The Farpool (9 page)

They found the door unlocked. Chase pushed
through and Angie, after a moment, followed.

Lighting was dim in the recovery pool deck,
only lamps on the tile walls were on. Chase went to the pool edge,
certain that the creatures had seen him. The larger one he presumed
was Ralph. Ralph stopped circling and came to the pool wall, poking
his beak above the water, clicking and screeching at him. Behind
him, Alice loitered, making tight circles around the stairs.

Angie thought they resembled dolphins more
than anything else, larger, but similar in proportion. They were
both grayish tan in color, sleek and supple skin, with twin dorsals
and tail flukes like dolphins. But it was their forelimbs that most
intrigued her. The limbs were webbed with what looked like fringes,
like cowboys wore on their chaps and shirts. And the limbs had
hands, with fingers—

It gave her the creeps.

“Chase, maybe we should—“ but she stopped,
her eyes widening in horror as Ralph rose halfway out of the water,
and proceeded to hand something right to Chase. “…oh my God—“

It was a small fist-sized object, oval,
rounded at the top. Ralph had extracted it from a small pouch in
his belly; neither of them had seen
that
. His hands had six fingers, delicate
fingers, and they grasped the object with a dexterity she could
hardly believe.

Chase stooped down to the water’s edge and
took the object. It was like a small can, with domed top and
bottom.

“Chase…watch out…please, don’t—“ But he had
already taken possession of the object. He stood up and examined
it. Angie came up and squinted at the thing in his hand.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know—“ he shook it slightly, then
nearly dropped the thing when it started to glow…a dim red glow
emanated from within. The outer case was almost translucent and a
single red light shone from within.

Ralph suddenly became agitated, slapping the
water with his tail flukes. He clicked and chittered and screeched,
slapping the water again and again. Alice soon joined in. The
fracas lasted half a minute, then Alice sped off to circle the pool
more vigorously. Ralph stayed by the stairs. He shoved up gouts of
water, slapping with his forelimbs, clicking again and again.

Chase thought it expedient to back away from
the edge, Angie right on his shoulders.

“What’s wrong with them? What are they
doing?”

“Ralph’s upset—“ then Chase heard it.
Something, a whispering susurration, began issuing from the object.
He almost dropped the thing. “What the--?” He shook the can again,
brought it up to eye level. Now the red light had grown stronger
and sharper. He peered in, seeing nothing, then brought it to his
ears. He could clearly hear something.

“Sounds like gibberish to me,” he said.
Similar to the clicking Ralph and Alice were doing, the can emitted
a steady stream of sounds: clicks, whistles, grunts and chirps. He
shook his head, then noticed Ralph trying to mimic his head shakes.
Ralph waved his forelimbs, hands extended and Chase somehow knew
that the creature wanted the object back. Cautiously, he approached
the pool.

“Maybe it’s a bomb…it sounds like it’s
ticking,” Angie decided. “We ought to get out of here right
now—“

“I’m not so sure.” Gingerly, Chase handed the
object back, placing it carefully in Ralph’s outstretched hand. The
fingers, they seemed so—

Ralph seemed to nod and took the can, ducking
back under the water. Alice stopped circling and came alongside,
both of them hovering just inches beneath the water surface. Even
though the dim light was refracted, Chase could tell they were
doing something with the object. The dim red light cycled through
more colors before finally settling on an orangish glow. Ralph
surfaced. He handed the object back.

Chase was intrigued and a little wary. But
this was so cool, working with dolphins like this, dolphins with
hands. He took the object back, watching Ralph’s hand and beak
movements carefully.

Here…you want me to do
this…like this…up here?…
He raised the can to his ears
again. This time, the whistling and chirping had stopped.
Now…
my God
! He could hear
snatches of something…sounds …like words….like—

Understand…voice…to your…can…hear…your
voice…(unintelligible…) can you…my voice…

Chase practically dropped the thing. It was a
machine. A translator. Voice recognizer, whatever.

“Angie…come over…listen…you can hear…they’re
speaking words….”

