White puffs of cloud cruised on the blue. A gentle easterly barely ruffled the surface where the bodies of Cosmo’s absent team drifted like logs. Hadar and Pollux floated among them.
The rings of Saturn faded as the five young intellects slid homewards across inner space towards Sol and Azure. Blue and gold light expanded around Cosmo as his body rushed to meet him. The water of his planet encased him in cool silk. Cosmo swirled his flippers and flexed his caudal muscles. He rolled upwards, breathed, shot away underwater, then rocketed into the air three times his length. Rush and Givan were airborne with him. They re-entered the water just as Flip and Quin leapt skywards. The five played until the water boiled and spray hissed across the shattered surface. Cosmo smacked the sea enjoying the strength in his flukes, the foam fizzing on his skin and the blood pumping through his veins.
You appreciate your body so much more when you’ve been without it awhile, he thought. Then the hunger hit him.
Hadar and Pollux laughed at the spectacle of the return of their charges
‘We’ll let you wake Ripple from her work today,’ said Hadar. ‘She’ll need feeding too. Wake her carefully.’
The two minders swam away.
Ripple was dancing nearby, lost in her work.
‘More baby-sitting,’ grumbled Givan.
The boys cruised over until they were close enough to feel her noisy brainwaves thundering around them. Givan snorted his distaste. Cosmo thought of Maram. He shivered and crushed the memory.
‘Ripple. Wake up,’ he called.
She continued working as though she was as far away as he’d recently been.
‘I’m hungry,’ shouted Givan. ‘Wake up, you lunatic.’
‘Is she even on the planet?’ asked Flip.
‘A planet of her own,’ said Givan. ‘Rowdy-Ripple WAKE UP Rowdy-Ripple WAKE UP,’ he chanted.
Flip and Quin joined in, swimming around her in a tight circle. Cosmo was suddenly anxious watching his team-mates teasing the girl. Rush stayed alongside Cosmo.
For Ripple the ocean sang, the wind rushed, the birds called and the music played.
‘Rowdy Ripple WAKE-UP.’
Her music collapsed like a wave on a rock. Cosmo saw that she had returned.
She flew up and out over their heads higher than they’d ever seen or would have believed possible. Had she taken wing? The boys followed her flight, their heads moving from right to left in unison. She re-entered the water, impossibly far from them, and swam away. They were awed into silence by the sheer power of her flight. Yet she had leapt to escape them not to impress them. Rush was the first to react.
‘Well, you woke her.’
‘Good. Now we can hunt,’ said Givan, shaking his head to clear the image.
They set off in search of food, except Cosmo who’d forgotten his hunger for the moment. He followed Ripple, intending to apologise for his team. He swam quickly but the gap between them increased. He didn’t know any dolphin his age who could outpace him, yet she was racing ahead. He accelerated to full speed and was gaining on her until she noticed him and smoothly pulled away. In the end, he turned and retraced his course back to his classmates in the hunt.
‘I couldn’t catch her,’ he admitted.
‘You couldn’t catch up to a girl?’
‘Who is she? What is she?’ asked Rush
‘I don’t know . . . but she’s really something,’ said Cosmo.
‘Something weird,’ muttered Givan, ‘pretending to be so weak and useless but she can sure move when it suits her. You sound like you’re interested Cosmo. She’s cracked, you know.’
‘No wonder, if everyone treats her like we just did. How do we know what’s in her mind?’
‘We’ve heard it. It’s turmoil.’
‘Or maybe beyond our reach, like her swimming and jumping.’
‘You got it bad, Cosmo.’
‘I detest her chaos more than you do. A dolphin with thoughts like hers beached himself in the Southern School.’
‘Why would anyone choose to die that way?’ asked Rush, shivering.
‘I don’t wish to speak of it. He was insane. Ripple can control her chaos. We saw how quickly she snapped out of it just now. So from now on, let’s give her “work” whatever it is, the same respect she gives ours. That’s if she ever comes back.’
‘I wouldn’t care if she didn’t,’ said Givan.
‘What’ve you got against her, Givan?’
