by Olga Werby
Our children are supposed to be immortal, he thought.
Rider pulled out the BBI connections.
Lilly syringed a clear liquid into Toby’s IV bag.
Will lifted the small form of his sick little girl in his arms.
She weighed practically nothing; it was as if he were carrying a mummy of a child. He looked into her still-opened eyes, but he didn’t see Toby.
With Lilly pushing the IV beside him, he carried her body to the window. He stopped next to Vikka. Cory swooped down and landed on his shoulder. Down below, the baby orca jumped from the water. Will could have sworn that one of her eyes looked directly at him.
Epilogue
+70 Months
Toby’s body was buried back in Berkeley next to her mother.
Will and Lilly testified in the after-action report that Toby died while riding Mele and, as a result, permanent damage had been done to the young whale’s brain. They determined that the young orca calf was unfit to receive another rider. With Spila dead and Kona far too old to be fitted with an implant, the whale project was deemed a failure.
The military blamed George for Toby’s death. His permanent assignment to the Washington lab—a very small command—was meant to be a punishment for his complete failure with Toby, their best rider. George took it as such.
Kyle and Lilly were sent back to Arizona. As much as George tried to keep at least one of them with him in Washington, Major Evans wouldn’t allow it. He wanted the Arizona facility to become the world’s leading center for training Brats riders.
Grock went back to Arizona too, but Cory was retired. Her close association with Toby meant that she was deemed unsuitable for a new rider. Will kept Cory as a kind of pet—a reminder of his departed daughter.
Will was still a valuable asset to the Brats project—there was no denying his genius—but he was considered unstable and difficult to control. He was made the chief scientist at the Washington lab and Vikka was assigned to him as his personal psychologist.
Rider was officially employed as George’s attaché, but beyond the onsite team, his true role was still largely unknown. Rider now sported an improved brain implant with a built-in zapper and he was training with DeDe, a new raven—acquired outside of military channels.
Most importantly, George convinced Major Evans to spare Mele’s life. The calf could still be valuable for further research, George explained, and that meant leaving the damaged brain implant intact. To allow Will to continue his research, Mele and Kona were allowed to continue to live at the lab, providing additional data on whale brain development to smooth the way for any future attempts.
There would be more whales eventually. Maybe George would have an opportunity to redeem himself.
Kona settled down after a few weeks. The loss of Spila and the stress of the move faded and the orcas swam and played together in the gentle waters of the bay.
Kona had memories of living wild and she was teaching her daughter the art of being a whale. They eagerly ate the buckets of silver fish served to them twice a day, but she was also teaching Mele how to forage and hunt.
Will, Vikka, and George spent hours each day on the rocks over the bay, talking to Mele. The orca calf seemed to listen, but even George knew enough science to know that she could just as easily have been waiting for fish. What none of them knew for certain, and what all of them were wondering, was what had happened to Toby? Was she in there somewhere?
Every morning, Rider and DeDe took a walk among the coastal bluffs. Rider would let DeDe fly ahead and visit with Mele. On one of these mornings, Dede spied Mele making a wall of bubbles around the fish that had been fed to them. The young whale corralled the fish on one side of the bubbles, making it easier for her mother to grab the ones that got away. After several days of this, Kona also started to make bubble walls.
“What do you think, DeDe? Looks like our girl is teaching her mama new tricks,” Rider said.
It was the first real bit of evidence that Toby’s memories were inside Mele. But that didn’t answer the real question. Was there more of Toby inside Mele than just her memories?
Having Mele ride Cory was Rider’s idea. Cory, he argued, would recognize Toby and her thoughts no matter where she resided. While they still had no direct proof that Toby’s consciousness was inside Mele, Will was beginning to agree with Rider that a little consciousness transfer happened every time a human used the BBI to ride an animal.
The results were immediate. Cory clearly recognized Mele as soon as they flipped the switch. It was a joyous reunion—or at least it seemed that way. Cory flew around the riding room as if searching for Toby.
Eventually, the raven settled down. Will beckoned her over to the empty desk and keyboard that had been set up for her use. They all hoped Cory would know what to do now.
Cory strutted regally to and fro on the desktop next to the computer keyboard. Will, George, and Rider stood back, trying not to crowd her. DeDe was there too, observing the proceedings from his perch.
Using her sharp talons and beak, Cory pressed two keys. The screen above showed the results.
hi
The bird let out a loud caw, sounding proud of her accomplishment.
Everyone told Cory what a clever raven she was. She basked in the glory.
“We don’t know if this is Cory or Toby,” George said cautiously.
“You’re saying Cory could be typing by herself?” Rider asked.
“I’m just saying, Cory has been around humans and computers all her life. She’s typed on keyboards before. She might even have learned a word or two.”
“What about all the excitement? The recognition? You don’t think that was Cory recognizing Toby?” Rider asked.
