Breakthrough (7 page)

Of course it didn’t.  The migration routes were helpful but the logistical complications around the geographic management, speed of migration, and power needs to adequately block a signal were simply insurmountable.  In the end the Navy dropped the idea and after two full years of legal arguments, relented and made the whole of the data available to the scientific community.  But by then the idea of a longer, more comprehensive study was too difficult to fund and was as good as dead.  The results were well received eventually, but a complete behavioral understanding from birth to death would have blown the doors off of anything that was known about the species.  By the time they could have picked up the pieces, the excitement was gone and most of the researchers had found other projects.  It was less than a year after giving up that she met Frank and his crazy idea about the science of language translation.

She turned from the window and stared at him.

He shrugged.  “Besides, these guys could just be genuinely interested in helping.” 

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.  “The Navy has money and resources that we could only dream about.  Why on earth would they come to us?  I mean really, how hard could it be for them to find a little submarine?”

“Fine.”  With a look of dejection, she unfolded her arms and walked toward the door.  Before opening it,
she turned back to Frank.  “Do you realize, Frank, that we never sent out another press release when we made contact?”

He shrugged.  “I know.  Remember we were going to schedule another press release when we were ready to show the translation in action?”

She shook her head.  “That’s not what I mean.  If we haven’t formally announced the translation yet, how did the Navy know about it?”

Clay and Caesare followed Alison down the hall toward the stairs.  The conversation in Dubois’ office appeared to be a significant one as Alison emerged with slightly less disdain for them, and at Dubois’ request, offered to show them their lab and a demonstration of the technology used.

Silently, as they walked behind her, Clay acknowledged that Caesare was right.  She was cute.  She was also extremely intelligent and clearly not someone to be trifled with.  At least not if you worked for the government.  He didn’t know what it was that had soured her, but he’d seen enough firsthand to feel sympathetic.

At the bottom of the stairs, they followed Alison through the new wing which Clay guessed had doubled the size of the aquarium since his boyhood trip.  The structural design was more modern but was cleverly decorated to match the original building, making the extension almost indiscernible to the casual visitor.  They passed a horde of children all peering and waving at the dolphins through the enormous glass tank.  The hall stopped abruptly at a large secured door where they found the tank continued on the other side, forming one of the walls of their lab.  As they entered Clay noticed another smaller set of stairs and realized that Alison had taken them along the scenic route.  Maybe she didn’t entirely hate them.

The lab was much larger than he had expected, with the far wall almost ten feet tall and largely covered with racks of servers.  In the center of the room were three tables and
four large desks, along with by two young men who appeared to be in the middle of eating lunch.

Chris and Lee both turned when the door slammed shut and quickly wiped their mouths as Alison approached with the two visitors.

“Guys,” she said, crossing the room.  “These gentlemen are from the Navy, they’ve come to learn about our project.”

Chris and Lee suddenly stiffened.

“This is Chris Ramirez another of our lead researchers, and Lee Kenwood our expert computer engineer.  I’m sorry,” Alison said.  “Your names again?”

“John Clay,” he answered
stepping forward and shaking Chris’ hand, then Lee’s.  “And this is my associate Steve Caesare.”

“Pleased to meet you,” added Caesare with a shake to each.

“Ms. Shaw was nice enough to give us a walk through the aquarium.  A very nice place you have here.”

Lee relaxed, however Clay noticed that Chris seemed to maintain a defensive composure similar to Alison’s. 

“Frank asked that we give them a demonstration,” Alison said.

Chris said nothing but Lee eagerly sat down and brought the IMIS system back up on screen.

“Frank and I started the program six years ago,” she started.  “It wasn’t long before we realized that we were going to need a lot more money and help.  Chris and I worked together on a project in Central America, so we brought him on about a year later after Frank and I got our first grant.”  Alison came around the other side of Lee’s desk and looked over his shoulder while he got things ready.  “We brought Lee on after the second one.  He’s an ex-IBM’er.”  She motioned to the wall of computers.  “They donated the servers and helped design the translation software and algorithm, called IMIS.  It’s the system that is actually translating our dolphin-ese.”

Caesare raised an eyebrow. “Dolphin-
ese?”

She shrugged.  “That’s what we call it.  Who knows what the language will actually be called.  When it’s-”

“Excuse me,” Clay interrupted.  “I was under the impression that the translation was just beginning.  Are you saying that you have a vocabulary?”

Alison smiled.  “Well
vocabulary
may be a bit of a stretch.”

Clay was genuinely surprised.  After a moment he replied.  “So…exactly how far along are you?”

Alison was still grinning when she nodded to Lee.  “Let’s show ‘em.”

Lee quickly typed
Hello
in the translate window.

Clay and Caesare, not knowing what to expect, turned toward the large tank when they heard the sounds emanate from the underwater speaker.  They watched as the two dolphins, playing for the children on the other side, suddenly stopped and swam over toward them.   Clay noted an odd feeling at seeing the dolphin’s eyes actually seem to focus directly at them from the other side of the glass.

