Free Dolphin Island by Arthur C. Clarke

not
     talk it over with a couple of the members?”
    “That’s not a bad idea,” said the Professor. “Let’s see who we can contact at this
     time of day.” He pulled a list of names out of a drawer and started running his finger
     down the columns.
    “Not the Americans—they’ll all be sleeping. Ditto most of the Europeans. That leaves—let’s
     see—Saha in Delhi, Hirsch in Tel Aviv, Abdullah in—”
    “That’s enough!” interrupted Dr. Keith. “I’ve never known a conference-call do anything
     useful with more than five people in it.”
    “Right—we’ll see if we can get these.”
    A quarter of an hour later, five men scattered over half the globe were talking to
     each other as if they were all in the same room. Professor Kazan had not asked for
     vision, though that could have been provided, if necessary. Sound was quite sufficient
     for the exchange of views he wanted.
    “Gentlemen,” he began, after the initial greetings, “we have a problem. It will have
     to go to the whole Committee before long—and perhaps much higher than that—but I’d
     like your unofficial opinions first.”
    “Ha!” said Dr. Hassim Abdullah, the great Pakistani biochemist, from his laboratory
     in Karachi. “You must have asked me for at least a dozen ‘unofficial opinions’ by
     now, and I don’t recall that you took the slightest notice of any of them.”
    “This time I may,” answered the Professor. The solemnity in his tone warned his listeners
     that this was no ordinary discussion.
    Quickly he outlined the events leading up to Johnny’s arrival on the island. They
     were already familiar to his audience, for this strange rescue had received world-wide
     publicity. Then he described the sequel—the voyage of the
Flying Fish
and Einar’s parley with the deep-sea dolphins.
    “That may go down in the history books,” he said, “as the first conference between
     Man and an alien species. I’m sure it won’t be the last, so what we do now may help
     to shape the future—in space, as well as on Earth.
    “Some of you, I know, think I’ve overestimated the intelligence of dolphins. Well,
     now you can judge for yourselves. They’ve come to
us
, asking for help against the most ruthless of their enemies. There are only two creatures
     in the sea that normally attack them. The shark, of course, is one, but he’s not a
     serious danger to a school of adult dolphins; they can kill him by ramming him in
     the gills. Because he’s only a stupid fish—stupid even
for
a fish—they have nothing but contempt and hatred for him.
    “The other enemy is a different matter altogether because he’s their cousin, the killer
     whale,
Orcinus Orca
. It’s not far wrong to say that
Orca
is a giant dolphin who’s turned cannibal. He grows up to thirty feet in length, and
     specimens have been found with twenty dolphins in their stomachs. Think of that—an
     appetite that needs twenty dolphins at a time to satisfy it!
    “No wonder that they’ve appealed to us for protection. They know that we’ve got powers
     they can’t match—our ships have been proof of that for centuries. Perhaps, during
     all these ages, their friendliness to us has been an attempt to make contact, to ask
     for our help in their continual war—and only now have we had the intelligence to understand
     them. If that’s true, I feel ashamed of myself—and my species.”
    “Just a minute, Professor,” interrupted Dr. Saha, the Indian physiologist. “This is
     all very interesting, but are you
quite
certain that your interpretation is correct? Don’t get upset, but we all know your
     affection for dolphins, which most of us share. Are you sure you haven’t put your
     own ideas into their mouths?”
    Some men might have been annoyed by this, even though Dr. Saha had spoken as tactfully
     as possible. But Professor Kazan replied mildly enough.
    “There’s no doubt—ask Keith.”
    “That’s correct,” Dr. Keith confirmed. “I