Attunga - 21. Part 21.

ATTUNGA Part 21.

“We must be hearing things. Perhaps you should go back to bed?”

“As if that would make any difference, and Sonic's arriving in a few minutes so I couldn't.”

Calen had just amazed Wirrin and Thom with his announcement that he'd been too excited to sleep properly.

“Why is this more exciting than the Monkey Mia attack? You slept through that.”

“Did not!”

Wirrin had to laugh.

“Only because Thom nearly broke your ribs waking you up.”

“This is different. Dolphins are moving to their permanent homes and they know it. Every single pod has been mobbing us for the last few days asking questions and telling Sonic to hurry things up. He's caught their feelings and I catch it from him. I can't help it.”

Everyone was excited. There was no doubt about that. All the dolphin companions and Rangers had been gearing up for the big move for the last few days and the expectation was contagious. Last night Sonic had been so exuberant they'd spent most of his visit laughing at his antics. Wirrin and Thom were almost excited as Calen.

“What exactly are we doing? We can't go to all the reaches. There wouldn't be enough time.”

“You remember Martin? We going with him and his pod. They're part of the largest dolphin group and Sonic is leading them through the interconnects.”

There was a flurry of movement at the access way as Sonic, Puck and Flute darted into the pool.

Calen dived straight in.

***

'Hurry Thom. You must fly the Comet like a lightning bolt for us.'

The expedition got underway. A skimmer trip with three excited dolphins leaping and porpoising all the way to the dolphinarium where the transport modules were waiting for the leg to the Comet, a seemingly long trip to Warrakan with Thom explaining that because of K74 surveillance drones his 4G limit meant he couldn't go as fast as lightning, another link in the transporters and then a short skimmer trip to the rendezvous point.

Oh my! The reach was alive with activity, skimmers darting everywhere and dolphins sounding in all directions. Wirrin took in how observers were waving as they passed. Sonic leapt from the water with a call of greeting then powered towards a whole convoy of skimmers and a great crowd of dolphins. Twenty pods in this group were travelling together to their new reach, all with their associated humans and various other dolphinarium people. An arm raised in greeting and the unmistakable shock of white hair identified Akama. Sonic erupted into the air in front of him then darted off amongst the surrounding dolphin pods.

“What's he doing?”

“He's called the pod leaders together to meet Akama.”

Twenty dolphins, following Sonic, approached Akama and ranged in front of him for a moment while the air filled with the chittering clicks and whistles of their greetings. Akama made a special wave back, then pointing, set his skimmer in motion. Dolphins and humans followed, twenty-six skimmers and just over 400 dolphins starting on their journey, some of them travelling up to ten km, crossing three reaches and then traversing the interconnects between them, some of them finishing their journey when they reached the second and third reach. They could have been moved with transport modules, baby dolphins and their mothers were present, but the dolphins decided that making the journey themselves was a much better way. Not unexpectedly, it was Sonic's idea and had spread like wildfire through the three and a half thousand dolphins who were staying on Warrakan. Because of confusion amongst the pods, Gelar and Sonic had decided against the original idea of a staged move to the four completed reaches and then a further dispersal after another two months when the next twenty-four reaches came online, and kept all the dolphins in the original Warrakan reach for an extra month, while a carefully controlled stimulus to nutrient levels forced an earlier readiness for the extra reaches. This way all the dolphins would be moving to their permanent home reach at the same time. Well, not all. The 2900 who were bound for Freedom and Uranus were still there, 400 for another week and the rest for just over two weeks before the big trip on the Comet.

Thom eased his skimmer close to Wirrin and Calen.

“Wombats Calen! You were right. This is more exciting than I expected. It feels like we're heading off on a quest.”

That would be right. Thom loved quests and in early days, when they'd had more time for themselves, had often designed quests for the three of them at their favourite virtual reality centre. Wirrin thought it would be an interesting quest if it involved an army of 400 dolphins and the leader of a whole habitat.

“It does doesn't it. Except it's for real.”

“Do you think the dolphins will be spooked when they go through the interconnects?”

“Of course not. Sonic will tell them it's all right and they'll go straight in.”

The interconnects were the water passage-ways between the reaches and the first one was visible a couple of hundred metres away. As they approached, the dolphins bunched closer and closer into a tight knit group then stopped at the entrance. Sonic leapt into the air, 400 dolphins copied him, then they all powered ahead and entered.

Calen laughed.

“What?”

“Sonic's playing games with them and getting them even more excited.”

“Being a drama queen you mean!”

Thom knew this term because Sonic had used it on him several times recently.

“I think you might be right.”

Akama and Gelar moved close to find out what was going on.