Cautiously, Angie bent her ear to the device.
Even as she listened, she could see Ralph drop under water. Bubbles
peppered the surface. Clicking. Whistles. Chirps, like a radio.

“It’s a radio,” she decided. “Like an
earpod…or a player, Chase. They’re singing—“

Chase listened more. He knew a thing or two
about music, having fronted for the Croc Boys for two years now, a
whiz with the go-tone. But this wasn’t singing, not exactly. It was
more…

“They’re not singing. They’re talking…this
gizmo’s translating all those whistles and screeches…listen—“

And deep inside, Angie knew he was right. It
gave her a chill.

Now, the pod was glowing from within with a
warm orange radiance. Chase told her it was warm to the touch; she
verified that herself, then her curiosity overcame everything. “Let
me listen—“

Chase gave her the pod.
…you can…can…hear my voice….can understand
what…say--?

Both of them nodded. “We understand some
words…yes, I hear your voice…can you understand me?” Chase sat down
on the edge of the pool. Angie hung back by the stairs, still
listening, squinting, trying to make out more.

…is called…echo…pod…my voice…your
voice…together…can you hear what I…

“Yes!” Chase practically shouted. He grabbed
the pod back from Angie, spoke into it. “Yes, I hear your words…you
talk…I mean, you can actually talk--?

Ralph raised his beak above the water,
slapped the water.

…’
derstand you…echopod need
adjust…give me…hand …pod me…

Chase looked up at Angie. “He wants the pod
back.”

“Maybe it needs work.”

Chase gave Ralph the pod. The creature ducked
under the water again, did something once more with the device.
Alice scooted away and began circling again. Finally, the pod’s
light had changed from orange to almost a yellowish tint. Ralph
surfaced, hoisting the pod with his right flipper-hand-thing and
handed it back.

By now, Chase knew what to do. He grasped the
pod carefully and raised it to his ear.

Ralph had ducked under again, yet both of
them could hear the clicking and grunts and chirps bubbling up out
of the water. Alice had chimed in too.

And out of the pod poured a steady stream of
words.

…adjust made…you hear better now…?

Chase shivered from a chill that went down
his neck and nodded. “Much better. Who are you? Are you dolphins?
Where did you come from?”

Ralph seemed agitated by that and began
circling in synch with Alice, the two of them orbiting the small
pool in perfect unison.

…not this world…many beats distant…there is
the Farpool…we come for—

But the words stopped and that’s when Chase
and Angie both heard the clatter of something at the pool
doors.

“Bots!”
Chase
cried. “They’re back…we gotta get out of here—“ He dithered a
second, then tossed the pod back into the water. Ralph retrieved it
immediately. “Come on--!” He grabbed Angie’s hand and they went to
a small cabinet alongside the mechanical room in the corner of the
pool deck. “Hide back here…as soon as they come in, make a break
for it…run like hell for the door. And cover your face—here—“ he
handed Angie his handkerchief, which she held out with two fingers
and winced. “So the recognizer can’t get an image of your
face—“

At that moment, the doors to the pool deck
burst open and two Ranger sentry bots rolled in, scanning and
clanking as they rolled across the slick tile.

Chase did a silent count for
them.
One…two…three…NOW!

They scrambled from their hiding place
and streaked for the open doors, slipping and sliding on the wet
tile. The bots whirled quickly and detection beams shot out. Lights
strobed and flashed on their domed heads. Restraint mesh fired into
the air with an audible whoosh. A mechanical voice boomed out:
“
HALT, INTRUDER, HALT! STAY WHERE YOU
ARE!”

But Chase and Angie managed to elude the bots
and ducked out into the hall. They headed for the drainage channel
they had come in by and they didn’t stop running until they had
burst out of the aquarium altogether and made tracks in the wet
grass for Chase’s turbo, still parked by the holly bushes.

Chase kick-started the bike and they sped off
into the night.

Chapter 5

Scotland Beach, Florida

July 24, 2121

11:30 pm

“Chase, it’s too dangerous. I mean, we almost
got caught last time.”

