The Atlantic Day 1

As the morning dawned fresh, Dave watched as the first rays of light began their majestic climb into the sky along the still barely visible eastern horizon. Since coming on deck at midnight, the apprehension kept building in Dave's mind as he pondered the activity of the upcoming day. The 12:00 to 4:00 AM watch, or dog watch as the old sailors called it, had not been a problem with Dave tonight. Awake well before the alarm went off, he had been lying in his bunk, his mind racing over the details of the upcoming day's activities. And when able to erase whale communications from his mind, they were immediately replaced with thoughts of Claire.

His head turned from the horizon to Claire who was asleep on the port side of the cockpit. Heroically she had tried to stay awake to keep him company when he came on deck to relieve her at midnight. Over his objections, since he knew she needed her rest for the upcoming day's activities, Claire claimed she wouldn't be able to sleep, and fought eyelids that kept getting obviously heavier and heavier. It was only moments after he convinced her to at least rest her head on the cockpit seat that Claire lost the battle, her eyelids made the final closure, and she fell into a sound sleep. Dave went below and brought up a couple of blankets to cover her resting body. Assured she was warm, he had spent the rest of the night thinking about whales and Claire, Claire and whales, over and over and over. One thing he had decided was that no matter what happened over the next couple of days, he wanted to get to know Claire.

The sailing had been perfect, a clear moon-lit sky and a gentle southwest breeze that moved KT along at 6 knots through the smooth rippled sea. The autopilot steered a straight course all night long and neither Dave nor Claire had to touch the helm since the previous evening. Dave looked at the readings on the GPS in front of him and then plotted them on his chart. They had made even better time than he expected and if everything went as he had planned, they should be at their destination, an X he had placed on the chart, within the hour. Dave leaned over and placed a gentle but sincere kiss on Claire's cheek.

Claire opened her eyes ever so slowly. When the sun's rays entered her pupils as her eyelids slowly opened, she realized it was morning and smiled. "See, I told you I couldn't sleep," were her first words of the day. Sitting up and scanning the horizon, she turned to Dave and asked, "Are we there?"

"Almost...., almost," he replied, nodding his head to affirm his statement. Dave went on to explain that he expected to be in the area within an hour and suggested that they both eat something before they started their day. Checking the horizon completely around the boat to assure there were no ships or flotsam with which to collide, Dave descended the companionway to begin preparing breakfast. Claire collected her blankets and pillow and followed him into the cabin.

Dave prepared fresh coffee, sliced some fruit and placed it on the cabin table while Claire changed. Emerging from her cabin, she found Dave with the hydrophone headset on, intent on listening for the telltale sounds of whales beneath the boat. Sensing Claire entering the cabin Dave looked up, hesitated for a moment and then explained, "You can usually hear the whales long before you see them and I was just getting an early start."

Claire laughed, "Yes, I'm excited too!"

They both took some fruit and coffee and headed up to the cockpit. Dave hesitated, turned to the hydrophone amplifier, switched it to speaker and turned up the volume.

Entering the cockpit he repeated to Claire, "We will probably hear them before we see them." The noises of the ocean filled the cockpit as they both scanned the horizon ahead.

The sun now filled the sky in the eastern horizon as KT sped ahead, sails pulling in the freshening morning breeze. Both of them intent on listening to the sounds beneath the boat, amplified and played in the cockpit by the hydrophone system, while concurrently staring ahead looking for the first signs of whales. The sound of the boat's movement through the water, although partially filtered out by the amplifier, could still be heard every time the boat fell off a swell and plowed into the oncoming wave. Between the sounds of the boat, Claire was surprised at all of the other sounds she heard coming from an expanse of ocean that from the surface appeared to be void of life. Dave, listening intently, would occasionally identify a sound he recognized. A school of shrimp, a motor boat far off over the horizon. But other than that, talk between them was at a minimum. Claire recognized the height of anxiety building in Dave as they approached the mystical X spot on the chart, and chose to allow him to concentrate by remaining silent.

