The Whale Song Translation: A Voyage of Discovery To Neptune and Beyond (24 page)

The baby humpback breached repeatedly. Compared to an adult’s majestic leaps, it toppled over sideways, like a failed missile launch. More “oohs” and “aahs” rippled through the gathering.

“It could be the research opportunity of a lifetime!” Andrew’s giddy voice made everyone grin. “Good thing you reminded us to change into shorts and sandals.” He wiped his brow. “This feels like the tropics.”

Dmitri checked his wristwatch. “Sorry to be a spoilsport, but our meeting at PICES headquarters starts in thirty minutes.”

They piled back into the car and resumed their roller-coaster ride along the coastal road.

Twenty minutes later, they were walking toward the PICES building. Seeing Melanie waiting at the front door, Dmitri raced ahead.

“Give us a couple of minutes, folks, while we get reacquainted,” Dmitri called. When they were alone, he reached out to clasp her hands and then pulled her into his arms. His stomach churned as he gulped, “I missed you.”

After weeks of anticipation, Melanie’s joyous smile was the reply he had hoped for. Gazing into her bewitching, smoky-quartz eyes, he was transported back to the memory of the last time they’d been together, nearly two months ago. On the final night of that vacation, she’d invited him to her apartment for a going away dinner. It had turned into a most memorable evening. It was so memorable he’d nearly missed the flight home on the following morning. Greg had teased him mercilessly at the airport before admitting that he had also enjoyed a going-away date with Melanie’s assistant, Erika.

A slight movement in the PICES lobby window caught Dmitri’s attention. An unknown figure observed them through the blinds. Holding Melanie in his arms, he felt too happy to care. After a minute of small talk, they decided not to keep the others waiting. Upon entering the windowless conference room, Dmitri observed the participants assembled around a long, rectangular table and engaged in casual conversations.

Chris Gorman, sporting a fresh crew cut and looking every bit the former naval officer, was the first to address the group. “Dr. Dmitri and Ms. Mari, I decided to wait until you had both arrived before opening the session. Welcome back. I never dreamed I’d see you returning here so soon. We’re all looking forward to hearing more about your findings.” His detached tones suggested otherwise. “But I have to admit I’m taking a wait-and-see approach as we continue to investigate the distinctive features of the song structure. As I mentioned in our last phone conversation, PICES research is focused on the marine biological aspects of cetacean behavior.”

Dmitri shot Gorman a puzzled look.

“Let me explain,” said Gorman. “I need to inform you about the two urgent voice messages I received this morning. The first was from our University of Hawaii funding administrator, Harvey Padgett. Apparently, he’s very concerned about PICES’s plans to conduct an interspecies communication experiment with the humpbacks.”

Dmitri looked surprised. “How would he even know about it?”

“If you’re implying I informed him, the answer is no. However, since Padgett’s agency funds a big chunk of our total budget, we’re obligated to respond to his inquiries.”

“So what will you do?”

“I’ll speak with him later, but let’s carry on with the meeting. Now, more than ever, I’d really appreciate your support for our official position: ‘This collaboration is to observe the whale’s responses to the broadcast of a select set of acoustic waveforms.’”

“We’re definitely on board with that,” replied Greg. “Nevertheless, your public statement provides ample wiggle room to assess the effects of
Beethoven’s 5th
on the patterns of bubble nets.”

A smattering of snickers danced around the table. Considering that Greg’s offbeat sense of humor was an acquired taste, Gorman’s vexed expression was no surprise to Dmitri.

“Dr. Bono, your point is well-taken.” Gorman took a deep breath and, to Dmitri’s relief, appeared to collect himself. “First, I’d like to introduce Peter Hawkins, the Assistant Director of PICES.”

Hawkins was the strapping, bearded marine biologist Dmitri and Greg had met on their previous visit. This time, however, Dmitri noticed that the unbearded portion of his handsome face had experienced years of exposure to the elements. The dark-haired Hawkins waved a silent greeting to all convened.

