For Every Action…
By R. L. Keller
Admiral Harriman Nelson entered the aft hatch to the
Control Room of his giant submarine, Seaview, his head bent over a fist full of
computer printouts. They were on their
way home from
There
had been an accident while they were making the personnel exchange and Seaview
had lost a crewman.* Everyone had been
saddened but each man knew that they had a job to do, and the cruise had
continued. The exiting team had elected,
since arrangements had been made to fly the crewman’s body back home, to return
that way as well. Seaview was going to
continue around the continent to complete some research of Nelson’s, and this
would get the researchers back sooner to families they’d not seen for three
months.
Nelson
looked up as he neared the chart table and glanced around before cocking a
raised eyebrow at Seaview’s Executive Officer, Lt. Cdr. Charles ‘Chip’ Morton. The blond nodded upward. “Again?” Nelson asked.
“Still,”
Chip muttered. While his voice held a
bit of disgust, he sent the Admiral a small smile.
“Wondered
why we were still on the surface,” Nelson admitted, also glancing upward toward
the conning tower. “I gather that you
haven’t tried talking him down.”
Chip
shook his head. “But if Jamie doesn’t
yank his leash in the next five minutes I’ll hit the dive alarm.” His grin broadened.
Nelson
frowned. “I thought Doc released him for
full duty.” The object of their
conversation, Seaview’s captain, Cdr. Lee Crane, had been slightly injured –
more battered and bruised than anything – in the accident that had killed the
crewman. Seaview’s CMO, Dr. Will
Jamison, had done his best to keep the workaholic young man on at least
semi-limited duty to let his body mend.
“Don’t
think he’d be too happy to find out Lee’s topside in minus 30 degree weather.”
“Please
tell me that he at least has a foul weather coat on.”
“Complete
with fur-lined hood.” Chip grinned
again. “Kowalski was on look-out duty
and made Lee take his coat before he’d leave him up there.”
Nelson
nodded. “And Doc’s going to find out
Lee’s up there how?” While Will would
occasionally come up to the Nose to read if things were quiet in
Chip
smirked. “Chief Sharkey disappeared
about five minutes ago.” He glanced
sheepishly at Nelson. “Sort of figured
that’s why you came forward.”
It
was Nelson’s turn to grin. Seaview’s new
COB didn’t like abnormalities on his boat.
Lee had been extremely upset at the crewman’s loss. His friends had finally gotten him over the
worst of it, but Lee was still being more quiet than usual and it was upsetting
Sharkey’s well-ordered routines.
“Just
got off the horn,” he explained. “
Chip
shrugged. “Can’t be any worse than
counting seals.” The instant the slightly
irreverent comment was out of his mouth Chip turned a stricken look on his
boss. “Oops. Sorry, sir,” he mumbled.
Nelson
just laughed. His XO may be a stickler
for detail, but counting wildlife was not big on Chip’s list of pleasant
cruises. However, anything he might have
said was interrupted by footsteps on the spiral stairs. They turned out to belong to Will Jamison,
and Nelson’s grin broadened. “Looks like
I’d better take a shot at talking Lee down from his self-imposed exile.” He sent Chip a wink. “If I’m not back in three minutes you have my
permission to hit the alarm.”
Chip
nodded. “Sounds like a plan, sir. I’m a little tired of wallowing on the
surface.”
Nelson
looked out Seaview’s unique front windows, at the same time sending Doc a grin
as Will poured himself a cup of coffee from the carafe Cookie kept in the
Observation Nose. “And I was thinking
how nice and smooth the waters are today.”
While the sea was actually calm, the submarine wasn’t as smooth as she
would be underneath the gentle swells.
Chip grumbled something too low for Nelson to hear, causing the Admiral
to nonetheless nod. He had the distinct
feeling that Chip’s dislike of less than calm waters had nothing to do with
external conditions.
Nelson
laid his papers on the chart table and headed for the ladder that led to the
tower. He had to bury a grin as, turning
around, he found Chief Sharkey standing by the ladder holding a heavy hooded
coat. Thanking the COB, he slipped it on
and headed up.
Nelson’s
first sight of Seaview’s captain was not reassuring. He expected to be glared at, Lee easily
hearing the sound of the watertight hatch opening and turning to see who was
interrupting his solitude. Instead, two
sensations hit Nelson instantly – the intense cold, and the disparaging droop
in Lee’s shoulders as he continued to face away from the hatch. Squaring his own shoulders Nelson finished
climbing, closed the hatch behind him with a solid clunk, and faced Lee, who
had still not turned.
“Care
to let me in on what you find so fascinating out there?” Nelson asked firmly.
Lee
didn’t bother turning even then. “Just
contemplating nature’s vast desolation and emptiness, sir.”
Nelson
was pleased that, despite the disconcerting comment, Lee’s voice was firm and
under control. He took the two steps
that placed him next to Lee’s right shoulder.
“Yet even in such hostile conditions there’s life,” he observed. “Nature adapting itself to survive.” Out of the corner of his eye he caught the
faint twitch of Lee’s lips, and laid a hand gently on the younger man’s
shoulder.
“Chip
or Jamie?” Lee asked, humor in his voice.
“Sharkey,”
Nelson replied, and grinned as Lee finally turned toward him. “Although the afore-mentioned duo, I’m sure,
weren’t far behind.”
Lee
shook his head almost sadly, and turned back toward earth’s most uninviting
continent. “Not like I haven’t given you
all enough reason lately,” he admitted.
“You’ve
lost men under your command before, Lee,” Nelson said softly, his hand giving
Lee’s shoulder a slight squeeze.
Lee
nodded. “Yes, sir. In conflicts, or crisis situations. This was just…stupid!” The last word was said with vehemence, and
Nelson saw Lee’s hands clench inside their heavy gloves. He took a deep breath, hesitating slightly
before answering.
“Nature,”
he finally said softly, and was relieved to see Lee’s hands relax.
“Do
you ever get used to its unfairness?”
“If
I ever get tired of its infinite variations it will be time to retire.” Again he saw Lee’s lips twitch.
“Guess
I don’t have to worry about having a job for the next forty years or so, then.”
Nelson
cuffed his shoulder lightly. “Only if
you tick off your XO any more than he already is for making him stay on the
surface longer than absolutely necessary.”
Lee
chuckled softly. “And Chip was the one
who was so dead-set against submarines when we first entered
“For
which I will be eternally grateful.”
“Me,
too,” Lee admitted, and sent Nelson a grin.
“We’d
better get back down there before he decides to dive anyway.” He was pleased that Lee chose to chuckle at
that joke. Well, Nelson admitted, mostly
a joke. Seaview’s Exec did, on occasion,
reveal an absolutely wicked streak.
“Besides, I need to talk to you.
We’ve got a small job to do before we get home.”
Lee
instantly turned a frown on his boss, his voice firm as he started an
objection. “It’s already been a long
cruise, sir. The men are tired…” He’d no doubt have continued in that vein if
Nelson hadn’t stopped him with an upraised hand.
“Easy,
Lee. Just a little pick-up and delivery
job. Well, and a little observation of a
different variety of nature along the way.
Nothing strenuous, and nothing that will slow us down for more than a
week or so.”
While
the expression on Lee’s face continued to register disapproval, his voice held
resignation to the fact when he asked, “Where and when, sir?”
Nelson
carefully didn’t smile. Lee was very
used to Seaview’s sudden changes of cruise parameters due to any number of
reasons – not the least of which was Nelson’s own research projects. But rather than answer, he pointed toward the
hatch. “What say we continue this
conversation below? It’s cold up here.”
Lee
shrugged. “I was kind of enjoying
it. But if you insist…” He sent his boss an innocent grin. Nelson snorted in reply, and Lee reached to
open the hatch.
* *
* *
Eight
days later found Lee once again in the conning tower. However, this time the temperature had
traversed the dial to almost uncomfortably hot.
And he had company outside of Seaview’s constant-temperatured interior –
Chip was topside as well. Seaview lay
stationary just off the coast of one of the Galapagos Islands,
Nelson
had explained, as he was briefing both Lee and Chip over cups of hot coffee in
the nose once he’d finessed Lee down from the tower and Chip had dived the
boat, that because whale sharks often hung around areas where there were other
sharks, to research one you had to know something about the other varieties as
well. Will was still sitting close by,
listening, and questioned what other types were likely to be in the area. The boat’s CMO didn’t like surprises.
“Hammerheads,
for the most part,” Nelson answered.
“Non-aggressive, more curious than anything.” He shrugged.
“The occasional Great White shark.”
“Oh,
goody.” Will was the resident cynic.
Nelson
just chuckled at him. “The whale sharks,
while huge, are totally safe.
Well…” He chuckled again and gave
the other three a bit of a bashful smile.
“Was swimming with one once and accidentally got smacked with its tail
fin.” He grimaced. “Not something that I’d recommend.” His grin brightened at the ones he received
from Lee and Chip, and the groan that the bad joke elicited from Will. “What divers will have to watch out for are
the Galapagos sharks, a variety of Grey reef shark. They’re usually not a problem, eating
bottom-dwelling squid, fish, and octopus.
But they can be dangerous if cornered.”
“I
thought, from what you said earlier,” Chip asked Nelson, “that we’d just be
chasing already tagged specimens – that the diving was all done.”
“Not
quite. It’s my understanding that, while
we will be following them as well as doing some observations from here in the
nose, Dr. Compton will still be wanting to do more dives if we run into any so
far unidentified specimens.”
“Okay,”
Chip acknowledged. He gave Lee’s
shoulder a little shove. “Behave
yourself out there and don’t be trying to bring home a new pet.” It was acknowledged by all hands aboard the
submarine that if there was diving to be done, Lee would go out on as many as
he could. Lee had, at the time, just
sent his friend a glare while Nelson and Will buried chortles in their coffee
mugs – with limited success. Both knew
that Chip was still trying to josh Lee out of his doldrums.
Now,
Lee returned the little shove. “Any
objections to bringing that pet home?” he asked with an innocent smile. Dr. Compton turned out to be tall and
slender, with shoulder-length rich brown hair that glistened in the bright
equatorial sun. And even obviously
without make-up on, wasn’t at all hard to look at.
Chip
gave a low whistle. “You may have to
fight me for her,” he observed with an admiring quality to his voice. Both men grinned. They continued to watch until the doctor’s
gear was below, Nelson had escorted their guest through the hatch, and the
zodiac had headed back to the island, before going down themselves. Seaview needed to be maneuvered to the
vicinity of Galapagos’ two most northerly islands, Wolf and Darwin, where most
of Dr. Compton’s research was being conducted.
Lee
was standing back, watching young Lt. Chris James give the orders to shift the
giant submarine while Chip went back to see that the new equipment was properly
stowed, when footsteps on the circular stairway leading down from Officers’
Country, as well as the guest cabins, announced the arrival in the nose of Nelson
with the scientist. Lee sent both a
quick smile before returning his attention to the young lieutenant. James was very new to the boat but was
already proving to be a quick learner, and an asset to the team. In the background he could hear Nelson explaining
some of Seaview’s more interesting idiosyncrasies to Dr. Compton as the two
watched out her herculite windows.
Lee
saw Seaview’s senior helmsman, Layton, hesitate half a second before responding
to a minor course correction Chris called for as the submarine moved at dead
slow away from shallow water among the Galapagos archipelago. Lee said nothing although he knew what was
about to happen. Chris had only
over-corrected by maybe a degree but Seaview very gently brushed a bit of reef,
the feel and the sound evident in the Control Room. As a stricken look came over the young
lieutenant’s face Lee winked at
“That’s
dinner at Visconti’s you owe me for scratching the paint,” he told Lee firmly
as he walked up to the chart table.
Lee
heard Nelson snort, but before he could defend himself Lt. James piped up. “Oh, no, sir.
It was my error.”
“Just
a little one,” Lee told both. “No harm
done.” He looked at James. “And I’m quite certain that it won’t happen
again.” There was firmness in his voice
but a softening sparkle in his eyes.
“It
better well not,” Chip grumbled. He made
sure that James didn’t see the wink that he sent Lee, and Lee had to quickly
squash the grin that formed as Admiral Nelson called his name. He hesitated only a moment as Chip quickly
scanned the charts, determined what had happened, and then let Lt. James
continue under his watchful eye. Lee
nodded to both, sent
“Dr.