“Nothing really. Sonic just made the interconnect into a dolphin game and they're racing through to see what's at the other end.”

The interconnect was six meters wide, and after fifty meters opened to the adjoining reach. Wirrin watched the crowd of sleek forms just beneath the surface, rushing along with the skimmers till the access opened. Another mass leap signified their arrival, and, their spirits lifted by the exuberance of the aerial forms, the trio let out their own excited yells. Gelar, Martin and many of the other pod companions joined with a cheer. Smiling, Akama came alongside and asked Calen what was happening next.

“We'll have to take it slow and steady for the young dolphins and five babies which have been born in the last six weeks or they'll be exhausted. If there are any more racing and leaping games we'll probably have some rests, but their mothers will let us know when that is needed. After two more interconnects the pods will disperse through the reach with their companions and start exploring and working out where their home territories will be. Martin's pod is the biggest and most influential and we'll be travelling with them for as long as we feel like it.”

“All day I hope. I've been looking forward to this ever since Sonic invited me along, and I've set all other matters aside.”

Sonic appeared and said something to Calen who answered and looked at Akama.

“Sonic hopes it's all day too and he'd like to have a talk with you later when there's a quiet time. At the moment he wants you to follow him.”

Akama gave a smile of pleasure and acknowledgement and set off with Calen as Sonic moved further into open water. There was a period of milling and churning amongst the dolphins, which Wirrin learnt soon after was the time it took Sonic to communicate what he wanted, and then a similar ceremony to Akama's first dolphin meeting proceeded. Once again it was moving and Wirrin could see the companions and dolphinarium staff staring in wonder. The final greeting was exchanged.

What? This was different. Something else was happening. The main body of dolphins stayed in place, arranged in a loose arc, while a small group approached Akama and Calen. From twenty meters away, Wirrin caught a glimpse of a little body next to the bigger ones.

A baby?

Speech passed with Calen interpreting and Akama nodding and gesturing. Suddenly both Calen and Akama donned their underwater masks and slipped into the water.

“What's going on?”

“I don't know. It's nothing that Calen told us about.”

Thom's questioning look to Gelar received a shrug.

“It must be important with 400 dolphins lined up like that.”

“The big dolphin is from my pod. She's Peggy's sister Janey, and the little fellow is her new baby.”

That was Martin speaking.

“Did Peggy's treatment work out properly?”

“It certainly did. She's got more energy than she knows what to do with now.”

That sounded like a story for the telling but it would have to wait. Akama and Calen were climbing back onto the skimmers.

The dolphins started moving and with a wave of his arm Akama signalled everyone to follow. Wirrin and Thom closed the gap, wondering what they would hear.

“Every time I'm with dolphins they touch my heartstrings. I've just met my namesake and he's accompanying me till we get to his home reach.”

Calen nodded happily.

“Janey and Peggy and the pod leader asked Sonic if naming the baby after a human leader would be a good thing to do and he told them to ask. We just went for an underwater meeting.”

The convoy of humans and dolphins made its way steadily towards the next interconnect, Akama smiling at everyone and watching little 'Akama' forging his way close by. He wasn't really accompanying Akama. His mum, Janey, was doing that and he was sticking close to her, but it had the same effect. The word spread and a constant rotation of companions and rangers approached closely to view the mini-procession within a procession, of the leaders of Martin's dolphin pod, the little fellow and Sonic, all swimming along with Akama.

“I'm amazed they would do that. They're not enhanced and it seems quite an advanced concept to me.”

Wirrin had brought his skimmer next to Martin as he wanted to hear the Peggy story.

“I don't think it's that difficult Martin. They've had six months of interaction with Sonic and Calen, and the idea of human names must be familiar by now. They've done lots of unexpected things after all Sonic's games and challenges.”

“They certainly have. We hardly recognise them as the same group we left Earth with. Sonic and Calen reacting directly with them is the main cause I would say.”

“What did you mean before about Peggy's energy?”

“Peggy! Well, she was always a dominant force in the pod but now she's so active the pod leader often follows her lead. I expect her to take over after her next birth.”

“So her treatment worked properly?”

“Oh yes. There was never any doubt about that. According to the doctors she's expected to live for at least another eighty years.”

“She's pregnant?”

“Not yet. That's been held off, but she will be soon.”

“Held off?”

“Yes, but now that the reach is established the enhancement processes will start and any new conceptions will be part of the first stage. Peggy could very well be one of the first.”

“I see. I suppose they had to hold off because of her treatment?”

“No. It wasn't just her. All conceptions were suppressed till the medical and support infrastructure for each of the new reaches was ready.”

