Attunga

by Peter Wood

  The raucous voice of a kookaburra calling its territorial warning filled the gallery and the deep thrum of vibrating air columns joined in the evocative introduction to the Dreamtime Concerto.

  Wirrin’s goosebumps rose yet again as the greatest musical legacy from the resurgence of First Australia sounded through the gallery, and he watched enthralled as the dolphins presented an astonishing, active, interpretation.

  Straight away he recognised the birth of the Sun, as a living sphere of dolphins formed and arose from the Earth with the creation of light and life.

  There was the Rainbow Serpent, a mass of dolphins undulating and weaving in concert with the powerful music.

  Wirrin smiled with delight as Sonic led a group of five dolphins to simulate kangaroo spirits bounding beside the Rainbow Serpent.

  He lost track briefly when Calen arrived at the dais and sat in the empty seat, his special costume covered by a shirt bearing the dolphinarium logo. Well, so what if millions of people were watching, he was getting a hug. Calen leaned into the hug and whispered, ‘Did I do all right?’

  Wirrin gave him another squeeze, a nod and a smile.

  ‘You were useless!’ That was reverse praise from Thom and Calen settled happily to watch the dolphins. For the next fifteen minutes the spellbinding actions of the dolphins merged with the power of the music and built to an explosive final crescendo.

  The nearly four hundred dolphins arrayed themselves behind the viewing panel and hung, almost motionless, looking out at the Witnesses. The gallery hushed while people returned to themselves, and again the eerie tableau of humans and dolphins watching each other persisted until a Witness near the front raised both her arms high in acclamation. The people close by followed, and then everyone else joined in. Wirrin jumped to his feet then whirled around to look for Calen. He was overcome, but Wirrin, knowing that action would help, pulled him to his feet and lifted his arm. On his other side Thom did the same.

  The dolphins repeated their unified greeting then with bewildering speed poured in three living streams through the tunnels and left Sonic by himself. A roar filled the gallery, and Wirrin was carried away by it in wonder and awe until a movement from Akama brought it to an end.

  ‘Sonic, you and your people have honoured Attunga with gifts of beauty and grace, and we thank you with all our hearts.’ Akama’s voice rang clear and strong. ‘May the friendship and cooperation demonstrated today between dolphins and humans long endure.’

  Sonic’s nods of agreement and acknowledgement made it clear that he understood every word of Akama’s speech. With a start, Wirrin realised he was also part of this. Sonic’s body language had mostly been learnt from interaction with the trio and this was one of the reasons they were sitting here. Akama finished and Sonic spoke. Wirrin quickly relaxed as he saw that the watching Witnesses were smiling. Sonic’s cheerful nature was communicated to everyone in the gallery, and, it turned out, to the millions of people watching.

  ‘While we speak in open forum I would like my brothers to be with me.’

  Brothers? Not just Calen? Sonic wanted all three of them in there with him? Wirrin’s heart started pounding as Calen pulled him from his seat. This wasn’t part of the agenda.

  ‘Be proud.’

  Akama sounded pleased by the unplanned request.

  For the next twenty minutes the trio swam with Sonic while he spoke with the Witnesses. When that part of the proceedings finished the lights dimmed, then brightened on the dais again where Akama and Burilda were now standing together. Akama raised an arm slowly in a simple gesture that demanded full and serious attention.

  ‘Friends, today we have shared in joy and grace and ventured across a new frontier, but great changes are often fraught with great problems.’

  Wirrin caught his breath.

  ‘Be assured that all is well on Attunga. Such is not the case elsewhere.’

  Chapter 12

  ‘I feel like a dead dingo!’

  Wirrin and Thom plonked themselves down beside Calen. They were all tired from the momentous day, but Calen was exhausted.

  ‘Do you want to go to sleep, or can you wait for the special meal Thom’s got planned?’

  ‘I won’t sleep. My brain’s going round in circles.’

  Normally that would draw rude remarks but at the moment Wirrin and Thom were rather in awe of Calen.

