Caesare shook his head. “Good God.”
“Our scientists say our gravity will eventually recapture much of what was lost. But it will take many years. Thousands. We cannot wait.”
After a long silence, Clay’s voice was low. “How many of you survived?”
“Less than five thousand. But over these years, we have nearly doubled that.”
“Five thousand in eighty years,” Caesare murmured. “That’s not a lot.”
Ronin replied with a brief sound of indignation. “For us, it was nothing short of miraculous.”
Caesare nodded. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.”
The smaller man continued. “We were not without some luck, I was told.”
“You were told?” Clay asked.
“I was only an infant when it happened. I have no memory of our world before the event.”
At that, DeeAnn looked soulfully at both men next to her before replying. “We’re very sorry for what has happened to you.”
“Extremely,” Clay added and extended his hand forward. Ronin grabbed it, and Clay pulled him back onto his feet. “So you’re after the same thing we are.”
“Yes. Restoring our ecosystem has been difficult. Even we are finding it much more complex than previously thought. Restoring life, even plant life, takes time. Generations. Which leaves our own existence hanging in the balance. The water we have brought from your planet has given us a foothold. But that is all.”
“So you think this solution, if it still exists, can turn the tide.”
“Yes. Our scientists believe it can dramatically increase the progress of our existing ecosystem. This is what we are in most desperate need of. The oxygen levels in our atmosphere are nearly depleted. If we cannot change that quickly, it will be over.”
“What did you mean when you said you did have some luck?”
“One of our cities that was spared also acted as one of our technology centers. For research. This meant it had a larger than usual population of scientists. Those are the ones that are now trying to save the planet.”
“Jesus,” Caesare said, crossing his arms. “You have to terraform your own planet.”
All three stood before Ronin, completely dumbfounded. But there was still one more incredibly important piece to the story. What they didn’t know, and what Ronin didn’t think to mention, was that the two asteroids that devastated his world had each struck on exactly opposite sides of the planet.
79
Alison.
The voices echoed in her ears almost simultaneously— both the computerized words from Sally in front of her and Lee Kenwood’s radio transmission from his location above her on the Pathfinder ship.
“Alison?” they each said again.
She shook her head and blinked. Still floating in the dark water, she could see Dirk and Sally, as well as the elder dolphins, illuminated in the glow of her mask’s beaming light. All waiting and watching her.
Alison reached down and muted her vest. “Lee. Can you hear me?”
“I can.”
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes,” Lee nodded, staring numbly at the translated words on the screen.
Not only did the dolphins want to know what humans intended to do with the alien ship, they wanted something else too. Something that no one ever expected.
You make metal for us.
IMIS’s translations and the words displayed on Lee’s screen could not be clearer. They were both simple and shocking.
By metal, they meant tool. Tools that they were incapable of making. Lacking the dexterity of human hands and fingers, they simply could not do what humans had done. But it was not for lack of desire. The researchers already knew that dolphins had a larger, more folded brain as well as more cognitive capacity.
Their brains would not have simply wasted that cognitive potential. Without the hands they needed, that potential would have manifested elsewhere. Possibly in cognitive abilities that humans were still not aware of. But what they had lacked for so long might now be possible with the help of human dexterity.
These intelligent creatures now wanted us to make something for them.
“Now what the hell am I supposed to say?”
Lee stammered. “Uh… I don’t know.”
“I can’t simply lie to them.” Alison turned her mask, looking back to the hundreds of dolphins and their secret breeding ground. “They showed us this for a reason, Lee. As an exchange of trust.”
“I know,” Lee replied. “But we don’t know what they mean by tool. And we sure don’t know what we’re going to do with that ship, Ali. Even if we did, I’m sure it won’t be up to us.”
After silence from Lee, Alison reached back down and unmuted. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She didn’t know what to say. How could she explain that it was out of her hands? How could she explain that, in the end, governments did what they wanted? All she, Lee, and the rest of their team could really do was to try to influence the outcome. Because when governments got involved, all bets were off.
Alison swallowed hard and said the only thing she could think to say, the only thing that was still the truth.
“I’m not sure.”
The oldest dolphin studied her for a long time with its dark gray eyes. None of them made a sound.
“Did they hear me?”
Lee examined the translation on his computer. “Yes, they should have.”
We hear. The elder finally replied, still floating in front of her.
But before Alison could respond to their second question, something happened. Without warning, several of the nearby dolphins began speaking rapidly. Very rapidly.
Dozens more turned to face the same direction. Their rapid clicking joined together and became a barrage of noise, far too much to be deciphered by Alison or her vest.
The elders in front of her had already turned their attention, as still more dolphins emerged from out of the darkness. In a burst of movement, the elders shot quickly past Alison, leaving her floating in the water with arms extended and a look of confusion on her face.
She looked at Sally who remained alongside her, watching. She muted her vest and called to Lee.
“Lee, can you still hear me?”
“Right here, Ali.”
“I can’t hear anything! Whatever’s happening is blocking everything out! Can you give me just Sally?”
Lee fumbled for a minute on his keyboard, trying to pull up another program. “Yeah, I think so. Hold on.”
After a flurry of typing, Lee finished and studied the flow of text on his screen. “Okay, try it again.”
Below the surface, Alison re-engaged the vest and faced Sally. “Sally!”
There was no answer.
“Sally! Can you hear me?”
It took several seconds, but Sally eventually turned back to her. Yes Alison. I hear.
“What is it?! What’s going on?”
Sally remained quiet, listening. Some thing come Alison. Some thing bad.
80
The massive Russian Ghost sub coasted to a gradual stop against the gentle resistance of the Caribbean’s currents. Maintaining its buoyancy at thirty meters above the beginning of an enormous coral ridge, the sub’s sail and foreplanes were left just ten meters below the surface.
In the control room, the navigation officer turned and nodded to the captain, prompting Zhirov to calmly reach out and pluck a handset from the wall next to him.