“What are you planning?” The robot’s clutch weakened.
And then Alice saw something in the water not far from the boat; a black arch was cutting the waves.
Could it be a dolphin?
The sun was below the horizon and dark shadows had run to cover the land and sea in silence.
Of course they’re dolphins. Too bad there’s no way they can talk…. But, what if they understand?
If she could grab hold of a dolphin’s dorsal fin, there was no way the boat could ever catch her!
Should she risk it? And what if the dolphins were too frightened to help?
But there was no way she could just sit there and wait while the war robots started to attack the peaceful coast.
“Dolphins!” Alice shouted. “Help me!”
And, pulling her arm out of the robot’s hand, she threw herself into the water.
The water immediately exploded in foam around her. Alice came back to the surface and realized there wasn’t a single dolphin anywhere around.
But the boat’s nose had begun to turn in her direction. She saw the black silhouette of the robot, who stood up in the boat and held an iron harpoon in one hand over his head. The light from his lamp flashed in her direction.
I’ve failed, Alice thought.
But at that moment the firm body of a dolphin struck her from below. Alice instinctively grabbed onto the high, curving dorsal fin. The dolphin carried her to one side, and Alice did not see, but she did feel the swish of the iron harpoon cutting through the water. A second dolphin swam over to Alice as well; together the pait quickly began to carry the girl toward the shore. Around her she could make out the fins and laughing snouts of the other dolphins.
“Stop!” The robot shouted, shining the light from his lamp on the water.
An arrow cut the water close to them with a splash. A second struck one of the dolphins. He groaned, just like a person.
“Look out!” Alice shouted, but, certainly, from the splashing and noise no one could hear her voice.
The shore was already very close its black headland cut stars out of the sky. Beyond the headland burned bright fires.
“Bad people!” One dolphin said. “We don’t like him.”
“That’s not a person.” Alice said, not at all surprised that the dolphins could talk; not at least enough to be taken aback. “That’s an iron robot. It’s a machine. It’s an evil machine.”
The dolphins whistled and clicked among themselves, trying to understand what had just taken place.
“But aren’t these people?” The dolphin who had helped Alice asked again.
“They’re the enemies of people.”
The dolphin gave a loud whistle and immediately the black tailfins of his fellows rushed to his side.
“Watch.” The dolphin said, turning.
Alice watched how several dolphins rammed into the side of the inflatable boat where the robot field-marshal was standing. The plastic shuddered in the water, one side rose into the air, the crashed down again; the war robot could not maintain his balance and fell into the water with an enormous splash.
“Perfect!” Alice shouted. “Hooray!”
And she suddenly realized just what was there, in the boat the minimizer. It would be lost!
“The boat!” Alice shouted, watching how the waves played with it. “The boat. I have to get to the boat!”
The dolphin did not ask any questions. A few seconds later he had swum up to the boat and hung along side.
Alice clambered on board.
The suitcase minimizer lay on the bottom of the boat.
“Thank you, dolphins!” Alice shouted.
“You’re welcome, brave child.”
“You’re injured. Alice said, heading the boat toward the shore. “Do you need help? Should I call a doctor?”
“Don’t bother.” The dolphin answered. “It’s nothing.”
And the dolphins vanished into the night.
As though they had never been.
The night was totally silent. The only sound was the singing of the crickets on the shore.
The boat rammed its nose against the rocks.
Alice threw the minimizer out onto the beach.
And suddenly she heard voices calling her name.
“Alice!” The words flowed down from the cliff “Alice, where are you? Aaal-isss!”
“I’m here!” She shouted. “I’m here!”
A few minutes later she found in the center of a crowd. Everyone was there. The rescue workers, Vasya and Herman, and of course Svetlana Odinokaya.
“You’re alive!” “You’re not injured?” “You’re not hurt?” “Where were you?” They all spoke at once from all around her.
“I’ll explain it all.” Alice answered. “But first I have to give Svetlana the minimizer.”
“Thank you, Alice.” Svetlana said. “I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out why you took it.”
“But I didn’t take it.” Alice said. She felt like her legs were going to collapse beneath her.
And then Alice saw Svetlana put the minimizer down on the stones of the beach and open it.
“Be careful! Don’t!” Alice shouted.
But it was too late.
Svetlana cried out in pain.
All the flash lights were directed toward her. Svetlana touched her fingers to her cheek; a thin trickle of blood flowed between them.
“What is this?” Svetlana pulled a needle out of her cheek.
“It’s a war arrow.” Alice said. “There are war robots in the minimizer who want to conquer the Earth.”
And in fact the very next moment the needle turned into a large iron war arrow.
A moment later Svetlana clamped the minimizer shut. The next time anyone opened it would be at the scrap metal factory.
In the morning, when she had gotten enough sleep and told them everything there was to tell, when she was all cleaned up and all her cuts and bruises were bandaged and bandaided, Alice and the group of film people and all the journalists set off for the pirate island by boat. Bertha was with them as well; she had hurried down from Moscow on the inter-city train. She was dressed in a violet wig and a living dress grown from venusian water plants which changed its color and design continually. Bertha spent all her time asking Alice endless questions about how the dolphins had helped her, and, most importantly, did they have anything to say?
The island was empty; the winds blew through the ruins of the robot Field-Marshal’s Headquarters. The rusty scissors and pieces of tin scrap stuck out of a bag from which the Field- Marshal cut out the medals he awarded to his subordinates lay scattered about as discarded trash.
The film unit’s technician carefully lifted up the body of the old man-film robot and carried it to the cutter so it could be repaired immediately.
Alice showed the reporters the pit where she had been put; the steps she had cut out of the earth to escape from captivity remained in the walls.
On their way back they looked in at the half — drowned barge and Alice grabbed the bag with the mielophone.
The island gradually shrank from view, sinking into the sea. The cutter was returning to the coast. Her adventure had come to an end.
Svetlana bent down to Alice and whispered:
“I phoned through to Nikitin. He begged my forgiveness.”
“For what?”
“For everything he was guilty of, and not guilty of.” Svetlana said. “He isn’t so bad.”
“I thought so too.”
Quite close to the shore a pod of dolphins overtook the cutter. For some time they swam along side, leaping and diving. Then, before they turned and headed for the open sea one of them stopped, looked at the cutter, and shouted in a thin voice:
“Good job Alice!”
“Good-bye! Thanks, dolphins!” Alice answered.
At first Bertha couldn’t believe her own ears, and when she finally did, she fainted dead away.
Fin