Echo breakthrough book 6, p.14
Echo (Breakthrough Book 6), page 14
“Nothing,” she answered. “We didn’t know what to say.”
“I see. So, they want to know how we humans became dominant because they want to do the same.”
“We think so,” she nodded, “but that may only be the half of it.”
“And what does that mean?”
Alison looked at Tay. “This is where it may have to do with the lieutenant and his team.”
Tay’s eyes grew with interest. “How?”
“Through Li Na.”
Emerson frowned. “Li Na Wei.”
“That’s right. As you know, Li Na has been exposed to the liquid from the alien ship through a bacterium, transfused and later injected into her bloodstream, where it has been observed actively altering her DNA.”
“I am aware.”
“Then you’re also aware these changes have heightened some of her senses and abilities. In some cases, dramatically.”
“I am.”
“Well, some of those changes, Captain, have to do with communication, namely around frequencies and sounds similar to what the dolphins use.”
He nodded. “Yes. Commander Lawton briefed me.”
“Sir, one of the dolphins with his own special abilities has established a connection with Li Na on a level we don’t fully understand. She uses the English word echo to describe it but it seems to be a much deeper kind of communication and exchange both emotionally and cognitively.”
“Li Na can talk to this dolphin?”
“Yes, and no. In a way, maybe. Dolphins use frequencies for their echolocation, but what Li Na was describing sounded deeper. Like a stronger resonation. So strong that Li Na said it felt like a probing of sorts both emotionally and physically. Which brings us back to IMIS and our translations. Before Li Na left with Neely Lawton, the dolphins kept watching her. You saw them yourself. All day and all night, staring at the ship. At her.”
“But now they’re not.”
“Correct. However, before she left, they were also asking about her. Repeatedly.”
“Constantly,” interjected Ramirez.
“And what were they asking?”
“They were not just asking about Li Na,” said Alison. “They were asking for her.”
“And that means what?”
“They wanted her. Or so we thought. But now we think what they really wanted was access to her.”
“Access.”
“Yes. This is where it all comes together. And perhaps even sounds a little crazy. Like we said, the dolphins have been wanting to know more about us and how we do things. Very specifically. But until recently we didn’t understand their questions, because of our limited vocabulary. However, if their special dolphin, whom we nicknamed Edwin, could connect with Li Na on a deeper, more effective level, they may have just decided to get it directly from her.”
Tay tilted his head. “What, like a download?”
“Not really. Or maybe. We don’t know exactly what he was getting, or gleaning, from Li Na. Maybe it was more like how she saw things or her understanding of the physical world. We’re only guessing at this point.”
“If we’re guessing, then why does any of this even matter?”
“Because,” replied Alison. “Because of what else it may have been.”
The captain shook his head. “I feel like I’m hearing a puzzle.”
“Tell me about it,” she replied. “Okay, so that’s the background. And this is where it finally ties into Lieutenant Tay’s team.”
Alison paused and took a deep breath. “If the dolphins were able to glean things directly from Li Na, then there is no reason to think that bringing her a little closer would have affected that, at least when it comes to the exchange between them. BUT…they very clearly wanted her in the water.”
“But you just said having her closer wouldn’t have changed whatever they were already deriving from her.”
“That’s right, I did. But there may be another reason they wanted her in the water.”
Tay suddenly spoke, looking almost hypnotized. “The ship.”
Alison nodded. “The ship.”
“What does the ship have to do with it?”
“This, Captain, is where we start deducing. The dolphins want to know more. We know that. They’re hungry for it. Maybe even desperate. But they can’t get much out of us because of IMIS’s limitations. But now they find Edwin can draw knowledge from Li Na. But knowledge is a funny thing, because when we humans really want to know something, we want it all. We want the complete answer. Not theory but fact.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you.”
“Let me put it this way. If you’re in a room with several people and need to learn the most you can, quickly, who are you going to talk to?”
Emerson shrugged. “The smartest one?”
“Exactly. You’re going to go to the most knowledgeable source. Or, in this case, the smartest person in the room. Which is exactly what the dolphins are doing!” Alison’s voice grew increasingly excited. “Dolphins know humans are more advanced than they are. No question. But who is more advanced than humans?”
“The people who built that spaceship,” muttered Tay.
“Bingo! Whoever built the ship. So, if the dolphins are, in fact, able to somehow draw knowledge directly from Li Na, or more specifically, through Li Na, maybe they didn’t just want her in the water. Maybe they wanted her in the ship itself!”
40
Both men stood frozen in the lab staring at Alison, part stunned and part incredulous.
There was no clarification needed of what she had just suggested. None at all. No questions, leaving only the significance to be considered.
Emerson blinked several times, thinking. “They want her inside the ship.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re sure about this.”
“Almost positive.”
He noted the budding look of satisfaction on both of their faces. “Something tells me there’s more.”
