Attunga - 17. Part 17.

Attunga Part 17.

“We won't see Sonic for the rest of the trip?”

“You can watch him Thom, or go with him, but he'll be too busy to come to the Control Centre. I can see that he hasn't stopped moving around for even a minute yet.”

“What's he saying to them?”

A small section of screen showed Sonic in his transport module, communicating with his special InterWeb console, and anticipating Calen's request Wirrin brought up the sound.

“...He's telling them all there's nothing to worry about. ...After two sleeps they'll be out of their crowded pools. ...They're going to get some food soon and they are all pleased about it.”

“All? Is he talking to them all?”

“I think so. He must be from the tone of his voice.”

Wirrin and Thom waited while Calen listened and watched carefully for several minutes.

“Wow! I'm going to find him. The pools are making them nervous because they're not used to being so enclosed, and he's talking non-stop to keep their minds distracted. He might have to keep going for ages. I hope none of them panic.”

“Do you think they might? We've been travelling for an hour and the early pick-ups have been in their pools for much longer than that.”

Panic would be very bad news as one dolphin's distress could affect the whole pod. There had been previous discussion about panic because Earth dolphins were much more susceptible to it than Attunga's enhanced dolphins. Sonic had said he'd be there to help and they'd be all right, but all this attention he was giving wasn't what anyone had expected.

“Not a chance really. I'm just thinking out loud. Turaku's monitoring them all and he'd stop anything happening.”

“Will we go with you?”

“Of course. We probably won't be able to do anything to help, but Sonic will like us being with him.”

And of course he did. He was too busy talking to say so, but he let them know with body bumps and happy nudges. For the next hour and a half the trio watched with growing amazement as Sonic stayed in communication with over 6000 dolphins, guiding them through a melting pot of excitement, stress, and anticipation.Wirrin could only smile with delight when Calen informed them that the last ten minutes of rapid dolphin speech had related the adventures of a young female dolphin separated from her pod and pursued relentlessly through close call after close call by a monstrous tiger shark.

“Dolphins tell stories?”

“They do now Thom. Gelar is going to freak with excitement when he finds out about this.”

And Wirrin could only listen in wonder as 6000 dolphins joined in learning a series of dolphin songs, the last of which was particularly beautiful. He started to softly ask Calen about it but stopped abruptly with the realisation that Sonic was no longer talking.

'Dolphins are happy and will sleep now.'

“What about you? You haven't stopped since we landed at Monkey Mia.”

'Yes. This is hard work for a young dolphin and I want an uncooked, live fish before I sleep.'

The transport module started moving immediately, probably under Turaku's control, and probably to some location where food would be available for Sonic, and the four friends played a subdued and gentle version of the contact games they usually played when they met in the pool at home.

***

“They'll sleep for eight hours now and then another ten for the last part of the journey.”

“I hope so. I've never heard Sonic say anything was hard work before. Even all the work for Meeting day didn't worry him.”

“He's functioning at an extraordinary level Calen. Turaku's monitoring has shown peak after peak of energy output, but none of them are alarming and we're confident that after his sleep period he'll be as full of life as he always is.”

“Energy peaks? What did they match up with?”

“Just what you'd expect. The first contact with Earth dolphins, leading them through the greeting ceremony, each of the four gatherings, distress calls at the time of the attacks, the six loading activities, and this last extended time settling the dolphins in their travelling pools.”

“Has he given any indication of what was hardest for him?”

Calen thought about Gelar's question.

“Not really. It would have been going unconscious and all the distress calls, but he did say it was hard being young and telling older dolphins what to do.”

“Hard? It's astonishing. No human could influence an unknown group of people so
instantly and effectively. We don't understand it.”

“Blue is blue!”

Gelar looked with puzzlement at Akama.

“Honored one?”

“Sonic is Sonic.”

Wirrin, along with everyone else, started thinking on that, and Akama smiled.

“Sonic is unique Gelar. Something new has entered our universe, which, though we are not fully equipped to understand, we have been blessed with the gift of involvement.”

Thom broke the silence as everyone wondered about an appropriate way to respond.

“He's definitely unique. He's turned our lives upside down ever since we've known him, but we've also made him part of us.”

“Yes Thom?”

Now it was Akama waiting for elaboration.

“I think about this sometimes when I wonder what he'd be like without humans and AIs. He'd only know dolphin things, and wouldn't have learnt speaking and reading and music and all the knowledge from the InterWeb. He relies on us for lots of things he's good at but he'd still be special without them. The dolphins knew that as soon as he was born but I'm just not sure if we should be leading him into human ways so much.”

Wirrin was quite stunned. He'd never heard that idea from Thom at any stage, and from his expression, neither had Calen. There'd be a lot of talk about this at home. Warrigal, Akama and Gelar were exchanging nods.

“We're not sure either Thom, but regardless of what we think, it's not our place to decide an answer. That is for Sonic, and so far he's only evidenced eagerness for our knowledge and ways. Gelar and Turaku have discussed this with him as a serious issue and let him know that we will respect any change in his point of view.”

“You've discussed it? What did he say?”

