Titanic
By Jon Sleeper
Part VIII: The Ghost from the Grand Banks
"Ralph," I said, "come right. I think I see a wall of black just on the other side of that mud mound." Ralph [the sub pilot] did as I asked and inched Alvin forward until he was stopped by a sight unlike any he'd encountered in hundreds of deep ocean dives: directly in front of him was an apparently endless slab of black steel rising out of the bottom--the massive hull of the Titanic. I thought of Edmund Hillary standing at the summit of Mount Everest, or some future space traveler peering over the edge of the known universe. Slowly, I let out my breath; I didn't realize I'd been holding it.
--Dr. Robert Ballard, The Discovery of the Titanic.
July 13, 1986. 3:00 p.m.
Darius always was fashionably late. "Where is he?" asked Cindy.
"I don't know, love." I replied. "But Doctor Ballard is about to give another lecture."
"I have here two artifacts from the Titanic. The first is an item that belonged to Lawrence Beesley. A dolphin pendant he said was given to him in the second class dining saloon on the day of the disaster. Legend has it that the same person, and a few others, were giving these little things out all through the voyage. All of them had different species of whale on them, they say. This is the only surviving piece, interesting."
Hmm, I'd wondered what became of that little bit I'd given him. I thought again about Darius. He'd had some trouble adjusting to all the computers and technical equipment of the submersible we'd end up… borrowing. When he didn't show up on the dock when the Atlantis II was supposed to leave I just assumed he'd decided not to come. Then I rethought about it and decided he was going to make a "Grand Entrance" of sorts. Then Lupus whuffed a few times at something Dr. Ballard was saying. (He was disguised as the ship's dog.)
"…and this strange coin was found inside one of the lifebelts. You can see it's quite dirty, but on one side is a windjammer, and the other an orca. We don't quite know how they got in there, but there is some writing on the bottom curve just below the ship. Unfortunately every attempt to remove the corrosion has been unsuccessful for some reason."
I almost gasped aloud. None of those coins were supposed to have survived! Orca had made them to dissolve after a short while if they did not activate! But when I Looked at the coin I saw that it was a dud. Orca Himself was down below in engineering. It seems that He'd spent some of His time in the past couple years working as a cetacean advisor on that new Star Trek movie (Em should like that one, if we can find her).
Right next to me was Cindy, my "human" (though not so much any more) lover and what we bottlenoses call a "bondmate." (Like marriage.) On the other was Morgan, Bandit, Lupus (as a German Shepherd), and Eagle (Felina was asleep in her cabin, the lazy cat. She wasn't even in human form…).
They'd already made a single dive on the Titanic. Unfortunately a leak in the batteries had kept Dr. Ballard from really exploring the ship. But the way he described what he saw--a wall of black metal rising out of the muddy bottom--seemed to have affected him. But the batteries must be fixed if we're to… ahem… borrow the little submersible Alvin. Jason Jr. (JJ), the little remote control robot, is a bonus, really. Orca said all he need to do is see Em on the TV screen and poof she'll be aboard the sub with us.
But only Darius knows how to use JJ in our group. And he's not here yet. Then Eagle tapped me on the shoulder. "He's here," he said.
You know those were the only words I'd heard him say in a week? He's the most silent person I've ever known. "Where?" I said.
He simply pointed out off the starboard side. Then I looked at him. He'd Shifted his head into that of a red-tailed hawk, with the eyes to match. Of course he's seen it first! Then I heard someone yell, "ship ahoy!" and everyone looked to starboard.
"He always was a little bit late in doing things," I told Cindy. "I guess it runs in the orca family. Oh, well. I can't wait to see the look on the Doc's face," We'd managed to sign on as generic scientists, and a couple of crew members. (Orca insists on being called "Scotty." Sheesh.)
Bandit was looking through a pair of binoculars at the mast and expanse of white canvas sail that was just becoming visible to my human vision. He gasped a moment. "Wow! That's beautiful!" He said aloud. "I've never seen anything like it! Take a look," he handed me the binocs.
