Chapter No. 24 Joy Amidst Lamenting

The early bird catches the worm or, in this case, the best view. Scientists began finding prime spots around the Institute's main dolphin tank early because they wanted the best view of this new species that everyone's talking about.

What are these new creatures? Do they resemble mermaids? Are they really as intelligent as humans? Do they actually have breasts?

Nothing like this had ever happened at the Institute, at least nothing that would have generated this much excitement.

Eric gave his wife a satisfied smirk. "The entire science compliment of the Institute is here, Love. I guess we really got their attention."

She didn't care. Her eyes scanned the tank with frenzied anticipation. "I wonder where they are?"

"They're in the water, Love."

She gave him a scolding look. "You know what I mean!"

"You might have to go in there and get them."

"Maybe I should," she said, still scanning the water, her eyes searching for any sign: bubbles, a wake, and a shadow, anything that would indicate that the creatures were near.

She saw nothing.

"Your creatures are on the shy side," George Stevens said while walking up behind them.

Eric turned around and gave him a cocky grin. "Hello, George. Now we know why they won't show. You're here."

"I doubt it, Hauptman. I think they're really afraid of Conners. She could scare the bark off trees."

Joyce Conners had to refute that. "Yeah, Stevens. And you could win a beauty contest . . . at a dog show."

"Look who's talking. You couldn't even qualify."

Eric laughed. "You two are too much!"

Margaret punched her husband's shoulder. "Eric! Look! They're coming out of the water."

Exhilaration flashed through the spectators like a lightening bolt. Conversations became louder. Squeals echoed around the dolphin tank. People pressed closer to the railing. They had good reason to be excited; the creatures were surfacing near the rocks that had been piled near the south end of the tank and were pulling their bodies up over the rocks with their powerful arms.

They accomplished this amazing feat with little effort, slithering and squirming between crevices and over stone edges. Climbing up the rocks in that fashion made them appear more like snakes than aquatic mammals. Dolphins were incapable of such a feat.

"They sure are strange," Conners said. "Maybe we should call in a cryptozoologist."

A brief smile crossed Eric's lips. "You're right. Maybe a cryptozoologist could explain them. We sure as hell can't."

"How are we going to study them?" Conners asked. "We just can't go over there and grab one of them."

"Yes," Stevens said. "This is not just some simple animal. We'll need to have their permission."

"That'll be a new experience," Eric said. "Imagine if we had to do that with dolphins. To make matters worse, we don't have any idea how to ask for their permission."

"Maybe we can learn their language," Conners said.

Eric lowered his eyes. "That's not going to be easy. They communicate much like dolphins--with clicks and whistles."

"What the hell planet did you find these specimens on, Hauptman?" Dr. Anderson asked, approaching from behind.

Eric couldn't resist throwing a barb in, especially when he realized that everyone had to eat crow. "On the planet Water. At least that's what Earth should have been called. I guess it just shows that there are more unknown species in the oceans than there are known."

Anderson scratched his head. "There's no way that a species as large as this could have escaped detection. There's something strange about this."

"What's so strange?" Eric said. "Most aquatic species are strange."

"Oh, come on," Anderson said, gesturing wildly. "Look at them. I don't know about you, but I've never seen any aquatic species like that."

Eric smiled. "Evidently, a lot of drunken sailors have seen them."

Anderson was still agitated. "But, mermaids are not real. They're mythological creatures."

"These are not mermaids," Wang said.

"Amen to that," Eric said.

"They appear to be watching us," Margaret said without taking her eyes from them.

"What was that, Love?"

"I said they appear to be watching us."

"I agree," Anderson said. "They're curious. Maybe that's why they allowed us to capture them."

"I doubt it," Stevens said. "There's some more important reason. I'm sure of it."

"Perhaps." Conners slowly shook her head up and down. "But, one thing is for sure: There's enough new work here to keep this Institute humming for a long time."

Anderson's face suddenly appeared glum. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. There's a good possibility that the discovery of these creatures will result in the untimely ruin of this Institute." He spun around and walked away.

