Deep Past

by Eugene Linden

  She swung around, putting her trunk in the air as though trying to find an elusive scent. Then she came toward the group. Helen and Keerbrock started to retreat, but Claire stepped forward and with tears in her eyes yelled, “Flo!” The elephant stopped in her tracks and trumpeted before moving up to Claire and nuzzling her with her trunk. Claire was laughing and crying at the same time and kept saying, “Flo.” Flo rumbled with unambiguous contentment.

  Claire looked with mock reproach at Zoe. “You could have told me.”

  Zoe explained to the group that after Claire had left for Kazakhstan, Flo had taken up her old habit of throwing stones. The elephant park administration had decided that there were too many opportunities for unfortunate encounters with the public, and Flo had been shipped to Zoe’s sanctuary, Boisbeaux, which was more secluded in southern Louisiana. Indeed, she was content in the two-thousand-acre stretch of bayou and bottomland forest. There was a chorus of frogs from the swamp, and they could hear warblers in the still air. Flo and thirty other elephants had freedom, plenty of mud to loll in, cypresses, hickory, oak, ash, and pine trees to rub against—pretty much everything an elephant that found itself marooned in America might want.

  Claire had invited Helen Hayden to come as a courtesy and was surprised when Helen not only agreed but also offered to take them on her plane. She said that the jadeite was so precious that she did not want to risk anything happening. This was common sense, since there was no telling how TSA would react if they picked up the stone, or, worse, insisted that it go through the X-ray.

  Watching Flo, Keerbrock said, “Give that girl a contract. She hit that tree eight out of the last ten throws. She’s got to be sixty feet away.”

  It was four in the afternoon in late October, but it was intolerably hot. Everybody was drenched in sweat. Noticing the discomfort of her visitors, Zoe didn’t offer much consolation. “The heat? Get used to it. We’re getting it from all sides. Drought’s killing the forests to the north, and sea level rise and the Army Corps of Engineers are killing the bayous from the south. Hate the thought of moving, but we might have to pick up stakes if things continue the way they’re going.”

  Every now and then Flo would pick up a ball instead of a rock and hurl it. Rufus, Flo’s rottweiler new best friend, would then take off like a rocket to retrieve it and drop it in front of her.

  Keerbrock turned to Claire. “Let’s make sure that she can’t grab the jadeite when we do this thing … and also that there’s nothing around that she might throw at us!”

  Claire gave a tight smile; she was nervous as hell about what they were doing. “Don’t worry about Flo. She’s an old soul.”

  Zoe added, “Also, she’s the best of the lot when it comes to medical checkups, so she won’t mind the monitoring patches.”

  Claire nodded. “Sergei’s been working on that.”

  Claire had used some of her funds to bring Sergei from Transteppe (with American troops installed at the invitation of the president, Transteppe had become a de facto DMZ, as neither side wanted to start World War III). Sergei had flown in the night before, and Claire had given him a big hug when he greeted the group upon landing that morning. Sergei had held her shoulders in his hands and said, “Don’t ever disappear on me again.”

  “Yes … sir!” she’d said, snapping off a salute.

  Sergei had brought in lightweight field equipment ranging from ultrasound to monitors for vital functions and even brain-scanning devices.

  Zoe’s radio squawked, and she picked it up. “OK, they’re set up. Just so we’re on the same page—any sign of stress and I’m shutting this down. Clear?” She made sure that she got a nod from each of them, including the Nobel Prize–winning scientist.

  “OK, you all head back in. I’ll be along with Flo in a bit.”

  Claire started to go with the group and then stopped. Almost shyly, she asked Zoe, “OK, if I hang here with you and Flo a bit more?”

  “Sure,” Zoe said with no hesitation. “The more time she spends with people she trusts, the better.”

  As Claire stroked Flo’s rough skin, she marveled at how her work had come full circle. From abandoning direct research on animal intelligence for the safer ground of studying ultrasonic communication, now she was back trying to investigate something at the bleeding edge of the study of the evolution of intelligence. Claire found it comforting that Flo, who’d been a stalwart in Claire’s earlier work, would be involved in this far more daring effort. And she took comfort that now she had a revered pillar of the scientific establishment watching her back.