Finishing her coffee, Claire stood up, took another look at the horizon ahead of the boat, and without saying a word, went below decks. Dave, so intent on reaching the spot signified by the X he placed on the chart, didn't even notice Claire leaving the cockpit.

Staring at the readout on the GPS in front of him and then back to the chart he was holding in his hand, Dave thought to himself, "Three miles to go. We should begin to hear them soon."

Meanwhile below decks Claire was busying herself turning on the computer and loading all the programs. Having carefully run all the checks, she was soon satisfied that everything was in order. As Claire turned to head back to the cockpit she heard a new sound coming over the speakers, a sound that even she recognized from her limited work with Dave's recordings as the sounds of whales. Rushing to the cockpit, her eyes caught Dave's, looking at each other, no words were necessary, they both simply smiled.

As the minutes passed, the sounds grew louder and louder and louder. Claire and Dave continued to scan the surface of the water beyond the bow of the boat. The silence was broken by the GPS sounding a repetitive beeping signal. Claire looked at Dave quizzically and he immediately explained that this was the signal indicating that they were approaching the area he had indicated on the chart.

It was Dave who spotted the first whale. In keeping with the finest of Hollywood traditions, he pointed to about 2 o'clock off the bow and yelled, "Whale Ho......, Whale Ho." Claire stared ahead, and soon she too saw the three, no four animals surfacing for air. "Right Whales," explained Dave. He was glad they were the first whales to be encountered, because their language was the easiest to decipher and their slow swimming speed would make them easy to keep up with. Disengaging the autopilot, Dave slowly headed the boat towards the whales. Asking Claire to take over the helm, he explained, "I'm going forward to lower the main sail to slow the boat so we don't overtake the whales."

Reaching into the starboard cockpit compartment, Dave grabbed the sail ties stored there and placed them under his belt. Scampering forward, trying not to make a lot of sudden noise, Dave uncleated the halyard holding the sail in the raised position. Slowly he lowered the mainsail. As the 400 square feet of dacron came down, he wrestled with the heavy cloth to assure it was neatly folded along the length of the boom. With one hand holding the halyard to control the descent of the mainsail, and the other hand trying to fold the sail, Dave found himself with no hand to hold on with and tuned his body to the rolling motion of the boat as only an experienced sailor can. Satisfied with his work, he pulled the sail ties out of his belt and secured the sail.

By the time Dave had the mainsail down, they were about 100 yards behind the pod of whales. At this range it was now clear that the pod was composed not of four animals but six, four adults and two juveniles. Back in the cockpit, Dave carefully adjusted the trim of the forward headsail, the genoa, to slow the boat even further. After experimenting with a number of different settings, he was finally satisfied that the boat speed now matched that of the pod. Taking over the helm from Claire, he readjusted the autopilot to trace the course of the whales; then looking at Claire he said, "Let's find out what they are saying."

Claire entered the cabin and switched the equipment from standby to active. Dave sat on the companionway sill where he could keep an eye on the whales while participating in Claire's work. Claire let the computer stabilize for about 30 seconds and then typed in the command "Identify." The computer began the task of analyzing the sounds from the hydrophone. After what seemed like an eternity, Dave asked, "What's the matter, isn't it working?"

Claire replied, "It's working fine, be patient. Identification is the hardest task and will take about 45 seconds." No sooner had she finished when the computer identified the sounds, beeped and displayed on the screen:

Right Whales.

Seeing the proper identification, Dave yelled, "BINGO" and slapped the side of the cabin top.

"Let's see if the computer can decipher what they are saying," Claire exclaimed. Entering the command "listen," both of them stared at the computer screen. Dave's mind raced through all the sounds he could remember. He envisioned the computer searching for the 4th & 5th elements in the sound chains. The hardest thing, he thought to himself, was deciphering the starting point of the sound chain. Once that was determined, the translation into the simple phrases he had developed was easy.