M. L. Compton,” Nelson made the formal introductions, “Seaview’s captain,
Commander Lee Crane.”
“A
pleasure, Doctor,” Lee responded amiably.
She
merely nodded back, reaching up with her right hand to flip that side of her
hair behind her ear before turning back to Nelson. “I assumed that the other officer who just
came in must be the captain. He
certainly seemed more concerned about the condition of your ship.”
Lee
started to frown, and opened his mouth to reply, but Nelson cut him off. “Oh, don’t let that little scene bother you,
Doctor. Just a little training
session. Lee had everything under
control. Just as he will see that
Seaview is kept positioned correctly for your research.” The mild reproach in his voice was obviously
not lost on the doctor.
“Sorry,”
she apologized. “I’ve just heard such
wonderful things about Seaview, and I’m not on board half an hour and we run
into something.” She tried a smile. Lee wasn’t impressed by it, but relaxed
nonetheless.
“Lt.
James is fairly new on board. He’s still
learning what Seaview is capable of. As
big as she is, it’s easy to forgot how maneuverable she can be.”
“How
long will it take us to get to
Behind
her back Nelson carefully covered a grin as Lee visibly took a deep
breath. “As soon as we’re away from
these shoals we can move more freely.
ETA 1130 hours.”
“I’ll
need to set up my tracking equipment.
Admiral Nelson suggested using his lab, but after seeing this space,” she
waved her hand around the Nose, “this will be perfect. I can actually see what the equipment is
telling me and I’ll be able to give you orders more easily.”
Lee
knew that he stiffened, more a reaction to her easy assumption that he’d be
taking orders from her than having her in the Nose. It actually made sense, considering her
research. As he realized that he could
simply close the crash doors and cut her off from the Control Room, he also
realized that she was waiting impatiently for an answer, and starting to turn
toward Nelson when none was forthcoming from Lee.
“As
long as your equipment doesn’t interfere with our navigation,” Lee told her
somewhat stiffly, “I see no reason not to set it up here.” He turned and looked at Chip. “Mr. Morton, will you see that Dr. Compton’s
tracking equipment is set up here in the nose?”
“Aye,
aye, sir,” came Chip’s instant response.
Lee
turned back to the visitor. “Everything
should be ready by the time we reach
“I
could swear, when I looked at the calendar, we were still several weeks from
the Fourth of July festivities. Looks
like we’re going to start the fireworks early.”
“And
I could swear that I just gave you an order, Mister,” Lee said with a growl in
his voice as he reached for a pencil on the chart table. But the fact that he couldn’t control his
lips twitching took the sting out of his words, and Chip headed aft still
smiling softly.
On
the other side of the doors Admiral Nelson was having much the same problem as
his captain. The scientist turned to him
from watching the doors close. “Now how
am I supposed to give him orders?” she asked Nelson.
The
Admiral worked hard to control his expression.
“Dr. Compton, visiting scientists do not order Seaview’s Captain to do
anything.” He said it mildly, but she
once again read the disapproval.
“Oops. Guess I didn’t phrase that very well, did I?”
“No,
you didn’t,” Nelson told her dryly.
“I’m
so used to ordering around the chase boats…”
She sent Nelson a sheepish smile.
Nelson
finally chuckled softly. “Trust me. Referring to Seaview as a chase boat won’t
make you points with any of the crew.
Particularly her Skipper.” She
nodded sheepishly, and Nelson took pity on her.
“But don’t dwell on it. Cdr.
Crane certainly won’t.” He
chuckled. “Because he focuses on the
logistics of a cruise instead of the ongoing research, he’s had a fair amount
of practice ignoring visitors to the boat.”
He emphasized the last word – again not lost on the doctor.
But
she just gave him a speculative look.
“I’m not sure if I like that or not.”
She matched Nelson’s earlier tone for dryness.
Nelson
chuckled openly. “Never doubt for an
instant that he respects what you do.
Just remember that he has different priorities. While you are responsible for your research,
he’s responsible for this entire boat, and everyone in it.” He gave the woman a firm look. “And he takes his responsibilities extremely
seriously.”
“Understood,”
the doctor acquiesced.
* *
* *
By
1800 hours Lee had gotten over his momentary snit. A lot of it had to do with Admiral Nelson
bringing in a tracking unit that he’d calibrated with the one Dr. Compton was
using, and setting it up at the sonar station.
It relieved any constant need for the researcher to relay information to
the
So
far ‘Bertha’ was proving elusive. While
females tended to stick closer to one area than males, there was no guarantee
that she hadn’t wandered off while feeding.
That was one of the reasons Dr. Compton was doing her research – to
ascertain that, once one did move away for whatever reason, she’d come back to
her ‘home’ range.
As
Chip prepared to turn the
“Dinnertime,
Doctor,” Lee told her amiably.
She
shook her head. “Not hungry,” she
muttered, and turned back to her equipment.
Lee
shrugged, turned as well, and walked back to the chart table just as Chip
officially gave James the
“Oh
goody. Another person on the boat who
doesn’t care whether or not they eat.
Cookie will be thrilled.” O’Brien
carefully smothered a snort but Chip’s grumbling only caused Lee to grin, and
the two headed aft.
Lee
had to explain again when Admiral Nelson walked into the Wardroom, followed
closely by Will Jamison. Nelson started
to frown before Chip jumped in with a “And he even opened the crash doors,”
which earned him a kick under the table from Lee.
Nelson
gave both younger men a fond smile. It
had been a rough last few weeks. For
everyone on board Seaview, but especially for her captain. To see Lee even this close to normal with the
hijinks that tended to go on between the two old friends was extremely welcome.
“Cookie?”
Lee turned toward Seaview’s back-up Nuclear Reactor technician – and premier
chef. “Could you fix a tray and take it
forward to the nose? I don’t believe
that Dr. Compton had any lunch, either.”
Cookie frowned at the special request but turned back toward the Galley.
Doc
shook his head. “The Skipper concerned
about someone not eating? What’s wrong
with this picture?” Nelson snorted, Chip
nearly choked on the bite of food that he’d just taken, and Lee gave the doctor
a glaring look that had sent many a man running for his life. Will, as usual, just got a smug look on his
face and turned to fix his own plate.
Seaview’s
CMO was pretty much immune from Lee’s occasional ill humor. It had not come without a period of ups and
downs between the two very strong-willed men.
And there still occurred the occasional shouting match. But Lee had slowly come to respect Will’s
expertise, and allow Will past the walls that he’d built up over the years
against medical personnel – a reaction to too many times having them place
limits on Lee that he felt were unreasonable and unfounded. He’d eventually just tuned them out and
ignored any that got in his face. For
Will it had taken time to learn the balance point between making sure that Lee
was in good enough condition to perform his job, and acknowledging that Lee
sometimes had to ignore his own infirmities if it meant the successful
completion of his duties as Seaview’s skipper.
While a truce of sorts had finally been reached, it didn’t keep the two
from moments of extreme stubbornness and temper. And solutions to individual situations
sometimes had to be arbitrated by Admiral Nelson. But for the most part, the two actually got
along just fine despite their outward bickering.
On
this evening gentle humor prevailed through the entire meal, a breather from
the depressed attitudes of the last few weeks.
Cookie returned from the Nose apparently unscathed so it was somewhat of
a surprise when, as Lee was pouring himself another cup of coffee after
finishing his meal, Lt. James’ voice sounded over the intercom.
“Skipper,
could you come to the
Lee
raised both eyebrows at Chip as he reached for the com. “This is the Skipper. What’s wrong, Lieutenant?”
“Ah,
it’s Dr. Compton, sir. She’s…ah…very
unhappy.” At the nervousness in the
young man’s voice, the other three raised eyebrows as well.
“Be
right there,” Lee acknowledged, put down his coffee mug with a wistful sigh,
and headed forward. Chip was right
behind him, and it didn’t surprise Lee at all to discover that both Nelson and
Doc came as well.
They
could all hear the problem even before they entered the aft hatch to the
“Doctor…”
“Finners!”
she cut him off with a snarl.
“Excuse
me?”
She
pointed out Seaview’s front windows. The
submarine was passing slowly along the bottom between Wolf and
“Finners,”
Dr. Compton said again, this time a little more under control. “They catch the sharks, cut off the fins to
sell, mostly to Asian markets, and dump the bodies back into the water for the
other sharks to dispose of and cover the evidence.”
“But
that’s illegal…” Chip realized the
stupidity of the comment and cut it off.
“Very,”
Nelson told him disgustedly.
“Unfortunately, it’s also very lucrative to the people doing it, and
very hard to stop. The Galapagos have
only a few patrol boats. It’s a little
easier to stop the middlemen on the mainland once they buy the fins from the
fishermen. But not much.”
“On
top of that,” Dr. Compton took over, “while it’s illegal here in the
archipelago, it’s legal on the coast. If
they don’t get caught red-handed…” everyone cringed slightly at that bad joke,
“they can claim that they caught the sharks in open water.”
Lee
reached for the nearest com. “Sonar, any
surface boats in the area?”
“Aye,
sir,” Kowalski answered immediately.
“We’re almost directly under two fishing boats.”
“Fishing
boats, my …eye,” Dr. Compton spat out, judiciously correcting the term she
rather obviously wanted to use.
A
decidedly evil look crossed Lee’s face.
“Mr. Morton, suppose we blow all ballast and give our ‘friends’ topside
something else to think about.” The same
menacing smile came over the XO’s face as he spun on his heel and started
issuing commands.
The
boat was instantly surrounded by a mass of air bubbles. They weren’t all that deep, and could only
imagine how the disturbance was being perceived on the surface. But even Will had a decidedly pleased look on
his face. After about twenty seconds Lee
called to stop the blow, and had Chip bring the boat to periscope depth. Everyone followed him into the
“That
should hold them off.” He shrugged, and
the smirk turned a good deal less smug as he hit the button that dropped the
instrument back down. “For a few days,
anyway. Sorry, Doctor,” he looked at the
scientist.
She
took a deep breath. “Every little bit
helps, I guess.” She turned and went
back into the Nose.
Lee
turned to Nelson and asked quietly.
“Think that’s what’s happened to ‘Bertha?’ We can’t find her because the finners got
her?”
“Unfortunately,
Lee, that’s all too possible. Whale
sharks, being so slow and docile, are easy targets for the blackards. Pretty much their only enemies.” One fist hit the other palm with a resounding
smack.
* *
* *
They
got lucky. Or, more correctly, ‘Big
Bertha’ did. Both Dr. Compton’s tracking
unit and the one Admiral Nelson had set up in the Control Room picked up her
signal about 2030 hours. Chip suspected
that he wasn’t the only one in the
The
whole boat had rallied around and did what they could to get Lee out of the
funk that he’d fallen into after young Seaman Yager’s accidental death. Chip buried a smile as he thought back on how
careful the crew had been to not let Lee catch on to the little things everyone
tried to do to raise their Skipper’s spirits.
If Lee ever realizes how much the whole crew tries to look after him… Some of the grin broke through as he gave the
commands to ease Seaview toward where the tracker said that they’d find the
whale shark. Lee didn’t take well to
anyone ‘Mother Henning’ him. Over the
years he had developed a tolerance for Chip’s gentle – and sometimes not so
gentle – haranguing. After watching Lee
build up walls against the medical profession, it was with heartfelt gratitude
that Chip had watched Will Jamison slowly gain Lee’s confidence to the point
that the CMO could also prod Lee without the danger of simply being
ignored. Chip’s grin expanded. He had a feeling that Will wasn’t one to be
ignored, no matter the situation. The
shouting matches that erupted between CMO and CO, and even sometimes between
CMO and Admiral, went a long way toward cementing Will’s status both on board Seaview
and at NIMR’s
Lee,
who had been hanging over Daystrom’s shoulder at Sonar watching the blip on the
tracking unit get stronger and closer, turned abruptly and headed for the
Nose. Chip didn’t get his grin under
control fast enough, and Lee stopped and sent him a raised eyebrow.
