent sentences. They’re polite, too. They don’t talk over each other. One dolphin makes sounds, and then another responds. So, my belief that they communicate complex ideas and instructions isn’t farfetched. Oh, and they do have ‘names.’" She looked at Carter. "Or rather, a unique whistle that identifies them to others.”
“That’s wild,” Carter remarked with a smile.
“Not as wild as this. We know already that they exhibit a real interest in interacting with us. Did you know they can solve problems? And that they may consider solving puzzles that humans set as a fun game to play with us?”
“Seriously?”
“Yes! There are some interesting studies going on that the marine biologists who designed them think may indicate dolphins can actually count, add, and subtract.”
“No way!”
“Yes, it’s true. The tests are simple. They give the dolphins several objects, something to play with, like buoyant objects they can push around and toss to one another. Then they take some away and hide them underneath or behind barriers in the pool. Every time, the dolphins go looking for the missing ones. And they keep looking until they find all of them.”
“Amazing!”
“Did you know the Navy has been training them to do underwater missions since 1978? We really should talk to some of those trainers about it. Although I don’t know if I could deal with it if I found out the missions were dangerous. From what I’m learning, if they do suicide missions, like placing mines on enemy ships, it would be just like sending a human to do it.”
Carter took Mackenzie’s hand. “Mackie, you know that sometimes a human does have to do something like that. I’m sure the Navy doesn’t lightly risk a valuable asset, whether human or dolphin, without a damn good reason.”
“Still. They are such beautiful and gentle creatures. What if they just want to please us, like dogs do? And then we send them all unknowingly to do something that could kill them.”
“Mackenzie, if what you’re saying about communication is true, don’t you think they tell each other what the consequences may be?” Liu’s thoughtful expression and tone made the others stop and consider it.
Mackenzie finally answered. “You may be right." She continued. There’s also evidence that young dolphins learn in groups that we might call a school in the human sense of the word. Maybe they’re taking safety classes or even history.” She spoke lightly, as if making a joke, but the others could tell she believed it. She’d been pulling dozens of articles and scholarly research together all day, they didn’t doubt she had a valid idea.
Mackenzie brightened with her next revelation. “They have a sense of humor, too. I watched a video several times that showed a dolphin in an aquarium watching a girl turn cartwheels. When she went over, the dolphin would circle its head and then, I swear, it would smile or laugh. The sound didn’t include any noise the dolphin was making, but you could just tell it was delighted by the unexpected behavior.”
“You’re convinced they have emotion, then?” Carter asked.
“Oh, of course! I mean, they aren’t the only animals that do. It stands to reason that as one of the three most intelligent species, they’d have developed emotion. They seem to grieve when one dies, especially the mothers of young calves that don’t make it. But elephants, apes, even dogs do that. It takes a highly-evolved animal, and in fact a self-aware one, to have humor. In fact, I read a quote from a psychologist saying something to the effect that he defines humor as seeing improbable connections in the mind. That’s what makes a joke funny. You’re not expecting it, and then suddenly . . . bang! It comes from the ability to put very strange, often illogical things together."
“So, you’re saying that when a dolphin sees something that doesn’t fit with its prior knowledge, it could find humor in that?”
“I guess. We’d have to ask them, wouldn’t we?”
“Mackie, you sound as if you’re pretty sure we are going to have a chat with the dolphins soon.” Carter chuckled.
Mackenzie’s comment made the others laugh, too.
“See, that kind of proves my point.” She said. “You all thought asking the dolphins was illogical, so you laughed. But I think we could actually do it — if someone were to study it long enough. Maybe we’d better bring on a marine biology PhD candidate in search of a dissertation topic.”
Carter sighed. “We’ve already got half of the University here. Not long before we’ll open the University of Freydís. Not that Professor Wasserman and Liu are unwelcome.
“Nevertheless, I think your idea about consulting the Navy is a good one. Is there anything else you learned that we should know about tonight?”
