The Whale Song Translation: A Voyage of Discovery To Neptune and Beyond (37 page)

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Back in California, Richard Prescott lounged in his den’s plush Italian leather recliner, and enjoyed an after-dinner snifter of Armagnac. With each pleasurable sip, he measured the minutes with great anticipation, waiting for the phone call from Maui to confirm the demise of Dmitri’s dangerous experiment.

T
HE
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ORDS OF
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OUND

Research in Paradise Control Room

If he’d had a box of cigars, Dmitri would have shared them with his giddy colleagues. He could only compare his current euphoria to his cousin’s description of elation at the birth of her first child.

After a quick soda and chips mini-celebration in the
Research in Paradise
control room, Dmitri decided it was time to get back to work. He sat down at Andrew’s workstation. “Professor, are you still there?” The momentary silence suggested the Skype session had been terminated. “Professor?”

“I’m here, my boy, but I doubt if I’m still the same person.”

“I think we all feel that way,” replied Dmitri. “What are you thinking at this moment?”

“I’m thinking that the use of logic and mathematics is regarded as the universal litmus test of higher intelligence. That the whales could be so adept at modulating and analyzing sound, in the same fashion that we utilize pen and paper to express these abstract concepts, is mind-boggling. Even humans don’t usually play games of logic in three dimensions without the assistance of a computer. Yet for centuries we judged the whales by our own arrogant standards, looking for the external vestiges of civilization, and we found them wanting.”

“Their songs were only a clue to something much bigger.” Dmitri chuckled. “Now we literally have to face the music. This is the paradigm shift we’d been hoping for. For so long!”

“All the same, we shouldn’t be too critical of ourselves,” replied McPinsky thoughtfully. “We couldn’t have achieved this breakthrough without the cutting-edge technology of the Speakeasy system.”

“Speakeasy is the interspecies communication bridge you’d long sought, Professor,” replied Dmitri, his tone devotional. “It’s as if Homo sapiens had to progress to a level worthy of engaging with a species as advanced as the Megapterans.”

“Now, if we could only cross that bridge with a sense of humility and the emotional intelligence to deal with the impact of such a dialogue,” said Melanie, who had appeared next to him. “Hello, Professor.” She raised her voice. “I don’t believe we’ve formally met. I’m Melanie.”

Despite the afternoon’s flurry of incredible events, Dmitri felt chagrined he’d not yet introduced these two significant people in his life to one another. “I’m sorry Professor, but—”

“So this is the brainy woman with the beautiful voice,” interrupted McPinsky. “Pleased to meet you.”

Dmitri was pleasantly surprised by their instant camaraderie. “You’re right, Professor. It was Melanie’s Speakeasy training of her students that made this discovery possible.” He gazed into her eyes.

“Thank you, Melanie,” replied McPinsky.

“You’re welcome, Professor, but I believe Dmitri deserves the lion’s share of the credit.” She smiled at him. “I never dreamed Speakeasy could become a universal translator between beings that image symbols of light and beings that image symbols of sound.”

“I believe we’ve only scratched the surface of our potential for communicating with these creatures,” said McPinsky.

“You’re more correct than you can even imagine, Professor!” said Greg.

“You certainly are jubilant, Greg,” noted Dmitri.

“Prepare yourselves,” exclaimed Greg, “because the discoveries just keep on coming. I might have confirmed something even more remarkable!”

“How could it get any better?” asked Dmitri.

“It could be exponentially better,” replied Greg. “I just finished number crunching the raw frequency data of Uber’s 3D, rotated ellipses. These are just rough calculations, mind you. There’s possibly much more here than meets the eye. This is way beyond the perception of our physical senses. We would need more precise calculations, however, to confirm my finding.”

Greg produced the data printout from Andrew’s workstation as the team gathered around him.

“Look at this table of numbers.” He traced a finger across the rows and down the columns on the printed page. “These four columns correspond to the energy measurements of the first four frequency peaks in Uber’s raw-data spectra. They confirm what I suspected.”

