Intercepted Thoughts

After two months of his dreams, I was beginning to wonder if Winston wasn’t just a sweet old guy who had learned to make money by telling people what they wanted to hear.  Sometimes, when he was asleep with all electrodes in place and the machines in autopilot, I would go for a walk around the complex, wondering if my career direction was a wise choice.

It was during one of these walks that I happened by the rehab pool for a pilot whale retrieved from a beaching in south Florida.

It was early evening and the pool personnel were cleaning and tidying up for the day.  To the right, a voice from an open office door said, “May I help you?”

“No, I’m just killing some time.  I’m from next door.”  Jana was a young ocean bleached lady, 25 or so, easy on the eyes.

“Well, don’t fall in.  Spike seems tame enough but he still has some problems.”

“He looks fit enough to me.”  Jana walked out to look down at the pool.

“Oh, he is.  Just since his beaching he sometimes loses his equilibrium and can’t roll over to breathe.  I’m Jana Foster, by the way.  And you?”

“Justin Gann.”

“Shouldn’t you be asleep or something?”

“No.  I’ve heard that.  I wish we did sleep sometimes.  Actually we pay people to sleep while we watch.”

“Kinky,” she winks my way.  Just then, she points at the whale and says, “there he goes.”

“What’s he doing, where’s he going?”

“He’s on his back.  See the monitor?  If he doesn’t roll over within three minutes, it will sound an alarm.”

“What if he doesn’t roll over?”

“He drowns.”

“A whale drowning?  Are you serious?”

“Oh yes.  Had we not been present the first time he did this, we would have lost him the first day.”  Jana looks around for some staff, then says, “shed your shoes.  You’re gonna help.”

“Help!? Are you kidding? Do they bite? How deep is the water?  Where’s your help?”

“Stop whining and get in here!” She jumps in.  I look around.  No other help in sight so I kick off my shoes, drop my wallet and penholder and stepped….flopped in.

* * *

It seemed that each trip we took to the ocean we created more questions.  The behavior we witnessed on this trip was decidedly different than before.  A strange development was reported by Captain John, he said the whale behavior towards his tourist outings had been excellent the last few months.  We were commenting and discussing the new behavior during one of our deck meetings when he said this was becoming everyday stuff.  The whales had been extremely interested in him and his boat of late.  This wasn’t out of the ordinary for him, just us.  The statement, of course, made my mind run wild.  Was the word out?  Had we some how tweeked the interest of a whole new yet unknown intelligence?  This trip was the best!

We arrived at Connelly with renewed enthusiasm. The trip was an overwhelming success. We collected more data than all other trips combined.  The actions of our ocean subjects and the given interest they showed in our presence gave us all high hopes.  The cipher of their responses was months away, but we expected the best!

Brian went right to work on new and informative messages for broadcast.  The last two had been fun in the making.  We all participated in picture and design.  The two-second snapshot needed to present a definite message, with a counter message and then a question.  One that we, as a race, would ask them.  The options were limitless. 

The last trip’s receptions needed deciphering immediately. Brian, Thurman, and Louis, as soon as the signals being processed cleared out, inserted the new data ahead of the remaining stored thoughts.  The total stored information, not decoded now in the computer banks, was 56 seconds.  Translated would produce 285 hours of viewing for study.  That, with the nearly 200 hours on record, won’t last a lifetime but it could come close.  With what we knew and what, after our last trip, we suspected, we needed another ocean venture as soon as possible