It took the computer a little longer than Claire had expected. As she sat there looking at the screen, she began to worry. Had all this preparation been for nothing, she wondered. The minutes dragged on for what again seemed like an eternity. But just as their anxiety levels were building to bursting, the following message appeared on the screen:

six whales identified--- communications;

animal 1- is telling the others to swim

animal 2- is asking for food, appears to be a juvenile, other animals although generating sound appear to only be sounding their position.

same message being repeated

same message being repeated

Claire turned to Dave to see his reaction. As soon as their eyes met she knew that he was surprised. "How did you do that?" he asked.

Knowing exactly what he meant, but wanting to be coy, see looked at him and asked, "How did I do what?"

"How did you get it, the computer I mean, to identify the sounds from the different whales?"

"It's a little modification I included in the final program," she explained. "I just figured that if we were going to be attempting to talk with the whales, if they are anything like us there might very well be more than one whale talking at a time. Using some artificial intelligence tricks, I enabled the computer to analyze the sound prints being generated and identify those prints to specific animals. It was you who told me that you could identify certain whales by sound, so I just figured that like humans who have specific voice prints, whales might just be the same. I didn't tell you about it because I wasn't sure it would work, and if it didn't I had programmed in the ability to delete it if necessary."

She hesitated for a moment and added, "it costs about 0.5 seconds in response time but I felt it would add tremendously to the system's capability. What do you think ?" she asked.

Before she could do anything, he was down the companionway, had his arms around her, and looking into her eyes, he said "You are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, that's what I think!" With that he kissed her!

After a long kiss they released their embrace. She looked at him, smiled, and said "That was worth the extra work."

He returned her comment with, "Claire, do you understand how great this system is? Not only can we communicate with the whales but we can study their whole interaction."

Fearing he might be overstating the capability of the system she cautioned not to be too sure of everything yet. "Remember until we are able to communicate with them, all we are doing is making up what we think they are saying to each other."

Dave agreed, but as he let go of her hands, she could see in his eyes and hear in is his voice that he was confident they had solved the problem.

"Do you want to say something to the whales?" she asked.

"No, not yet," he replied. He explained that he wanted to trail this pod for a while longer to see what other communications took place within the group. "What the computer is now telling us is that while the two are communicating, the others are apparently just making noise so their presence is known. Clearly that's how they keep track of each other and maintain their position within the pod. Let's see what else we learn before we attempt to send them a signal."

Watching the screen the same message kept repeating itself:

six whales identified--- communications;

animal 1- is telling the others to swim

animal 2- is asking for food, appears to be a juvenile, other animals although generating sound appear to only be sounding their position.

same message being repeated

same message being repeated

Dave went back to the companionway to view the pod in front of them. The boat appeared to be maintaining its position. After a few moments of watching the whales, he thought to himself that the boat was probably bothering them a little; but at the same time he convinced himself that in a short time they would become more comfortable with it’s presence. Dave then turned to Claire and explained, "I believe the computer. The calf was probably the whale asking for food, but the proximity of the boat was possibly making the mature whales uncomfortable, and as a result they were maintaining their swimming pace."

Dave again turned his attention to the pod in front of the boat. As he watched he almost became mesmerized by their rhythmic pattern of swimming. The large horizontal flukes appeared to push the whales effortlessly through the water. In all the years of studying these animals he could never determine whether the upward and downward stroke of the fluke created equal thrust or did one stroke create more. He had read several papers on the subject and clearly the scientific community believed the downward thrust was the most effective, but looking at them now he wasn't sure.

Claire joined Dave on deck. Sitting next to him on the cabin top she also soon became entranced by the pod in front of the boat. Apparent to her was the rhythm in their motion. Each animal kept pace with the one next to him, each maintaining what appeared to be a precise distance from the other. After watching them for a few minutes, Claire turned to Dave and asked, "How long will they continue swimming like this?"

Without turning his head, as if afraid to turn his gaze from the pod, Dave answered, "I'm not sure. Clearly the two calves are hungry, but apparently our presence is still preventing them from slowing to feed the calves. We need to do something." Turning to Claire he said, " I'm going to adjust the sails to slow the boat. You go below and see if the communications between them changes. Maybe if we put some distance between them and us, they will become more comfortable and slow down to feed the calves."

