Dragon Song

Chapter 7

SEVEN

Eva, Oliver, Dr. Flores, and Mel all geared up to dive while Charlie inflated a Zodiac and equipped it with a sling that could be used to transport a dolphin. After Eva’s adventures in the Panama Canal and the Hawaiian Islands, she now kept one aboard the Aggressor at all times, so an injured or sick dolphin could easily be transported when needed.

The plan was to get the distressed dolphin out of the enclosure, then onto the Zodiac, and then back to RIMS where Dr. Flores could better attend to it. Every step of that was going to be a challenge, and Eva wasn’t sure if they had the manpower to pull it off; it could easily take six people to load a dolphin into the sling. This dolphin appeared to be on the smaller side, but Eva asked Charlie to radio back to RIMS to get Jose, Axel, and Gilberto to come out and help.

While Charlie got on the radio, the rest of them faced a different obstacle: getting the injured dolphin safely out of the enclosure.

The divers stepped off the back of the Aggressor, exchanged the okay sign, and began their descent. Eva now wore one of her old wetsuits she kept aboard Mel’s boat along with a fresh air tank. They went through the opening in the net, then approached the group of dolphins who had gathered to hold up their injured pod mate. But as they drew near, the wild pod began making a high-pitched distress signal and used their rostrums to push Eva and her team away.

Eva couldn’t talk to the dolphins through her regulator, and they wouldn’t understand her anyway. Nor would they recognize her hand signals. What could she do to show them she was no harm to them? Their behavior was so out of character. Usually, cetaceans could sense when humans were there to help.

What’s going on here?

She and her team moved a short distance from the dolphins, surfaced inside the enclosure, and conferred.

“Anybody got any ideas?” Eva asked.

Dr. Flores shook his head. “I only brought enough sedative for one sick dolphin, not an entire wild pod.”

Oliver spit his regulator out of his mouth. “We could just push through and drag the bloke out of here, but I don’t know if we’d survive it.”

Mel looked thoughtful. “By now Axel should be on his way with your sound setup. I say we wait for him to arrive, then try convincing the dolphins that we’re here to help.”