  Even with Keerbrock’s involvement, however, it was actually a small miracle that they had gotten to this point.

  Like many seemingly simple ideas, Katie’s plan to gauge an elephant’s reaction to the jadeite was loaded with pitfalls. It wasn’t just a matter of finding the right elephant; they also needed to find a keeper who wouldn’t blab what they were doing. Claire had an easy time imagining a National Enquirer headline—“Romancing the Stone: Whack Job Scientists and the Elephant Fortune-Teller”—if someone mentioned what they were doing to the wrong person. Then there were the dangers inherent in transporting this unique, irreplaceable artifact as well as the elephant’s reaction. What if a five-ton animal freaked out and stomped it?

  They did not dare cut any piece off the jadeite, as they had no idea which parts of the stone were vital to producing its bizarre energy. What they could do, and did, was measure and record the stone’s various fields with every conceivable measuring device—“only passive devices,” per Keerbrock’s stern warning—in order to develop as complete a record as they could at what was happening within and around the rock that was invisible and inaudible to humans.

  Figuring out whether there was a pattern in the intricate waves was a matter of finding a world-class code breaker with access to an array of supercomputers. What was easy to see, however, was that the energy of phonons—the quantum units of vibrational energy—spiked enormously when someone’s hand touched the top of the rock. This did not happen when they raised the overall temperature by putting the jadeite in a hot box, so they speculated that the contrast between the warmth of a hand and the ambient temperature had something to do with triggering the reaction.

  Katie had sorted through her vast network of contacts in the animal rights movement before settling on Zoe, who had started Boisbeaux as a sanctuary for rescued elephants. Zoe and Katie had worked together on a number of ops in the old days. Zoe was hard-core. Katie knew that if she reassured Zoe that this would advance the welfare of elephants, Zoe would take what they were doing to the grave. Trouble was, Katie knew there was always the possibility that she was wrong—that the energy of the stone might be amplified rather than diluted by the bulk of an elephant, and produce awful consequences. Knowing Zoe, Katie didn’t want to think of what the woman might do if things went wrong.

  Then there was the question of how to interpret Flo’s feelings. They could set up equipment and put some noninvasive sensors on the animal, but how would they interpret her reactions? Over the next few days, they thought of abandoning the plan several times, but either Claire or Katie or Keerbrock would always come back to the same thought: if the stone was meant to be touched by an elephant, the first step in settling that question would be to see what an elephant did after touching it, even if a modern elephant did not have a frontal lobe the size of Bart’s.

  Keerbrock was not particularly concerned as they entered the big barn situated away from the main Boisbeaux complex. Claire and Katie, however, were both visibly nervous. Zoe had put Rufus in the house so that he wouldn’t distract Flo, and she had ensured that the other elephants and staff were doing things well away from the barn.

  Zoe led Flo into the back part of the barn, which was separated from Claire’s group by solid iron bars. The barn was used for medical exams, and it had a so-called squeezebox, which could be used to immobilize a large animal. They saw no need for this; indeed, they wanted to make this experim
ent as natural as possible. In the back of the enclosure were some boards and a couple of pieces of PVC pipe, leftovers from some repairs. On the human side of the barrier, Zoe had left a basket filled with Flo’s favorite treats—apples, tomatoes, ears of corn. Flo saw the basket immediately and made a small rumble. “That’s her apple sound,” said Zoe and held her hand through the bar so that Katie could hand her an apple. Flo happily munched while Zoe set up a ladder and began attaching various sensors with tape to Flo’s rough hide.

  “So who’s going to hold this stone while Flo touches it?” Zoe asked while she worked.

  “Who does she like better, women or men?” asked Katie.

  “Definitely women—she’s a die-hard feminist.”

  Claire turned to Helen. “Would you like to do the honors?”

  Helen laughed and held up her hands. “The only thing I know about elephants comes from Dr. Seuss.” She looked at Claire. “This is your work, and you seem to know Flo. Shouldn’t you?”

