The Whale Song Translation: A Voyage of Discovery To Neptune and Beyond (32 page)

T
HE
T
URING
T
RANSLATION

Leeward Waters, Maui—later that afternoon

“This is very frustrating.” Dmitri gazed at the blank Speakeasy LCD display mounted on the wall above Andrew’s workstation. He’d been staring at it for hours. “Lila’s tried just about everything to locate the humpbacks.”

The sun had arced beyond its zenith but there was still no response to the hundreds of game symbol sounds they had cast, like a baited hook, into the eighty-degree water. As the team’s patience gradually waned, a cloud of resignation shrouded the cabin. Dmitri suffered the most, and he hummed blues tunes to temper his creeping disappointment. He suspected his decision to head out to sea in order to avoid detection had thwarted their mission.

“Don’t give up and don’t feel bad.” Melanie sat next to him, holding a book.

“I think we’re just too far away from the coastline. According to Lila, the humpbacks prefer to birth and raise their young in the shallow channel between Lahaina and Lanai.”

“My dad called that channel the Straits of Lahaina because of an old mariner’s map my great grandfather had given him.” She smiled. “Nobody calls it that anymore, though.”

“The Straits of Lahaina . . .” Dmitri smiled back. “It sounds so poetic. I like it.”

“I’m glad.” Melanie stroked his shoulder. “And don’t underestimate Lila. There’s still hope. By the way, everyone is really proud of the way you stepped forward to make this happen. I see your relationships with Greg, Seema, and Andrew. They adore and respect you, probably the way you feel about McPinsky. In the end it’s the people relationships that count the most.”

“You’re right about McPinsky. After all he’s been to me, all he’s done for me, I just can’t fail him.”

“Exactly!” She frowned and nodded. “You’ve hoisted the weight of the world onto your shoulders . . . McPinsky, Gorman, and the whales. You feel obligated to save them all. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, but you can’t expect to rescue everyone and everything. So let’s just relax and keep the faith.”

Melanie had done it again, helping Dmitri regain his equilibrium. She knew exactly how to tap into the source of his angst and, like a mental masseuse, gently knead the tightness from his mind. He led her across the cabin to a more private location, and wrapped her up in his arms. “Thanks for the pep talk. You’re my rock.”

Their intimate embrace was disrupted when Lila entered the cabin. “Oh, excuse me,” said Lila, sounding both apologetic and surprised. “How’s it going down here?”

“Sorry to say, not a peep,” replied Dmitri.

“I’m sorry, too.” Lila sighed. “Tony and I keep trolling the area but we’ve come up with zilch. And I’ve realized something. What would you expect from parents whose children are being killed by human sounds? I don’t blame them for not wanting to communicate with us.”

“I never thought about it that way. Maybe you’re right,” said Dmitri.

“Nevertheless, this experiment
has
to succeed. We’ve gotta grab the public’s attention about the threats to the cetaceans.”

“What can we do?” Melanie asked as Andrew joined them.

“Last night,” Lila said, “I thought we might need additional assistance luring our subjects to this particular location, so I came up with a desperate-measures contingency plan. I remembered Chris telling me about a famous whale event that happened over twenty years ago. Apparently, a wayward humpback, named Humphrey by the locals, got stuck in San Francisco Bay.”

“Even I’ve heard about the legendary Humphrey,” said Melanie. “He’s the most publicized humpback in history. He kept swimming farther and farther into the bay and even up into the Sacramento River. He attracted huge crowds who turned out to encourage him to reverse course and save himself.”

“Yes, indeed,” replied Lila. “People definitely have a soft spot for endangered species.”

“Probably because whales are so soft and cuddly,” said Andrew.

“Andrew, can’t you ever be serious?” replied Melanie. “There’s a lot more to it than cuddliness. Organizations like PICES deserve a lot of credit for their educational programs.”

