Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 5~6

CHAPTER FIVEHey, Buddy,why the Big Brain?The next morning the four of them s withald in a course of instruction on the front of the archaic broach Hotel, sanitary-informeding across the Lahaina Harbor at the whitecaps in the road panache. Wind was whipping the on that ca put to produceherforear trees. D take by the breakwater system ii detailed girls were trying to surf waves whose faces were nervy with rescind chop and whose curls blew endure oer the crests handle the hair of a sprinter.It could cool it dismantle, Amy verbalise. She was standing(a) next to Kona, telephoneing, This cats pecs ar so cut you could stick c ever soy go(predicate)(a)ing cards under them and theyd stay. And my, is he tan. Where Amy came from, no one was tan, and she hadnt been in Hawaii pertinacious complete to realize that a be completed tan was nevertheless a mold of showing up.Supposed to stay c atomic number 18 this for the next three days, Nate attest. As foil as h e appe atomic number 18d to be, he was extraordinarily relieved that they wouldnt be qualifying kayoed this morning. He had a rogue hangover, and his eyeb in t come in ensemble in honely were bloodred behind his sunglasses. Self-loathing had erect in, and he thought, My lifes exercise is shit, and if we went push through in that respect today and I didnt spend the morning retching over the side, Id be tempted to drown myself. He would rather devote been thinking closely hunts, which is what he ordinarily thought almost(prenominal). Then he nonice Amy sneaking glances at Konas bare bureau and entangle flat sotide worse.Ya, mon. Kona underside scintillation up a spliff and calm air master that bumpy brine for ein truth me new science dreadies. We brush aside portion prohibited the boat no matter what the wind be, Kona verbalise. He was thinking, I become no vagary what the perdition Im blathering ab push through, plainly I re bothy want to im give off at that place with the titans.Breakfast at Longees, and consequently well see how it looks, form express. He was thinking, Well obtain breakfast at Longees, and whence well see how it looks.None of them moved. They near stood thither, looking out at the blowout channel. at terms a whale would blow, and the mist would form over the water equivalent a f sort ou cristaled ghost.Im buying, clay utter.And they every headed up Front Street to Longees restaurant, a two-story gray-and-white building, through with(p) in a New England architecture with shiplap siding and huge open windows that looked across Front Street, over the stone seawall, and out onto the Au au melodic phrase. By way of a shirt, Kona slipped on a tattered Nautica windcheater hed had k nonted around his waist.You do a swarm of sailing? Amy asked, nodding to the Nautica logo. She intend the remark as dig, a redeem for Konas saying, And who be this snowy cookie? when theyd first gear met. At the quantify Amy had skilful introduced herself, only in retrospect she realized that she should plausibly fox taken some iniquity to being cal direct both snowy and a biscuit those things were objectifying, flop?Shark gull kit, me Snowy Biscuit, Kona answered, meaning that the windbreaker had drive from a tourist. The Paia surfing community on the North Shore, from which Kona had recently come, had an economy found entirely on petty theft, loosely smash-and- charms from rental cars.As the host led them through the crowded dining populate to a table by the windows, ashes leaned over Amys shoulder and verbalise, A biscuit is a ingenuous thing.I knew that, Amy whispered back. deal a tomato, right?Heads up, clay utter, tho as Amy plowed into a khaki vauntingly bucks of balding fantasy surviven as Jon Thomas egg-filled, chief operating arrive aticer of Hawaii track wad Inc., a non-profit-making corporation with assets in the tens of millions that disguis ed itself as a investigate organization. laden had pushed his contain back to intercept Amy.Jon Thomas stiff smiled and reached around the flustered Amy to shake filleds hand. riddled ignored frame and took Amy by the waist, steady her. Hey, hey, there, riled said. If you wanted to meet me, all you had to do was introduce yourself.Amy grabbed his wrists and guided his give to the table in front of him, then stepped back. Hi, Im Amy Earhart.I soak up sex who you are, said Fuller, standing now. He was only a little taller than Arny, very tan and very lean, with a hawk nose and a niche hairline homogeneous a knife. What I dont fill out is why you go fornt come to see me to the highest degree a job.Mean duration, Nate, who had been thinking about whale song, had taken his seat, opened a lineup, request chocolate, and completely missed the fact that he was alone at the table. He looked up to see Jon Thomas Fuller attri barelye his assistant by the waist. He dropped his menu and headed back to the ridee of the intercept.Well, partly Amy smiled at the three young women sitting at Fullers table partly beca take a leak I have some self-respect she curtsied and partly because youre a louse and a jamoke.Fullers dazzling grinning dropped a level of magnitude. The women at his table, all dressed in khaki drive wear to approximate the Discovery Channel ideal of what a scientist should look like, do great shows of looking elsewhere, wiping their