Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3) (5 page)

As expected, Lee and Juan were monitoring all of DeeAnn’s translations with Dulce.  But it took almost a full minute for IMIS to display the frequency data used during the translations.  When the first feedback finally came across Lee’s screen, it did so in a
flood
of colors.

“Whoa!”

6

Alison Shaw burst into the computer lab and found them all huddled around Lee’s desk.  “Okay, I’m here. What is it?”

DeeAnn, dressed in khaki shorts and a matching shirt, turned around.  “Lee’s a genius, that’s what!”

“Well, I don’t know about that.” 

He motioned Alison over and pulled out his chair for her.  She crossed the room and sat down, examining the screen.

“Is this audio?”

“It sure is.”

“What does it mean?”

Lee smiled at DeeAnn.

“It’s the problem they’ve been working on.  Lee came to me last night with an idea that we were missing something.”

“It was a problem we couldn’t figure out,” he added.  “No matter how much we dug into the code.  Then it occurred to me that maybe there are more complexities going on that we still don’t know about.”

Alison turned back.  “So, what is this?”

“It’s what IMIS is
really
hearing.”

“More sounds?”

“More frequencies.  The colors represent the wider bands, much wider than we can hear.”

“What does that mean?  It hears more words than we thought?”

“Maybe.  But I suspect it may be more about tones or inflections.”  He looked to DeeAnn.

“I’m sure it is.  In a lot of languages it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.  We should expect the same pattern with gorillas and other primates.  We knew some of that was in the gesturing and expressions, but I certainly never expected the rest to be in sounds we couldn’t hear.”

Alison looked at her curiously.  “So, primates can hear sounds that we can’t?”

“The designs of our auditory systems are very similar, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they work exactly the same.  Some researchers have suggested that having more advanced brains may have caused us to
devolve
out of certain basic abilities.  Like the range of our hearing.”

The room fell silent.  It was a powerful thought.  Devolution and evolution happening together.  On a certain level, it made sense.  Everything in life had a balance to it.  Few things could be gained without something also being lost. 

“Not to take away from the moment,” Lee said, “but there’s something even more interesting about this.”

“Like what?”

“Well, we think we know how IMIS is truly communicating with Dulce now.  Which is big.  But…” He looked at them with excitement.  “This is
not
something we programmed IMIS to do –– to listen to such a broad frequency range.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that no one told IMIS to do it.”  Lee smiled, waiting for them to pick up on his suggestion.  Finally, he said it.  “IMIS made the decision.”

At that moment, they all could have heard a pin drop.

“Whoaaa,” Juan whispered.

DeeAnn looked at Lee with wide eyes and tilted her head.  “Are you saying that IMIS is
thinking
?”

He grinned.  “Thinking, no.  At least not as we understand it.  But the system does employ several algorithms that give it a certain capacity for artificial intelligence.  It’s not thinking…but it is getting smarter at solving problems.”

One floor below, the heavy figure of Bruna Lopez, the Center’s administrative assistant, hurried over the dark tiles which lined the ground floor.  When she reached the bottom of the wide staircase, the admin grasped the railing with her right hand and continued her rush up the stairs.

Once at the top, she immediately covered the short distance to the double metal doors and pushed them open, looking around the room.

“Miss…Alison…”

Alison turned away from the others at Lee’s desk and spotted Bruna in the doorway, breathing heavily.

“Yes, Bruna.  What is it?”

“Someone…is here to see you.  She said…it was urgent.”

Alison turned to DeeAnn with a concerned look.  The last time someone came to see them unannounced things ended very badly.  “Who is it?”

“A woman.  From San Juan.  A Boricua.”

Both women quickly followed Bruna.  She led them back downstairs but stopped short upon reaching the bottom step where they spotted a middle-aged woman curiously looking around their observation area.

When the woman saw Bruna returning, she appeared relieved and quickly closed the distance between herself and the women, staring intently at Alison as she did so.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized.  “’I’m sorry.  I was just-”

Bruna was breathing hard again but still managed an irritated glare.  “I told you I would get her.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”  Alison could see puffiness around the woman’s eyes.  “What can I do for you?”

“I’m very sorry.  I don’t mean any disrespect, but I have to speak with you.”

“About what?”

The woman took a deep breath.  “My name is Lara Santiago.  I've come to ask you for help.  Not for me, for my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“Sofia.  She’s eight.  Her class came here recently on a field trip.”  The woman frowned before continuing.  “My daughter couldn’t come.  She…she hasn’t been to school for a long time.  She’s very sick.”

All three women’s faces softened.

Lara pressed her lips together firmly.  She had already cried so much.  But the tears still came, sometimes unexpectedly.  “My daughter has leukemia.  Her friends came to see her recently and told her about their field trip.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Alison said, her voice having dropped to a soft whisper.

