Story begins [10 minutes]
[Silence, then dolphin echoes and clicks from afar. They grow louder. Then there is a second set – another dolphin.]
You’re blazing through the depths, what others might call swimming. But it’s not really swimming. It’s simply willing yourself forward. You’re … weightless.
You feel the power in your muscles, the easy sway of your tail, your solid dorsal fin to direct you. Your sleek, streamlined body.
[Happy music, swishing water]
Water is “the medium.” It simply “is.” You accelerate impossibly fast, steering with simple movements of your flippers. You just think…. “Move.” And you’re rocketing forward.
Wait. What’s this up ahead? You send out your echo signal. It’s like a sonar that tells you what’s there.
[Dolphin echolocation sounds, sonar-like]
A quarter of a mile away – a whale.
[Whale sounds]
You move in closer.
[Dolphin echoes and clicks]
Your partner joins you.
[Dolphins can actually speak. We hear different sounds.]
You’re filled with joy. The joy of being alive. You wonder, Do other beings feel this way? You hope it’s true, for them.
“That whale is happy,” you think.
You pass through schools of fish on all sides, also joyous. The colorful coral floor far below stretching on and on.
[Swirling fish sounds]
What do others feel about you? Do they “think” the way that you do?
[Music, sounds of movement]
There’s nothing in this ocean that you fear, not even the sharks. You are at one with your surroundings. You have the intention to move slightly and you blaze forward.
You feel a slight emptiness in your lungs. Time to breathe. You move toward the surface. Up, up….
The light on the other side grows brighter.
[sound of breaking through]
You break the surface with your beak.
[sound of wind, sea gulls, fog horn]
You touch the air. How different!
It’s the “other world” … thinner and lighter. Its existence distinguishes itself. You see the warm yellow disk high in the blue, the white mountains floating up there…
You breathe.
[blow hole sounds]
The air enters through your blow hole, it fills your lungs. You had held your breath for ten minutes before feeling the hunger. Now, satisfied, you sink down into the water.
A shark passes beneath you. A massive hulk, scarred like an old ship.
[Music from Jaws for a moment]
You’re fine. It will only eat animals much smaller than itself.
You need to express what’s in your heart. You MUST. You have an idea.
You speed upward as fast as you can go – twenty miles an hour. Blazing upwards, you break through the surface and leap into the air… you’re flying…
Flying….
[music]
The water is gone—yes, it’s water, you know. The light expands out in all directions, infinite. You wonder what’s behind and above it. You have only a few seconds up here, not much time to gather data.
What is this? It’s the weight of yourself, gravity. You’re heavy. You’re being pulled down.
[splash]
Back into the familiar depths. Joyously back. Your partner joins you, matching your speed.
[Dolphins communicate with clicks”]
“Yes, it’s ‘now.’ It’s a wonderful now.”
There’s an object up on the surface.
[Dolphin echolocation sounds, pings]
It’s not natural. You head toward it. You vibe it.
A solid, a rectangular object. You breakthrough the surface and push your bottlenose up into air. You see a boat.
[dolphin chirping]
There’s a being up there. Pale flesh, hair… A human.
[Human voices: 1) English we understand, or 2) A language we don’t understand to give the feeling of the dolphin’s POV]
[“Hey, look! A dolphin!”]
You feel its intent. Friendly. You don’t understand the details, but you intuit them. In your mind, you hear things telepathically. The beings above don’t know this. You suspect there’s much more to that world up there, another substance they live and move upon that’s not wet, that’s solid like the sea floor. You see multitudes of these beings, and machines.Water falling from the sky.
[Human-world sounds: TV show, podcast, sound of crowds, speaking, cheering, war, etc.]
You don’t know what to make of all that noise.
[“Hey, look! It’s smiling!”]
You’ve tuned into their civilization. The being above you does not know that, or maybe it does. You would like to communicate with it. But your telepathic messages are always ignored.
[A dog barking]
You glide toward the edge of the craft. A small furry creature moves toward you. You extend up and touch it on its wet nose. The tail moves back and forth.
[“Check this out!”]
[Happy dolphin clicks, then underwater sounds]
You dip back down. It’s so easy. You swim toward your pod. There’s so much to do. So much to explore. In time…