“I’d also like you to meet the newest member of our team, Research Associate Lila Lawson. Lila’s specializing in the recording of whale songs and the study of their musicology.” He indicated a young, blonde woman who was dressed so casually she looked more like an athlete than a researcher.

“We’re happy to see Peter again,” Dmitri responded, waving at Hawkins, “and we’re certainly pleased that one of your staff members is a song specialist.”

“Yes,” replied Gorman. “Lila has recently published in
Nature
on the phrase structure of the humpbacks’ songs.”

Lila reached across the table to shake Dmitri’s hand. “Dr. Dmitri, it’s a pleasure being with others who are as curious and amazed by the whales as I am. I’m really excited about your discovery, and I can’t wait to hear more.”

Dmitri noted Andrew’s puppy-dog stare assessing Lila’s twenty-something attractiveness. Her sunflower tank top framed athlete’s biceps and deltoids. He noticed that Seema’s attention also seemed to be focused on Andrew.

“I believe you’ve met our entire team.” In sharp contrast to Lila’s tone, Gorman’s seemed flat. “I’d like to extend an official ‘aloha’ greeting to our SoCalSci guests. I’m very pleased to see two new faces, Dr. Dmitri. Now it’s your turn to tell us about yourselves.”

Dmitri stood. “Chris and Peter, you’ve both met my SoCalSci colleague, Professor Greg Bono. His code-breaking ability led to the discovery of the mathematical patterns of the symbols in the whale song.”

“Would you believe I was underwater when the inspiration struck me?” replied Greg. Greeted by quizzical expressions, he responded with a sheepish grin. “Oh, sorry, I was taking a shower.”

After Lila stopped laughing, Dmitri continued. “I’d also like you to meet Seema Roy and Andrew Chu, our research assistants extraordinaire, and to acknowledge their initial discovery of these unique symbols.” Dmitri’s grad students waved their greetings to their PICES counterparts.

Dmitri showered Melanie with a radiant smile. “Last but not least, I’d like to introduce the special person who provided the inspiration and the technical means to achieve the breakthrough that brings us together today. Through a fortuitous chain of events last month, Dr. Bono and I were invited by Ms. Mari to tour your state university’s experimental speech therapy lab. She demonstrated a cutting-edge system in a session with one of her hearing-challenged students. We were quite impressed by the system’s audio-visual interface and its unique display of the phonetic units of language for easy recognition. During her tutorial, it struck me that this tool might be the magic bullet for detecting similar symbols in the whale songs. The rest is history. Let’s all give a warm welcome to Melanie Mari.”

As Dmitri led the group in a round of spirited applause, Melanie blushed and gestured for silence. “You’re all too kind and Dr. Dmitri is too generous in his remarks. I’m here to help any way I can. On a personal note, I’m tickled to see Lila Lawson, an acquaintance of mine.”

When Melanie waved to the beaming Lila, Dmitri was distracted by her intermittent eye contact with Gorman.

“Thank you, Melanie, and welcome aboard.” Gorman’s gaze lingered on her.

“The feeling is mutual, Chris.” She winked back at him.

Dmitri couldn’t help it. His gut tensed at the sight of the undercurrent of familiarity between Melanie and Gorman.

Gorman addressed everyone in the group. “I’m impressed by the diverse fields of expertise spanned by the members of our joint venture—”

“So Chris,” interrupted Dmitri, “as I explained during last month’s video conference, we did indeed discover an intriguing set of symbols and alternating patterns of response.” He paused, and a taut silence gripped the room. “Our analysis confirms that the patterns of these symbols conform to the strategy employed in a classic two-player board game.”

He paused again, waiting for the inevitable reaction.

“Uh-oh,” muttered Gorman. The two tolling tones lingered in the air.

“Now you understand why I didn’t want to be too specific about the data until this face-to-face meeting,” replied Dmitri. “But now that the moment has arrived, I can tell you the nature of these patterns was confirmed by another member of SoCalSci’s distinguished math faculty, Joel Spelvin, the renowned game theorist.”

“Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.” Lila’s response pierced the veil of stunned silence.

“Ok.” Gorman’s placid expression never changed. “You recall we agreed to observe the whales’ reaction to the broadcasting of these unique patterns of symbols?”

