That's a dolphin in the water. Effortless. Per fect. Utterly in control.
27 Fish swim through the water. Sharks swim, tuna swim, trout swim, even people swim.
Dolphins don't just swim through the water. They own the water. The water is their toy. The water is one big trampoline and the dolphins bounce around like kids having a good time.
Just watching them makes you happy. It also makes you feel like you're just this clunky, awkward windup toy, jerky and stumbling and clumsy. Human beings may be the smartest creatures on Earth, but we sure are dorky compared to a lot of other species.
"He's trying to get me to give him some more fish."
We all spun around. It was one of the dolphin trainers, a woman named Eileen.
"Oh, hi, Eileen," I said.
She nodded toward the dolphin, who was just exploding out of the water again. This time he turned a neat little somersault. "Joey is the biggest con artist. He's always trying to get extra fish."
"He's amazing," I said.
"Yes, he is," Eileen agreed, with a look of pride.
I introduced Jake, Marco, and Rachel. "We were looking at some dolphin information on the Internet," I lied, "so we thought we'd come out and see the real thing."
"Well, as you know, we have six dolphins here. Joey, whom you've met, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Rachel. Hey, you guys want to feed them a little? You start throwing fish in the water and they'll all come over."
"It won't upset their schedule?"
"Nah. Just don't let Joey get it all. He's kind of pushy."
Eileen left us with a nice big bucket of fish.
"That is some nasty-looking fish," Marco commented.
"Once you morph into one of these dolphins, you won't think that," Rachel pointed out.
Marco gave her a skeptical look. "Do you realize that just a couple days ago we were fish?
Not that much different than these fish ?"
He was right. But it wasn't something I wanted to think about. I've always been very in volved with animals. But it is a whole different thing when you can become different animals.
I took a fish by the tail and tossed it into the water. Just as Eileen suggested, the rest of the dolphins showed up very quickly.
"Wow. Think these guys like to eat?" Rachel asked.
28 The dolphins put on quite a show. They obviously knew how to impress humans.
"It's just weird the way they grin at you," Marco commented. "I mean, it's like they actually think something's funny."
"And they make eye contact," Jake pointed out. "They look right at you, right in the eye.
Most animals seem like they're looking past you, or just looking to see what you are. These guys look at you like maybe they recognize you from somewhere."
Jake leaned over the edge of the tank to stroke one of the dolphins. "Hi there. Do I know you from somewhere? Jake's my name."
The dolphin tossed his head back and forth like he was nodding "yes," chattering in his high-pitched dolphin voice.
"Okay, now that was weird," Rachel said. "It was like he was answering Jake."
"Are you so sure he wasn't?" I asked. "Dolphins are very intelligent. Not our kind of intelligence, but still, I guess they're one of the two or three smartest animals around."
"It will be strange morphing something so intelligent," Rachel said.
"Yes," I agreed. Strange, and . . . wrong, somehow. I felt a twisting in my stomach. "How is doing this any different than what the Yeerks do?"
Rachel looked surprised. "Yeerks take over humans," she said. "Besides, they don't morph, they infest. We don't take over the actual animal, we just copy his DNA pattern, create a totally new animal, and then - "
"And then control the new animal," I said.
"It's not the same," Rachel insisted. But she looked troubled.
"It's something I'll have to think about," I said. "It's kind of been bothering me."
Jake joined Rachel and me. "We'd better do it."
I nodded. "Yes, we should, before we run out of fish to feed these guys." I leaned over the side of the tank and patted the head of the nearest dolphin. Her skin was rubbery, but not at all slimy. Just like a wet rubber ball.
She grinned up at me, fixing me with one eye as she cocked her head to see me.
I pushed away my doubts, closed my eyes, and concentrated on the dolphin. She became peaceful and calm, as animals always do during the acquiring process.
May I? I asked her silently. But of course she couldn't answer. . . .
29 Chapter 9
That night I dreamed again of the voice under the sea, calling for help. Only this time it sounded faint. Like a radio with the batteries growing weak. I wasn't sure if it was just a regular dream this time. A dream of a memory that might or might not be real.
And I dreamed of the dolphin in her tank at the wildlife park. The one they called Monica, although who knew if she had a true name of her own? How long had she been in that tank?
How long since she had been free in the open sea?
The next day was Friday. There was no school because of some teacher conference, so we had a three-day weekend ahead of us.
I called Jake. "Hi, Jake. Are we going to the beach today like we planned?"
We were always very careful about anything we said over the telephone. Phone lines can be tapped. Besides, Tom, Jake's brother, could listen in on an extension and overhear something we didn't want him to hear.
"Actually, I was thinking the beach will be really crowded today," Jake said, sounding very casual. "I was talking to Marco and he said maybe we should go down to the river instead."
It was a good suggestion. We couldn't exactly morph on a beach full of people.
"I'll be there in two hours, okay? I have some chores to do."
I ended up being a little late. They were all waiting for me.
It was an area I had been to before with my dad. It's a little park near a bridge. A good place for fishing. About half a mile away, the river empties into the ocean. The river is lined with trees along most of its length. Here and there are homes and private docks, but the spot we'd chosen was hidden from the bridge and from any houses.
"Hi, Cassie," Jake said, smiling at me.
"Hi, everyone," I said. I spotted a movement in one of the tree branches. "Hey up there, To bias. How's it going?"
"The same old thing. You know how it is. It's a hawk-eat-mouse world out there." I laughed, pleased to hear that Tobias was learning to be at peace with the fact that, at least for a while, he was as much a hawk as he was a boy.
" I'm going to be the timekeeper, watching the deadly two-hour limit," Tobias said. " I'm the only bird in the world with his own watch."
I looked closer and saw a very small digital timer strapped to one of his legs.
"Rachel put it on for me," he explained. " I'll be over water the whole time, so I figured it was fairly safe. No bird watchers around to see me and wonder 'Hmmm, when did red-tails start wearing Timexes?'"
30 Jake said, "I figured we'd hide our clothes, then wade into the river a little way, then start morphing."