  ‘No wonder,’ Wirrin continued. ‘What was it like talking to all the scientists?’

  When the Witnesses had left to go to their special conference the viewing gallery had refilled with scientists and for over an hour Sonic and Calen had answered all sorts of questions. Sonic did most of the talking, but he managed to include Calen in different ways in many of his answers. Wirrin was impressed by how much Sonic enjoyed trying to answer the tricky questions.

  ‘I wasn’t expecting all those questions,’ Calen said. ‘It was meant to be just Sonic but he says it’s easier to talk to people he doesn’t know when one of us is with him. That’s why he wanted us all there when he talked to the Witnesses.’

  ‘What about that scientist who said we’re a fake dolphin pod orchestrated by the dolphinarium?’

  ‘I know. That was interesting, but he went quiet when Sonic said there was nothing fake about us, and that though we filled some similar functions we were very different to a pod.’

  ‘I like the idea that we’re a sort of dolphin pod,’ said Thom.

  Wirrin nodded.

  ‘We’ll ask Sonic. You could tell he’s thought about it more than we have.’

  ‘I thought the scientists were great. They were all on Sonic’s side.’

  ‘That’s a funny thing to say. Are there sides?’

  ‘You know what I mean. You could feel the atmosphere, and if Burilda hadn’t finished things up I reckon they’d still be talking.’

  ‘Well they sure looked pleased when Sonic said he’d like to have regular meetings with them.’

  ‘I don’t know how he’s going to fit that in with everything else he wants to do. We just seem to get busier and busier.’

  ‘You’re not going to keep being worn out every night are you?’

  ‘No, that was from practising the swimming till we got it right. We’re back to our normal routine now. Except I don’t know how it’s going to work if he needs me there for all these trips he wants to do.’

  Calen had learned about these trips when Sonic told the scientists he planned to meet people all over Attunga, especially young people in nurseries and EdCom centres.

  ‘You’ve never had a normal routine. It changes every time Sonic gets interested in something new.’

  ‘Well, it makes life interesting, Wirrin. How much did you zap at the gallery?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘How come? That’s not what we planned.’

  ‘How come? Well, someone just happened to blow my brain with their incredible surprise didn’t they. Our planning didn’t count on you being so amazing I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else.’

  Thom gave a snort of laughter.

  ‘Snap out of it, Wirrin. Don’t you get it?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s wondering what he looked like. Call it up from the InterWeb and put it on the wall display.’

  ‘Am not!’

  The grin he was trying to suppress said otherwise. Wirrin searched for a moment then caught his breath. ‘Bush-boys! Look at this. It’s been watched over two and a half billion times … And there’s ninety million people watching it right now.’

  They all stared at the data about the dual swim.

  ‘That must be wrong. It doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Yes it does, Calen. No-one could believe it the first time so they’re watching it again.’

  ‘They must be watching it more than twice to get those numbers.’

  ‘Seventy-three per cent of Attunga and Warrakan were watching. It’s the biggest audience for anything that’s been on the Attunga InterWeb.’

 
Calen was shaking his head in disbelief.

  ‘How many people is that?’

  ‘It’s there … further across in that next column … 910 million.’

  They all went quiet.

  ‘It’s Sonic.’

  Wirrin grabbed Calen by the nape of his neck and squeezed.

  ‘And you! The first time was because all the Witnesses were there, but the repeats are because of you and Sonic.’

  Calen wriggled his head but made no move to dislodge the grip.

  ‘Dolphin Boy! Look – they call you Dolphin Boy. That’s good. I really like it.’ Thom pointed to a heading on the far right of the screen.

  ‘Dolphin Boy! Dolphin Boy!’ Wirrin and Thom chanted as they tipped Calen on his side on the grav-sofa and joyfully attacked him. Calling them idiots and bushwhackers, Calen soon demanded that they watch the holo, and feeling particularly close, they did just that.

  ‘You really are Dolphin Boy, Calen. You can’t deny it after watching that.’

