Chapter Ten
Sky and Julsey were too busy to watch the sunrise like they did a little less than a day earlier, but as the sun rose over the Atlantic the three boats, which had all been able to link up on the way there, came upon the N.A.N. Al Gore, which was less than a kilometer away from Big Mama. The other whales were near her and had been periodically coming up to check on her. Orion had on his life vest, and jumped into the small skiff waiting for his master, and Sk'lar told the crew launching the skiff to just let him be, he could come along. Julsey was coming too, and she would run communications as Lou piloted. Doctor John was going with two others in the second skiff. Denise, Julsey, Lou, Sky, and a second year marine biology student named Carlos made their way to the big whale and approached slowly. The other whales seemed nervous at the appearance of these new boats, especially the launches heading towards the female in distress, but they had grown accustomed to the navy ship so perhaps didn't feel too threatened, just cautious. Sk'lar wanted to pilot in, and he brought the skiff in under battery stopping about 30 meters off her nose, a little to her right. He figured if she could see him in front of her it was the least threatening approach he could take.
Only he and Denise were going into the water. He would take the blood and tissue samples and she would attempt an ultra sound. They slowly entered the crystal clear ocean water and started slowly making their way towards the huge animal. Sky approached first. She had just risen to take a breath so he knew he had a little bit of time working for them. The visbility was amazing in the blue water of the open Atlantic, and Big Mama watched him with curiosity as he made Denise hold back, and he slowly approached her. He came up to her right eye, which was a little less than a foot longways in old measurement. He could take off his mask in salt water and still see well despite the ocean salt, having grown so used to it through the years, and as he slowly approached they both kept eye contact. He reached her and slowly extended his hand stroking her softly just above her eye. She was warm to the touch, and seemed to relax at the feel of his touch. This peaceful, intelligent animal made a connection with him. He hummed and pressed his mouth to her skin about a foot forward and down from her eye, and told her that he was here to help her and not to worry. He was humming baby talk sounds directly into her skin to let her know he was there to comfort her, and the message seemed to get through.
He turned and motioned for Denise to join him. Having already made such close contact, eye contact, he put his mask back on and blew air into it. Having fixed that, he looked into her eye again, stroking her, and she seemed to relax; she knew he was a friend. He had been close to whales before, but this whale was more than twice the size of any he had ever seen. Denise was blown away and excited, but focused. He introduced his old friend to his new one.
Sk'lar took the sonogram recorder from her and showed it to Big Mama, and stroked her with it so she was ready to accept it as just more petting. He had already told Denise he wanted to make contact at her eye first, that many whales were naturally trusting and curious, but each had a different personality and some weren't fond of surprises, and motioned for her to run her hand or the device along her body until she reached the calf so Big Mama would know it was her making her way to where she needed to go, and then to just to start to scan. He would wait until she was done to keep the big whales attention focused, then have her take his position while he went to her fluke to take blood and tissue from there. He caressed her and stayed where she could see him as Denise scanned her womb and the opening where the calf should exit from. After about five minutes she returned, and he knew he had at least another five minutes before she needed to rise for another breath, so they switched positions and he swam fast to the fluke and took blood and tissue samples. Big Mama flinched a little, and she made a slow downward thrust of her fluke which swamped him and sent him around in a somersault. He was successful though, and he recovered and moved back to the giant whale's eye. They stayed for a little longer and swam back. On his way back he inspected her slit where the birth canal was and noticed irritation of the tissue there, and the bulging. He wondered is that was part of the problem.
“That was amazing” was the first thing Denise said when she exited the water. Sk'lar followed up the ladder and when he climbed on board simply said “back to the Watson, not too fast, please. Lou started back, and Julsey stopped filming as she had been the entire time. They joined up with the other skiff and tied off on either side of the Watson, coming aboard by the dive deck at the stern. Denise took the recorder to see what was on it, and Lou took the samples from Sky and Doctor Planter and he went to process the samples. Planter had also noticed the bulge near the slit. Julsey told Sk'lar to turn around and look, and Big Mama was making thrashing very similar to the simulation of whale birth they had watched the day before. There was a thrum that came from the big blue that resonated throughout the whole boat, and the water rose and fell as she moved her body in what had to be an attempt to induce delivery.
Orion even noticed what was going on and reacted as if he was concerned when he heard the whalesound. He started making unusual noises of warning and concern mixed with intermittent barks, as if he understood the sound of another living creatures distress and was upset by it. Twenty minutes later they were all in the mess, and Captain St. Croix had even come aboard to join them. They had to wait on test results, but the sonogram was already on screen and had been transmitted to Professor Mazza who had even relayed to others in colleges that studied marine and animal life and were interested in what was taking place in the middle of the Atlantic. It was clear right off that part of the placenta had ruptured or torn and there was a piece of tissue already trying to come out before the calf and was acting as a plug preventing the fluke from sliding through the slit in her body the calf would be born through; and it was probably the source of the irritation Sky had noticed. Denise, too, had noticed and thought the same thing. The calf appeared to be a little premature, but not much. It was a she and she was 5.5 meters long; not quite as long or developed as a calf should be, but she appeared close to fully formed.
Lou and John Planter came in with their results. She had an elevated white blood cell count, at least according to what was known as the relative normal as compared to gray whales, right whales, humpbacks, and other baleen whales they had data on. They just didn't know what normal was, but as far as average ranges it seemed just a little high of what they thought it should be. Apart from that, she seemed healthy.