Nothing stirs a seaman's heart like the sight of a windjammer under full sail. I could just make out the name, Sothesby on the bow. Dr. Ballard walked up to me, "Can I borrow those?" he said. I gave the binocs to him, speechless and near tears. I'd seen something else in them that made me even more emotional.
Then Dr. Ballard gasped himself. Apparently seeing the same thing I had.
Riding the bow wave of the oncoming vessel were two pods of whales, their blows just becoming visible to those on deck. Orca on one side, humpback on the other. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. Then Ballard gasped again, "That's impossible! She was turned into a museum!" He must of recognized the name too, and considering what we were doing it must of appeared like an apparition out of the distant past. A past that is gone, but not forgotten.
Then I interjected, "didn't someone claiming to be the owner's descendent claim her, citing an obscure reference in the will?"
"Yeah, Dolph. It was challenged, but a month ago she was turned over. In a way, I'm happy to see her out on the waves again. The former owner… what was his name? Ah! 'Darius Orcan' was really an early environmentalist, you know. Only random chance put him on the Titanic."
If only he knew. Which is worse comes to worse just might happen. I strained with my Senses a moment, then Spoke, [[Hey Darius, you always knew how to make an entrance.]]
[[Thanks. But I'm sorry I'm late, I had to be sure I could operate that little underwater robot-thingy.]] His voice wasn't coming from the ship, but from the water in front. [[Yes, I'm out in front. Riding the bow wave is the only way to travel. The Singer pod on the port bow is Em's family pod. I thought it fitting that they come.]]
[[Agreed.]] I replied cheerfully.
[[Just a moment… Heave to!]] He said in a Captain's voice.
[[Whoa! Who's crewing that thing anyway?]] The crew was now aloft in the rigging, rapidly furling the many sails. Which made her seem even more impressive. The mainmast was about a hundred fifty feet tall, the ship itself was about four hundred feet long and had four masts. Unlike other pure sailing ships, her hull was steel, not wood. She's one of the last of the large bark-rigged ships. Gleaming white from stem to stern. With a kind of grace that no powerboat can ever hope to match. The pinnacle of sail.
Darius interrupted my train of thought. [[The other Disciples, and a few of those who've been windjammer crewmembers in past lives. Including your pod-brother Marcus, I might add.]]
[[Marcus? He died in 1924… and again in 1959… what is he now?]] I was eager to find out. He and I seemed strangely connected.
[[I'll let him tell you. You'll know him when you see him. But could you drop a ladder or something over the side? I need to get aboard…]]
[[Sure thing…]] "Bandit, could you give me a hand, here?" I said. He winked. Cindy and I quietly slipped over to a rope ladder.
The whole crew of the Atlantis II was watching the approach of the Sothesby, all were speechless at the sight of whales of two species that should be deadly enemies intermingling. The whales eventually surrounded the ship. Once Darius even spyhopped a little and looked Dr. Ballard right in the eye. The Doc just shook his head a little in amazement (something seemed to pass between the two of them. Ballard was still holding that dolphin pendant…). The ship eventually slowed to a stop about two hundred yards off the starboard side.
Frankly I really didn't know how I was going to get Darius on board without anyone noticing, which is what I wanted to do. Then Bandit said, "Let me and my Sibs take care of that."
The Siblings (Bandit, Eagle, Morgan, and Lupus) stood in a circle, and Shifted to a hybrid form. Lupus looked like a werewolf straight out of "The Howling;" (though without the evil look) Eagle was a bald eagle with wings and arms, as large as a human; Bandit was a simple raccoon hybrid, with striped tail and snout; and Morgan a humanoid horse. They then joined hands (or paws, talons, hooves) and a yellow/red/green/purple glowing sphere appeared in the middle between them. [[**FREEZE**]] They said in an overwhelming Voice.