“There is a 1.7001%, steadily decreasing, likelihood of disengagement with humans and AIs.”

“1.70. ...Is that a quote?”

“A direct quote.”

Thom looked at Calen with a mixture of disbelief and laughter.

“He teases Turaku?”

“If he said that then he does. It's new to me.”

The trio grinned at each other. Typical Sonic, do something that no one else on Attunga would dream of.

There were lots of things to talk over with him but they'd all have to wait. He was as deeply asleep as any young dolphin was capable of being.

***
 

“Thom! You'll need to work out a different approach course when we get close to Attunga, and limit yourself to 2G.”

“I will? What's happened?”

The Comet was only several hours away from Attunga and Wirrin was seated at his Info-Station and bringing everyone up to date with information and conditions which concerned the final stage of the journey. Between the two sleep periods he'd had another six hour session under Turaku's tutelage, practising, mastering and extending his skills with the station, and now everyone was standing round, watching expectantly to see what sort of magic he might produce.

“The three K74 offensive ships have all moved close to Attunga and their scanners are much stronger than the drones, so you'll have to be even more careful than when we left to sneak past.”

“That doesn't make sense? They won't be expecting us to arrive for days and days.”

“They're not looking for us. Not specifically, though they will eventually. The prediction that K74 would make Attunga and Warrakan the focus of their attention is starting to happen and that's why they've sent their big ships.”

“What? They're not going to attack are they?”

“Not directly. They have been trying very persistently to infiltrate our Information Systems and they are also creating problems with the InterWeb.”

Thom was incredulous.

“No way! ...They can't can they?”

“They haven't got a hope, but they're slowing down the incoming transmissions from everywhere else by flooding all the channels with vast amounts of data.”

“Infiltration and data flooding are separate issues aren't they?”

Warragul asked the question but he didn't look very concerned.

“Yes they are, but they send their Info-seek programs under the cover of a data burst because they think our security systems will be overloaded and they can slip in. It worked for them at the Freedom Habitat so they're trying the same tactic again, but on a massive scale.”

“And it's actually slowing down the InterWeb?”

“The first three bursts did, but the Communication AIs have now installed extra analysis processors to sift out the cyber junk, and anything from now on will just get diverted as data garbage.”

“Sounds like it's all electronic stuff that won't really affect us. I'd better go and change the course now if I'm going to be limited to 2G.”

Thom headed off to the pilot's console.

“Has anything else happened? Cyber infiltration isn't really much of a behaviour change for them.”

“Yes, a number of things. There's a ten percent increase in applications for travel to Attunga and most of them have a hidden connection with K74. There have been requests for research data from scientists in Directed and Semi-Directed Habitats asking about breakthroughs in scanning techniques, a delegation of K74 diplomats wants to talk to Akama. ...And the Cadre of five is so angry they want Attunga blown to pieces.”

Thinking that maybe he'd delivered a touch of the dramatic magic they'd been anticipating, Wirrin checked the range of stunned looks.

“Assessment says they didn't mean that literally. It was said soon after the comment about an 'arrogant little piss-pot colony', when they were discussing their failure at Monkey Mia.”

“Angry men! Where does this information come from? I haven't yet heard of any meeting Wirrin.”

“The AI on K74 sent the meeting transcript and I found it all on the Security AI's current situation report.

Turaku's report says the dolphins are all asleep except for the pod where the baby was born, Sonic's in a deep logging state, and Attunga-Turaku has sent word that Puck and Flute have travelled to Warrakan to help with the dolphins when they leave the Comet.”

“I see, and does the report have details of the meeting? Any indications of K74's
intentions are very important.”

“No, but I've had a look at it and it's very interesting.”

Warrigal laughed.

“Well, that makes us all ears. Tell us the details.”

“The five of them got together because the message that things had gone wrong on Earth went straight back to them. They didn't want to accept it because they'd used their best technology and they couldn't believe it wasn't good enough. They blamed their scientists till they heard that the first drones disappeared into nowhere in a few seconds and that the second lot, along with their ships disappeared as well. Next they were told that some sort of stealthing must be in use because 1400 dolphins vanished from the scanners of their low orbit ships when the collision dive was happening. The stealthing was verified when the images of dolphins safe in their travelling pods was broadcast on the InterWeb and they knew there must be a vessel they couldn't detect.”

“It would have been mysterious watching each group of dolphins wink out of existence.”

“That only came as secondary information because they were ordered to leave before the dolphin loading started. The biggest shock for the Cadre was being told that the suicide ship was evaporated. They couldn't believe it wasn't atomics, but their own ships had the scans which showed it wasn't. They've ordered their scientists to find out what the new weapons are.”

“Was there any discussion about why they want to meet with me?”

“Yes, a great deal. They want to find out a lot more about you in person because you're the boss of Attunga and everything that happens comes from you.”

“That's what they think? Even though they know Attunga is an Open Habitat?”

“They don't really believe the Open part. They think someone has to be running everything, and because of your position it must be you.”

“I see. ...It will be an interesting meeting.”

That really surprised Wirrin and he turned in his seat.

“You'll actually talk to them?”

“Our nearest neighbour and the most powerful non-planetary Habitat. Why not?”