‘My dad says it lowers our status having that oddball around.’
‘And my dad says status has to be earned,’ said Rush. ‘How could Ripple prevent us earning it?’
‘Delph sees no problem with her being around us and that’s good enough for me,’ said Cosmo.
‘She should be an astronomer,’ said Flip, ‘She’s strong enough to take her body along. Maybe Givan’s scared she might take his place on our team.’
Givan whacked Flip with his fluke. Flip corkscrewed downwards with closed eyes and open mouth as though dead. Rush mimicked a shark arriving to clean up the carrion. His efforts to swim with the side-to-side shark action were too much for Cosmo and he laughed at last.
‘Stop it you lot, I need food. Let’s hunt.’
~~~
Ripple swam alone.
I'll never work near them again; I'd rather have Erishkigal’s company. And why was Cosmo following me like that? I’m glad I beat him. Astronomers and fighters and gymnasts are all the same. They think the rest of us can’t swim.
~~~
Some hours later, with hunger pangs appeased, the boys met with Delph to make a full report of their mission. Afterwards, Cosmo remained behind and told Delph of the incident involving Ripple.
‘I wanted to apologise, but she swam too fast for me.’
‘This surprises you?’
‘I thought I was faster than all others my age in the school. Why’s she not training to be a gymnast or astronomer?’
‘Because she has chosen neither as her vocation.’
‘Are her skills to be wasted then?’
‘Perhaps, but I must tell you Cosmo, that while you were among Saturn’s rings, I came by to check on you. Ripple worked nearby. She seemed just like an astronomer, observing some chaotic alien culture. She could have been one of you except for one big difference.’
‘What difference?’
‘You astronomers descend into physical torpor on your missions. Ripple does too, but sometimes she keeps moving. Today as she worked, she romped in the air above the sea like a bird. The minders have seen her keeping it up for hours.’
So that’s where the fitness comes from, thought Cosmo.
He saw again the effortless flight of the leap she’d made to escape them; then shivered at the memory of the chaos.
~~~
In the evening, Delph met with Rigel at an arranged location one hour’s swim north-east of the northernmost island. By then the story of the events surrounding the Io mission had already circulated, greatly increasing the boys’ prestige. But Delph was unsurprised to discover that Rigel hadn’t heard it as he had been away in the Tectarius galaxy while the scuttlebutt was rippling through the school. He gave Rigel the full story.
‘I don’t know Cosmo,’ said Rigel, ‘Which family is he from?’
‘He has no family; he was orphaned after birth. Cosmo came to us from the Southern School to receive training in astronomy.’
‘It’s good to know there’s one coming along with such leadership potential. He could be destined for greatness. Rare to hear of one so young, who’s a talented astronomer and a skilled fighter. His fitness must be excellent.’
‘There are no boys in the school who can touch him for physical speed and skill. But he has been shocked to discover there’s a girl who can outpace him and she’s no older than he is.’
‘Who is this female wonder athlete?’
‘She’s your daughter, Ripple, whose sanity has often been questioned.’
Rigel gaped, spluttering slightly. He was speechless for a long moment and then began to laugh. His laughter grew until it infected Delph and they laughed until the sea around them quaked.
~~~
Delph didn’t allow the boys time to enjoy the glow of their newfound fame. They were almost ready to journey beyond the solar system so he stepped up their workload. There was no shortage of destinations of value to explore within the home galaxy and much to do to prepare. So it was a few days before Cosmo finally found the time to speak to Ripple. She was near the southeast edge of the main school when she spotted him swimming in her direction.
Is he coming to speak to me? Yes, he’s looking at me and swimming this way.
She glanced at Echo and saw that she’d seen him. With the safety of the school around her and the security of an older sister, she felt no compulsion to swim away. He swerved alongside giving her his slipstream.
‘Ripple, I’ve been looking for you.’
Why would the famous shark-fighter and star of the Io mission be looking for the biggest misfit in the school?
‘I only chased you the other day because I wanted to apologise. I’m ashamed of how we behaved.’
