Eye of the Whale

EYE
OF
THE
WHALE

A
LSO BY
D
OUGLAS
C
ARLTON
A
BRAMS

The Lost Diary of Don Juan

ATRIA
BOOKS
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New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2009 by Idea Architects

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

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BOOKS
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ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-6554-6
ISBN-10:         1-4391-6554-8

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For the young and all who are working to protect them—and especially for my children, Jesse, Kayla, and Eliana

Leviathan….
On earth he has no equal….
Will he speak soft words unto Thee?

—Job 41

NOTE TO READERS

W
HILE THIS
is a work of fiction, it was inspired by humpback whales that swam up the Sacramento River in California in 1985 and in 2007. The descriptions of whale behavior and intelligence are informed by the latest research into what we can and cannot know about these giants of the deep. The discoveries about endocrine disruption and the environment revealed in the story are also based on thousands of well-documented studies. I could never have written this novel without the expertise and guidance of dozens of scientists, physicians, scholars, and journalists who have worked tirelessly to uncover the truth about what is happening to marine and terrestrial life on our planet. I have tried in some small way to thank them in my acknowledgments. You can learn about their research and the facts on which the story is based at
www.DouglasCarltonAbrams.com
. Our understanding of this research and the story it tells about the future of life on our planet could not be more important.

EYE
OF
THE
WHALE

CONTENTS

              PROLOGUE: SIREN SONG

              ONE

              TWO

              THREE

              FOUR

              FIVE

              SIX

              SEVEN

              EIGHT

              NINE

              TEN

              ELEVEN

              TWELVE

              THIRTEEN

              FOURTEEN

              FIFTEEN

              SIXTEEN

              SEVENTEEN

              EIGHTEEN

              NINETEEN

              TWENTY

              TWENTY-ONE

              TWENTY-TWO

              TWENTY-THREE

              TWENTY-FOUR

              TWENTY-FIVE

              TWENTY-SIX

              TWENTY-SEVEN

              TWENTY-EIGHT

              TWENTY-NINE

              THIRTY

              THIRTY-ONE

              THIRTY-TWO

              THIRTY-THREE

              THIRTY-FOUR

              THIRTY-FIVE

              THIRTY-SIX

              THIRTY-SEVEN

              THIRTY-EIGHT

              THIRTY-NINE

              FORTY

              FORTY-ONE

              FORTY-TWO

              FORTY-THREE

              FORTY-FOUR

              FORTY-FIVE

              FORTY-SIX

              FORTY-SEVEN

              FORTY-EIGHT

              FORTY-NINE

              FIFTY

              FIFTY-ONE

              FIFTY-TWO

              FIFTY-THREE

              FIFTY-FOUR

              FIFTY-FIVE

              FIFTY-SIX

              FIFTY-SEVEN

              FIFTY-EIGHT

              FIFTY-NINE

              SIXTY

              SIXTY-ONE

              SIXTY-TWO

              SIXTY-THREE

              SIXTY-FOUR

              SIXTY-FIVE

              SIXTY-SIX

              SIXTY-SEVEN

              SIXTY-EIGHT

              SIXTY-NINE

              SEVENTY

              SEVENTY-ONE

              SEVENTY-TWO

              SEVENTY-THREE

              SEVENTY-FOUR

              SEVENTY-FIVE

              SEVENTY-SIX

              SEVENTY-SEVEN

              SEVENTY-EIGHT

              SEVENTY-NINE

              EIGHTY

              EIGHTY-ONE

              EIGHTY-TWO

              EIGHTY-THREE

              EIGHTY-FOUR

              EIGHTY-FIVE

              EIGHTY-SIX

              EIGHTY-SEVEN

              EIGHTY-EIGHT

              EPILOGUE: REALITIES

PROLOGUE:
SIREN SONG

11:14
P.M.
Thursday, February 15
Near Socorro Island, Pacific coast of Mexico
18°48’N, 110°59’W
Clear night, wind SW 5 knots

A
POLLO HOVERED SILENTLY
as a school of hundreds of hammerheads encircled him in the rich upwelling—

His massive forty-foot body hung just below the surface, cradled by the swell of the sea—

Moonlight filtered through the shrouded water of night—

Every inch of his skin straining to hear—

Waiting—

Silence—

Only the slow throb of his giant heart—the pulse pounding in his skull—

Slowly his tail floated up until he hung upside down—his twelve-foot pectoral fins splayed outward from his sides like a cross—

Rotating almost imperceptibly—he began to sing again—

Creaks and moans—cries and whistles—animated the water with the pulsing power of song—

The echoes cascaded back to him off the ocean floor as the sounds revealed the texture of the deep—

Then again silence—

At last—he heard two other males singing—amplifying the sound—

Then others—males and females—young and old—swam closer and closer
—

T
HE
P
ACIFIC
S
QUALL
bobbed on top of the cresting waves, the steel hull of the research vessel vibrating from the whale song. The otherworldly music spilled out from the speakers strapped to the walls as whale biologist John Maddings accompanied on the cello. His weathered fingers, graying hairs surrounding each knuckle, pressed the strings against the neck as if taking its rhythmic pulse. The other hand lovingly rocked the delicate bow across the strings in a hypnotic melody.