Tony Orca

ISBN-13: 9781479168323 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 378 str.

MR Joseph John Rizzuto

Opis

Tony Orca, is a story about a killer whale pod migrating from the Bering Sea to Baja California and the behavior of their leader, later in the story named Tony Orca by a newspaper reporter. This is an environmental story describing the attack on the habitat of all marine life by the human being's reckless, wanton, selfish disregard for the environment. The story begins with a prologue describing the killer whale, and the description of Tony's birth. The story continues thirty years later, when Tony is well into middle age, at the beginning of a migration and describes the problems they encounter during their movement south along the coast of North America. Tony is the product of a triggered gene mutation called the quadraphoric gene mutation as described by Professor Joseph Salem, a Nobel Prize laureate. All male animal species except the human being are a carrier of this gene. It is triggered occasionally in every fourth child of the father. The child must be a male. Female offspring are not affected. The gene is triggered by extreme stress, causing the animal's size, intelligence, and viciousness to be far more advanced than others of the species. The Professor places the blame on the human race for the cause of the trigger, stating that with the meteoric rise in human population, the greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants caused by the industrial revolution, and the human being reckless, wanton, selfish disregard for the environment as the problem. Other species may follow. "Can you imagine a killer bee or a mosquito the size of an eagle?" he says. During his travels, Tony has several encounters with boats, destroying people and property. He attacks a whale-watching vessel, the Marine Life, chartered by the environmental group, the National Oceanographic Preservation Society (NOPS), lead by its president, retired admiral Jacob Jomb. The attack is repelled by the skill of the boat's captain, Enrico Pagniani. Tony flees the scene momentarily and then pursues the boat through the Golden Gate, but takes a wrong turn and ends up near Suisun Bay. There he destroys another fishing boat. The only survivor is our hero, Sam Spinne, who vows vengeance. While the authorities are discussing what to do about Tony, the NOPS blocks any action by the Coast Guard to destroy Tony. Sam visits the Admiral to try to convince him otherwise. He meets the Admiral's secretary, Leslie Smith, and eventually falls in love. The Admiral refuses to cooperate, blaming human behavior for Tony's aggressive demeanor. While all this is going on, Tony continues his mayhem as the pod moves south. Leslie introduces Sam to Professor Salem, another society member who helps Sam convince the authorities that the whale must be destroyed before he does any more harm. But it is too late. The whale pod is now in Mexican waters and the Mexican authorities will not cooperate with the Coast Guard. Sam now realizes that it is up to him to destroy Tony. He, Professor Salem, and others travel to the Baja on the Marine Life to encounter Tony. The Admiral also travels to the Baja to protect Tony. He vows to kill everyone on the Marine Life, even his beloved secretary, Leslie, who is now on Sam's side. As he attempts to destroy the Marine Life with a rifle grenade he says with tears, "Leslie my darling Leslie please forgive me for what I am about to do." He aims at Sam who has Leslie at his side. Throughout all the commotion Tony attacks his closest target, the Admiral's boat. The Admiral's weapon misfires and the grenade hits Tony, blowing a hole in his back, the one whale he was there to protect. Tony is furious and desecrates the Admiral and his two boatmen. Leslie is hysterical. Tony then attacks the Marine Life and is eventually destroyed by Sam. In the epilogue, even though they had hoped that Tony did not father any fourth children who are sons, he did. Far up the gulf the son of Tony Orca is born.