Dmitri peered at the numbers. “The energy levels are all in the same ballpark.”

“Correct,” replied Greg. “From a cursory inspection of the waterfall plots, it also struck me that the time-dependent variations of the energies of the four peaks looked uncorrelated. This is compelling evidence that the four frequencies were intended to convey independent information. Because Uber’s rotated ellipses in 3D space looked suspiciously shaped, I finally remembered that the geometric projection of a circle from three dimensions into two dimensions has the shape of a squashed ellipse.”

“Oh, my God!” uttered McPinsky. “Dr. Bono, don’t tell me you confirmed the existence of a geometric plane curve in tetra space?”

“That’s what my rough calculations suggest,” Greg replied with a grin.

Dmitri’s mind reeled at the outpouring of exuberant laughter from the speakerphone. Until today, he’d never heard his mentor react so emotionally. “Greg, please speak English. The suspense is killing me.”

“Analogous to the projection of the 3D circle into a 2D ellipse, a circle ‘drawn’ in the abstract, mathematical world of four dimensions is transformed into the shape of an ellipse when projected into three dimensions. Let me repeat—” Greg reiterated what he’d just said, slowly and methodically. “I therefore wrote a quickie program for analyzing the raw data from Andrew’s printout and confirmed that the four-peak data satisfies the equation of a circle in four dimensions. Uber literally and figuratively ‘drew’ the acoustic version of a circle in four-dimensional space rotated four times by forty-five-degrees. Unfortunately, the human brain and eye can only interpret the plot of such a geometric construction as a three-dimensional ellipse.”

“You’re pretty certain of this?” asked McPinsky.

“Somewhat certain, yes, but only for the limited amount of data I’ve analyzed so far. By selecting different sets of eight points from the circumference of the alleged four-dimensional circle, I generated corresponding sets of eight simultaneous equations. For each and every one of those sets of equations, the solution always converged to the same answer for the radius, the location of the center, and the tilt angles. That a living organism could create this audio sequence of four-dimensional concentric circles is extremely difficult. Actually, it’s practically impossible.”

“How so?” asked Lila.

“One way to simulate this procedure is with a sophisticated computer program,” Greg said. “You’d first need to generate the geometrical figure of a four-dimensional hypersphere, a sphere existing in more than three dimensions, from the complex equation that describes it. Then you’d have a plane intersect the 4D hypersphere exactly through its center and tilted at the precise angle. Then you’d need to repeat this three more times for the same forty-five-degree angles of rotation.” His flattened palm and clenched fist simulated the geometry lesson of a plane and a sphere in three dimensions.

“Are you saying Uber’s brain is like a supercomputer?” replied Lila.

“What he’s saying,” answered McPinsky, in reverential tones, “is that Uber’s brain could be capable of processing symbols of information in four dimensions. To achieve the inconceivable mastery of four-dimensional frequency modulation, they’d need to precisely coordinate four independent streams of acoustic information to generate and image the symbols. We humans spend our whole lives learning to speak and understand language using only two independent streams. The humpbacks might be doing something exponentially more complex.”

“The humpback’s acoustic ideograms might inherently be four-dimensional constructs,” added Greg. “If so, they could both literally and figuratively think and express themselves in four dimensions.”

Once again, Dmitri observed the dazed expressions upon the faces of his colleagues. He marveled at this stunning turn of events, remembering how he’d battled with Greg about the original whale-song research proposal. Now his friend was leading the way, challenging the team with previously unimaginable possibilities.

Andrew finally broke the silence. “First we were overjoyed to discover they could play a game of logic in two dimensions. Then we were thrilled to realize they could kick our butts in 3D. Now we’re stupefied to realize we’d need to program a supercomputer to have any chance of competing with them in 4D.”

“It would certainly be a humbling realization for humankind,” added McPinsky.