Angie pulled her hands away from Chase as
they came to the end of the pier at Turtle Key. Jet skis and
windsailers and hoverboards skittered across the turquoise waters
between Shelley Beach and the Key. Late afternoon thunderstorms
were building off shore and already, veins of lightning could be
seen on the horizon.

“Where’s your sense of curiosity…I
mean
, jeez
, Angie, talking
dolphins. Ralph and Alice were
talking
to us. We have to go back…find out who
they are…where they came from. Don’t you have any sense of
adventure?”

“Not if we get zapped by those bots…or wind
up in jail. Don’t you have any sense in that thick head of yours?
Doesn’t breaking and entering mean anything to you…you must have
heard it before.”

They headed back up the beach, avoiding
the pulpy mass of jellyfish and rotted tree limbs and other debris
washed up on the tide. Angie stepped through the sand
carefully…
this stretch of beach is
starting to look like a landfill,
she said to
herself.

“Oh, yeah, sure, of course there’s a small
risk…I can’t say that’s not true. But we did it before…as long as
we stay away from the bots….actually, I have an idea about
that—“

Angie was firm. “
No
. Understand? I’m not breaking in to the
aquarium again…I don’t care if they turn out to be Santa Claus and
his elves.”

The surf shop came up and Chase knew his dad
would have his hide if he took any longer on break. He grabbed
Angie by the shoulders and gave her quick peck. “What’s gotten into
you, girl? You used to be all for this kind of stuff.”

She let him kiss her, then put both hands on
Chase’s broad shoulders. “It’s called growing up, jerk. I have a
job…so do you and, by the way, here comes your Dad. I have
responsibilities. I want to do well in school so I—“

“What…go ahead and say it: so you don’t wind
up working in a T-shirt shack on the beach.” Chase held up his hand
when she tried to protest. “I know…I know…I’m supposed to make
something of myself…get a job, be a lawyer, a stockbroker,
whatever…that’s what Mom always tells me. Hey, did it ever occur to
you that maybe I’m actually an explorer at heart, like Columbus.
Like Cousteau. People like that. I don’t see me sitting behind a
desk, Angie. I just don’t. The world’s bigger than an office. I
have to get out, see things, live things. You should too.”

Angie just sighed. Another peck, this time on
the forehead; she spied Mack Meyer with a scowl coming up right
behind his son, about to do something fatherly, like spin Chase
around and quick-march him back to the shop. She smiled and backed
away. “Text me later, big explorer man.”

And with that, Chase was lost to the clutches
of his father and the two of them headed up through the dunes and
the sea oats to the surf shop…and back to work.

Angie went home, knowing she would probably
give in anyway. Chase did that to her.

This time, it would be after midnight.

***

The excuse was the sleepover already
planned at Gwen Sandiford’s house on Saturday night. Maggie,
Angie’s mom, admonished her daughter. “Now don’t ya’ll give Mrs.
Sandiford any problems…behave yourselves.” She said that with a
faint look of bemusement, fully aware that they would do no such
thing.
Teen-aged girls
,
Maggie just shook her head.

And it was near midnight, after an evening of
chick flicks and popcorn and a few pillow fights, that Angie
finally slipped out of the house. “It’s just Chase…” she told the
girls. Gwen nodded with a knowing smile. Chase was cute for a guy.
They would have a good time tonight, she was sure.

Chase was waiting on his turbobike down the
street. They sped off for the aquarium. Angie figured it would have
been easier to go necking behind the Piggly Wiggly.

Chase told her he had studied the sentry bot
situation and all of Gulfside’s security practices. “That old
docent, Mr. Weems, you know how much he likes to talk, show off and
things. He spilled everything, the old dork. He just likes to show
off.”

Angie wondered why she had ever agreed to go
along.

They got to the aquarium and Chase parked the
bike in some bushes along the service drive.

The two of them entered through the loading
bay in the back, as before. The door was still partially loose,
enough for both of them to squeeze under. Then came the drainage
channel along the utility corridor. Here, Chase checked underneath,
listening carefully for the whir of the bots. He smiled back.

“I got ‘em timed now…I spent a lot of time
here the last few days, checking things out.”