"What the hell's his problem?" Conners said with a confused expression to match her tone.

"He's got bureaucratic indigestion," Stevens said as he watched Anderson's departure. "We've got one of the most important discoveries ever made here and he's worried about administrative issues."

"That's his job, George," Eric said. "In a way, you can see where he's coming from. Can you imagine what a shock this is going to give to the human race--to find out that humans are not the only intelligent species on this planet, that some species has been here long before we were."

"Maybe no one will give a damn," Conners said. "Maybe they'll just see something that looks like a mermaid and ignore how intelligent they really are."

Eric stared at her for a moment, as if digesting her statement. "You may be right. Only time will tell." He scratched his beard. "The public may have a problem with the fact that these creatures are predatory and they've tasted human flesh."

Stevens' brow wrinkled. "So what. Sharks eat humans, and yet we still find them fascinating. We're not the only predator on this planet, you know."

Eric flashed a mocking smile at George. "We're just more efficient at it."

"Yes, but we're also the only species that kills for pleasure."

"You're right, George. Maybe these creatures are not all that bad as predators go."

Suddenly, the creatures began to screech and wail as if they were in pain. They whistled, moaned, wailed, and quacked, creating sounds that resembled those made by dolphins but with greater ranges of frequency.

The unusual noise grabbed everyone's attention. There was an inexplicable attractiveness to these sounds. They had an exotic, almost erotic, quality, in many ways sounding like singing. But it was an unearthly singing.

Conner's eyes brightened. "Wow! Would you listen to the weird noises they can make?"

Eric looked at her. "I guess they're throwing in their two cents after listening to us."

"I told you," Margaret said. "They're watching us."

"Yeah," Stevens said. "They're probably commenting on how stupid we look."

"Speak for yourself," Conners said.

Eric and his wife laughed. Some thought that the creatures also laughed.

###

With excitement sparkling from her eyes, Marian Stram peered over her husband's shoulder at images displayed on a monitor. "Oh, Julie! Those are the creatures. There's no doubt about it." She punched a bony finger into his back. "How could you allow the Institute to capture them so easily?"

He turned to behold her grinning face. "It was not easy, believe me. They're quite clever--these Institute scientists. We face a very intractable foe." He turned back to the monitor. "But we will prevail . . . eventually."

"How? How will you prevail, Julie?" Her voice was higher pitched than normal, but grating was a term her husband would have used. "You can't simply waltz in there and take one of them."

"On the contrary, my Pet. We will simply appropriate one of them like thieves in the night." His voice had a confident tone. "At least their whereabouts are clearly known."

"You place much too much confidence in that . . . that idiot Stanton. You should know better, Julie."

That brought a scowl to his face. "I don't like it, either, but I have no other choice Stanton has been assigned to this project by the bureaucratic cretins, and I must deal with it."

"I don't envy your job one bit, Julie."

"I don't, either," he said with a sarcastic shrill.

She plopped down in a swivel chair, crossed her thin legs like a pretzel, and sighed. "This is not fun. We are not having fun, Julie." Her eyes glazed over. "I want one of those creatures. I want to see what makes it tick, what makes it so intelligent. Just think of how much fun it would be to vivisect one of them." She stood up. "Get me one of those creatures, Julie."

"I will, my Pet. I will. Be patient."

She was anything but patient. "I've been patient too long. I'm not getting any younger. I need excitement or I'll die. Do you understand me, Julie?"

"Yes, I do." His face was grim, not at all like the demonical twisting that dominated his wife's thin face. "You will have one of the creatures soon. I promise you."

"I will believe it when you make good on your promise, Julie." She stomped out of the room.

Julius slowly shook his head before he returned to his study of the monitor images. He sat there staring at them, mesmerized by their exotic beauty and their implied power. These creatures are the true masters of the sea, and he constantly dreams of capturing one of them and discerning its secrets.

If only he didn't have to put up with those military bureaucratic cretins. Idiots all.

