Ripple

by Tui Allen

  ‘But how well do you know your own youngest child?’

  ‘Who? Oh . . . Ripple. Perhaps I would’ve been more interested if she’d been male and likely to follow my slipstream into astronomy. Rev shows little enough interest.’

  ‘Your daughter is half-grown. She’s in my junior astronomy class and I can tell you she is unlikely to follow your vocation.’

  ‘Daughters; very charming I’m sure.’ He shook himself from beak to tail as though to rid himself of family concerns. ‘But I’m grateful to you teachers. Someone has to make sure we’ve new astronomers to carry on the work.’

  He performed another impressive cartwheel and smacked into a wave to stop.

  ‘Can we eat? I haven’t had a bite since returning from Tectarius.’

  They swam to a nearby spot where birds indicated good hunting. There they dined on small but tasty fish swimming just below the surface. At first they spoke of work-related things such as planets Rigel had visited and the likelihood of some of Delph’s up and coming astronomers to travel there. Meanwhile the setting sun ignited white streaks of cloud into crimson streamers stretching from north-west to south-west. Their colour faded as darkness settled over the ocean and the two old friends, now well satisfied with their meal, prepared to part. Delph made sure then to give Rigel the message he carried from Pearl.

  ‘We spoke of your youngest child Ripple. I really came to tell you that Pearl has concerns for her and would like to discuss them with you.’

  ‘What concerns could a she-dolphin possibly have about a female child?’

  This provoked a short but stony silence from Delph.

  ‘As your old friend,’ he said, ‘I feel it’s my duty to tell you how dim-witted you are about things that matter here on Azure. Pearl has not told me of her worries for Ripple. She wants to speak to you about it. Make sure you visit her!’

  Delph swam off, irritation visible in every flick of his flukes, leaving Rigel to return to his team. His team-members observed uncharacteristic agitation in Rigel. How could the revered astronomer who could fling his own intellect a thousand light-years, be so rattled by an ordinary schoolteacher?

  ~~~

  Under starry skies with half a moon, Rigel approached Pearl in the main school. She felt the familiar tug at her heart and put out a call to bring the children to see their father. They came bouncing in with the special Rigel stamp of physical vigour showing in every leap and twist. Ripple held back, but the three older ones rushed to their father caressing him with flippers and flukes. They leapt beside him and Rigel joined in the frolic, his children following all his moves, their play swinging between perfect co-ordination and mayhem.

  They’re like a bunch of shooting stars, thought Pearl as her family cavorted around her.

  ‘Don’t think about stars!’ said Rigel, ‘I’ve come here to get away from them.’

  ‘Then don’t look up – they’re all around us tonight.’

  ‘Maybe, but right now I’m happier to be here on Azure with you all.’

  The sheer physicality of Pearl’s family, when they were all together, made her tired at times.

  ‘They’re all so big now,’ she said. ‘When they all start bouncing I can hardly believe they came from me!’

  ‘I helped,’ he laughed. ‘They’ve certainly grown, but we have one not-so-bouncy I see,’ he said, eying Ripple.

  ‘Ripple,’ said Pearl, pushing her forward, ‘is feeling shy right now but is usually very bouncy. Play for your father.’

  Ripple flew into action among her brother and sisters. She leapt and twisted like an emerald flame between them.

  ‘She seems a fine daughter,’ said Rigel. ‘I see she has her mother’s smooth curves and graceful flukes.’

  ‘And she has your dazzling skill in wielding them,’ laughed Pearl.

  The parents moved away from their children.

  ‘Delph tells me you have concerns for Ripple. I sense she’s concealing much from us.’

  ‘She is healthy in most ways but she herself cannot explain some unusual thought patterns that we sometimes detect in her mind. Aroha thinks there’s nothing too serious yet but she is prepared to intervene if the problem worsens.’

  ‘I find it difficult to imagine anything wrong with Ripple. She seems a true daughter of mine as far as I can see. But I’m curious to know her better and must try to spend more time with you all.’

  ‘We’d love to see more of you, Rigel, but we understand the demands of your vocation.’

  ‘Any sign of Rev taking an interest?’

  ‘Not the slightest I’m afraid. He likes chemicals more than anything. Aroha is performing well in her field. Echo is as undecided as ever and Ripple speaks only of wanting a vocation in sound. She cannot explain further. So we do have some worries about our children’s vocations, but other than that and Ripple’s strangeness, we have the healthiest family in the school.’

  ‘They are young yet. Don’t bother yourself about them, Pearl. I’m a little disappointed to have no astronomer showing up, but if it’s not to happen, I can accept it. They must find the vocation that most suits themselves.’

  ‘You’re right; I’ll try to worry less about them.’

  The parents rejoined the family and they set off together in the moonlight. Rigel led them directly into the southwest wind so they could expend energy smacking into oncoming waves, smashing them to spray and sending phosphorescence glittering in their wake like constellations. They played until the first magenta glow of dawn lit the horizon. Then they hunted to replace the energy lost. Rigel left soon after sunrise, leaving his exhausted family to rest at last.