Time stopped, except for we Disciples. I put the ladder over for Darius, who'd assumed his hybrid shape, to climb up. When he got up to the deck he went fully human and a vintage 1912 suit appeared on him, he also changed to resemble what he did on that fateful night. "Full of surprises, aren't they?" he said to me, referring to the Siblings.
"That they are," I replied. "Do you want to go below decks and try to do something tonight?" Surprisingly, he shook his head.
"No, I might as well hit this nail on the head. So they might as well restart time again…"
In response, the three said, [[**GO**]] and everyone was milling around again. Then they Shifted back to human form. Orca appeared out of one of the hatches from below decks, and walked over to us.
"Are you ready, my son? It's about that time." He said to Darius.
"Yes, I'm ready. I've been ready for almost seventy five years." Dr. Ballard had torn his eyes away from the amazing spectacle of breaching humpbacks and orcas long enough to see the person he did not recognize (maybe) standing with a bunch that he did recognize.
"Excuse me, sir," he said. "Who are you? And what are you doing aboard my ship?"
Darius looked Dr. Ballard straight in the eye, like he had in orca form. "My name is Darius Orcan, and I need to borrow your submersible."
Predictably, Dr. Ballard's initial reaction was a simple, "what?"
"You heard what I said, Doctor. I need to borrow Alvin."
"You're insane if you think I'm going to let you… what did you say your name was?"
"Darius Orcan. You should recognize the name, I am the owner of that ship off the starboard side and, you'll find, one of the major underwriters of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute."
"He died almost seventy five years ago on the Titanic! There is no way you could be him!"
"Take a look at me, who else could I be?"
"A descendent, one claimed that ship, after all. But you said you wanted to 'borrow' Alvin? Well, I've got some news for you. We have battery problems and I doubt we'll be able to even make another dive. Besides, who are you going to find to run it? No one here will willing pilot her for you."
Bottle (still using the name "Dolph Seacord") stepped forward. He was still very surprised at my statement. After all, a reveal like this had not been in the original plan (Orca has a tendency to change His plans on a dime). But he adapted quickly. "I'm afraid you're wrong about that, Doc. I'm a fully qualified submersible pilot, and I'm willing. In fact, you'll find that most of the crew is willing."
Dr. Ballard looked completely dumbfounded. After all, who would expect to be hijacked like this? "Now I get it! You want to loot the ship! I've met your type before. You'll never succeed, Scotty here will…"
"I'm afraid you have it all wrong, Doc." Orca said. "Because I doubt you'd want to run over any of these whales, here. More will be arriving forthwith." He must of sent out another Calling. I had a feeling these waters were going to get crowded.
"What? How?" Ballard clearly wasn't going to try to run over a whale. But when he looked out on the water at the humpbacks and orcas still circling the ship, he looked upon the sight with wonder, not anger.
"That will be revealed in due time, Doc. But first we have to replace those batteries. This whole thing is for nothing if we don't get the sub working. Morgan! Bandit! Someone go wake up Felina, we need her now."
While the crew worked to replace the batteries, Dr. Ballard looked at me carefully, shaking his head quite often. I knew he did not believe me, but there really wasn't much he could do about it. The majority of the crew and most of the scientists were Disciples (or Acolytes) of either Orca (we have an ability to learn human technology quickly), Bandit (nimble hands for tiny work), or Morgan (the strength of a horse even in human form is immense). We often worked in our hybrid forms, with the jewelry keeping things invisible to the non-Acolyte humans.
At one point, Dr. Ballard left, (apparently the mental pressure from keeping our hybrid shapes hidden gave him a headache) and came back a few minutes later chewing on a couple aspirin, holding a few photographic reprints. One of which was a candid picture of me taken on the boat deck by Father Francis M. Browne. "You certainly look like him. You must have had a good cosmetic surgeon." He said.
"Something like that. I don't even recall that picture being taken. Snap photography was fairly new at the time, you know."