“Just
glad that I don’t have to listen to another tirade from Dr. Compton,” Chip lied
through his teeth, his face an innocent mask.
“What language was she sputtering in, anyway?” he asked, trying to
distract Lee from pinning him down about what he’d really been thinking.
“Portuguese,
I think,” Lee answered. He had a feeling
that Chip was up to something. Almost
the only time that Chip got that particular expression on his face, it usually
boded no good for Lee. But he let it
drop as there was a triumphant shout from the Nose. The outside lights had been turned on as soon
as the sun went down, and Lee now walked forward to take a look out the front
windows.
Just
off the bow, and slightly below Seaview, a huge form swam lazily at an angle
away to starboard. As he watched the
creature, Seaview came to dead slow and swung in behind. With the slight distortion of looking through
herculite and water it was a little difficult to make an accurate
measurement. But Lee estimated the shark
at roughly 35 feet in length. She showed
the usual coloration of mostly gray, the sides a checkerboard of pale yellow
spots and stripes. The belly was a pale
gray. Having done a bit of reading on
the species in the last few days Lee knew that the patterned body was unique to
each shark and, like Gray whale tail fluke coloration patterns, was used as a
system to identify individual animals.
In this case there was little doubt which shark this one was. At the base of the forward of her two dorsal
fins was a small ribbon streamer marking the location of her transmitter. Despite that, he still watched as Dr. Compton
confirmed the identification by checking a folder of pictures and diagrams,
comparing markings. ‘Bertha’ seemed
totally unconcerned to have a giant submarine dogging her path and continued to
swim nonchalantly in the direction of
Dr.
Compton flipped the right side of her hair behind her ear in what Lee was
beginning to recognize as an unconscious habit, and sighed heavily. “Looks like she went off to the west to feed
and is on her way back to familiar waters.
It was what I’d hoped…” She
didn’t finish the thought.
“So,
what’s on the agenda now?” She’d dropped
her gaze back to her notebook, and Lee took her silence to mean that she was
just formulating a plan. When she looked
up again and continued to look out the windows, Lee cleared his throat
loudly. She glanced his way casually,
again giving her hair a flip. At Lee’s
once again raised eyebrow she finally spoke.
“I’m sorry. Did you say
something?”
Oh,
please. Another researcher totally
engrossed in their own thoughts to the exclusion of everything – and everyone –
else, Lee
thought to himself, but nonetheless sent her a small smile. “Just asked what’s next,” he said succinctly,
but not unpleasantly.
“For
tonight, I breathe a whole lot easier than I have since she disappeared four
days ago,” the doctor told him with a tired smile. “Tomorrow I’d like to scout north of
“Shouldn’t
be a problem,” Lee told her amiably.
“I’ll have Mr. O’Brien meander in that direction overnight, and we can
make a couple lazy sweeps through the area tomorrow.”
“Perfect. If we find any I’ll want to dive with them to
take photographs for identification purposes, and get measurements.”
“No
more tagging?”
She
shook her head. “The team will be
leaving in three weeks, and we won’t have a chance to get back for probably
another year. It’s even possible that we
won’t come back here. There are regular
sightings around Ningaloo Reef off
Lee
started to reply but steps on the spiral stairs distracted him, and Admiral
Nelson joined them as they continued to follow ‘Bertha’. “Our missing whale shark, I presume,” he said
with a soft smile.
Before
Lee could do more than nod he was once more interrupted. “Admiral, we’ve found her,” Dr. Compton said
happily. “Thankfully she’s apparently
just been off feeding.”
Oh
goody, Lee
thought to himself as he just sent Nelson a shrug. She’s one of those who like to repeat
everything in response to what’s been said to her.
Nelson sent both Lee and the doctor a slightly broader
smile. “So I see,” he answered
softly. Lee got the distinct impression
that Nelson knew exactly what he’d been thinking, and sent a bit of a sheepish
look back. It was one of Lee’s little
pet peeves, and Nelson was all too aware of it.
Lee hadn’t noticed her doing it until now. But then, he hadn’t really had that much
interaction with her, either. Lee
decided that his time would be better served in the
“All’s
well in whale sharkdom, I presume?” Chip
sent him a smirk as Lee walked up to the chart table.
“So
it would seem,” Lee answered. He sent a
glance around the
When
Lee returned to the Control Room through the aft hatch from a ‘walkaboat’ just
before 2200 hours – what the crew called the casual walkthroughs that he was
apt to do at any hour of the day or night, but most often during Seaview’s
evenings – he caught Admiral Nelson coming in from the Nose through the now
only partially opened doors, a mildly disgusted look on his face. Now what’s she done? he muttered to
himself, and met Nelson at the chart table with an upraised eyebrow.
The
Admiral’s expression changed to a slight smile.
“Just tried to get Dr. Compton to let one of the crew monitor her equipment
overnight. She seems to think that she
can stay up 24/7 and do it herself.”
“Must
come with being a scientist,” Lee answered, looking at his workaholic boss with
a totally innocent expression. Lt.
O’Brien, who had the Conn, didn’t get a bubble of laughter smothered fast
enough and quickly turned away, not seeing the glare that Nelson sent his
way. Nelson turned it on Lee, who went
even more cherubic, until Nelson finally snorted.
“A
bit of the kettle calling the pot black, Commander,” he grumbled.
Lee’s
expression broke into a sheepish grin.
“Aye, sir,” he chuckled.
Nelson
gave him a gentle backhand.
“Lieutenant,” he addressed O’Brien, who turned instantly back to the
other two, his face once more under control.
“Yes,
sir?”
“You
appear to have everything under control for the night. Any reason you can see for your Skipper not
getting a good night’s sleep?”
Caught
directly in the middle of Nelson’s grin and Lee’s frown, there was a brief
moment of hesitation on O’Brien’s part.
But he quickly shook his head.
“No, sir,” he answered, not looking at Lee.
“Good. Then, Commander,” Nelson sent Lee a
purposeful look, “suppose we both toddle off to our bunks.” He suddenly grinned broadly. “If nothing else, we’ll surprise everyone
else by getting a full night’s sleep – for a change.”
Lee
returned the grin. Nelson wasn’t often
this whimsical in front of the crew; he tended to reserve such comments for
private conversations, or in the Wardroom.
Lee wasn’t stupid. He knew that,
what with the previous weeks’ happenings, it was just Nelson’s way of doing
what most everyone else had been doing – trying to get the boat, and especially
her Skipper, back to a more normally relaxed atmosphere. Lee also saw that, despite the casual mood to
the conversation, there was a decidedly purposeful glint in Nelson’s eye. At other times, being basically ordered to
stand down would have instantly raised his ire.
But tonight, having just finished checking that his boat was settled
into her normal nighttime routines, he was willing to go along with the gentle
order. After one small errand.
“I’ll
just take a quick shot at getting Dr. Compton to crash as well.” An exasperated look quickly crossed Nelson’s
face, and Lee smiled. “Not that I think
I’ll be any more persuasive than you, sir,” he hurriedly added.
“Harrumph,”
Nelson muttered. He sent Lee a hard
look.
“Ten
minutes,” Lee told him, then smiled sheepishly.
“Maybe fifteen.”
Nelson
couldn’t help himself. As O’Brien once
again had to turn away from his superior officers’ antics Nelson grinned, shook
his head, and walked off. Lee waited
until he’d exited the aft hatch before turning and heading forward.
Dr.
Compton was sitting at her console, headphones on and watching the telemetry
screen as she turned dials, adjusting for the different frequencies assigned to
different animals. Lee figured that he’d
startled her enough for one day and walked casually up to the front windows on
the starboard side, as far away from her as he could. Once she’d spotted him, he moved closer. “Anything?” he asked conversationally, and
turned and sat on the window ledge facing her.
She just shook her head. “Do you
actually expect to find any in this area?”
She
shrugged, slipping the headset off her ears and letting it lay around her
neck. “No real way to know where they
are going to show up. Two animals we
tagged are males, and they have a broader range than the females.”
“You’ve
been at that steady ever since you came aboard.” Lee tried to keep his voice calm and friendly. He had a trump card to play that apparently
Nelson hadn’t, and had a feeling that she would go ballistic when he sprung it
on her. So, he tried to lead up to it as
casually as possible. “It’s a fairly
simple tracking unit. There are half a
dozen men on board who could easily handle it.”
She was already starting to shake her head, but Lee just kept
talking. “If you stay up all night you
won’t be allowed to dive tomorrow if we do find any more of your friends.”
Lee
decided that he’d suggest to Chip that the researcher give him lessons in glare
production. While Seaview’s XO could
create absolute mayhem among the crew, scattering them like puff balls in a
hurricane without ever saying a word, his best didn’t hold a candle to the one
being directed at Lee from Dr. Compton.
It was a struggle but he maintained his composure and continued to look
at her openly and calmly. “Seaview
regs,” he continued. “No one – not even
me,” and he sent her a half-bashful smile, “dives if they’ve not had proper downtime
beforehand.” So, that was fudging. But just a little bit. In emergencies the rules were stretched by
necessity. Lee was firmly of the opinion
that tracking whale sharks didn’t fit under that heading. He continued to sit quietly, accepting the look
for what it was – extreme displeasure at having to comply against her wishes to
someone else’s ideas. Lee was all too
familiar with the feeling. But he’d
learned – for the most part, anyway – when it was strategically advantageous to
back off.
It
took the doctor long enough to apparently reach the same conclusion that Lee
was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to, and started formulating a
plan for handling Chip’s and Nelson’s reactions the following day if he did
have to use that excuse to restrict her dives.
He didn’t even want to consider what Jamie would say – that poor doctor
had butted heads with Lee so many times already over what was and wasn’t
‘proper rest’ that his comments would in all likelihood not be repeatable in
polite company. And from one of the most
even-tempered men it had ever been Lee’s privilege to work with.
That
thought made his lips twitch, and he grinned ever so softly before he could get
himself under control. It was enough,
however, to cause Dr. Compton to actually growl. Lee quickly held up his hand. “Sorry, Doctor. Just thinking back to a few instances I’ve
had to listen to the same argument used against me.” He frowned.
“It’s the pits,” he grumbled with honesty, before giving himself a
shake. “Doesn’t mean that it’s not a
correct call.” He looked at her
openly. “We’ve got a terrific record on
board Seaview.” A brief flash of pain
hit Lee as the memory of seeing Seaman Yager’s body pushed its way into his
mind. He immediately willed it away and
continued. “We don’t take the crew’s
safety lightly.”
“I’m
not crew,” Dr. Compton muttered.
“Same
difference. You’re on board, you obey
the regs.” He watched as she closed her
eyes and took a deep breath. When she
opened them her expression was a good deal less menacing.
“Who
would be manning my equipment?” It was
an order, but Lee chose not to push that issue since he’d apparently won the
round.
He
reached for the nearest mic. “Mr.
O’Brien, please check the Duty Roster. I
need Seamen Patterson and Blake released from their regular duty so that they
can monitor Dr. Compton’s equipment starting at 2200 hours through 0800 hours
for as long as she’s aboard.”
There
was the briefest of pauses. “Shouldn’t
be a problem, Skipper.”
“Good. Could you call them both forward so that she
can go over everything she wants them to do?”
“Aye,
aye, sir,” came promptly back, and almost immediately the call went out over
the all-boat com.
Lee
sat quietly, but it wasn’t a long wait.
Patterson slipped through the still mostly closed crash doors just as
Blake, normally assigned to one of the DC teams but who was also thoroughly
cross trained on Sonar – thanks to Lee’s emphasis on multi-tasked crewmen –
scurried down the spiral stairs. As the
senior of the two Pat offered a soft, “As you requested, sir,” as he and Blake
came to a stop.
Lee
remained where he was, sitting on the window ledge, as Dr. Compton gave the two
rather overly detailed – at least it seemed so to Lee – instructions for how to
use her tracking unit, and what kind of notes that she wanted kept. Lee had suspected as much and had therefore
chosen crewmen who were the calmest, and the least likely to take offense at
the doctor’s somewhat over-dramatics.
But he rose when she started demanding that each man repeat her
instructions back to her.
