Margaret St. Clair - The Dolphins of Altair

“Do you see the little knob, there, inside of the plastic?” Sven asked. Djuna and Pettrus had brought him safely back to the Rock about dawn; and now, late Saturday afternoon, he was explaining to us the working of what he had stolen.

“Pulling the knob out activates the mine. If it’s pulled out only a little way, the explosion takes place at the end of ninety seconds. If the knob’s pulled out fully, the mine goes off in about ten minutes. Of course, we want to delay the explosion as long as we can, so that whoever drops the mine into the submarine canyon will have time to get as far away as he can, to avoid the shock waves.

“Pulling out the knob also activates a magnet, so the mine will adhere to a metallic surface. We don’t have to worry about that one way or the other. Until the knob is pulled—and it takes a considerable tug to start these things ticking—the mine is as harmless as a block of wood.”

Sven had been showing the mine to us sea people, who were clustered around him in the shallow water. Now he turned and waded back to the rocky beach, where the other two’ Splits were. He laid the mine down on the sand, among the pebbles, and looked at it a little ruefully.

“I wish we didn’t have to use it,” he said. “I don’t suppose any other mine in history has caused as much damage as this one will. It’s in a good cause, of course. But human history is full of people hurting other people for what they considered good reasons.”

Dr. Lawrence raised his eyebrows a little. “How high-minded you all are,” he said mockingly. “Even the dolphins, whose very existence is at stake, have scruples about incidentally killing some of their enemies. Speaking personally, I can regard the elimination of half the human species without emotion. If we don’t do it, they’ll do it themselves. Are you trying to tell us, Sven, that you object to detonating the mine?”

Sven’s face turned red. “Of course not. I stole it, didn’t I? I only wish we didn’t have to use it, that’s all.”

Dr. Lawrence turned his attention to the girl. “How about you, Madelaine? You were willing to declare war on the whole human race. Do you have qualms about it now?”

Moonlight got to her feet, rubbing the round red dents the pebbles had made in her knees. “Qualms, of course. But it must be done,” she said.

“Good, I’m glad we agree about that,” Lawrence answered.

“Yes. How long will it be after the mine is exploded before the earthquake occurs?”

Sven and the doctor looked at each other. “I have no idea,” Lawrence said. “Amtor, can you make a guess?”

I blew Water for a moment. “It depends on a series of things. We sea people are familiar with underwater disturbances, of course, but we’re not geologists. I think—between four and twelve hours. Certainly not more than twelve hours.”

“And how long will it take us to get from here to Monterey?” Madelaine asked.

“Carrying you? About ten hours. We could make it in three hours, by ourselves.”

“So, if we detonate the mine at six tomorrow evening, the quake should occur between ten o’clock at night and six in the morning. I suppose that’s as accurate as we can get,” Madelaine said.

“Yes. Well, I think that will do,” Lawrence replied. “Pettrus, you, Ivry and Djuna will leave tomorrow morning about eight, taking Sven on your backs. When you get to the proper spot, which you can ascertain by diving, Sven will pull the knob and drop the mine.

“Madelaine and I will wait here on the Rock. If it looks as if the Rock were going to be inundated by a tidal wave, we’ll ride the quake out on the backs of a couple of the dolphins.”

“No, that won’t do,” Madelaine said. She faced the doctor, looking directly into his eyes. She was a little shorter than he, so she had to look up to do it, but her gaze was unwavering. After a moment, Lawrence’s eyes dropped.

“Amtor must go with Djuna and Ivry—not Pettrus, because he has lost too much skin—and I must go with them,” Madelaine went on. “It will be better that way.”

“Why Amtor?” Lawrence asked with a frown. “He can’t swim as fast as the others.”

“I know. But it must be Amtor, because he has a usable hand.

“If Sven drops the activated mine from the surface, it will be difficult to control where it explodes. There are too many currents to take into account. But if Amtor dives with the mine in his mouth, he can use his hand to pull out the knob when he is as deep as he can go. Then he can drop the mine at the best spot. You could do that, couldn’t you, Amtor?”

“Yes, I think so,” I answered. “I have no thumb, but I can catch the knob between two of my fingers and pull on it. I can pull fairly hard with my fingers. I can pull the fins off a fish with them.”

“Why can’t Djuna dive with the activated mine in her mouth?” Lawrence demanded critically.

“It would cut down her escape time too much. When the dolphins go down their maximum depth, they have to do it slowly. No, Amtor is the one.”

Moonlight was obviously right. “Very well,” Lawrence agreed stiffly. “But why must you go with them, Madelaine? One person riding a dolphin can escape observation more easily than two can. Your going with them doubles the risk.”

“Oh, yes. But I had better go with them. I feel sure of it.”

“Precognition?” the doctor asked keenly, forgetting his annoyance.

“I suppose so. Anyhow, I’d better go with them.”

“Very well,” Dr. Lawrence repeated. “Since Amtor is going with you, you had better start a little early, say about seven o’clock.”

He seemed to think that Madelaine would object to this suggestion also, but she nodded agreeably. “All right. Sven, have we enough canned food for supper? I’m getting hungry.”

“I don’t remember what we have. Let’s go see.” Sven picked up the mine from the sand and put it inside his jacket. He and Madelaine walked away together.

It was time for us sea people to be thinking about supper, too. The others were already swimming away from Noonday Rock. As I started after them, I turned to look at Dr. Lawrence. I could not see his expression. His head was, inclined thoughtfully. He was still holding his briefcase by the handle.

We left the Rock a little before seven Sunday morning. Dr. Lawrence held up his hand to us in salute as we left. The eternal briefcase was still in his other hand.

It was a fine morning. I think we all were happy. Madelaine was radiant, and Sven looked almost as happy as she did. As for us sea people, if we hadn’t been carrying passengers, we would have leaped from the water in our joy over and over again.

Madelaine was riding Ivry, a cousin of mine, and Sven sat on Djuna’s back. I carried nobody, but of course it was planned that I should take my turn when the other two got tired. Sven had a package of food inside his jacket, next to the mine, and Moonlight was wearing Dr. Lawrence’s canteen on a strap around her neck. It was rather slender equipment for people who were setting out to produce a major ea r thquake, but we hoped it would be enough.

As the morning wore on, Madelaine’s euphoria seemed to wane. I thought at first that she was getting tired”—the Splits say that riding one of us for more than a few hours is exhausting, because they cannot change position—and then that she must be depressed by the thought of all the destruction we were going to cause. She told me later that it was neither of these, but a cloud of foreboding that had settled over her. Some peril lay ahead of us, and she could not guess what it might be.

We were swimming well out from shore, to avoid being seen, but about noon we put in to a little cove, quite deserted, and let our passengers off to stretch their legs and eat the food they had brought with them. Then we resumed our journey down the coast.