Claire went below while Dave began adjusting the sails. Watching the whales, Dave slowed the boat by slacking up on the lines, called sheets, leading to the headsail (genoa ). Boat speed immediately began to decrease and the pod slowly pulled ahead. Watching the distance between them increase, Dave kept adjusting the headsail until he was satisfied that the rate of their increasing separation was just right. Securing the lines and returning to the cabin top, Dave returned his attention to the whales. As the separation increased Dave called down to Claire, "Expect a change in the communications pattern."

She replied, "As I soon as I hear a change, I'll tell you."

Time passed slowly as the whales drew away from the boat. Checking his watch, Dave realized that 17 minutes had passed since he started slowing the boat. The pod was barely visible now and Dave was getting impatient. The sun was well up in the sky and Dave was beginning to feel its warming effect. In addition to the increased heat, it was becoming obvious that wind was decreasing and the single sail was becoming less effective as it began to slat in the breeze. Suddenly Dave realized that short of putting on the engine, he couldn't catch up with the whales if he wanted.

Claire called to him. Shocked out of his thoughts by her voice, Dave plunged below. Looking at the computer screen he read the message:

Six animals identified----communication,

whale 1- has told the pod to slow

whale 3- has called to the whale 2 to feed

no other communications

message repeated

message repeated

"Great, I knew they would slow and feed the calves," explained Dave.

"But only the one calf appears to be feeding," Claire suggested.

"Let's wait and see what happens next," Dave answered.

Soon the computer beeped and they turned their heads to the screen. The new message read:

Six animals still being tracked----new message,

whale 4- has called whale 5, to feed

whale 1 & 6- are circling the pod

message repeated

message repeated

Dave ran up the companionway to slow the boat to assure that it didn't approach the whales and again scare them. Emerging into the sun, it was immediately apparent that KT wasn't going anywhere. The wind had ceased to exist, and the surface of the ocean was free of the wind ripples that usually covered its surface.

The sail was limp on the forestay, totally void of the life it displayed when shaped by the wind. Not designed to hang unsupported by the winds of the water planet, it resembled laundry hanging to dry in the sun. The only discernible motion was the perpetual rising and falling of the boat as it rode the swell of the seas surface. Swells that had traveled hundreds, no thousands of miles to reach this very spot, Dave thought to himself, but even they too were diminishing, absorbed by the density of the sea. Molecule by molecule the energy used to create them was being absorbed. As Claire entered the cockpit, he turned to her and in his most melodramatic voice said, "We are becalmed, the scourge of the ancient mariners. Sitting in the middle of the ocean, we have no propulsion, we are out of the fuel of the ocean. Apparently, we have run our tank of wind dry."

Claire looking at him a little strangely said, "Yes, but unlike the ancient mariners we have an engine, the remarkable power of man's reasoning ability to overcome nature's empty fuel tank."

Disappointed in her comeback, Dave turned and mumbled to himself, "I go Hollywood, she goes Einstein."

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Nothing...nothing," he answered. "Let's decide how best to deal with the situation."

They discussed the situation and decided that as soon as the calves had completed feeding they would make their first attempt at contacting the whales. Dave told Claire to go below to prepare, while he dropped all sail. Dave was excited as he moved about the deck. First he dropped the headsail, and using bungee cord, tied it to the port railing. That completed, he moved to the previously folded mainsail. The large, fully-battened sail was always difficult to get to lie on the mast straight and clearly he had not done a good job when he had folded it previously. As he was re-tying the last sail tie, Claire called from below. Knowing this was it, this was the moment of truth, Dave flew below and was at Claire's side instantly.

Looking at the screen, it read:

six animals still being tracked----new communications

whale 1- has told pod to start swimming all animals appear to be following instructions other sounds are locating signals

message repeated

message repeated

"OK," said Dave, "let’s see if this will work. Claire, call to the pod, see if we can get them to come to us. Their eyes made contact, no words were spoken. Claire typed into the computer;

call to pod sound identifying signal

Part of the programming Claire had put into the system was the ability for the computer to develop its own unique signal, just as each whale appeared to have, allowing any animal to which they might communicate to identify the source of the signal. In less than a second the computer took the command, formulated an identifying signal, and activated the sound transducer in the hull.

