“You have got to be joking.”
41
“Hello, Sally.”
Hello Alison. Sally’s eyes moved to Neely. Hello friend.
Neely smiled. “Hi, Sally.”
“When will Dirk be back?”
Dirk back tomorrow.
“Hmm,” Alison paused, wondering how on Earth she knew that. “Sally, we’d like to ask you some questions.”
Yes. Sally answered, thrusting her tail and gliding in toward the edge of the tank. We talk.
“Sally, we’d like to take you and Dirk back to the place you showed us. The beautiful. Will you come with us?”
Yes. We go happy.
“But we need to go quickly. On the metal. Like the first time.”
Okay.
Alison opened her mouth to speak again but stopped. She waited several seconds for Sally to say something else, but there was only silence. She half expected Sally to ask why they were going back, but she didn’t. Alison glanced briefly at Neely as if to say, that was easy.
She then turned back to the tank. “Sally, you told me that dolphins remember a lot. Like a history.” Before she could continue, IMIS emitted a loud sound from the computer screen. It didn’t have a translation word for “history.”
“Do you remember telling me that?”
Yes Alison.
“You also told me you were happy for us to talk again.”
Very happy Alison. You happy too.
“Yes, I am very happy. Just like you. But this is the first time we remember talking to dolphins. With the help of our metal. Do you remember talking to us?”
Yes. We talk Alison. Far ago. You no remember.
“No. We don’t. How do you remember?”
Heads.
Alison turned to explain to Neely, who was still wearing an expression of mild amazement. “Heads means their elders. We met some near Trinidad. From what we can gather, their lineage resembles some of the early cultural histories of humans. Passing down history and knowledge through verbal communications.”
“Fascinating.”
“It really is. It suggests a certain evolutionary commonality across species. Chris thinks it’s where instinct leaves off and cognition begins.”
Neely nodded. “It would explain an awful lot.”
“I agree.” Alison continued. “Sally, do you know how long ago humans and dolphins talked?”
No. Heads know.
“Do you think we can ask them?”
Yes. Them very talk. Heads very happy for Dirk and Sally.
“Your elders are happy for you?”
Yes.
“Why are your heads happy for you?”
This time, Alison could have sworn Sally smiled. Alison. Humans happy you and Chris make talk.
She nodded. “Yes, they are. Chris and I are the first.”
Dirk and Sally first two. A moment later IMIS changed the word “two” to “too.”
Alison stood motionless, staring at Sally through the glass after her words reverberated over the computer’s speaker. She was overcome by a revelation followed by an odd feeling of embarrassment. She suddenly realized how one-dimensional her thinking had been this whole time.
She should have been looking at the tank’s glass as a mirror.
Alison, Chris, and Lee had garnered a small amount of notoriety for being the very first and only humans to break the language barrier. What she had never considered until now was that it was exactly the same for Dirk and Sally. To their own culture, they were the ones who broke through to mankind. As excited as Alison was, her dolphin friends were clearly just as excited.
Alison pushed her office door open with her shoulder and stepped inside, carrying two cups of coffee. She placed one on the desk in front of Neely before stepping back and sitting in a second chair.
Neely took a sip and watched her with a bemused grin. “Quite a day, huh?”
“God, you can say that again.”
“How are you feeling?”
Alison almost laughed. “Elated. Shocked. Exhausted.”
“Amazed.”
“That too. And maybe a little obtuse.”
“That was quite a conversation to witness. I’m guessing you had no idea that was coming.”
Alison shook her head. “No. But talk about big!”
“I would say so.”
“There are so many implications to all of this — biology, evolution, anthropology. The things we’re learning by finally being able to communicate with another true sentient being are staggering.”
Neely sipped her coffee again. “They certainly are.”
At that, Alison paused to study her colleague. “Given what we just learned, you seem a tad calm.”
Neely laughed. “I know. I do. There’s a reason for that. I’ve been thinking.”
“About?”
“About something Sally said.” She leaned forward and placed the cup back on the desk, then straightened in the chair. “Let me start by saying how impressive that computer system is that you built. I mean, I’m skeptical by nature, but that system is turning me into a believer.”
“I know the feeling.”
“It’s funny. There is a fine line between skepticism and optimism. Skeptics want you to prove it and optimists want you to believe it. And speaking from deep in the former’s camp, I will admit there is a certain resistance there to big ideas.”
Alison shrugged. “Skeptics keep optimists grounded.”
Neely chuckled. “That’s how a lot of us like to think of it. Some of it also comes from constant disappointment, but that’s another story. The reason I’m saying this is because I’ve been considering some things from the other side. My first reaction when Sally said humans and dolphins used to communicate was that it was nonsense. It sounds like a plot for some kid’s movie.”
Alison laughed.
“But the more I think about it, the more disappointed I am with myself for dismissing it. Because, even objectively speaking, there are some aspects of science that may support it. Particularly in genetics.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Think of our genetic history as a giant tree system with branches cascading down to smaller and smaller branches, all replicating millions of times, over millions of years, and eventually touching everything.” Neely stopped mid-thought. “Have you ever heard the old Albert Einstein quote that, ‘God doesn’t play dice with the universe?’”
“I don’t think so.”
“Einstein was troubled by the apparent randomness of the universe and came to believe that there had to be some underlying, hidden law to explain why what appeared to be random actually wasn’t. Most of his thinking had to do with particles and things like that. But it still begs the question: does God play dice?”
“When you say dice are you talking about chance?”
“Yes, exactly.” Neely nodded. “Regardless of a person’s fundamental religious belief, if we step back and ask ourselves that question, most people have to acknowledge that the answer is yes. At least to a large extent.”
Alison looked confused and put her own cup down. “I’m not sure I’m following.”
“Okay, look. Let’s say half the population believes that life is designed, while the other half believes it simply evolves. Evolution being the randomness, or chance, that Einstein struggled with.”
“Okay.”
“So here’s the rub. If I didn’t believe the world was created by chance, then why does the entire planet currently operate on chance, including virtually every form of life on it?”