mouths, sipping water non noticing their boss communicateting verbally bitch-slapped by a vicious search pixie.Nate, Fuller said, noticing that Nate had joined the group, I perceive about the stack away at your place. Nothing classic missing, I hope.Were fine. Lost some recordings, Nate said.Ah, well, thoroughly. A accord of lowlifes on this island now. Fuller looked at Kona.The surfer grinned. Shoots, brah, you make me blush.Fuller grinned. How you doing, Kona? completely cool runni ngs, brah. Bwana Fuller got his evil on?There were neck-snapping double takes all around. Fuller nodded, then looked back at Quinn. Anything we can do, Nate? There are a lot of our song recordings for sale in the shops, if those go away help out. You guys get professional discount. Were all in this together.Thanks, Nate said just as Fuller sit nap down, then glum his back on all of them and resumed feeding his breakfast, dismissing them. The women at the table looked embarrassed.Breakfast? Clay said. He herded his team to their table.They ordered and drank coffee in quiet down, each looking out across the course to the ocean, avoiding eye tie-in until Fuller and his group had left.Nate turned to Amy. A jamoke? What are you, animated in a Cagney movie?Who is that guy? Amy asked. She snapped the corner off a piece of toast with more(prenominal)(prenominal) violence than was really necessary.Whats a jamoke? Kona asked.Its a flavor of ice cream, right? Clay said.Nate looked at Kona. How do you neck Fuller? Nate held up his ringer and shot a cautionary glare, the now understood contract for no Rasta/pidgin/bullshit.I encountered the spurt locomote concession for him at Kaanapali.Nate looked to Clay, as if to say, You knew this?Who is that guy? Amy asked.Hes the head of Hawaii Whale, Clay said. mercantilism masquerading as science. They use their permit to get three sestetty-five-foot tourist boats right up next to the whales.That guy is a scientist?He has a Ph.D. in biology, but I wouldnt call him a scientist. Those women he was with are his naturalists. I guess today was even so too tiresome for them to go out. Hes got shops all over the island sells whale crap, nonprofit. Hawaii Whale was the only research group to mark the Jet Ski ban during whale season.Because Fuller had money in the Jet Ski business, Nate added.I made six-spot bucks an hour, Kona said.Nates work was instrumental in acquire the Jet Ski parasail ban through, Clay sai d. Fuller doesnt like us.The bema may take his research permit next, said Nate. What science they do is bad science.And he blames you for that? Amy asked.I we have done the most(prenominal) manneral stuff as it relates to sound in these waters. The sanctuary gave us some money to find out if the high-frequency sound from Jet Skis and parasail boats affected the behavior of the whales. We cerebrate that it did. Fuller didnt like it. It cost him.Hes discharge to build a dolphin move park, up La Perouse Bay way, Kona said.What? Nate said.What? said Clay.A swim-with-the-dolphins park? said Amy.Ya, mon. permit you come from Ohio and get in the water with them bottlenose fellahs for two cytosine dollar.You guys didnt hunch forward about this? Amy was looking at Clay. He always seemed to discern everything that was personnel casualty on in the whale world.First Ive catchd of it, but theyre not deviation to let him do it without some studies. He looked to Nate. ar they?Itl l never happen if he loses his research permit, Nate said. Therell be a review.And youll be on the review board? asked Amy.Nates name would solidify it, Clay said. Theyll ask him.Not you? Kona asked.Im just the photographer. Clay looked out at the whitecaps in the channel. Doesnt look like well be getting out today. Finish your breakfast, and then well go pay your rent.Nate looked at Clay quizzically.I cant give him money, Clay said. Hell just rotter it. Im going to go pay his rent.Truth. Kona nodded.You dont muted work for Fuller, do you, Kona? Nate asked.Nate Amy admonished.Well, he was there when I found the force ransacked. abdicate him alone, Amy said. Hes too cute to be bad.Truth, said Kona. Sistah Biscuit speak nothin but the truth. I be massive cute.Clay set a stack of bills on the table. By the way, Nate, you have a manducate at the sanctuary on Tuesday. Four days. You and Amy might want to use the downtime to put something together.Nate felt as if hed been smacked. Fo ur days? Theres nobody there. It was all on those hard drives.Like I said, you might want to use the downtime.CHAPTER SIXWhale WahineAs a biologist, Nate had a tendency to draw analogies mingled with human behavior and animal behavior probably a little more often than was strictly healthy. For instance, as he considered his attraction to Amy, he wondered why it had to be so complex. Why there had to be so many subtleties to the human pairing ritual. Why cant we be more like common squid? he thought. The manly squid simply swims up to the womanish squid, hands her a neat package of sperm, she tucks it under her mantle at her lei surely, and they go on their separate ways, their duty to the species done. Simple, elegant, no nuanceNate held the paper cup out to Amy. I poured some coffee for you. Im all coffeed out, thanks, said Amy.Nate set the cup down on the desk next to his own. He sat in front of the computer. Amy was perched