The woman forced the next words out.  “She…doesn’t have much time left.”

Alison placed a hand over her mouth and looked at DeeAnn.

“I’m here for her,” the mother continued.  “She was wondering…we were wondering if we could arrange for a visit with your dolphins.”  Lara was clearly struggling now.  “Maybe a private visit?  Sofia’s embarrassed of how she looks now, but she asked to see them…before it’s too late.  If that’s possible.”

Alison dropped her hand and nodded.  “Of course.  Of course it is.  We’d be happy to have her.”

“Thank you.” Lara smiled and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.  “Thank you so much.  Sofia loves dolphins.  She’s wanted to come ever since you and your team arrived, but she’s been slowly getting worse.  She doesn’t have much strength left.  So her father and I are trying to make the rest of her time with us as happy as we can.”

Now all three of the women were near tears.  They stepped in closer while Bruna placed a hand gently on the woman’s arm.

“How soon can you bring Sofia in?”

“Is tomorrow too soon?”

“Not at all.”

“Maybe ten o’clock?”

“That would be fine.  We’ll make sure everything is ready.”

“Thank you so much.  I can’t…”  She stopped herself, unable to finish the sentence.

They each stepped forward and embraced Lara warmly one at a time.  “You tell Sofia that we’ll all be waiting for her.”

Bruna then wrapped an arm around her and gently guided Lara back toward the double doors.

Alison and DeeAnn both looked at each other in silent amazement.  They then glanced up, realizing Lee, Chris, and Juan were standing above them at the top of the stairs.

“I take it you heard all that?”

“We did.” They nodded solemnly.

“Can we count on your help tomorrow then?”

Chris smiled.  “Hell, yes.”

From the inside of the tank, Sally watched Alison and the others speaking.  They were talking quickly and for a long time.  When it was over, the others disappeared, leaving only Alison, who remained staring at her and Dirk.

“Hello, Sally.  Hello, Dirk.”

Sally answered as they both drifted effortlessly toward the tank’s glass wall.
  Hello Alison.  How you?

“I’m good.  Thank you.  I need to talk to you about something.”

Outside, the computer beeped with an error when translating the last word.  Alison shrugged.  It didn’t matter.  “I need to talk,” she repeated.  Why IMIS had long been able to translate “need” and not “something” she didn’t understand.  There were still a number of words the system couldn’t figure out and others it could.   Of course now, given what Lee and Juan had discovered, there was no telling how deep IMIS’s translations went.

Yes we talk
, answered Dirk.

“A young girl would like to come see you tomorrow.  A child.”  Alison thought for a moment and added, “She’s very sick.”

Why girl sick?

Alison frowned.  She couldn’t think of a way to explain it.  She knew IMIS didn’t have an exact match for the word “sick.”  Instead, for the dolphins, the word IMIS translated it to was closer to “injury” but the context was close enough. “She’s been sick for a long time.”  She hoped that would allow them to understand.

Girl come for talk?

“Yes.  She’s very excited to talk to you and Dirk.”

We like talk her.

“She’s a very special girl.  We want to make her visit special.”

They weren’t sure what Sofia would be able to do, but hopefully, with Dirk and Sally’s help, they were going to give her the experience of a lifetime.  Even for one as short as hers.

7

When Sofia Santiago arrived at a few minutes past ten, everyone was ready, including Dirk and Sally.  They both floated attentively at the end of the tank, watching as the small girl was wheeled in through the double-wide doors by her father.

Sofia looked frail in her chair, leaning slightly and wrapped in a light shawl.  A beautiful pink and purple scarf was wrapped neatly around her head.  Below the scarf, a set of warm brown eyes darted excitedly to Dirk and Sally on the other side of the glass.  Her smile completed the picture of a beautiful young girl fighting bravely against a horrible disease.  A girl who had a sickness, but the sickness clearly did not have her.

Alison and DeeAnn both stood beside the tank, amused that Sofia hadn’t yet noticed them.  It wasn’t until her mother turned the wheelchair and introduced them that the girl’s eyes were peeled away.

“Well, hello there, Sofia.”  Alison reached down and shook her delicate hand.  “My name is Alison Shaw.  We’re so very happy to have you.”

Sofia grinned.  “I saw you on the TV.”

“Is that right?  Is that how you found out about us?”

She nodded proudly.

“And this is my friend DeeAnn.”

“Hello, Sofia,” DeeAnn said, taking the girl’s hand next.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you.  We hear you’re crazy about dolphins.  In fact, we have a gift for you.”  DeeAnn brought something out from behind her back and unfolded it.  It was a small T-shirt with a picture of Dirk and Sally on the front.

Sofia smiled and took the shirt with a, “Thank you.”  She turned back to Dirk and Sally who were still floating in front of them.  Her eyes opened wide when Dirk suddenly made a noise and bolted away.  He quickly circled back and swam a tight corkscrew around Sally.