“Doctor,
I chose these men because they are highly skilled. I assure you that they understood you the
first time,” he said with the slightest bit of stiffness in his voice. “If they do have a question they have only to
look back over your own notes to see the way you want the information
recorded.” Patterson had remained
passive during Dr. Compton’s tedious instructions, but Blake noticeably let out
a long breath and flicked his Skipper a grateful look. “Pat, you and Blake decide how you want to
set up your watches. Doctor, may I
escort you to your cabin?”
“I
think I remember the way,” the scientist muttered. Giving her hair a flip she headed for the
spiral staircase. Lee waited until she
was safely away, and the two seamen had decided that Pat would take the first
five hours while Blake would handle the last five, before turning on his heel
and re-entering the
“Care
to tell me how you managed to pry Dr. Compton away from her equipment after I
failed so miserably?” A glint in the
Admiral’s eyes was somewhat softened by the touch of humor in his voice.
Lee
sent his boss a sheepish grin. “I
cheated,” he told Nelson softly.
“That
would explain the slamming of her cabin door loud enough to be heard three
corridors away.” Nelson’s expression
turned firm. “And you find that an
acceptable leadership style, Commander?”
Lee
shrugged noting that, despite the seeming reprimand, Nelson couldn’t keep
himself from a slight grin. “Doesn’t
seem to have caused any problems so far, sir,” Lee told him.
Nelson
finally chuckled openly, and shook his head.
“And what is it going to take to get you to stand down as well? Could have sworn you told me that you were
going to head in that direction, and here you are.” He was still smiling, but Lee took note that
the glint was back in his eyes.
“Just
headed to walk through the boat one last time, sir,” he answered. “Then I’ll crash.”
“Oh,
I think she can survive one night without you personally tucking her in.”
Lee
ever so briefly frowned, but surrendered with a long sigh. “Yes, sir,” he acquiesced, and the two headed
amiably up the stairs.
* *
* *
Lee surprised himself and actually slept fairly well. It no doubt had something to do with Chip poking his nose in Lee’s door right after he got there, demanding to know why Dr. Compton had tried to rip her cabin door off of its hinges, she’d slammed it so hard. Chip teased Lee that he hadn’t heard a door slammed that hard from anyone other than Lee. Lee’s instant glare only increased Chip’s grin, and he broke into open laughter when Lee sheepishly explained what he’d done. Chip applauded Lee’s choice of crewmen to work with the scientist, and headed back to his own cabin leaving Lee in a much more relaxed frame of mind than he’d been only a few minutes before. He changed and hit his bunk, sending silent thanks to whatever guardian angel had been watching over him to have sent him such an exceptional friend as Chip had been for so many years.
Even
though it was barely 0630 hours when Lee came down the spiral stairs the
following morning he wasn’t at all surprised to find Dr. Compton already in the
nose, her head bent over the notes Patterson and Blake had kept during the
night. “Do they meet with your approval,
Doctor?” Lee was surprised at the
grumble in his voice, and sent her a smile when she looked at him.
She
sent a sheepish one back. “Actually,
their handwriting is much more legible than mine,” she admitted.
Lee
just grinned and continued on to the chart table, where Chip was glancing at
O’Brien’s and Keeter’s status reports for Seaview’s night. “How many times did she come down during the
night?” Lee asked Keeter quietly.
The
lieutenant answered just as softly.
“Came down about five minutes ago, and as far as I know that’s the first
since Bob said that you chased her out.”
A
small grin hit Chip’s face as he continued to scan the reports, but he quickly
got himself under control. “All’s well
here, Skipper,” he said lightly. “Time
for breakfast. I’m hungry.”
“You’re
always hungry,” Lee grumbled, but he grinned as Keeter unsuccessfully cut off a
snort. Lee briefly held up a hand, and
turned back to the Nose. “Doctor,” he
called softly, “join us for breakfast?”
Lee saw her lips move in a mutter, and Blake’s shoulders shake in silent
laughter. But she dropped the report,
sighed, and headed in his direction.
“Ah
yes, once again the old Crane charm has them following him anywhere.” Chip said it so softly that only the three at
the chart table could have heard it. And
Lee realized, when he turned to glare at Chip, that Lee’s torso had shielded
Dr. Compton from even seeing that the blond had said anything.
“Lt.
Keeter,” Lee said, although glaring menacingly at Chip.
“Sir?”
came the instant response.
“Have
any hankering to make XO a little faster than you’d originally planned?”
Chip’s
easy grin turned instantly hard. “Watch
it, junior,” he threatened, still very quietly.
But the grin returned as Lee started chuckling. Keeter, somewhat caught in the middle,
finally decided that a smile wouldn’t get him in trouble, especially as Lee
sent him a fond look and ever so briefly laid a hand on his shoulder. At that point Dr. Compton arrived at the
table. The men got themselves back under
control and Lee headed aft, Dr. Compton in tow.
Chip sent Keeter one extremely brief glare before he, too, relaxed into
a grin and headed after the other two, his smile broadening as he watched Lee
send a quick scan over each station as he passed through the
The
smile that thought put on Chip’s face lasted all the way to the Wardroom and
through the door, where they ran into both Admiral Nelson and Dr. Jamison. He saw Lee send a broad grin the CMO’s way
that Jamie totally didn’t understand, but Chip did. He had a pretty good idea of what Jamie’s
reaction would be if – or more probably when – he found out what Lee had done
to outsmart Dr. Compton’s bid to remain in the Nose all night. Those two, Chip chuckled to
himself. Thank heavens the Admiral
finally found a CMO who can ‘handle’ Lee, even if he does tend to do it at a
decibel level equal to a jackhammer. He
didn’t get that chuckle buried, and instantly had four sets of eyes turn his
direction. “Ah, breakfast,” he covered
his momentary slip. “My favorite time of
day.”
“Better
fill your plate fast, Doctor,” Lee told Dr. Compton. “Once Chip hits the line there won’t be much
left.”
“Now,
Skipper.” Cookie rolled his eyes at
Lee. “You know I’d never let anybody go
hungry around here.” He sent the XO a
quick look. “But I have to admit that
Mr. Morton does make it difficult once in awhile.” That got chuckles out of everyone except
Chip. As the blond sent Cookie a
momentary glare Lee punched him lightly on the shoulder, and Chip finally
grinned as well.
Nelson
sent Will a wink as they turned to dish up their plates. Both had been extremely worried about their
sometimes overly sensitive captain. Lee
was one of the most competent men it had ever been their privilege to serve
with. But both men had also seen him
take responsibility for anything that went wrong around him, to the occasional
detriment of his own peace of mind. The
two older men had shared many a cup of coffee – as well as a few hits on
Nelson’s personal stash of scotch – during the week following Yager’s death,
trying to figure out a way to get Lee out of his funk. As the days wore on, and Lee fell deeper and
deeper into his self-imposed depression, Chip’s suggestion of using a sledgehammer
on him started sounding better and better.
Happily
they hadn’t had to resort to that, although whatever Will had loaded into the
syringe he’d used on Lee had something of the same reaction. When Lee reappeared almost 36 hours later he
had himself much more under control, although he’d still been quieter than
usual. To see him now, back to the
gentle needling between CO and XO that so often accompanied a quiet cruise, had
both older men breathing a good deal easier.
Will
smiled as he motioned Dr. Compton ahead of him in line for Cookie’s
always-ample selections. She’d gotten an
odd look on her face as she’d kept looking from face to face during the command
staff’s little hijinks. “Don’t pay too
much attention to those two,” he indicated Lee and Chip. “They’ve known each other since they entered
“Guess
I’ll have to take your word for that.”
Her voice held a hint of indecisiveness.
“A most unusual crew.”
“It
works,” Will told her confidently.
As
everyone selected what they wanted for breakfast, Lee and Chip settled in their
usual spots on one side of the front table.
The Admiral and Will sat on the other side, with Dr. Compton between
them. The conversation was light, and centered
on the day’s possible activities.
Neither spotters, sonar, nor tracking units had run across any whale
sharks during Seaview’s overnight amble north.
Dr. Compton wasn’t too concerned.
Lee thought about saying something along the lines of it being opportune
that she hadn’t wasted the night at her equipment but wisely kept his mouth
shut. Not so Admiral Nelson, who voiced
the comment with a decided sparkle in his eyes.
“S’pose
so,” came the mumbled response as she rather viciously stabbed a sausage
link. Lee quickly ducked his head and
purposely focused on his own plate. A
soft snicker from his left told him that Chip wasn’t quite as successful at
keeping a straight face and Lee sent a well aimed, albeit soft, kick his XO’s
way. Chip sent him a quick grin, but
lowered his eyes to his own plate as well.
Will
had picked up a fork full of scrambled eggs, but it came to a stop still
several inches from his mouth as he sent a look across the table. But it was to Nelson that he addressed his
comment. “I gather I’m missing something
here,” he said dryly.
Nelson’s
eyes were still sparkling as he watched the two younger men. “Nothing major, Will,” Nelson told him. “Dr. Compton had her heart set on working
through the night, not realizing that we have competent crewmen to help cover
her equipment.” There was a soft growl
from the scientist, causing Nelson’s smile to broaden. “Just took a bit of straightening out.”
“Good,”
Will grumbled with feeling. “We have
quite enough workaholics around here as it is; we don’t need any more.” He sent a particularly knowing look across the
table as he finally took the bite of eggs.
The
look didn’t go unnoticed by Dr. Compton and she, too, looked speculatively at
Lee and Chip. But it was Nelson who
spoke. “Doctor,” he addressed her, “now
that the nights are covered, will you also want your equipment monitored during
the times you might be out diving?”
“I
wouldn’t want to take any more of your crew’s time,” came the waspish reply.
Lee
frowned, but his response was controlled.
“Not a problem, Doctor. Assuming
that any diving you want to do will be during the days…” He sent a quick glare Chip’s way as the
blond’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.
“Depending on the timing of the dives, either Patterson or Blake can
handle an extra hour or two.”
“I
agree,” Nelson added. “It’s not exactly
stressful duty.” Lee sent a kick Chip’s
direction as the blond’s shoulders once more moved slightly, but this time Chip
moved his legs even faster and Lee missed.
Will chuckled softly, looking at no one in particular.
Dr.
Compton sent him a curious glance before looking at Nelson. “Whatever works.” She sighed heavily. “I really don’t mean to be a problem,
Admiral. It’s just… I’m a bit frustrated that I had to leave
early from this assignment.”
Nelson
nodded. “Dr. Harris wasn’t specific when
he called to see if we could pick you up…”
He sent her a raised eyebrow, inviting an explanation.
She
didn’t totally oblige. “It became
necessary for me to return home sooner than planned. Because you and Seaview were available I’m at
least able to complete a bit more of what I need.”
“The
rest of your team can’t pick up the slack?” Lee asked.
“Not
really. The teams are put together so
that, while we have common interests, each member focuses on a different aspect
of the larger project. Asking any of
them to cover my research would mean that they have to give up some of their
own. I can’t do that. I’m grateful that you were available.”
“Happy to oblige,” Nelson told her, with a
grin across the table. “I’ve always had
a fondness for whale sharks.”
She
nodded. “So docile and gentle. Most people hear the word ‘shark’ and they
freak out. And yet, even the Great
Whites aren’t hard to get along with as long as you don’t get stupid.”
Nelson
smiled. “Their territory. You just have to learn to play by their
rules.”
“If
it’s all the same,” Chip said, “I’ll just find a different playground.”
“Ah,
the ever cautious XO,” Lee teased him.
“Just look at how much you miss because of that attitude.”
“You
mean, like the inside of
Lee
sent his friend a quick glare, before it changed to a smirk. “Actually, I was thinking more about some
fabulous underwater scenery.”
“Most
of which I can see from the Observation Nose,” Chip told him firmly.
“Here,
here,” Will chimed in, causing the other three men to laugh.
Nelson
took pity on Dr. Compton’s puzzled look.
“Dr. Jamison is a firm believer that the only safe way to be underwater
is in a submarine,” he explained.
“No
way, Doctor,” she turned and told Will.
“Nothing beats the exhilaration of actually touching nature, not just
observing it.”
“Amen,”
Lee and Nelson said together, and both smiled.
