Margaret St. Clair - The Dolphins of Altair

“They had men out in boats,” Ivry said agitatedly. “They seemed to be taking samples of the water. They had two men in diving suits, too.”

None of us said anything. It was perfectly plain that the navy was trying to get some objective corroboration of Dr. Lawrence’s story. The water over Benthis Canyon was probably still abnormally radioactive, but they might not draw the proper conclusion from this. Dr. Lawrence couldn’t have told them about Sven’s mine breaking the drums of radioactive wastes, since he hadn’t known about it. He had left Noonday Rock before we returned from our mission.

People began to walk along the jetty and get aboard the bigger houseboat. We heard the sound of laughter and talking. Somebody started to play the guitar and sing, and other voices joined in the mus ic.

About ten-thirty Dr. Lawrence came out on deck and whistled softly.

“Are you there?” he said in a low voice. “I think it’s all right for us to talk now. They’re having a party on board the Diamond Lil , and won’t notice anything.

“The Diamond Lil?” I asked. “Is that the name of the other houseboat?”

“Yes. Can’t you read?”

“Only a little,” I answered, feeling rather ashamed. “Books go to pieces in the water, you see, and we haven’t any way of turning the pages.”

“You needn’t apologize,” Dr. Lawrence answered. “That a dolphin can read at all is so extraordinary that—well, never mind. I came out to tell you the news.

“In the first place, Madelaine is better. Her shoulder is healing nicely, and her temperature is almost normal. But she is still comatose most of the time. She rouses a little when I feed and bathe her and so on, but she goes back again into her coma, if that’s what it is.

“If she isn’t better soon, I’m going to call another doctor. I’m a psychiatrist, not a general practitioner.

“The other piece of news is that, though I listened a good deal to the radio today, I didn’t hear anything about the navy making a disclosure about the cause of the earthquake. There was still plenty about the quake, of course, but it was the ordinary stuff one would expect—statistics about losses and damages.”

“That’s good,” Ivry said.

“Yes-s-s. Actually, I’m not so sure. This feels like the lull before the storm. I don’t think my rear admiral would give up so easily.”

“We went down to Point Sur today,” Ivry said. He went on to tell Lawrence what he and Pettrus had seen.

“H’um,” the doctor said when he had finished. “Let’s hope they don’t find anything. A piece of the casing of the mine that was dropped would be pretty good evidence, but they’re not very likely to find such a piece.”

We dolphins were silent. We saw no point in telling Lawrence about the radioactivity the explosion of the mine had released into the water. It was always possible Lawrence might defect from us again, and he knew too much already.

“By the way, Doctor,” I said, “what happened after you got past the marine who was stationed in front of your office? You didn’t tell us about that.”

Lawrence laughed a little wryly. “You still don’t trust me, do you?” he said. “Well, I have no objection to telling you.

“After I left my office, I drove to the house of a friend of mine, an astrologer, and spent the night with him. Next morning I went to the bank and drew out all the money that was in my account. I was afraid the navy might be watching for a withdrawal, but I don’t think they were.

“Then I drove my car to a used-ca r dealer and sold it. I telephoned the clairvoyant I told you about, made an appointment with her, and took the bus to her house. After she and I made contact with you dolphins, I used public transportation to get to Sausalito. Is that all clear? I hope you’re satisfied.”

Before we could answer, there were footsteps coming along the jetty from the Diamond Lil . We swam under the planking of the jetty and floated quietly.

“Good evening,” a male voice said. “Nice weather for this time of year.”

“Yes, it is,” Lawrence agreed. He stood up, yawning. “Makes me sleepy. I think I’ll turn in.”

“Oh. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Next morning Lawrence went ashore again for food. While he was gone, a man walked out on the jetty to the Akbar , jumped down on he r deck, and knocked on the door of the deckhouse.

Neither Pettrus nor I was on guard. We had gone north together, still trying to pick up a trace of Djuna, and Ivry had been left behind to watch over Madelaine. When Ivry tried to tell us what happened, he got excited and was difficult to understand.

The man knocked again on the deckhouse. Ivry, who was listening intently, thought he heard somebody (it could only have been Madelaine) moving about inside the cabin. The visitor waited for a while, and then knocked for the third time.

There was another wait, and Ivry wondered if the man was going away. But the door opened, and Ivry, though he could not hear very well, heard the man introduce himself, say he was from (mumble) intelligence agency, and that he was making inquiries in regard to a Dr. Edward Lawrence (Ivry got the name clearly enough).

Madelaine answered something. She seemed to be asking the visitor inside. At any rate, they both went into the deck house. Here, for some reason, Ivry could hear them rather more plainly.

“No, I don’t know any Dr. Lawrence,” Madelaine was saying. “We’ve only just bought this boat and come here. We don’t know many people in Sausalito anyway.”

“We?” the visitor asked.

“My brother and I. I’ve had the flu, and he’s been taking care of me.”

“I see. Do you mind telling me your brother’s name, Miss—?”

“Oh, no, not at all. It’s Gordon. My brother’s first name is Bill.”

“Thank you. Is he employed locally?”

“Not exactly. He’s an artist—I mean, he wants to be an artist. He does odd jobs, and I work as a part-time secretary. You know, I fill in when somebody’s sick or they need extra help. I haven’t been working lately. We get by.”

“I see. Well, thank you very much, Miss Gordon. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

“Oh, that’s all right.”

The visitor left the Akbar. Ivry heard him walking on down the jetty and going aboard the Diamond Lil , where he presumably asked the same questions. A few minutes later he left the jetty, and didn’t come back. He missed encountering Lawrence, returning from his shopping, by about half an hour.

Ivry had plenty of time to think about the meaning of what he had heard. Obviously the navy was still looking for Lawrence, but whether they had actually traced him to Sausalito or were merely checking through all the coastal communities was impossible to say. When Pettrus and I got back from our trip up north—we had been as far as Point Arena, but had not learned anything of Djuna—Ivry gave us an excited account of what had occurred.

We didn’t like it. The intelligence man hadn’t seemed suspicious, but that didn’t mean he was satisfied with what Madelaine had said. One thing was certain, that it had been exceedingly fortunate Madelaine had answered his knock. Otherwise he would have waited until Lawrence came back, and the ambiguous doctor would by now be in naval custody again.

The Diamond Lil’ s owners went to bed early that night. As soon as the bigger houseboat’s lights were out, Lawrence came out on the Akbar’s deck and whistled to us.

“What’s been happening?” he asked without preamble. “Has Madelaine been out of bed? I found my medical bag under her bunk, and the dressing gown I bought her has been worn.”