  ‘It does look more special than when we were practising, but it all came from Sonic. I just did what he showed me. It could have been anyone.’

  ‘As if. What did Sonic say about it?’

  ‘We didn’t get to talk much but he was really pleased. We’ll find out everything when we see Turaku tomorrow.’

  ‘Turaku wants to see you?’

  ‘No, the other way round. Sonic wants to see Turaku, and he’s arranged for all of us to meet him tomorrow afternoon.’

  ‘All of us?’

  ‘Yes, everyone. It’s about Akama’s message. Sonic wants something to happen.’

  ‘Did he say what?’ Wirrin and Thom were on full alert now.

  ‘No, there were too many other things going on, but I think he must have ideas he wants to discuss.’

  Akama’s warning about the xenophobic attitude to enhanced dolphins beyond Attunga had been the only note of discord.

  ‘That’s interesting. He usually leaves things like that to Turaku. I wonder if he knows something we don’t?’

  ‘I don’t think so, Wirrin. Burilda was as surprised by the call for the meeting as I was, and Turaku keeps her up to date with everything. I reckon Sonic was stirred by Akama’s speech.’

  Wirrin nodded. Akama had indeed been inspiring.

  ‘What did you think of it? Akama’s warning I mean?’

  ‘I was scared at first because I thought he was going to say more dolphins were being attacked.’

  ‘Me too, and then I was expecting him to talk about the ones that had been killed but instead of that he made a big deal about how well everything went at Monkey Mia.’

  ‘He wouldn’t talk about the dead ones, Thom, not when so many people were watching. It would be too upsetting. Children would have nightmares if they saw those pictures.’

  ‘That’s for sure.’

  ‘He did tell them bad things had happened, without going into details.’

  ‘He sure made a big deal about the way you helped,’ Calen said.

  ‘That was embarrassing. He made it sound like it was me who saved Monkey Mia.’

  ‘You did save them and we’re glad that everyone knows.’

  ‘I helped a bit, but it was really Turaku and the Australian AIs who did all the important work, and Akama hardly mentioned them.’

  ‘He wants you to be a hero.’

  ‘Very funny!’ Then Wirrin realised Calen wasn’t joking. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, I noticed how much he emphasised your part in it too, and I wondered if he was trying to show that humans are important for helping dolphins. You know what I mean, building the idea that humans and dolphins and AIs all help each other and need each other. That’s part of what Witnesses do, and I bet that’s what took up most of their conference.’

  Thom jumped up. ‘I’d better get our food ready.’

  ‘Aren’t we going to watch the dolphins and the Dreamtime Concerto first?’

  ‘Tomorrow night, Calen. If you watch it now your brain will be spinning even faster, and you’re going to bed as soon as you can because you’re under orders from Gulara to sleep in till midday.’

  ***

  Wirrin and Thom spent the morning studying at EdCom then returned home. When they came in Calen sat up in his grav-bed with a cheeky grin and demanded breakfast. He looked and sounded full of life.

  ‘SLUG! It’s more like dinner time.’

  ‘It is not, Wirrin. It’s 12.30 and I’ve been awake for ages.’

  ‘Well you’re still in bed so ages means about ten minutes. We’ve got an hour to get to the dolphinarium so get up and get yourself ready.’

  Calen elaborately and lazily stretched his arms above his head and gave a fake yawn.

  ‘I’ll have breakfast in bed first. It’s too nice to be getting up.’

  Wirrin grabbed a foot and pulled him onto the floor then, followed by indignant fake cries of protest, went to help Thom.

  ‘That’s not breakfast … What is it?’

  ‘Too bad about breakfast. You’ve missed it. It’s salmon-sub and if you don’t want it we’ll eat it for you.’

  ‘Are you sure you cooked enough?’

  ‘No I’m not, but a double portion will have to do. If you want any more you can get it from Sonic.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Fish! That’s what Dolphin Boys eat, and from now on you’re having it for breakfast, lunch and tea.’

  Calen shook his head as if he’d never understand such foolishness. ‘Did anything happen at EdCom?’