“Thanks,” said Lila. “So, anyway, the volunteers tried various techniques, including banging on pipes and other types of scary sounds, to herd Humphrey back in the right direction. But nothing worked and after a couple of weeks, things looked bleak. Humphrey became emaciated. He was so far upstream and so lost that he almost got stuck in a tiny slough. Finally, in desperation, a musician and bioacoustics expert came up with a great idea. He used reverse psychology. Instead of attempting to scare the whale straight, he played a recording of humpback feeding vocalizations. It worked like a charm. In less than two days, they lured Humphrey the entire seventy-five miles back into the bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and out into the Pacific.”

“That’s pretty cool,” replied Melanie. “I’d never heard that part of the story.”

“So you’re saying we should play some Charlie-the-Tuna Star Kist commercials through our underwater speakers?” Andrew teased, but his tone was half-hearted, as if he were trying to cheer himself up.

Dmitri frowned at Andrew. “Go on, Lila.”

“Sorry, boss.” Andrew’s expression begged for forgiveness.

“So I’m saying, wise guy,” Lila turned to face Andrew, “that I had Chris track down a CD version of the same recording they used for Humphrey. It’s in my backpack. Let’s patch the CD into our broadcast system at the same time we’re transmitting the game symbols.”

“I can do that,” replied Andrew.

“Let’s try it, Lila,” said Dmitri. “I mean what have we got to lose?”

After Lila left to fetch the recording, Dmitri turned to Andrew and Seema. “Could we be missing something?” he asked. “There’s got to be a ton of noise in the Speakeasy input interface that might interfere with your symbol detection software. As we discussed earlier, let’s enable the band-pass filters we matched to the frequencies of the game symbols.”

“I’m on your side, boss,” replied Andrew, “but I really don’t think that’s the problem. We’ve already enabled the high- and low-pass filters to eliminate the extreme frequencies.”

“Those band-pass filters might erase the very game symbols we’re trying to detect,” Seema added.

“You’re right,” muttered Dmitri. “My desperation is affecting my judgment.”

“Anyway,” replied Andrew, “I’m listening to the underwater sounds through my headphones. I’m just not hearing the types of vocalizations, like the barking sounds of seals, corresponding to the symbols on the original whale recording. After all, we’re broadcasting those symbols every thirty seconds, so I’d recognize a similar sound.”

“Seema, are you certain the broadcast level is amped up?”

“I’m transmitting at ninety decibels, which is the maximum intensity allowed by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Since we’re in the middle of nowhere, it wouldn’t hurt to crank it up another five or ten decibels.”

“Why don’t you do that,” replied Dmitri. “I’ll take responsibility for any adverse consequences.”

“You mean like if hundreds of dead fish suddenly float to the surface?” replied Seema, perking up.

“Anything that we catch, we eat,” Dmitri answered.

“That’s a good one, boss. I’m glad to hear you’re chill with this.”

Lila approached them, handing the feeding vocalization CD to Andrew. He popped it into his laptop, and the sounds of a humpback feeding frenzy filled the control room.

“Whoa,” said Melanie, “that’s definitely a change of pace from the sounds of the game symbols.”

Andrew licked his lips. “It’s making me hungry for shrimp tempura.”

“Keep your fingers crossed, folks,” said Lila.

“This may take a while,” said Melanie. “Let’s go topside for some fresh air.”

“Good idea,” replied Dmitri. “I’ve been staring at the Speakeasy display for so long I’m starting to feel queasy.”

Melanie and Dmitri trailed Lila up the stairs. Lila joined Tony up front in the pilot house leaving the couple all alone at the aft portion of the spacious sun deck. Once outside and focused on the horizon, Dmitri felt much better. The remnants of the storm lingered on, and a brisk west wind washed his still-sore face. He craned his head back and peered up at the fleet of puffy white and gray clouds sailing across the sky. “It’s glorious out here. Maybe I need a change of scene in my life. You’re living here with Mark and dedicated to your students, so what would you say if I applied for a teaching position at the local community college?”

“I’m flattered,” said Melanie, “but first things first. Let’s not give up on this experiment just yet.”

She took his hand and led him over to the starboard railing. When he’d begun to speak, she gently pressed a finger to his lips. In silence, they shared the tranquility of the ocean and sky panorama. With the engines shut down, they just drifted along with the lazy current. She rested her head onto the cushion of his shoulder. Strands of her long, black hair wafted in the gentle breeze, tickling his cheek. He realized his somber mood was all but extinguished. This marvelous woman had a magical effect upon him. Yesterday, at the koi pond, she’d harnessed the therapeutic powers of nature’s music. Today, she’d done it with the sounds of silence.