  ~~~

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  Chapter 10: Deranged

  Cirrus had put out a call to the surf. Cosmo declined to join in as he had sky-watching plans. He watched Cirrus’s group heading off to the waves.

  Strange, he thought, Maram’s not with them and he usually initiates the surfing. Haven’t seen him for a while. Wonder what he’s up to?

  He considered calling Maram in. Better not he thought, he might be with a girl. What else could explain his absence from surfing?

  A few days later, Cosmo came across Maram and Alcyone hunting together. He approached, intending to share their meal of pilchard.

  Alcyone saw him. ‘Maram’s not well,’ she warned.

  Cosmo swam up alongside and greeted them. Maram did not respond. He hunted on, feeding mechanically.

  Cosmo detected garbled thoughtstreams swirling in the sea around them. It was difficult to work out where they came from.

  ‘Is that Maram?’ he asked Alcyone.

  ‘Yes. It’s the illness.’

  ‘Shall I call a health adept?’

  ‘I am the best adept for this kind of illness. I’ve known since his babyhood that it would strike him.’

  Twisted thoughtstreams escaped from Maram’s mind and drifted randomly like poison gas. Cosmo lost interest in feeding.

  ‘Can’t he control his own mind?’ he asked.

  ‘He cannot.’

  Then Cosmo remembered when he’d been like that himself.

  ‘Some psychological disturbances are easier to treat than others,’ Alcyone explained. ‘His intelligence is strong as ever, but it’s deranged. He knows you’re here and it bothers him for you to see him like this. It might be kinder if you left us.’

  Over the next few days, Cosmo heard whispers circulating in the school: Maram’s problem was serious; he needed full-time care from Alcyone; he’d never fight or ride the surf again.

  As time passed, the whispers suggested Alcyone’s task was not going well; that if she could not help, it was serious indeed; that it was an inherited insanity.

  A few weeks later, on a clear night with bright stars, Cosmo swam with Maram again and could not recognise his old friend. Maram’s thoughts squirmed inside his skull like giant worms. Once again, Alcyone allowed Cosmo only a short visit before
requesting privacy for her patient.

  ‘His mental state deteriorates when others approach.’

  ‘Is he ever well?’ asked Cosmo.

  ‘He still has occasional lucid spells, but they’re becoming shorter and less frequent.’

  ‘What’ll happen to him?’

  Alcyone swam closer to Cosmo and gave him a short range message that Maram would not pick up.

  ‘He won’t survive this. I can’t foresee the manner of his end but it can’t be far away.’

  ‘In the school the whispers say his ancestors had this illness.’

  ‘The whispers are true. But reassure his relatives that the chances are one in hundreds of it striking one of them. I saw the signs in Maram from his babyhood but not in others of his blood. Tell the elders I will stay with him until the end.’

  ‘Are you safe to be alone with him, Alcyone?’

  ‘He suffers from rages sometimes but so far he’s directed no aggression towards me. I can’t guarantee that others would be safe from him. As for predators, I’ll call for help if I need it.’

