Summary

Chapter 16 begins with backstory about Google. He is held captive, a “Marine Mammal Asset” trained to help the military (87). He grows a bond with one particular handler that he feels also “had a pain inside,” like him (88). He performs one mission to identify a mine, which explodes and burns him, leading him to where he is today (90). Now, having broken free from his captivity, he desperately searches for his captors even though he knows they will not be there, suffering withdrawal from the drugs they give him. He thinks he sees the ship he came from and “powers on'' toward it, hoping to return (91). Perspective shifts to the Rorqual, who is exhausted, but continues to swim. He sings his song and a dolphin, presumably Google, suddenly swims by him. He recognizes that Google has been “in some physical horror and had lost his...