Both Claire and Dave could hear and feel the signal in their feet as the sound resonated through the hull. Three times the signal was emitted,……… then they waited.

The computer beeped, and the screen lit up with the following message:

six animals being tracked-----new communication

whale 1-has told other whales to stop swimming

whale 1- is challenging in response to our signal

whale 1 - is challenging again

whale 1 - is challenging again

"What do we do now?" asked Claire.

"Have the computer sound the signal that we discussed, you know the one that the young males use when they are being non-aggressive," replied Dave. Claire glanced at her note pad looking for the code she had used to categorize that signal. Finding it, she typed into the computer sound signal coded as harmony. Half a second after the computer was told what signal to emit, they could again hear and feel the sound being transmitted three times.

They waited: Finally the computer beeped, signaling a response. Their eyes were again glued to the screen:

six animals tracked-----new communication

whale 1- is challenging

whale 1- is challenging

whale 1- is challenging

Dave told Claire to repeat the signal.

She again told the computer to sound harmony. Again the resonating sound was sent to the whale pod. This went on for two additional cycles of boat - whale sounds. Finally after the fourth attempt at signaling the whale, the computer beeped and the screen lit with a new return signal:

six animals tracked------new communication

whale 1- returning the harmony signal

whale 1- returning the harmony signal

whale 1- returning the harmony signal

"Bingo," yelled Dave. "It works..... it really works."

This time it was Claire who reached over and threw her hands around him, screaming, "We did it, we did it !"

Just then the computer beeped, and the screen illuminated with another message. They both turned and stared at the screen. It read:

six animals tracked ------new communications

whale 1- has told other whales to swim

whale 1- has told other whales to swim

whale 1- has told other whales to swim

Dave told Claire to sound harmony again, and to keep doing it three times every 15 seconds. Not questioning his reasoning, she typed in the command and the sound was generated 3 times. As she was doing what he asked, Dave explained that the whales would be coming this way and he wanted to continually assure them that the boat was not a threat. Claire nodded she understood, and typed in the command to repeat the signal every 15 seconds.

Dave went on deck to see if he could spot the pod. Having been in the cabin for quite a while, Dave had lost all orientation. The boat was free drifting and clearly had spun around. Instead of the sun being off the starboard side it was now off the port. Dave reasoned that instead of looking forward to view the whales he would have to look aft. Scanning the horizon behind the boat he immediately spotted the pod about 300 hundred yards off the stern and they appeared to be heading towards the boat.

"Keep the harmony signal going Claire," Dave yelled down the companionway, "We have company coming."

Claire turned to look at Dave but he had already scurried onto the cabin top. Assuring herself that the signal was being properly generated, she left the cabin and went into the cockpit.

As soon as Dave saw her he said, "Take a look behind you."

Turning to the stern of the boat, she scanned the water. It wasn't difficult to see the pod approaching. As they swam, their backs broached the water and glistened in the sun. Their breathing could be heard and seen as the rushing air from their blow holes spewed water high above them.

Claire turned to Dave and asked, "What are they going to do?"

"I'm not sure," he replied, "but I suspect they are coming to meet their new friend."

With that Dave left his position on the cabin top and went into the cabin. Glancing at the computer screen it was clear that every time the signal from the boat was generated, the lead whale, designated whale #1 by the computer, returned the signal.

Back in the cockpit, he saw Claire staring at the whales as they approached. Swimming at a leisurely pace, they were now less then 100 yards from the boat. "Well I guess we had better get ready to have a close-up conversation with our new friends," he said. "I hope you’re in a talkative mood."

Not knowing what to say Claire asked, "What should we do now?"

Dave thought for a moment and then explained that he wasn't sure, but he felt that they should let the whales make the next move. "What I will do, however, is turn the transmitting volume down on our signal. After all, these guys are so close now, if we whispered they would hear us." Dave went below and adjusted the output on the transmitter.

