we reach Jupiter and the research station. It would only be for a little more than a week. That would keep her from snooping around and satisfy Pohan that he’s not under any threat from her.
Nodding happily as she headed for her closet, Westfall told herself, Keep her frozen and we’ll be all right until we reach the
Katherine Westfall smiled at that thought as she began to dress for her dinner with Captain Guerra.
DOLPHIN TANK
Andy Corvus stood disconsolately over Deirdre, who appeared to be dozing as she sat on Andy’s big aluminum case, the optronics circlet over her auburn hair. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and regular, her hands relaxed in her lap.
Standing beside Corvus, Dorn said, “Has she made contact again?”
Andy said nothing, but pointed to the two laptop screens on the deck at Deirdre’s feet. Each showed an image of a brain: Deirdre’s and the dolphin Baby’s. Each image flickered with electrical activity, in close unison.
“Looks that way,” Corvus said forlornly.
“That’s good, then,” said Dorn.
With a shrug of his shoulders that seemed to flex his entire arms and his whole back, Corvus replied, “She can’t seem to stay conscious while she’s in contact.”
Dorn nodded.
“That means she can’t tell us what she’s seeing, what she’s experiencing. Not in real time.”
“She’ll tell us when she regains consciousness.”
Shaking his head, Corvus murmured, “Not good enough. All we’ll have is anecdotal evidence. She could be making up the whole thing.”
“You don’t believe her?” Dorn challenged, a hint of truculence in his voice.
“I believe her, but the scientific community’s going to want more than her unsubstantiated word. If she could stay awake and give us a real-time narrative, then we could compare her time line with her brain activity and Baby’s. That would be real proof that she’s in contact with the dolphin.”
Dorn rubbed the flesh side of his jaw. “Andy, are you interested in making meaningful contact with the dolphins or in publishing a paper that will enhance your scientific reputation?”
“Both,” Corvus answered without a flicker of hesitation.
“You may have to settle for just the one of them.”
“You don’t understand,” Corvus said earnestly. “Science depends on publishing your results so others can duplicate them. Every observation, every measurement, every claim has to be subject to test. You publish something new and the rest of the community tries to duplicate what you’ve done. If they can get the same results you did, your work becomes an accepted part of science. If they can’t, if they don’t get the same results that you reported, your work goes into the trash bin.”
“But the important thing,” Dorn insisted, “is that she is making meaningful contact with the dolphin. Which means your equipment might allow you to make meaningful contact with the leviathans, once we reach Jupiter.”
“The important thing,” Corvus replied, “is that the scientific community believes that I’ve done it. I can spend the rest of my life chatting with those giant whales on Jupiter, but if the scientific community doesn’t believe I’ve done it, what good is it?”
“What good is it to who? You personally? The scientific community? The human race in general?”
Corvus rolled his eyes heavenward. “Look, Dorn, my work won’t do the human race any good at all if the scientific community says it’s doggie doo.”
For an instant Dorn said nothing. Then he broke into a deep, chuckling laugh. “Doggie doo? Is that the technical name for it?”
Corvus grinned back at him sheepishly. “You know what I mean.”
At that moment, both laptops chimed and they turned to look down at Deirdre. She stirred, her eyelids fluttered, then she opened her eyes fully. Corvus realized for the first time that there were glints of amber in her light brown eyes. Beautiful eyes, he thought.
“I fell asleep,” Deirdre said apologetically.
“That’s all right,” said Dorn, extending his human hand to help her to her feet.
“You made contact again?” Corvus asked.
Deirdre nodded absently. “Baby’s mother told us a story.”
“What?”
“A story?”
“It was kind of strange,” Deirdre said. “Not like a story so much as a … a prediction, I guess you’d call it. Maybe a warning.”
Swimming effortlessly in the tank, Deirdre heard Mother’s clicks and whistles as if the dolphin were talking to her.
It seems safe and easy now, Mother was saying, in this water where there are no sharks to threaten us and the fish are always close to our teeth.
But sometime we may find our way out to the true waters again, the waters where our mothers and fathers of old swam and hunted. Waters that are so deep they have no bottom. Waters that have treacherous currents that can carry you far, far away.
The sharks are always there, waiting for a lone dolphin with their sharp teeth. They are always hungry. They never rest.
Baby flipped her tail and rose gracefully to the surface for a gulp of air. Mother followed her while Father swam below.
You must be ready to face the sharks. Ready to swim in the big water. Ready to hunt. Now the fish have nowhere to hide from us. But in the big water the fish can run far, far away.
How big is the big water? Baby asked.
A hundred feedings would cover only a small part of it, Mother replied.
Have you seen this?
Mother said, I have seen bigger water than we are in now, but no, I have not swum in the truly big water. My mother, and her mother, and their mother’s mothers have told about it.
Schools of fish that blot out the light, Baby said.
Yes, and sharks that eat baby dolphins.
Baby said, Sharks are bad.
Very bad, Mother agreed. My sister lived in the big water long ago. She was attacked by sharks. The others of the family tried to drive the sharks away but we were too late. They killed her.
Sharks are bad, Baby repeated.
Very bad. Be on your guard against them.
But there are no sharks in this water.
Not now. But they could come to this water. And they like to eat nothing better than baby dolphins.
“The mother was warning Baby about sharks?” Corvus asked.
“Yes,” said Deirdre. “I don’t think Baby believed her. At least, I didn’t feel any sense of fear in Baby.”
Dorn said, “Perhaps you could check the mother’s history and see if she had a sister who was attacked by
