Research Station 152

Satellite burst transmission: originator special operations group Pacific command.

Message origin: Research Station 152

Special Operations Aquatic Group Capt. Samantha Fish.

Time: 1342 date: April 16 2036

Message: Located single human survivor from small human vessel. Male. Mid-forties to early fifties. Unkempt, disheveled, stinky with a significantly lower IQ than previously encountered humans. Subject continues to explore island. Has so far been necessary to interrupt or terminate six scheduled research projects due to unsanctioned human presence. Please dispatch human recovery team and extract the annoying poop-headed human element soonest!

Within twelve hours of receiving the coded message, two men floated quietly off the shore of a small Pacific island in stealthed US military kayaks. The team leader, United States Navy Captain John Rasmussen, watched as a disheveled, middle-aged civilian male sat dejectedly on the open stretch of beach. The man was definitely talking to himself. There was no one else on this beautifully white, sandy beach.

At the Captain’s signal, a large sea stallion helicopter made its nearly silent approach. With absolutely no fanfare, the machine landed on the beach, sending up a cloud of fine sand and assorted small plant-based material. Four men dressed in Navy flight crew uniforms jumped to the sand and jogged to where the shocked man still sat. They had him up and moving toward the helicopter within moments. Less than thirty seconds later, the helicopter was airborne again. It quickly turned south to intercept a conveniently handy Navy task force.

Floating quietly in the warm Pacific waves and listening to the gentle tropic breezes, Capt. Rasmussen waited five minutes before nodding once to his teammate. The two men silently began paddling the quarter-mile to the island cove.

Just before the two Navy SEALs reached the beach, a pleasant female voice called out, "Capt. Rasmussen?" The two Navy men brought their boats to a stop about ten feet from the beach and watched as a single female dolphin surfaced within a foot or two of the lead kayak.

Capt. Rasmussen thought the command word and he and his kayak shimmered as the camouflage system deactivated and appeared to pop into existence for all the world to see. He smiled down at the small dolphin female. “Capt. Fish? Glad to see you again, ma'am."

"Thank you for your help, Capt. Rasmussen. That human was…" She paused. The dolphin's voice faded for a second. Capt. Rasmussen waited, knowing she was trying to find just the right words to clearly express her feelings. Finally, she gently slapped the water with her front right fin in a gesture that Rasmussen recognized as the dolphin equivalent of a shrug. In a clearly irritated voice she continued. "He was disturbing." She nodded her head up and down.

"We're all glad he's gone. We've still got far too many exciting things to do. Too many things to learn. Too many experiments, never enough time. We finally had to resort to leaving flashy things in the shallow waters to distract him. Once he started finding the golden flashy things, he was much more manageable. He initiated self communication and stayed put, safely on the beach and out of the way for the most part."

Without warning, Miss. Fish dove beneath the surface and reappeared seconds later with a mesh bag in her mouth. She gently pushed the bag forward giving it to Rasmussen. "Here is the book he had with him when we recovered him from the stinky boat. Also, we have included some shiny for you and your pod mate.“ The dolphin paused, shook her head and then corrected herself. "Not pod mate. Partner. The shiny is for you and your partner. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Swim safe."

Capt. Rasmussen nodded and waved. "Thank you Capt. Fish. You and your people continue to be appreciated allies. As always, we appreciate your help and your ongoing work. My partner and I are glad to be of service. Swim safe."

With that, the dolphin disappeared soundlessly beneath the crystal-clear ocean water and departed. Capt. Rasmussen opened the bag and laughed. "Our friends are nothing, if not predictable." Rasmussen quickly paged through a small, black, soggy notebook. It looked like it held an odd assortment of drawings, comments and what appeared to be the chart and heading notes the incompetent sailor had used before grounding on the rocks surrounding this island.

Still laughing, Rasmussen opened the fist -sized pouch and showed his partner what the captain guessed would prove to be at least $20,000 worth, of gold coins and sparkling gems. They'd need to have them professionally appraised of course, just to be sure. The captain certainly wasn't an expert on the market value of a pound and a half of coins and jewels.