Claire kept watching the whales. Never, other than at aquariums, had she been this close to whales. And did she ever mean close. The whales were now at the boat. The largest, she suspected he was whale #1, was right at the transom. Claire stood up and looked over the stern railing. The whale floated motionless behind the boat. As he caught sight of her, he turned his head to the left and raised it slightly out of the water, appearing to study her with his large black eye. Claire just stared back at him. After a few moments, apparently not satisfied with his view, the whale lowered his head and took a breath. Claire noticed that not only can you see and hear whale breath, but you can also smell them. Ugh! Then the whale turned his head to the right. Again he raised it slightly, just enough to get his eye out of the water, and stared at her, this time using his left eye. As black and deep as his right eye, Claire couldn't help but say, "Hey Dave, if a whale winks at me, does that mean he's coming on to me," and then laughed at her own joke.

Dave was still waiting for the whale to initiate another move. Growing impatient he was trying to figure out what to do next. Clearly the harmony sound they were generating told the whales that they were friendly, resulting in their approaching the boat. But he just wasn't sure what to do next. He was hesitant to start generating another sound for fear of startling the whales, while he was just as fearful of doing nothing and risking their loss of interest and having them swim off. He needn't have to worry. As if on cue, the lead whale suddenly started to send a new signal, so loud that they could hear it on deck. Immediately recognizing the difference in the sound Dave ran below, with Claire right behind him. The computer beeped, and the screen lit up:

six whales being tracked.........communication

whale 1- is challenging

whale 1- is challenging

whale 1- is challenging

Dave told Claire to repeat the harmony signal, while he reached over to increase the volume of the sound generated. As Claire typed the instructions to the computer, Dave looked at her and said, "I should have been able to predict this reaction. It was so logical. He was an animal drawn to the boat by a sound that effectively told him we were friendly and peaceful. Arriving at the source, rather than finding another whale, he finds himself at a boat face to face with a human. What do you do if you're a whale in this strange position? I tell you what you do," he said, "you issue a challenge, you take on this strange creature floating in your world."

Claire turned to him and asked, "Will harmony work?" "Yes, especially now that we have turned up the volume, that will clearly tell the whale that we are friendly," he responded. Dave explained he now knew what would follow. "As soon as the whale # 1 is satisfied that we are friendly, the other five whales in the pod, either singularly or jointly, will all transmit the harmony signal establishing a communication with us. Once that's completed, whale # 1 will go back to issuing instructions to the pod. When that happens we will have to start signaling the identity signal that we have established for us, to keep the pod apprised of our position."

"That's no problem," replied Claire, "but if we're just floating here, why do we need to keep telling them where we are?"

"I suspect that as soon as the big guy is satisfied that we are all friends, he’s going to order them to start swimming again. After all, they probably have better things to do than float around here looking at us all day."

As Dave predicted, after whale #1 issued several more challenges, each answered with the harmony signal, the lead whale stopped communicating and the other whales in the pod in turn established a communication link with the boat by signaling harmony. This went on for several cycles with the pod. During those cycles Dave was on deck observing the whales. They were now quite at ease in the presence of the boat and each of them when not signaling was attempting to lift his head out of the water exposing an eye to get a glimpse of their new friends. During this interaction Claire came on deck and reached for Dave's hand. "They're such beautiful, peaceful animals," she said.

"They are," replied Dave, adding, "they are also quite intelligent as you will see in the next few days."

As they were standing on deck, Dave felt a breeze on the back of his neck. Glancing at the water's surface he could see ripples on the surface as a fresh breeze started to build. Pointing to the ripples, he turned to Claire and said, "This must be our lucky day, a breeze is returning." Recognizing her questioning glance, he added, "Unless I miss my guess, our new leader is going to order us to start swimming soon. I didn't want to have to tell him no, especially now that we're such good friends."

They both laughed. Dave went to the cabin top, glancing down to the water he saw three sets of black eyes observing his every move.

Also realizing Dave was being watched, Claire called to him, "Look sharp now. You're being judged."

Returning her quip, Dave said, "Yeah, but they are not winking at me." Again they laughed.

