“Wow!”
The number of dolphins swimming in and around each other seemed to be growing bigger right before their eyes.
Lee turned back from the water to look at Alison. He was excited too, wanting to see how his new “aqua vest” worked in the real world. “How’s that?” he looked over the straps on the vest.
“It feels fine.”
“Okay, good. Let’s get the rebreather on now.” Chris, standing behind her, lifted the tank and BCD up high enough for her to slide the unit on. Next, Chris lifted the thick oxygen hose over Alison’s head and handed it to Lee, who aligned the hose with the facemask and attached it to the bottom.
“Test, please,” he said, handing the full mask to Alison.
She held it to her face and breathed in. “Yep. Got air.”
Next, Chris snaked the weight belt around her waist and Lee buckled it in front.
Alison pulled the mask strap over her head, while Lee examined the three lights on the vest’s shoulder. All three were lit and steady.
“We have power, link, and camera.” Lee then turned to his laptop on the white fiberglass table to verify connectivity with the onboard servers. “Looking good.” He turned back to Alison. “Ready to test?”
“Sure.”
He activated the translation software and made a motion with his hand for her to speak.
“Hello,” Alison said, inside the mask.
The familiar whistle and clicks were heard almost immediately through the speaker.
“Good. Now remember,” he reminded her, “you have to be looking at them for IMIS to pick it up.”
“I remember.”
Lee looked past Alison’s shoulder to Chris. “Are we good?”
“Yep, we’re good.”
“Okay, Ali. Let’s turn around.”
She nodded and slowly turned around to face the wide, built-in steps at the end of the boat’s starboard hull. She gave them a thumbs-up and grasped the top of the rail on each side. With careful movements, she descended each step until she reached the last one at the water line. She could feel the lapping of the water over her fins and feet.
She looked out over the water at the peaceful blue horizon. With a deep breath, Alison jumped.
Compared to the stifling warm air above, the ocean felt cool and instantly refreshing. It took a few seconds to get her bearings, but Alison adjusted herself and tilted her head back and forth, looking for water leaks in the mask. After verifying that all was still secure, she popped her head up above the waves and twisted around to find the boat.
Alison smiled and gave them the “A-OK” sign before dipping her face back into the water. Less than twenty feet below, hundreds of dolphins were swirling beneath her in every direction.
Alison was searching for them when Sally swam by and playfully bumped her from behind. Alison, you here.
“I am here,” she replied. “Thanks to you.” A moment later, she heard the familiar buzz indicating a translation error. It didn’t matter.
“Where is Dirk?”
I here, he answered, swimming to her excitedly. We home Alison, we home. We show you.
Alison pivoted forward and kicked after them. “Yes, show me.”
Together, Dirk and Sally descended into the darkening blue water and turned for a moment, waiting for Alison. When she caught up, they dove further, before stopping to wait again. Come Alison.
She laughed and rolled her eyes inside her mask. “I’m coming!”
She let more air out of her BCD and sank further, into the heart of the immense pod. The dolphins she had seen from above now swarmed from every direction, darting past her with amazing precision. Alison reached out and grazed one with her fingertip as it glided up and around her. She turned and watched in awe. Dolphins were everywhere.
She noticed several dolphins bump one another and jet away as if playing a game.
Incredible, she thought, listening to the translations.
Come we
Metal
Get food
Find them leave
Where
Alison blinked and twisted back around. Dirk and Sally had disappeared, and she realized she was becoming surrounded. The chatter in her earphone was now coming from everywhere. “Sally, Dirk? Where are you?” She looked below, then up above. All she could see was the giant shadow of the boat floating overhead.
Going
People here
She talk
I hear talk too
People talk
Alison turned again and found several dolphins had stopped a few feet in front of her, watching her curiously.
You talk, one of them said.
She talk
Who she
She talking
Alison tried to identify which dolphin was speaking, but there were too many. She turned back to those closest to her, still unable to find Dirk and Sally.
“Hello,” Alison simply said.
The dolphins moved their tails excitedly. You talk us. How you talk.
The pod was still surrounding her, but now more dolphins were slowing and staring at her.
Alison thought for a moment and spoke slowly. “My name is Alison. I talk with this metal.” She heard the translation come through the speaker, noting the different combination of whistles and clicks that identified her name. It was a crude, but unique compilation they had created in the lab to designate her name. It probably sounded like gibberish, but at least it was a pattern the dolphins could repeat.
Alison
Alison
Name Alison
Alison Dirk Sally friend
Talk again
“Wait,” Alison said. She was trying to follow who was speaking but turning her head to hear one would cut off the sentence from another. She was suddenly bumped by a dolphin from behind, who appeared to be examining her rebreather tanks. As she tried to steady herself, she was gently bumped again from the side.
Metal here down come talk
Alison whipped around again. “Wait, easy!” She put out a hand that got bumped as well, spinning her around. “I can’t-
From metal come trip talk metal here down come with us trip metal talk talk Dirk here down Sally
“Wait! Wait!” Alison shook her head and pushed away, clamping a hand over the side of her mask. “Lee, Chris! Can you hear me?!”