“On
that I have to agree,” Chip acquiesced.
“Dolphins, sea lions, otters, sea horses, and such. Nice, innocent diving companions.”
“And
what were you saying to that wolf eel I saw you talking to the last time we
were diving off the
Chip’s
fork landing hard on the table stopped Lee’s questions, but caused the two
older men to burst out laughing. Even
Dr. Compton smiled. “I was just doing
what I always do,” Chip snarled.
“Watching your back by convincing all of them that you’d make a lousy
snack, you’re so skinny.”
Nelson
and Will both lost it and guffawed openly.
Even Lee had to grin at Chip’s use of the ‘XO looking after his Skipper’
line, and his grin broadened as Chip also smiled. But it only took a moment for Lee’s grin to turn
into a frown – if only for the sake of keeping up the old complaint. “I’m not skinny,” he mock-growled. Then his grin returned. “Have to keep myself in fighting trim to make
sure I’m up for all the craziness the Admiral gets Seaview into.” He sent Nelson an open look. It was Nelson’s turn to frown, but he
couldn’t keep the sparkle out of his eyes.
Will
turned to Dr. Compton. “As I said
before, ignore them all,” he advised.
“A
little hard, when they’re the ones who are supposed to be in charge,” she
admitted with skepticism.
Will
chuckled. “It’s not usually this bad, I
assure you.” He sent a look around the
table as his fellow officers finally settled down. “And never fear – Seaview always manages to
get home in one piece.” He realized his
mistake as a pained look briefly crossed Lee’s face and he abruptly stood up,
his meal only partially eaten. No one
said a word, focusing on their own meals as he took his tray back to the window
into the Galley, refilled his coffee mug, and left. “Rats,” Will muttered, so low that the others
almost didn’t hear him.
“Don’t
beat yourself up over it, Will,” Nelson told him almost as softly.
“I
don’t understand,” Dr. Compton said.
Nelson
shook his head. “No reason you should,”
he admitted. “While Lee always gets
Seaview home safely, he’s just upset that not all of the crew could be as
lucky.” He sighed heavily. “We lost a man on the earlier part of this
cruise. Through no fault of Lee’s,” he
hurried on. “Just…” He wasn’t quite sure how to explain.
“Lee
takes his responsibilities to both boat and crew extremely seriously,” Chip
made the attempt.
“It
was just an unfortunate accident, but the Skipper took it badly,” Will
helped. “He was finally starting to
accept that, and I had to go and open my big fat mouth.” It was Will’s turn to smack his fork down on
the table.
“Easy,
Jamie,” Chip told him.
“Lee
would be the first to tell you, pussy-footing around the incident doesn’t
help,” Nelson added.
“I
know,” Will admitted with a sigh.
“He’ll
be back under control by the time I get to the
“Sirs?”
the men were addressed by Cookie.
“Here
it comes,” Chip muttered, stuffing the last of his eggs in his mouth.
“What
is it, Cookie?” Nelson asked, already knowing the answer.
“Is
the Skipper alright? I mean, he didn’t
finish his breakfast, and I didn’t hear him get a call that he was needed
somewhere else…” He hesitated as the
other three men got slightly pained looks on their faces. Especially Will.
“My
fault,” Will told the temperamental chef.
“Said something that I shouldn’t have.”
“Could
you maybe, sir, not do it again? He’s
just back to eating good.”
Nelson
chuckled softly at the man’s proprietary attitude toward his captain’s eating
habits. “It wasn’t on purpose, Cookie.”
“What
are you planning for lunch, Cookie?” Chip asked with a grin of his own.
“Was
just going to make soup and sandwiches.
Maybe I should come up with something a little more substantial.”
“Works
for me,” Chip told him happily. Nelson
and Will grinned, but Cookie walked away still shaking his head.
Everyone
felt Seaview come to a halt and slowly start to rise. “Back to work,” Chip quipped, and headed out.
“If
we’ve run into more finners…” Dr.
Compton didn’t finish the thought as she, too, stood and turned to leave.
Chip
stopped in his tracks and looked at Nelson.
“Permission to torpedo them, sir?” he asked. But a grin ruined any seriousness to the
question.
Nelson
answered in kind. “Probably a little
drastic, no matter the provocation.” He
sent a sympathetic look Dr. Compton’s way.
“But you and Lee are free to use your own initiative.” Chip’s grin turned positively evil as he left
the Wardroom. Nelson’s grin turned
speculative. “That might have been a
mistake,” he told no one in particular.
But he and Will followed the other two forward.
It
turned out that Seaview had spotted boats on the surface, but merely dive boats
from a couple of local tourist companies.
Lee had chosen to surface well away from them, to let them know that
Seaview was in the area without scaring them half to death as well as ruin the
divers’ pleasure. Chip’s prediction that
Lee would once more have himself well in hand proved correct, although Chip
spent several minutes expounding on various methods of discouraging any future
finners they might run into, until Nelson and Will nearly couldn’t contain
their laughter at the antics. Even Dr.
Compton was smiling before Lee crossed his arms over his chest and glared at
his second-in-command.
“Are
you quite through?” he growled. Both men
were perfectly aware that the other knew what Chip had been up to – merely
deflecting a bit more of Lee’s self-doubt over Yager’s death.
“I
suppose so,” Chip admitted, letting a large grin escape.
Lee
finally chuckled himself, shook his head, and looked at Dr. Compton. “Do the sport divers create a problem for
you, Doctor?”
“Actually,
no. They usually come out for two or
three days at a time, depending on the company and the size of their
boats. These two in particular are great
to work with. Mind you, I’m sure that
they report finners and other problems mainly because it ultimately affects
their businesses. But hey, whatever
works.” Everyone nodded. “Might be a good idea if I give them a call, just
to be polite.”
“This
way, Doctor,” and Nelson took her back to the radio shack.
The
waters were calm, but once Dr. Compton had spoken with the captains of both
tourist boats Lee once again dove Seaview, although they remained in the
area. Dr. Compton explained that any
sudden movements – from anything – had a tendency to spook the gentle
Hammerhead sharks, as well as other residents of the area: fishes, sea turtles,
and the like. It was decided that, as
time constraints weren’t a major issue, Seaview would remain stationary for at
least a few hours and see what developed.
Lee’s eyes started to sparkle at the thought of diving in the lush
tropical waters, and Nelson and Chip shared a grin behind his back.
So
it was to no one’s surprise that 0945 hours saw he, Dr. Compton, and several
lookouts suiting up in the Missile Room.
They were using only light wetsuits in the nearly 80 degree waters, with
short-sleeved tops and no leggings. Lee
and Chip shared a private grin as Chip stood by watching the divers gear up –
Dr. Compton was even easier to look at in the swimsuit she wore under the
wetsuit.
Chip
walked over to the dive controls. “Com
check,” he spoke into the mic, and had to bury a snicker as Dr. Compton nearly
jumped out of her skin. “Oops. Sorry, Doctor. Should have warned you that our gear has
communications links.”
The
scientist gave herself a shake.
“Actually, I noticed the lack of a mouthpiece and the larger
faceplate. Just assumed that they were a
different style than I’m used to and didn’t pay them any attention.”
“Speak
normally if you need anything. The other
divers can hear you, as you can hear them.
We also monitor all dive communications both here and in the Control
Room.”
She
looked at Lee. “Don’t give a person a
lot of privacy, do you?” It wasn’t said
with reproach, and she sent him a bit of a smile along with it.
He
smiled back. “We don’t always dive in
such peaceful places,” he answered. “A
little forewarning tends to be a good thing sometimes.” She nodded and the five divers headed out.
Lee
instantly gave himself over to the underwater world that he so loved. Black coral reefs were alive with schools of
multicolored fishes in infinite varieties – some only seen in the Galapagos
Archipelago. Bright orange seahorses
nearly eight inches long stood out from the reefs they lived in. He grinned as playful sea lions swam by,
checking him out. A couple of green sea
turtles made a brief appearance. At one
point he glanced around, finding Dr. Compton intent on watching some squid move
along the bottom. The three lookouts
were about 20 feet overhead, fairly motionless, but each watching a different
direction.
“Incoming,”
one of them said quietly, and Lee looked up to see several Hammerhead sharks
approaching. Dr. Compton also spotted
them, and all five divers remained still.
Lee had swum with the odd-looking fish before. He knew them to be more curious than
anything, and easily startled. As about
30 of the 10-foot long beasts started to gather there was just a moment of
unease on Lee’s part. But just as
quickly as they came they were gone again, and Lee went back to exploring the
sea life-rich area. Within a few minutes
more Hammerheads appeared, and Lee enjoyed watching their easy grace.
Another
ten minutes or so went by when suddenly Lee noticed that all of the small
fishes he’d been enjoying watching scattered.
At the same time,
“Oh…”
came through his earpiece.
“Friend
of yours, Doctor?” he asked. “No tags
that I can see.” No answer was
immediately forthcoming but Lee watched the scientist swim toward the giant,
snapping several pictures.
As
they both swam closer to the shark she finally spoke. “Quick, grab the end of this tape so I can
get an accurate measurement.” It was an
order, but Lee just smiled to himself and obliged. He was quite used to a certain admiral’s
one-tracked utterances when he had a project occupying his mind. Lee took the end of the measuring tape and
drifted aft while Dr. Compton stayed close to the massive head. The whale shark seemed totally uninterested
in their close presence and continued to swim nonchalantly to wherever he
happened to be heading.
“He’s
beautiful,” Lee said, out loud but mostly to himself.
“No
pets,” Chip said in his ear. “He won’t
fit in any of the Admiral’s specimen tanks.”
“Bummer,”
Lee sighed.
“Eesh,”
came in Dr. Compton’s disgusted voice, and both Chip and Lee chuckled.
“At
his tail fin, Doctor.” Lee announced. He
was mindful of the giant’s seemingly gentle movements, remembering Nelson’s
story of getting accidentally smacked.
“Just
over 42 feet,” Dr. Compton said, as if to herself. “Can you get around him?” That was definitely directed at Lee.
“Where,
exactly,” Lee asked.
“Directly
in front of the first dorsal fin. As he
swims, the fin not only keeps the tape measure in a stable position but that’s
pretty much his widest part.”
“It’s
a good thing he’s not sensitive about his weight,” Lee observed, and heard a
soft groan that he assumed was Dr. Compton’s reaction to his flippancy. Lee swam back toward her and then eased
around the giant fish, trailing the tape until he met back up with her right
over the shark’s back. Putting their
hands together, he read right at 23 feet before he dropped his end of the
tape. It slipped off as the whale shark
went on his way, totally oblivious to what had been going on around him.
“Skipper,”
came softly once more, and he looked up.
Several Hammerheads were making another appearance. “No, Skipper.
Down.” Lee looked where the
spotters were indicating.
He
and Dr. Compton were swimming in about 80 feet of fairly clear water at that
point, having followed the whale shark a ways out from the reef as they took
their measurements. Lee estimated that
he was maybe 30 feet from the bottom. As
he looked below he saw several silvery shapes appearing from deeper out. “Galapagos sharks,” he identified the shapes,
although he was fairly sure everyone else knew what they were as well. As he watched, they continued to appear from
the shadows until there were perhaps 50 between he and the seafloor.
“Doctor,
the playground seems to be getting a bit crowded,” he wisecracked. “Think that it’s time to go home.” When the expected grumble wasn’t forthcoming
he looked around to where he’d last seen her.
Instead of hanging quietly in the water, as Lee was doing, she was
headed back toward the reef in the direction that the sharks were traveling. “Doctor?” he called again a bit louder. Again she ignored him. “Terrific,” he muttered. “All this needs is a few Great Whites to make
an appearance.” He gave a kick and
headed in her direction. The sudden
movement startled the Hammerheads and they instantly disappeared. The reef sharks apparently had more important
business on their prehistoric brains. Or
none of them happened to spot him.
Either way, it took Lee only a minute to catch up with Dr. Compton and
touch her leg, startling her badly.
“What
are you doing?” she yelled at Lee, glaring at him through her mask.
“Trying
to get your attention,” Lee told her mildly, refusing to be goaded. He’d had far too much experience with
Nelson’s single-minded focus on a project.
