Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3) (7 page)

10

Sofia was beaming from alongside the tank as her father gently wrapped a towel around her wet body.  On her other side, Sophia’s mother Lara slid a pretty scarf back over her head and tied it beneath her chin.  Sophia’s giant smile was pure and beautiful as Alison bent down in front of her.

“Pretty great, huh?”

“Amazing!” Sofia answered excitedly through chattering teeth.  She peered past Alison to Dirk and Sally, watching her with their heads bobbing above the water.  “I can’t believe it!”

Alison winked.  “No other kid has ever done that.”

“Really?”

“Really.” 

The expression on Sofia’s face was priceless, but one look at her parents made Alison want to cry along with them.  She couldn’t imagine how a parent could deal with losing a child.  How they could even manage to go on, missing such a giant piece of their hearts.  She was honored to have been able to make one of Sofia’s last days truly special, but now that she’d met her, Alison’s heart was already breaking.

She pursed her lips and straightened back up, just as DeeAnn stepped in closer.  “Did you enjoy that, Sofia?”

“More than anything!”

“Excellent.”  DeeAnn glanced at her parents kneeling behind her.   “Do you need to leave or do we have a little more time?”

Lara placed her hands lightly on her daughter’s shoulders.  “How do you feel, honey?”

“Really good.”

Lara nodded.  “We have more time.”

“Good,” DeeAnn smiled.  “So…Sofia, do you like gorillas?”

Dulce sat up straight when she heard the others approaching, a flower stem still gripped between her large teeth.  She immediately sprang up and ran to the glass wall.  She peered down the sloped walkway, trying to see into the darkened tunnel, and began clapping excitedly when she spotted DeeAnn pushing a small girl in a strange metal chair.

Mommy here!  Mommy here!

The words emanated from behind Sofia through the new vest donned by DeeAnn.  Alison and Lara followed behind with the four men in the rear.  And Lee was right.  The new vest was much more comfortable.

DeeAnn stopped near the large clear door and switched places with Alison.  She entered the security code, grabbing the handle when the door gave a loud “click.”  DeeAnn stepped in first as Dulce began jumping up and down.   She raised her hands and lowered them calmly.

“Easy, Dulce.  Easy.”

Dulce stopped with a huge grin. 
Dulce easy.

DeeAnn eyed her for a long moment before turning and waving Alison in with the chair.  They stopped less than ten feet inside and spun the chair around.

“Dulce.  This is Sofia.  Sofia, meet Dulce.”

“Hi, Dulce.”

The small dark gorilla stared at Sofia curiously.  She first studied the girl’s body and then her legs, following them down to the footrests of the chair.  Examining the metal frame, Dulce tapped it with a finger. 
What this?

Sofia looked up to DeeAnn.  “It’s a chair,” she replied hesitantly.

Her words took just over a second to be transmitted to IMIS before returning in translated form through DeeAnn’s vest speaker.  Dulce listened and seemed to become even more fascinated by it.  Finally, her large hazel eyes traveled back up to Sofia. 

You small.

She giggled.  “I am.  But I think I’m still taller than you.”

DeeAnn laughed as Dulce frowned after hearing the translation.  The young gorilla’s protruding lips quickly spread back into a grin and she took Sofia’s hand to shake it.

“She’s been having a lot of fun with handshaking lately,” DeeAnn whispered.  “She’s noticed that people do it a lot when they meet.”

“Oh. Okay.”

When she was done, Dulce took back her hand, but quickly became curious about the colorful scarf over the girl’s head.  She grabbed hold of the chair and raised herself up to get a closer look, then sniffed at the scarf.  Without warning, she grabbed it with one hand and pulled it down.

Sofia jumped in surprise and instinctively reached up, but it was too late.  Instead, all she could do was raise her shoulders in embarrassment. 

Dulce had already begun pulling the scarf over her own head when she noticed Sofia’s bald skin on top.  She immediately lowered the scarf and studied it.  DeeAnn was about to interject when Dulce raised her hand and delicately rubbed the top of Sofia's head.

You head same Dulce head.

With a slight grin, Sofia replied, “I think you have a tiny bit more hair.”

Dulce rubbed her own head, checking.  She laughed with a loud whooping sound. 
You come play Dulce.
 

The young gorilla clasped Sofia’s hand and abruptly pulled her forward, almost tugging her out of her chair.

“Whoa, whoa!” exclaimed DeeAnn.  “Dulce go easy, remember?”

She looked up at DeeAnn, puzzled. 
Dulce easy.

“Easier.”

Sofia spoke up.  “What do you want to play, Dulce?”

Check.

“Check?  What’s-” Sofia started to ask, but stopped when she spotted an oversized checkerboard sitting idly in the shade of a Rosewood tree, one of the many native African plants in the habitat.

“Oh.  You mean checkers!”

Dulce nodded and pulled again, more gently.

“Okay, hold on,” DeeAnn said.  “We’ll move her.”  She helped Alison move the chair forward over the rough ground and leaned in to tell Sofia something as they moved across the short grass.

“Don’t let her cuteness fool you,” she said with a wink.  “Sometimes she cheats.”

“Really?”

“Well, it’s not cheating to her.  She’s playing.  But it may not be the same game you think you’re playing.”

They reached a large, square wooden box with red and black squares painted neatly on top.  Round circular chips were also painted and strewn around the board.  Sofia watched in amazement as Dulce carefully retrieved the pieces and grouped them into separate piles.

