This story is about communication between intelligent species. Please do not misinterpret it as a bestiality story.
SUMMER AT THE COVE
by
Adam Starchild
A ripple rocked me, nearly turning me over. As I floundered, trying to right myself, another came, a wash like that of a small boat passing, rolling me in its wake. But I had heard neither oars nor engine; could hear nothing now except the slap of the exhausted ripples against a rock.
This was my first swim in the small cove near my folks' summer house on the beach. In the fall I would begin graduate work in mammal research at the university. This was the first real vacation I had had in many years. I had brought my tape recorder and some research notes with me, but planned to spend my days sunning, swimming and relaxing. That's what I had been doing for the past hour, my athletic nude body treading water in this quiet cove.
Treading water, I looked around me, puzzled and a little alarmed. The sea shimmered, empty and calm. I felt downward with my feet, to find that I had drifted a little further out from shore, and could barely touch bottom with the tips of my toes. I turned back toward the shallows.
This time the wash lifted me clear off my feet, and as I plunged clumsily forward another followed it, tumbling me over, so that I struggled helplessly for a moment, swallowing water, before striking out -- thoroughly alarmed now, for shore.
Beside me, suddenly, the water swirled and hissed. Something touched me -- a cold, momentary graze along my naked thigh -- as a body drove past me underwater. I had a gasp of sheer fear, and the only reason I didn't scream was because I had gasped myself full of water and went under. Fighting back to the surface, I shook the salt water out of my eyes and looked wildly around -- only to see the cove empty as before, but its surface marked now by the ripples of whatever sea creature had brushed by me. The ripples were moving away fast, their wake as clear as a trail across the flat water of the cove. Whatever it was headed straight for the open sea, suddenly curving in a wide arc heading back toward me.
I didn't wait to see what it was. My mind, panic stricken, screamed out "shark" and I struck out wildly for the rocks and shore. Whatever it was came at me fast. Thirty yards away, the surface of the water bulged, swelled and broke to the curved thrust of a huge, silver-black back. The water parted and poured off its sides like liquid glass. I caught a glimpse of a dark bright eye, and a dorsal fin like a crescent moon. The creature submerged again, its wash lifting me a couple of yards forward toward a large rock. I found a handhold, clung on tightly, and scrambled out of the water -- gasping and thoroughly scared.
It surely wasn't a shark. Hundreds of adventure stories and my studies told me that one knew a shark by the huge triangular fin, and I had seen up close at school the terrible jaws and small, brutal eye. This creature today had breathed air, and the eye had been big and dark, like a dog's or a seal's. But there were no seals in these warm waters, and besides, seals don't have dorsal fins. A dolphin then?
Suddenly I knew that was the answer. I drew myself up on the warm rock, clasped my knees, and settled down to watch. Moments later he came again, in a wide arc, smooth and glistening. He was dark backed and light bellied and as graceful as a yacht. This time he came to the surface -- watching me.
He was large, as dolphins go, something over eight feet long. He lay rocking gently, with his powerful shoulders waiting curved for the plunge below, and the crescent shaped tail hugging the water flatly -- holding his big body level. The dark ringed eye watched me steadily with what I could only describe as friendly. His smooth muzzle was curved into that perpetual dolphin smile.
Excitement and pleasure swept over me. I put out a hand toward him. The dolphin, naturally, ignored it, but lay there smiling, rocking a little closer and watching me -- entirely unafraid. He rocked himself, watching me, then half turned, rolled and came up again nearer still. This began one of the most unusual relationships I have ever experienced. My period of prolonged relationship with the dolphin, whom I named Dan, began that day. It will soon become obvious why I gave the dolphin a male name.
As Dan and I grew to know each other that summer, his activities grew more aggressive. These activities were quite varied and included posturing, stroking, rubbing, muzzling, mouthing, jaw clapping and yelping. Dan's posturing involved his swimming toward me in the water and taking up a position in front of me, or slightly to one side. He then bent his body in such a way that from the side it took on the shape of an S-curve, head pointing up, flippers down. He would maintain this position for about two to five seconds and then resume normal swimming. The action was repeated immediately or after several moments depending on my response. I had the distinct impression that Dan was posturing with me much as a dolphin would as he began courtship.
My suspicion that Dan's relationship with me was growing strong became more evident when our normal swimming together began to change. At times Dan would swim in such a way as to bring one or both flippers in contact with some part of my body, and by swimming along or across my body producing a stroking effect.
Dan's favorite stroking game involved turning on his back and, swimming beneath me in the same direction and at the same speed, move his flippers rhythmically back and forth across my body. It didn't take long before I began to respond to his stroking -- each of us stroking the other. We could only do this until it was necessary for us to rise to the surface to breathe, but was often immediately resumed. Dan also carried out gentle stroking movements, by moving his head against my body. The feeling was incredible and not a little arousing. The most sensuous and surprising stroking came one afternoon when Dan swam beneath me, turned over and stroked my genitals with the tip of one flipper.
