Dr. Victor Schnoller
Marine Biology, Oxford
Expedition Journal, Day 16
300 miles east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean
Today was a mind-blower. We set off to free dive, hoping to make contact with Sperm whales spotted earlier in the morning. We went in the water and what we first thought was a single pod, soon became two, then three, then four, then seven. The whales kept coming. It was a migration!
Our footage was spectacular. We filmed and identified more than 80 individual animals. Many stopped and interacted with us, blasting our bodies with sound.
After a while, it started to seem like they were saying the same things, even between pods. One pod would stop, click at us, then move on, and the next would repeat it. Our audio playback confirmed our suspicion that individual whales could use similar phrases. They were speaking a unified message.
While observing the second pod I noticed that the whales had a bell-shaped jellies attached to them. At first, I didn't think anything of it. I figured they were diving, eating jellyfish, and had some lunch stuck to their faces. The film playback showed each whale had a jellyfish stuck on its upper torso, generally positioned over or near the brain of each animal.
These jellies were translucent but a bioluminescent clover-shaped glow at their centers made them stand out. It was peculiar that they would all have a jelly stuck to their bodies in exactly the same fashion. Not to mention the jellies being all about the same size and species. We strained to find one whale that didn't have a jelly stuck to it.
The marvels of nature are beyond the imagination.
---
Captain Madge Sinclair
USS Saratoga 2
Mid Atlantic Ocean
Daily Log, footnote:
We're steaming eastward towards Africa, away from the tropical storm forming over the mid-Atlantic ridge. The massive front is moving along the equator turning itself into an epic cyclone. This afternoon as the rain broke for an hour we were treated to the sighting of a mass migration of whales.
Thousands, easily tens of thousands of whales. The horizon itself changed as the entire surface of the ocean was full of spouting blowholes. As the animals surfaced to take a breath of air, fountains of water spray erupted as far as the eye could see.
In all my years at sea, I have never witnessed anything like it. It was one of those moments that made you glad to be alive.
They were heading directly into the storm.
---
Dr. Stephen Walker
Canary Island Sea Research Lab
Message to Harvard School of Evolutionary Biology, Boston University School of Marine Biology
Gents,
Been reviewing whale geolocation tracking data from the last week. Nearly every type of Odontoceti whale we have tagged is heading to the same place. Beluga, Narwhal, Sperm whales, Killer whales, you name it. Across the species, they are all moving in mass toward the center of the Atlantic.
Which, by the way, is reporting a hurricane the likes of which the world hasn't seen in recorded history.
We're continuing to track.
Thoughts?
Stevo
---
Lieutenant Michael Fardat
International Space Station
Mission Control Power Check Transcript
ISP: "Mission Control. We have visual monitoring equipment failure. Every scientific measuring device on board went down. Rebooting system. Over."
MC: "Confirmed. Battery power still shows positive. Acknowledge reboot success."
ISP: "Acknowledge success. Online again. We'll pick back up monitoring mega-hurricane on next orbit. You should've seen the lightning coming out of that spinning vortex. I swear for a minute, it looked like there was a building in the clouds. Like a skyscraper lying on its side."
MC: "Do you want to report a UFO? Over."
ISP: "Errr, not at this time. Got a little shook up there when we lost power. The lightning was casting shadows all over the place. Over."
MC: "Acknowledged. Continue to monitor."
---
Dr. Stephen Walker
Canary Island Sea Research Lab
Message to Harvard, Boston University, University of Hawaii, MIT
CC: SETI Institute
Gents,
I know you thought I was getting a false reading when I reported all our tags were located in the same place at the center of the eye of the storm. I've confirmed that as true BTW.
But that is nothing.
I now have 1,475 confirmed geolocator satellite-linked tags in orbit over the Southern Ocean!!!!!
And get this, the ocean dropped half a meter at high tide. I've got this sea level drop confirmed on three continents.
What the hell is going on???!!!
Steve
---
Dr. Victor Schnoller
Marine Biology, Oxford
Memoire: A Life in the Water
"...and that was the last time I saw a Sperm whale. As it turned out our footage that day was the last underwater footage ever taken of Sperm whales. It is now believed that was the year they went extinct."
---
Ursa Minor Cruiser
2306 "Poseidon's Dream"
Interstellar Communiqué to Grandor Prime
We are on course to the Relic water moon orbiting the gas giant Grandor 3. The full herd has been retrieved without incident. All in good genetic status and receiving full medical attention.
They represent the future of deep space travel. They can navigate colossal freighters across galactic sectors with one fin tied behind their back. And they don't need charts. Their echolocation connected to a ship's sensor array lets them feel their way through space. It's just like swimming across oceans for them.
As soon as we connected their neural transmitters to our central computer they started talking to us. Then to each other. Then they wanted system access. Some of them started writing their own programs. They're picking up languages exceptionally fast.
The galactic whales are everything we promised they would be and more. There's no limit to their big-brained potential. Trust us when we say, it was worth the wait.
They accept with gratitude your offer of full citizenship in the Empire.
The first generation, half a million of the greatest star pilots in the galaxy!
YOU ARE READING
Synthetic Reality
Short StoryCollection of sci-fi short stories for your inner planet-hopping, astrophysicist, space pirate.