“Is there a problem with your communications system? I can hear you just fine.”
Her
stiff posture relaxed. “Sorry. It seems to be working fine. Guess I just didn’t hear you.”
“Not
smart in a place like this – not paying attention to your spotters.”
“Something
obviously had the Galapagos sharks on the move.
I wanted to see what it was.”
“And
you had Hammerheads overhead. If they
were all on a blood-scent, it wouldn’t be real wise ending up in the middle of
a feeding frenzy.”
She
looked around. “I don’t see any
Hammerheads,” she told him sarcastically.
“My
point exactly,” he answered in kind, before sighing heavily. “Now that it appears to be not so crowded
shall we go see what started the commotion?”
She
sent him another glare that he ignored, and continued her swim toward where the
Galapagos sharks had headed. Lee followed
behind, and the three spotters maintained a position about 20 feet overhead.
Lee
had always been fascinated by the feeding habits of marine species. On land it was easy to understand how sight,
sound, and smell could lead a hunter to its prey. Underwater, those same senses had to
adapt. How they knew, Lee wasn’t
sure. But ‘something’ had alerted the
sharks to a large school of squid on the move, and the dinner bell had obviously
been rung. All five divers hung back,
well away from the show, and watched as the sharks made a significant dent in
the squid’s numbers before getting their fill and wandering off to whatever and
wherever else they chose. They’d no more
left than the whale shark wandered back into the area. Dr. Compton sent Lee a bit of a triumphant
grin as they watched the giant take in huge quantities of water now cloudy with
squid bits left over from the smaller sharks’ lunch, straining the water
through its gill rakers and out through five large pairs of gills. The remoras, careful not to get sucked into
the mouth easily five feet across, were making short work of any bits of squid
that came within range as the shark sucked up the nutrient-rich waters.
“Nice
vacuum cleaner,” Lee observed dryly. Dr.
Compton rather obviously heard that, from the glare she briefly sent him before
returning to her observations. With the
divers once more fairly still in the water, Hammerheads wandered back into the
area. Preferring to feed on rays, fish,
and smaller sharks, they weren’t interested in the remaining squid. Lee figured that this general area was either
part of their normal cruising pattern, or they were simply curious to check out
the strange creatures – namely the divers.
Because of their unusually shaped heads and relatively gentle nature
they were a major draw for the tourists who yearly flocked to the Galapagos for
its diverse, and in some cases unique, flora and fauna.
All
too soon, with tanks running low on air, it was time to return to Seaview. Lee wondered how much trouble it would be to
get Dr. Compton to comply. But with a
brief look at her own dive gauge she reluctantly headed back to where Seaview
patiently waited. Lee just shook his
head as she practically ripped off her equipment and headed to record the notes
she’d been taking on a waterproof device.
As Chief Sharkey started to reprimand her for her careless treatment of
the dive gear, Lee stopped him.
“It
probably wouldn’t do any good, Chief,” he said, a bit of humor in his
voice. “Dedicated scientist, in capital
letters.”
“If
she always treats her gear that carelessly she’s going to be ‘dead dedicated
scientist’,” the COB complained.
“Agreed,”
Lee told him. “Oh, and would you go over
her communications set-up carefully? While I could hear her, she seemed to have
an occasional problem hearing me.”
“So
I heard on the dive monitor. Are you
sure that it was the equipment? Sir,” he
added, not quite an afterthought.
Lee
chuckled openly as he very carefully stowed his gear, set the tanks in the rack
to be re-charged, and started getting dressed.
Chief Francis E. Sharkey was a recent addition to the boat’s roster,
replacing the original COB, Chief Curley Jones.
The crew was still feeling their way through the change, and not
everyone was thrilled with the new Chief.
Lee found him extremely knowledgeable, dedicated to running a tight
boat, and he got along with the majority of the crew. Who he did tick off on occasion were the
junior officers, who discovered early on that Sharkey tended to listen to any
orders they gave him and then take care of matters his own way. He was never outright insubordinate. He just had his own way of doing things. Lee had few issues with the man as, no matter
the methods, the outcome was a smoothly running submarine. Sharkey was totally devoted to the Admiral,
under whom he had served before. Chip
muttered occasionally about the somewhat eclectic solutions Sharkey came up
with to particular issues, but Lee would just remind him that if it worked, who
cared.
Lee
felt Seaview begin to move as he finished dressing, and knew that Chip had her
back on the search pattern they’d plotted the night before. All captains came to rely on their Executive
Officers to keep things running smoothly.
Chip was not only a terrific XO he was also an exceptional friend, a
bonus to the pressure cooker cruises Lee found himself in the middle of all too
often aboard Seaview. Lee smiled softly
as he headed forward, feeling the submarine’s smoothly controlled power through
the gentle vibrations under his feet. He
wasn’t sure what he’d done right in his life, to find himself in the best
possible job that he could have ever wished for. He was just grateful that he had.
Lee
spotted Admiral Nelson in the Observation Nose talking with Dr. Compton when he
entered the aft hatch of the
“I
understand that you had an interesting and productive dive,” Nelson told him as
Dr. Compton turned and sat down at her monitoring equipment.
“Dr.
Compton seemed pleased,” Lee answered back mildly as the two of them moved back
toward the
It
was Nelson’s turn to grin. “When we’re
growing up all we ever hear is how terrible sharks are, how bloodthirsty, how
single-minded they are about eating everything in sight.”
Lee
nodded. “Even now, when I know better,
it was a little spooky swimming with a
“Chief
Sharkey to Captain Crane.”
Lee
reached for the nearest mic. “Go ahead,
Chief,” he said, back in full command mode.
“I
could find absolutely nothing wrong with the Doctor’s communication equipment, sir. It appears to be functioning correctly. I also checked yours, just to be sure. Same results.”
Lee
sighed heavily. “Thanks, Chief. Carry on.”
“Aye,
aye, sir,” and the com went dead.
Nelson
sent another raised eyebrow Lee’s way.
“We seemed to have a problem during the dive,” Lee explained. “There were times when Dr. Compton couldn’t
hear me.”
“Did
it create problems?”
Lee
carefully controlled his expressions.
“She can be very single-minded, sir.”
A
slow, easy grin spread across Nelson’s face.
“Remind you of anyone in particular, Commander?”
“I
don’t know what you mean, sir,” Lee answered, maintaining a straight face.
Nelson
chuckled. “Of course not. Forgive me for asking.” He sent Lee a very knowing look, turned, and
headed up the stairs. Lee took a deep
breath and went back to the chart table.
* *
* *
Chip
Morton was a happy man. Well, relatively
speaking at least, considering everything that had happened over the last
several weeks. His stressed out best
friend had spent a relaxing morning diving, an activity almost guaranteed to
put him in a better frame of mind. Young
Lt. James was proving to be a great addition to the boat’s command staff. Oh, he was still quite green and had a lot to
learn. But he was bright, got along well
with the other juniors, and had a naturally easy way with the rest of the
crew. He even got along with the new
COB, something that was proving difficult for some of the other junior
officers.
And
best of all, after an interrupted breakfast - a meal Lee just couldn’t afford
to miss right now, no matter how much he insisted that he wasn’t skinny – Lee
had tucked into Cookie’s lunch of braised beef tips in an herb gravy, poured
over noodles, with an appetite that almost matched Chip’s own. Chip had trouble keeping the grin off of his
face as the two sat eating.
It
didn’t help at all that Nelson and Doc walked into the Wardroom halfway through
the meal, and Will’s face lit up at the sight of Lee stuffing a large forkful
of the flavorful mixture into his mouth.
Cookie’s face had split into a wide grin the instant he’d spotted how
much Lee had piled on his plate, but at least he’d gone back into the Galley
where the unusual expression wouldn’t draw attention.
Luckily,
Will got his face back under semi-control before Lee realized he’d become the
center of attention. Unluckily, Admiral
Nelson chose to comment anyway. “Lunch
must be especially good today,” he said to Will as the two older men turned to
fill their own plates, but still loud enough for the two younger ones to easily
hear him.
Will
nodded, his eyes sparkling. “Either
that, or our Captain worked up an appetite chasing sharks this morning.”
Chip
couldn’t contain himself any longer.
“Actually, Jamie, it was Lee making sure that he wasn’t the reason
behind the sharks losing their appetite.
They’d spit him out the instant they got their teeth into his scrawny
hide. And you know how Lee hates to harm
defenseless animals.”
“Lt.
Commanders don’t come under the heading of defenseless,” Lee muttered, and the
only thing that stopped him from whapping his friend upside the head was
Nelson’s open laughter. Lee gave him a
look that was half offended, half sheepish, and went back to polishing off his
lunch.
Nelson
decided that it might be a wise idea to change the subject. “
Both
Lee and Chip shrugged, but as Lee once more had his mouth full it was Chip who
answered. “Seems she couldn’t stand
being away from her equipment that long.
Higgins took a plate up to her.”
“It’s
almost like…” Lee started, and then hesitated.
Three expectant expressions met his, and he shrugged again. “I just get this feeling that she’s trying to
pack as much research as she can into these next few days. Almost like it’s her last shot – like she
won’t get another chance.”
“She’s
mentioned going on with her team next year,” Nelson said as he sat down
opposite his young captain.
“It’s
not so much what she’s said as a feeling I get…” He hesitated again.
“More
than just dedicated scientist on the trail of something big?” Nelson asked
innocently. Well, his expression was
benign enough, but the other three heard the teasing tone behind it as he
focused on Lee.
Lee
touched his napkin to his lips, mostly to smother the instant grin Nelson’s
little jab elicited before he answered with mock sternness. “I learned to put up with that attitude long
ago, sir.”
At
that point both Chip and Will totally surrendered, and laughed out loud. They’d all locked horns with Nelson when he
was so totally focused on his research that he’d have died if his body didn’t
know how to breathe on its own. Even
Nelson laughed as Lee finally grinned.
“Care
for seconds, Skipper?” Cookie poked his
head through the connecting door from the Galley.
“Actually,
yes, thank you Cookie. Just a bit more,
please. I seem to have worked up an
appetite this morning.”
“That’s
what happens when you have to swim fast enough not to become shark food,” Chip
teased him.
“You
just got through explaining that they’d spit me out,” Lee grumbled, before
getting an even more disgusted look on his face. “Actually I did just fine. It was swimming after Dr. Compton when she
didn’t hear me or the spotters.”
“Problems?”
Will asked.
“Not
really,” Lee admitted. “I thought that
there might have been something wrong with her equipment but Chief Sharkey
couldn’t find anything.” He sent his CMO
a shrug. “Mostly just frustrating,” he
admitted. “She was so focused on where
the reef sharks were headed that she didn’t have a clue the Hammerheads were
overhead.” Chip started to say
something, but Lee cut him off. “Yeah, I
know. The Hammerheads shouldn’t be a
problem. They’re not that
aggressive. But what if it had been a
Great White? She could have swam right
into him and never realized that he was there.”
“If
it had been a female Great White there would have been no problem,” Chip
deadpanned. “We all know female
anythings head straight for you.”
As
Nelson and Will smothered laughter – unsuccessfully – into their coffee mugs,
Lee slowly put down his fork and glared at his best friend. Chip’s expression went even more innocent and
Lee surrendered. He was rarely a match
for Chip’s warped sense of humor.
Sighing heavily, Lee once more picked up his fork. It wasn’t until then that he noticed Cookie
was glaring at Chip – probably from his smart aleck comment having interrupted
Lee’s eating. Lee sent the chef a grin
as he forked in another mouthful of the pasta mixture. That seemed to smooth Cookie’s obviously
ruffled feathers and he headed back for the Galley.
Light
conversation continued between the four men until they’d all finished
eating. Nelson was just about to head
for his lab, Will to
“Now
what’s she done?” Lee nonetheless muttered as he rose and grabbed the mic. “I’m in the Wardroom, Lieutenant,” he
answered, his command voice now in place.
“We’ve
spotted another whale shark, sir.”
“Male
or female?” Chip wanted to know, before Lee glared him into silence. He did catch the wink exchanged between
Admiral and CMO as they both headed out the door, continuing to grin.