“There’s so much to tell! But I’ll be pulling it all together in a PowerPoint presentation with videos and sound embedded. I can probably contain my enthusiasm until I’m done . . . It will be better organized.”
“That sounds good. Let’s call it ‘Hold Onto Your Skivvies: Interspecies Communiqués’.”
Mackenzie aimed a playful punch at Carter, and when the laugher receded, he asked, “Anyone have any questions before we move on?”
“I do,” answered Professor Wasserman. “Have the scientists who discovered they talk among themselves discovered any of the meanings of the sounds?”
“A few, tentatively. I don’t think there’s a serious effort to document an actual language, though. That’s where your assignment comes in. If we can understand the conversation from the giants’ side, then maybe we can begin to interpret the dolphin language as well. Because dolphins do listen to each other and respond, the back and forth nature of those files with Giantese and Dolphinese together leads me to believe they are indeed having a conversation. We just need to figure out how, and what they were talking about.”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Carter concluded. “And I’d give just about that to find out they were talking about the nukes.”
Everyone at the table laughed, but Carter was serious. In fact, he’d give his entire fortune to discover that the ancient dolphins had communicated with the giants about those nukes, and that they’d passed the knowledge of where they were down through the generations. If Mackie was right about those history lessons, why not believe they also remembered that?
A few hours later, as they prepared for bed, Mackenzie whispered to Carter, “Did you know dolphins also have sex for pleasure?”
“And you’re telling me this, why?” Carter asked with a mischievous smile.
“Well, I think we’ve been working too hard . . .”
Chapter 51 -
Everything you thought you knew
It didn’t take long for Sam’s algorithms to find references to the translation device the group knew had to have existed if humans and dolphins were to talk. In fact, they found the plans for it almost as quickly as they confirmed it was real. By then, the idea of interspecies communication was not a matter of belief and speculation anymore, it was a foregone conclusion. That didn’t keep them each from experiencing a sense of unreality and heart-pounding excitement whenever the thought hit them.
Meanwhile, Mackenzie had uncovered even more facts about dolphins, such as the growing controversy surrounding dolphin therapy. Some people swore that the dolphins were somehow healing people, even mental or emotional disorders, by some sort of supersonic communication. Others maintained that any pet therapy could produce the same results, without the New Age mumbo-jumbo, and that keeping dolphins confined for such a purpose was cruel.
The discovery that there was i
ndeed a translation device that they could duplicate energized everyone. It also solidified the notion that they should talk to the Navy about it, but there were some barriers. The Navy’s use of dolphins was for the most part classified, and their own project was above top secret as well. To bring the parties together to share information was going to require some high-level intervention and mutual vetting.
It was no surprise then that the Navy, when approached with the idea by James Rhodes, wasn’t keen to share their secrets. They would have been singing a different tune if they knew what James knew, but he was not authorized to share it with them — at least not yet. When James reported that the Navy wasn’t on board with sharing information, Mackenzie almost had a melt-down.
“I knew it! Those bastards are endangering the dolphins. That’s why they don’t want to tell us. We have to get through to them that it isn’t okay,” she pleaded. In fact, she’d already uncovered allegations that they were being deployed in waters that were too cold for them and were also trained for kamikaze missions to destroy enemy ships. Other revelations were that they were being used to guard harbors against human invasion from underwater and to guard nuclear sites.
Carter could swear that Mackenzie’s red hair was about to explode into flames while she was ranting.
Mackenzie was so distraught that a visit from the wolves made her realize she had to calm down. In broad daylight, they appeared and paced nervously around the cabin until she went out and soothed them. “I’m all right,” she crooned to them, but only the touch of her hand reassured them enough to leave.
“Mackie, if you’re going to be involved in the discussions with the Navy, can you avoid calling them bastards?” Despite the droll question, Carter was serious. They all, A-Echelon, the military, and the top security agencies, had to be on the same page on this issue.