  Cosmo turned and looked once more on the sick dolphin. Although it seemed that Maram himself was no longer there, he fired a message into the mind of his friend, hoping it would find a stable spot to stick.

  ‘Maram, if you need me, call and I’ll come.’

  Maram did not respond. He lunged unevenly in the sea and writhed as though in pain.

  I’m glad to go, thought Cosmo as he swam away, leaving Alcyone to her lonely task. I couldn’t stay and be close to that chaos, though I’m not proud of it. She’s heroic to stay with him and endure what he’s become.

  Cosmo looked up and allowed his spirit to align itself with the perfection of the stars. He let the names of the stars sweep the worm thoughts of Maram away from his brain.

  Maram’s illness shadowed the school. Cosmo delivered the messages and reassured the relatives of Maram as Alcyone had recommended.

  ~~~

  About six days after his last conversation with Alcyone, Cosmo received a long-range thoughtstream from her.

  ‘Cosmo, I’m at the Black Reef. I need your help. Come quickly! Come alone.’ Cosmo swam towards her immediately but the black reef was half an hour away. After ten minutes, he received another message, a perfectly lucid thoughtstream from Maram himself. It contained the same command he’d just received from Alcyone.

  Cosmo continued swimming at full speed. Several messages he directed to Alcyone and Maram went unanswered.

  He arrived twenty minutes later. The reef jutted out from the north-eastern corner of the island at the northern end of a sandy crescent-shaped bay. Cosmo scanned the bay, but detected no dolphin heartbeats.

  He found Alcyone wedged between jagged rocks on the reef, her head above the water. Blood flowed from dolphin tooth-marks slashing her skin. Cosmo scanned her body and saw broken ribs, ruptured lungs, a mashed liver, a dislocated spine, and a heart that would never beat again.

  No sign of Maram. Cosmo called and called but received no response. Not a single sprat swam near. He lifted his head and one flipper from the water to stroke Alcyone’s body. That was when he spotted the dark shape on the beach. At first he thought it was a piece of driftwood. He looked again and recognised Maram lying on the sand!

  Cosmo swam in towards the beach until his belly and flippers were rubbing the sand. He raised his head and viewed the dolphin lying there. Maram was alive but every thought was indecipherable.

  ‘Maram, I’m here.’

  He calculated from Maram’s position on the beach in relation to the receding tide, that Maram had beached himself moments after calling for him – perhaps during that same last lucid moment. Maram had made certain he could never return to the deep that had become such a hell for him.

  Cosmo remained near the beach through all the hours it took for Maram to die. The sun beat down. No rain fell. The tide forced Cosmo further and further away and then allowed him to approach slowly again.

  During this time Cosmo received glimpses of Maram’s mind and saw how Maram’s suffering allowed him to exchange his insanity for physical pain. To him it was a good bargain. Maram’s spirit separated itself at last from his diseased mind and the prison of pain his body had become. He floated into the Hereafter. At first he was not at peace, but Alcyone waited there with peace to spare.

  ~~~

  Maram was serene by the time we took Alcyone away from him to send her on her paths to new phases. He looked down upon his body on the beach and was happy to see the flesh he had so gladly forsaken already providing bounty for many small animals of land and shore.

  Only Cosmo concerned him. Maram watched over his young friend as he swam back and forth between the body on the sand and the body on the rocks. It was difficult for us to draw Maram away from that scene.

  ~~~

  Read on, or if desired . . .

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  Chapter 11: To the North

  Stars were appearing when Zenith saw Cosmo approaching. He listened carefully as Cosmo described the events of the afternoon.

  ‘What will you do now?’ Zenith asked,

  ‘I’m leaving,’ Cosmo said, ‘I’m not yet sure where to, but you’ve told me of the northern astronomers. I’ll swim their way until I decide.’

  ‘Do you want me to come?’

  ‘I need solitude for this journey.’

  ‘You may meet danger, Cosmo.’

  ‘I am danger.’

  ‘Avoid waste. You have much to offer any school.’

  Oh for the skills of Alcyone now, thought Zenith.

  But Alcyone was dead.

  Zenith observed Cosmo’s departure and saw that he did indeed head north.

