Messages from the Deep by Theo Marais Read Free Book Online Page A

school in George, I was seen
as ‘different’. In fact, I was bullied by seniors in the hostel in
my first year or two, until I learned to stand up for myself and
they picked on others. In 2000 I went to Stellenbosch University
for a BSc in Marine Biology as I have always felt passionate about
marine conservation and have a special interest in cetaceans, as I
have often encountered them when sailing and surfing. Dolphins seem
to trust me and I often find I can paddle among them while I try to
talk to them. I have always fancied that, one day, like Dr
Dolittle, I will be able to understand and communicate with
them.
    My Honours and Masters degrees had taken me
to all the centres of involvement with cetaceans, from Walvis
(Whale) Bay in Namibia to South Africa’s West Coast at Saldanha
Bay, from Cape Town and Hermanus to Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and
Port Elizabeth, from East London to Durban and Kosi Bay on the
border with Mozambique.
    For my PhD, as I had also done Linguistics
and Communication, I focused on cetacean languages and
communication. I was fortunate to be awarded scholarships which
enabled me to travel globally and to visit and assess marine
research institutes regarding the progress they had made in this
field.
    I visited dolphinaria and university and
state marine research centres from Australia to Zanzibar, analysing
the effectiveness of these endeavours.
    By 2030 some progress had been made and South
Africa established sophisticated research centres, one of them
being at Plettenberg Bay, where I have been based for the past 14
years. We have made huge strides in cracking the codes of cetacean
languages and today, with the help of computer programmes, we are
able to understand and communicate with cetaceans.”
     
    The ‘Life on Earth 2’ quiz show in Knysna is
a huge success. The winner is a young Marine Biology student at the
University of Stellenbosch, just like Alex was. When he was at
primary school in Knysna, Alex and a few other local surfers used
to come and fetch him and some other township youngsters and take
them to the beach and teach them how to surf. Alex fired his
enthusiasm and then passion for marine conservation, besides also
becoming a top junior surfer. He thanks Alex for taking him off the
streets and away from the influences of the gangs who rule their
neighbourhoods.
    On the spaceship, the 10 other astronauts
compete enthusiastically to win the prize of no routine duties for
a day.

CHAPTER 3
     
     
    The craft nears the outer edge of the Black
Hole, then enters a Wormhole and the entire craft and crew are
projected to Earth 2.
    Mariada is being interviewed by ‘Life on
Earth 2’ again. This time, it is very ‘delayed live’, by about a
week.
    “It’s almost impossible to describe the
passage of time in the Wormhole, as though time was literally
standing still, while we hurtled through space. Or was it that we
in our little space ship were standing still in space while time
rushed past ?
    We landed exactly where planned and
everything is in perfect working condition. It was unbelievable to
step out of the ship without a space suit and breathe the air of
Earth 2 with its strange new smells and hear the singing of the
insects and birds.”
    Once again, Mariada is the first person to
step on the planet and she announces a new variation of the
Moon-landing speech:
    “One small step for a human, one new solar
system and planet for humans to live on.”
    And adds, “This is not only another station
on the way to somewhere else, this is somewhere else for us to
live. We have brought with us some samples of life from Earth,
especially threatened and key species for maintaining the food
chain, like bees, butterflies, frogs and so on, and future settlers
will bring further specimens.
    It was such a sobering thought to hear a
child say, many years ago, that if humans were to become extinct on
Earth, it would actually make a positive difference to the
proliferation of life, as we are