  ‘We hardly got anything done. Even the tutors wanted to talk about dolphins instead of ordinary work.’

  It had been quite strange to walk into the EdCom centre and feel everyone looking at them. Mostly they’d kind of smiled, which felt good, and in the discussion groups where everyone knew each other they’d gathered round to talk and ask questions.

  ‘Did they like Sonic?’

  ‘I think so.’

  Calen laughed at Thom’s understatement and turned to Wirrin.

  ‘Of course they did. You’ll see for yourself tomorrow. Are you going to wear your dolphin skin today?’

  ‘It isn’t dolphin skin and of course I’m not. I’d feel silly.’

  ‘Well that was one of the things they kept asking about.’

  They tucked into the food with murmurs of pleasure. Thom had picked the salmon substitute as a stir, but they all agreed it was so delicious they would add it to their list of meals for special occasions. The big chunks they were eating didn’t come from real salmon of course. Like any other meat they were grown in a specialty food factory, but the supply was quite limited. Just as they were finishing they heard a splash from the pool and a rattle of clicks and squeaks as Sonic surfaced. It was something about being lazy and something about food, Wirrin thought. He had a good vocabulary of dolphin words, but it was always tricky to understand what Sonic was saying. He and Calen spoke so quickly for one thing, but there were frequencies that Calen could pick up with his special implants which ordinary human ears couldn’t hear. Calen laughed as he replied.

  ‘He’s learning bad habits from you two, telling me I sleep too much.’

  ‘What did he ask about the food?’

  There was another rapid exchange.

  ‘I told him it was fish and he said it was disgusting.’

  ‘Eating fish is disgusting?’

  Sonic laughed.

  ‘No, but burning and spoiling it is.’

  Wirrin turned to Sonic. ‘Humans don’t eat raw fish. That would be disgusting.’

  There was more dolphin laughter and Calen looked surprised.

  ‘He says to look up “sushi”.’

  In a second Wirrin had pictures and information on a holo for everyone to look at … raw fish and people enjoying it.

  ‘How did he know that?’

  ‘That time when we talked about killing things for food he got interested in what people eat.’

  Calen pulled his shirt off and dived in
to the pool. Wirrin and Thom quickly cleared away the meal and joined them. Saying hello to Sonic was never complete without touch. Ten minutes of the play that was so important in dolphin society followed and laughter and dolphin sounds rang out in happy communion.

  ***

  Sonic was excited. It was obvious as the four of them raced to the dolphinarium, first from his exuberance in the pool and now as he powered through the reach. A glance at the skimmer’s InfoPanel showed an impressive 29 kilometres per hour and at this rate the trip would only take a couple of minutes. They were even more curious about the purpose of the meeting after Sonic had said simply that he had to help the Earth dolphins.

  ***

  ‘We can’t do that. It’s far too dangerous.’

  Calen’s words sounded loud in the silence that followed Sonic’s demand to journey to Earth and persuade the threatened dolphins to return to Attunga. Even Turaku looked rather shocked, though of course it would be the expression calculated as the most appropriate response for his holo.

  ‘I must be there, my brother. I am the only one who can explain the danger properly. Turaku will make it safe.’

  ‘He can’t, Sonic,’ Burilda said. ‘He’s bound to Attunga. If anything happened on Earth he wouldn’t even know about it for twenty-seven minutes and we couldn’t rely on the Australian AIs for the same reason. You’d be without proper AI protection for the whole trip to Earth and back. It’s a terrible risk’

  ‘There will be a way.’

  Wirrin agreed with Burilda and he was sure everyone else did too. It had taken Turaku and several security AIs just to get Sonic safely to Warrakan and back.

  Burilda, shaking her head, looked to Turaku for support, and when he didn’t respond, looked at Gulara. Wirrin could see other problems.

  ‘How would you talk to them all, Sonic? There must be thousands of them, and they’re spread all over the Earth. It would take months or years to visit them. And how would we bring so many back to Attunga if they decided to leave their homes?’