Messages from the Deep (8 page)

The ‘Life on Earth 2’ T.V. programme
announces that the recordings of the dolphins on Earth 2 have
arrived on Earth.

“We have heard that, at first, scientists
could not make head or tail of them as they seem to be so different
from the dialects of Earth dolphins. When the recordings were
played to our dolphins, they were enraptured but could not
understand them properly at first. One imagines that a period of
possibly 15 000 years in which a small pod of young dolphins is
totally isolated from its original community, will give rise to the
development of new forms of grammar, syntax, concepts and meanings.
Would a small group of children who were isolated on a far planet,
or even on a desert island, also develop new languages and ideas?
Hopefully, they would not turn it into another ‘Lord of the Flies’
or ‘Clockwork Orange’ scenario. But these dolphins seemed more
intelligent.

Earth dolphins developed some good ideas
about their Earth 2 cousins’ language and formulated a response
that they believed would be understood. They also made some
suggestions about how they could communicate more easily in future.
These were recorded and sent to Dr Alex Zhivago on Earth 2.

We also sent the following message: Marine
scientists at Plettenberg Bay asked us to tell you that the whale
called Aristotle came by recently. He said that he had finally
found out that his daughter had managed to escape the scene of her
mother’s death and had been found by a passing pod of whales.

They ‘adopted’ her because they could not
find her family as they use a different migratory route. But the
story got around the grape-vine and he was finally re-united with
her a few days ago.”

Alex sends the following report back to Earth
after many months.

“When our dolphins finally returned to the
little bay and we played the recordings sent to us, they could
understand most of the messages and ideas and were so emotional
about finally having some answers about their origins and long-lost
family that they really were ‘sobbing’ and ‘laughing’ at the same
time. They could fully accept that they originally came from Earth
and had been brought here by aliens, just as their ancient legends
had always said.

Most importantly for us, we now had methods
whereby we can communicate directly with each other and develop our
own ‘fanakalo’ language. After weeks of ‘workshopping’, we could
ask and answer questions quite easily. As we built up mutual
understanding, we developed trust and respect.

The first thing the dolphins told us was that
the Earth dolphins had warned them of the cruelty and destructive
disregard humans had shown towards them, their second cousins, the
whales, and towards marine life in general.

Their first non-negotiable was that, at the
first sign of any aggression or disregard for any marine life or
the environment as a whole from us, they would stop co-operating
with us as a first measure. Further, as yet unspecified measures
could be taken if matters deteriorated further. Coupled with this
was the warning that the same conditions would apply on Earth, and
that we had to facilitate regular communication with cetaceans on
Earth in this regard.

Our minds were reeling with the implications
of what we were hearing. Was their legend of the aliens bringing
them there really true? There did seem to be a direct connection
between the dolphins on the two planets, but how could there be a
connection with such a vast distance between them? How did our
dolphins have such strong prejudices and fears against us from
their legends, when we had only recently met them? How did they
know of other cetaceans, their ‘cousins’, on another planet? What
was giving them such confidence and power that they could warn and
threaten us, demanding changes in our behaviour? Changes that we
have only relatively recently realised were necessary for the
survival of us and all life on Earth, and which we have been
struggling so hard to implement effectively.

The dolphins kept us guessing for ages.

Then one day we heard what the origin of the
legends was, and it was almost word-for-word what Aristotle, the
whale, had told us a few years ago at Plettenberg Bay. It seems
that two pairs of juvenile dolphins were brought to Earth 2 after
being ‘abducted’ by aliens from Earth, possibly 15 000 years ago.
The reason appears to be that life on Earth was threatened by
massive asteroid strikes, and the aliens were trying to re-locate
as much life as they could on the nearest habitable planet, which
already had its own flora and fauna. It appears that they
deliberately did not bring humans or other large predators.

Fortunately, the first four dolphins had
produced eight off-spring by the time they died, leaving a large
enough gene pool for their long-term survival, and indeed, they
thrived in their new environment. But now, they had mixed feelings
about seeing humans. They were happy to share the planet with other
intelligent beings, but they had heard from Earth cetaceans about
our history, and so they were worried that we may do the same here
on Earth 2. Had we really learned anything about the urgency of the
need for us to change our ways? Would we try our utmost to redeem
ourselves on Earth where we still had a slim chance? Would we make
a truly new start on Earth 2?

Their final message, and the source of the
threats of the ‘unspecified measures’ they could take in future,
was that the aliens had visited them again fairly recently and had
learned to communicate with them. They had warned the dolphins that
humans could be arriving and settling soon, and had promised to
return in a few years to check on developments. They had promised
the dolphins that they would deal decisively with humans if they
had started repeating their previous sins on Earth. However, if the
dolphins gave positive reports about human activities, the aliens
had said that they would make contact with them and start sharing
their vast store of knowledge and skills with them.”

A pod of mostly senior dolphins meets near
the small bay. A senior female, who has arranged the meeting,
welcomes all warmly by name and they respond heartily.

“As you know, we are meeting here today to
discuss the human settlement, whether we think it is positive or
negative for our planet, and so whether to support it or not.”

A younger female responds, “Earth dolphins
have warned us about humans’ past destructiveness there. Do you
really think they are likely to have changed? I feel
ambivalent.”

An adult male reasons, “We have only a small
group of humans here and they have only relatively recently
arrived.

So it is very difficult to predict how they
will behave in future, when there are more of them and they want
more food and start making big towns and factories like on Earth.
Will they eat all our fish and pollute the rivers and the sea and
the sky again? While we should keep these questions in mind, I
believe that we should give them a chance.”

