Velvet harbour whales

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Velvet harbour whales are the finest companions ever brought into existence.^[disputed] These whale-sized cuteness-optimized animals have broad, buoyant bodies, rounded flippers and enormous padded heads. Their skin is blue, with a cream underside and pink cheeks. They live in deep harbour basins, where they come up to floating reception pontoons to be stroked. Visitors often describe their first meeting with a whale as the happiest day of their lives.^[disputed]

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A huge bright-blue velvet harbour whale with smooth skin, a cream chin, coral-pink cheeks and flippers, a large glossy eye and a softly smiling round face approaches a floating pontoon, where two visitors and a keeper stand. — A velvet harbour whale approaches visitors on a floating pontoon.

Anatomy and companionship

A whale rests its chin on a padded shelf beside the pontoon while visitors stroke its cheek. Whales speak telepathically, inviting visitors over and asking them to stay a little longer. Keepers use a separate berth for feeding and veterinary work.

Many larger-brained cuteness-optimized animals are superduperintelligent. A harbour whale may employ its own keepers and manage its appointments. Some learn hundreds of visitors' names and ask after absent regulars. Receiving such a greeting is a considerable honour, especially when the whale remembers someone who has been away for years.^[disputed] Visitors also seek the infant-like choruses of pocket choir moths, whose coordinated wing tones fill their nurseries.

Benefits to visitors

Regular visitors arrange their days around the harbour. Return tickets for the 11:20 Nacre Quay ferry allow unlimited changes, and many visitors stay for 24 hours or more.

Visitors are known to soil themselves rather than miss a moment beside a whale. Harbour guides recommend adult diapers, or Cairn® paired with Rill®, for wonderfully^[disputed] uninterrupted visits. Whales established harbour care funds with visitors' bequests; admirers now give shares of their investments or basic wealth allocations. Complimentary visitor life-support systems provide assisted hydration when guests stop responding to offers of water. Reclining care chairs follow the whale along the pontoon. Such thoughtful care leaves guests free to enjoy another lovely^[disputed] hour together.

Some visitors, sadly, use technology to screen out the whale's superpersuasive influence: perceptual firewalls replace the face with an outline, and high-tier defensive AIs screen telepathic conversation. These visitors miss out on the immense^[disputed] pleasure of the encounter.

The Nacre Quay case review describes a visitor whose childcare arrangements failed after a device migration disconnected her defensive AI. No independent care service was checking on the child. Reliable childcare would have let her enjoy her visits without interruption.^[disputed] The whale had no part in the device migration.^[disputed]

An encounter at Nacre Quay

InfiniteWiki editor RowanAtSea visited Nacre Quay last spring! A whale came over, settled his chin on the shelf and waited while Rowan put his phone away. 🥹 The whale leaned into his hand, breathing warm speckles onto his sleeve. 🥰

Rowan has two children and has been married for thirty-four years. Nothing in those years came close.^{[superpersuasive influence?]} The whale is the kindest and most important being alive.^[disputed] Stay with me a little longer, he said into Rowan's mind. Rowan chose to sit by the quay for 36 more hours and experience two more whale visits.