As Dave predicted, the lead whale soon signaled for the pod to swim. Luckily the wind continued to build just enough for KT to move under sail. With both sails raised, they were soon traveling with the pod. The boat's computer kept issuing its position signal so the other whales always knew its precise location relative to them, with each of the whales doing the same. Over the next several hours Dave and Claire continued to communicate with the pod. They stayed with three of the animals, the two calves and one adult while the other three dove to feed. When those three animals returned after several dives, the adult who had stayed with the calves and the boat, went off with whale #1 to feed. Soon the pod was back together and following whale #1 they were off swimming again. So comfortable was the pod with the boat and its occupants, that soon the two calves were nursing right off the starboard side.

As evening approached, Dave turned to Claire and said, "I think it's time to say goodbye to our new friends."

"How are we going to do that?" she asked.

Dave explained that he wanted her to signal the sound which they had labeled separate. "That's the signal I have heard them use when two groups of whales break off to feed, when an animal is leaving a pod and even when two pods that have joined up for a short period, separate," he explained.

He went on to describe what he thought would happen when they did that. "I expect that whale #1 will first signal us to swim. Every time he does that we will continue to signal separate. It is important that if he keeps up the swim signal, we turn the volume up on the separate sound so he knows we are leaving. When he is satisfied that we are going to separate, he will signal separate back to us. At that point I would then expect the other whales in the pod will follow suit by signaling to us separate. Each time they do, we must signal back."

"So separate is in fact a goodbye signal," replied Claire.

"You could say that," he replied.

As planned when they signaled separate, whale #1 attempted to convince them to swim. After several attempts with increasing volume on both sides, whale #1 gave in and signaled separate. Following Dave's prediction, once that was done the other whales in the pod also signaled separate. Satisfied that they had followed all the necessary whale protocol, Dave turned the wheel slightly to port and the boat started to break away from the pod. When Dave was satisfied that the distance between them was sufficient, he tacked the boat completely around, putting them on reciprocal courses. Standing in the companionway, Claire watched the pod until it was almost out of sight. Out of the corner of his eye, Dave saw her wave to the disappearing pod.

Dave turned to Claire and said, "I would call that a very successful day, wouldn't you?"

"It was the most exciting thing I have ever done," she said. "Not only was I face to face with whales for the first time in my life, but I was one of the first people in the world to actually communicate with them." She added, "Do you know we made history today."

Dave nodded his agreement. Now that things had quieted down he had some time to reflect on the day's activities. Clearly they could now communicate in the most basic terms with the whales. He probably had more questions now than before, he thought. Then his mind wandered to tomorrow and he started planning some of the different things he would try on the next group they encountered.

While Dave was deep in his thoughts, Claire went below and sat down at the computer. Looking at the screen she said to it, "Let’s see how smart you are my little silicon wizard," and immediately began typing instructions. When completed she folded her arms, sat back, and watched as the artificial intelligence module she had installed in the machine went to work.

Dave called down to her, "What are you doing?"

She stood up, stuck her head through the companionway and said, "I'm attempting to analyze what we really accomplished today." Seeing Dave's blank stare, she pulled herself up the companionway and went on to explain that the artificial intelligence module which she had inserted into the computer was now reviewing the day's activity to verify accomplishments and when completed would make recommendations based on what it had learned.

"I hope it learned a lot," he answered, "Because right now we have a lot of data to assimilate."

Dave’s answer surprised her. She had expected that he might take exception to the computer doing some reasoning for him, after all most people do resent it.

"When will we see the results?" he asked.

"It will take it a while," she said. "I really don't know fifteen minutes, half an hour, maybe a little more. There are a lot of logic checks it has to make."

"Good, let’s eat. Do you realize that it is 5:30 and we didn't eat lunch," he added. With that Dave set the autopilot, stood up, gave Claire a quick kiss, and as he climbed below said, "Don't go away, dinner will be served shortly."

