Echo-1 The Whale

9: Vronsky

There were two pods of Sperm whales on board the Banga. Two groups of females and their young, none who were related to the two adult males. The hope was that the genetically diverse group will pair off during the journey and spawn five to ten offspring before the trip is over. The galactic Sperm whale can live 400-500 years. Given their status and privilege in space faring societies, they generally aren't interested in mating until they have been around for about a century. They were given the perfect diet of rainbow squid and cutting-edge medical attention. 

The first mate and second in command was Vronsky, our other male Sperm whale. 75 years old with the personality of a boy scout, Vronsky was tasked with operations on the ship. He was head of ship personnel; the Zero-G commandos, the complement of attendant droids, and all the humanoid crew members. He was also the backup navigator and copilot. Though the Banga is following a standard course to the wormhole, given its size and the unpredictable nature of space, there was a need to always have someone actively at the helm. Space can be a dangerous and uncertain place. 

Vronsky took the controls when Jonas was doing something else. This, it turned out, was pretty rare, as Jonas always had at least half his mind on the Banga. Vronsky was navigating when Jonas took a few short minutes to introduce himself to me.

Vronsky was a whale that liked to know everything that was happening on the Banga. Let there be no doubt that he was in charge. He only reported to Jonas. Right away, Vronsky tasked me with learning as much as I could about the ship. Mind you, I already had the technical specs, manifest, and standing orders in my new photographic memory but Vronsky felt you learn better by doing. He contacted me telepathically through my neural transmitter. I could hear his voice in my mind. He had what sounded like a thick Russian accent and I had no idea why. 

"On the starboard side of the internal sea, there is a lagoon beach." Vronsky ordered me to meet him there and I instinctively knew the way.

I came to realize that the two twin attendant droids were always at my disposal and generally followed and/or led me everywhere. I took to calling them Wingus and Dingus, though I could never tell which was which as they were exactly the same. They had this tendency to sing these melodic electronic tunes when we were alone. It's not quite elevator music, but it's not really disco either. As we drove along in our hovering car they sang me their little catchy tunes. The sound of Moog organs drifted around my lack of ears. 

The lagoon was on the other side of a pressurized chamber. I left Wingus and Dingus humming in the car outside the hatch. I walked through the inner door and out onto the beach. The sea had a massive pressurized air bubble at the top of it for the whales to breath. The outer metal retractable shield over the ceiling was rolled back and revealed the endless stars of the Milky Way. It was kind of like going to a beach at night but better lit and with an ever-changing aerial view. Fine white crystalline sand ran down to the water. 

I was still struggling with the fact that I was actually on a giant spaceship. It was so easily forgotten within the Banga's vast interior. Once again I found myself staring into the depths of space.

The blast of Vronsky's blowhole as he surfaced shocked me back to reality. I never heard a whale blow hole in person before. It was deep and splashy, like a cough from lungs full of liquid, and it inhaled with the power of a hundred vacuums. I could smell his breath; kind of fishy smelling with a slight hint of mint. He was roughly the same size as Jonas but with more mechanical parts; three neural transmitting devices spaced equidistantly around his head, a four-fingered opposable arm in front of his right fin, and what appeared to be a small laser cannon in front of his left. I walked out into the clear waters towards him. 

Vronsky introduced himself to me as the first mate, second in command, and essentially my boss; even if I was the personal assistant to the captain. I told him I already had full knowledge of the ship's crew, the command structure, and the general procedures on what to do in most situations, including emergencies.