He was looking at me strangely. I was giving him the same look I had when I was still in orca form in the water. I think it gave him a very strange feeling. Good. Orca said to try to break things to him slowly. "What is it? The loot? Do you just want a piece of her? What?" He really wanted to know.
"I'm looking for someone." I said simply.
"Someone? You've got to be kidding me! Remains? It's a graveyard!"
"You think I don't know that?! I was there you fool! I don't want to harm her in any way, you have no idea… the screaming and moaning as people froze to death in the water. It still haunts me…"
"You are insane! You really believe you're him!" Though the vehemence of my statement seemed to give him second thoughts.
"Death is such a fleeting thing, Doctor. It doesn't last. It just depends on how many times you've been around." That was true, thought for me it's a different case because of my immortality. Others, like Marcus, have "been around" for so long that with work they might remember when dinosaurs roamed the planet (and when they were a dinosaur). To my knowledge the oldest soul on the planet is about a hundred million, and shows no sign of moving on.
Ballard did not know what to make of it. But he was clearly disappointed in not being able to see his beloved Titanic right away. Then Orca walked up behind me. "Darius, he goes." He said.
"What?" I said.
"After what the good Doctor has been through he deserves to go with you. Yes, it means that we might have to make more dives. But we can do more than to look for… what we're looking for and accomplish some of Alvin's real missions. To explore the ship. Personally, I'm interested what she looks like after she broke in two like that. I still get back aches, you know." He smirked (a funny sight in hybrid).
"What are you talking about Scotty? Are you in charge of this or something?" Ballard said.
"Call me Orca, and yes, it's my call. And before you say anything, no, I didn't know about that bombing until much later. I've purged the radical elements in the organization." Ballard was very familiar with ORCA. All oceanic scientists are.
"Maximillian Delorca?" Ballard said. "Hmm… I heard he's a recluse. But you kind of look like him." Orca had easily taken my place, as he should. "Thanks… I think. Though. It really means a lot to me. Besides, if you are indeed underwriting this mission (and I've checked the ship's records) you can technically do whatever you want anyway. But thanks."
"I know. I know very well, Doctor. Just have patience. All will be revealed in time."
The sea was a dead calm that night. Like the night the Titanic sank. I started breaking the truth to Dr. Ballard very slowly. Mostly by giving him an account of the first few days of the voyage in more detail than anyone who wasn't there could ever give. I did not use any of my talent on him, I wanted him to believe me very much. But how can one convince a skeptic? Scientists don't believe in "magic," much less immortality (the fact that I wasn't really human might of been stretching things just a bit.. which is saying a lot.)
"You know," Ballard said, "I do have to admit that you've researched your subject. You must of pieced that together from a lot of survivors' accounts." Well, that was part of it. I'd spent enough time talking to the formerly human orcas in the superpod on that day to have a pretty detailed account of the whole voyage.
"How many times do I have to say this? I was there."
Ballard just nodded and yawned, not willing to argue any more. "I don't know about you, but tomorrow's going to be a long day and I think a bit of sleep is in order." He wasn't going to sleep. Who could? We were about to dive on the most famous ship in history in a submarine that has a space so tiny I had a feeling that the Ballard and I were going to get to know each other quite well.
I looked back at Cindy and Bottle, who were busily conducting checks on JJ and Alvin. The batteries had been replaced by now, and the sun was going to come up soon. But I was too worked up to sleep. So I watched those two happy people (funny how humans and bottlenoses get along), and thought about my own love two miles below my feet.
Cindy and I helped prepare Alvin for launch. The nicest thing about this jewelry is that it gives us the ability to use hybrid forms without anyone who isn't wearing similar jewelry noticing. The point is that in Hybrid our "talents" are much stronger than in either pure form. I had to admit, Cindy had quite a comely dorsal fin. And I said as much.
"Flatterer," she said in English. ["But I like this language much better,"] she said in Delphin. ["It's more… romantic."]
["It's a little cold for us out there. Besides, it's almost time to roll the sub out of her garage. The battery installation went off without a hitch. Thanks to you."]