  Now it was Claire’s turn to hold up a hand. “Katie’s discovered the stone”—Claire gave Keerbrock a direct look—“and this is her idea.”

  Katie looked gratefully at Claire. “And I read Betty Friedan in college. Maybe Flo’s a fan, too.”

  Claire laughed. “OK then.”

  “The rest of you, stand back and stay quiet,” said Zoe, stepping down from the ladder. “Wait till I’m with you, and then we can start.”

  She passed the leads from the sensors through the bars to Sergei, who immediately began plugging them into the monitoring equipment, which he’d set up on a table near the front door to the barn. Once done, he nodded to Claire. “Ready.”

  Zoe entered the barn, grabbed a tomato, and gave it to Flo. “OK, it’s your show.”

  They’d packed the jadeite in a foam-lined briefcase. Claire opened the case and handed the stone to Katie, and then retreated to the rest of the group.

  Katie, Claire, and Zoe had discussed at length how to approach Flo with the stone. “Don’t worry, Flo understands the principle of private property,” Zoe had said. “Offer it to her with your hand underneath, and I’ll bring her trunk over to touch it. She understands a good deal of English, and I’ll tell her what I’m doing.”

  Holding the stone, Katie slowly walked up to the bars and stood about three feet back holding the jadeite in front of her. Zoe gently took the tip of Flo’s trunk and pulled it through the bars. “This nice woman wants to see what you make of this stone,” she said as she brought the tip close to the stone and moved it slowly over the surface.

  At first Flo did nothing, and Zoe kept gently moving her trunk over the jadeite.

  Then Flo took control of her trunk. She held it still over the center of the stone, the tip just in contact with the stone. Her eyes grew big, and she started trembling. Then she spread her ears wide.

  “That’s a threat!” said Zoe, roughly pushing Katie backward.

  Flo let out a roar that shook the building. She reared up on her hind legs, tearing off all the sensors attached to her head and body.

  “That’s it! You’re outta here,” screamed Zoe, and she started shooing the group from the building. Katie darted back and handed the jadeite to Claire, who quickly stuffed it back in the briefcase. Sergei started closing the laptops and moving them out of the barn.

  Zoe turned on Katie, white with fury. “What the fuck was that about? I trusted you!” She turned to the rest of the group. “Get out! All of you!”

  “Not yet,” said Keerbrock calmly, standing in the doorway and refusing to budge.

  “What?” Zoe was beyond irate.

  “Look!” the scientist commanded, and pointed to Flo.

  Despite her anger, Zoe turned to look. The others gathered in the doorway.

  In the back of the enclosure, Flo had picked up the piece of PVC. She wrapped her trunk around it, held it perpendicular to the ground and used all her weight to push one end into the ground.

  Once she had driven the pipe into the earth, Flo made a soft rumble.

  “What’s that sound mean?” Asked Katie.

  Forgetting her earlier anger, Zoe looked bewildered. “That’s her ‘thank-you’ sound … What’s she doing?” Zoe was confused.

  Keerbrock directed his answer to Claire and Katie. “I don’t know … following instructions? I think we should take another look at that ulna.”

  Claire thought she knew the answer but still asked, “Why?”

  “To see if it’s hollow.”

  69

  They were sitting at a picnic table on Zoe’s veranda. She was deeply apologetic for getting upset at the barn and had insisted that they stay for dinner. Zoe had gone back and offered Flo an apple, but Flo had ignored it and pointed with her trunk at Claire, who was carrying the briefcase with the jadeite. She clearly wanted to touch it again, though neither Claire nor Zoe thought that was a good idea—at least right then. When Flo was let out of the barn to join the other elephants, they had all clustered around her, and there was a good deal of rumbling among them. Zoe did not have a clue what was being said, but she said she had never seen anything like it before.

  Zoe had laid out a simple vegetarian meal on her veranda. She did not eat meat. The main dish was something Zoe called “rice and sauce,” saying it was a recipe she had cooked up in Sierra Leone when she had gone there some years back to try to save the country’s last surviving wild elephant (she failed). Zoe had brought out some rosé wine to accompany the meal. Keerbrock looked dubiously at the label—who knew they grew wine grapes in Arkansas?—but, after tasting it, he announced graciously that it was light and refreshing. After they sat down, Zoe stood up to welcome them with a toast.