Martin laughed.

“There's going to be a great deal of action and excitement in about a week's time.”

“What do you mean?”

“The males all had their libido repressed too. They had to, to keep them with their pods, and when they revert to normalcy there will be many more available females than usual.”

Wirrin understood the need to keep the pods together. Male dolphins would search everywhere when the imperative was on them and the crowded reach of 5000 dolphins would have been chaotic with half of them ranging willy-nilly.

“So there could be a big influx of babies in twelve months time?”

“Definitely. I'm expecting four from our pod, and most other pods are expecting two or three.”

A quick scan told Wirrin that on today's big shift their were163 pods moving to a home reach, meaning they could be close to 400 dolphin births in just over a year. With somewhat of a shock he realised this would almost double the number of enhanced dolphins. The new ones wouldn't be anywhere near the Attunga level, but his understanding of just how much the enhancement program was being boosted suddenly clicked in.

“That's amazing. I didn't realise how quickly the population would grow with so many dolphins.”

“It will be quicker growth than is natural for Earth too, because the babies and young ones won't be subject to the usual predation and undetected illnesses. In ten years it will be a population explosion and we'll need every reach we can get.”

That was completely wrong and Wirrin turned sharply.

“Martin, I don't know where you get that idea. In ten years there will be thousands of reaches. There are already six complete Warrakan levels set aside for dolphins and if the reaches are similar to the current ones there'll be enough space for. ...Hang on while I work it out. ...Wombats! It comes to over 7000 reaches. It won't be quite that many because I know there are plans for specialised reaches but the planning is way ahead of the dolphin growth.”

“7000? Can that be right?”

“It was the last time I looked at the plans. I must admit I haven't checked for a while, but if there's been any change it would only be a speed-up.

...Yajala! What's the current situation with new reaches?”

Startled, Martin swerved slightly when a holo skimmer with the form of Yajala in control shimmered into view between them.

“Our construction plans are proceeding smoothly. Fifty-seven reaches have been seeded with bio-organics and will be self-sustaining within seven months. A further 119 will have purified water introduced within the next two months, and hollowing and construction is already under way for 327 reaches. The complete level of 974 reaches will be functioning in twenty months and all six levels will be online within five years.

Report concluded and your humble servant signing off, Sir!”

He snapped his hand to his brow and shimmered rapidly to nothing, leaving Wirrin chuckling at Martin's nonplussed look.

“Don't take any notice of him. He's got a wonky sense of humor and he acts like that to make me smile.”

“Wirrin, he said 900 reaches functioning in twenty months? That's, well, it's unbelievable.”

If Wirrin hadn't been familiar with the ability of the pico-factories to speed up their production he would have agreed totally. As it was he decided to find time in the next few days to bring himself up to date with all the reach plans.

Thom dropped back from Calen and Akama.

“What was that about? Calen says we're expecting to meet Yajala after the last interconnect.”

“I asked him for some information and instead of his usual trick of using my holo he turned himself on. We were talking about reaches and he says the whole level will be finished in less than two years.”

“That's fast. They must be ramping up for some reason.”

Thom zoomed back to Calen and Sonic to explain why Yajala had appeared and then, after some prompting from Wirrin, Martin explained some of his hopes for his dolphin pod.

The focus of attention changed with the approach of the second interconnect and every human watched as Sonic left the little lead group and went in a racing circuit of the converging dolphin pods. There was a mass leap and the pod groupings became ranked lines of shapes rushing towards the entrance.

“He's done it again. I think this might be a dolphin game from now on.”

The skimmers ranked as well, caught up with the tail end of the dolphin race, and followed. This interconnect was very short and opened to the drama and chaos of dolphins leaping and rushing in excitement and pleasure. For the second time there were cheers and calls as everyone responded to the mood of the moment. Wirrin moved close to Calen, Akama and Thom, then nearly fell off his skimmer when Sonic arced into the air right in front of him. With his innate ability of judgement for movement he wouldn't cause any collisions, butknowing how disconcerting it was for someone on a skimmer to have a large body appear in mid-air in the direction of travel, he had this down to a fine art.

Akama, a huge smile on his features, laughed aloud in sheer enjoyment.

“Little Brother, you react so quickly to his antics. If he did that to me I would be in the water before I could think.”

“Not really. I am used to it but he could have me in the water in a flash if he really wanted to.”

As if to prove the point the back section of the slowing skimmer lifted and jolted sideways, causing Wirrin to lose his balance.

'Wirrin has butter feet.'

It meant something about being clumsy but scanning to find out while catching your breath and grabbing for a cheeky dolphin who has just surfaced beside you, was too much to manage so Wirrin made do with tweaking Sonic's dorsal fin.