Thereafter, Dan's actions became more aggressive. His stroking motions were now replaced by rubbing. This was a much more strenuous action in which Dan, swimming at a fast pace, advanced upon me and rubbed part of his body vigorously against mine. This advance took place from any direction relative to our position in the cove, but was most dramatic when Dan approached me head on, as if we were about to collide, and then turn aside at the last moment and just enough to produce vigorous contact along the length of our bodies. This type of contact rarely lasted for more than a few minutes, during which Dan made repeated rushes at me. Trumpeting and whistling sounds were sometimes heard during this time.
Because of the sounds I often heard from Dan, I began to routinely take my portable tape recorder to the cove with me each morning to record his sounds. The first rainy day I intended to play back the tapes. The weather held, however, and Dan and I cavorted in the cove. Soon, Dan was teaching me to nuzzle under water. He would apply his snout to some part of my body and move it around in that area.
Eventually, most of his nuzzling took place in my genital area, possibly as an investigative measure and possibly as a deliberate attempt to stimulate me. Regardless of his intent, it had a sensual and erotic effect on me. I would often leave the water highly aroused.
Dan soon took the nuzzling one step further. He now took to opening his mouth and drawing a part of my body -- a hand or a foot -- between his teeth and gently closing his mouth upon it. His grasp was a gentle one, and was released as soon as I would pull away, without leaving tooth marks or gashes. The first time he drew my privates into his mouth I opened my mouth in surprise and took in too much water. it took me several days to grow accustomed to the exciting feeling of having my sex organs held in the mouth of a dolphin.
At times during our companionship, another sea creature would interfere in our relationship by usually swimming too close. In such cases, Dan's response was rapid and often violent. He was able, by clapping his jaws together forcefully, to produce a sharp loud sound, which could be heard for at least fifteen feet across the water. Later that summer when I played back the tapes I recognized this sound as his principal form of intimidation.
Usually, Dan's jaw clapping was sufficient to discourage any intruder or any other creature that got to close to me, but if the creature persisted, Dan would resort to violent lashes with his fins, using tremendous force. Several times he would actually attack the intruder with his teeth, inflicting serious gashes upon the other. It was during these displays that I realized how protective Dan was becoming of me and, perhaps, a little jealous.
Dan's advances soon became more intense. Another, new sound was often heard now. It was a high-pitched yelp, delivered in a series of short sharp cries. The number of yelps varied from two or three to seven or eight, and the series might be repeated after an interval of about fifteen seconds.
Dan yelped very rarely when he and I were swimming quietly together. However, if I strayed away from him or stopped to investigate another animal or an object in the cove, Dan promptly produced a series of yelping cries and continued to do so at short intervals until I returned to him. If I did not respond at once, he continued to yelp until I did. As soon as I returned to him the yelping ceased. I have since been told that this yelping is heard only during the mating season and that it is reasonable to assume that his yelping was a mating call. This may have explained the incredible experiences that followed.
Looking back at the first few weeks of our companionship, it now became clear that Dan was becoming more than just a pet in the cove. His attention was increasingly more physical and personal. I discovered in myself a warm feeling that had not been present before. Each morning I headed for the cove, experiencing an anticipation I had never felt before.
I recall one morning in particular. This morning would change my life. Dan and I were swimming as usual when I noticed that he was becoming persistent in his activities. He rubbed, stroked. and nuzzled me repeatedly. I was swimming along on my left side when Dan suddenly approached me, swimming parallel to me as he rolled over onto his right side. When he was close to me I felt a strange sensation against my genitals. In the clear water I noted with surprise, something curving outward from Dan's genital slit, which had always been closed before. Something had sprung rapidly away from his body and curved outward.
As Dan swam parallel to me, our bodies nearly flush, he brought his erect penis into contact with my genitals. This contact was repeated several times as we swam slowly through the water, currents occasionally causing us to move apart. Gradually, Dan began to engage in pelvic thrusts, increasing the feelings of pleasure that were washing over my body. My breathing came rapidly while I became more excited as each of us maintained our contact as we slowly swam across the cove. I stroked Dan's body and suddenly grasped on to him tightly as I felt my body tremble and shake.
I gasped several times as I climaxed in the water next to Dan. I looked back at the water and was surprised to see two streams of milky fluid rise to the surface and trail behind us. At that point I knew that Dan and I had reached a level in our relationship which surpassed that of human and pet. For all practical purposes, Dan and I were lovers.
Throughout the summer as Dan and I swam and enjoyed sex play together, he gradually became less jealous and, to a degree, was more relaxed around me. It seemed as though Dan was no longer as modest around me. It was now very common for him to let me observe him enjoying his own solitary form of sex play.
He let me watch as he played with a large sea turtle one day. He swam down to the bottom of the cove and approached the unaware turtle from the rear, inserting his penis into the soft tissues at the rear of the shell. I started to laugh underwater until I realized that I was swallowing water. Dan's erect sex organ would emerge from his body slit very suddenly. while erect, it formed an efficient hook. Dan could often be seen swimming upside down on the surface, catching and towing pieces of seaweed with his penis.
