Come Alison come.
“I’m coming,” she said, with a touch of sarcasm. “Just give us some time.”
In the time it took them to get set up, more dolphins began to arrive. Many more. Alison pulled the second fin onto her foot and wiggled it while she looked out over the water. There were hundreds of dolphins now.
“Chris, look at this,” she said, standing up.
“Wow!”
The number of dolphins swimming in and around each other seemed to be growing bigger right before their eyes.
Lee turned back from the water to look at Alison. He was excited too, wanting to see how his new “aqua vest” worked in the real world. “How’s that?” he looked over the straps on the vest.
“It feels fine.”
“Okay, good. Let’s get the rebreather on now.” Chris, standing behind her, lifted the tank and BCD up high enough for her to slide the unit on. Next, Chris lifted the thick oxygen hose over Alison’s head and handed it to Lee, who aligned the hose with the facemask and attached it to the bottom.
“Test, please,” he said, handing the full mask to Alison.
She held it to her face and breathed in. “Yep. Got air.”
Next, Chris snaked the weight belt around her waist and Lee buckled it in front.
Alison pulled the mask strap over her head, while Lee examined the three lights on the vest’s shoulder. All three were lit and steady.
“We have power, link, and camera.” Lee then turned to his laptop on the white fiberglass table to verify connectivity with the onboard servers. “Looking good.” He turned back to Alison. “Ready to test?”
“Sure.”
He activated the translation software and made a motion with his hand for her to speak.
“Hello,” Alison said, inside the mask.
The familiar whistle and clicks were heard almost immediately through the speaker.
“Good. Now remember,” he reminded her, “you have to be looking at them for IMIS to pick it up.”
“I remember.”
Lee looked past Alison’s shoulder to Chris. “Are we good?”
“Yep, we’re good.”
“Okay, Ali. Let’s turn around.”
She nodded and slowly turned around to face the wide, built-in steps at the end of the boat’s starboard hull. She gave them a thumbs-up and grasped the top of the rail on each side. With careful movements, she descended each step until she reached the last one at the water line. She could feel the lapping of the water over her fins and feet.
She looked out over the water at the peaceful blue horizon. With a deep breath, Alison jumped.
Compared to the stifling warm air above, the ocean felt cool and instantly refreshing. It took a few seconds to get her bearings, but Alison adjusted herself and tilted her head back and forth, looking for water leaks in the mask. After verifying that all was still secure, she popped her head up above the waves and twisted around to find the boat.
Alison smiled and gave them the “A-OK” sign before dipping her face back into the water. Less than twenty feet below, hundreds of dolphins were swirling beneath her in every direction.
Alison was searching for them when Sally swam by and playfully bumped her from behind. Alison, you here.
“I am here,” she replied. “Thanks to you.” A moment later, she heard the familiar buzz indicating a translation error. It didn’t matter.
“Where is Dirk?”
I here, he answered, swimming to her excitedly. We home Alison, we home. We show you.
Alison pivoted forward and kicked after them. “Yes, show me.”
Together, Dirk and Sally descended into the darkening blue water and turned for a moment, waiting for Alison. When she caught up, they dove further, before stopping to wait again. Come Alison.
She laughed and rolled her eyes inside her mask. “I’m coming!”
She let more air out of her BCD and sank further, into the heart of the immense pod. The dolphins she had seen from above now swarmed from every direction, darting past her with amazing precision. Alison reached out and grazed one with her fingertip as it glided up and around her. She turned and watched in awe. Dolphins were everywhere.
She noticed several dolphins bump one another and jet away as if playing a game.
Incredible, she thought, listening to the translations.
Come we
Metal
Get food
Find them leave
Where
Alison blinked and twisted back around. Dirk and Sally had disappeared, and she realized she was becoming surrounded. The chatter in her earphone was now coming from everywhere. “Sally, Dirk? Where are you?” She looked below, then up above. All she could see was the giant shadow of the boat floating overhead.
Going
People here
She talk
I hear talk too
People talk
Alison turned again and found several dolphins had stopped a few feet in front of her, watching her curiously.
You talk, one of them said.
She talk
Who she
She talking
Alison tried to identify which dolphin was speaking, but there were too many. She turned back to those closest to her, still unable to find Dirk and Sally.
“Hello,” Alison simply said.
The dolphins moved their tails excitedly. You talk us. How you talk.
The pod was still surrounding her, but now more dolphins were slowing and staring at her.
Alison thought for a moment and spoke slowly. “My name is Alison. I talk with this metal.” She heard the translation come through the speaker, noting the different combination of whistles and clicks that identified her name. It was a crude, but unique compilation they had created in the lab to designate her name. It probably sounded like gibberish, but at least it was a pattern the dolphins could repeat.
Alison
Alison
Name Alison
Alison Dirk Sally friend
Talk again
“Wait,” Alison said. She was trying to follow who was speaking but turning her head to hear one would cut off the sentence from another. She was suddenly bumped by a dolphin from behind, who appeared to be examining her rebreather tanks. As she tried to steady herself, she was gently bumped again from the side.
Metal here down come talk
Alison whipped around again. “Wait, easy!” She put out a hand that got bumped as well, spinning her around. “I can’t-
From metal come trip talk metal here down come with us trip metal talk talk Dirk here down Sally
“Wait! Wait!” Alison shook her head and pushed away, clamping a hand over the side of her mask. “Lee, Chris! Can you hear me?!”
Thirty feet above them, Lee leaned forward and grabbed the microphone off the small desk. “Alison, can you hear me?! Alison!”
She couldn’t hear him. The translations were inundating her system so that she couldn’t hear anything over the constant flood of words. There were now dozens of dolphins closely surrounding and trying to speak to her. She was getting bumped from all directions by those curious to find out where her voice was coming from.
“Chris, Lee!” she yelled. “Are you there?!”
Come us metal many friends talk trip come-
Suddenly everything went silent.