'Say hello to Akama while he is resting.'

Sonic's voice sounded from the nearest translator and something in the inflection indicated he was talking about the newly named 'Akama' so Wirrin retrieved his breathing mask and dived under.

Little 'Akama' was hardly resting. At the moment he was vigorously suckling from his mum, and Wirrin stayed at a discrete distance watching till he finished. A sound from Sonic caught his attention and then the little pair of eyes focused on Wirrin. At least that was Wirrin's impression and it seemed to be borne out when the little body approached and gave a soft nudge, then moved and did the same to Sonic before scooting back to the comfort of his mother's proximity. Another nudge, familiar this time, meant it was time to return to the surface.

'He is an historic baby.'

Not quite sure if Sonic meant the naming after Akama, Wirrin waited for any elaboration. Akama asked directly.

“In what way Sonic?”

'He is the last Earth dolphin on Warrakan. New babies will be different.'

Thoughts whirled through Wirrin's mind at this announcement. It was certainly true, unless there were some other drama requiring another rescue mission to earth, and that was unlikely according to Turaku. Had the dolphins made a special connection? It would be just like Sonic to link Attunga's oldest Earth-born human with the youngest dolphin.

“He will be a symbol of our legacy.”

'Honored one, may I ask for some of your time? I wish to share thoughts with you.'

Wirrin was struck by a certain formality in Sonic's manner of asking and he watched carefully as Akama responded in kind.

“The honor is mine. My time is yours and I look eagerly for every occasion we can meet.”

Sonic made a rapid burst of dolphin speech and Calen, from not far away, nodded in reply.

'One occasion is now, while the young ones rest. I will race you to the information marker.'

Sonic darted off and Wirrin pointed after him.

“He wants to meet you alone at that red buoy.”

Akama was already moving, and catching sight of the buoy, set his skimmer into power mode. With only 200 meters he wouldn't be able to make up Sonic's lead, but he was certainly having a try.

Wirrin called to Calen.

“All I could understand was something about fish. The rest was too fast.”

“Yes, I have to tell the leaders to take their pods exploring and hunting in the sea-grass while the little dolphins have a rest. He and Akama will be back when they're ready.”

Calen zipped off. There was a great flurry of motion and excitement at the prospect of real fish, then all sign of dolphins vanished except for the fins of the mothers guarding their young ones.

The humans gathered and realising there was a wait involved, clicked their skimmers together in groups of four or five for greater stability, and generally used the time for a snack of food from their storage compartments.

“What are they talking about? Did they say?”

That was Calen.

“No, Akama didn't act like he knew, but Sonic made it feel important when he asked.”

When he finished eating, Wirrin freed his skimmer and guided it very slowly to where he could watch little 'Akama' who was either suckling or resting against Janey.

When Sonic and Akama returned the excitement rebuilt as the six pods making this reach their home came milling around for a farewell and then the journey resumed.

The last stretch was just on three kilometers and the group moved steadily. It felt slower and Wirrin wondered if the mothers had passed a message that their young ones were tiring. The convoy was now much reduced in size with only seven pods and their attendants remaining of the original twenty. Sonic and Calen kept on the move all the time, travelling with one pod for a period then changing to another in a continuous cycle, while Wirrin and Thom stayed with Akama and his little companion.

The last interconnect loomed and after a pause, the race was on again. Well, not really a race, more like an expression of exuberance. Leading the skimmers, Wirrin stayed with Akama, Calen, and Thom through nearly 200 meters of access way, watching the dolphins ahead porpoise at speed till their home reach came into view. Sonic led the 116 dolphins to where Gelar, Warragul and three rangers were waiting. Once again there was shared excitement, with the dolphins cavorting, leaping and active, and humans laughing and cheering in accord. After several minutes everything quietened and the seven pod leaders, with Sonic, approached. Next to Akama, Turaku and Yajala shimmered into view.

***

“We've missed two lots of activity days and we'll be away for the next two as well, so what are we going to do for this lot?”

“I could take you to have a look at K74. That would be exciting.”

“Are you crazy? What would we want to go there for?”

“To have a look at the biggest space habitat in existence. And it would be exciting to see how close we could get.”

Wirrin and Calen stared in disbelief, which was the reaction Thom would have been looking for.

“What's the problem? If we take the Comet they won't have a clue we're there.”

“Take the Comet? Now we know you're crazy.”

Wirrin agree with Calen, but the idea of blithely waltzing off to K74 with the Comet for an activity day adventure was so ridiculous there had to be something going on.