Alison laughed.  “As you can see, Dirk likes to show off a little.”

Sofia watched excitedly from her chair as Dirk swam up and around the tank.  All the while, Sally remained, floating gently in place and watching Sofia. 

Alison looked to her father.  “May I?”

Ricardo Santiago stepped out from behind the chair, allowing Alison to take his place.  She leaned down over Sofia’s right shoulder and said, “We have something neat to show you.  Are you ready?”

She grinned shyly and nodded.  With that, Alison pushed the wheelchair forward and headed toward their observation room, the dolphins following alongside them in their long oval tank.  As they moved along the wall, Sofia gingerly reached out and brushed her fingers against the cool glass.  Sally, watching the girl closely from the other side, reached her fin out and brushed the same area of glass. 

They reached the double metal doors and DeeAnn slid her card over the sensor.  After she heard the loud click of the door unlocking, DeeAnn pulled one side open and held it for the others.  One by one, they entered the larger room. There, Sofia and her family could see Chris, Lee, and Juan smiling and waiting for them near a large desk.  The desk had been moved closer to the tank and had both a computer and large monitor sitting on top.  Behind them the family noticed the high-definition cameras mounted at various points around the curvature of the tank.  Thick but neatly tied cables ran from the apparatuses and converged into a larger bundle, which then ran the length of the room to the giant IMIS computer system against the far wall.  The rest of the room was composed of more desks holding additional computers and equipment they didn’t recognize.  To the right were two video cameras, side by side and pointed at the tank.  Each at a different angle.  Yet even with the extra desks and equipment, the room gave off an open, comfortable feel.

Chris bent down as they approached.  “Welcome, Sofia.  We’re very excited to have you here.  My name is Chris. This is Lee and Juan.  We all work together here at the center.”  He glanced briefly at Alison before winking at her.  “But Alison here is the boss.”

Sofia giggled.

Together, Chris and Alison eased her chair up to the desk.  “Do you know what we do here that’s so special?”

“You talk to dolphins.”

“That’s right.  Would you like to talk to them?”

“Yes!”

Alison locked one of the wheels in place and bent down on the other side of Sofia.

“They’re very excited to meet you.” 

Lee stepped around Alison and slid a small vertical microphone closer to Sofia before hitting a few buttons on the keyboard.  “Just speak right into here.  Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Are you ready, Sofia?”

She looked excitedly at her mother.  “What should I say?”

Her mother laughed.  “What happened to the million questions you had in the car?”

With one final keystroke, Lee nodded.  “Okay.  Go ahead.”

Sofia leaned forward.  “Hello?” she asked.  Unsure what to do, she turned back to Alison just as the whistles and clicks emanated through the tank’s underwater speakers. 

Sally was still studying her and replied immediately. 
Hello.  How you Sofia?

She gasped and looked at her mother again.  “They know my name!”

Alison’s entire team smiled.  There obviously was no translation equivalent for the name Sofia so they made one up.  Similar to their own names, they created a manual translation in the database that was tied to a random set of clicks and whistles –– sounds the dolphins could repeat and IMIS would then associate with “Sofia.” And now, having her so excited that the dolphins knew her name made it more than worth the effort.

Finished with his display, Dirk glided in smoothly and stopped next to Sally. 
We happy meet you.

Sofia listened to the mechanized voice of each dolphin and watched their words simultaneously appear on the screen in front of her.  “I’m happy to meet you too.  Do you live here?”

Dirk bobbed his head. 
We live ocean.  We come here.  Eat much.

Alison laughed and turned to her parents.  “If you’ve heard teenage boys could eat a lot, you should see a teenage dolphin.”

“They’re teenagers?”

“Yes.  They were mostly grown by the time they came to live with us.  But now they can come and go whenever they like.  One thing we’ve learned is that they definitely don’t like to be in captivity.”

“What’s captivity?”

“It’s when we keep them in the tank all the time.”

Sofia thought a moment, still turned toward Alison.  “Do any animals like it?”

“Mmm...We’re not sure about all animals.  But I doubt it.”

The young girl frowned, but let it go.  She spoke into the microphone again.  “How far can you swim?”

Dirk responded again and thrust his tail forcefully, making a tight circle. 
Very far.

Everyone laughed.  Only Lee and Juan noticed the quick change on the computer screen before the sound was heard.  The actual translation was closer to “much far” but IMIS quickly corrected the grammar.  Alison was paying more attention to Sally, who seemed quieter than usual.  She simply remained, floating and studying Sofia in her metal chair.  The girl was now grinning from ear to ear.  “I can’t believe I’m actually talking to dolphins!”

Her mother and father smiled.  Sofia asked another question just as Alison stepped away and pulled her parents to the side.  She lowered her voice.

“Is it possible she can get into the water?”