by Mark Wandrey
The massive orca shook his head and up and down. “They hurt see me?”
“Yes,” Terry said. He’d been warned more than once about being too truthful with the cetaceans, but they weren’t naturally schooled in subterfuge, or even misdirection. He wasn’t entirely certain they didn’t know how to lie. Dr. Orsage was constantly studying that aspect of their personality.
“We no want see them,” Kray said. “Not see is good.”
“We agree,” Terry said.
“Protect moms,” Kray said.
“Moms?” Terry wondered aloud. “My mom isn’t in any danger.”
“Not you mom, our soon mom.”
Terry blinked and looked at the massive orca who slipped part of the way underwater, his pectoral fin slapping the water lazily. Soon mom, he thought. “Do you mean yours is pregnant?”
“I can no be mom,” Kray said, his translated words conveying a sense of amusement.
Terry felt his cheeks grow hot. “I know you can’t get pregnant,” Terry said. “Are one of the girls pregnant?”
“I be mom,” Moloko said.
“Oh, shit,” Terry said. He got up and ran to the elevator.
* * *
“Nobody can know about this,” his mom said. Within minutes of his running into her office with the news, she’d called all the senior staff to tell them. Terry stood aside, surprisingly not chased out of the office, and listened as the adults discussed what to do.
“I think it gives weight to the statement of their natural innocence in this,” Dr. Patel said. “If we told the investigators—”
“If we told them, they might take it the wrong way,” she cut the man off. “We can’t predict what they would say or do.”
More of the doctors nodded, then shook their heads. Terry knew how persuasive his mom could be. She got up and limped over to the window overlooking the orca tanks. Several were swimming in lazy circles around a sunbeam shining in through one of the many skylights.
“Have all the cetaceans tested,” she said, “ASAP.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Dr. Jaehnig said.
“Assuming none of the others are pregnant, I want them all on pregnancy suppressants.”
“Do you think that’s necessary?” Dr. Orsage asked.
“What do you think would be the results of a slew of births with their...altered personalities?”
“You know I have no clue,” the woman replied.
“All the more reason to put the brakes on this,” she replied and then looked at them. “I’d like to know why nobody witnessed the mating, and how long ago it was.”
“I can answer that,” Dr. Hernandez said. She looked a little surprised that the expert on their bottlenose dolphins was the one to talk. She nodded for him to proceed. “When I got your message, I was within earshot of the bottlenoses, who heard your call. They all knew about it.”
“How?” she wondered.
“I don’t know, but they also knew when the pregnancy happened. They gave me a number of days, so on my way down I ran the recordings back.” He handed his slate to her, and she looked at the images. Despite the machine being largely transparent, Terry couldn’t see anything on it. “The date they gave was precise.”
“They’re talking to each other somehow,” she said.
“Not possible,” Dr. Patel said. “They’re never closer than having several meters of concrete between them. The two orca pods, possibly. But the orcas and bottlenoses? Impossible.”
“Regardless,” his mom said, looking down at the display, “this is interesting. Carry out the tests, and we’ll go from there.”
After a minute, they all left the office. Only then did she realize Terry was still there. “You’ve been here the whole time?” He gave a cockeyed smile and she shook her head before smiling herself. “Thank you for bringing me the information.”
“What was I supposed to, keep it quiet?’
“Definitely not,” she said and limped over to him. “You know the world government has been talking about convening a tribunal?” Terry nodded. “That doesn’t mean anything will happen soon, but it does mean they’re going to begin deliberating on what should be done.”
“Are we going to testify, like in court?”
“Only if there’s a trial,” she said. “The meetings we had with Dr. Taumata were our only chance to talk it out. We’re past that now.” She sighed, moving over to a chair and slowly lowering herself into it. “The world court doesn’t know what they’re doing, so this will take time. In the meantime, we’ll just do what we can, and hope.”
That night at dinner, his mom picked up her phone when a message came in. “What’s up?” Terry asked.