“There is more,” she said, forming a grin. She then looked at Ramirez. “Your turn.”
“Lieutenant,” he said to Tay. “You said you haven’t been able to decipher the diagrams in the alien ship.”
“That’s right.”
“Even using IMIS.”
He nodded. “Borger and Kenwood uploaded some of the diagrams into IMIS, but it hasn’t spit out anything yet. You know that.”
“Yes, we do. And it’s been months now.”
“That’s right.”
“And no telling how much longer it will take.”
“That’s what you’ve told us.”
“Captain,” said Ramirez, “this is the other reason we think the dolphins wanted Li Na in the ship. The last time IMIS took this long to find even a single translation was in the very beginning when we first started. When it was first sifting through all our data. All the data we had on the dolphins.
“What if,” Ramirez said, speaking for both himself and Alison. “What if…whatever language the alien symbols are in, are somehow more similar to dolphin language than human language?”
Emerson looked at Tay.
“IMIS,” continued Ramirez, “is programmed by humans, which means that its learning algorithms are chiefly human. This may be why IMIS took so long to finally figure out its first dolphin words. Because it was all so different, so alien, to the way our human minds fundamentally operate.”
“Dolphin brains are almost identical to ours,” Alison said. “But that doesn’t mean their language works in the same fashion. After all, their environment could not be more different from ours. And language is a creation to allow animals to communicate within their immediate environment.”
“Are you saying the dolphins may have a better shot at deciphering this alien language than we do?”
Alison and Ramirez both shrugged. “We really don’t know.”
“Then what exactly are you proposing?”
Alison looked at Tay. “Any chance you have a dive suit that will fit Li Na when she gets back?”
41
The Grand Strand Medical Center was located on the coast of South Carolina’s Grand Strand community less than five miles northeast of Myrtle Beach. It was a 371-bed acute care hospital providing exceptional cardiac, neurosurgery, and pediatric care. And more importantly for Clay and Caesare’s sake, it housed the best Adult Trauma Center in Horry and Georgetown counties.
Both men were comfortably resting in the same room on the second floor, where Caesare’s snoring prompted many humorous glances between Li Na and Neely, who were sitting across from each other at the foot of either bed.
Li Na’s eyes moved to Clay to find he was also out cold before she slowly pushed herself up from the plastic chair.
“I’m going to stretch my feet.”
Neely grinned. “Stretch your legs.”
“Yes, I will stretch those, too.”
Neely returned her attention to her laptop as Li Na passed her, reaching the giant wooden door, and quietly pulling it open.
She stepped out and quickly closed it behind herself to keep the noise out before looking up and down the peach-painted hallway, watching as several staff moved past her from different directions.
Li Na observed the quiet commotion and followed one nurse as she bustled down the hall around several pieces of equipment parked along the walls.
It was overwhelming. Odors wafted past her, with the strongest being chemical antiseptics. Then smells including latex and bandages followed by whiffs of flowers distracted her. And then there were the sounds, loud and overwhelming, picked up by Li Na’s overly sensitive eardrums—talking, beeping systems from dozens of different rooms, patients coughing, the clicking of keyboards from a nurse’s station at the end of the hall, the air conditioning and a dozen other sounds she could not identify. Everything swirled around her in a constant, crushing cacophony of stimuli, forcing the teenager to concentrate and filter out what she could until she caught a hint of something else. Something pleasant.
She turned her attention to a waist-high metal cart further down the hall stacked with dozens of trays with round chrome-colored covers on top.
She strode toward it, curious, noting an orderly dressed in blue scrubs emerge from one of the distant rooms and continue pushing the cart to the next door.
Li Na continued silently walking, peering through the doorways of the rooms as she passed them, watching the orderly stop again and withdraw another tray from the cart, this time turning and suddenly smiling broadly as he disappeared inside the next opening.
“Hello, Isabella…”
Li Na stopped near the door and listened. The man was talking with a young girl.
Li Na looked down at the tray and sniffed. The aroma she had noticed was pork coming from a few of the trays. The old man was delivering dinner to the patients.
She remained silent, listening as the man continued with the girl, speaking in an affectionate tone that reminded Li Na of her grandfather. Low, yet nurturing.
It was a nice memory.
When she was very young, playing with his long white stringy beard as he laughed with her. He hadn’t lived much longer after that, perhaps until she was five or six, but she remembered his beard, his laugh, and the soft, reassuring tone of his voice. Masculine and caring.
And his pork. He always made her the best braised pork.
Li Na raised her head, noticing the light gray linoleum, and followed it absently as it stretched down the hallway in the opposite direction past half a dozen sets of legs walking back and forth, until noticing a pair of dark shoes and slacks. Her eyes traveled upward to the figure’s chest and head, looking into the face of a large man who was staring directly at her through a set of intense brown eyes. He was dressed in a uniform.
His eyes were locked onto her, and he immediately began walking in her direction. He was less than a hundred feet away.
