Part 4 (1/2)

”Would you be kind enough to detail your recent personal experience with the dolphins?”

”Of course, although really you should have had Readis tell you. He's got it all down pat.”

”So Lord Jaxom said.”

”You've a sense of humor?”

”Not as you know it. Relate your experience.

”I'm not harper trained ”You were there. Your first-hand account will be greatly appreciated.”

Though there was no hint of censure or impatience in the Aivas' tone, Alemi obeyed. To his own amus.e.m.e.nt, he found himself repeating phrases that Readis had used in describing the adventure. The boy did have a gift for the dramatic. He must remind Jayge to apply for a harper at Paradise River Hold. Fleetingly he regretted Aramina's decision for Readis.

”They called themselves ”mamls”,' Alemi added as he concluded the actual events, ”not fish.”

”They are,' Aivas said in an uncontradictable tone, ”mammals,' and he emphasized the correct p.r.o.nunciation.

”What, then, are m-mammals?”

”Mammals - m a m m a 1 5 - are life forms that bear live young and suckle them.”

”In the seas?” Alemi demanded, incredulous.

The picture on the screen altered now to one of swirling waters and tails and suddenly Ale mi was conscious that he was watching the birth of a s.h.i.+pfish from the body of its mother. He gasped as the tiny creature emerged and then was a.s.sisted by two other s.h.i.+pfish to the surface.

”As you see, oxygen is important and essential to the dolphins as to all sea-living mammals,' Aivas remarked.

The next scene showed the little creature suckling from its mother's teat.

”On Earth,' Aivas continued, ”there were many mammalian life forms living in the sea, but only the dolphins, of the family Delphinidae, the bottle-nosed variation, the tursiops tursio, were transported from Earth to Pern By the time this facility was put on hold, they had already multiplied and prospered well in the Pernese waters. The volume of sea available on this planet was the reason for including the dolphins in the colonial roster.

It is good to know that they have survived and seem to be in great numbers now. A census is being taken of pod sightings.

Estimates of populations have not been completed since they seem to have developed a migratory culture.”

Through this brief synopsis, the screen showed the wondering seaman more dolphins with young calves.

”That's nowhere on Pern,' Alemi said, pointing to the screen, suddenly realizing what was ”wrong' with the pictures, ”at least that I've ever seen.

”A keen observation, Master Alemi, for this footage was taken on Earth in an area called the Florida Keys. These are the ancestors of your dolphins in their natural habitat. I shall now play scenes of how those dolphins worked with their human partners, called dolphineers.”

”Doll fin ears?” exclaimed Alemi, slapping his knee with one hand as he saw men and women working with the dolphins, undersea and being propelled across the surface of the water alongside their unlikely mounts. ”Like dragons and their riders?”

”Not as close a bond as I am told that is. There is no ceremony similar to Impression such as dragons and riders undergo. The a.s.sociation between humans and dolphins was of mutual convenience and consent, not lifelong, though congenial and effective.

”Certain groups of dolphins - there were more than twenty varieties of the species known on earth - agreed to the mentasynth treatment in order to form a close working partners.h.i.+p with humans. Those that came on the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+ps with the colonists, twenty-four in number, were experienced in such matters and undertook to explore the oceans and provide certain services to the humans. Up until the eruption of Mounts Picchu and Garben, a high standard of communication was possible between humans and dolphins.”

”If they like to work with humans, as a sea captain, I'd like to work with them, if I could, Alemi said. ”I owe them my life and others have. Readis was highly amused that the d-dol phins,' and now he made an effort to say those syllables as one word, ”had such good manners.

”Courtesy has been observed in the interactions of many species and not necessarily in vocal expression. Other abstract concepts, however, require semantics and suitable att.i.tudes and postures adapted to convey cultural differences.

”What would I have to learn to talk to dolphins?” Alemi was pleased to hear how firmly the word, now that he was more accustomed to it, came out.

”There has been a linguistic s.h.i.+ft over the centunes,' Aivas began, ”but both species can adapt to the changes. Here is an example of humans interacting with dolphins.”

A scene unrolled in which a human and a dolphin were checking fishtraps of some kind. The human wore some sort of apparatus on his back and a short-sleeved, short-legged black garment with brilliant yellow stripes. The picture was as fresh as if Alemi were at a window on to the lagoon. He leaned forward, not wis.h.i.+ng to miss a single detail.

Alemi watched, fascinated, murmuring to himself phrases exchanged between the pair. The dolphin towed the man who gripped the dorsal fin, among the traps, inspecting the line.

Briefly he wondered what his reactionary father would say to the point that ”s.h.i.+pfish' could talk.

”How do you get them to talk to you, Aivas?”

”It is frequently a matter of record, mentioned by numerous dolphineers, that getting the mammals to stop talking was considered more of a problem.”

”Really?” Alemi was delighted with that information.

”Dolphins apparently have an unusual ability to delay ”work” in favor of ”games”.

The screen s.h.i.+fted to a new picture and Alemi recognized Monaco Bay, but the bay as he had never seen it: populated with sailing craft of many sizes and types, with vehicles zooming about in the sky like squat, rigid ungraceful dragons. A huge wharf dominated the further tip of the Monaco Bay crescent, and then he was looking at a solid plinth, a large bell atop it.

”I've seen that,' Alemi exclaimed, pointing to the bell. ”It was hauled up from the sea floor.”

”Yes. It is being scaled of the encrustations. This bell was rung by dolphins to summon humans when they had messages to deliver and by humans to summon the dolphins.”

”The dolphins summoned humans?” Alemi was delighted by the notion. ”D'you think they would respond to a bell?” Alemi asked.

”It is recommended that you use that means of convening them,' said Aivas ”It would be interesting to see if current dolphins would recognize old imperatives. The printed sheets are summaries of files on the subject of dolphins and dolphineers.

They also contain the hand signals which the dolphineers used to communicate underwater - which you might find useful - as well as a vocabulary list in the dolphin lexicon.”

Suddenly thin sheets of the new writing material which the Master Woodsman Bendarek had been making began to extrude from a slot at the base of the screen.

”Instructions on how to conduct yourself in re-establis.h.i.+ng a meaningful contact with the dolphins, Master Alemi. A report on your progress would be appreciated.”

Alemi gathered the sheets with careful hands, awed by the responsibility he somehow found himself eager to accept. He had always half envied riders their dragons though, unlike many of his boyhood friends, he had never aspired to be a dragonrider: the sea was already in his blood. He found his sister, Menolly's, pair of fire-lizards engaging, as well as useful creatures, but the thought that he could have contact with an intelligent sea creature was irresistible: creatures as awesome in the medium of water as dragons were in the air.

As he left the Admin building, absently responding to the Harper's farewell, he wondered where he could find a bell that would call dolphins.

Young T'lion had his eyes open from his vantage point on the hill behind the Admin Building so he and Gadareth were landing before Alemi could signal them.

”How did you know I was here?” Alemi asked, surprised and gratified.

The boy flushed. ”Well, sir, saw you leave Admin. You walk different. You sort of roll.”

Alemi laughed. ”Look, are you required to be back at the Weyr right away?” ”No, sir, I'm on duty for you today.”

”Good. Could we go down to the bay?” Alemi pointed in the general direction of the distant unseen crescent of Monaco Bay.

He wanted to see how big the dolphin bell was.