“Dr. Jaehnig has the data on the test.” Terry put his fork down and listened. “Only the female Resident, Moloko, is pregnant. None of the other orcas or any of the bottlenoses are.”
“Is that good?”
“Yes,” she said. “They’re going over all the camera footage, though, to see how much loving has been going on.” Terry laughed, and she smiled at him. “Based on the date from our recordings, Moloko is 10 months pregnant. She’ll be due between June and August.”
Terry grinned. A baby orca would be cool. At least it was something to look forward to in the coming months, and would take his mind off of his parents’ impending divorce. They ate the rest of their meal in silence, both wrapped in their own thoughts.
* * * * *
Part 2 – Exodus
Chapter 1
Molokai Middle School, Molokai Hawaii, Earth
May 31st, 2037
The entire class looked up in alarm as a rattle rolled through Molokai Middle School. Several students yipped in surprise, and one boy gave a little scream. In the following silence, his friends gave the kid a good ribbing.
Terry listened and waited with the practice of a long-time resident of the Hawaiian Islands. Earthquakes were sometimes a daily occurrence. A single shudder shock, though? Unusual. It reminded him a little of the brief activity period from Wailau—or the East Molokai Volcano, as the tourists called it—five years ago. Only in that case, it was a series of intense shocks, not just one.
“Everything looks fine,” the teacher said, holding up her hands, “probably just an earthquake.” The kids who were native or long term residents all looked at each other skeptically, probably thinking the same thing as Terry.
An hour later at lunch, Terry realized a few kids were missing from his class. His school wasn’t large—less than 50 seniors in all—but he wouldn’t have noticed a few missing if someone else hadn’t mentioned it as he was passing.
“Did you see Katrina Long was pulled out?” someone said.
“Yeah, Colin, too,” another said.
“Earthquake fever,” Yui said with a smirk as they found their customary table. The friends had only just started to eat when they felt the next tremor. This time Terry noted a long, low reverberation following the shock. Unlike an earthquake, this one he heard instead of felt through his feet. What the hell? he wondered. It was almost like an explosion, only it went on for several seconds before trailing off.
The second one was followed by several more over the course of his lunch hour. They seemed almost regular. He’d been trying to have a conversation with Yui about a dive they’d been talking about. Since it was the last day of school, Doc had offered to take them on a celebratory dive the next day. But every time they got into the conversation again, there was another shock and rumble. He looked up and saw several of the teachers by the exit, talking. Now he knew something was up.
“Yo, Terry!” Ben Stevenson called from the next table over.
“What’s up?” Terry asked. Ben held up his tablet and waved for Terry to come over. Terry glanced in the direction of the teachers. Using computers during school was against the rules, even during lunch. The adults were in a huddle of conversation, and they had a tablet, as well. He glanced at Yui, who nodded, and the two slipped over next to their friend.
/> “Check this out,” Ben said and clicked on the screen, bringing up the web page for a local television station.
“This video was shot live by an observer and sent to us at WFFV,” a man’s voice said. There was a moment of poor camera control, typical of someone shooting with their phone. The view jerked around before suddenly focusing on an unmistakable shot of the PCRI. Terry recognized it instantly; the view was shot from the road above and behind the institute.
For a few seconds he thought there’d been another protest by the Faith of the Abyss, which happened almost every day. Immediately, his fear evolved to thinking it was a bomb attack or something like that. When the camera swung around to show the main road up to the institute, it was blocked by a sea of flashing emergency lights. Oh, no, he thought.
“What’s going on?” Yui asked.
“Wait for it,” Ben said. A second later, a ship plummeted out of the sky, its engines flashing like stars as they fired. It slowed steadily as it descended. As it slowed to a stop, a thunderous Booom rolled across the person filming the events, and the recording jerked all over the place again.
“We’re hearing sonic booms!” said another kid, who was watching the video over their shoulders.
