The Voice from Nowhere
Another dolphin tale from Thunderflukes
Minkie’s group created a melody from the sounds of the summer breeze on the ocean. The music filled their minds and set their bodies dancing, but Minkie heard a new voice on the edges of the music. Somewhere a strange dolphin was calling. Minkie scanned the sea all around, but she could not find the owner of the voice.
There were nine other dolphins in Minkie’s group but this voice did not belong to any of them. It was so faint she hardly heard it; a voice from nowhere.
‘Did you hear that strange dolphin calling?’ she asked her mother.
‘I only hear the voices of our friends,’ said her mother.
Minkie swam off alone to listen harder. There it was again. It seemed to come from the sky.
‘Can anyone hear me?’ said the voice.
Minkie sent a reply back into the sky, ‘I can hear you!’
‘Who are you?’ asked the voice.
‘I am Minkie, youngest child of Dazzle of the Gemini School. I can hear you but I cannot find you.’
‘It doesn’t matter where I am Minkie. My name is Deneb. I am a dolphin from far away and long ago. Tell me what you see around you.’
‘We are close to land today. There are bays and beaches and cliffs where the waves thunder on the rocks.’
‘Thank-you Minkie,’ said the voice. ‘What else do you see?’
‘I see the dolphins in my group dancing to new music they have made. They are leaping over the waves and diving under them. The waves glitter in the sunlight and the dolphins send the white foam flying with their dancing. Beyond them I see the ocean stretching to the far horizon. Beneath me I see delicious fish teeming in the deep. Gannets are diving for fish nearby. I can see them hurtling into the sea.'
Deneb did not reply for a long time. At last he spoke again, ‘Minkie, I ask one more thing. Can you send me the music your dolphins are dancing to?’
Minkie sent the tune from her mind out into the sky hoping that Deneb would find it there.
She heard no more from him that day and though she searched everywhere until night fell, she saw no trace of the owner of the voice from nowhere. The next day Minkie’s group set off on a journey. They swam hundreds of miles over many days and Minkie’s young muscles strengthened well from such a swim on the open sea.
Deneb’s voice did not return to Minkie’s head during the long swim. She thought of him often and wondered where he was and why he had called her from his place so far away. At the end of the long journey Minkie’s group returned to the place where they had been when she’d heard the voice from nowhere. Two days after their return, on a day when the wind howled and the waves roared, she heard Deneb again.
‘Minkie! Can you hear me?’
Minkie recognised his voice, though it drifted so faint against the storm. As before she swam away from her playmates to listen more easily.
‘I am listening Deneb,’ she called back.
‘Will you tell me again what you can see?’
Minkie described the gale dragging the waves into long white streaks, the white squalls sweeping towards her across the sea, the clouds tumbling and rolling low above the waves, and the albatross bobbing on the surface hiding from the wind.
‘Where are you Deneb?’ she called again. ‘I want to know. Please tell me.’
‘It doesn’t matter where I am but I will tell you. I was born long ago and far away as I said. I swam beside my mother as a baby in a wide open sea. Sometimes there were wondrous storms like the one you have today. Like you, I loved to hunt deep, swim far and dance to the music of the dolphins. But when I was still young, land creatures caught me in an evil net and took me far from the sea. They tore me away from my mother and I never saw her again. They put me into a square prison of rock, on the land, containing hardly more than a puddle of water. There is no escape from this place. Land creatures come to look at me swimming in tight circles in my tiny prison cell. I am here still. If you look towards the west you will see the land where I am trapped. I have no way to reach the sea. This water is no more than a few body lengths wide. I cannot dive because the rock floor is hardly more than a body length below me.
Once there were two other dolphins with me here in prison but one died of sorrow and the other chose to stop breathing. I am alone now and will soon follow them. I thought I must die without ever speaking to another dolphin but you heard me in time and gave me a breath of my old ocean home. I am not so old but captivity has made me sick and my muscles have long ago wasted from disuse. Tonight, I too will cease to breathe but now I can drift away with your music and your pictures of the open sea fresh in my mind. Good-bye Minkie and thank-you.’
Minkie stared at the far away land and sent all the music in her heart soaring his way. But never again did she hear the voice from nowhere.