###

The day was soon ending. The three new denizens of the dolphin tank were settled now, but Margaret wasn't sure what to think of them. They appeared to be playful and attentive, but what sharp teeth they have. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't purge her memory of that half-eaten human carcass in the cavern. Predicting animal behavior is risky, especially if the animal is dangerous. But, these creatures are not animals, at least in the sense of dolphins and whales.

She had no idea of how to read their feelings.

Oh yes, animals have feelings, and these creatures are intelligent. They had to have complex emotions, but she couldn't discern them. Their facial expressions never change, or at least they don't seem to change. How in the hell do you read an expressionless face?

She swam with them, but they are much faster and are able to remain under water for very long periods of time, much longer than dolphins. How could they do that and still remain out of the water for extended periods? She was aware of no animal--at least no mammal--that could live in both air and water with equal ease.

Maybe Heimler was right; maybe these creatures represent a missing link, but a link between what? They have definite dolphin characteristics but their top half resembles no other species.

Still, she enjoys playing with them. What marine biologist wouldn't? They are fascinating beyond the meaning of the word. They represent the most important discovery in the science of biology, and she's one of the pioneers, along with her husband. Their names will go down in history as the discoverers of these magnificent creatures.

But she didn't really care about that. She was having fun discovering. Isn't that what every scientist desires--the unraveling of the secrets of nature? That's why she entered the science field. As a child, she often found pleasure in searching for all of the varieties of life that inhabit the bogs and bayous of Louisiana. Biology was a natural career choice for her, but her white-gloves-and-debutante-ball-minded parents didn't support her choice. They wanted her to get married and have a family. Well, she got married, but the family . . . that got trampled by the career. Oh, well. At least she had her creatures; they are the members of her family, now.

As she slowly moved along the bottom of the dolphin tank, kicking her flippers in a rhythmic pattern, Margaret scanned for the three creatures. She had no idea where they were. They could hide in their natural environment much better than most marine mammals. No wonder they're so hard to find.

Suddenly, they appeared next to her.

I hate when they do that! How can they move so fast? They swim faster than dolphins, and that doesn't make sense because dolphins appear to be more streamlined. Maybe these creatures are stronger.

But, if they are, that means that they would expend more energy, energy that needs to be maintained by eating many--

They sure can make strange noises. Some of their vocalizations resemble those made by dolphins, but a lot of the sounds that come from them resemble nothing I've ever heard. I wonder; maybe these creatures could imitate human sounds much easier than dolphins. Now, that would be something if I could teach them to talk. Why not? Others have taught dolphins the mimicry of human speech.

Margaret surfaced and climbed on the lowest rock she could find. The creatures soon imitated her action, mounting rocks higher up but still close to her.

How easy they can pull their bodies up on the rocks. Why they did so is a complete mystery.

One of the creatures slithered closer to her, and she stared into its alien eyes for several minutes before she tried her experiment.

"Hi!"

The creature continued to stare at her with no reaction, no change of facial expression. She repeated the greeting several times with no effect.

She was about to give up when suddenly, with no change in the creature's demure, it sang her greeting with a click for punctuation. Margaret rewarded it by stroking its hair. The creature's purring was a very satisfying "thank you."

Margaret felt inspired. She gestured to the juvenile and looked at the adult that had just learned to talk. "May I touch the little one?" She smiled briefly when she realized how ridiculous she sounded trying to talk to some animal that had never heard human language before.

Or had they?

The adult whistled at the juvenile, and it immediately moved close.

Margaret didn't know what to think. Did the adult actually understand her request, or did it read her gestures and surmise what she wanted?

Whatever the reason, she immediately took advantage of the opportunity by reaching out and stroking the juvenile's hair. She was rewarded with a purr--a small purr.

The juvenile's face is fairly developed but there are subtle signs of immaturity; the face is not as full as the adult's and the skin is clearer and pristine. The eyes are brighter and more alert. The juvenile's shape is more streamlined and its breasts are perfectly round buds with tiny nipples.

How curious.

I wonder how old it is. How long will it take to mature? Which adult is its mother?

There are so many questions and so few answers.