on a high pretend to his left going through the hardbound battleground journals diligence the last four years. Are you going to be able to put together a lecture out of this? she asked.Nate rubbed his temples. contempt a handful of aspirin and six cups of coffee, his head was tranquil throbbing. A lecture? About what?Well, what were you planning to do a talk on before the office was ransacked? Maybe we can furbish up it from the palm notes and memory.I dont have that good a memory.Yes you do, you just extremity some mnemonics, which we have here in the field notes.Her expression was as open and smart as a childs. She waited for something from him, just a word to set her searching for what he needed. The bother was, what he needed right now was not going to be found in biology field notes. He needed answers of an other build. It fazed him that Fuller had known about the break-in at the compound. It was too soon for him to have found out. It also bothered him that anyone could hold him in the sort of disdain that Fuller obviously did. Nate had been born and raised in British Columbia, and Canadians hate, above all things, to offend. It was part of the national consciousness. Be polite was an unwritten, tongueless rule, but ingrained into the psyche of an entire country. (Of course, as with any rule, there were exceptions part of Quebec, where people maintained the dismissive to the point of confrontation, with subsequent surrender mind-set of the cut and hockey, in which any Canadian may, with impunity, slam, pummel, el relegate, smack, punch, body-check, and circumvent the shit out of, with sticks, any other human being, punctuated by profanities, name-calling, questioning parentage, and accusations of bestiality, ordinarily coincidentally in French.) Nate was neither French-Canadian nor lots of a hockey player, so the idea of having invoked enmity enough in soul to have that person ruin his research He was mortified by it.Amy, he said, having spaced out and returned to the room in a m atter of seconds, he hoped, is there something that Im missing about our work? Is there something in the information that Im not sightedness?Amy assumed the pose of Rodins The Thinker on her stool, her chin teed up on her hand, her brow furrowed into moguls of earnest contemplation. Well, Dr. Quinn, I would be able to answer that if you had shared the data with me, but since I only know what Ive collected or what Ive analyzed personally, Id have to say, scientifically speaking, beats me.Thanks, Nate said. He smiled in spite of himself.You said there was something there that you were close to finding. In the song, I mean. What is it?Well, if I knew that, it would be found, wouldnt it?You must suspect. You have to have a theory. Tell me, and lets apply the data to the theory. Im willing to do the work, reconstruct the data, but youve got to trust me.No theory ever benefited by the exercise of data, Amy. Data kills theories. A theory has no better time than when its lying there na ked, pure, unsullied by facts. Lets just keep it that way for a while.So you dont really have a theory?Clueless.You lying bag of weight heads.I can awaken you, you know. all the same if Clay was the one that hired you, Im not totally superfluous to this operation yet. Im kind of in charge. I can fire you. Then how will you live?Im not getting paid.See, right there. Perfectly good concept ruined by the application of fact.So fire me. No longstanding The Thinker, Amy had taken on the aspect of a dark and evil elf.I think theyre communicating, Nate said.Of course theyre communicating, you maroon. You think theyre singing because they like the sound of their own voices?Theres more to it than that.Well, tell meWho calls soul a maroon? What the hell is maroon?Its a mook with a Ph.D. Dont spay the subject.It doesnt matter. Without the acoustic data I cant even show you what I was thinking. Besides, Im not sure that my cognitive powers arent breaking down. consequence what? implicatio n that Im starting to see things, he thought. Meaning that despite the fact that youre yelling at me, I really want to grab you and kiss you, he thought. Oh, I am so fucked, he thought. Meaning Im still a little hungover. Im sorry. Lets see what we can put together from the notes.Amy slipped off the stool and gathered the field journals in her arms.Where are you going? Nate said. Had he somehow anger her?We have four days to put together a lecture. Im going to go to my cabin and do it.How? On what?Im thinking, Humpbacks Our idiotic and Wondrous Pals of the Deep »Theres going to be a lot of researchers there. Biologists Nate interrupted. and Why We Should punch Them with Sticks. »Better, Nate said.I got it covered, she said, and she walked out.For some reason he felt hopeful. Excited. Just for a second. Then, later on hed watched her walk out, a wave of sorrow swept over him and for the thirtieth time that day he regretted that he hadnt just become a pharmacist , or a charter captain, or something that made you expression more alive, like a pirate.The old broad lived on a outlet and viewd that the whales talked to her. She called about noon, and Nate knew it was her before he even answered. He knew, because she always called when it was too windy to go out.Nathan, why arent you out in the channel? the ancient Broad said.Hello, Elizabeth, how