Lila’s urgent chattering from the pilothouse interrupted their serenity. “Tony just received a short-wave radio message from Chris Gorman. He’s somehow located our vessel and is about ten minutes away.”

The glow on Dmitri’s face faded to a gloomy pallor. He looked up at the sky, inwardly cursing the gods of fate. “Thanks, Lila. Melanie, why don’t you keep Lila company and alert me when you see Chris. I’m going back down to be with Andrew and Seema.”

Dmitri’s shoulders sagged as he descended the stairs on leaden legs. After he’d apprised his SoCalSci associates about Gorman’s impending arrival, they talked shop while waiting for whale-sign.

Melanie’s shuffling footsteps announced her return from above. “Tony says Chris is just a couple of minutes away. Any luck here?”

“Same old, same old,” Dmitri replied, his tone sullen. Why should he bother to sugarcoat his true feelings? He was too tired to play the role of the never-say-die leader. “We’ll just take our dose of medicine when Chris comes aboard. Greg, please be brutally honest with me. Did I make the right decision?”

Greg did not hesitate. “Absolutely, yes, and I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you’d decided otherwise, I was ready to convince you to side with the whales. I still think Gorman will forgive and forget.”

Dmitri stood. Just as he placed an appreciative hand on Greg’s shoulder, Lila rushed through the door.

“Hey,” she boomed, “I just saw some spouts about a mile away and maybe getting closer!”

Everyone cheered wildly. They turned as one to face Andrew. He pressed his hands against the headphones and concentrated. “Sorry folks,” he finally said, “but still nothing to report.”

“They’re too far away,” said Lila. “Let’s just hope they’re really heading our way. Oh, Chris has arrived. Let’s go outside and get this over with.”

Dmitri trudged outside with Greg and Lila. He sighted the PICES vessel heading back to shore while two hundred feet off the starboard bow, Gorman rowed a dinghy. He was accompanied by a person of much shorter stature, too distant to be recognizable. Wracked by a combination of guilt and nerves, Dmitri suddenly felt panic-stricken by thoughts of the impending confrontation with the PICES director. What could he possibly say to the man whose boat he had literally stolen?

As the dinghy bobbed in the choppy sea, Dmitri recognized the familiar face and ponytail of Gorman’s young companion. To his amazement, the youth was none other than Melanie’s son, Mark. When the dinghy pulled alongside, Lila tossed a rope down to Gorman. Once he’d secured the tie line, Gorman helped the child gain a foothold at the bottom of the stainless steel ladder. Carefully, he assisted Mark up the steps, bracing him from behind. Near the top, he let go of the boy’s hand, as Dmitri and Greg hoisted him aboard.

The youngster looked up at the men he now stood beside. “Aloha, Dmitri.”

Though stunned by the boy’s presence, Dmitri smiled and shook his hand. The members of the team inched forward, gathering in a circle around the two newcomers on the stern’s open-air mini-deck.

Dmitri felt it best to get the inevitable trip to the woodshed behind him. “Chris, I—”

“Mark!” Melanie cried. “What the bejesus are you doing here?”

Dmitri’s mind seized up at the sound of Melanie’s shrill outburst. Temporarily tongue-tied, he watched as she wrapped her arms around her son.

Gorman’s attention shifted to Melanie, who continued to caress Mark. “Sorry, Mel, but I couldn’t find anyone else to watch him. And, anyway, this is as good a time as any for a young lad to experience his first high-seas adventure. Besides, he was very insistent about it, crocodile tears and all.”

“Mom,” said Mark, “it’s only for one day. I begged Chris to bring me.”

Dmitri had interacted with Melanie’s son on two previous occasions. They’d chatted at Melanie’s apartment while he had waited for her to get ready for dinner dates. He was impressed by the nine-year-old’s curiosity, undoubtedly acquired from his mother. Mark had been particularly fascinated by Dmitri’s description of the similarities and differences between human and whale voices.