“Who’s going to believe any of this?” added Seema. “I can barely believe it myself.”

“It’s all still speculative,” cautioned Greg. “We need to do a more thorough analysis of the data we’ve collected and submit it for peer review.”

“But no one can argue with the facts,” replied Dmitri, “and we have the data to prove it. Andrew, just make sure you transmit those files to Professor McPinsky.”

“I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, Dmitri, but maybe it’s time to turn on the video projector,” said Gorman. “Let’s give Uber the chance to experience the multi-sensory feedback of his mental machinations. It’s our chance to return the gift of this discovery.”

“You read my mind, Chris,” replied Dmitri. “No reason to worry about violating the species Prime Directive, since it appears we’ve received a four-dimensional invitation to their party. Like you said earlier, as long as we keep Uber engaged, we’ll be shielded from the Coast Guard. Maybe they’ll even give up and leave.”

“And I want to share this experience in the medium of the humpbacks,” Gorman said. “It’s the dive of a lifetime. There should gear on board. Are you ready to join me, Lila?”

“Absolutely,” she replied. “I’m so glad you’d asked me to plan for a dive. There’s gear for four. Just like the old days. How about joining us, Melanie?”

“You’re kidding,” bleated Andrew. “You want to expose yourself to two thousand tons of mathematical geniuses who’ve been persecuted for generations and have a score to settle with the persecutors?”

Seema’s freaked-out expression caught everyone’s attention.

“We’ll be okay, Andrew,” replied Gorman, “and don’t worry, Seema. Since our cetacean comrades are mathematicians and, for all we know, poets too, I don’t think they’d mind us sharing the experience of their very own Speakeasy discovery.”

“So you’re saying they’ll welcome you with open fins?” replied Andrew.

“No comment.” Like a Buckingham Palace guard, Gorman’s face remained expressionless.

“I wouldn’t miss this opportunity for the world,” said Melanie. “I’m thrilled when my students make Speakeasy pronunciation breakthroughs, so I’ve gotta be there when Uber makes the connection between sight and sound. How about it, Dmitri? You mentioned you had diving experience. Wanna go for a swim?”

“I’d normally be as petrified as Andrew, but this afternoon has thawed most of my inhibitions. I’ll shock all of you and just go with the flow.”

“Very cool,” said Greg. “While you guys suit up, Andrew and I are gonna set up the video system.”

While their colleagues prepared for the dive, the two men located the rolled-up, eight-foot-wide fabric screen tucked away in the corner. After they’d lugged it over to the observation area, Andrew climbed over the solid barrier railing and slid down into the sunken rectangular well area.

“Careful,” said Greg. “Try not to step directly on the glass.”

Two oversized panes of safety glass, framed in the center by a two-inch-wide support member, formed the super-widescreen view window. Greg lifted and lowered the sausage-shaped object, while Andrew, balancing himself on the structurally sound perimeter, guided it into position on top of the glass. Once he’d unrolled it to completely cover the eight-by-twelve-foot rectangular window, Andrew secured the screen with duct tape. Greg’s helping hand facilitated his climb up.

An LED video projector had already been attached to the cabin ceiling. Secured by a jury-rigged assemblage of rubber clamps, metal brackets, and assorted nuts and bolts, the projector pointed straight down toward the glass bottom. A long video cable had been taped to the ceiling, one end plugged into Andrew’s workstation and the other connected to the projector. This improvised system would enable the same Speakeasy plots displayed above Andrew’s workstation to be projected onto and through the movie screen resting on the glass bottom.

“The Coast Guard is still waiting for us.” Dmitri fussed over the final adjustments to his wetsuit. “So, please, Andrew, transmit the audio and video files of everything that’s happened, and maybe about to happen, to Professor McPinsky.”

“Yes,” replied McPinsky, reminding everyone he was still on the line. “I need those files. I’ve been waiting my entire career for data like this, and I know just the special person I’d like to share this discovery with.”