“This is outrageous!” bursts out a younger
male. “We have seen that this is not just a small settlement for a
short time. We have seen more settlers arrive, making about 50 of
them now, and they are building more and more houses, to make a
small town. I tell you, comrades, these are not just settlers,
these are colonialists, and they want to take over our planet and
ignore our wishes.

They talk with us and pretend to understand
us, but they carry on doing things that harm our environment. They
started by chopping down trees, changing the flow of the river,
making fires and some have been hunting and killing birds and small
animals, besides eating some of our fish. Watch out for these
intruders, comrades!”

The most senior dolphin calmly intercedes.
“We are understandably concerned about these newcomers to our
planet, considering that we know some of their past selfish, greedy
and cruel behaviour. You are fortunate you grew up a dolphin and so
have learned to control these same urges, so we live peacefully
most of the time”.

The last few words are directed at the
younger ‘comrade’ male, with a chuckle. “However, they do admit to
these past wrongs and seem genuinely remorseful and want to live
much more responsibly now. So far, they have tried to start a
settlement in the least harmful ways. We cannot deny them their
basic necessities. They are not like us in not needing any shelter,
clothing, fire, fresh water, toilets, tools, technology and
factories. They have behaved responsibly, planting more trees,
recycling all their waste, not polluting the rivers or wasting
water, using solar energy rather than fire wherever possible,
farming responsibly and organically, and trying to disturb the
whole eco-system as little as possible. They have listened to us
and shown us respect and love. Further, they have managed to convey
our messages to Earth and have had a positive effect on human
behaviour there, as we have learned from our family there. The
conditions set by the aliens about human behaviour appear to have
been met.

I feel that these humans are really genuine
about living in harmony here and on Earth and should be encouraged.
I propose that, while we should continue to be vigilant, we should
tell the aliens when they come again, that the humans are willing
to learn from them and develop further. And we should tell the
humans of our decision.

Who supports this motion? As I hear that
nearly all of you do support this, we will all meet with Alex and
Ada later today, to tell them the news.”

Alex and Mariada hear that the dolphins have
assembled in the bay and have called for them to come to a meeting.
They walk into the water to a depth where the dolphins are
comfortable. Alex is wearing his home-made, portable decoding and
transmitting device, his ears and voice for communicating with the
dolphins. The most senior dolphin addresses them.

“We have noticed your seriousness about
living in harmony with all life here, and that you have helped to
make a difference on Earth. Therefore, most of us believe that, up
to now, you have satisfied the conditions that we and the aliens
set for your future here. We will inform the aliens of this when
they visit us again. We welcome you here officially and hope that
our good relationship will continue. Thank you.”

When the whole group of Earth 2 humans hears
the news, they are overjoyed and celebrations continue for a few
days, with singing, dancing and all sorts of games. The old
restrictions about sexuality on Mars do not apply here and
pregnancy is not a problem.

Mariada calls another community meeting, to
discuss developments on the issue of technology.

“As you know, some of us have been frustrated
about being dependent on Earth for our technology needs. We even
thought of a defiance campaign of starting deep mining and
developing industries and factories. We communicated these
frustrations to the relevant committees of the U.N., requesting
their proposals for solutions. At last, we have had a reasonable
response that requires our approval.

Earth 2 will be used both as a settlement,
which will grow gradually, mainly with research scientists, and as
a refreshment station on the way to other planets. However, the
‘refreshment’ will be mainly in the form of fresh food, water and
accommodation for a week’s holiday break.

Some of our younger members will be selected
to join these missions, after studying training manuals and doing
practicals in preparation. We will also be sent mini-laboratories
and equipment to further our research here. We should make lists of
our most urgent needs in this regard.

What do you think of this proposal from
Earth?”

There is general agreement that this is a
fair proposal.

“We can continue with research here, with at
least basic equipment; we can be trained to join other space
missions; we can open up a Backpackers Beach House Lodge,
self-catering, and meet some new people for a change,” are some of
the comments.

Mariada and Alex both start to find that they
are winding down in their respective careers and are not feeling as
driven as they used to feel, with little time or inclination for
leisure and pleasure. They have reconciled their differences about
mining and technology, since the proposal from Earth was such a
reasonable compromise. Mariada seems more happy with ‘vegetating’ a
little, sometimes. They spend more time swimming and playing with
the dolphins in the bay and studying the teeming life on their new
planet.

They are rowing in a little dug-out dinghy up
a river which is similar to the Keurbooms River. Mariada muses.

“I have been wondering how ethical it would
be to have a baby in your 60s, especially if you have a good chance
of living for another 30 years. Then again, you may be a better
parent than you would have been in your 30s, when your career came
first. And even more, if you don’t have the constant stress of
living on Earth, and you can see a positive future for raising a
child, would that not be an ethical decision?” (Mariada has been
reading Plato and loves using the Socratic method of debate.)

Alex replies with a smile.

“I wonder who the you is that you mention?
You sounds like you but it also could be me. And it sounds entirely
ethical to me if you need a mother like you and a father like me.
The only problem I can think of is the tiny matter of an egg, but I
do know from certain tests done fairly recently that a fertile
father is no problem. Where do you find a fertile egg?”

Mariada clicks her fingers as though
summoning the final synthesis.

“Back in the 20s, before I went to Mars, I
had some of my ova frozen, just in case something like this ever
happened. I can get them sent here and I’m sure, with a small
contribution from you, our good Doctor Zeus can organise a
get-together which can be transferred to me. What do you think of
that?”