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Chapter 1

"Orcinus Orca"

"The ancient Romans called him Orca Orcinus...

Latin for...The Bringer Of Death"

Ocean, mightier than the land, wilful, turbulent and wild, crashes its waves on top of one another, revealing silky black like a rarest of all diamonds, perfectly sculpted, white as a snowy peek, reflecting off the glistening waves. The beauty and grace is mirrored into the rippling turquoise water. Breath of wind and sea – bitter and clear– is their home where their spirit's spring free, gliding and leaping through the deep, deep blue.

Chasing their soul mates, protecting their young, living with their tribe, their songs are herd for miles and miles, echoing on the great icebergs. How magnificent, how alluring...how mesmerizingly beautiful these creatures appear to be. With salty spray of foamy green, vaults into the air a being so stunning to see, high fins just above the silvery waterline, spilling deep sea secrets for eyes to see.

They swim far, for they have been born for freedom. Intelligence like no other, unbelievable beauty and strength...they rule their realms.

Noble Lords of the Ocean... they call you this for a good reason.

"It is without challenge the most powerful animal on the globe. The killer whale."

Video-captures were being presented on a large screen of the said black and white creature, as the woman continued to address a group of students, her voice sophisticated yet filled with firmness and conviction. It was blatantly obvious that what she taught, she believed. "It is a mammal with warm blood, found in every sea. The ancient Romans called him Orca Orcinus...Latin for The Bringer Of Death."

The slender-figured woman in her mid-thirties walked with appealing confidence, her white hands were held together, her sea-green eyes were fixed intently on her audience. "His tapered form and muscular fin make the orca the fastest moving whale in all the oceans. And while, we refer to them as 'whales', in actuality, they are part of the Delphinidae family. The adult male measures around 30 feet and weighs six tons...but there have been cases where he ran to 45 feet." She stopped and looked back at the screen which displayed several images and videos of performing orcas in an aquarium.

"Now here is a killer whale in what is probably his most familiar guise: Tamed, on exhibition. One captured as a pup and brought up with men. Treated with kindness, there is
no creature that is a greater friend to man." As she spoke these words, she wondered how often it was for captive whales to be handled with love and care. Most were held for exploitation to make easy money for their masters, and nothing more. That was one of the downsides of lecturing at the University. Some of the things she was tasked to say were only half truths. "But if not..." She decided to emphasize, her turquoise eyes sharply staring at the silent students in the dark auditorium. "The orca's mouth has 48 teeth set in two impressive rows." Her voice rang in a warning tone. This was all her audience required to know to become fully aware of what these mighty beasts were capable of if double-crossed. Slightly changing the topic, she made her way to the centre of the hall, taking a proud stance in front of the screen once more. "As parents, killer whales are exemplary. Better than most human beings. And like human beings, they have a profound instinct for vengeance."

Feeling a little bit stuffy, she proceeded to unbutton her dark jacket, which resembled a suit, and taking the pointer towards the screen, commenced. "Yet the most amazing thing about these creatures is neither their gentleness nor their violence, but their brains. Slides, please, Ken." An immediate reaction came from a young assistant as he turned a switch on the monitor. In front of the students now appeared a gigantic picture, showcasing four brains of four different species: Human, dog, monkey and that of the orca. "Now these three brains are of a monkey... a human being.. and this is the brain of a killer whale. We know very little about the nature of the whale's intelligence...except that it exists and is powerful... and in some respects may even be superior to man."

At this, some of the students in the audience leaned forward expectantly as if a climactic scene of a famous movie had begun. Their eyes were glued on the screen with an unexplainable sensation of awe, curiosity and even... fear. Some of the other viewers, however, were already yawning giving away to boredom, but just like in every learning institution, there are always those who strive for education and those who are forced to be there. It was nothing Miss Bedford hadn't seen before.

The slides changed again, this time showing an unborn offspring of a killer whale, which strangely enough, resembled an unborn human more than anything else. "A four-month-old foetus, incredibly like that of a human baby. It even has two hands, with five fingers on each." The woman approached a specific sound-recording device, pressing on one of the knobs. "Whales talk. They communicate...by a combination of pure sound and sonar echolocation." Fascinating noises escaped the monitor, stunning the student spectators. "The whale sounds you are now hearing contain wavelengths that can travel not just across one ocean basin, but around the entire world." Saying this, she amplified the volume of the recorder, continuing with the lecture. "This was recorded under water and analyzed by computers at CalTech. It was found to contain 15 million pieces of information. The Bible contains only 4 million. What are they saying?"

This appeared to be the precise question of the intrigued students as well. Some were quickly taking notes on their papers, some flipping through their books to find an appropriate answer perhaps, while others kept listening with an impression of dumbstruck amazement.

