Ocean: The Sea Warriors (10 page)

Some people were queasy about eating any raw fare from the ocean. Kimo and Alicia had already discussed the possibility of some members having a hard time with this, so he had made arrangements with his cousin Danny Ho to have land-based foods brought for those who needed to eat them—until they could get fully acclimatized to the sea.

Kimo and Alicia also had to pay special attention to a handful of people who were on the verge of panic underwater, such as Professor Marcus Greco, as well as Charles Cummings—an expert on fish migration studies, but a man who was not comfortable swimming in the ocean. When the group was setting out from Crimson Cove this morning, he kept joking that he preferred a swimming pool, where he could always see the bottom, and there were no sharks. Others who were nervous in the water were a young oceanography research assistant, Barb Stewart, whose friend had been killed by a hammerhead shark while surfing, and Julian Alberto, a bearded man from New Mexico who had no idea why his name was on the list—but who had hitchhiked to Los Angeles to be picked up by the Sea Warriors anyway. Alberto knew how to swim, but he didn’t seem to know much about the ocean at all. Alicia wondered how he would contribute, but he seemed willing, and Moanna had accepted him.

There were a number of experienced scuba divers in the group, one of whom, Dirk Avondale, was a retired Navy commander who had been responsible for the training of dolphins to guard submarine bases and other naval facilities. A wiry, balding man, he had retired in his late forties, and had been working for a research institute in California when he discovered his name on the Sea Warrior list. This morning, Avondale had been very helpful with the problem recruits, pitching in without being asked to do so.

The water was warm and the prettiest shade of turquoise Alicia had ever seen, drenched in deep-penetrating sunlight that made the views spectacular under the surface, highlighting the colors of fish and providing visibility for a long way. This made supervision of the recruits easier for herself and for Kimo, and suggested to her that Moanna must have created perfect conditions for the training of her new Sea Warriors.

After supervising the recruits for a couple of more hours and surfacing with them, Kimo was satisfied with the progress of most of them, and began segregating them by ability. Pursuant to an idea that Alicia had given him, he gave each of them a strip of colored cloth, a ribbon that they were instructed to tie around their wrists—blue, green, yellow, or red—with the most advanced receiving the brown designation, and so on from there down. Dirk Avondale, Pauline Deveaux, Napoli Mora, and the actress Monique Gatsby were among those receiving blue ribbons, and similar to what Avondale had done earlier, these four were asked to help with the others. Vinson Chi’ang, who received a second-tier green ribbon, showed displeasure that he had not rated higher—but Kimo stuck with his decision.

All of the recruits were amazed to discover their new seaborne energy levels for swimming, and they were able to tread water on the surface or swim in place underwater—going back and forth a few inches at a time—for as long as Kimo needed to talk to them. On the surface, after assigning the colors, he spoke briefly about the swim bladders that were now embedded in the cellular structures of each of their bodies, specialized organs that would enable them to dive deep in the ocean without any equipment. He explained the mechanics of the bladders, then said, “I’m going to divide you up into dive teams and escort you down into deeper water, one team at a time, to make you more comfortable with the bladders. The rest of you will remain with Alicia for freestyle swimming, until I return to take down additional groups.”

He took around forty recruits with him for the first deep dive of the session, selecting an assortment of ribbon colors, and leaving behind anyone he didn’t think was ready, or who expressed trepidation.

It would be a day of interesting developments, beyond anything that he or Alicia had anticipated….

***

Chapter 13

While Kimo was on the first training dive, Alicia watched the others swim freestyle. At the outset, Gwyneth McDevitt stood out from the others as an extremely skillful underwater swimmer, able to do aquatic loops like an air show stunt pilot and then swim away in any direction with smooth strokes and kicks. Even so, because of her obvious communication difficulties, Kimo gave her a third-tier yellow ribbon (which she didn’t object to), and told Alicia they needed to take extra care with her. But it looked to Alicia as if Gwyneth rated much higher than that, and she suspected that the British teenager was going to contribute a great deal. If one of Kimo’s earlier dreams was correct, and Gwyneth had in fact received a flood of information about the ocean, it meant that her mind could be a storehouse of data about the seas of the planet. Alicia wondered if this was, in fact, the case. Autistic people were socially challenged, so it would be difficult to determine the workings of her mind. But Alicia liked her, and the feeling seemed to be mutual.

Gwyneth went with Kimo on his second dive, along with around the same number as he had taken down the first time.

While they were down deep, Alicia became aware of something very unusual. Swimming near her, Pauline Deveaux was gleeful that a number of colorful reef fish were following behind her or swimming alongside, staying with her whichever way she turned. It reminded Alicia of the way fish followed Kimo when he swam, except with Pauline it was only small reef fish who were attracted to her, such as lemon butterflyfish, tubular-shaped trumpetfish, and red-and-white-striped squirrelfish.