One of the dolphins repeated the sound and they watched the reply appear on the screen.

“Wow.”  Clay exclaimed and looked at Caesare who also had his eyebrows raised.  “That is amazing.”

The other three seemed almost giddy.  Alison leaned in closer to Lee’s shoulder, her eyes fixed on the monitor.  “Ask them how they are.”

Lee quickly typed out
How you today?
and clicked his mouse.

After hearing the sounds Dirk quickly replied. 
Good.  How you.

Lee responded. 
Good.  Thank
.

Alison straightened and looked at Clay.  “Lee is working on adding voice recognition so we won’t even have to type.  That may take a while.”

Clay and Caesare stood motionless, their eyes wide open and mouths gaping.  They were utterly stunned.

It took several seconds for Clay to recover.  “What…what else can they-“

Dirk interrupted from the other side of the glass. 
How long food
. 

Alison smiled again.  “They’re always hungry.”  She leaned in and typed the reply herself. 
Food soon
.

Clay looked at Caesare who
was still speechless.  “Wow,” he said, looking back at the dolphins. 

Lee swung his chair around and beamed at them both.  “Gentlemen, meet Dirk and Sally.”

Who them,
asked Sally.

Lee offered the chair to Alison, who promptly sat down and replied. 
Friends.  They want help.

Even in his dazed state Clay suspected Alison wasn’t thrilled about calling them friends.

Dirk and Sally suddenly burst into movement, swimming in tight circles, displaying what Clay assumed to be excitement.

Yes.  Like help
,
Sally responded. 
Dirk hungry.

Food soon
,
Alison typed back.

Caesare could not take his eyes off Dirk and Sally.  “This is unbelievable.”

Lee gave a broad smile.  “You should see them do tricks now!”

14

Alison stood on the mid-deck looking down at the giant tank constructed on the stern of the Pathfinder.  Two of the ship’s cranes had been disassembled to create enough space to house the 10,000 gallon salt water tank which left only a quarter of the space on the stern’s open platform.  On the third remaining crane hung a giant sling made of soft fabric used to hoist
Dirk and Sally in and out.  Having them both confined to such a tiny space, with precious little room for movement during the five hour trip, made Alison extremely anxious.  The fact that it did not have any windows didn’t help matters.  Nevertheless both dolphins seemed relatively calm as their water gently sloshed back and forth with the rise and fall of the ocean swells.

Luckily the weather provided them an ideal window with calm seas and blue skies, conditions not uncommon during the Caribbean’s winter months.  Alison scanned the horizon behind them and seeing no sign of shore looked at her watch.  She would be happy when this whole charade was over.  She watched some of the others mill around the ship enjoying the fresh air and smell of the open sea.  Almost two dozen passengers were reporters or journalists invited along for the Navy’s photo op.  As far as Alison was concerned, they needed all the positive press they could get.  One of the reporters below was examining the tank.  He stood back and took what seemed like dozens of pictures which made Alison wonder if he got paid by the picture.  She also could not help but wonder whether he knew that his hat was on backwards.

Alison tried to shake herself out of her slump.  She did not want to be here but it was not going to do any good to piss and moan about it the whole time.  She took a deep breath and tried to appreciate the view.  No one else seemed worse for the wear.

Clay approached from behind.  “Are you alright?”

She turned abruptly.  “Yes, yes I’m fine.  Thank you.”

“Are you feeling seasick at all?  If so, we can give you something for it if we catch it early enough.”

She smirked at the comment but forced herself to turn it into a polite grin.  “Sea sickness makes for a short career as a marine biologist.”

He nodded.  “Of course.  Good point.”  He m
otioned back toward the bridge.  “We’ll be there soon.  Mr. Kenwood is almost done setting things up.”

She followed Clay back toward the front and climbed the third flight of stairs.  She mumbled a thank you as he held the door open to the bridge.  Stepping into the air conditioning, she was instantly reminded how warm it was outside.

On the far side of the small room sat Lee adjusting his equipment on a small table the crew had set up for them.  Beneath were two large portable computer servers surrounded by a tangle of cables and wires.  On top of the table sat Lee’s keyboard, monitor, mouse and a couple other pieces of equipment she did not recognize.  Chris stood behind him peering out the window at the outline of Bimini Island and trying to remain calm as a few reporters tried to squeeze by and snap pictures of Lee and his hardware.

“Are we ready?” she asked Lee.

“Almost,” he replied.  “I’m just running some test commands to make sure the system is ready.”

“So what kind of a vocabulary will we have?”

He shrugged as he continued typing.  “Everything that IMIS had successfully translated until we left.  We obviously don’t have the power to translate anything new but,” he motioned to the two servers underneath, “these babies are at least strong enough to handle the words we already have.  Next I’ll run some test translations without piping it through the speakers and we should be all set.”

The ship’s engines finally began to wind down as they neared their destination, and Captain Emerson returned to the bridge to verify all was well at the helm.  After speaking with his first officer, he turned to Alison and her team.