Lee
just shook his head. “I’ll be right
there,” he told the young lieutenant. “I
know that you studied how Mr. Morton set Seaview to follow the first one. I’ll expect you to be in the same position by
the time I get there,” and he sent his own wink Chip’s way.
“Aye,
aye, sir,” James acknowledged. “Conn out.”
“I
think we’ve got us a good one,” Lee told Chip as they both headed for the door.
“As
long as I don’t let you mess him up too badly,” Chip sniped back. “Look what you let him do yesterday.” They were the only two in the Wardroom, and
Cookie wasn’t in sight, so Lee smacked the blond upside the head and they both
headed forward laughing.
Lt.
James didn’t disappoint either of them.
Chip stopped at the chart table to officially take command of the
watch. Everything was in perfect order. Lee, after just a glance, continued on
through the half-open crash doors into the Nose, his first sight the huge tail
fin of a whale shark. “Another friend of
yours, Doctor?” he asked the researcher.
She was flipping back and forth through her picture book.
“I’m
not sure,” she admitted. “He’s similar
to M-19…” Her voice trailed off as she
flipped back a couple pages, trying to match markings with the animal in front
of them.
“Family
member, perhaps?” Lee asked. “Do similar
markings follow familial lines?”
She
frowned at him a moment, and then went back to her notes. “That’s never been mentioned in any of the
research,” she admitted. “And since they
tend to be solitary animals it would be hard to prove…” Again her voice trailed off.
“So
this could be Big Brother coming through on a visit.” Lee knew that he was being a bit whimsical
but he was still feeling the after-effects of the lighthearted conversation at
lunch.
“Time
for another dive,” she announced, ignoring the comment.
“Let
your lunch settle,” he said firmly, having noticed the empty plate. “He doesn’t appear to be in any great
hurry. And we can go a good deal faster
than he can.”
She
sent him a disgusted look at that. “The
more time we waste following him the further out of the search area we get, and
the less of it we’ll eventually have time to get to.” She picked up her underwater recording gear
and headed out.
Lee
shook his head and grabbed her arm as she tried to walk past him. The glare he got for the action would have
melted steel at 50 paces and he released her, but still somewhat blocked her
path. “We’re not on a strict timetable,
Doctor. It’s not like we have only X
number of hours to complete the mission.
You have plenty of time to complete your research before we leave the
area and head home. And,” he added a bit
more firmly, “we’ll do it safely.”
“You
don’t understand,” she started to complain.
“Then
why don’t you explain,” he cut her off.
Instead
she just closed her eyes a moment, took a deep breath, and then looked at Lee with
a much more relaxed expression on her face.
“You’re right, of course. I
apologize for my abruptness.” Lee just
shrugged and sent her a soft smile.
“Will you be diving with me again?” she asked.
Lee
had to instantly council his face to stop from grinning broadly – the tone of
the Doctor’s voice left little doubt as to what she wanted the answer to
be. “Actually,” Lee told her once he
felt that he could control his own voice, “I thought perhaps Chip might enjoy
the dive.” He saw Chip perk up at the
comment, said loudly enough on purpose for the blond to hear. “He doesn’t get nearly the chance to dive
that I do.”
“That’s
‘cause you hog them all,” Chip said, walking forward. Lee just chuckled. “I’ll be ready to head out in about 45
minutes,” Chip told the Doctor.
Lee
saw her take another deep breath but all she said was, “That sounds about
perfect,” and she turned back to the windows, grabbing up her notebook and
starting to make a visual record.
Lee
hung around the Conn, watching Lt. James maneuver Seaview to shadow the
meandering whale shark until both he and Chip were comfortable that the young
man had things well in hand. They then
headed for the Missile Room so that Chip could get ready. Chief Sharkey had been alerted so a watchdog
team was already assembled and suited up.
Dr. Compton showed up just as Chip was slipping on his tanks, and it
only took her a moment to do so as well.
Lee saw them off safely and returned to the Control Room.
He
was casually monitoring the dive communications as he wandered around the Conn
visiting with the men at the various stations when one of the watch divers,
Henderson, called out in a half-panic, “Great White, incoming.” Lee immediately went forward to watch out the
windows. All the divers were holding
station, eyes glued to the 20-foot long killer who was actually just meandering
along, himself.
“Leave
him alone,” came in Dr. Compton’s ordered tones. “He’s just curious. If he gets too close, reach out and tap him
on the nose with your hand.”
“What?”
was shouted at her by all of the other divers, as well as being echoed in the
Conn.
“Chill,”
she told everyone. “It’s an accepted
approach. We’ve done it lots of times,
as long as the White isn’t being aggressive.”
“Sounds
like a good way to lose an arm,” Chip was heard muttering.
“Trust
me. My team and I are old hands at
this,” the scientist replied in a bored voice.
“Cdr. Morton, I need your help with the last measurement.”
Lee
was just picking up the mic to call the whole bunch of them back in – he didn’t
care what Dr. Compton was assuring them; his men didn’t swim around with Great
Whites for no other reason than to scratch some scientist’s personal itch –
when Nelson’s voice stopped him. “It has
actually been proven to work, Lee,” he said, walking up behind Lee, obviously
having heard the present situation.
“Mind you, I wouldn’t want to make a habit of it, or try it in the
middle of a feeding frenzy. But I’ve
read several reports of it being quite effective in these kinds of simple
encounters.”
“I
still don’t want my men out there,” Lee insisted.
“Just
give it a chance, Lee. Dr. Compton is
much more familiar with diving in these waters, around this accumulation of
fish, than we are.”
“Harrumph,” Lee did his best Nelson impression, at which the Admiral grinned. But all Lee said over the mic was, “Stay on your toes out there.”
“Aye,
aye, sir,” came back instantly.
Lee
double-clicked the mic. “Sharkey?”
“Here,
Skipper.”
“The
first sign of trouble, I want the divers in – no matter what Dr. Compton says,”
Lee ordered.
“Aye,
sir,” came back promptly, although Lee could hear just the trace of hesitancy
in the COB’s voice.
“Don’t
worry, Chief. She’ll come in, even if I
have to go out and drag her in. And if
she wants to yell, she can do it at me,” he added. “She has no cause to be griping at crewmen
who are merely following my order.”
As
Nelson smiled, Sharkey gave a crisp “Aye, aye, sir.” Lee hung the mic back on its clip, and raised
a questioning eyebrow at the Admiral.
Nelson
tried to cover his smile but without much success. “I don’t think that I remember to tell you
often enough, Lee,” he attempted to explain the expression, “how well you
handle Command.”
Lee
just shrugged. “Thank you, sir,” he
said, somewhat self-consciously.
It
caused Nelson’s smile to broaden.
“Didn’t mean to embarrass you, lad.
It’s just a pleasure to watch you work.”
He glanced at his watch. “And
speaking of work…” He sent Lee a quick
grin and headed up the spiral stairs.
Lee
just shook his head. Sometimes the
Admiral said the strangest things. While
he appreciated that Nelson thought him doing a good job running the boat, it
was the timing that Lee wasn’t overly sure of.
And that smile… Oh well, he
thought to himself, sometimes its better not to totally understand
Admiral Nelson.
Lee
went back to focusing on what he could see out of Seaview’s front windows, and
listening to the dive communications.
Happily, the Great White seemed more interested in just swimming lazily
around, watching what the strangers were doing in his domain, than actively
trying to have any of them for an afternoon snack. Lee was still relieved when Dr. Compton
completed her examination of the whale shark and the divers came back inside. Lee didn’t go down to the Missile Room,
merely called down to see if Dr. Compton wanted to continue following the giant
or going on with the grid pattern search.
When she chose the latter, saying that she thought she had everything
that she needed from this one, Lee stood back and watched Lt. James put Seaview
back on the charted course.
Chip
appeared not too long afterward. Once
he’d satisfied himself that the young lieutenant wasn’t heading them for
Australia – not that he doubted Lee wouldn’t already have caught that and
corrected the problem, but just because – he walked forward into the Nose with
Lee and they both poured themselves a cup of coffee.
“Enjoy
yourself?” Lee asked innocently. Chip
just grinned at him. “They really are
incredible beasts, aren’t they?”
“And
the rest of the scenery wasn’t too shabby, either,” Chip said dreamily.
“If
you like big teeth,” Lee said dryly.
“I
wasn’t talking about the Great White,” Chip grumbled, and Lee openly
chuckled. They were interrupted as the
object of Chip’s reverie scurried down the spiral stairs. “We’re back on your search pattern, Doctor,”
Chip told her brightly.
She
didn’t say anything; just headed straight for her tracking equipment. As soon as she was satisfied that it was
operational she turned to Chip. “When
will we be back on the search grid?” she asked in a demanding voice.
Lee
carefully controlled his expression and focused on Chip, not daring to look at
her for fear of frowning. Chip wasn’t
quite as tactful. “I just told you that
we already were,” he said, slowly and carefully.
“Oh. Sorry.
Didn’t hear you.” She slipped her
headset over her ears, effectively dismissing both men.
“Still
want to take her home for a pet?” Lee asked Chip very softly, his face turned
away from her.
“Harrumph.” It was Chip’s turn to do his Nelson
impression, and they walked back into the Conn.
* *
* *
“What’s
wrong, Jamie?”
Seaview’s
CMO choked on a swallow of coffee and looked across the Wardroom table. “I do believe that’s usually my line,
Skipper,” he half-grumbled.
Lee
smiled. “You just don’t usually look
that worried unless there’s a stubborn case in Sick Bay. And as far as I know, I haven’t done anything
too bad lately.” That caused Will to
snort and send his CO a grin.
The
two men were dawdling over dinner.
Surprisingly, Lee hadn’t had any trouble talking Dr. Compton into
leaving her equipment long enough for the meal.
She and Admiral Nelson had gotten into a discussion of ‘swimming with
sharks’ strategies, had finished eating fairly quickly, and had headed for
Nelson’s lab so that the Admiral could show her some of the research he’d
gathered over the years on effective yet non-biohazardous shark
repellants. Chip had returned to the
Conn shortly after. Seaview was headed
into an area of shallow shoals with deeper open areas between – a great place
for shark hunting but not particularly healthy for Seaview’s paint job. Normally Lee would have gone with him but
he’d seen Chip eyeing the last piece of cherry pie Cookie had set out and, just
to be ornery, had decided he’d have seconds – much to Cookie’s delight.
Will
frequently lingered over a meal, reading medical journals or just casually
observing the crew around him. Part of
his job, as well as a personal ongoing research project, had to do with how
small confined groups of people managed to function and maintain a healthy
working environment. Submarines sure fit
that category. So far he’d been
impressed with how well Seaview’s crew worked together. There were several obvious reasons. The mostly research vessel didn’t usually
deploy for months at a time like most Navy ships and subs. Compared to other submersibles Seaview, with
her much larger size, didn’t confine men into the same kind of cramped
conditions that could breed a pressure cooker-like atmosphere.
And,
Will was quick to admit, a great deal of the success Seaview maintained had to
do with the Command staff. No matter the
position aboard, potential crewmen were required to go through several
interviews even after they cleared a security check, to screen out any obvious
problems. If they made it through those,
the final two interviews were with the XO and CO. Chip, especially, was tough to get past. He had a wonderful knack for reading people,
and very few problematic applicants got past him.
Lee
was also extremely adept at judging applicants, but he came at it from a
slightly different direction. Will
figured, although he’d never sat down and talked to Lee about it, that Lee
probably assumed that once a prospective employee made it as far as him it was
a safe bet that the person would make an acceptable member of the crew. Lee chose to concentrate on what the person
considered important, and on what he wanted to get out of his time at NIMR. Once underway, when his duties allowed, Lee
spent a part of each day wandering around the boat visiting with the crew. His flair for drawing others out, encouraging
them to talk about their lives, family, ambitions, and such went a long way to
bonding Seaview’s crew into a unit that understood they could count on each
other in any situation. No one was left
out; no emotional wounds were allowed to fester to the point of causing serious
problems.
Will
buried a smile behind his coffee mug. Of
course, when the situation is reversed and Lee’s the one in need of a little
emotional support, he tends to get miffed at his friends ‘mother-henning’ him,
as he refers to it. Oh well, he told
himself, and let Lee see some of the smile, just because he knew Lee would take
it as part of the normal sparring that went on between the two.
