CLICKS - The Dolphin Prophecy

CHAPTER 9

 “You're right—the oil is natural: it’s found in the ocean and on the beach,” Celeste said, “but when there is a spill, like Deepwater Horizon, that’s man messing with nature; it ruins the balance of things.”

“To say nothing of all the crap they put in after the oil spill,” Blake said. “Couldn’t that be causing all this?”

“Anything’s possible, guys, but nothing that’s been found, so far indicates, that Shay or Darwen’s conditions are being caused by that. I think more people would be susceptible if it were caused by chemicals, or from an oil spill. That, at least, is something that could affect humans. The sonar, really, isn’t.”

I’d been quiet for the most recent exchange; something was running around in my head, but to put words to it would make me seem even more nuts that I already did.

“About that—do the dolphins use sonar to talk?” I asked.

“Sort of. It’s part of a bigger system; their clicks and whistles are more like talking, the way you and I do, but it’s thought that they use their bio-sonar to communicate silently by sending images directly to each other’s melons—you know, that big round spot on their heads.”

“How do you know that?” Blake asked.

“We have extensive studies on sonar, on dolphins working together, and how it works,” Celeste said.

“So, if people could do the same thing; wouldn’t that be sonar?” I asked her.

“Like ESP? Or telepathy? Maybe,” she said. “It does exist in nature, but still, sonar and people? I don’t know of a link.”

“What does all this have to do with Shay?” Mica asked, with a scowl.

“She passed out underwater,” I said out loud. “Instant coma, remember? And, she was breathing. She didn’t swim in the wrong direction and just not come up for air.” I creased my brow in thought. “But, if the sonar can hurt dolphins, maybe it can do the same thing to humans, even if it’s not in exactly the same way.” I was grasping at straws, but it felt important to continue pulling.

 “They’ve been using sonar around here for years,” Mica said, pacing. “Something would have happened before now.”

“But this was a significant enough test to warrant a warning to the fisherman. It’s got to be something different,” argued Blake. “What if it’s like really loud music or something, which can hurt your ears; like that crazy broken squeal a speaker makes when it gets feedback? Last time that happened, I had a headache for days.”

“There are different levels of sound waves,” Celeste said in agreement, “and we have found some dolphins with burst ear drums. But, I agree with Mica. Even if this was causing the problems for the dolphins, which has never been proven exactly, it doesn’t relate to humans.”

“But we have strange ears!” I said. Mica rolled his eyes at me. I’d obsessed over this detail when it was just Shay. Billy had investigated as he’d promised, and had found some internal bleeding, but it had obviously not killed her like the dolphins. So, that knowledge hadn’t helped explain the coma. Now that they had Darwen to compare it to, I hoped they might look into it again. It just felt significant to me, but I had no idea why.

“It would just sound loud to us, Cami,” Billy explained, kindly. “We don’t use echolocation, or hear the same frequencies that dolphins do. I can look into sonar testing on humans to see if there is any proof that it affects the body. Maybe it can cause damage in some other way, but I’ve never come across that info before,” he said, smiling gently. “If we find where it affects the brain, perhaps we can find a way to repair the damage. It’s a long shot, but I’m willing to look into anything that seems like a realistic possibility. In any event, I arranged for a new MRI machine. It should be here in a few days.”