Thirty feet above them, Lee leaned forward and grabbed the microphone off the small desk. “Alison, can you hear me?! Alison!”
She couldn’t hear him. The translations were inundating her system so that she couldn’t hear anything over the constant flood of words. There were now dozens of dolphins closely surrounding and trying to speak to her. She was getting bumped from all directions by those curious to find out where her voice was coming from.
“Chris, Lee!” she yelled. “Are you there?!”
Come us metal many friends talk trip come-
Suddenly everything went silent.
“Alison. Alison, can you hear me?” It was Lee’s voice, clear and alone.
“Lee, yes!” She was still getting jostled around and looked at the dolphins who were still talking. “What’s happening?”
“I had to disable the translation. I’ve turned off your microphone and speaker. Can you get to the surface?”
“I think so.” Alison pushed away hard and pumped her legs, sending her to the surface. When she reached the top, she looked around through the fogged mask and spotted Chris. He was already on the bottom step waiting for her. She reached up and he clasped her hands before pulling her up forcefully, which caused her to stumble and fall into his arms. In one quick motion, Chris reached over her head and pulled the mask from her face.
“Are you okay?”
She had to catch her breath. “Y-e-s.” She looked back to see that many of the dolphins had followed her to the surface and were bobbing above the water. They were still talking excitedly.
Lee came running out of the salon and helped her up the rest of the st
eps. They quickly removed her mask along with the tanks from her back, freeing her from most of the weight.
“What happened?” she asked, still out of breath.
Lee frowned. “I think IMIS got confused.”
“Confused?”
“Yeah. It was trying to process too many translations from different directions. It got overwhelmed until it couldn’t sync the words correctly. I’m sorry.”
Alison took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “It wasn’t your fault. I guess we should have expected something like that.”
Chris nodded in agreement. “That’s definitely a response we weren’t ready for.”
“Agreed.” Lee knelt down and helped Alison off with her fins. “You sure you’re okay?”
Alison smirked with amusement and glanced back at the dolphins crowding around the stern of the boat, all still trying to talk. “I didn’t expect them to be more excited than I was.”
Lee was studying his screen when Alison approached from behind with a mug of tea. His monitor was filled with graphs and computer logs from the portable IMIS servers below. The window in the middle of the screen displayed a jumble of crisscrossing lines, presenting all of the different conversations that IMIS had been trying to translate through Alison’s vest unit.
“Wow. That’s what it looks like?”
Lee pursed his lips but kept his eyes on the graph. “Most of it. The problem is the vest.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, not the vest per se. It’s because it’s mobile. The camera is too limited. Back at the lab, we have multiple cameras all synched with each other. It provides a complete picture of the tank from almost any angle, which means nothing gets lost. But the vest has only one camera and it’s small, which means a relatively narrow viewing angle. It’s one thing to view a three-dimensional area like the tank, but it’s another to be right in the middle of it.”
“Meaning it’s easier to lose track of moving objects?”
“Exactly.” Lee leaned back in his hard plastic chair and crossed his arms. “The other problem is that with so many dolphins present, IMIS can’t keep track of who is saying what. The camera limitation just compounds the issue. I should have anticipated that.”
Alison took a sip and laid a hand on Lee’s shoulder. “We can’t think of everything.”
He shook his head. “I should have thought of this.”
“So what do we do?”
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about the camera, at least not here. That’s going to take some design work and a whole lot of testing.” He sighed, still staring at the scrambled lines on the screen. “But I might be able to figure out a workaround. The one thing we haven’t told IMIS to do is to listen for individual tones or pitches. We never had to. We only had two dolphins to worry about. But now it simply can’t differentiate between so many different conversations.”
“Are these servers strong enough to do that?”
Lee nodded. “I think so. I just need to figure out how, and then try to code it.”
“Well, I know this is a long shot, but is there anything I can do to help?”
Lee looked up and smiled. “Nah. Thanks, Ali. It’s just something I need to figure out.”
“I figured as much. What if I at least bring you some dinner?”
“That’s a deal.”
Alison patted him again on the shoulder and stepped through the narrow doorway, heading for the stairs.
Back in the salon, she passed behind Chris at the compact stove. He stood stirring a pot of pasta.
Alison leaned in and sniffed. “Smells good.”
Chris winked. “It’s kind of hard to screw up spaghetti. How’s Lee coming along?”
“He’s trying to find a way to separate the strings of conversation.”
Chris shook his head. “I don’t know how he figures all that stuff out. I pretty much give up when my email doesn’t work.”
“Or when they come from me,” Alison teased.
They both looked at the open sliding glass door as Kelly stepped in from outside. The fading light had turned the sky behind her a dark crimson red. “Okay, the drogue is down, so we shouldn’t drift too far tonight. And we should have pretty good weather for the next couple days.”
