Delaware wrinkled her nose. 'I don't know.'
'Sea-lions!' Stringer called out. 'Over there!'
Anawak shielded his eyes with his hand and squinted in the direction she was pointing. They were coming up to a tree-lined island. A group of Stellar sea-lions were sunning themselves on the rocks.
'This isn't about Gallup or Povinelli, is it?' said Anawak, picking up his camera. He zoomed in and took a few shots of the sea-lions. 'So why not change the terms of the debate? There's no hierarchy of life-forms in nature: it's a human concept, and it needn't concern us now. We both agree that it's wrong to treat animals like humans. That said, I think it's within our power to gain a limited insight into the psychology of animals – to understand them intellectually, if you like. What's more, I'm convinced that certain animals have more in common with us than others and that one day we'll find a way of communicating with them. You, on the other hand, take the view that non-human forms of life will always be a mystery to us. We can't get inside the head of an animal, ergo, we can't communicate. Which leaves us with the fact of our difference. So you're saying we should hurry up and get used to the idea, and leave the poor creatures in peace.'
The Zodiac slowed to pass the sea-lions. Stringer imparted some information about them, while the tourists got out their cameras.
I'll have to think about it,' said Delaware, finally. She said scarcely another word until they reached the open water.
Anawak was content. It was good to start the trip with some sea-lions: it had put the tourists in a good mood.
Soon a herd of grey whales had appeared. Greys were slightly smaller than humpbacks, but still imposingly large. Some swam within a short distance of the boat and peeped briefly out of the water – to the delight of everyone on board. They looked like enormous moving pebbles, with their mottled grey skin and powerful jaws covered with barnacles, copepods and whale lice. Most of the tourists were filming frenetically or taking photos. The others looked on in silence, visibly moved. Anawak had seen grown men cry at the sight of a whale rising out of the water.
Three other Zodiacs and a bigger boat with a solid hull waited nearby, engines switched off Stringer radioed the details of the sighting. They were all committed to responsible whale-watching – but that wasn't enough for the likes of Jack Greywolf.
Greywolf was a dangerous jerk. Anawak didn't like the sound of tourist-watching. If it came to the crunch, the media would side with Greywolf – initially, at least. He and the others at the station could be as conscientious and careful as they liked, but a protest from an animal-rights group, however disreputable, would reinforce people's prejudices against whale-watching. No one bothered to distinguish between serious organisations and fanatics like Greywolf and his Seaguards. That only happened later, when the press got hold of the true facts and the damage had been done.
Anawak scanned the ocean intently, camera at the ready. Maybe he'd succumbed to paranoia after his meeting with the humpbacks. Had he been imagining things or were those whales behaving oddly?
'Over there, on the right!' Stringer shouted.
Inside the Zodiac all heads turned. Not far from the boat some grey whales were diving in glorious close-up. They looked as though they were waving with their flukes. Anawak was busy taking pictures for the archive. Shoemaker would have jumped for joy at the sight of it. It was a picture-perfect trip – as though the whales had decided to make up for their absence by putting on a real performance. Further out to sea three large ones stuck their heads out of the water.
'Those aren't grey whales, are they?' said Delaware, chewing gum.
'Humpbacks.'
'That's what I thought. I don't see any humps, though.'
"There aren't any. They make a hump when they dive, arching their backs in the water.'
'I thought it was because of the lumps on their mouths. Those bumpy things.'
Anawak sighed. 'You're not trying to start another argument, are you?'
'Sorry.' She gesticulated excitedly. 'Hey! Look over there! What are they up to?'
The heads of the three humpbacks had shot up through the surface. Their enormous mouths were wide open, revealing their tongues hanging down from their narrow upper jaws. The baleen plates were clearly visible and the throat grooves looked as if they were straining. A column of water rose up between them, with glints of something that sparkled in the light. Tiny fish, twitching frantically in the air. From out of nowhere flocks of gulls and loons appeared, circled, then plunged down to share the feast.
'They're feeding,' said Anawak, while he photographed the scene.
'Unbelievable! they look like they could eat us.'
'Licia! Try not to make yourself sound dumber than you seem.'
Delaware pushed her gum from one side of her mouth to the other. 'I was joking,' she said. 'I know perfectly well that humpbacks eat krill and other little fish, but this is the first time I've seen them feeding. I thought they just swam with their mouths open.'
'That's how Euhalaena feed – right whales,' said Stringer, turning. 'Humpbacks swim under shoals of fish or copepods and surround them with a net of bubbles. Small organisms don't like turbulent water, so they swim away from the bubbles and cluster together. Then the whales lunge out of the water, expand their throat grooves and start to gulp.'
'Don't try to explain it to her,' said Anawak. 'She knows it all already.'
'To gulp?' echoed Delaware.
Rorqual whales gulp-feed. They expand their throat grooves, which is why they look as though they've been puffed up. As the grooves open up, the throat turns into an enormous pouch, which the whale fills with food. In one huge mouthful the krill and fish are sucked in. The seawater drains out, but the prey is stuck in the baleen.'
Anawak squeezed in next to Stringer. Delaware must have sensed he wanted to talk to her privately because she made her way unsteadily out of the cabin towards the passengers in the front and started to explain gulp-feeding.
After a few moments Anawak asked softly, 'How do they seem to you?'
'Weird question.' Stringer thought about it. 'Same as always, I suppose. How do they seem to you?'
'You think they look normal?'
'Sure. They're putting on a great show, though. In fact, I'd say they're having the time of their lives.'
'So you don't think they've changed?'
She squinted across at them. The sunshine glistened on the water. A mottled grey body rose to the surface, then disappeared again. 'Changed?' she said slowly. 'How do you mean?'
'You know I told you about the megapterae that suddenly appeared either side of the boat.' At the last second he chose to use the humpbacks' scientific name. What he was thinking was mad, but at least when he put it like that it sounded half-way serious.
'So what?'
'It was weird.'
'That's what you told me. Humpbacks on either side of you. Some people have all the luck – an experience like that, and I missed it.'
'It was like they were checking me out. . . they looked like they were up to something.'
'I don't follow.'
'It wasn't nice.'
'Wasn't nice?' Stringer shook her head in disbelief 'Are you feeling OK? I'd give anything to be so close to them. If only it had been me!'
'You wouldn't say that if you'd been there. You wouldn't have liked it at all. I'm still trying to figure out which of us was watching whom. And why…'
'Leon, they're whales, not spies.'
He passed his hand over his eyes. 'Forget it. I must have been mistaken.'