“Ask her something only Toby would know,” George said.
Will looked at Cory, then at the computer. It was too much to hope to have his little girl back.
“I can’t do it,” he finally said. “I don’t think I really want to know. I want to hold out hope…” Abruptly, he changed his mind. “Toby? Are you still there?” he asked the raven.
Cory cawed and preened, then danced over to the keyboard again. She typed:
yes
He turned away, his heart pounding in his chest. Toby. His girl was still in there.
Behind him, he heard Cory tapping at the keys. Several keys this time. When she stopped, Will was afraid to look. “What else did she write?” he asked.
It was George who answered. “Look at the screen, Will.”
Will turned to look. There it said:
fish girl
Acknowledgments
My friends and family have been full of encouragement and support, often reading a paragraph hot off the press, asking what happens next, and pushing me to go on. Their support means everything to me.
My husband Christopher collaborated with me on this book. We also run Pipsqueak Productions together: pipsqueak.com. In addition, I write a blog on design at interfaces.com. I’m on Twitter at @OlgaWerby.
David Gatewood is our editor. In addition to fixing seemingly endless errors, he sharpens our work. His efforts make us look good. We are better writers because of him. This book is much better because of his talent. He can be found at lonetrout.com. All errors between the covers and on them are entirely our own.
If you liked this story, please consider recommending it to others. Reviews on Amazon are very much appreciated. Word-of-mouth endorsements and reader reviews are the holy grail for indy authors. Without these, our stories just gather e-dust.
Most of all, thank you for reading. Your imagination makes our stories come alive!
Note on Illustrations
Too few adult books include illustrations now. When I was growing up, I loved illustrations in the books I read. I particularly loved an edition of Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini that contained etchings; and the Sherlock Holmes stories were greatly improved by Sidney Paget’s illustrations.
The illustrations in this book are mash-u
ps composed from content that has been licensed or that is in the public domain.
The cover illustration for this book was created by Elena Dudina. You can find this talanted artist at elenadudina.com.
For those reading this story on color-capable e-readers, some illustrations appear in color.
Note on Science
We’ve tried to make the science in this book as accurate as possible. That’s not to say that Brats is an existing program already, just that it’s possible and is getting more probable every day.
One of the easiest ways to learn is through stories. Humans are wired to enjoy and remember them. Science fiction tells stories about the future or alternative history or some other “what if” scenarios that involve real science pushed to the limit. While entertainment is a perfectly valid goal in itself, sometimes a good story can do more than entertain. We hope this story has made a bit of neurology and animal cognition slightly more approachable for our readers.
If you are interested in learning more about neuroscience, animal physiology and psychology, zapping, and other ideas discussed in this book, consider reading the following books. We are inspired by every one of these authors, their tremendous work, and their skill in communicating it.
Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst.” Penguin Press. ISBN-13: 978-1594205071
Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.” Holt Paperbacks; 3rd edition. ISBN-13: 978-0805073690
Sapolsky, R. M. (2002). “A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons.” Scribner. ISBN-13: 978-0743202411
Sacks, O. (2009). “Seeing Voices.” Picador USA. ISBN-13: 978-0330507615
Sacks, O. (1998). “The Island of the Colorblind.” Vintage. ISBN-13: 978-0375700736
Sacks, O. (1998). “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales.” Touchstone. ISBN-13: 978-0684853949
Heinrich, B. (1991). “Ravens in Winter.” ISBN-10: 0679732365
de Waal, F. (2016). “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?” W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN-10: 0393246183
Cowperthwaite, G. (2013). “Blackfish.” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2545118/
Cook, R. G. (1998). “Visual Perception.” Comparative Psychology: A handbook (1998). https://pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/ecp.htm
Cohen, Kadosh, Roi et al. (2016). “Modulating Neuronal Activity Produces Specific and Long-Lasting Changes in Numerical Competence.” Current Biology , Volume 20 , Issue 22 , 2016 - 2020
Seck, H. H. (2017). “Super SEALs: Elite Units Pursue Brain-Stimulating Technologies.” https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/04/02/super-seals-elite-units-pursue-brain-stimulating-technologies.html
Brown, V. K. (2017). “DARPA’s Brain Chip Implants Could Be the Next Big Mental Health Breakthrough—Or a Total Disaster.” https://gizmodo.com/darpa-s-brain-chips-could-be-the-next-big-mental-health-1791549701
Horowitz, A. Canine Cognition Lab at Barnard College: https://psychology.barnard.edu/profiles/alexandra-horowitz
Our Other Books
If you enjoyed this book, we hope you’ll consider reading some of our others. They’re available on Amazon.
“One World, One Life” series:
Suddenly, Paris (book 1)
Coding Peter (book 2)
“The Ornis Experiment” series:
Pigeon (book 1)
Birdie (book 2 is coming soon)
The FATOFF Conspiracy
Twin Time
