With the ability to see what was around me, charging along the river suddenly became the most joyful and exhilirating experience of my life. Not once in my live had I been allowed the opportunity to "have fun". In a very short period of time, I had gone from being aware of "joy" only as an unattainable abstract concept, to being a creature that didn't know any other way to be except joyful. The experience was completely intoxicating. Absolutely dizzy with glee, I surged ahead, mired in the game of dodging submerged obstacles - rocks, tree roots, a sunken car, bridge supports, other dolphins. And then suddenly, we left the river behind.
An entirely new world opened up before me. We were no longer hemmed in on the side - the water was still shallow, but the sonar picture told me that it was getting deeper ahead, and we were well clear of the shoreline. The sandy seafloor was covered with a mat of short aquatic plants, through which small fish nervously darted about. If this wasn't the ultimate playground, it was something very close to it. Fortunately, by this time we had managed to get control over the dolphin instincts. Mostly.
(All right, guys, you've got the entire ocean to pick from,) Tobias said, (Where do you want to-)
(YAHOO!) Marco exulted as he leapt straight up from the water.
(Oh my god, you guys are impossible,) Tobias complained. (Come on, you need to-)
(Whee!)
Tobias expressed his frustration with a few words he advised me not to repeat.
(Sorry,) Rachel giggled, (The dolphin brain is just so... so exuberant! So, where do we go from here?)
(That's what I was trying to talk to you about,) Tobias said, (You guys have been in morph for about half an hour, so that gives you about two hours to explore.)
(Do you see anything interesting from up there?) Jake asked.
(Well, I can see a couple of small yachts scattered around, you've got the nearest island about ten miles out, about a dozen big container ships on the other side of the island, and... I think there's a Coast Guard ship moving around three miles to the south? Ah, yeah, I can see the red and white stripes now. Definitely Coast Guard.)
(No way. You can see all that from up there?) Marco said.
(Did you forget who you're talking to? I can see everything up here, as long as it's on the surface.)
(Well, it might be risky,) Jake suggested, (But how about we try and get to the island? Find a spot to demorph there, rest a bit, head out again, and see what we find along the way.)
(Ten miles out?) Marco replied, (You really think we can get there within the time limit?)
(I think so,) Tobias said, (You guys were already going about seven miles an hour just in the river. I've gotten pretty good at timing cars on the road. Just head straight west, you can probably be there in less than an hour.)
(I think it's worth a shot,) Rachel said. (Tobias? How far out do you think you can come with us?)
(I'm pretty sure I can get to the island, but not if I'm hanging down low enough to talk to you guys. And then I'm not sure if I can get a decent thermal on the island to get enough altitude for a safe flight home.)
(Don't risk it, then,) Jake ordered, (You're more likely to get hurt out here than we are.)
(All right. Guess I'll go watch a baseball game or something. Good luck, guys. I'll... I'll meet you back at the park later.)
I regretted leaving Tobias behind - even if he couldn't see underwater, our sonar pulses could not reach as far as his visual range. But there was no other choice, and we set out across the waves. The best thing I could say about the situation was that, as long as I was in this morph, my sense of fear had been effectively muted. Probably it would all come back when I had to demorph, but for now I was actually able to enjoy the journey. There was an astonishing variety of life around us - great forests of kelp, vast and colorful mountains of coral, more species of fish than I could hope to count. It was such a bizarre and alien environment, unlike anything I'd ever imagined. And we weren't just "seeing" through sonar, either - there was much that could be seen with the eye, as well. It was almost more than I could process - my senses were overloaded with information. Consequently, I was unaware of how much time had passed until we came to the shallows just off the island.