The Swarm (10 page)

‘Would you care to translate?'

‘It's as we thought. The worm is methanotrophic. It lives symbiotically with bacteria that break down methane. It…I'm not sure how to explain this…You see, depending on the isotope - you do know what an isotope is, don't you?'

‘Any two or more atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number but with differing atomic mass.'

‘Ten out of ten! So, take carbon. It doesn't always have the same atomic mass. You can have carbon-12 or carbon-13. If you eat something with more of the lighter form of carbon in it - that is, with more of the lighter carbon isotope - your isotopic ratio will decrease too. Do you see?'

‘No problem.'

‘Now, take methane. Methane contains both isotopes of carbon, so when worms live symbiotically with bacteria that feed on the lighter form, the bacteria start to get lighter and so do the worms. Our worm is very light indeed.'

‘You're an odd lot, you biologists. What the hell do you have to do to a worm to figure that out?'

‘It's a most unsavoury process. It means grinding it into powder, then measuring its mass. Now, the results from the scanning electron microscope…They dyed the DNA…All very rigorous…'

Lund strode over to him and tugged at the documents. ‘I don't need a lecture. All I want to know is if it's safe for us to drill.'

‘There's no—' Johanson snatched back the summary and reread the final lines. ‘Fantastic.'

‘What is it?'

‘They're coated with bacteria, inside and out. Endosymbiotic and exosymbiotic bacteria. It seems your worms are transporting bacteria by the busload.'

‘And what does that mean?'

‘Well, it doesn't add up. The worm lives on gas hydrates and is bursting with bacteria, so it doesn't hunt and it doesn't bore. It just lies there on its fat belly, lazing around on the ice. Yet it's equipped with enormous jaws that are perfect for boring. And the worms on the shelf looked anything but fat and lazy. I'd say they were distinctly agile.'

Neither said anything for a while. In the end Lund asked, ‘What are they doing down there, Sigur?'

Johanson shrugged. ‘I don't know. Maybe they really have crawled straight up from the Middle Cambrian. But I've no idea what they're up to.' He passed to consider. ‘And I'm not sure if it matters. I mean, what's the worst they can do down there? They'll wriggle all over the place, sure, but they're hardly going to chew through a pipeline.'

‘Well, what
are
they chewing, then?'

Johanson stared at the summary. ‘There's one more place that might help us,' he said, ‘and if they can't, we'll have to wait for a revelation.'

‘I'd rather it didn't come to that.'

‘I'll send off a few specimens.' Johanson yawned. ‘You know what would be ideal? If they sent out their research vessel to take a proper look. At any rate, you're going to have to be patient. There's nothing we can do for the moment so, if you don't mind, I'd like some breakfast. Besides, I need to give Kare a piece of advice.'

Lund smiled, but it was clear from her expression that she wasn't satisfied.

Vancouver Island and Vancouver, Canada

Business was picking up again. Under any other circumstances Anawak would have shared wholeheartedly in Shoemaker's rejoicings. The whales were returning. The manager of Davie's could talk of nothing else. Slowly but surely they were all coming back: grey whales, hump-backs, orcas and even some minkes. Of course Anawak was pleased to see them - it was what he'd been hoping for - but he would have liked them to show up with a few answers to his questions, such as how they'd eluded the satellites and probes. He kept thinking back to his encounter with the humpbacks. He'd felt like a rat in a laboratory: the two whales had examined him as coolly and thoroughly as though he'd been laid out for dissection.

Were they spies? And, if so, what were they looking for?

It was a ridiculous idea.

He closed the ticket desk and went outside. The tourists were waiting at the end of the jetty. They looked like a Special Forces unit in their orange overalls. Anawak made his way over to them.

Someone was running after him. ‘Dr Anawak!'

He stopped. Alicia Delaware was beside him, red hair scraped into a ponytail and wearing trendy blue sunglasses.

‘Can I come too?'

Anawak glanced at the hull of the
Blue Shark
.

‘We're full.'

‘But I ran all the way to get here.'

‘Sorry. The
Lady Wexham
's got a tour in half an hour. She's more luxurious, with heated indoor seating and a snack-bar…'

‘I don't need a snack-bar. Come on, there must be room for me somewhere. How about at the back?'

‘There are two of us in the cabin already - Susan and me.'

‘I can stand.' Alicia smiled at him. Her large front teeth made her look
like a freckled rabbit. ‘Please, Dr Anawak. You're not still mad at me, are you? Your tour is the only one I want to go on.'

Anawak frowned.

‘Don't look at me like that!' Delaware rolled her eyes. ‘I've read your books and I like your work.'

‘That's not the impression I got.'

‘At the aquarium?' She made a dismissive gesture. ‘Forget it. Dr Anawak, I'm only here for one more day. It really means a lot to me.'

‘It's against the regulations.' The excuse was lame and made him sound petty.