“How do you know?” another kid asked. They’d apparently drawn a crowd.
“My brother’s a merc,” the kid said. “His outfit’s in Houston, and he says ships make those sounds when they come down from orbit.”
Terry watched the scene intently, trying to will the person filming to refocus on the action. He was about to yell at the tablet when it finally refocused, and he watched a huge ship settle down into the upper parking lot, the one used by staff. Even before the ship began to lower toward the ground, he could see the concrete was blasted black. It hadn’t been the first ship to land.
“Terry Clark!”
He looked up at the authoritative voice. Doc, Mr. Abercrombie at school, was standing with the teachers, waving him over. He immediately walked over to him. Everyone around was watching him. “Yes, Mr. Abercrombie?” He was terrified.
“Your mother said to take you to the institute immediately,” he said.
“What’s going on?”
Terry hadn’t noticed Yui had followed him over. “I don’t know,” he said and looked at Doc.
“She’ll tell you when we get there. Come on.” He gently took Terry by the shoulder and led him toward the lunchroom exit.
“What about Yui?”
Doc looked back at her, still standing by the other teachers, looking confused and afraid. He glanced down at Terry, then back at her. “Say goodbye,” he said. “Quickly.”
Terry went over to Yui, not knowing what to say. He finally settled on, “See you soon.”
“What’s going on?” she asked again. Her eyes were shinning with unshed tears. “Why won’t anyone tell us?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll call you as soon as I know.” He held up his phone.
She took hers out and nodded. “As soon as you do?”
“Yes,” he said. “Promise.” Before he knew what to say, she grabbed him and hugged him. Doc’s strong hands gently took him and pulled him back. Yui’s lips brushed his cheek so gently he wasn’t sure it had really happened. Doc led him to the door, and he looked back. The image of her standing there, tears now streaming down her cheeks, was etched in his mind’s eye like a laser cut image.
Outside, Doc took him to the teacher’s parking lot, and they got into his old 2016 Ford pickup. He’d bragged about it the one other time Terry’d ridden in it. “No damned auto-drive, just like I prefer.”
After making sure Terry was buckled in, Doc fired up the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, heading down the coastal road faster than Terry thought was safe. As they approached the institute, he cut off the main road and up away from the beach.
“Where are we going?” Terry asked.
“Up to the employee parking lot.”
“That’s the next road down.”
“Only if you use the road.”
Terry was about to ask him what he meant when Doc slowed down. He turned off the road and right through somebody’s immaculately-tended front yard. Terry let out an uncomplimentary squeak and grabbed the bar mounted to the dashboard. Doc called it the “Jesus Bar,” and for the first time, Terry knew why.
The truck bounced over a hedge and onto a small dirt road. Doc drove the truck with casual confidence, managing to impress Terry, despite the terror from the ride. He no longer had any idea where he was, until the dirt road turned, and he was looking down on the institute. He’d looked up behind the buildings many times and had never realized there was a road on the rocky hill. The same ship he’d seen landing just minutes ago was squatting on the charred concrete like a big beetle.
“Hang on,” Doc said and turned off the dirt road.
“Oh, shit,” Terry said, afraid Doc was going to jump down to the parking lot 30 meters below. Instead, there was another dirt road. Or maybe more like a goat path? Either way, the already nerve-wracking ride become terrifying. Terry held the Jesus Bar like his life depended on it, which he was afraid it did.
Then they were skidding to a stop next to the institute’s perimeter fence, and Doc bailed out. “Come on, young man,” he said.
Terry unpeeled his fingers from the bar, his hands hurting from the force he’d been exerting. He unbuckled and got out of the truck. By the time he’d come around to the front, Doc already had a big section of fence pulled back to reveal an opening large enough for both of them. “What about your truck?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Doc said and gently urged Terry through the hole.
