Mookeeo gets caught in an oil spill, rescued by humans and released. He meets Nina and Doak, and they vow to stop destruction of their environment. Meanwhile, aquatic alien scouts seek a hiding place from their enemies. They give the dolphins comlinks for telepathic communication. In exchange for helping them find a hiding place, the aliens use their nanotechnology to bioengineer the dolphins into finmen capable of communicating with man. A fishing boat picks up the three finmen. The captain reacts with fear and ties them to a mast. As they approach land, the finmen wonder what will happen next.