“Good,” nodded Langford. “Make sure you and Caesare are ready to go ashore. I want to know what that ship is taking onboard.”
22
Chris and Alison stopped the large van in front of the Gulfstream jet and saw Mateus Alves in the doorway. Excitedly, he began to descend the stairs with his assistant close behind.
Alison climbed out and then stepped back to pull the large side door open, sliding it smoothly backward. A moment later, DeeAnn’s head emerged from the inside and she stepped down onto the ground. In her hand was a chain, which revealed itself to be attached to Dulce’s collar when the gorilla curiously peeked outside. DeeAnn promptly reached in and picked Dulce up into her arms, then turned to look at the airplane.
Unfortunately, she had no way to communicate since she’d left her original translation vest back at the facility. After explaining to Dulce where they were going, the small gorilla became very excited. She wanted to help, but she was equally excited at the prospect of making a new friend. Dulce had known other primates, including monkeys, but it was in Mexico under horrendous living conditions. There was no telling what kind of trauma or cognitive associations she still carried with her. Animals in a panic, especially gorillas, were very unpredictable. Dulce had seemed relatively calm during the preparations. Now watching Dulce’s eyes nervously examine the large plane, she wondered if she was making a mistake. Especially when she felt Dulce’s arms tighten around her.
Behind her, Juan climbed out carrying a medium-sized cardboard box with the newly designed vest inside. In his other hand, he carried a large suitcase filled with computer equipment, as well as his clothes.
Leaving the driver’s seat, Chris circled the back of the van and came up behind the others, grabbing two more suitcases for DeeAnn.
Alves and Carolina had stopped at the bottom of the stairs, waiting politely. Alison turned to DeeAnn.
“You’re sure about this.”
“Yes,” DeeAnn replied, peering over Dulce’s small, furry head. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
Alison smiled but didn’t reply.
“Don’t worry, Ali. We’re not staying long. Our home is here now.”
Alison maintained her smile and reached out, gently rubbing Dulce’s head. The small gorilla purred and said something, but it went unanswered. She looked at DeeAnn and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around both of them.
“You have the number for the boat’s satellite phone, right?”
“I sure do.”
Chris stepped up beside them, pulling the two bags. “Everybody ready?”
All eyes turned to DeeAnn, who in turn looked down at Dulce. The two then walked across the small tarmac.
As they neared the plane, a male crewmember emerged and quickly climbed down the stairs, waiting to take their bags.
Mateus Alves smiled warmly as they approached, glancing down at Dulce. “Welcome, Ms. Draper. We are very grateful for your assistance. We have accommodated all your requests and hope you will be comfortable.”
“I’m sure we will be,” she agreed. “May I introduce Juan Diaz, one of our computer whizzes.”
Alves smiled again, revealing a perfect set of teeth. “Welcome, Mr. Diaz. We are very happy to have you join us.”
“It’s my pleasure, sir. Anything for Ms. Draper.”
Alves laughed. “Indeed.” He then turned to Alison. “Ms. Shaw, thank you again for allowing this brief interruption to your team’s work. You are very generous.”
Alison smiled and shook his hand. He probably didn’t realize that she had no choice.
The crewmember took the bags from Chris and promptly returned up the stairs, disappearing inside the plane.
Alves clasped his hands together. “Are you ready to depart?”
“We are.” DeeAnn turned, winked once more at Alison, and followed Carolina up the stairs. Juan stepped in behind them, leaving Alves standing with Alison and Chris.
“We’ll have her back soon, Ms. Shaw. You have my word.”
Alves climbed up the stairs after them, with noticeable difficulty. With one final wave, the white metal door was pulled closed.
DeeAnn was pleasantly surprised to see the size of the cage. It was larger than usual, which provided a much more comfortable place for Dulce during the flight. After takeoff, DeeAnn immediately slid over onto the couch and gingerly reached in through the bars. Dulce quickly placed her dark hand inside DeeAnn’s.
Alves sat in one of the nearby leather seats, observing the connection between the two. “She loves you.”
DeeAnn smiled without looking away. “It’s mutual.”
“It’s quite obvious.” Alves leaned forward. “I must apologize, Ms. Draper. I’m afraid I don’t know as much about your program as Luke did.” He suddenly caught and corrected himself. “I mean, as much as Luke does.”
DeeAnn displayed no reaction to the mistake. “I hadn’t been aware he was following our work.”
“Well, forgive me if I sound improper, but I suspect he’s been following you as much as your work.”
DeeAnn looked up abruptly at Alves, considering his words before letting her eyes drop. “I wasn’t even sure where he was.”
Alves shrugged, in a supportive gesture. “I obviously don’t know about your history, but I sense he cares a great deal about you. Of that, I am sure.”
“You do know this is a long shot, right?” DeeAnn said, motioning to Dulce. “I’ll be honest, even if we can find your capuchin monkey, I’m having a hard time imagining what information he might have that would make a difference.”
Alves’ eyes softened. “I suppose I should be candid as well. I’ve never had any children, Ms. Draper. And I’ve become quite fond of Luke. His passion and the righteousness he feels for protecting others, especially animals, made me come to feel for him as I would for a son. I’ve never seen that level of compassion in a young man before. Many of his beliefs reminded me of why I decided to establish the preserve in the first place. You’ve known Luke much longer than I have, but our goal is the same. I will do nearly anything to find him, even if it’s a long shot.”
“That makes two of us.”
After a momentary silence, they both turned around and watched as Juan laid the new vest on a small table in front of his seat. He proceeded to attach two cables to the vest, plugging the other end of one into a power outlet. The other cable went into his laptop. After a short wait, he focused on the small screen and began typing.
Lee and Juan had given DeeAnn a rundown on the vest before they headed to the airport. It was larger than her old model, and heavier. It was unavoidable since more equipment had to be built in. The majority of the hardware was distributed carefully around the waist area, very similar to the waterproof version they had designed for Alison.
The difference with DeeAnn’s new vest, though, was the batteries. It had more than four times the number of batteries to allow it to work as a completely self-contained unit, thanks to Steve Caesare. The prototype batteries he had sent over had a much higher energy capacity than the lithium variety. Another benefit was avoiding the need for any wireless transmission, reducing energy consumption even further. Instead, the smaller, slower processor would do all the work to communicate directly with Dulce, using the existing translation data that IMIS had already identified back in their lab.
One major limitation that both vests suffered from was line of sight. There was not only a microphone and speaker on the front of DeeAnn’s vest, but a small camera as well. Both vests had to “see” to translate. Whether observing dolphins or gorillas, it was the only way to allow the computers inside the vests to correctly identify and translate their expressions and words. Alison had already seen this challenge when testing the underwater unit. It would prove to be just as limiting for DeeAnn and Dulce.