Minkie’s group created a melody from the sounds of the summer breeze on the ocean. The music filled their minds and set their bodies dancing, but Minkie heard a new voice on the edges of the music. Somewhere a strange dolphin was calling. Minkie scanned the sea all around, but she could not find the owner of the voice.
There were nine other dolphins in Minkie’s group but this voice did not belong to any of them. It was so faint she hardly heard it; a voice from nowhere.
‘Did you hear that strange dolphin calling?’ she asked her mother.
‘I only hear the voices of our friends,’ said her mother.
Minkie swam off alone to listen harder. There it was again. It seemed to come from the sky.
‘Can anyone hear me?’ said the voice.
Minkie sent a reply back into the sky, ‘I can hear you!’
‘Who are you?’ asked the voice.
‘I am Minkie, youngest child of Dazzle of the Gemini School. I can hear you but I cannot find you.’
‘It doesn’t matter where I am Minkie. My name is Deneb. I am a dolphin from far away and long ago. Tell me what you see around you.’
‘We are close to land today. There are bays and beaches and cliffs where the waves thunder on the rocks.’
‘Thank-you Minkie,’ said the voice. ‘What else do you see?’
‘I see the dolphins in my group dancing to new music they have made. They are leaping over the waves and diving under them. The waves glitter in the sunlight and the dolphins send the white foam flying with their dancing. Beyond them I see the ocean stretching to the far horizon. Beneath me I see delicious fish teeming in the deep. Gannets are diving for fish nearby. I can see them hurtling into the sea.'
Deneb did not reply for a long time. At last he spoke again, ‘Minkie, I ask one more thing. Can you send me the music your dolphins are dancing to?’
Minkie sent the tune from her mind out into the sky hoping that Deneb would find it there.
She heard no more from him that day and though she searched everywhere until night fell, she saw no trace of the owner of the voice from nowhere. The next day Minkie’s group set off on a journey. They swam hundreds of miles over many days and Minkie’s young muscles strengthened well from such a swim on the open sea.
Deneb’s voice did not return to Minkie’s head during the long swim. She thought of him often and wondered where he was and why he had called her from his place so far away. At the end of the long journey Minkie’s group returned to the place where they had been when she’d heard the voice from nowhere. Two days after their return, on a day when the wind howled and the waves roared, she heard Deneb again.
‘Minkie! Can you hear me?’
Minkie recognised his voice, though it drifted so faint against the storm. As before she swam away from her playmates to listen more easily.
‘I am listening Deneb,’ she called back.
‘Will you tell me again what you can see?’
Minkie described the gale dragging the waves into long white streaks, the white squalls sweeping towards her across the sea, the clouds tumbling and rolling low above the waves, and the albatross bobbing on the surface hiding from the wind.
‘Where are you Deneb?’ she called again. ‘I want to know. Please tell me.’
‘It doesn’t matter where I am but I will tell you. I was born long ago and far away as I said. I swam beside my mother as a baby in a wide open sea. Sometimes there were wondrous storms like the one you have today. Like you, I loved to hunt deep, swim far and dance to the music of the dolphins. But when I was still young, land creatures caught me in an evil net and took me far from the sea. They tore me away from my mother and I never saw her again. They put me into a square prison of rock, on the land, containing hardly more than a puddle of water. There is no escape from this place. Land creatures come to look at me swimming in tight circles in my tiny prison cell. I am here still. If you look towards the west you will see the land where I am trapped. I have no way to reach the sea. This water is no more than a few body lengths wide. I cannot dive because the rock floor is hardly more than a body length below me.
Once there were two other dolphins with me here in prison but one died of sorrow and the other chose to stop breathing. I am alone now and will soon follow them. I thought I must die without ever speaking to another dolphin but you heard me in time and gave me a breath of my old ocean home. I am not so old but captivity has made me sick and my muscles have long ago wasted from disuse. Tonight, I too will cease to breathe but now I can drift away with your music and your pictures of the open sea fresh in my mind. Good-bye Minkie and thank-you.’
Minkie stared at the far away land and sent all the music in her heart soaring his way. But never again did she hear the voice from nowhere.