“What haven't you told us?”

“You're too smart Wirrin. They've given me a set of special navigation exercises to work through sometime and that's one of them.”

“It's too dangerous. You should be doing it on a simulator like you always do.”

“I've already done that three times, and it's not dangerous in the Comet. They couldn't hurt it even if they wanted to.”

“And the Comet's ready to go tomorrow?”

“I haven't arranged anything, but the Comet's always ready.”

It did sound rather exciting but Wirrin had another thought.

“How long would it take?”

“Both days. There's quite a bit to do.”

“Well let's put it on hold, because in a couple of days we'll be on the Comet for nearly three weeks with our two trips, so we don't want to get sick of it.”

Thom's expression said that getting sick of the Comet was an alien thought, but he accepted a postponement and wanted to know what they'd do instead.

“Explore Warrakan.”

That was a very definite statement from Calen.

“It's about time we got to know it better. We'll be living there in another five weeks and we hardly know anything about it.”

“Of course we do. We're over there all the time.”

“Only in the reaches with the dolphins and when you ferry me with Sonic. We've never even travelled from one end to the other.”

“Hey, you're right. Life's been too busy. ...What sort of exploring?”

“Like we always do. Just get on TransCom and see where it takes us.”

Wirrin thought back to the last time they'd done that and was almost shocked to realise how long ago it had been. Three simultaneous smiles signified the decision was made and ideas started flowing.

“...We can check for animal parks. I heard there's a special Australian Mammal Centre with gliding possums.”

“...Yajala might take us into the AI levels. That would be special.”

“...There's a control place for when Warrakan starts travelling.”

The ideas kept coming. This anticipation was part of the enjoyment and three holo screens sprang to life to check out various possibilities.

***

“When are we going again?”

“Probably not for several months.”

“Well, it's your job to make sure we do. You came up with the idea the other day and it was a real eye-opener.”

The trio was relaxing at home after their two days of exploring Warrakan.

“We'll have to make sure Sonic comes next time. I want him to see that Whale Museum.”

“...And the Alpa Centauri Planetarium. We all thought that was something he'd like.”

“I'll have to tell him everything in the morning.”

After two days without seeing Sonic, Calen was obviously disappointed that Sonic couldn't turn up for his usual nightly visit.

“What will you start with?”

“Start what?”

“Telling him.”

“Oh, how big everything is, and then the different places we went and how interesting, and that'll make him want to be with us next time.”

“Let's find him now. Give him a surprise.”

“In the dark? It's rest-cycle time.”

“That doesn't matter. We know he's not resting. He's with Gelar and Turaku, and it's fun travelling the reach with our own lights.”

***

“When did you discover this?”

“Two days ago. I wasn't going to interrupt your activity time.”

“I don't like it. What are they going to do with them?”

Wirrin was at his InfoStation and talking with Pirramar, the composite AI, before one of their search sessions. He'd just found out that a group of thirty-seven dolphins would be arriving on K74.

“Search it out for yourself, though I suggest back-dooring through the infrastructure control system. The normal way is compromised at the moment.”

“How come? That's never happened before.”

“That information scientist has been building firewalls and physical lockouts round their surveillance processors, and there are places we can't access any more without setting off alarms.”

Wirrin was almost shocked to hear this. With Pirramar and the K74 AI, he'd been watching with concern the activities of the 'rogue scientist', a name assigned by Thom one time when the trio had been talking about him, but this was a new level of worry.

“He can block AIs?”

“If there are no electronic pathways to a specific area we would have to send in mobile devices to access information and then recover them, and he is very adept at setting up systems which can prevent that. The dolphin information is available though, so have a try at that.”

Pirramar had the same approach as Turaku with getting Wirrin to search things for himself, and though it was a nuisance in the short term, it almost invariably led to some new technique or understanding, and when it was specifically suggested like this there was always something they wanted him to learn. Today it involved linking directly to the K74 AI and accessing the infrastructure system with his assistance. This was a new and very interesting experience and after a concentrated session of over an hour he was confident he'd found all the relevant information.

The dolphins were due to arrive in several weeks and would be housed at a number of aquariums while a reach was being built. Not a big reach, but the person in charge seemed to understand the basic needs. According to Pirramar they'd incorporated principles from the information stolen from Freedom and the design was a good one. The worrying part was the enhancement program which would start when the reach and an associated Medical Centre was finished and attempts would be made to bio-engineer any new baby dolphins. It was going to be a real problem, as the K74 level of understanding was comparatively weak, and information might have to be planted in the medical facility as a safeguard against any bad outcome.

“We'll have to keep a close eye on this.”

