Hypoxic Journey

“Dave … you’re smarter than that. I’m not talking. Do you even see my lips moving, mate? Wait … I don’t really have lips, do I?”

“It just doesn’t make sense. I think the oxygen level in my air tank must be low. Why can I hear your thoughts? Is it telepathy?”

“Maybe you’re imagining this whole thing, but what if we can communicate with humans at will and only choose the most open-minded of you all? We’ve been watching you, Dave and we like what we see but you gotta get your buddies to get with the program.”

“We … as in you and the other sharks?”

“Silly … I mean all of us. Carol and her family REALLY like you. They take care of our young and even provide homes for some. She mostly rests on the ocean floor and keeps Ray company whenever he comes around looking for clams. Ray is kinda scared of you but I told him that you like our kind and would never hurt us. How many times have you been down here? Like 50?”

“Wow … you really have been watching me. I have more than 40 dives in Australia alone.”

“Yeah and not once have I seen you with a harpoon, mate. Not once have I seen you capture an animal or leave your junk behind. Molly thinks that you’re just like the others, but I told her that you’re different. She’s an octopus so it’s not quite as bad for her or myself, but Dave you gotta give us a break here! I mean what are you humans doing up there? This place is like a furnace."

“Wait a minute, how do you know what a furnace is?”

“Don’t change the subject. I promised Elizabeth that I’d communicate with you the next time you came down.”

“Let me guess … Elizabeth is your marine iguana friend that consumes algae off of nearby rocks?”

“No … she’s my wife and a shark too in case you were wondering. Not that I don’t support interspecies unions, which I do for the record. By the way what’s an iguana?”

“Nevermind, Denton. Whether you’re a hallucination brought on by hypoxia because of a faulty DIN regulator or not, you need to understand something - I’m just one man. A marine scientist. My specialty isn’t climatology or even elasmobranchs; it’s echinoderms! Why do you think I can help?”

“Because you’re a human. Can’t you communicate or “talk” whatever you call it, to the others up there? Tell them whatever they’re doing is killing Carol’s family members off. They slowly turn white and then die, mate. It’s awful. We are desperate here.”

“I know, Denton. It is awful and I’m sorry about Carol’s family.”

“If you know then why are things getting worse? Shelly can barely maintain her beautiful protective armor. It’s as if it gets weaker every year and we KNOW that it’s because of humans. The more of you all we see come down. the worst things get.”

“Denton, I work with National Government Organizations and the World Wildlife Fund every single day to reduce the warming. We’re trying to find alternative sources of fuel to cut emissions and reduce ocean acidification but it’s not so easy."

“Mate ... I don’t understand a damn thing you're thinking to me.”

“But you know what a furnace is?”

“Yeah, Dave … we’re practically swimming in one right now!”

“It is not right for us to do this to you, I know but ... I’ll work harder to make things better here. I’ll double my efforts. You can go and tell everyone they’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“That’s great news! Thanks, Dave. This is going to make my mate, Nemo so happy.”

“By any chance is your friend Nemo a clownfish that swims near the reef?”

“Haha clownfish?! No … he’s a Dugong. You know, Dave … for a human, you sure are pretty weird.”

“Denton, even on the surface … I get that all the time.”