Li Na stepped back, pushing the tray out of her way, barely noticed by the orderly who finally reemerged and strode to the cart, picking up a piece of paper and crossing something off.
Li Na now hastily walked away, watching the man approaching until he suddenly quickened his pace.
She whipped around and headed as quickly as she could in the opposite direction, scouring the walls and doors for an exit.
She was already near the end of the hall and none of the doors led anywhere. They were all rooms and she couldn’t even find any staff. Finally, she spotted a side hallway and sped up, turning the corner and finding herself in another short hallway with more rooms. With another right turn she arrived at the end.
Li Na was now running, desperately looking in through each doorway for someone—anyone.
She glanced back and suddenly came to a stop. The man had not turned the corner.
She waited nervously
He should have reached it by now. Where was he? What had happened? Had he changed his mind? Or had he wanted someone else?
Li Na turned forward again and nearly screamed when he appeared almost on top of her from the other direction!
She flailed her arms, pushing him away, frantic to keep his giant hands from grabbing her. And his voice. Deep and frightening. It jumbled along with all the other sounds flooding in through her ears.
“Easy! Easy!”
She tried to run just as one of his paws locked onto her elbow.
“Ma’am! Ma’am!” His words became louder. “Take it easy!”
Li Na froze, staring at him, her eyes wide with fear. His eyes were dark but not evil.
He didn’t have the smell. Nothing foul or putrid.
“Calm down,” the man said. His hand was like a vice on her arm. “Calm down!”
She let her arms go limp and stared at him.
“Are you okay?”
She didn’t answer.
“Do you need help?”
“What?”
“You look upset. Do you need help?”
“N-no.”
“Are you a patient here?”
She shook her head. “I’m visiting a friend.”
The large man nodded, his eyes still looking her over.
“Why…were you chasing me?”
“You were standing next to the food cart for a long time. I didn’t know if you were doing something or just hungry. We have to be careful these days.” He looked behind him to see the bustling had resumed. “Who are you visiting?”
She pointed past the nurse’s station. “John Clay.”
“Li Na?!”
It was Neely, running up behind the man.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
The guard stepped back and gently released her. “Nothing. I thought she might be lost.”
“Are you okay, Li Na?”
“Yes.”
The man stepped further back and turned, addressing Neely. “I think she needs something to eat.”
***
The cafeteria was huge, much bigger than the Pathfinder’s galley but with worse food.
Li Na sat across from Neely, staring down into the mug of hot tea in front of her, her hands wrapped around both sides for warmth. She’d thought the tea on the ship was bad.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Neely.
“I am sorry for the confusion.”
“What happened?”
She looked up with a shrug. “I thought he was trying to capture me.”
“Why would he be trying to capture you?”
“Everyone seems to be. I saw his clothing…”
“His uniform?”
“Yes. I thought he had been sent for me.”
“I see,” Neely frowned to herself. “I’m sorry you were afraid.”
“I don’t…” Li Na sadly pursed her lips. “I don’t know who to trust anymore.” After hesitating, she said, “Do you think people will ever stop searching for me?”
Neely sighed. “I don’t know. Perhaps. When we fix what’s happening to you.”
“Then they won’t try to find me anymore?”
“I don’t know that. I really don’t.” Neely reached out and laid a hand on Li Na’s. “You’re the first one to have this happen. The first and last. But a lot of people want it.”
“So, what do I do?”
Neely didn’t have an answer.
“What do I do now?” Li Na repeated. “If they will always chase me, then I will have to live on your ship forever.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Then where else? Where else could I go?”
“Li Na, listen to me,” she squeezed the girl’s hand. “We’re going to fix this. We’re going to fix this!”
“But if we can’t…they will never stop. “I helped you stop him,” she said. “That man that was killing people. What else can I do to be safe?”
“We’re going to figure it out.”
It was all Neely could think to say.
42
“Rise and shine, yahoos, it’s daylight in the swamp!”
Both men looked up from their beds to see Will Borger enter the room carrying four cups in one hand and a white paper bag in the other.
“I brought everyone fresh donuts and coffee.”
Caesare frowned from his bed. “You understand we’re trying to get out of here, not in, right?”
“Oh, come on,” scoffed Borger. “A few donuts never killed anyone.”
Caesare turned and looked at Clay. “We don’t know that.”
Borger ignored the remark and offered coffees to Neely and Li Na, who both passed. Clay and Caesare each took one. Li Na was the only one to pull a donut out of the bag.
“It takes more than that to hurt my feelings.” Borger smiled happily as he reached into his bulging pocket to retrieve a can of Jolt cola, popping it open. “So, how are we feeling today?”
“Better. I don’t know about John, but now I’m just staying for the food.”
The rest couldn’t help but laugh.
Clay took a sip of coffee and winced, placing it down on the small cabinet between them. “I’ll hold out for my orange juice.”
