Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3)(84)
Emerson nodded. “Of course. The wind is quite strong, but no one freezes in the Caribbean. Mr. Kenwood is setting up his equipment upstairs.” He looked around the stern. “I presume Commander Lawton has already reported upstairs.”
“Yes. She headed up as soon as we arrived.”
“Very good. If you’ll follow me.”
They both fell in behind the captain and climbed up a white ladder, painted to match the hull. When they reached the next level, Emerson turned to face them before continuing. “I’ll let Mr. Kenwood know where you are. Is there anything else we can provide for you?”
“Thank you, I don’t think so.”
He nodded again. “Hold on tight.”
After he had departed, Alison turned to Chris. “You ready?”
He took a deep breath and wrapped his grip around the metal railing. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I just never thought I would be back on this ship again so soon.”
“Me either.”
Chris looked down at Dirk and Sally, relaxed and moving slowly inside the tank. “Things are getting a little crazy, huh?”
“You could say that again.”
“Kind of…scary crazy.”
Alison looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Everything just seems to be happening awfully fast. The things we’re learning are way beyond what we ever expected.”
“It’s true. But if we’re right about these plants…”
“I’m not talking about the plants, Ali. I’m talking about,” he paused, shaking his head, “all of it. IMIS, the translations, Dirk, and Sally. We never dreamed of finding this much. Humans went for so long thinking dolphins were just smart mammals. A step above pets really. Now we find out they have culture, heritage, a history of their own.”
Chris sighed. “It makes me think about how much history we humans have been ignoring, all around us. Every species has a history. A heritage. History isn’t just what’s happened or where we’ve been, Alison. History is about our place in the world.”
Chris paused, trying to figure out how to put his feelings into words. “I guess what I’m saying is that it’s all kinda scary. It’s scary to find out how much exists around us that we’ve just been oblivious to. Or maybe apathetic. It also makes me wonder just how much more Dirk and Sally know.”
“We’re finding out.”
“We are. But it kind of feels like we’re stumbling backwards into all of it, doesn’t it?”
Alison considered his question. “It does.”
“It started out as exciting, but now it’s beginning to feel a little eerie. Do you remember that video we saw on the internet? The one with that dive team who was approached by a bottlenose?”
“The one caught in the line?”
“Right. It was caught in a fishing line and had a hook stuck in one of its flippers.”
“Of course I remember. It was amazing.”
“It was, right? I saw that again the other day and if you watch the video carefully, there are so many things that indicate a much deeper level of consciousness. How slowly it matched the diver’s movements. How close the dolphin was to him, like they were bound to each other. It worked together with him to get the hook out and the line removed. For those few minutes, they were partners. They just knew what the other was trying to do.” Chris shrugged. “Anyone can see it if they look close enough. It doesn’t take someone like us to show the world there’s a lot more there than we think.”
Alison grinned. “And that scares you?”
“No, not that. It’s how fast it’s all happening. How fast our world is changing. Just look at how fast IMIS is translating now. There’s a lot happening in this world that we don’t know about and it feels like it’s exploding.”
He shook his head. “And the world doesn’t seem to do well with explosions in anything. What happens to us, Ali? What happens to all of us when the world realizes how deep this goes? It’s like discovering extraterrestrials. Realizing that we really aren’t alone in the universe. Hell, we’re not even alone on the planet. We never were. And IMIS is the catalyst for it all.”
She looked back down at Dirk and Sally, thinking. “I know what you mean. It wasn’t too long ago that I thought the truth was more important than anything. That all the politics — all the cover-ups and deceit — would right themselves if there was enough truth. But now I’m not so sure. I’m beginning to think that truth, for all its virtue…is dangerous. For us and for them.”