“Any sign of Dirk and Sally?”
“Yeah, they’ve come by a couple times to check on us. I think they know we’re having trouble with the translations right now.” She cocked her head for a moment. “At least I think it’s Dirk and Sally.”
Alison laughed. “Oh well, I’m sure they could use the rest.” She reached behind Chris and grabbed some plates. “I’m just hoping Lee can work one of his computer miracles.”
A noise woke Alison up and she rolled over, forcing one eye open in the darkness. It took her a moment to remember where she was and finally recognize the boat’s smooth, white fiberglass walls and ceiling. They were only visible thanks to the soft glow coming through her door.
She cleared her mind and squinted toward the light. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up in her shorts and tank top. Suspiciously, she walked softly down the tiny hallway, following the light.
She knew what she was going to find, but it didn’t make her any less irritated. She pushed the oval door open and stepped out into the small converted cabin. “What on earth are you still doing up?”
The sarcasm was lost on Lee, who looked at her excitedly. “Good, you’re up!” he said, almost jumping out of his chair. “I need to talk to you.”
Alison glared at him. “You know the sun is going to be up in a couple hours, right?”
He couldn’t hide the brief look of guilt. “Uh…yeah. Sorry, I couldn’t sleep.”
A drowsy Chris came downstairs, nearing the end of his watch. “What’s going on?”
“Someone’s been up all night.”
Chris turned to Lee, who was grinning.
“Okay, that’s true,” Lee confessed. “But I have good news!”
Alison’s eyes opened in anticipation. “Did you fix it?”
“I did.”
“Really?’
He shrugged innocently. “It wasn’t that hard. I identified several segments of Dirk and Sally’s speech and overlaid them onto the speech patterns from the other dolphins. Then I removed the differences, which gave me a tonal signature. I’ve now added it to the translation process, so it should filter Dirk and Sally’s speech from the others. It will help keep IMIS from getting confused. Unfortunately, it also means the other dolphins can’t talk directly to you. They’ll have to talk through Dirk and Sally. It’s the best I can do for now.”
Alison and Chris looked at each other. “Lee, you’re amazing!”
“Tell that to my wife.”
Alison started looking away but stopped when she noticed that Lee was still smiling. “What?”
“That’s not what I was working on all night.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “What were you working on then?”
“I have something else to show you guys.” He grabbed the chair and promptly sat back down. He pulled up a new window on his screen that Alison had seen before in Puerto Rico. On one side was video footage. The other side displayed a long list of text, some of which was highlighted in red. The video held a still frame of DeeAnn and Dulce in it. “Recognize this?”
“Aren’t those the translation errors you’ve been trying to figure out?”
“Yes, they are.”
Chris lifted his eyebrows. “Did you find something out?”
Lee smiled. “I think so.” He turned back to the screen. “I was working on the tonality problem when something suddenly occurred to me. When you were underwater today, Alison, and were having problems, I was afraid we were going to find the same synchronizing errors we’ve been having with Dulce: the ones where some of the translated speech is time-stamped incorrectly. Luckily for us, there weren’t any errors. Instead, it was a limitation of how IMIS was instructed to process the data.”
He turned back around to them. “But that got me thinking…what if the errors we’ve been having with Dulce weren’t really errors either?”
Now both Chris and Alison were listening intently.
“Think about this. The one thing that was confusing the hell out of me was that I could see the errors occurring on the screen, but I couldn’t detect any speech related errors in the video. And neither did DeeAnn or Dulce. Therefore, I had to assume they were subtle and still infrequent enough that they would eventually begin to appear as translation drops. But they never did.”
“So, are you saying the errors are not real?”
“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying!” The excitement in Lee’s voice was growing. “At least in a sense. After all, how can you have a problem with a cause, but no effect?” He looked back and forth between them. “The answer is…you don’t! It’s because the effect is the problem! In other words, if you can’t observe the effect, there is no problem.”
Chris furrowed his brow. “I think you just lost me.”
“What I’m saying, is that I was trying to find a cause to something that wasn’t really a problem.”
“But,” Alison cut in, looking back at Lee’s monitor. “I thought the computer errors were the problem?”
“That’s what I thought,” Lee nodded. “But then I asked myself, what if the computer was wrong? What if it was confused, like it was today with the vest?”
“So you’re saying there’s no problem?”
Lee was smiling widely now. “Right.”
“And the log entries in the computer are wrong.” Chris continued.
Lee suddenly held up his finger at what Chris said. “Actually, no!”
“No?” Chris looked back to Alison, confused. “I’m lost again.”
“This is the exciting part,” Lee replied. “My point is that there is no translation problem, and the entries in the log are valid!”
Chris squinted at Lee. “How can that be?”
“Because,” Alison said, thinking through it. “Those log entries mean something else.”
“Exactly!” cried Lee.
“So what do they mean?”
Lee’s grin grew even wider. “For this, you two might want to sit down.”
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