“Um. It seems like a change of pattern. We mostly just protect ourselves and ignore them, like with their space surveillance. The same with the drones that attacked the dolphins. We made them disappear and didn't say anything.”

“We'll maintain the pattern Wirrin, but in a very polite manner.”

“What about the dolphins? They'll want to know about them.”

That was Gelar.

“We will very diplomatically point out our respect for life in all its forms and let them know absolutely nothing. Excuse me everyone. It's very evident I have a number of reports to catch up on.”

Gelar and Calen left as well because dolphins would be waking soon and there were things to discuss with their human companions. Warrigal moved close and watched while Wirrin brought up a graphic representation of Thom's course change.

“You've become very skilful with the Info-Station Wirrin. Have Akama and Turaku been pushing you too hard?”

Wirrin held back a laugh because it was Warrigal, his Mentor, asking the question.

“I'm not really that good. It just looks that way because the system is so powerful it makes it easy to do impressive things. I'll have to work for ages and really get to know it before I call myself skilful. I've only learnt a fraction of its capabilities so far and it's been exciting to have Turaku help me directly.”

“All those hours of non-stop concentration wasn't hard work?”

“It was, but it was fun hard work, and mostly the time goes before I can think about it.”

“High involvement. Good! To what extent do you want to continue your involvement?”

Wirrin was quite taken aback. He thought his keenness for the Info-Station was blatantly obvious.

“What do you mean? ...As much as I can.”

“Akama is hoping you'll add a day of Info-Station related work to your EdCom structure, as well as a Psychology course, and I'm concerned about your study load.”

“I already do more than a day of Info-Station work, so that's covered.”

“He means in addition to that.”

“Extra? Then I'd have to leave something else out. It's already way too complicatedwith all the alterations and the number of times I need to be with Calen and Sonic.”

“That's the way I see it too, and it would have to come from your Basic training days as your Electives are too important.”

“Basics? I can't drop those. They're. ...Well they're basic. And I need them to finish First Level.”

Warrigal cocked his head to one side.

“Wirrin, Basic training has no relevance for you, or Thom and Calen. You've given more to Attunga than we can ever repay. Your status is way beyond Second Level and those rights are yours as a matter of course. I apologise for not making that more clear but I was assuming you understood. We'll all get together to discuss it when we're back on Attunga.”

“Second Level rights? Are you sure?”

“Much more than Second Level in real terms.”

Wirrin understood, but he couldn't help feeling astonished and excited. Normally when young people finished their First Level training they had approximately fifteen years ahead of them before deciding whether to tackle Second Level. In that time they had free reign to explore and develop in any and every life path they wished, with appropriate support from EdCom. Almost a third of Attunga people took on the five years of Second level education as soon as it became available at age thirty-five, while most of the
rest continued in their chosen life path with the knowledge they could access level training whenever they wished.

A number of people became 'sleepers', and filled their life with entertainment and the huge range of exciting leisure activities, but after varying periods of time usually a particular interest took hold which they then developed.

The Second Level rights that Wirrin was so excited about involved increased living space, a big increase in energy allocation, greater access to information, and the most important right for most people, of the complicated age extension treatments. This was big news which affected their everyday life and Thom and Calen would be hearing about it at the first opportunity.

“Where does the Psychology course come from? I've never been interested, and Akama hasn't mentioned anything.”

“He will. He's always been interested in you and your future.”

“Me?”

Wirrin knew that very well and his question was an effort to elicit extra information. Warragul smiled in understanding of the little ploy.

“Yes, you. He's keen to help you realise your broader capabilities.”

This time Wirrin's question was from genuine puzzlement.

“Capabilities?”

“You're thoughtful, and very much a leader.”

“I'm not a leader. That's a bizarre idea.”

“It is? ...Who holds your trio together?”

“None of us. ...I mean, we all do.”

“Ask Thom and Calen and see what their answer is.”

"None of my EdCom evaluations ever said anything like that.”

“And that means you haven't checked for a while.”

Wirrin thought for a moment.

“Akama is complicated.”

“He certainly is, by nature, by training, and by virtue of his position. He's changed my future as well, in the course of the last few days.”

This was very interesting and Wirrin waited expectantly for more information. Surprisingly, Warragul gave a gentle laugh.

“Another of your capabilities. Here I am confiding in you before there is any confirmation. ...Akama wants me to become the first Witness for humans involved with dolphins.”

Wirrin jumped from his seat, grabbed Warragul's arm in his excitement, then, embarrassed at his liberty, subsided again.

“Warragul, that's the greatest! When do you start?”

“I don't. I have to complete my Witness training and qualify first, which is another three years, and then I have to decide whether I'm suitable for the job.”

“Suitable? That's crazy! ...Oops! Sorry, I mean you're the perfect person. You've been involved in everything since Sonic was born and the dolphins and rangers all like you and say you're important. There aren't any other Witnesses who could say that.”

“Well, thank you Wirrin. In essence you just reiterated Akama's persuasions and I must admit it's a very exciting prospect. But in the meantime...”

He touched a collusive finger to his lips and Wirrin nodded his acknowledgement.

***