  “Katie told me that what you are doing is under wraps, but that it would be good for elephants. Watching Flo’s reactions, I now believe that. I agree that it’s probably for the best not to know the full story until you’re ready to go public. Again, I want to apologize for freaking out. It’s tough to be an elephant today, and sometimes I overreact.”

  They all clinked their plastic glasses. Keerbrock was seated next to Katie (not an accidental positioning, noted Claire, who filed this as a confirming detail in the mental ledger she now maintained on the question of Katie’s irresistibility). Across the table, Claire sat next to Sergei. She had been so happy to have Sergei back she was content to say nothing. Sergei turned to her and said, “She’s right, but I’ll bet it was tougher being an elephant in Bart’s day.”

  Claire smiled and squeezed his hand. Now that he was here, she was glad that she had resisted the urge to talk to him when she had hit bottom. Now, she felt like herself again.

  They all were hungry, and there were a few moments of silence as they dug in, a silence punctuated by tree frog croaks and crickets, and by brief expressions of appreciation for the spicy dishes Zoe had prepared.

  Keerbrock was the first to speak. He turned to Zoe, who was at the head of the table. “You said earlier that you use English when dealing with Flo. What do you think is going on when she hears it?”

  “You mean does she understand? I’ve no idea. But anyone who works with elephants uses language. It makes life easier. For instance, if I say, ‘Bring me the log,’ she’ll bring me a log, and if I say, ‘Bring me the medicine ball,’ she’ll bring me a medicine ball.”

  “Have you tried saying, ‘Bring me the log and then bring me the medicine ball?’” asked Helen, picking up on the thread.

  “Nope,” said Zoe crisply, “and I’m not gonna. I’m trying to give these animals a life on their terms.” Zoe thought a minute and her tone softened. “But I’m pretty sure she would do it in the right order.”

  After dinner, Sergei announced that he was going to help with the cleanup, and the rest of the group repaired to Adirondack chairs to plan their next steps. Scientifically, the logical next step would have been to have a number of other elephants touch the jadeite and monitor their reactions, but Claire ruled that out, saying that they were lucky to get out of t
he barn with the jadeite intact, and it wasn’t like they had another stone if this one got damaged or shattered. Keerbrock noted that they had come here to answer one question: whether there was some acoustic message in the jadeite intended for another elephant, and the answer was almost certainly yes. So, in one sense they got what they needed—and possibly much more.

  “This turned out to be crucial”—he nodded toward Katie—“and now we know that there is one obvious path forward, right?” He continued, looking at Katie. His face had an almost predatory look.

  Claire realized that Keerbrock may have fallen under Katie’s spell, but this was not a scientist who could totally suppress his critical facilities. Claire held her breath. Keerbrock seemed to have forgotten his earlier misgivings about Katie, but if the young graduate student was going to lose control of this project, now was the moment. Claire thought furiously; clearly his idea had something to do with the ulnae, but she wasn’t even sure whether Katie had heard that remark amid the chaos.

  Claire’s phone buzzed with a text from Sergei, who was still in the kitchen. And I thought we Russians were tough … Claire suppressed a smile and texted back, Keerbrock’s being much easier on Katie than he ever was on me! Wonder why?

  Katie tapped her finger on the arm of her chair and then turned to Keerbrock with a cool, unblinking gaze. “I’m sure the doctor will correct me if I’m wrong, but I think what we saw today connects the ulnae to the jadeite.” She paused. Everybody was listening intently. “And to the lush period Kiril uncovered in the fossil record. We can no longer analyze these three things in isolation.”

  Keerbrock absolutely beamed and clapped his hands. “That’s it!” He turned to Claire. “I’ll say it again! This girl’s a pistol!”

  He turned back to Katie, who, Claire noticed, had turned bright red. She clearly had not been as confident as she had sounded.

  “So what next?”

  “Here’s what I suggest. We drag Sergei back up to Rushmere to see what’s inside those ulnae.”