["Thanks. And then after all this I might persuade Orca to give us some time alone off of Hawaii…"]
["You're a delight, you know that?"] I clicked.
["Yes, I do. I guess it comes from not being born a dolphin. This wonderful gift you've given me has literally opened up a whole new world. What did you say I was? A 'new soul?'"] She used her air-Sight (more like a bat's echolocation ability, one of our talents in Hybrid) to check the soundness of the hull, and checked off a few more things on her list.
A new soul is just what it sounds like. This was basically Cindy's first lifetime as anything on this earth. So she's unique in many ways. ["That might have something to do with it,"] I clicked. She'd given me a whole new perspective on being a dolphin. Made it seem fresh and new again. She'd put the joy back into my life. Something I'd lost over the decades.
We were slowly easing Alvin back from the garage. One of Morgan's Disciples, a Shire morph, was giving Morgan a very unhappy look. "Don't look at me like that, Posti." Morgan said. "I know working with all this delicate techno-stuff is not like pulling the 'majestic plow,' but you'll have to get used to it where I'm sending you." Seems that He's taken a cue from Orca and is going to send His Disciples out among humans as humans. A switch for Him.
About an hour later, Bandit was in 'coon hybrid form inside doing all sorts of checks. His pointed, black-masked face poked above the red "turret" on the top of the sub. "Everything checks out!" He said. "We're ready to go."
Four heavy dive weights were attached to the sides of Alvin. The lift line was fastened, and Dr. Ballad, Darius and I climbed the ladder and put ourselves into the cramped space, careful to avoid the sealing grease around the hatch. More checks were made quickly, a storm front was moving in. Oxygen, on; carbon dioxide scrubber, on; etc., etc.. The hatch was sealed.
I was reminded of sardines (one of my favorite foods, actually; along with anchovy pizza) in a can as the three of us were now uncomfortably cramped in a tiny space that would be our home for the next few hours. I'd actually returned to full human form just after Cindy and I had dolphin-hugged (crossing rostrums), then we'd human kissed as well. "Good luck," she'd said. She was an invaluable member of the surface dive team, and without her quick learning ability I doubted we'd ever get down.
The sub hit the water in the growing swell, we all held on as it swung all over the place for a while. The lift line was detached, and I spoke into the radio, "Atlantis II, this is Alvin. Ready to dive."
"Alvin, Orca here. Good luck to the three of you. And remember what I said, Daruis. If things get hairy down there forget all subtlety and go for the full reveal. I'll clean things up later. Clear to blow'n'go!"
I flipped the switches to flood the tanks, and down we went. "Roger that."
Ballard was looking at the two of us an understandably unhappy expression on his face. Then he smirked, "well, here we are." He said. It must have been uncomfortable for him. He was inside a seven-foot diameter titanium sphere with two people; one he thought was insane, and the other a traitor.
Nothing more was said until we I turned on a tape that had a bit of soft piano, and perhaps a bit of Rock and Roll mixed in. "How can you listen to that infernal racket?!" Darius said, clapping his hands over his ears. That was not one of his favorite kinds of music.
"What? You don't like 'The Police?'" I smirked. And hummed along with "Message in a Bottle" and "Every Breath You Take." Then the tape switched to Sting's new solo album. The first song was "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free."
"What's this one?" Darius said, talking them off. I told him. "Hmmm… he's no Johnny Mathis, but I like it. It's sort of appropriate, isn't it?"
"I think so."
Dr. Ballard was still looking at us, arms crossed across his chest. We'd passed below the lowest level that light would reach. The farthest I've been down in my True Form is about three hundred feet. And only then on a dare. I almost fainted before I'd reached the Surface. Darius was still giving Ballard that same look he had when he was still in True Form. Ballard shook his head a couple times, and put one hand to his forehead. "Naw…" I heard him say under his breath. "I'm seeing things."
[[What are you doing?]] I asked Darius.
