Smarter Than We Thought? - A Field Study

Written by "Georgia"

Proofread by "Mason"

All other identities are omitted for the sake of privacy.

Date: S.T. IV/XVIII/XIX

Fourth day of a fishing voyage having set out from Stenopelia. Encounter occurred at early afternoon. "Mason" and "Georgia" opted to spend the final week of their honeymoon helping "Mason"'s friend's crew on a trip, despite the hoosband being a farmer and the wife being a doctor. "Mason" opted to bring a ticker-box along, claiming he had "gotten rusty."

Encounter began when "Mason" noticed an orca's fluke out of the water at the same time as the crew reeling the net in. He promptly yelled "V-fluke!" to which his friend the skipper started to grumble about "solitary cleaning". Before the skipper gave the order to dump the haul on suspicion of contamination from pale-faced pufferfish, "Georgia" requested the net's contents be kept while the orca is nearby in order to attempt a dialogue with it, claiming "Mason"'s ticker-box gave her an idea. The request was granted on the condition that "Georgia" spend the night decontaminating the net below deck.

The following is an approximate transcript of "Georgia"'s attempted dialogue with the orca.

"Georgia" waves

"Georgia": Oh hi!

Orca squeals, submerges, raises and waves fluke before lowering it and surfacing
"Georgia" alternates between pointing at earhole and beak with the same hand

"Georgia": You hear us? Yes or no?

"Georgia" nods in time with saying yes and shakes her head in time with saying no
Orca slowly nods
"Georgia" grabs a loaf of bread and turns to "Mason"

Note: All future dialogue in this exchange is done in ticker-code communicated via knocking on the side of the boat unless stated otherwise

"Georgia": .-- .- -. - / ..-. --- --- -..

A moment passes

"Mason": -.-- . ...

"Georgia" gives the loaf to "Mason", who proceeds to take a bite out of it
"Georgia" turns back to the orca and gestures toward the net

"Georgia": .-- .- -. - / ..-. --- --- -..

Several moments pass
Orca proceeds to submerge and surface repeatedly
After much time passes, one of the crew observing the interaction recognizes the orca is repeating itself
Skipper suggests it's trying to say -.-- . ... and has the crew set the net's contents loose and lift it from the sea
Orca stops bobbing up and down and begins to swim to where the net was
Some time passes
Orca surfaces and squeals
"Georgia" removes corsage from her cloak and tosses it overboard

"Georgia": ..-. .-.. --- .-- . .-.

Orca darts after the flowers and submerges
Moments pass
Orca surfaces, a flower in its blowhole

Orca: ..-. .-.. --- .-- . .-.

Orca submerges and surfaces, flower now absent from blowhole

Orca: ..-. .-. . -. -..
"Georgia": ..-. .-. . -. -..

Orca turns away before submerging one final time

When it was clear the orca had left the boat, "Georgia" and "Mason" dragged the net below deck for 24 hours of decontamination and quarantining.

Neither slept that night.