“We have it flagged. Turaku already has a priority on it. His other task for you today is a search of all the people at the K74 Embassy, as well as looking for any wider effects the Embassy might be generating. The Cadre is very annoyed that it's not getting the results they were expecting, and even more angry that some of the staff have been making suggestions about introducing Attunga methods to K74.”

The search session followed and at the end Wirrin was smiling because the Embassy idea which the Cadre had wanted was backfiring on them. Akama would be pleased with that report.

“What's next?”

“An overview of links and the influence K74 has with habitats throughout the Solar System. After their setback from the interference on Earth they're concentrating their efforts elsewhere, and particularly with one of the Mars Polar Habitats.”

By the end of the day Wirrin had also made a study of possible ways to infiltrate the security on the surface of K74, designed a search task to work with the K74 AI in identifying areas of population unrest, and tried unsuccessfully to get into one of the rogue scientist's protected areas.

***

“My brains gone dizzy. I had to think harder today with Pirramar than any time I can remember.”

“Is that all? I spent half a day practising the guidance controls on Comet Two and the next half flying it to Freedom and back.”

“No you didn't. It's too far.”

“I did. On the simulator. It leaves out all the nothing parts and make you practice the action bits.”

Calen was shaking his head.

“You're a pair of wimps. All you did was sit and think. I had to do that while I swam about twenty kilometers with Sonic, working with all the dolphins who are going to Freedom.”

“Swimming doesn't count. It's easy for you because you've turned into a fish.”

The fish insult usually directed at Sonic worked quite effectively with Calen as well, and Thom, quickly restrained on the grav-sofa, was laughing and protesting that he'd just proved his point.

“What point?”

“I'm too exhausted to beat you like I normally would and you've got tons of energy because swimming twenty kilometers is easy for a fish.”

“Emu brain! You haven't beaten me ever since you made the protein structure.”

“I know, I put fish muscle into it and forgot to tell you. Come on Wirrin, show him how brains can always beat brawn.”

Thom's logic mightn't hold up too well but acting on it was certainly fun.

***

The trip to Freedom went smoothly and 400 dolphins were delivered to the brand new reach system which had been developing ever since the rescue at Monkey Mia. Nothing like the long reaches on Warrakan and the Uranus moons, it consisted of eight shorter reaches which linked into the system catering for the existing three dolphin pods.

Thom felt rather pleased with his achievement of being in sole control of the Comet for both legs of the journey.

Calen and Sonic worked non-stop on the outward journey then relaxed for the return, while Wirrin devoted most of his time on the InfoSystem finding out about Freedom.

***

Three busy days back on Attunga and Warrakan, readying over 2000 dolphins for the long journey to the Uranus moons, built an air of excitement for the trio and Sonic, who, of course, was needed as a steadying influence on the trip. Two an a half days was significantly more confinement in the Comet's travelling pools than the twenty-nine hour journey from Earth, and quite an amount of preparation and training had been involved.

There were no real worries because these dolphins had full understanding that they were finally moving to abundant fish and space, and were all eager to get moving. They were also so used to responding to Sonic's games that the new one of using a transport module made the transfer to the Comet effortless.

Wirrin, in the command centre, watched the outside display as transports and ferries arrived and departed for Warrakan, then grinned when Thom looked over and made a little hand signal. He had just set the Comet in motion and the outer wall of Attunga started receding.

Wirrin had done a great deal of research on the journey and five moons but data and imagery was very much a second-class substitute to the prospect of the real thing, and his sense of anticipation, mystery and adventure gave him a tingle of goosebumps at the moment of departure.

The sense of rapidly increasing speed only lasted a few minutes while Attunga, and then Warrakan, diminished on the display screens, then, despite the obverse fact that this was the stage where the full acceleration of the powerful engines surged by a factor of nearly five times, everything settled to the deceptive sense of motionlessnesss.

Wirrin moved close to Thom but he was concentrating so much there'd be no talking there. Where was Calen? A glance at a screen showed him underwater with Sonic and a group of dolphins. Well, he'd be busy for ages too, probably till the dolphins went into their next sleep state.

“When do you want to start your workouts?”

“What workouts?”

“Pirramar and I have designed a set of challenges and we've been speculating as to how many you'll manage to complete by the time we return.”

So this was the AI plan for using his time. Wirrin laughed.

“You're the same as Attunga-Turaku, working me like a slave.”

Comet-Turaku nodded his agreement.

“Akama has made me your overseer for the duration and it's the best way to keep you out of mischief. But I'm not the same. I'm currently half of one second ahead of Attunga-Turaku where you're concerned.”

