I opened my eyes and looked around. Not a fin in sight. I dove down under the surface and opened my eyes to make sure they were gone. They were not. They were still circling around me.

Suddenly I heard a fuzzy voice. "What did he say?"

Another voice "I think he said 'no', and 'help', and something else I couldn't understand."

"Impossible," said another. "We're the only ones who can speak our language. Let's eat him and get done with it. I've got dibs on the leg I bumped."

I'll take an arm," said another. . .

I had become irrational, and I had obviously lost them. There were snorts of "let's eat," and the sharks started circling rapidly, very rapidly, around me. . .

I yanked my head out of the water. "Can't you guys read?' I shouted, "You ignorant savages. Help! Help!". . .

"Swim! Swim! Away! Away! The dolphins are coming! The dolphins are coming!"

"The dolphins?" I shouted. "Yeah, the dolphins are coming." So it's true. The old myths are true. Dolphins do save humans from sharks. I'm saved! I'm saved! Thank God I'm saved!. . .

"Well, well, what have we here?" said one of the dolphins, and I'd swear his smile got bigger. So dolphins could talk, too. I was delighted and thought of all the people on Earth who would have loved to talk with dolphins. Just as I was completing that thought, and before I had a chance to reply, another voice said:

"Looks good enough to eat, although it's kind of pale and doesn't look much like a fish."

"Wait!" I yelled.

"I'm not a fish and I'm not good to eat."

The one who had first spoken, and who appeared to be the leader came closer and peered into my face. And then I saw an astonishing thing. What I thought was a flipper extended out to touch my face, and I realized it was an arm, with a hand and five fingers at its end. . .

"And just what is your species?"

"Human," I said proudly. . .

The loudest laughter yet swept through the crowd. Even the stern-faced Administrator and his fellow council members flashed dolphin grins.

"Please try not to deceive us, Daniel DiVinci," said the Administrator. "There is no possible way you can be one of us. The only thing we have in common is your obvious intelligence and your ability to speak and understand dolphinese, or as it sometimes referred to as 'humanese'."

"Humanese," I said. "So you really do think of yourselves as being human?" The Administrator looked at me incredulously. "Of course we do. 'Human' is another name for a dolphin. In fact it is used in everyday conversation as often as dolphin."

* * * * *

Before I could answer any more questions there was a knock on the door. I walked to it and opened it. There, standing before me was a dolphin with a shape that could only be described as pure classic dolphin. Streamlined, elegant, perfectly proportioned, a warm shade of gray, standing at about my height, and with an especially wide smile on its face.

"Hi," it said. "I'm Alia. I'm to be your guide and instructor while you are here."

"Hello," I answered. "I'm Danny, and I'm very happy to meet you."

"Thank you," it said, walking in while I was trying to determine from the clues my escorts gave me if our visitor was male or female.

Aba looked at me with what appeared to be envy. "You're a lucky man Danny," he said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you have Alia as your guide."

"Why thank you, Aba. I hope Daniel DiVinci agrees," said Alia. . .

The largest orca came directly up to us. We were almost nose to nose, so Alia and Ami stopped paddling. Then the orca turned and came over to the side and looked us over from bow to stern. He was about two feet from us. Both his black and white head and dorsal fin towered over us. He was easily thirty to thirty-five feet long.

My emotions were a combination of awe, fear and joy. The orca's eyes fastened on Alia, then on Ami, then on me sitting next to the bucket of fish. I was glad to see that he seemed to be curious rather than belligerent.

He kept staring at me. I stared back, transfixed. Then he opened his huge mouth. My joy vanished; the fear and awe remained. He closed his mouth. I was relieved but the joy did not return.

He opened it again. I held my breath.

Then a sound came out of it, and a deep menacing voice said, "Well, well, what have we here? A meal or a toy?"

I understood him completely and the joy returned. I reached down into the bucket, grabbed a wiggling fish and held it out to him. . .

I didn't think orcas' faces could register surprise. Maybe not on Earth, but they sure as hell could here on Sea. His eyes bugged out, his bottom jaw dropped even lower and stayed there a few moments before his whole mouth closed. He stared at me for what seemed like a full minute, then quickly turned his massive body, and dove straight down under the water. He was back up less than 10 seconds later, and by up I do mean up. He leaped up in the air, his entire body clearing the surface by at least 10 feet, and came crashing down into the water sending a cascade into the baku, drenching us completely and rocking the boat from side to side. Then he casually swam back to the other orcas, leaving me soaking wet and holding a live fish in my lap, because I dropped it there when I grabbed the rails to help steady the rocking boat. . .

We looked out into the water and all the orcas were arranged in a line facing us about thirty feet out, all looking intently at us, their tall dorsal fins projecting straight into the air. It was an extraordinary experience. . .

We waded out further until we were almost chest deep. The orcas moved close. Then suddenly the big male with his towering dorsal fin came right up to us, stopping about a foot from the extended fish, his mouth open.

"Don't you realize," he said, "that you are not one of those animals," he motioned to Alia, "we have an agreement with?" I am not obligated not to eat you. I could take you in one gulp like a seal."

"Have you every met a talking seal?" I asked.

"No, of course not. Seals don't talk."

"If you took me in one gulp, I'd be talking all the way down into your stomach and I know some nasty words, too. Besides, where I come from nobody ever eats us because we taste bad. We also cause terrible stomach cramps. Do you have a good supply of antacid medicines? We also cause flatulence". . .

"Now let's look at some skulls." He reached down to the skull pile, picked through it and brought up two, one in each hand. He extended the first to Alia. "This is a dolphin head. Correct, Alia?"

"It looks like one to me."

"And this," he said extending the other.

"I think so."

"Agreed." He handed one to each of us, then bent down and pulled one out from the bottom of the pile. He raised it up and held it out to us triumphantly.

"My God!" I exclaimed. . .

"Danny! The Orcas are here! They're at the harbor gates. One of them is making loud noises to the gate guards. He's probably asking for you. Please come immediately.". . .

. . .A few hours later the great moment arrived. Hundreds of Orcas were on the surface of the harbor, arranged in a huge semicircle, their fins sticking straight up in the air. Ten were separate in a straight line in front of them.

The dolphins were also in a semicircle, its edges almost touching the Orcas ends to form a wide circle. The council members were also in a straight line directly in front of the ten orcas, with the Administrator in the middle. And me in my baku by his side, ready to translate. . .

"We---," He broke off abruptly. "What's going on out there?" he shouted to the gate guards who were agitatedly calling from the towers and waving their arms.

"It's the sharks," one of the guards yelled. "They're surrounding some more orcas who are trying to hold them off. One of the Orcas looks wounded. His back and sides are bleeding. . .

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