  ~~~

  Many of the Southern School tried to contact Cosmo in the days afterwards, but failed.

  We observed Zenith taking steps to ease what he feared could be a hostile reception for Cosmo – should he ever win through to the School of the Astronomers five or six days hard swimming away. Meanwhile we followed Cosmo on his lonely passage.

  ~~~

  Cosmo swam towards the Astronomers with only the vaguest intention of arriving. He could think of no reason to travel in any other direction, and only the north held something that had once been of interest to him.

  He swam fast, causing the acids to collect in his flesh until his muscles burned. Icy squalls lashed the ocean through the first night of his journey. He watched the stars that gleamed between flying clouds and recited their names as he raced onwards. He ignored hunger all the next day, and his bloodstream gradually lost its richness until there was hardly a calorie left.

  Towards the end of his second night, with a three-quarter moon riding a clear patch in the western sky, he sensed a shadow in the blackness ahead. Rain swept the surface from a squall that had just passed. He scanned the sea and picked up full detail of a solid shape approaching, on course to cross his path. A tail-biter, triple his own weight. He knew its senses would detect his electro-magnetic fields even in the darkness.

  It knows very well what kind of meal I’ll make, he thought,

  The tail-biter followed him. Cosmo sped up to test its intentions. It stayed close. Tail-biters were the fastest and most agile sharks in the ocean. He slowed again but it slowed too, stalking him.

  Cosmo scanned its belly. Empty. Good, he thought. Come and get me.

  He swam slowly and the shark circled below him, awaiting its moment. The rain moved away eastwards and the moon gleamed as it floated high in the west.

  There’s nothing left for me in the south thought Cosmo. And in the north? Only unknown dolphins with no reason to greet me kindly. Why do I go to them? In the hope they might help me reach the stars? But here’s a shark offering me a quicker path to the same destination. Who’d care if I were never seen again on the oceans of Azure?

  He stared at the shadow below. Are you my solution? Feel free to send my spirit where all the best dolphins have gone before me.

/>   The shark could not reply but Cosmo knew it would be keen enough to help him out.

  Tail-biters dealt a cruel death, but tonight he hardly cared if he died tail-less and helpless, as long as his spirit was released. The shark moved closer.

  ~~~

  It was clear to us as we watched from the Hereafter that Cosmo had run out of hope. Since he didn’t ask, we could not directly intervene. But I could send him a sign of hope. Wondering how I might do this, I studied the ocean, especially the weather and celestial arrangements, the rainsqualls sweeping through to the east, the moon high in the west, shining fitfully between the clouds. It gave me an idea. I discussed my plan with Sister Sterne and she agreed it would do no harm.

  So, a little manipulation of pressure zones and breezes, just enough to re-arrange the placement of some falling rain. And . . . ah yes . . . well done Father Clement, even if you do say so yourself. But would I be in time?

  Now if that young dolphin would just look east . . .

  ~~~

  With the hungry shark circling nearer, Cosmo took a last look at his beloved sky from the perspective of the planet he knew. His gaze swung to the west towards a patch of clear sky displaying the moon and stars. Then drawn by the darkness, he turned slowly to the east, where thick cloud created a wall of blackness no star could penetrate.

  And there he saw something he’d never seen before in all his hours spent studying the heavens – something so rare, many who sought it had passed their whole lives without ever finding it. For a moment it was enough to make him forget, his grief for Maram, for Alcyone, for his lost parents. He even forgot the shark below, and certainly it banished his wish to look upon darkness.

  It was the moonlight rainbow, glowing huge across the eastern sky; a geometrically perfect semicircular pathway, every one of its thousand colours silvered by moonlight to delicate pastels.

  It floated serenely, with Cosmo positioned exactly beneath the highest point on its arc.

  There is no other dolphin within a day’s swim of me, thought Cosmo. This vision shines for me alone.

  A cloud drifted over the moon. The vision faded, but remained burned in his memory.