He was referring to the time-lag for communications been between the Comet and Attunga.

“How many of these challenges am I meant to be doing?”

“I'm expecting between sixty and seventy. Pirramar is more optimistic and estimates something over eighty.”

“Eighty? If they're like the ones I normally do with Pirramar that's impossible. On the biggest day I ever had with him I could only manage six projects.”

“Those projects were all major. Many of these new challenges won't involve nearly as much time. For example your first is to develop three alternate courses for taking the Comet to Titania. You should be able to do that in less than half an hour.”

Wirrin didn't start straight away. First of all he spent some time with Calen and Sonic, then Thom, but when he did get going he was pleased to finish his first task in nineteen minutes.

***

“Wirrin, don't you dare go near that InfoSystem till the Comet heads back to Attunga. We hardly saw you the whole way here.”

“Look who's talking. You were either in the travelling pools with Sonic or you were sound asleep.”

“I didn't have any choice. The dolphins got too excited.”

Calen was right. Wirrin had become the completely absorbed with the challenges, and, having managed thirty-nine successfully and been stumped on three, he was aiming to get through at least another forty on the return trip.

“I promise, except for collecting all the pico-techniques that relate to dolphins and building an optimisation task which inserts the best ones into the dolphin health bots.”

Thom and Calen both gawked at him.

“You can do something like that? You're not a health scientist or pico-engineer.”

“I don't have to be. I just search for programs which know what to do, then make comparisons to see which ones give the best results, and organise them into an action task.”

Thom started tapping his head to indicate Wirrin's brain must be weird and Calen nodded vigorously in agreement.

“I love the way you said 'just', as if upgrading every dolphin health bot on five moons is something easy.”

“It's not exactly easy. The searching part is, but putting it all together takes a lot of thinking.”

“Sounds like something the AIs do. Is this what all these challenge things have taught you?”

Wirrin cast his mind over the different types of challenges and the processes he'd had to develop and practice to solve them.

“Wombats! You're right Calen. I couldn't have done this before we left. They've pushed a whole stack of new ideas and techniques into me.”

“They? You mean Turaku don't you?”

“Turaku and Pirramar. Turaku says Pirramar worked it out with Akama before we left.”

“Are you going to disappear on us for hours when you do this health bot thing? Seeing things is better when we're all together, and Sonic will want you there too.”

“I'm not going to miss out on anything. The task will take. ...Um! ...I'm not sure. Probably two or three hours. I'll fit it in.”

“As long as it's not now. Sonic's waiting.”

It was interesting travelling on the Titania version of TransCom and in a very short time Sonic was out of his transport module and bumping against their legs as they dangled in the water from a landing stage, while the trio stared out across the great stretch of water. Way off in the distance a solitary skimmer was just visible ,but otherwise it was a bare expanse of surface with the usual structural girders reaching from the water to the ceiling at regular intervals.

“Where are the dolphins? I can't see a single one.”

'Dolphins are all feeding and exploring. The closest pod is with the skimmer.'

Wirrin had another look at the skimmer and it took him a moment to figure out what was going on. Calen didn't figure it.

“What's he doing? His skimmer base has gone under the water.”

It certainly looked that way.

“No it hasn't. It's the curvature of Titania. They built the reach to match instead of keeping it flat like at home, and he's far enough away to be round the curve.”

“Wow! He is too. That's really interesting. I always think of water as being flat.”

“No you don't. What about the zero G swimming pools?”

Thom realised that grav-fields were the controlling agent here too and shook his head at Wirrin.

“Stop being a brainiac. Let's go. We've only got three days to do everything.”

And go they did, for several hours, sometimes zooming at high speed, with Sonic in his special support cradle at the rear of Calen's skimmer, sometimes cruising with Sonic swimming and chasing schools of fish across sea-grass fields, and sometimes joining Sonic underwater to explore a reef or some other marine feature. Three times Sonic changed their direction of travel for an encounter with dolphin pods and an excited exchange of talk, and all the while Wirrin's sense of the size of this reach was growing.

“It's like an Earth Ocean. They could have ten times as many dolphins and there'd still be plenty of room.”

“Not really. It's just a drop compared to Earth, but I know what you mean. It does make Warrakan reaches feel tiny.”

The Warrakan reaches might be comparatively tiny but after the surprise of the progress Yajala had reported to Martin on the Journey day Wirrin had studied the overall plan for the reaches and there was nothing tiny about that. Every major type of marine environment on Earth would eventually be active, from polar to tropical, from nutrient rich to nutrient poor, in an attempt to foster the greatest degree of biodiversity.

“Why have they built it so big? They've done the same on all the moons and they won't need this much space for fifty or sixty years.”

