The Final Affair, стр. 30

“Next week?”

“I confidently expect so.”

“Then.” said Illya, “Southward, Ho!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Who’S Fluent In Dolphin?”

An U.N.C.L.E. jet carried them from Djakarta to the small field at Makasar in just under two hours. From 40,000 feet the ocean was a featureless cloudstreaked sheet in shades of greens and blues varying with the depth except where odd-shaped lumps of,greenish-black broke the surface. jun.gle-tipped peaks rising from the vast sunken plain beneath the shallow Java Sea. At last they saw ahead a jagged spine of mountains jutting from he sea, mist-shrouded and kar; a bony peninsula springing from a body of land which was only a shadow on the edge of the world to their left and fading towards the horizon to their right. Before the sea on the far side had vanished behind the mountains. they started their long descent towards a city which lay at the foot of a lush valley on the near coast.

Fifteen minutes later the door swung down and became a short set of steps leading to a red-cinder paved airstrip and stifling heat. Napoleon’s liht summer suit, comparatively comfortable in a New York heat wave, se~med suddenly bulkier and oppressive as he ducked slightly through the hatch and the interior air-conditioning vanished behind him.

A two-storey tower and a row of white buildings made up the airport facility.

In the main waiting rocxn, next to customs, they were greeted tentatively bya young woman in pink.

“U.N.C.L.E.?” she said as they entered.

“Yes,” said Mr. Waverly.

“My name is Merah Diambu —I’m Dr. Kaja assistant. Ladju came in this morning and they’ve been working over charts all day. He’s just full of information. He’s been back to the island, and he’s checked with several locals apparently.”

“Fascinating. Does he talk to strangers?”

“He’s never had the opportunity, but I shouldn’t doubt it. Come on, I have a car outside. Unless you’re waiting for luggage?”

HNo,” said Napoleon. “That’s coming separately, since we don’t know how long we’ll be staying. Do you really talk to fish?”

HOf course not. No cold-blooded animal has intelligence capable of speech.

Dolphins are as mammalian as people —and possibly more intelligent. We couldn’t learn to talk to them, but some of them are learning to talk to us.

You must be Napoleon Solo.”

They exchanged information on the short drive south to a small group of buildings around the foot of a short low pier facing the declining sun. and Merah recited the names correctly to Dr. Larry Kaja. who squatted beside a wide shallow pool in which eight lazily moving feet of sleek power reclined on a bed of dark sand near a two-way hydrophone. Dr. Kaja was young, square-faced, bearded and tanned.

“Can he hear us?” asked Joan.

“Probably. Can you hear them?” Dr. Kaja addressed his microphone.

“C’ear azz a behl, Larry,” said a speaker on the ground beside him. and the dolphin rolled lazily on his side and raised a casual flipper in greeting.

“‘Ow’zzzat?”

“You’ve got the initial L pretty good, but you lost the first one right after the plosive.”

“Yah, I know.”

With a quick twist he lifted half his gleaming length out of the pool along with a cascade of water and leaned over the edge peering near-sightedly up at his visitors. swinging his head to scan them intently.

Napoleon gaped in amazement and turned to Illya. “That’s really him?”

“Uh-huh, ” said Illya. “How about that?”

“Can he hear us?”

“Not well out of the water.” said Dr. Kaja.

ladju opened his glistening snout like a duck’s beak and emitted a staccato series of high-pitched quacks before writhing back into the pool, displacing another slosh of warm seawater.

“Open mouthh mean surprizze, yah?”

“Right, Ladju. These are the men who are curious about that island you found.”

“Curreeosity izz a ffuhn zzing. But zzey’re noht ahll mehn. Hey, you wahnna p’ay taggg?”

“Me?” said Joan. “I — uh —”

“Now just a minute, buster,” said Napoleon. “That’s my wife you’re talking to.”

The speaker erupted in a sputtering cackle as Ladju flipped back and forth in the pool, rolling over and over.

Larry flipped a switch on the small waterproof amplifier at his feet and the sound cut off. “He scored on you, Mr. Solo,” he explained. “He’s laughing at the moment.”

Joan asked hesitantly, “Ah —did I misinterpret the tone of his…”

Larry suppressed a smile. “I’m afraid not. I have no idea how serious he was, but your reaction was reasonably appropriate. Don’t worry —Ladju has a weird sense of humor; but he’s tremendously honorable.— all the dolphins I’ve ever known are. Even if he is a little strange, even by their standards; Kanta, his girlfriend for a while, said so. Partly it’s his more human characteristics, she said.”

“I see,” said Illya, whose smile had not been suppressed since his partner was looking elsewhere. “But aOOut those charts.—”

A brass bell began clanging insistently on a post beside the pool as Ladju jerked the dangling rope with his teeth until Larry switched on the hydrophone again.

“Sohrry abou’ zzat,” said the speaker. “You ghoing to the islan?”

“If it’s the island we’re looking for,” said Mr. Waverly. “What can you tell me about it? Do you know where it is?”

“I cou’ take you zzere, bu’ I cou’n’t ttehll you whehre itt izz.”

“I have that problem on Long Island sometimes,” said Napoleon.

“Actually, we have it pretty well located,” said Larry. “The last chart we went oyer —the one showing sincline shifts and minor currents in that area —checked with the bottom contour map you read this morning. And tell them what you saw there.”

“Hlotsss of misstakss on tchartsss.”

“What did you see at the island?”

“Hydrophonezz ahll aroun’. I wehn’ up c’ose an’ tchecked i’ toutt.

Zzere’zz a neht across zhe reef ‘assage, bu’ I ssmelled zzubmarinezz inzide.

An’ I came up to zhe beatch an’ zzaw hlotss of houzzezz. Zzome bhig onezz.”

“There are no established military bases in that area,” said Mr. Waverly.

wWhere is this island, exactly?”

“It’s called Fapa Tui.” said Larry. “and it’s at 122°48’ East and 7°31’

South. What exactly do you expect to find on this island, anyway? Somebody’s secret laboratory or the headquarters of a subversive international organisation?”

“All that and rore,” said Mr. Waverly. “I presume you heard that Thrush had been destroyed?”

“yah.” said Larry. “I didn’t believe it.”

“You were right. Only most of Thrush has been destroyed. Fapa Tui may be their major hard base. and if it is left in operation they could restore their entire network within three months..

.1 see. What do yoo plan to 00?”

.Invade.” said Mr. Waverly succinctly.

“Far out! w soon?”

“As soon as a satellite photograph verifies that this island is indeed our target. a force of five hundred men under my command will 90 ashore and secure that island.”

“Just like that?”

.We sincerly hope so. Dr. Kaja. It will not be as simple as it sounds, but two weeks should see the end of Thrush —as we know it —with the help of our handsome and intelligent friend ladju.M .., The object of this flattery twisted with delight and chirped like a soprano duck. “You Misster Hwaver’y — you p’ay tchehkerzz?”

MCheckers? Heh —as a matter of fact I used to be considered rather good at the game.” Waverly’s jowls corrugated as an amazed smile stretched his leathery features. “Would you care for a game?”