[[Well, for the past hour or so I've been giving him small visual pulses of our hybrids through Beesley's pendant. He's still carrying it, though he doesn't know it. I want him to figure stuff out on his own.]]
[[That makes sense. He probably thinks he's going nuts, though. But I have one question. Why even bring the Sothesby if you were just going to swim out your own anyway?]]
[[For the effect, and if we find Emily I don't know if she's going to be in a condition to swim on her own.]]
That made sense again. I was about to respond to that, but… "Are you guys talking or something?" Ballard said.
"No, what made you think we were?" we hadn't even been looking at each other.
"I just got a strange feeling. I guess I'm still on shock. Why Dolph? Why do this? Wasn't helping us enough?"
"I'll put it to you this way, Doc. Darius Orcan had a servant on that ship. The two had not known each other long, but once they got over their initial difficulties they became great friends. They were united in purpose, you see. And nothing could change that."
"The next thing you're going to say is that you are James Bottleman, Orcan's servant, right? I know my subject as well as you do, gentlemen. And nothing you can say can convince me that you two were there. It simply isn't humanly possible."
Of course, "humanly" was the whole idea here. We weren't human, really, so it made things a little tough to explain. We made our check-ins with the Atlantis II every so often. After about two and a half hours in a freezing sardine can we finally reached bottom.
"Well, here we are," Ballard said again. Then the radio came on.
"Bob, Ralph here. We managed to take all those ORCA people by surprise and we've put them where we can keep them under control. So you can come up now. I think we can handle things from here."
"Well, gentlemen. I hate to disappoint, but it looks like we'll have to cut this dive short. Because, one, no one above is going to tell you where the Titanic is. And two, neither am I. So we might as well start up now." He seemed very pleased with himself.
But the radio remained silent for quite a while afterwards. Ballard's expression went from triumph to that of alarm once the radio came on again. "Alvin, Morgan here. We've got everything under control."
I grabbed the mic. "What happened up there?"
"Just a little mutiny. Nothing we couldn't handle."
"Oh my God you didn't!" I said.
"Naw, Orca took care of it. A herd of horses on a ship this small wouldn't be a good idea. Even if they were Fallabellas."
Well, that sounded like Him. "Did He say anything else to you?"
"Hmmm… all he said was, 'do as you must. Just don't do too much damage.' Or something. Good luck you two. We're bringing aboard temporaries right now straight out of the pods.
"One other thing. We still can't tell you quite where Titanic is, Orca is a bit preoccupied right now. And I don't suppose our guest down there will be talking."
Ballard was shocked his apparently carefully concocted plan had fallen apart so fast, but it's not like we were playing fair. I hoped that the temporary cetaceans up there would have fun while they could. Because I knew Orca would erase their memories of the experience afterward. "Just who are you two?!" he said. "You'll come to trial for what you've done!"
I looked at Darius. He nodded in unspoken agreement. "Perhaps you're not asking quite the right question, Doc. The question isn't who we are. It's what we are."
The only way we knew to find the Titanic was with Sight. But the problem was, in order to focus our clickings we'd have to use all of our talent to reinforce the natural echolocation ability. Which meant none of our energies could be put into hiding ourselves. This entailed something drastic, considering the position we were in. "Huh?" Ballard said.
Without further explanation, I Shifted to hybrid. (Lucky thing I'd finally put a slit into the back of my shirt so I didn't ruin it).
Ballard's reaction was surprising.
His first reaction was to rub his eyes. Then he checked the carbon dioxide gauge, looked at Bottle again, and rubbed his eyes again. Then he smiled nervously, "You know.. for some reason I was expecting this." Good, my hinting worked, then. "What with these strange hallucinations I've been seeing for the past few hours. Is it just me, or do you look like a human/dolphin cross?"
"Right on the bottlenose," Bottle said, grinning.
Then he looked at me. "And you… call me crazy (which I might be) but you seem familiar somehow. And I'm not talking about your claims of who you are. But…"
"Perhaps I do. But I can't do anything about it in here. It's a sardine can, you know. Too small."
