“It was,” Neely confirmed reluctantly.
“That’s the connection,” Alison said.
“What is? Their size?”
“Yes. When we were there in the ocean with all those dolphins, we dove under the water.” She lowered her voice. “Neely, I’ve been diving hundreds of times and I know what underwater vegetation looks like. What we saw down there were plants several times larger than they should have been and growing out as far as I could see.”
“What?”
“Some of them were giant, Neely. Giant. I think there’s something in that water near Trinidad. And I think Dirk and Sally somehow brought some of it back with them.”
Neely stared at her with a look of astonishment.
“And that’s not all. You remember how bad Chris and Lee were injured, don’t you?”
“Of course, they were in the infirmary. How are they?”
Alison began to answer but stopped to consider her words. This was all sounding so unbelievable. “They’re healed, Neely.”
“What?”
“Healed. As in… completely.”
“They’re healed?!”
“Yes.”
Her eyes opened even wider. “In three weeks?”
Alison nodded. “There’s not a mark on them. Even my wrist is better. But Lee had broken ribs, which should take months. He says his pain is gone.”
Neely leaned back against her door, stunned. “And they were in the water with the little girl?”
“No!” Alison exclaimed. “But they were in the water at Trinidad. Before we were attacked.”
Neely stared at her, blinking absently. “Maybe they weren’t hurt as bad as originally thought.”
“I thought of that. It’s definitely possible… with me and Chris. But Lee had X-rays. He had two very real cracks.”
Neely was struggling. Her world relied on proof and empirical evidence. What she was getting from Alison certainly wasn’t proof, but it was very compelling. And Alison certainly didn’t strike her as someone who jumped to conclusions. She was extremely intelligent and no doubt, from her own work, understood the importance of objectivity.
She raised her head and focused again on Alison. “So when do I get to meet your dolphins?”
26
Hello Alison.
“Hello, Sally. How are you?” Alison approached the glass tank. Outside, the night sky had given up the last of its light, creating a clear reflection of Alison under the bright lights of the observation room.
Me good. Who you friend?
“Her name is-” Alison stopped with a small grin. If IMIS hadn’t originally been able to translate her name, it sure wasn’t going to be able to translate Neely’s.
She turned to Neely, who could be seen in the reflection standing behind her. “We’re going to have to have Lee code a name in for you.”
She turned back to the tank. “Let’s call her “friend” for now.”
Okay. Hello friend.
Neely stared at Sally with a look of astonishment on her face. “H-hello, Sally,” she whispered.
Alison glanced around the tank. “Where’s Dirk?”
He gone. Come back.
“I see.”
Where DeeAnn?
“DeeAnn isn’t here. She’s gone on a trip.” Alison quickly corrected herself for the sake of IMIS. “I mean she’s gone on a journey.”
Sally moved her tail but said nothing.
Alison folded her arms and glanced back at Neely. “You just missed her. They left earlier this afternoon with Steve Caesare.”
Neely’s gaze was on the tank but darted quickly back to Alison. “Steve Caesare was here?”
“Yes. Just a few hours ago.”
Alison watched with bemusement at the obvious look of interest in Neely’s eyes. She’d picked up on it before when observing the two aboard the Bowditch. Neely had a crush on Steve Caesare, even though she fought to hide it. Alison couldn’t blame her. In spite of Caesare’s brashness, he did have an undeniable charm to him. And a girl would be hard-pressed to find a manlier individual. Except perhaps John Clay, of course.
She continued watching Neely, who was now attempting to suppress a hint of self-consciousness before turning back around to Sally.
“Sally, I have a favor to ask you.”
Me favor you.
Alison smiled. Clearly IMIS’s translation still wasn’t perfect.
“We’d like to take a fresh sample. Would that be okay?”
From the other side of the glass, Sally studied Alison with her perpetually fixed dolphin grin.
You happy fast.
Alison turned to Neely. “She means excited.” She looked back to Sally and spoke into the microphone. “Yes, Sally. We are.”
After a long silence, Sally responded. Yes Alison. Sample now.
Given the problems with obtaining blood samples from dolphins, the most common method for Dirk and Sally’s checkups were through the collection of small skin samples. It allowed Alison’s team to check for a number of contaminants and other dangerous biomarkers.
Of course, this time she and Neely were looking for something very different.
Sally continued watching them from within the tank, but said nothing. Both of the women were clearly excited, but what neither realized was that Sally had a surprise of her own.
27
Chris Ramirez looked away just as Neely leaned over him, bringing the needle in gently. Leaning forward in his chair, he kept his attention to the side until the sharp pain subsided and the needle was well into his arm.
“Man, that smarts.”
“Sorry,” Neely muttered. “I was never the best phlebotomist.” She gently slid her hand down to support the small tube filling up with blood.
Behind them, Lee was standing several feet away with one finger holding a tiny cotton swab in place. “So what exactly are we looking for?”
“Erythrocyte behavior.”
Lee glanced at Chris. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Neely laughed. “It sounds spookier than it is. I just want to observe the growth rate of your red blood cells, also known as erythrocytes. They’re the most common cells in our bodies and have a tightly regulated lifespan before they are recycled by our macrophages. If there have been nucleic changes affecting cellular regeneration, we’re likely to see it at the erythrocyte level.”
“Well, I’m not sure what you just said, but I’m hoping for some kind of super power.”
She grinned without looking up. “Any specific super powers you want me to look for?”
Lee thought it over. “Flying is always good. Or bulletproof skin maybe.”
“Maybe we should start smaller,” Chris added. “Like the ability for him to eat better.”
“Very funny.”
Neely slid the needle out and pressed a swab against Chris’s arm. She then untied the rubber strap from around his bicep. “Should I check Mr. Kenwood’s cholesterol while we’re at it?”
Next to the table, Alison peered at Chris. “Someone doesn’t have a whole lot of room to talk. They both need to be checked.”
Chris stood up and patted his stomach with his free hand. “All muscle, baby.”
She laughed and stepped forward as Neely checked the seal on the small vial. “You guys are just lucky we had human-sized syringes here. That could have been much more unpleasant.” She gathered the rest of the items and returned them to the box, then handed it to Alison. “Okay. Now I just need a lab.”
Following the closure of the Army’s Puerto Rican general hospital in 1949, along with Fort Brooke, the Rodriguez Army Health Clinic remained the primary medical facility for all active military personnel on the island.