“The reaches aren't just for dolphins. All the other marine life needs to get established too. Most of the species can only be introduced when the things they depend on have developed properly, and that takes years. Calen, you know all this.”

“Yes I do, but it still feels like they've built something like Shark Bay at Monkey Mia when a Warrakan reach would have been enough.”

***

“Let's go! There will be time to have a look at Uranus if we leave now. I'll race you back to the landing stage.”

***

“Let's go! I want you to see all the craters and canyons. Wait till you see the other moons. Some of them are smaller than Attunga.”

***

“Let's go! The Witnesses on Miranda have arranged for us to see their famous space array.”

***

“Let's go! We're meeting some of the AIs at the Titania Space Habitat.”

***

“Let's go! This floating research station in the Uranus atmosphere sounds weird.”

***

“Let's go! We're heading for home.”

“Right now? And what's the big grin for?”

“I'm allowed to use an extra half G of thrust and that means a new speed record.”

“This is half a day early. Are we in a hurry?”

“Yes, because Sonic told Turaku he wants to get back quickly.”

Wirrin looked to Calen and Sonic.

“He's missing Puck and Flute.”

'Yes, I agree with Thom. Let's go!'

After a short period of official farewells the Comet fired up and the screen images of Uranus began to shrink at an astonishing rate. There was no 4G limitation way out here.

***

“I wonder if we'll ever make another trip out there?”

The big wall display screen was replaying their visit to the twenty kilometer depth of the Great Rift Canyon on Miranda, and even here, in the comfort of their grav-sofa, the visual effect of rushing past the cliff faces and icy outcrops was quite dizzying. The people on Miranda claimed it was the greatest recreational adventure on any of the Uranus moons and the trio was reliving the excitement.

“I don't think so. ...You might Thom, if the Comet has to go there again, but unless they need Sonic we wouldn't all go. It's only seven years before Warrakan starts travelling.”

Conversation paused while a great column of ice loomed on the screen.

“Whoo! Remember that bit? I thought we were going to collide.”

“Everyone did. The course for the ferry was designed that way.”

“Seven years doesn't sound like much now we're sure we're going. I used to think we'd never even get to Warrakan till Calen made it certain.”

Calen shook his head.

“Not me Thom. It was Sonic's pod deciding to live on Warrakan that got us there. If they'd stayed here everything would be different.”

It certainly would. It was unthinkable that Calen could be separated from Sonic, and just as unthinkable that they not stay together as a trio.

A breathtaking buttress of ice jutting from the canyon wall filled the screen but Thom was suddenly not noticing.

“Sonic's pod won't change their minds will they? Some other pods did.”

“I don't think so. Sonic is totally excited about the Warrakan reaches, and he likes the idea of travelling to another star too, but he'd always stay with his pod. ...Well I think he would. He might be different when he's grown up because some male dolphins do get very independent after fifteen or twenty years.”

“That's alright then. The other dolphins always do what he wants.”

“Not exactly. It seems like it but it's more a kind of understanding between them that he knows what they want.”

“Well, when we move to Warrakan they'll all love it so much they'll never want to leave.”

Wirrin agreed with Thom because every dolphin who saw them loved the Warrakan reaches. So far Sonic, Puck and Flute were the only enhanced dolphins to have the experience, but if their reactions were anything to go by, then all the rest would be staying on Warrakan forever. Well, at least till the new Attunga reaches started coming online in about two years.

“Are they ready to move? It's only two weeks away.”

“Of course they are. They've been ready for the past six months but the moving date's been changed three times on them so far and I think...”

Calen stopped mid-sentence and stared in surprise at the suddenly blank display screen.

“Why did you turn that off? It's only half finished.”

“I didn't.”

Calen and Thom stared in puzzlement and Wirrin's mind started to race.

“I connected directly to the Comet's archive to get this clip and the links gone.”

“How can it be gone? Links don't do that.”

Thom was right, and particularly so in this case, because communications from the Comet had the highest level of security and stability available on Attunga.

Wirrin jumped up to head for his InfoSystem but before he could take a step four holo forms blinked into existence; Turaku, Pirramar, Yajala and someone unknown, all with strangely robotic looking expressions.

Wirrin took this scene in with sudden apprehension which increased when they didn't say anything. Another form took shape, this time with the usual shimmer effect, and Akama took everyone's attention.

“Wirrin, we have some very bad news. Moments ago Pirramar received a cry for help from the K74 AI and in the short time before his call terminated he managed to convey that the processes and programs at the core of his consciousness were being attacked.

For the first time in over a century an AI has died.”

***