‘God, you're stubborn,' she said. ‘I'm warning you it doesn't take much to make me cry. If I can't come along, I'll be sobbing on the plane all the way to Chicago. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that.'

Anawak couldn't help laughing. ‘All right. If it means that much to you, you can come.'

‘Really?'

‘Really. But don't get on my nerves. And try to keep your abstruse theories to yourself.'

‘It wasn't my theory. It's from—'

‘On second thoughts, don't say anything at all.'

She opened her mouth, then thought better of it.

‘Wait here a moment,' said Anawak. ‘I'll fetch you some water-proofs.'

For a full ten minutes Alicia Delaware stuck to her promise. Then, when the skyline of Tofino had disappeared behind the first of the tree-covered mountains, she sidled up to Anawak and held out her hand. ‘Call me Licia,' she said.

‘Licia?'

‘From Alicia. You're Leon, right?'

He shook her hand.

‘OK. Now, there's something we need to settle.'

Anawak looked at Stringer for help, but she was steering the Zodiac. ‘Such as?' he asked cautiously.

‘The other day at the aquarium I was acting like a stupid know-it-all and I'm sorry.'

‘No problem.'

‘Now it's your turn to apologise.'

‘What for?'

She glanced away. ‘I didn't mind you criticising my arguments in front of other people - but you shouldn't have mentioned my appearance.'

‘Your appearance? I didn't…Oh God.'

‘You said that if a beluga saw me doing my makeup, it would have to question my intelligence.'

‘I didn't mean it like that.'

Anawak ran his hand over his thick black hair. He'd been annoyed with the girl for turning up, as he saw it, with preconceived ideas, then drawing attention to herself through her ignorance, but his angry words had hurt her. ‘All right. I'm sorry.'

‘Apology accepted.'

‘You were citing Povinelli,' he said.

She smiled. It was proof that he was taking her seriously. In the debate about intelligence and self-awareness in primates and other animals, Daniel Povinelli was Gallup's principal critic. He supported Gallup's theory that chimpanzees who recognised themselves in the mirror must have some idea of who they were, but he rejected the claim that this meant they understood their own mental state and therefore that of others. In fact, Povinelli was far from being convinced that any animal was endowed with the psychological understanding common to humans.

‘It takes guts to say what he's saying,' said Delaware. ‘Povinelli's ideas seem so old-fashioned, while things are easier for Gallup - everyone likes to claim that chimpanzees and dolphins are on a par with humans.'

‘Which they are,' said Anawak.

‘Ethically speaking, yes.'

‘That's got nothing to do with it. Ethics are a human invention.'

‘No one would contest that. Least of all Povinelli.'

Anawak looked out over the bay. Some of the smaller islets were coming into view. After a while he said, ‘I know what you're trying to say. You think it shouldn't be necessary to prove that animals are like humans to treat them humanely.'

‘It's arrogant,' Delaware said fiercely.

‘You're right. It doesn't solve anything. And yet most people would be lost without the idea that life increases in value the more it resembles our own. We still find it easier to kill animals than people. It gets tricky when you start seeing animals as relatives of mankind. Most people are aware that humans and animals are related, but they like to think of themselves as the pinnacle of creation. Few will admit that other forms of
life might be as precious as their own. And that creates a dilemma: how can they treat animals or plants with the same respect as other humans when they think that the life of an ant, an ape or a dolphin is worth less than their own?'

‘Hey!' She clapped her hands. ‘You think the same as I do after all.'

‘Almost. I think you're a bit, er, dogmatic in your approach. I believe that chimpanzees and belugas
do
have a certain amount in common with us psychologically.' Anawak held up his hand before she could protest. ‘OK, let me put it another way. I'd say that humanity rises in the estimation of belugas the more
they
discover that humanity has in common with
them
. Assuming whales care about such things.' He grinned. ‘Who knows? Some belugas might even think we're intelligent. Does that sound better?'

Delaware wrinkled her nose. ‘I don't know.'

‘Sea-lions!' Stringer called out. ‘Over there!'

Anawak shielded his eyes with his hand and squinted in the direction she was pointing. They were coming up to a tree-lined island. A group of Stellar sea-lions were sunning themselves on the rocks.

‘This isn't about Gallup or Povinelli, is it?' said Anawak, picking up his camera. He zoomed in and took a few shots of the sea-lions. ‘So why not change the terms of the debate? There's no hierarchy of life-forms in nature: it's a human concept, and it needn't concern us now. We both agree that it's wrong to treat animals like humans. That said, I think it's within our power to gain a limited insight into the psychology of animals - to understand them intellectually, if you like. What's more, I'm convinced that certain animals have more in common with us than others and that one day we'll find a way of communicating with them. You, on the other hand, take the view that non-human forms of life will always be a mystery to us. We can't get inside the head of an animal,
ergo
, we can't communicate. Which leaves us with the fact of our difference. So you're saying we should hurry up and get used to the idea, and leave the poor creatures in peace.'