"No, no… you don't have to do anything." he looked at Bottle again. "Um… I hate to ask this, and it's kind of embarrassing. But can I touch you just be sure I'm not seeing things? Please?" His voice was shaking a little. He was clearly going to lose it if Bottle didn't… he nodded.
Ballard reached out and touched Bottle's jutting chin. "You see I'm real," Bottle said. "I'm sorry I had to do this, Bob, but you see I had no choice."
Ballard was rubbing his fingers together after touching Bottle's nose, clearly still unsure, but the contact seemed to have done something. His expression changed from that of nervousness to that which humans are known best for: Insatiable curiosity (well, he is a scientist). "Can you answer me a few questions? What are you? And why are you here?"
"Well, I don't have much time. But I'll explain things as best I can…"
All through the conversation, Ballard lost his distrust of Bottle. How can one not with that smiling face? He still said, "This, this is too much. But how do you figure into this, Darius?"
I was a bit unprepared for his words (I tend to not pay attention if the conversation doesn’t include me). Apparently Bottle had explained everything but me. Oh well.
Of course, Bottle had explained all the easy stuff, leaving me to tackle all the big issues. "Bob, (may I call you Bob? Good) We are not merely whales and dolphins that can take on human form. We do it for a purpose and we're both older than we seem. Which is why the Titanic holds special significance for us. I've told you why. I told you the human side of the story last night. I am close to four hundred years old…"
"Wait, wait. Four hundred? That's im-pos-i…" He looked at Bottle, who smirked. "Never mind."
"Thank you. I'd love to chat further Bob, but we can do that as we explore the ship."
"You know I thought you'd never ask? I've wanted to see this ship my entire life. All I saw on the first dive was that black wall. As long as my friends up there haven't been killed…"
"No. They've not been harmed in any way. Just… changed a little for the time being."
"I really don't know what you mean by that, but I've never seen a whale harm a human before. And I don't think you people would start to now."
So much for telling him what I did during the World Wars. Oh well. "You'll find out soon enough. But without the main sonar from the ship it'll take us a while."
"True," Bottle suddenly said. "But we have another method of finding the ship, one guess what that is, Doc."
He slapped himself on the forehead. "I should have known! You can do that from in here? One of your 'talents' I assume?"
"You could say that. But Darius, I think I'm going to need your help here. But there isn't quite enough room for you to…"
Without further adieu I became a bottlenose hybrid. Small enough for this tiny space. "How's this?" I said, Bottle winked. Ballard wasn't even startled this time. He just looked upon the both of us with wonder. Bottle and I laid on our stomachs looking out one of the three portals. I took the left side, Bottle the right.
We scanned all over the place. But located nothing. Then I had an idea, and Bottle and I linked our Sight, boosting it's power even more. We Saw something. It was about a thousand feet to the starboard side, but we just couldn't be sure. Going the wrong way meant losing valuable time. We'd already spent nearly three hours on the Bottom, and had maybe two left before we had to start up again. ["I can't quite see it,"] I clicked. ["We still don't have enough power to our Sight. Any ideas?"]
["Hm…"] He returned. ["Just one, but I don't know if you want to go through with it. And I don't know how Orca would react to it. But he said, 'do what you must,' so…"]
I got his meaning. ["I guess we have no choice."] I turned back to Dr. Ballard. "We've scanned the area. But we can't quite be sure exactly where she is. Your sonobuoys are helpful, but not quite enough."
"What can I do to help? I'm so anxious to see her now I'll do anything." There's something between humans and dolphins that just inspires trust. Ballard felt it, I felt it, Bottle felt it. It's one of the biggest mysteries that remains unsolved on both sides of the water.
"You can start by laying down between us, and putting that pendant around your neck, then getting in between us." I said. What we were planning was quite unusual, but if we were successful it wouldn't cause too much damage. He did, it was a little uncomfortable, but we managed. Ballard's smile (which had reappeared, finally) was about to become a bit more ingrained…
[[Bottle, at the count of three. One, two, THREE!]] We both grabbed Ballard on the back, holding him on the bottom of the sub. We were both glowing bright blue.