Doctor John noticed the placenta issue right away and said, “That's gotta be the problem right there.” He looked over the screen and asked for the controls for it. He went back and forth looking at the various images, shushing anyone who attempted to speak or disturb him. The computer had generated a very detailed image that could be rotated, color enhanced, and focused to specific sections of the big cetaceans' body. Everyone watched the old man talking to himself under his breath and just sat focused on him waiting silently not to be hushed again. He turned and spoke. “I know what we have to do and we have to do it fast, before she tears the placenta and they both wind up dead.” The room was silent and the gentle ambient hum of mechanical devices was the only sound in the room. “Tell us what we need to do.” Sky asked.
The old veterinarian explained the procedure. It meant reaching into her slit and and cutting a section of placenta tissue that had formed as a fold from, perhaps from a deformity that had been a small tear or overgrowth that had healed, but continued to grow. It would be risky because if someone was there and she thrashed they could be hurt badly. The tissue had blocked the calf's fluke from exiting the slit. The calf was in position to come out fluke first which was normal, but the tissue was blocking the fluke or hanging it up, acting like a sling. The old man insisted on doing the procedure, but it would take two people and it was going to be Sky and him. He wasn't taking no for an answer. He left to suit up, and a sharp knife from the galley was going to be the surgical tool, along with a hook and extremely stron
g rope to pull out the tissue that was blocking the canal and fluke. A giant dose of pain killers and a mild sedative was prepared. They would inject her first, wait twenty minutes, and attempt to perform surgery at sea.
When they were finally relaunched and ready, Lou and Denise joined them in the water. Denise gave Big Mama the injection while they all waited by that same eye, allowing her to get accustomed to them being there. Other blues came to investigate and seemed to sense that these land dwellers were there to help. One even came to the stern of the skiff where Julsey was waiting with Orion and Captain St. Croix, who also insisted on helping. St. Croix had replaced Carlos at the helm this time. When they felt they were ready, and she was, sky went up close to her eye, and again looked her in the eye and kissed her as he floated by her side. The two men approached the slit which led to the birth canal.
Sky spread the massive skin and began to work where Doc Planter was instructing him to focus his attention. It took all his strength and he had to use his body to partially lodge himself in her opening, but it was enough room to reach the part of the placenta which was wrapped around the whales fluke. Sky could even see the fluke, which was caught in tissue as if it was a sling. How the amniotic sac didn't rupture dumbfounded the old animal doctor, but he reached in and began to cut. She would feel the spreading of her slit but not the cutting of the tissue since there were no nerves there. He cut as far as he could and couldn't reach any further. Seeing this Sky motioned for the knife and reaching under the curl of his body he pushed in further until he cut through a little more, and when it was cut as much as he could he attached the hook to the tissue and exited the slit. He attached a second rope to the loop on the end of the first and moved off. He rose to the surface and signaled for the skiff to move in a little further and throw the rope on the boat they would use to pull the piece of placenta that had to come out.
Julsey threw the rope about 7 meters to him and he swam to it, and tied the two together. Doc Planter had gone back to collect Lou and Denise, and they had already surfaced. Sky swam off and signaled for the captain to gun it to try to dislodge the tissue. The little skiff jerked as the rope lost it's slack and then went off towing a piece of placenta behind it. This startled Big Mama and she began to thrash in another attempt to deliver her calf. She made the sea rise and fall around Sky, who was still too close for comfort. She thrashed for over a minute and when she stopped Sky noticed part of the fluke of the young calf was protruding from the slit beneath her.
“Almost” he yelled. He swam back to her eye and looked at her again. He swam off and told Julsey to pull in the rope, remove the hunk of placenta and throw the assembly back to him, and then the have the Watson station where they were, and have them tie off the rope and be ready to pull off. Julsey got on the radio frantically as St. Croix and Lou, who had climbed back aboard, pulled in the line and removed what had to be 200 pounds of tissue at minimum. The men threw the line back to Sky, who caught it but cut himself on the hook. He took the hook and swam back underneath Big Mama and attached the hook to the calf's fluke by wrapping the rope around it several times at the end of her body where the fins spread out and using the hook to latch the rope. When he rose again the Watson was in position and the rope was being tied off. He hoped it would hold. He yelled “Go!” and the big research vessel moved off.
The big boat didn't generate enough speed before the slack ran out, and there was a big tug on the end of the line as Big Mama again began to thrash and move forward. The line tightened, lessened a little, then tightened again before going completely slack. Mama had thrashed again and the calf was out, along with a little cloud of blood and loose tissue. Moments later the placenta followed. Sky rushed to the newborn to loosen the line still around her fluke. He just reached her when Mama had circled back. He used the knife he still had on him to cut the line. It didn't cut easy, it was a tough line designed not to cut or fray easily. As he finally cut through the rope she was there nudging her calf towards the surface for his first breath. He rolled off her body as she moved her aquatic child towards the atmosphere above. It had knocked the wind out of him, so to speak, and his respirator had been knocked off, and he was struggling to find which was was up and to reach the surface.
As the baby whale reached the surface the hands on the boats who had been nervously watching erupted in cheers. Only Julsey had noticed that Sky hadn't yet surfaced. He was stunned a little and floundering under the water. She could see him under the surface, and she dove in took a deep breath and swam under to him, pulling him up until they broke through to the air above. She was crying as she pulled off his mask and kissed him. They floated there for a moment looking at each other then turned their attention to mother and calf. Sky started to cry himself, a wave of accomplishment and satisfaction washing over him.