Gradually, other types of sea life found their way to some of the other volunteers. Foley Johnson, a stocky black man, had an affinity for turtles, who came to see him from their usual haunts and encircled him. He didn’t seem to mind, and swam playfully with the creatures, trying to elude them and watching their own remarkable swimming abilities as they kept up with him. It amused Alicia to see him trying to copy what they did, and this seemed to intrigue the shell-backs as well.

Another match-up that Alicia thought was interesting involved Fred Earhart, a ruddy, red-haired Irishman who found himself surrounded by swordfish and sawfish, as well as by flying fish and spear-nosed sailfish that performed spectacular leaps into the air around him, as if they were happy to find a human being who liked them. She was also intrigued by Jacqueline Rado, a large woman who was already able to lead white sharks, hammerheads, and great barracudas anywhere she pleased, even taking them halfway to shore with her and then turning back—which must have given the people with binoculars a good show.

Still another recruit, Phil Austin, a heavyset man with lamb chop sideburns, held hundreds of little leafy sea dragons and tiny seahorses in thrall. The sea dragons looked like delicate, floating plants shaped like whimsical dragons. The seahorses, notoriously weak swimmers who often hooked their tails onto plants to keep from being knocked around by ocean currents, were nonetheless able to follow Austin around in the water, whichever way he swam, and attempted to replicate maneuvers that he made. Both species even understood him when he wanted them to remain in one place and wait for him to swim away and then return to them.

Alicia noticed that some of the volunteers did not seem to have a close affinity to particular species of ocean animals, but those that did suggested the intriguing possibility that Sea Warriors could cause creatures to behave in certain ways that were beneficial to the survival of particular species while keeping them away from predatory or careless human activities. The creatures could also be used to close down beaches, just as Kimo wanted them to do.

As Alicia was swimming on the surface, thinking about these exciting developments, she was startled to see Gwyneth McDevitt sitting on the back of a large humpback whale, massaging its thick gray skin as it sped along the surface, while an escort of pygmy killer whales swam on each side of her. Finally, Gwyneth slid off the back of the whale, near Alicia. The humpback swam a safe distance away from any of the recruits and then breached, lifting most of its body out of the water in a stunning display of the beauty and power of nature. The killer whale escort swam in the same direction, until their tail fins dipped beneath the sea and they vanished….

When Kimo returned from his last dive of the day, he said to Alicia in disgust, “We found a garbage dump of cans, bottles, and other junk down there, apparently pushed into a hole by ocean currents. I know it’s just the tip of the iceberg of trash in the ocean, but I had the recruits bring up what they could, and I want to go back down there and clean it up.”

“Good idea,” she said. She was about to tell him what she had observed, when Kimo said, “First I want to do some practice runs, seeing how we can disrupt beaches with sea life—I have two remote stretches of sand in mind that shouldn’t have any swimmers now.”

“All right,” Alicia said. “Now wait until you hear this.” And she told him about Gwyneth and the whale, and about all the sea creatures that had congregated around some of the other Sea Warriors, and how the animals seemed willing to follow the hybrid humans.

Kimo listened intently, looking around at various Sea Warriors as Alicia talked about them.

“I see
tremendous
potential for our program now,” she said. “If many of our recruits can lead different types of sea creatures, we can customize the demonstrations we want to make against bad human behavior on the seas. Gwyneth, for example, might cause whales to interfere with the large-scale fishing operations that are depleting the ocean of fish species, and if Jacqueline Rado can control sharks and barracudas, they might be used in sweeps to clear beaches of human swimmers, as part of the demonstration we have in mind for the Hawaiian islands.”

She saw his face light up with pleasure. “Fantastic!” he said. “That’ll make my job easier. I had intended to round up a number of species, position them at the beaches, and see if our new recruits could keep them in place. I can still do some of that, but it looks like Deveaux, Johnson, Earhart, and Rado can summon their own critters—especially Rado, since she’s already made a run with ‘cudas and sharks toward a beach.”

“And Gwyneth is a possibility, too. With smaller whales, anyway, such as those pygmy killer whales I saw escorting her. The larger whales would not be of use to us in shallow swimming areas.”

“Let’s keep her out of the beach practice sessions, at least for now. Due to her mental and social difficulties, I don’t want to press her too hard. If Jacqueline Rado can be the Pied Piper of sharks and barracudas, maybe she can summon other dangerous predators as well.”

“Could be. I think I should stay with Gwyneth during the next training phase, to make sure she’s all right, and to assess her more.”

“OK, do that,” he said. “I have more names for our list, too—at least a hundred more from recent dreams. I’d like to get them written down when we go ashore—but I’m sure I can hold off for a few more hours. With these additions to our list, it’s like my memory has kicked into a new gear. I can summon the new names at will, all of them, and the original names, too. I even ran a quick check of the names backwards, and they all came to me as well, with crystal clarity. On the last dive, while I was supervising the removal of garbage, I felt momentarily as if I was dreaming again, and the names and faces of future Sea Warriors were arrayed before me. Though Moanna seems unwilling to provide us with information on the dreams, or even verify that she’s connected to them, I suspect that she is getting the information to me—and I hope she’s pleased with the success of our recruiting and training efforts.”