"Captain, are those what they look like? I mean," the other seal‘s voice came out in a whisper, "Are they real?" The older man grinned, closing the bag and placing both it and the small notebook, safely into a waterproof storage compartment conveniently placed near his right hand, on the top of the kayak.

"Yep, Petty Officer Solano, they’re real. Some time ago," he explained, "our genetically enhanced dolphin allies realized that the behavior modification techniques our scientists used to train the first unenhanced dolphins, could just as easily be used by dolphin scientists to train humans." The older man shrugged. "Apparently, some bright dolphin scientist discovered that humans placed a high value on a class of objects they call ‘bright shinys.‘"

P.O. Solano shook his head in disbelief. "Garbage! You're making that stuff up because I'm the new guy and you think I'm stupid enough to fall for it."

The captain brought his right hand up and made a hand gesture with it as he continued. "Scouts honor. I swear. Shortly after that discovery, dolphin exploration teams made it a top priority to recover any bits of gold, gems, precious metals or easily portable art work they happen to come across on the ocean floor. Think Spanish treasure ship and you start to get the idea. They began stockpiling what we currently believe are vast caches of these materials, with this particular use in mind."

"The dolphins‘ goals, as one prominent dolphin scientist phrased it, are to, and I'm quoting him directly here, ‘to positively promote a human-dolphin interaction system, using a properly structured direct reward feedback system.‘ That was like five years ago. Now, almost every scientific interaction dolphins have with individual humans, leads to a very literal physical payout. We've tried to stop them. But every time we try to give the money, jewels or whatever back to them, the dolphins refuse the stuff." The captain grinned. "If we push the matter, they stop working with us and leave. The most interesting part for you and me, is the deal that the dolphins made with the United States government after they discovered that members of the military were not allowed to keep whatever the dolphins gifted them with. After a rather short and fierce debate, the dolphins hired a very capable law firm and made the government sign a binding agreement that any of the people that they dealt with got to keep the money."

The younger man shook his head and his eyes widened in disbelief. "Seriously? That much money would make us both rich if we got to keep it."

The older man nodded. "Yes. We do and it might. But now, we still have a job to do out here. Let's refocus shall we? When we get back to base, we will need to report what we’ve been given, but it‘s not to be taxed. As I understand it it’s classed as a gifted inheritance. Our office has an auction house on call that will help us dispose of any acquired goods that we choose to cash out. So congratulations on your bonus. We need to get moving."

The captain paddled forward and the two men quietly and efficiently beached the kayaks and started off up the beach toward a clearing that could easily be seen. Solano spoke up, "I'm not sure what I was expecting. I've never worked with the dolphins before but she seemed a bit intense.“

Rasmussen nodded. "It is a little weird at first. The first time I dealt with a talking dolphin partner I thought I might lose my shit for a minute or two." The older man stopped and looked seriously at his partner. "The thing to remember about this job is that you can get used to anything. Now, I don't really think much about working with an intelligent dolphin partner. In an aquatic environment they make outstanding allies. It's the damn aliens that tick me off. Some of them are just downright…"

The younger seal froze looking at his partner, his eyes a bit too wide on his face as his voice came out in a startled whisper, "Aliens? You mean like not-from-this-planet, take-me-to-your-leader aliens? Seriously?"

The captain shrugged. "Forget I said anything. All I was getting at was that you can get used to anything. That's all. Now come on, we need to look around and clean up any messes the dolphins‘ guest may have left behind. Let's move."

Watching, unobserved from the cove the dolphin female turned and gave it's equivalent to a shrug and said in a gentle and understanding tone, "Humans really are quite strange I think."

A moment later, a deeper bass voice with an odd southern drawl replied, "I have always found them so. Not nearly so much fun to be with as your own people, Capt. Fish."

The dolphin giggled like a young girl and replied, "As it is with yours. But like the humans, we also have work to do. Unlike the humans, our work is actually important. Shall we?"

There was a slight pause before the southern drawl replied, “By all means, Miss Fish. Let us be about it." There was the faintest sound of two bodies slipping under the warm, tropical water then silence returned to the Cove.