Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3)(111)
We here Alison.
They both appeared from out of the darkness and into the bright glow of her lamp.
Behind her, Lightfoot reached out his hand and skimmed the body of several passing dolphins. “My God,” he said through his microphone. “I’ve never seen anything like this. What is this place?”
Neely twisted around to face him. Her LED lamp illuminated him as if he were suspended in space without gravity.
“That’s what we’re about to find out.”
70
Where Chris?
Alison stared blankly at Sally, her mind returning to her friend. She could still see him, lying unconscious in the ship’s sick bay.
“He’s resting.”
Sally did not reply. For a moment, Alison could have sworn a look of doubt passed over the dolphin’s face. She cleared her throat and answered Lightfoot’s question.
“We originally thought this was a breeding ground, since dolphins tend to seek out protected areas for birthing. But this is different. This,” she said, “is literally off the scale.”
She turned to Dirk and Sally, still watching her and strangely quiet.
“Sally. Dirk. We’ve come to see the plants.”
Sally surprised Alison with her response.
We know.
Alison began to speak before Sally interrupted.
Follow now.
The abruptness felt strange as she watched the dolphins turn and move smoothly downward with a single thrust of their tails. The motion was clear and Alison turned to the others while letting more air out of her BCD. “Stay close.”
The three followed the dolphins in a gradual descent, below the endless field of dolphins and into the darkness, with only a few meters before them lit by their headlamps. They continued until nothing could be seen above them, lacking even the slightest hint of moonlight. One by one, they cleared the pressure from their ears and continued downward until it appeared.
The darkness below them gradually began to lighten, first into a field of gray, and then followed by a subtle, strange green glow of phosphorescence. Finally, the plants began to appear, waving rhythmically in the gentle ocean currents.
“Wow,” Neely whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
For as far as they could see, beyond even their lamps, the faint green glow continued until finally disappearing again into the blackness.
Dirk and Sally slowed, watching as Alison stopped kicking and let her momentum carry her forward. She was now within an arm’s reach of a large sea whip, sweeping back and forth in slow motion. The bright light from Alison’s lamp washed over the plant, displaying its branches of polyps in a darker green.
She reached out and touched one of the tubes lightly with her fingertips, rubbing it carefully between her thumb and index finger.
Neely and Lightfoot both slowed beside her. “This is incredible.”
“How far does it go?”
“Far,” answered Alison. “Over a square mile.”
“Good God.”
Neely propelled herself forward, gliding horizontally over the vegetation and studying it. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I don’t think anyone has.”
She reached down and brushed her hand over another large plant as it passed silently beneath her. Awash in the bright light, its streaming tendrils resembling long ribbons and changing colors into translucent oranges and pinks.
“Amazing,” she whispered.
Behind her, Alison turned back to Dirk and Sally, both still floating effortlessly. “Sally, is something wrong?”
No Alison. No wrong.
“Then what are you doing?”
We wait.
“Waiting? For what?” Alison studied them, waiting for a reply but not getting one. Instead she got an answer, when three shapes emerged from the darkness.
It was three dolphins. Larger and older. The same three she’d met before. Three “heads” as Sally called them. Elders.
As the trio neared, Dirk and Sally faded back slightly.
Alison smiled behind her mask. Perhaps for the first time in all of this, it was exactly what she was expecting.
“Lee, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Ali. I’m here.”
“I think it’s time to test your new program.”
Topside, Lee squinted at his screen, enlarging the smaller video picture from Alison’s vest.
“Yes,” he replied slowly. “I think you’re right.”
He switched back to the IMIS control window and typed out a long command. “Cross your fingers.” With that, he held his breath and hit the enter key.
His worst fear was realized. The new software didn’t work.
Below him, Alison’s earplugs screeched with a jumble of high-pitched noise as IMIS listened and tried unsuccessfully to translate hundreds of conversations at once. Sound carried further in water, which meant everything from any dolphin within earshot of Alison was easily picked up by the vest’s microphone. All without the video feed, an essential element needed for identifiable translation. The sheer deluge of noise completely overwhelmed both the processors on Alison’s vest and those in Lee’s small servers.