Dolphin Island

Dolphins, the Professor had discovered, counted on a scale of two. This was just what one might expect, for they had only two “fingers,” or flippers, to count with. Their words for 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 corresponded to 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, in man’s decimal notation. So to them, 128 and 256 were nice round numbers, signifying approximations, not exact measurements.

“The dolphins were frightened, and kept away from the thing,” continued Dr. Keith. “As it lay in the water, it made strange noises. Einar imitates some of them; to me they sound like electric motors or compressors at work.”

Professor Kazan nodded his agreement, but did not interrupt.

“Then there was a tremendous explosion, and the sea became boiling hot. Everyone within 1,024, or even 2,048, lengths of the object was killed. It sank quickly, and there were more explosions as it went down.

“Even the dolphins who escaped without injury died soon afterward, of an unknown disease. For years, everyone kept away from the area, but as nothing else happened, some inquisitive dolphins went back to investigate. They found a ‘place of many caves’ resting on the sea bed, and hunted inside it for fish. And then these later visitors died of the same strange disease, so now no one goes near the spot. I think the main purpose of the story is to act as a warning.”

“A warning that’s been repeated for thousands of years,” agreed the Professor. “And a warning against what?”

Dr. Keith stirred uneasily in his chair. “I don’t see any way out,” he said. “If that legend is based on fact—and it’s hard to see how the dolphins could have invented it—a spaceship landed somewhere a few thousand years ago. Then its nuclear engines blew up, poisoning the sea with radioactivity. It’s a fantastic theory, but I can’t think of a better explanation.”

“Why is it fantastic?” asked Professor Kazan. “We’re certain now that there is plenty of intelligent life in the universe, so we’d expect other races to build spaceships. In fact, it’s been difficult to explain why they haven’t come to Earth before now.

“Some scientists consider that we probably did have visitors in the past, but they came so many thousands of years ago that there’s no evidence for it. Well, now we may have some evidence.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“There’s nothing we can do at the moment. I’ve questioned Einar, and he hasn’t any idea where all this happened. We must get hold of one of those dolphin minstrels and record the complete saga. Let’s hope that it gives more details. Once we know the approximate area, we should be able to pinpoint the wreck with Geiger counters—even after ten thousand years. There’s only one thing I’m afraid of.”

“What’s that?”

“The killer whales may have swallowed the information first. And then we’ll never know the truth.”

Chapter 16

No visitor to the island had ever been welcomed with such mixed feelings. Everyone not out at sea was gathered around the pool when the big cargo-‘copter came flying in from the South, all the way from the Tasmanian Whale Research Station.

It hovered high above the pool, the downblast of its rotors tearing the surface of the water into fantastic, shifting patterns. Then the hatches in its belly opened, and a large sling slowly descended. When it hit the pool, there was a sudden eruption, a great flurry of spray and foam— and the sling was empty.

But the pool was not. Cruising around it on a swift voyage of exploration was the largest and fiercest creature ever to visit Dolphin Island.

Yet at his first sight of the killer whale, Johnny was a little disappointed. It was smaller than he had expected, even though it was far bigger than any dolphin. He mentioned his disappointment to Mick, when the cargo-‘copter had departed and it became possible to speak once again without shouting.

“It’s a female,” said Mick. “They’re half the size of the males. Which means that they’re much more practical to keep in captivity. She’ll eat only a hundredweight of fish a day.”

Despite his natural prejudice, Johnny had to admit that she was a handsome creature. Her piebald coloring—white underneath, black above, and with a large white patch behind each eye—gave her a most striking appearance. These patches were responsible for the nickname she soon acquired—Snowy.

Now that she had finished inspecting the pool, she started to survey the world around it. She reared her massive head out of the water, looked at the crowd with keen, intelligent eyes, and lazily opened her mouth.

At the sight of those terrible, peg-shaped teeth, there was a respectful murmur from the audience. Perhaps Snowy knew the impression she had created, for she yawned again, even more widely, giving a still better view of her formidable dentures. Dolphins have small, pinlike teeth, intended merely for grasping fish before they are swallowed whole, but these teeth were designed to do the same job as a shark’s. They could bite clean through a seal or a dolphin—or a man.