There was an uncomfortable pause. Echo had melted away.
‘Your work is a mystery to us all, but Delph told me that if you wished to be a practical astronomer or fighter or gymnast, your physical skills are good enough.’
‘I’m not interested in any of those vocations. My father is an astronomer. My mother says I get my speed from him.’
‘Your father is an astronomer? What’s his name?’
‘Rigel.’
‘Stars of Dorado!’ He performed a corkscrew leap. ‘This will shut Givan up. No wonder you swim like the wind. Rigel has the speed of a hurricane.’
Cosmo and Ripple edged away from the school. Many body lengths lay between them and the nearest dolphin. A brisk westerly had blown the sea into a short steep chop that glittered in the sun.
They were swimming downwind, cruising easily on the faces of the waves. She remained in formation with him and they breathed in unison.
‘The day in Cascade Cove,’ he said, ‘I thought you were warning me off, so I left. Then I thought you might be sick so I told your mother.’
They swam for a few moments in silence, Ripple gliding in his slipstream. Gannets worked nearby, whooshing and splashing.
‘You were right to tell my mother. She . . . helped me on that day.’ (She’d almost said ‘saved.’)
‘Were you warning me off?’
‘No. I was trying to show you music, but that was how I first found that others cannot hear it; they hear only chaos.’
‘What’s music? Why can’t I hear it?’
‘Music is sound. Thoughtstreams are ideas not sounds. I searched for music all my life but it was only when you came that I found it at last. I wanted you to hear it first.’
He leapt over a wave and she followed. Then she moved forward to give him her slipstream.
‘I wish I could hear the music as you do. I prefer to fight a hundred starving sharks than hear chaos from an intelligent mind, so it’s good to know it’s not chaotic to you.’
Cosmo was enjoying her lead style, the graceful almost flickering movements he’d seen in the surf, and the way her emerald skin glowed deeper underwater and flashed brilliantly in the sunlight.
The gannets finished hunting and moved away towards the west. White clouds drifted east sending patches of shade across the ocean.
‘Will you return and work near the astronomy team again?’
‘I’m happy to work alone.’
‘I want you to come back.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Will you be safe to work alone?’
‘I’ll be careful.’
‘Ripple, will you promise me something? If ever you find a way to communicate your music, will you show it to me first, as you intended before?’
She tensed and there was a very long pause as she considered her reply.
He doesn’t know what he’s asking. Could I ever try again with him?
She stared at the ocean, seeking a guiding signal. Eastward, a blue whale surfaced and blew, its great back arching from the sea. The tail rose and Ripple saw the sunlight glinting from the waterfall that drained from the trailing edges of the vast flukes as they swept forward, then back and propelled it downwards, a harmony of power. She saw the spreading smoothness on the surface at the place where it had been and followed its magnificent descent. Her spirit calmed at the vision. Her muscles relaxed.
‘I promise,’ she whispered at last.
~~~
Ripple worked alone, away from the main school where she hoped her thoughtstreams would not bother anyone. A few days passed and she encountered no danger, so her confidence grew. She continued skipping lessons, except those that provided her with musical inspiration: poetry, history and home-based astronomy. One exception was gymnastics which she attended because she enjoyed sharing her dance moves with others.
They love my moves. If only they knew how much better it is when the music plays.
Ripple set many poems to music and created some herself. Others came from her favourite Azuran poets and some from distant worlds, including the Fragrant Planets.
~~~
Even though there are dozens in your own galaxy, you humans know nothing of the Fragrant Planets, where flowering plants have evolved beyond belief. But even in Ripple’s day, the dolphins of Azure knew of the millions of whale-sized, long-lived flowers, all with intelligent minds, sharing and blending their essences and intellects to create perfumed poems powerful enough to heal epidemics, create wealth, and prevent wars. The flowers loaded their aromatic songs daily onto the winds for distribution throughout their worlds.
Ripple’s music was like the perfume building inside the closed night-time flowers of the Fragrant Planets, but she could find no way to release her own gifts on the morning wind. ~~~
Read on, or if desired . . .