Chris Ramirez stood off to the side, watching with the others.  His specialty was marine and aquatic life, but he found himself constantly fascinated watching DeeAnn’s work with Dulce. The young gorilla was adorable but even more than that, she moved in ways that were just so...human.  Of course, DeeAnn had explained how very similar primate and human DNA were, but he was sure there was something else.  Apes moving similarly were one thing, but there was definitely something else.  Something he hadn’t quite been able to put his finger on, until now.

Lee’s discovery of the extra frequencies prompted Chris to rethink his many conversations with Alison about a certain cultural element which seemed to be missing in these translations.  Something that suggested another level of connection.  But now, watching Dulce again, the idea suddenly crystallized.  It wasn’t just the movements of gorillas in general.  He’d observed other primates many times before.  Their actions were similar to humans but not exactly the same.  With Dulce, her motions were
very
similar to their own.  So close, in fact, that some of her gestures looked almost identical to a human child.  And naturally the specific difference with Dulce was a superior form of
communication
.  Standing there in the habitat, it finally hit Chris.  Maybe what made humans
human
, was not just DNA.  Maybe some of that humanity was inside the communication itself. 

He continued watching Dulce and Sofia with a smile on his face, quietly pondering whether IMIS would ever discover deeper secrets within the communication of humans themselves.

He blinked and returned his focus to Dulce, who was studying the board carefully and examining every chip.  Finally, she reached out and placed her chip on a new red square two spaces up.

Sofia wrinkled her brow and looked at DeeAnn again.  “Is that allowed?”

“I usually just go with it.”

Sofia shrugged and reached forward, moving her own piece. 

For the next thirty minutes, the two played every game Dulce had in the habitat, some twice.  Eventually, Lee and Juan excused themselves to head back to the lab.  The rest continued watching in amusement, but it was DeeAnn who was truly surprised.  Dulce could be rather reckless when she played, especially given her growing level of strength.  But not once had her recklessness come out with Sofia.  She was as gentle as DeeAnn had ever seen her.  As if she was worried about the girl.

Dulce spontaneously looked up at DeeAnn from where the two were playing and said a single word.

Friend
.

DeeAnn smiled at Alison and eased the office door closed behind her.  Alison turned to sit on the edge of her desk and folded her arms.  She was beaming.

“That…was amazing!”

“It certainly was.”

“Did you see Sofia’s face when they left?  She couldn’t stop smiling!”

DeeAnn laughed.  “Pure happiness.  You really did something incredible there, Ali.”

“
We,
” Alison corrected.

“Okay, we did something incredible.”

She took a deep breath and turned to stare out the window.  “God, it just felt so good to do that for her.  To give her something really special.  To make a difference…”

DeeAnn tilted her head when Alison trailed off.  “You mean before it’s too late.”

“Yes,” she replied, deflating.  “Before it’s too late.”  Her excitement was quickly tempered with the painful realization that Sofia was close to the end of her life.  
It wasn’t fair.  It just wasn’t fair at all.

“What if…what if we could do this for other kids?” Alison’s eyes glanced back up, searching DeeAnn’s for her reaction.

“Now that would be something.”  DeeAnn couldn’t tell whether Alison was using the word “we” intentionally. 
Was Alison subtly trying to coax her to stay?

“It’s funny,” DeeAnn said.  “When I first got here, I had no idea what IMIS would be able to do.  It’s just a computer.  But it's connecting us in ways I don’t think any of us could have imagined.”

Alison nodded.  “Did I ever tell you that when IBM came to us with the idea of IMIS, I never thought it would work?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I had no idea how far the capabilities of these supercomputers had come.  I thought they were just used for beating us at chess and stuff.”

DeeAnn laughed.  “The irony is that in some ways I think it may just teach us how to be better humans.  It sure did today.”

“Who would have thought, right?”

“Just don’t tell Lee I said that.”

As Alison began to speak, they were suddenly interrupted.

“Good afternoon, ladies.”

They both turned to see Steve Caesare’s tanned and handsome face peering in through the door. 

“Steve?!”  Alison’s eyes widened.  “What are you doing here?”

He smiled and pushed the door open, stepping inside.  “Ah, I was in the neighborhood.”  He noticed the slight flush in Alison’s face.  “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, no.  Just an emotional day.  Come on in.” 

She rose from her desk and covered the distance to give him a hug.  Caesare then turned to DeeAnn.  “How are you, Dee?”

DeeAnn gave him a friendly smirk.  She hated that nickname, and he knew it.  She hugged him and stepped back.  “To what do we owe this
surprise
?”

Caesare grinned.  He was glad their relationship hadn’t changed, even after what she’d been through.  “I was just flying through,” he said with a shrug.  “Thought I’d stop by to visit two of my favorite gals.”

Alison looked suspiciously at DeeAnn. 
Stopping by
wasn’t something a person did easily from an airplane.  “I see you’ve shaved off your mustache.  Trying to impress anyone?”

Trying to blend in, actually.
  He chuckled and turned to DeeAnn.  “How’s Dulce?”

“Good.  Bouncing back faster than I expected.”

“And how about you?”

She frowned, nervously.  “I’m a bit slower.”

Caesare simply nodded.  “And how about the guys?”

“Pretty good.  They’re all here if you want to stop by the lab.”

“I will.”  He looked around the room, decorated with two large Wyland prints and a bookshelf beneath the window.  When his focus came back to Alison and DeeAnn, both women were staring at him questioningly.  “What?”

DeeAnn spoke to Alison without looking away.  “I sense bad news coming.”

“Bad news?  From me?  Never.”

“You’ve never come here alone before, Steve.”

Neither woman was buying it.  “Fine,” he relented.  “I came here to talk to you two.  And…more specifically, to Dee.” 

“About what?”

Caesare dropped the act but kept a trace of the grin.  “Well, we have a wee bit of a problem.”