Their professor carried on. "For that matter, do they have to say anything to communicate? Their sonar would be a little like our having...X-ray vision. If we could look into one other... and instantly know if someone else was happy or sad, indifferent or aroused...healthy or suffering from a tumour we could actually see...then a human phrase like,"How are you?" would be meaningless. What we call language...they might call unnecessary, or redundant, or even, retarded."

At the end of the session, as most of the students began to disperse like clouds on a sunny day from the dark auditorium, Miss Bedford stayed back as usual, responding to some of the questions that few of the lingering students posed.

"Is there a specific reason as to why we call them 'killer whales', Miss?" A wide-eyed redheaded sophomore asked.

"Well, we must look at the history, Jaime. Sailors took to calling these marine mammals 'whale killers' or simply as 'killer whale' after witnessing them preying on whales." As she explained this, Miss Bedford pointed out to her student the particular section she was to read from her text-book. "Chapter 3 and 4 cover this exact topic."

"Thank you, Miss."

"Have a good weekend, Jamie." She smiled after the young ginger and focused her attention on the next student.

"You too, Miss."

"Miss Bedford, I was wondering, during class you mentioned that killer whales have a variousness in their diet. Does that include humans?" The question came from a male student with blonde messy hair and thick eyeglasses.

Before replying, she actually had to pause and reflect upon the question. Pulling her brown stray lock over her ear, Miss Bedford cleared her throat and said. "So far, we have no records of orca attacking humans in the wild, but I know a couple of incidents that occurred in aquatic parks. However, I will boldly state that these great mammals of the sea do not view us as their meal, even though they are indeed the apex predators of the ocean." As she uttered these words, her sea-green eyes darted towards her assistant, Ken, who had recently experienced something frightening, yet surprising at the same time. Just few days ago, the two of them had gone scuba-diving for one of their ecological research studies on marine life. It proved to be a scary day, especially for poor, amateur Ken. Out of nowhere, a Great White Shark had creeped up on them and while Miss Bedford found refuge on a nearby fishing boat, Ken had not been that lucky. He fell overboard and was forced to use all of his abilities to swim to safety. It would've turned into a lost cause had it not been for a miraculous appearance of a...yes, – you guessed it – a killer whale, who ripped the so-called 'scary' shark into pieces with no effort, and then swam away as though nothing special had occurred. That bloody image would forever remain engraved in not just Ken's memory, but in Rachel Bedford's as well. She had never seen anything so jaw-dropping and stirring like the sudden arrival of that mighty orca. Whether or not the great mammal had done it on purpose, the fact was that he had saved Ken's life.

"Thanks, Miss Bedford. Enjoy your weekend." The student waved, headed for the exit door.

"You too, Steven."

Taking a deep breath, Rachel turned the lights up, in otherwise dark room, and prompted to collect her belongings. Another week had flown by once again and she was ready for having two full days all to her self.

"Rachel," Ken re-entered the auditorium, carrying his coat in one hand and his recording equipment in another. "there is a man waiting for you in the hallway. He claims we know him."

"Oh?"

"Yes, he says his name is Nolan. Does it ring a bell?" The confused young boy itched his head with great difficulty, almost dropping his things in the process. Rachel went up to support him, taking the recording device from his hand and as soon as Ken mentioned the familiar name, her sea-green eyes flew open in shock. "Nolan, you say? Why, that is the very Captain whose boat I climbed on two days ago."

"The fisherman trying to catch the Great White?"

The woman nodded, pursing her lips with a puzzled look on her face. "That's right. I wonder what he wants..."

She wouldn't notice it at first, being a professor of a full class, but this wouldn't be the only visit from the strange man.

In the coming weeks, her lectures suddenly gained a new and attentive member: Captain Nolan. He began to call on her after class at odd hours, asking about the orcas...and on occasion, about herself as well.

His ignorance of the animals surprised Rachel. She would often ponder about it herself. "To have fished here for so long and to have learned so little about the killer whale, the lord of the ocean..."

Yet at the same time, she was also intrigued by his curiosity. To her, the combination made him seem vulnerable, and even...attractive. It was that or she merely had lived in Newfoundland for too long. In any case, an educated woman like herself should have foreseen it coming that fishermen are rarely curious about anything at sea...unless they want to catch it, or kill it.

Ever since I can remember, I always wanted to write a well-deserved tribute for this tragically bittersweet, but underrated movie. I hesitated for the longest time because I was unsatisfied with my writing skills. I can finally say that I'm at last confident enough in my storytelling and writing ability to honour this amazing story with a decent retelling.

This first chapter served like a prologue. The tale will now permanently shift on our titular character and his world. While the actual movie focuses on humans and is mostly told from their perspective, I wanted to explore the emotions and great intelligence of our titular character. I will be using important quotes from the film and some of the song lyrics I find suitable at the beginning of each chapter.

I have no idea if anyone reads this, but don't shy away from sharing your thoughts if you do.