The Zodiac slowed to pass the sea-lions. Stringer imparted some information about them, while the tourists got out their cameras.

‘I'll have to think about it,' said Delaware, finally. She said scarcely another word until they reached the open water.

Anawak was content. It was good to start the trip with some sea-lions: it had put the tourists in a good mood.

Soon a herd of grey whales had appeared. Greys were slightly smaller than humpbacks, but still imposingly large. Some swam within a short distance of the boat and peeped briefly out of the water - to the delight of everyone on board. They looked like enormous moving pebbles, with their mottled grey skin and powerful jaws covered with barnacles, copepods and whale lice. Most of the tourists were filming frenetically or taking photos. The others looked on in silence, visibly moved. Anawak had seen grown men cry at the sight of a whale rising out of the water.

Three other Zodiacs and a bigger boat with a solid hull waited nearby, engines switched off. Stringer radioed the details of the sighting. They were all committed to responsible whale-watching - but that wasn't enough for the likes of Jack Greywolf.

Greywolf was a dangerous jerk. Anawak didn't like the sound of tourist-watching. If it came to the crunch, the media would side with Greywolf - initially, at least. He and the others at the station could be as conscientious and careful as they liked, but a protest from an animal-rights group, however disreputable, would reinforce people's prejudices against whale-watching. No one bothered to distinguish between serious organisations and fanatics like Greywolf and his Seaguards. That only happened later, when the press got hold of the true facts and the damage had been done.

Anawak scanned the ocean intently, camera at the ready. Maybe he'd succumbed to paranoia after his meeting with the humpbacks. Had he been imagining things or were those whales behaving oddly?

‘Over there, on the right!' Stringer shouted.

Inside the Zodiac all heads turned. Not far from the boat some grey whales were diving in glorious close-up. They looked as though they were waving with their flukes. Anawak was busy taking pictures for the archive. Shoemaker would have jumped for joy at the sight of it. It was a picture-perfect trip - as though the whales had decided to make up for their absence by putting on a real performance. Further out to sea three large ones stuck their heads out of the water.

‘Those aren't grey whales, are they?' said Delaware, chewing gum.

‘Humpbacks.'

‘That's what I thought. I don't see any humps, though.'

‘There aren't any. They make a hump when they dive, arching their backs in the water.'

‘I thought it was because of the lumps on their mouths. Those bumpy things.'

Anawak sighed. ‘You're not trying to start another argument, are you?'

‘Sorry.' She gesticulated excitedly. ‘Hey! Look over there! What are they up to?'

The heads of the three humpbacks had shot up through the surface. Their enormous mouths were wide open, revealing their tongues hanging down from their narrow upper jaws. The baleen plates were clearly visible and the throat grooves looked as if they were straining. A column of water rose up between them, with glints of something that sparkled in the light. Tiny fish, twitching frantically in the air. From out of nowhere flocks of gulls and loons appeared, circled, then plunged down to share the feast.

‘They're feeding,' said Anawak, while he photographed the scene.

‘Unbelievable! They look like they could eat us.'

‘Licia! Try not to make yourself sound dumber than you seem.'

Delaware pushed her gum from one side of her mouth to the other. ‘I was joking,' she said. ‘I know perfectly well that humpbacks eat krill and other little fish, but this is the first time I've seen them feeding. I thought they just swam with their mouths open.'

‘That's how
Eubalaena
feed - right whales,' said Stringer, turning. ‘Humpbacks swim under shoals of fish or copepods and surround them with a net of bubbles. Small organisms don't like turbulent water, so they swim away from the bubbles and cluster together. Then the whales lunge out of the water, expand their throat grooves and start to gulp.'

‘Don't try to explain it to her,' said Anawak. ‘She knows it all already.'

‘To gulp?' echoed Delaware.

Rorqual whales gulp-feed. They expand their throat grooves, which is why they look as though they've been puffed up. As the grooves open up, the throat turns into an enormous pouch, which the whale fills with food. In one huge mouthful the krill and fish are sucked in. The seawater drains out, but the prey is stuck in the baleen.'

Anawak squeezed in next to Stringer. Delaware must have sensed he wanted to talk to her privately because she made her way unsteadily out of the cabin towards the passengers in the front and started to explain gulp-feeding.

After a few moments Anawak asked softly, ‘How do they seem to you?'

‘Weird question.' Stringer thought about it. ‘Same as always, I suppose. How do they seem to
you?
'

‘You think they look normal?'

‘Sure. They're putting on a great show, though. In fact, I'd say they're having the time of their lives.'

‘So you don't think they've changed?'

She squinted across at them. The sunshine glistened on the water. A mottled grey body rose to the surface, then disappeared again. ‘Changed?' she said slowly. ‘How do you mean?'

‘You know I told you about the
megapterae
that suddenly appeared either side of the boat?' At the last second he chose to use the humpbacks' scientific name. What he was thinking was mad, but at least when he put it like that it sounded half-way serious.