Somewhere during the drive, Doc had put on a headset, which he was talking into. “I have him, we’re north of the lot, don’t lift off. I repeat, don’t lift off.” He turned to Terry. “Come on, we need to hurry.” He took Terry’s hand and ran. Terry wanted to know why they needed to run, but just concentrated on keeping up with the man’s much longer strides.
In a short time, they were on the concrete, and the ship loomed above them like a building with rocket engines and landing legs. Terry wanted to gawk and ask a million questions. In every place the previous ships had landed, the concrete was charred into a series of small craters. He tried to imagine how hot those rockets must be to melt concrete. Where the ship sat at the moment were six smoldering burn spots. Holy cow, he thought.
They ran past the ship toward the institute. As they passed to the other side, Terry saw a big tracked machine moving from the bay door at the back of the main aquarium building. It wasn’t going more than a slow, walking pace and was being followed by a dozen of the institute’s staff. None so much as looked up as Doc and he ran by; they were far too intent on the vehicle. It reminded Terry of a gas tanker.
At the back door, his mother was standing with one of the alien slates and all the senior science staff. Here, more staff were moving dollies packed high with all manner of crates. They went by just like the earlier staff, not noticing Terry or Doc, and intent on their tasks.
“Mom!” Terry said when he saw her.
“Oh, Terry,” she said and disengaged from the staff. They looked annoyed as she limped toward him. Terry noticed she was using her cane, a sure sign she’d been on her feet all day and was tired. She pulled him into an embrace. “Doc, thanks so much.”
“My pleasure, Madison,” he said.
“Mom, what the heck is going on?”
“The High Court’s going to rule in a few hours,” she explained, putting a hand on both shoulders. “They want to euthanize the cetaceans.”
Terry’s eyes widened in shock and horror. “Kill them?” His mom nodded her head. “But why?”
“Dr. Trudeau managed to successfully argue that the modified cetacean’s quality of life was sufficiently damaged, and they were a danger.”
“A danger?” Terry demanded. “How? They’re just dolphins!”
“I know it, and you know it, but a
lot of people fear the cult, the Abyss followers. They’ve attacked advocates of our cause.”
“How does that mean the cetaceans are hurting anyone?”
“To us, it doesn’t,” she said, “but to the lawyers, it was a weapon to use against us in arguments.”
“It just isn’t fair.” Terry insisted, “We need to do something.”
“We are,” his mother agreed. “Come inside and I’ll show you.”
They went into the main building, and Terry looked at the nearest orca tank. It was empty, with no sign of the huge whales anywhere.
“You’re hiding them!” he said with an ear-to-ear grin. His mother looked at Doc, then back at him. “Aren’t you?”
“Yeah, kid,” Doc said. “Somewhere they’ll never find them.”
“Where?”
“We’ll explain when we get there,” his mother said.
“I get to go?”
“Absolutely!” She looked at the boxes going by. “Can you go inside and get your stuff together? I left a crate in your bedroom. Only what fits. Understand?”
“Why can’t I take everything?”
She and Doc exchanged the same look. Doc shrugged. “We don’t have time. The court will realize any moment now what we’re doing, and they might send the police.”
“We’re breaking the law?” Terry asked in a hushed tone.
“Yeah,” his mother said and nodded. “But it’s an immoral law that would mandate the cetaceans’ death because of what your father did.” Terry’s face darkened, and she shook her head. “Doc, can you take him up to the apartment?”
“Sure,” he said. “Come on, kiddo, I’ll lend a hand.”
They went to the elevator. The doors opened just as they arrived, and four people came out with carts piled high. Terry saw everything from file boxes to specimen vials. They were emptying the labs upstairs. Doc walked in front of him up to the residence wing, reaching the apartment first, and keyed open the door.
Terry went straight to his room and, just like his mother had said, there was a plastic case sitting on the floor. It was about a meter long, half a meter wide, and more than half a meter tall. It wasn’t big enough to hold all his clothes, not to mention everything else. “I’ll never get everything in there,” he said.