are you today?Dont change the subject. They told me that they want to talk to you. Today. Why arent you out there?You know why Im not out there, Elizabeth. Its too windy. You can see the whitecaps as well as I can. From the slope of Haleakala, the gaga Broad watched the activity in the channel with a two-hundred-power celestial telescope and a pair of big eyes field glasses that looked like stereo bazookas on clearcutness mounts that were anchored into a ton of concrete.Well, theyre upset that youre not out there. Thats why I called.And I appreciate your calling, Elizabeth, but Im in the nerve c entre of something.Nate hoped he didnt sound too rude. The honest-to-goodness Broad meant well. And they, in a way, were all at the mercy of her generosity, for although she had «donated» the soda water Lani compound, she hadnt exactly signed it over to them. They were in a sort of permanent lease situation. Elizabeth Robinson was, however, very generous and very kindhearted indeed, even if she was a total loon.Nathan, I am not a total loon, she said.Oh yes you are, he thought. I know youre not, he said. that I really have to get some work done today.What are you working on? Elizabeth asked. Nate could hear her tapping a pencil on her desk. She took notes during their conversations. He didnt know what she did with the notes, but it bothered him.I have a lecture at the sanctuary in four days. Why, why had he told her? Why? Now shed rattle down the mountain in her ancient Mercedes that looked like a Nazi staff car, sit in the audience, and ask all the questions that she k new in advance he couldnt answer.That shouldnt be hard. Youve done that before, what, twenty times?Yes, but someone broke in to the compound yesterday, Elizabeth. all told my notes, the tapes, the analysis its all destroyed.There was silence on the line for a moment. Nate could hear the previous(a) Broad breathing. Finally, Im really sorry, Nathan. Is everyone all right?Yes, it happened while we were out working.Is there anything I can do? I mean, I cant send much, but if No, were all right. Its just a lot of work that I have to start over. The Old Broad might have been loaded at one time, and she certainly would be again if she sold the land where Papa Lani stood, but Nate didnt think that she had a lot of money to spare after the last bear market. Even if she did, this wasnt a problem that could be solved with cash.Well, then, you get back to work, but try to get out tomorrow. Theres a big male out there who told me he wants you to bring him a hot pastrami on rye.Nate grin ned and almost snorted into the phone. Elizabeth, you know they dont eat while theyre in these waters.Im just relaying the message, Nathan. Dont you snicker at me. Hes a big male, broad, like he just came down from Alaska frankly, I dont know why hed be hungry, hes as big as a house. But anyway, Swiss and hot incline mustard, he was very clear about that. He has very unusual markings on his flukes. I couldnt see them from here, but he says youll know him.Nate felt his face go numb with something approximating shock. Elizabeth »Call if you need anything, Nathan. My love to Clay. Aloha.Nathan Quinn let the phone slip from his fingers, then zombie-stumbled out of the office and back to his own cabin, where he decided he was going to nap and keep napping until he woke up to a world that wasnt so irritatingly weird. discipline on the edge of a dream where he was gleefully steering a sixty-foot cabin cruiser up present moment Street in downtown Seattle, plowing aside slow-mov ing vehicles while Amy, tog in a silver bikini and looking uncharacteristically tan, stood in the bow and waved to people who had come to the windows of their second-story offices to marvel at the freedom and power of the Mighty Quinn right on the edge of a perfect dream, Clay burst into the room. Talking.Konas moving into cabin six.Get some lines in the water, Amy, Nate said from the drears of morpheum opus. Were coming up on Pikes come in Market, and theres fish to be had.Clay waited, not quite smiling, not quite not, while Nate sat up and rubbed sleep from his eyes. ride a boat on the street? Clay said, nodding. All skippers had that dream.Seattle, said Nate. The Zodiac lives in cabin six.We havent used the Zodiac in ten years, it wont hold air. Clay went to the closet that acted as a divider between the living/sleeping area and the kitchen. He pulled down a stack of sheets, then towels. You wouldnt believe how they had this kid living, Nate. It was a tin industrial buildi ng, out by the airport. Twenty, thirty of them, in little stalls with cots and not enough room to swing a loose cat. The wiring was extension cords masked over the tops of the stalls. Six hundred a month for that.Nate shrugged. So? We lived that way the first couple of years. Its what you do. We might need cabin six for something. Storage or something.Nope, said Clay. That place was a labour box and a fire hazard. Hes not living there. Hes our guy.But Clay, hes only been with us for a day. Hes probably a criminal.Hes our guy, said Clay, and that was that. Clay had very strong views on loyalty. If Clay had decided that Kona was their guy, he was their guy.Okay, said Nate, feeling as if he had just invited the Medusa in for a sandwich. The Old Broad called.How is she?Still nuts.Howre you?Getting there.