Read Online Messages from the Deep by Theo Marais - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Theo Marais
Tags: mars, alien intervention, environmental conservation, habitable planet, communication with cetaceans, dolphins and whales, messages from cetaceans, what is life and death, what is progress
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command, like to find ancient,
flooded ruins in a far-off ocean, without much sensitivity about
their own needs, patterns of movement and social interactions, so
essential if they were to survive.
The greatest on-going threats to their
survival on Earth were pollution, especially oil and plastic,
entanglement in fishing nets and lines, over-fishing of their prey,
noise emissions from boats, and military use of sonar and seismic
noise. And now too, instead of being hunted by whalers, they were
being hunted by whale-watchers and people wanting to swim with
dolphins, the whole affair being so over-commercialised in some
areas that they are suffering stress, disruption and even injury
and death. But after much negotiation with cetacean
representatives, compromises and agreements were reached with the
relevant authorities.”
CHAPTER 2
The ‘Life on Earth 2’ T.V. programme
announces that the recordings of the dolphins on Earth 2 have
arrived on Earth.
“We have heard that, at first, scientists
could not make head or tail of them as they seem to be so different
from the dialects of Earth dolphins. When the recordings were
played to our dolphins, they were enraptured but could not
understand them properly at first. One imagines that a period of
possibly 15 000 years in which a small pod of young dolphins is
totally isolated from its original community, will give rise to the
development of new forms of grammar, syntax, concepts and meanings.
Would a small group of children who were isolated on a far planet,
or even on a desert island, also develop new languages and ideas?
Hopefully, they would not turn it into another ‘Lord of the Flies’
or ‘Clockwork Orange’ scenario. But these dolphins seemed more
intelligent.
Earth dolphins developed some good ideas
about their Earth 2 cousins’ language and formulated a response
that they believed would be understood. They also made some
suggestions about how they could communicate more easily in future.
These were recorded and sent to Dr Alex Zhivago on Earth 2.
We also sent the following message: Marine
scientists at Plettenberg Bay asked us to tell you that the whale
called Aristotle came by recently. He said that he had finally
found out that his daughter had managed to escape the scene of her
mother’s death and had been found by a passing pod of whales.
They ‘adopted’ her because they could not
find her family as they use a different migratory route. But the
story got around the grape-vine and he was finally re-united with
her a few days ago.”
Alex sends the following report back to Earth
after many months.
“When our dolphins finally returned to the
little bay and we played the recordings sent to us, they could
understand most of the messages and ideas and were so emotional
about finally having some answers about their origins and long-lost
family that they really were ‘sobbing’ and ‘laughing’ at the same
time. They could fully accept that they originally came from Earth
and had been brought here by aliens, just as their ancient legends
had always said.
Most importantly for us, we now had methods
whereby we can communicate directly with each other and develop our
own ‘fanakalo’ language. After weeks of ‘workshopping’, we could
ask and answer questions quite easily. As we built up mutual
understanding, we developed trust and respect.
The first thing the dolphins told us was that
the Earth dolphins had warned them of the cruelty and destructive
disregard humans had shown towards them, their second cousins, the
whales, and towards marine life in general.
Their first non-negotiable was that, at the
first sign of any aggression or disregard for any marine life or
the environment as a whole from us, they would stop co-operating
with us as a first measure. Further, as yet unspecified measures
could be taken if matters deteriorated further. Coupled with this
was the warning that the same conditions would apply on Earth, and
that we had to
flooded ruins in a far-off ocean, without much sensitivity about
their own needs, patterns of movement and social interactions, so
essential if they were to survive.
The greatest on-going threats to their
survival on Earth were pollution, especially oil and plastic,
entanglement in fishing nets and lines, over-fishing of their prey,
noise emissions from boats, and military use of sonar and seismic
noise. And now too, instead of being hunted by whalers, they were
being hunted by whale-watchers and people wanting to swim with
dolphins, the whole affair being so over-commercialised in some
areas that they are suffering stress, disruption and even injury
and death. But after much negotiation with cetacean
representatives, compromises and agreements were reached with the
relevant authorities.”
CHAPTER 2
The ‘Life on Earth 2’ T.V. programme
announces that the recordings of the dolphins on Earth 2 have
arrived on Earth.
“We have heard that, at first, scientists
could not make head or tail of them as they seem to be so different
from the dialects of Earth dolphins. When the recordings were
played to our dolphins, they were enraptured but could not
understand them properly at first. One imagines that a period of
possibly 15 000 years in which a small pod of young dolphins is
totally isolated from its original community, will give rise to the
development of new forms of grammar, syntax, concepts and meanings.
Would a small group of children who were isolated on a far planet,
or even on a desert island, also develop new languages and ideas?
Hopefully, they would not turn it into another ‘Lord of the Flies’
or ‘Clockwork Orange’ scenario. But these dolphins seemed more
intelligent.
Earth dolphins developed some good ideas
about their Earth 2 cousins’ language and formulated a response
that they believed would be understood. They also made some
suggestions about how they could communicate more easily in future.
These were recorded and sent to Dr Alex Zhivago on Earth 2.
We also sent the following message: Marine
scientists at Plettenberg Bay asked us to tell you that the whale
called Aristotle came by recently. He said that he had finally
found out that his daughter had managed to escape the scene of her
mother’s death and had been found by a passing pod of whales.
They ‘adopted’ her because they could not
find her family as they use a different migratory route. But the
story got around the grape-vine and he was finally re-united with
her a few days ago.”
Alex sends the following report back to Earth
after many months.
“When our dolphins finally returned to the
little bay and we played the recordings sent to us, they could
understand most of the messages and ideas and were so emotional
about finally having some answers about their origins and long-lost
family that they really were ‘sobbing’ and ‘laughing’ at the same
time. They could fully accept that they originally came from Earth
and had been brought here by aliens, just as their ancient legends
had always said.
Most importantly for us, we now had methods
whereby we can communicate directly with each other and develop our
own ‘fanakalo’ language. After weeks of ‘workshopping’, we could
ask and answer questions quite easily. As we built up mutual
understanding, we developed trust and respect.
The first thing the dolphins told us was that
the Earth dolphins had warned them of the cruelty and destructive
disregard humans had shown towards them, their second cousins, the
whales, and towards marine life in general.
Their first non-negotiable was that, at the
first sign of any aggression or disregard for any marine life or
the environment as a whole from us, they would stop co-operating
with us as a first measure. Further, as yet unspecified measures
could be taken if matters deteriorated further. Coupled with this
was the warning that the same conditions would apply on Earth, and
that we had to
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