Messages from the Deep by Theo Marais

microbiology and
the beginning of life, and the outer journey to deep space and the
origin of life in the Big Bang. The link between these inner and
outer worlds was a smooth continuum, showing that we are an
integral part of the universe. Within you and without you, we are
one.
    That is why the first two Parts refer to
‘Going Out - Mars’ and ‘Coming In - Cetaceans’.
    While the plot covers space exploration and
research into cetacean languages , and there are various themes
related to these pursuits, the main theme is environmentalism and
the need for humans to live harmoniously with nature and each
other, or face extinction. The search for alternative planets to
live on seems fuelled by this fear, but also by our hunger to
explore and grow, as shown by Mariada and Alex.
    Similar themes relate to mining and
technology and whether we are simply going to do the same to other
planets as we have done to Earth, including largely to disregard
other species.
     
    4. WHAT ARE OTHER THEMES AND REFERENCES
?
    Two of the literary and musical references
are to a door opening. One of Adriana’s early sentences, at 18
months, was for us to “open the door” as she did not want to sleep.
She has always wanted to open doors of perception, experience and
opportunity, even if it may seem ‘impossible’.
    There are references to voyages at sea or in
space, of no return or drowning.
    Fear of, exploitation of and communication
with animals are constant themes.
    The reference to ‘Lord of the Flies’ and
‘Clockwork Orange’ is a reminder of how savage humans can be.
    The expression ‘behaving like an animal’ is
ironic since it is extremely rare, I understand, for an animal to
kill an animal or human out of some obscure malice or greed or for
‘fun’, as we humans do. We should rather admit and rectify our
unacceptable behaviours, or be censured by law.
     
    5. MUCH OF THE STORY SEEMS LIKE A FILM.
WHY?
    Considering that the ‘Mars One’ mission seems
largely based on funding through a Reality-TV programme, I saw much
of the ‘Life on Mars’ and ‘Life on Earth 2’ missions through a TV
camera lens, because that seems the main way the public will see it
in future. I would watch a programme like them, and I seldom watch
TV. ‘Survivor’ would seem like an image on the wall of the cave,
because this would be the real thing.
    I hope a local film producer will film it
entirely here in South Africa, with South African actors, from the
Garden Route on the Southern coast around Knysna and Plettenberg
Bay, to Cape Town, to the Richtersveld in the Northern Cape,
something like the Saharan or Martian landscape, to Hole in the
Wall on the Wild Coast for the Obstacle course selections, to Sani
Pass and the top of the Amphitheatre in the Drakensberg in July,
for a touch of Antarctica, the Himalayas or Mars, to Kosi Bay near
the border with Mozambique, for Earth 2. What a wonderful invention
are the fish-traps in the Kosi estuary, made entirely from local
natural resources and able to supply many local people with a
constant supply of fish. Will future astronauts be able to make
something like this? Actors could pretend they can for the
film.
    I’m not sure how the director will get whales
and dolphins to co-operate, certainly not in a dolphinarium
anywhere. I suppose technology with special effects will be
needed.
    I also wonder what the prospect of doing the
story as an eComic would be, to condense it into about 25 pages of
pictures with dialogue. Loads of work for a graphic designer and
script-writer, but would there be reasonable reward?
     
    6. WHY DID YOU WRITE THIS STORY?
    I was excited by a lot of new info on space
travel and cetacean communication. When the ideas of linking some
characters and making a story came to mind, I just started writing.
Then the characters came more to life and the dialogues started in
my mind. That was fun for a while, as I got quite ‘high’ on the
power it gave me to create a quasi-real person.