It was not until late in the summer that I realized a peculiar creative process was occurring. By playing with Dan day in and day out I was struck with the fact that my basic assumptions and even my expectations determined the results attained with this animal. This had always been true, of course, in my dealing with my peers at the university. I noticed a subtle change in my own attitude in regard to Dan's performance. My mind now seemed more sensitized toward Dan and I became eager to establish some form of communication with him.
I now began playing back the tapes of Dan's sounds. Because of the possibility of a very large brain capacity and because of my musings about the possible areas of achievement already realized in this species, but as yet undiscovered by man, my mind began to open.
The opening of my mind was a subtle and yet a painful process. I began to have weird feelings. The feeling was that I was up against the edge of a large uncharted region in which I was about to embark with only tape recorder. The feeling of weirdness came to me as Dan's sounds seemed more and more to be forming words in my own language. I felt I was in the presence of someone who was on the other side of a transparent barrier which up to this point I hadn't even seen.
I began to look at Dan's body with new eyes and began to think in terms of his possible mental processes, rather than in terms of a functioning, playful, sexual animal companion. I began to talk to Dan not as one would talk to a pet, but more as one would speak to a friend or lover. If Dan did have higher mental processes, then he in turn up to now must have been thinking of me as a stupid being indeed.
Most of my research on dolphins up to this point was sketchy. I decided to closely examine the tapes of Dan's sounds and listen to them from the viewpoint that these may be evidence of complex mental activity going on in Dan's mind. As I listened to the tapes. one string of sounds made me pause. It sounded suspiciously like "see you tomorrow", which I had often shouted out to Dan as I left the cove each day. I replayed that tape many times and each time I had the uncanny feeling Dan was at the very least evoking mimicry.
The next few days were very exciting for me. As I began talking to Dan more and more he began to develop a new series of voices over and above his usual sounds. These new emissions covered such a wide range of vocalization that I was hard put to analyze it at all. His whistles and clicks were mingled with a series of barks, wails, moans, buzzings, trumpetings, quacking, etc. All of the sounds first occurred underwater, but were now being emitted in the air from his biowhole and recorded on tape.
Some of his quacking noises had become similar, but not identical, to human speech. I now began an intensive effort to induce him to vocalize in response to my vocalizations and activities, especially during our sex play. With days, Dan responded by beginning to mimic my voice.
Despite my careful mental preparations, it was literally a shock to hear him say what sounded uncannily like "goodnight". One morning I was working on the word "squirt" with him. He took the word, reproduced it at a high frequency and in a very short abrupt fashion. It was so high pitched and so fast that I couldn't recognize it unless I slowed it down during playback of the tape. Next he went through at least five different variations of the word. His productions sounded like "irt", "squir", "ir", and something which sounded like "squeeirte", and then finally something that sounded very close to "squirt" in a Donald-Ducklike voice.
Dan's latest voice resembled that of a very small child -- its very high pitched and thin quality, and yet could be of such an intensity in the air that it is sometimes painful to listen to when I'm closer than three or four feet from his biowhole. When talking to Dan I sometimes get the feeling that he is very impatient with my slow methods. He acts like he wishes I would hurry up and understand him.
The summer was nearly over and my thoughts began to drift toward the coming fall and the university. I felt I was very close to communicating with Dan, but that something prevented me from a breakthrough. I also realized, as my thoughts turned to school, that up until this summer I had been a lonely person. Dan had changed all of that. Sometimes we reach out from our loneliness for someone else who may or may not exist. That someone may not even understand what we say. But at least we reach out, and it is gratifying to see Dan reach out also, however primitively.
I began playing the tape I had recorded this past afternoon. As I prepared for bed and reached to flick off the recorder, I heard a series of words or sounds I had not heard before. I immediately played back that portion of the tape over and over, convinced that these new sounds were not mimicry. Finally, I slowed down the speed of the recorder and was stunned when the few new sounds came out of the speaker clear and unquestionably recognizable. It was not mimicry. I had never spoken these exact words in the same exact order to Dan.
I was too shocked to do anything but collapse on the bed, all thoughts of school and my future vanishing. My life was turned upside down by those few words. I suddenly got to my feet and ran from the house toward the cove, my mind reeling under the weight and implications as Dan's words "I love you" coursed through my mind.
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Starchild is a specialist in new ventures and international business. He is the editor of Business in 1990: A Look to the Future (University Press of the Pacific, 1979) and author of articles on futurist topics in The Futurist, Future Life, Futurific, The Rotarian, and many other publications. He is also the author of over a dozen books, mostly on business and finance, and introduced and edited the English language publication of The Science Fiction of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
For samples of the author's non-fiction, please visit The Offshore Entrepreneur at http://www.cyberhaven.com/offshore
Copyright 1995 by Adam Starchild