“Ms. Shaw, is there anything else you need? We should be stopping in just a few minutes.”

“No I think we have everything we need, thank you.”

“My pleasure.  As soon as we turn off the engines we will begin readying the sling to get your friends out of the tank.  I’m sure they are looking forward to a little elbow room so to speak.”

“Thank you,” she replied.  “Chris and I will come down to assist.”

“Very well.”  With that the captain nodded at the others and turned to speak quietly with Clay.

As the ship continued to slow, Alison and Chris looked at each other nervously.  They shared a worry that they had not spoken to anyone about, except Frank, before leaving.  Dirk and Sally were as much of the aquarium as they were, and Alison felt a deep love for the animals.  But they were still in captivity which means they were captives to the aquarium.  Alison and Chris were worried, terrified in fact, that even though the dolphins demonstrated a strong connection with them too, there was no guarantee that once back in the ocean they would not simply make off for open waters.  It had taken almost two weeks to arrange their leave from the aquarium and the construction of the tanks to transport them in, not to mention dozens of other details.  During that time their relationship with Dirk and Sally had gotten even stronger with the startling progress that IMIS provided them, and the dolphins seemed as excited to speak to the team as they were to them.  But they were still being kept from their natural habitat, from their home.  Once out of the tank and back into open water, Alison was scared to death that she would never see them again.

The engines finally fell silent and the giant ship slowly coasted to a stop.  A few minutes later, the giant anchor was released and it punched through the water with a giant splash.  Alison and Chris joined the crew members on the rear platform to ready the sling.  They slowly rotated the mechanical arm over the tank and lowered it into the water.  Although dangerous for such a small tank, Alison insisted on climbing inside and keeping a hand on Sally as the large fabric was slipped around her.  Sally showed no sign of resistance.  She quickly wiggled herself into place so the sling could be fastened securely.  The reporters filled the deck above the tank and photographed the entire process.

Alison could feel the lump in her throat as she nervously watched the crew swing Sally across the deck and lowered her into the warm ocean water.  They did the same for Dirk and had them both in the water in less than five minutes.  Alison stood on the back of the ship in clear view and watched the two dolphins swim around excitedly.  When they moved around the side of the ship Alison bolted up the three flights of stairs back to the bridge with Chris hot on her heels.  She sprinted through the door and over to Lee.

“Okay, let’s say something!”

Lee nodded and pressed a button to engage the underwater microphone and speakers.  He quickly typed out
Hello
and hit the enter key.

There was a long silence as they waited for a reply.  Alison’s eyes slowly widened with concern and she laid her hand on Lee’s
shoulder.  They continued to wait.

“Should we try it aga-” Alison asked but was interrupted by Sally.

Hello Alison.

Lee gave her the keyboard and she typed. 
Hello Sally.  Are you ready to help?

Yes we like help,
came the dolphin’s reply.

Alison looked at Chris.  They both breathed a sigh of relief.

Where you Alison? 

Alison typed back. 
I am on the boat.
  An error message flashed on the screen that said
Unable to translate
.  She looked at Lee.  “How do I bring up the list of vocabulary words?”

Lee pressed a few keystrokes and the list appeared displaying all of the identified words to date.

Alison typed her reply again. 
I am on the metal.

Big metal,
replied Sally.

Alison smiled. 
Yes, the metal is big.
  She looked up at Clay who had just joined them.  “Are we about ready?”

He nodded.  “Ready when you are.”

“Okay, let me make sure they’re okay being out here.”

Alison typed again. 
Are you and Dirk afraid?

No afraid
,
Sally said. 
Dirk hungry.

Alison laughed out loud.  “That boy is always hungry.”  She typed back playfully,
Dirk is always hungry.

Sally made a strange sound that the computer could not translate.

Alison suddenly looked at Chris.  “Did she just laugh?”

He smiled excitedly.

Alison relaxed for a moment and straightened up.  “Okay Mr. Clay, what exactly are we looking for here?”

“A small white submersible, roughly three feet cubed in size.”  He handed her a picture of the Triton.  “We estimate that it’s somewhere within a three mile radius.”

She looked at the picture.  “Jeez, how are we going to describe this?”

Lee brought up the vocabulary list again. 

Alison studied the list and then began typing. 
Ready Sally?  Ready Dirk?

Ready
,
Sally responded.

Ready
,
Dirk followed.

It looks like a metal bubble
,
she typed.
Please look and come back.

We look
, answered Sally.

The team listened for anything more, but the speakers fe
ll silent.  “They must be off.”

Alison turned to Clay again.  “Just to remind you Mr. Clay, I don’t know how far or deep they will be able to search.  Dolphins don’t go much deeper than 150 to 200 feet so even if they can find it with their echolocation, they may only be able to point us to it.”

“I understand,” Clay replied.  “We’re not sure how deep it ended up since the submersible’s buoyancy tanks were partially filled.  There are also a number of reefs around here, so we may get lucky.”  He ended with a friendly smile.  “And call me John.”