Ballard struggled a little, but that stopped as he started to glow, his skin began to turn a medium gray, lighter on his lower jaw and throat. His hair was absorbed into his head. His chin began to jut forward with a cracking of changing bone. His face distorted as his nostrils became one and migrated to the top of his head. Inside his open mouth, his teeth became sharp and conical. His forehead began to swell as a the dolphin melon grew in. His hands and feet became webbed, and his jacket began to hunch under the pressure of a dorsal fin on his lower back.
"Ow!" he said. "What did you do to me?? I feel… strange."
["You did say 'anything' Doc."] Bottle said experimentally in Delphin.
["Is it me or did I understand you? Um, how did I say that? And what is this thing in my vision?"]
[[Should we let him see?]]
[[Why not? We'll remove it before we get to the Surface.]]
We let him go, and he stared at his webbed hands. He felt his face, gasped. Then he took of his jacket, attempted to lean back, did not succeed, and felt his back. Gasped again. "What did you do to me?!"
["You did say 'anything' Doc."] Bottle repeated. ["And this certainly qualifies as 'anything.'"]
Ballard smirked. ["I've always wondered if you guys could talk, now I know. I guess I'm doing it! Hah! But you're right, I did say anything. Waitaminute…"] He seemed to come to a realization, and stared at the glowing pendant with his left eye for a while.
["This whole thing!"] he said. ["If you were on that ship you two saved lives! That's what these pendants were for!"]
[[Do you have any clue how he figured that out? We never said anything about our actual Task…]] Bottle said.
[[Give him a little credit, Bottle. He's a smart person. Now, on to business…]] I switched to Delphin. ["Now, my good Doctor. If you would please?"] I gestured for him to take his place in between us.
["Okay, I guess I might as well satisfy my curiosity while I'm one of you. What do I do?"] We told him, and linked our Sight.
With the power of three of us, we easily saw it. The bow. Bottle grabbed the joystick control for the sub itself, and guided us towards the looming shape we Saw in the distance.
[Time: meaningless]
The worst thing about it was all the interminable waiting. I never knew how much time had passed, nor if I was even experiencing it's passage. Time is a strange thing, after all. And I had a lot of time to think about it.
I'd managed to extricate enough of myself from the ship itself that I was in no danger of being killed by the pressure, yet it would be easy to extract the rest of me just in case… But as I walked around in the first class stateroom that I'd limited myself to I decided that it might be a better idea to just lay down and wait. I eventually became tired, and slept.
I was awoken by a flash from the outside of the porthole. My sleep had been a troubled one, fraught with images of going down, down, down farther than any whale had been before. I got up and looked outside the porthole. Illuminated by the flash was an interesting looking fish. A fish that looked like nothing I'd ever seen before. When I looked again when it passed over once more, I saw that it was metal! That could only mean one thing: humans. But it looked like nothing else. A mass of gray steel girders and what looked like cameras inside the framing.
Humans have such inventive minds.
Deep down I knew that I had slept for a long time. And when I looked in the mirror in the dim light that I could generate I saw a humanoid face that had not aged a day. I was still wearing my 1912 dress, and the stateroom still looked like new. But when I briefly expanded my consciousness to the rest of the bow I found a state of rust and decay that somehow astounded me. After all, my stateroom on C-deck close to the break-off point still looked quite untouched. My only thought was that my bonding with the immediate area around me had supported it somehow. Strange.
I saw a name on that strange visitor from Above. It's name: Argo. I immediately thought of Darius. If they had indeed found me, and if my immortal orca love was still alive (as far as I knew, his kind of immortality did not extend to say… a knife in the heart). He would be here. I had no doubt of that.
The only thing I had to do was wait. So I lay down and slept once more. With only my own heartbeat for company.
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