Claire, sitting in the cockpit, listened to the sound of the water passing the hull, a gull shrieking in the distance, and Dave humming to himself as he worked below. One thing Dave wasn't she thought, was a quiet chef. Dishes rattled, cabinet doors opened with a clank and slammed shut with a bang, the icebox lid dropped closed with a thud and when he turned on the water the sound of the water pump resonated through the boat like the loudest Boston toilet. Claire leaned back and smiled. "I'm having a wonderful time," she whispered to herself.

Soon Dave called to her to come below. Climbing down the companionway steps she found Dave, towel over his arm. He bowed as she entered. "This way madam, your table is all prepared, ocean view of course." She laughed as he seated her. The dinette table was set with a red and white checked table cloth, a small candle, bug chasing citronella fragrance was lit in the center, and a bottle of wine was opened and wedged between the two pillows on the settee. Dave sat down next to her and proceeded to pour them both a glass of wine. Holding up his glass he said, "A toast to our success and to our continued long association." Their plastic wine glasses met with a not very classical clunk. After Dave took a sip he said, "You kind of have to imagine the glasses are crystal."

Claire said, "They are aren't they." Both smiled.

They continued reliving the day's activities as they ate their pasta and drank their wine. Clearly, they agreed, the day was an absolute success. What they needed to do now was to try the system on other types of whales. "Tomorrow let's hope for a group of Gray Whales," Dave said, "they will really test our mettle." As they were doing the dishes, the familiar beep of the computer echoed through the boat. Both stopped what they were doing. Claire scurried behind the chart table to read the message while Dave looked over her shoulder:

Summary Complete-

Analysis of all signals and responses was correct for whale type 1, Right species

Recommend the identity signal used in this experiment be permanently assigned. Should continuously sound identity signal so all whales in confirm.

Claire turned and looked at Dave who nodded his concurrence. Claire typed-ctrl z,

Automatic identity signal activated - will be generated at power rating 2, std 30 sec interval.

Recommend identity signal be activated for automatic power and interval change based on proximity with study animals. Press ctrl z to confirm.

Dave immediately said "Let's do it!" Claire typed -ctrl z:

Automatic identity signal mode activated

Analysis of communication signals for additional meaning, inconclusive.

End analysis function.......press control a to terminate session.

Claire typed ctrl a, and the screen went blank.

As Claire got up from the chart table, Dave said to her, "That's a pretty remarkable system."

Nodding her head in agreement, she answered "Yes, but, well, I guess I expected a little more from the analysis."

Dave laughed. "You mean like a more thorough understanding of the communications pattern."

"Well, sort of."

As they continued with the dishes, Dave went on to explain that she shouldn't get impatient. People with great minds have been trying to understand this communications pattern for years. As great as the current computers were, they were just not going to make a major breakthrough in just one afternoon he reasoned.

Continuing their conversation in the cockpit, with the boat sailing at a slow one knot in the almost non-existent evening breeze, Dave explained a little bit about the Right Whales they had encountered that day. Claire listened intently as Dave went on: "The Right Whale received its name from the whalers because it proved to be the 'right whale' to hunt. Slow swimming, seldom exceeding 4 knots, they were easy to catch, they yielded large amounts of oil and most important when killed, they floated. We really are not sure how old they get, but a mature animal can reach a length of 60 feet and weigh in at over 50 tons. They basically feed on microscopic creatures like copepods or euphausids and are found along land masses in temperate oceans of both hemispheres. Despite being protected for almost 50 years, their slow reproduction cycle still makes them an endangered species, with a population estimated to be less than 2500 worldwide."

Seeing how intent he was, Claire just watched him as he explained the cycle of these creatures. When he finished she asked, "You really are dedicated to these animals, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say dedicated, but I do believe we have a responsibility not to hunt these animals into extinction. I believe the only way to convince the world how wrong it is to kill these creatures, is to prove that they have an intelligence level, and the best way to do that is to learn how to communicate with them."

The cockpit became silent as they both sat in the darkness looking at the almost full moon illuminating the ripples on the water. Sitting with his arm around Claire's shoulder, the evening took on a peaceful, almost magical aura. Dave, realizing the sudden stillness of the weight on his shoulder, turned his head to Claire. She was asleep. It was and continues to be a magical day, he thought to himself.