New York

As Peter Smith prepared to go on the air, he was again having trouble dealing with the story line. The count down was in process 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Trouble or not he began his report:

"Good evening. Tonight we are reporting to you directly from the floor of the UN General Assembly. As the days go by the stories become more incredible. And incredible is the only way to describe our story tonight."

"As we reported to you yesterday, the scheduled UN General Assembly meeting took place today, while around the world reports of whale attacks continued to come in."

"Earlier today, while the General Assembly was hearing first hand from witnesses of whale attacks, marine scientists from all the renowned marine laboratories, met in the Security Council Hall to draw up a consensus opinion as to the cause of the current attacks and what recommended solutions should be brought before the General Assembly. Although reporters were not permitted in the scientists meeting, which lasted a little over two hours, we can now bring to you their position as given to the General Assembly less than 15 minutes ago. While we speak, the General Assembly is voting on the resolution presented to them. Hopefully we will have the result of their vote before we go off the air."

"Now back to the scientists' position. As the scientists entered the General Assembly Hall, about 4:45 today, the famous French underwater explorer Jacques LaFleur, was introduced as the spokesman for the scientific community. Walking to the podium set up for this meeting, he was flanked by two young previously unknown scientists, Dave Richardson and Claire Snyder. Let's take a look at Jacques LaFleur's address."

The cameras switched to video tape showing LaFleur's entrance and his remarks:

"World leaders, ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly, fellow scientists. I have no prepared remarks, I will not read from any script. I am only up here because the two young people you see before you (he pointed to Claire & Dave), asked me to address this body. Dave Richardson, a marine biologist doing independent studies, and Claire Snyder, a computer researcher, have made a phenomenal discovery. They appear to have unlocked the key to marine mammal communications."

The sounds of reaction could be heard throughout the hall. LaFleur paused while his last statement sank in. Satisfied enough time had passed, he continued:

"Like those of you sitting here before me, I also sat in an audience earlier today with my fellow colleagues listening to these two scientists describe to us how they were able to decipher the sounds of whales and then using computer generated sounds transmit back to the whales, meaningful communications. Our initial reaction was exactly like yours; astonishment, disbelief, excitement."

He paused again, allowing time for the full impact of what he was saying to sink in. Glancing around the room he could see the representatives looking at and talking to each other. Again, only after he was satisfied sufficient time had passed and the mumbling subsided, he continued:

"Thanks to the work of these two young scientists, we the scientific community have been able to formulate a plan. A plan we unanimously believe will work. It has to work! There is no alternative."

The network then switched back to Peter Smith who continued his report:

"Mr. LaFleur's speech lasted about twenty minutes, and at no time did he refer to any notes. When he was done there were about 15 questions that he, Dave Richardson, and Claire Snyder took turns answering. The summary of their position is, as incredible as this may sound, that the current rash of whale attacks are in retaliation for the killing of the cow and calf by the whaling ship Peder ARRSETT in the North Atlantic four days ago. You will recall that was the incident where two Greenpeace activists were killed and two others seriously injured."

They switched to the video tape they had played fours days earlier, and countless times since, letting it run for 30 seconds with no narration. The tape stopped and the camera went back to Smith.

He went on to report on the rest of LaFleur's speech. He explained how the communications worked, the theory of the mutant whale, and then the tape made by Jack Sherman which was used in the computer lab to confirm the theory. They had also obtained copies of the video that Claire had made of Dave swimming with the wild whales. As they were showing it, Peter Smith's narration was very simple and direct:

"Sources that we have spoken to, tell us one of the key pieces of evidence that convinced the scientists Dave Richardson and Claire Synder could in fact talk to the whales, are these pictures showing the young marine biologist in the open ocean swimming among this wild pod."

As he was preparing to continue, he heard the producer through his miniature earphone tell him, "The vote was in favor of the scientists' position, however it put a 10 day time frame on completing their work."

This information was then presented to him on the TelePrompTer, and he read it to the audience:

"Things are occurring so fast that I can now report to you that the General Assembly has approved the scientists' position. They have, however, put a 10 day limit on the scientists to complete their work. In the meantime the UN has asked the Security Council to draw up an alternate plan using military response for any additional attacks that occur after the ten day limit put on the scientists' plan."

There was a pause:

"Now let me get back to the plan." He then went on to explain to the viewers, the alternatives the scientists considered. "They now believe the only way to stop the attacks," he explained, "is to confront the whale that they believed initiated the attacks, and using the new technology developed by Dave Richardson and Claire Snyder, convince the animal to call off the vengeful attacks. Yes, I said convince the whale to call off the attacks which the scientific community believes this one whale started."

He paused again. Looking directly into the camera he continued:

"We have standing by from Sea World in Orlando, Dr. Joseph Johnson, Director of Marine Mammal Exhibitions and Care. Dr. Johnson, thank you for being with us tonight."

Johnson nodded on the now split TV screen showing both men's faces, and Peter Smith continued:

"Dr. Johnson, you are now as up to speed as we are with the proposed action, What do you think? Will it work?"

"Well Peter", he said, "I'm truly amazed at the announcement that there has been a breakthrough in marine mammal communications. As you probably know, there have been hundreds of scientists studying marine mammal sounds for years. A breakthrough was bound to occur, it simply sounds marvelous. Now if the announcement that we heard is correct and the secret or code for communicating with marine mammals has been truly found, then communications is possible."

Dr. Johnson paused, then stood up from the stool he had been sitting on and walked over to the glass wall showing the inside of the main mammal tank at Sea World. As Dr. Johnson again began to talk, an Orca or Killer Whale came into view through the tank's viewing window. Knowing the whale was in view, he continued:

"On the other hand, Peter, as important breaking the communication code is, we must remember that there is a second key or theory to this solution and that is that a single whale, I believe they called it an "intellectual mutant", caused this whole situation. That I'm afraid I cannot comment on. It's well, it's just too profound and I just don't have the data in front of me that these people do, and quite frankly, without it I cannot voice an intelligent opinion."

Peter attempted to get Dr. Johnson to voice an educated guess by asking him several more questions about the theory of an intellectually superior whale. The expert stood his ground and remained silent. Finally recognizing he was not going to comment any further, Smith thanked him for his time and the interview ended.

Peter Smith then summarized the events at the United Nations again. Glancing at the TelePrompTer he saw he had several extra seconds and he adlibbed:

"I started this telecast using the word incredible to prepare you for what you were going to hear tonight. I can only end with the same word, incredible, to summarize the events surrounding today's meeting at the UN. This is Peter Smith from the UN. Good night."