“Right,” replied Dmitri, surprised by the PICES director’s tepid reply.

“But you’re suggesting their response could be something along the lines of the Sicilian Defense?”

Seema looked blankly at Andrew, who whispered, “Think chess.”

“I prefer the Nimzo-Indian Defense.” Dmitri paused in deference to the brief outburst of nervous laughter. “But seriously, Chris, we’ve structured the project to operate on multiple levels to satisfy all stakeholders. As advertised to the more conservative research and funding parties, our baseline objective is to observe the humpback’s response to the broadcasts of their own vocalizations. We stand by this position statement, and I believe you’re satisfied with those ground rules.”

“Good.”

“If the whales respond to these broadcasts, we’ll capture their vocalizations for future analysis.”

“Still sounds good to me,” replied Gorman.

“And finally, if we identify a developing pattern of symbols that conforms to the correlation profile of a game, we will then attempt to interact according to the rules of the game.”

Greg briefly summarized his discovery and Spelvin’s findings suggestive of a game like Dots and Boxes.

“Okay,” replied Gorman. “That’s an extreme long shot as far as I’m concerned, so I can’t see it jeopardizing our credibility with respect to our funding sponsors.”

“I agree,” said Dmitri, “and, realistically, it’s too great a leap to expect a communication breakthrough on this trip. We’ll be more than happy to simply observe and record any cetacean responses to the first human attempts to broadcast the symbols of their language.”

“It would be an unsurpassed achievement to confirm the intentional use of such symbols,” said Gorman, but then he shook his head. “However, it could also erupt into a PR nightmare.”

“Now it’s my turn to speak in cautionary tones,” Dmitri said. “Our official story still stands. We’re doing correlation analysis to detect the presence of symbols that could be indicative of language.”

“But what if the game actually happens? The first-ever, high-level intellectual interaction between humans and another species?” Gorman’s tone shift suggested he was torn between uncertainty and an anxious excitement, but it was his glassy-eyed expression that emboldened Dmitri.

“Chris. You’ve dedicated years of your life investigating these majestic creatures, and I know from my own brief personal observations one can’t help but feel a special bond with them. But, is there something else you want to say?”

Gorman paused and stared up at the ceiling. “It is amazing to be underwater and swaying in their powerful currents or to be enveloped in the cloud of a bubble net. And there’s nothing like hearing and feeling the haunting melody of a singer. Yes, the bond grows with each encounter.”

Dmitri observed the incredulous expressions on Seema’s and Andrew’s faces in the afterglow of Gorman’s aquatic meditation. “I truly envy you, Chris,” he responded tactfully, “but since I also realize I’d never have the guts to dive amongst forty-ton marine mammals, I want to thank you for sharing these experiences with us.”

“During your stay,” said Lila, “you should see the current exhibition of Chris and Peter’s underwater photography at the Maui Marine Art Expo. We have enlarged prints for sale in the PICES gift shop.”

“I can’t wait to attend that exhibit,” said Seema, “and I’m hoping you’ll autograph a print for me, Mr. Gorman.”

“Sure, no problem, Seema.”

“I need to make a statement here.” Lila stood and took a deep breath. “Please allow me to crawl out on a limb and get to the heart of the matter.” She cleared her throat. “Human beings kill whales.”

Everyone saw Gorman wince. Lila remained undeterred. “Here in Maui,” she continued, “I’m a proud member of a community of scientists and artists, inspired by and dedicated to these magnificent mammals. Chris and Peter founded PICES for the dual purpose of marine mammal research and public education. They’re an inspiration to researchers like me, but because of the ticklish relationship between PR and funding issues, they need to sound politically correct about our research activities. You know what I mean. The usual bromides about advancing the frontiers of scientific research can promote still waters and a safe harbor. Nevertheless, the Islands’ cetacean support movement must never lose sight of our primary goal: to prevent any further harm to these beings. If your team can help us with a dramatic communication breakthrough, then people will surely have to question their own destructive behavior.” Lila faced Dmitri with open arms. “I welcome your support.”