“She’s revealing specialties of the recruits quickly,” Alicia said. “Things are happening fast, because the ocean does not have much time. We need to act as quickly as possible.”

“Right. With that in mind, let’s see if anyone can lead the jetfish instead of me, so they can go and pick up additional recruits around the world.”

Kimo led the Sea Warriors to the most remote beaches on Loa’kai, the nearest of which—Lunalilo—was a twenty-minute swim away. The second, Kalakaua Beach, was only a few minutes farther. On the way, a new talent was revealed, as Dirk Avondale, the former Navy animal trainer, assembled a force of dolphins that followed him, and did as he commanded.

Because of Avondale’s military experience, Kimo and Alicia conferred with him about how to attack the beaches. He made a number of useful recommendations. Then, for almost two hours, the Sea Warriors made practice runs at the isolated beaches—starting with Lunalilo, followed by Kalakaua, and then expanding to involve both at once. They made eight runs in all, improving with each one, and culminating with what Kimo called the “grand finale,” in which he led an assault of poisonous Lion’s Mane jellyfish against one beach, while Dirk Avondale and Jacqueline Rado filled the swimming area of the other one with aggressive dolphins, barracudas, and sharks. In each case, there were other creatures of the sea visible on the surface behind the front lines of assault, as recommended by Avondale, so that large formations of animals were involved, making a more impressive display.

Something quite different happened as well, in the last practice attack of the day, at Lunalilo Beach. With Kimo and the poisonous jellyfish in the lead, surging forward, and other sea creatures behind, he noticed that white-and-black gulls were flying low overhead in a vee-formation. When he passed through the swimming area, the birds stayed with him, and continued in formation overhead as he went out into deeper water, finally setting down in the water near him and floating.

Thinking the birds might be willing to help the Sea Warriors in some way, Kimo immersed himself completely in the water and attempted to transmit specific molecular commands to them. Resurfacing, he saw the birds lift into the air and circle him, then go into another vee-formation as they flew back toward the beach, before returning and settling in the water again. To his amazement, it was exactly as he had specified.

This told him that Moanna’s molecular communication system extended to these birds, because they were in direct contact with the ocean when he issued the commands.

Our force is growing
, Kimo thought.…

Late that afternoon they returned to Crimson Cove, where Jiddy Rahim had arranged for a new police perimeter, to ensure the group’s privacy. Kimo conducted another meeting on the sand, this time to discuss what the recruits had learned. He asked if any of them had noticed an ability to sense variations in the Earth’s magnetic field, which would give them a constant awareness of where they were, and in which direction they were swimming.

Stunned silence followed. Then, gradually, a handful of members mentioned little things they had noticed, something strange that prevented them from getting lost even when they could not see land. For all of them it had been an innate or subconscious feeling just beneath the surface of their awareness, and which Kimo had just made them think about for the first time.

As she listened, Alicia realized that she had this ability as well. It was so subtle, so basic in her awareness that she had not focused on it. But it was there nonetheless. She was certain of it, and it made her much more at ease in the water, giving her an even stronger feeling that she belonged there.

“So we’re like birds now?” someone asked. “Like carrier pigeons?”

“Not just birds,” Kimo said. “Some creatures of the sea have this ability as well, such as whales, dolphins, and even crustaceans. They know where they are at all times, and don’t ever get lost. Now you are like this as well, my Sea Warriors.”

It was an incredible revelation for Alicia, one that gave her not only a stronger feeling of connectedness to the sea, but to the planet itself. She wondered what additional, as-yet-unknown changes her body had undergone in the transformation, and if she would be left to discover them herself or it Kimo would tell her about them when he decided it was appropriate. She trusted his ability to determine what was best. He had lived much his life in the sea, while she was just beginning to learn some of its fascinating details.

Kimo went on to describe the larger public demonstration that he wanted when the Sea Warriors were ready—shutting down as many of the major beaches in the Hawaiian islands as possible for a day, to publicize the plight of the ocean.

As he spoke of the demonstration, Gwyneth rose from a driftwood log where she’d been sitting, went over to him and spoke in a low tone, then took a seat on the sand in the front of the group.

Alicia was close enough to hear Gwyneth say in a halting voice with her slight British accent, “Not enough … to close beaches … Need more. Need to close off … Hawaii from … the sea. Surround all islands … stop all boat traffic.”

Kimo repeated her comment to the assemblage, and a handful of people nodded their heads in agreement. Then he said, “I understand Gwyneth’s sentiment, but we need to begin at a more achievable level, and not attempt anything too large. We only have a couple of hundred warriors, so we’ll focus on the main beaches for now, and see how that works. Our organization will get larger, and eventually we can mount larger demonstrations if necessary.”