But
he also realized that Lee was expecting an answer to his earlier question. “Just thinking about Dr. Compton,” he finally
replied, then hurried on as Lee started to put down his fork with still half of
the piece of pie uneaten. “Nothing wrong,
Skipper. She just seems…” Will wasn’t quite sure how to finish the
thought.
But
Lee seemed to be on the same wavelength – a knack that Will had noted on all
too frequent an occasion. “She seems…not
so much preoccupied,” he admitted. “More
like there’s something going on that she’s not admitting to.”
Will
nodded. “That’s what I couldn’t quite
put into words,” he admitted. He buried
another smile as Lee went back to eating the pie. Cookie’s frown as Lee had started to put down
the fork had obviously been noted. “It’s
not the simple single-focus that we deal with sometimes with Admiral Nelson.”
“Simple?”
Lee asked with a grin as he stuffed in another bite of pie.
“Perhaps
I should rephrase that,” Will admitted, and grinned as well. “I don’t get the feeling that there’s a
problem,” he continued, as he was only too aware that Lee worried when there
were matters around him that could potentially cause trouble. “She’s just…”
He still wasn’t sure what he was trying to say.
“Same
here,” Lee mumbled around the last bite of pie.
When he’d swallowed, and polished off the last of his coffee as well, he
stood. “She just puts us all a little
off-kilter and we don’t quite know what to do about it.”
Will
sent him a speculative look. “You know,
Skipper, if you ever want to give up NIMR you’d make a great counselor. You read people so well.”
Lee
glared at him, mock though both men knew that it was. “Not very likely, Doctor,” he muttered
darkly. But he couldn’t hold it in the
face of Will’s instant chuckling and he headed out with a smile on his face.
It
took a bit for Will to realize that Cookie had come back into the Wardroom, a
worried look on his face. “What’s wrong,
Cookie? You should be ecstatic. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve seen the Skipper
pack away that much food at one time.
Even if it was just a prank to keep the XO from getting the last of the
pie.”
“Oh,
I always put an extra piece back for Mr. Morton,” Cookie admitted. “Cherry is his favorite. He’ll be down about 2030 hours for it.” Will laughed outright. Seaview’s chef had a reputation for being a
real hard case. But Will knew that he
took very good care of everyone aboard, and the officers in particular. Of course, it was also a good thing to keep
the Exec on your side, and the occasional special extras were an excellent way
to do it. “I was just wondering,
sir… You don’t actually think that the
Skipper would ever leave, do you?” There
was genuine worry in the cook’s voice.
“Only
in a body bag,” Will said before he could stop himself, and he and Cookie both
shuddered at that thought. There had
been a time or two when that outcome almost came to pass. Will hurried on to more pleasant thoughts. “Not to worry, Cookie. There isn’t anyone else who could put up with
this boat’s craziness. He’s perfectly
aware of how needed he is here, and would never in a million years think of
leaving us to the whims of others.”
“He
does do a really good job of taking care of us,” Cookie admitted.
“Just
as we do everything we can to take care of him,” Will said. “So long as we don’t get caught,” he
added. Both men grinned, and headed back
to their respective duties.
But
as Sick Bay was happily quiet at the moment, Will decided that his duty for the
next couple of hours would be to take a book up to the Observation Nose. Will had always thought that an absolutely
wonderful name for that part of the boat, but for a totally different reason
than everyone else. From there he could
ostensibly read, while getting a feeling for Seaview’s pulse – the atmosphere
in the Control Room. This evening it had
the added bonus of letting him quietly observe Dr. Compton. As he’d admitted to Lee, ‘something’ about
her set his inner senses to quivering.
As
he came down the spiral stairs, poured himself a cup of coffee, and settled
into a chair, his back to the starboard bulkhead so he could see both into the
Conn and out the front windows, all was quiet.
Dr. Compton barely registered his presence before returning her
concentration to her equipment. Lee and
Chip, standing at the chart table, sent him inquisitive glances. He just smiled, showed them his book, and
took a seat. He saw CO and XO say
something to each other, and both grinned.
Those two, Will muttered one of his stock phrases to himself, and
sent a grin back. Such a close
friendship between senior officers might not work in a lot of military
situations. In fact, it was one of the
reasons officers were rotated every 18 months or so. But on Seaview it flourished. Both young men were better for the other’s
presence. They supported each other,
grounded each other, and Seaview and her crew reaped the benefits.
As
Will opened his book – this evening’s selection an older novel by Dick Francis
called Straight that he decided to re-read as he enjoyed the author so
much – he saw Lee head out the aft hatch.
He suspected that Lee was off on one of his evening tours of the boat,
and smiled. While Seaview’s Skipper was
likely to show up in any part of the boat, at any time of day or night, Will could
count on the fingers of one hand the times Lee had ever shown his face in Sick
Bay without a member of his crew being incarcerated there. He supposed that he could take it personally,
as Lee wasn’t checking the boat for problems as much as he was just strolling
around, visiting with the crew. Of
course Will saw him frequently in the Wardroom, and the corpsmen said that they
visited with him in the Crew’s Mess where he stopped in for coffee once in
awhile. Humm, Will suddenly
thought, between the Wardroom, Crew’s Mess, and the carafe Cookie keeps here
in the Nose, maybe I’d better start watching the Skipper’s caffeine
intake. Of course, and he
half-grinned, that would go over like a lead balloon. His grin spread. But when has that ever stopped me?
He looked up to find Nelson standing next to him – his woolgathering had covered the Admiral’s approach. “And just what are you plotting?” Nelson asked with a grumble in his voice. Will gave him his best “who, me?” look, and Nelson snorted. “Don’t even try,” he ordered, but a soft smile spread across his face as he poured his own mug of coffee and sat down on the window ledge. “That look might fool the younger men.”
Will
grinned. “Nah. Doesn’t work on them, either,” he
admitted. Both men chuckled, but Nelson
raised an eyebrow, inviting an explanation.
Somehow
Will didn’t think admitting that he was considering starting to monitor intake
of Cookie’s patent brew would go over too well with the one person aboard who
drank even more of the stuff than Lee.
So he just sent a smug little grin back.
Usually that look would convince the recipient that it might not be such
a good idea finding out what caused Will to send it and the conversation would
be dropped. It worked this time as
well. Nelson did send him one more quick
speculative glance, but then smiled and gave a small nod. “Nice to have things so peaceful around
here.”
“Amen
to that,” Will answered, adamantly but quietly.
Both men were well aware of how easily conversations in the Nose carried
back to the Conn. Not that either cared
all that much if they were overheard.
But too much noise interfered with the Duty Crew possibly missing
something on their instrumentation so conversations tended, for the most part,
to be kept to low tones. “Hopefully it
will stay that way.” He sighed
heavily. “Sure would be nice for a
change.”
Nelson
nodded and took a sip of coffee. He
ignored the quick flick of humor that crossed Will’s face – it was obvious that
Will wasn’t going to share whatever was causing his jovial mood. Nelson just acknowledged to himself that it
was good to see his CMO this relaxed as well as the rest of the boat.
They
were interrupted as Dr. Compton’s concentration on her equipment went suddenly
from relaxed to acute, at the same time Lancaster on Sonar alerted Chip. “Doctor?” Nelson sent the scientist a raised
eyebrow. When he was totally ignored,
Chip supplied the answer.
“One
of the tagged sharks,” he told Nelson, and softly gave the necessary orders to
bring Seaview in behind the giant.
Outside lights, which had been only about half-lit, were brought on
full. Nelson stood and watched with Will
and it was only moments before the whale shark came gradually into view as
Seaview slowed, coming in behind to follow as she had the others.
“Impressive,”
Will told his boss.
“Sure
you don’t want to go out and pet him?”
Neither man had heard Lee come in to stand right behind them.
Nelson
chuckled as Will gave Lee an emphatic “No!”
He added an only slightly more civilized “Thank you, anyway,” to which
Lee’s smile broadened considerably.
“Ah,
come on, Jamie,” Chip teased him, coming forward. Nelson took a quick look into the Conn and
saw that Lt. O’Brien had taken over the watch.
“He’s just an overgrown sea otter at heart. All cute and cuddly.” He laughed outright as whatever Will’s
response to that was muttered unintelligibly into his coffee mug.
Lee
walked closer to Dr. Compton, waiting until she looked up before speaking. “How do you want to handle this, Doctor?” he
asked.
“Could
we follow him for awhile? Maybe 30-40
minutes? I just want to get a fix on
what he’s up to, if anything, before we go back to the search grid.”
“Not
a problem. Just let Lt. O’Brien,” and
Lee nodded toward the Conn, “or one of us know,” and a nod went toward where
Nelson, Will, and Chip were, “when you’re ready to move on.” His only answer was a flip of the scientist’s
hair as she went back to studying her notes.
He glanced into the Conn and got a nod from O’Brien that he’d heard the
instructions, before walking back to the other three in time to hear Chip’s
next wisecrack.
“Bummer. No time to go out and play. Guess you’ll just have to wait for the next
one, Doc.”
Before
Will could respond with more than a fierce frown, another large form entered
the light around Seaview’s nose. “Still
want to go out and play?” Lee asked his XO as they watched a Great White wander
past the window, seemingly checking them out.
“Spoilsport,”
Chip told the shark, and headed back into the Conn. The others, including Will, chuckled softly.
“Which
reminds me,” Nelson said, turning to Lee.
“I looked up a couple of the reports detailing handling a non-combative
Great White. While they talked more
along the lines of using an implement of some sort instead of your hand – like,
maybe the butt end of a spear gun – to tap the shark’s nose and get him to turn
away, they still documented its effectiveness.”
He grinned. “I laid them on your
desk on the way down.”
Lee
frowned as Nelson was talking, but he lowered his eyes fractionally. “Thank you, sir.” His expression turned suddenly
mischievous. “I’ll be sure to pass them
on to Chip, and have him give them to Jamie when he’s done.”
“Sounds
like a plan,” Nelson said, trying with limited success to keep his own humor under
control. Will set his now-empty coffee
mug on the table none too gently and opened his book, ignoring them both. Nelson chuckled and headed back up the spiral
staircase. Lee ever so briefly laid a
hand on Will’s shoulder before heading back to whatever he’d been up to when
he’d felt Seaview slow.
* *
* *
The
search pattern Lee and Chip had plotted turned out to be extremely
productive. Seaview ran across two more
whale sharks during Seaview’s night. One
was ‘Big Bertha’. The other was tagged
as well so Patterson and Blake merely made notes and didn’t bother Dr.
Compton. She was a bit miffed at that
when she discovered it the next morning.
At least Lee thought so. But she
kept any grumbling she might have felt like uttering to herself and quietly
accompanied Lee and Chip to the Wardroom for breakfast.
They’d
barely put two bites of food in their mouths when Lt. Keeter called down that
they’d found another one – this one untagged.
Dr. Compton threw down her fork and went forward immediately. Lee sighed, told Chip to finish his
breakfast, and followed her only a bit more slowly. The shark turned out to be another new one to
her research and she insisted, since she’d not actually eaten a meal, on an
immediate dive to take pictures and measurements. Lee considered arguing, decided that it
wasn’t worth the effort, and went with her.
He really did love diving – especially in waters as warm and abundantly
populated with wildlife as this area was.
But
they’d barely measured what turned out to be an apparently adolescent female –
on the smallish side anyway, at just under 30 feet in length – when the
spotters announced company. A large
school of Galapagos sharks were making an appearance, as well as a fairly significant
number of Hammerheads. Their swimming
seemed more purposeful to Lee than on the other dives. Kowalski, one of this morning’s spotters,
mentioned having seen a large school of rockfish off to the divers’ right,
where the sharks were headed. Lee called
a halt to activity as apparently the breakfast bell had been rung. Several of the Galapagos sharks buzzed the
spotters and Lee decided that, discretion being the better part of not becoming
fish food, the dive needed to be terminated.
Dr.
Compton disagreed – loudly. Complaining
bitterly that they were all perfectly safe as long as no one got stupid, she
ignored Lee’s order to retreat carefully back to Seaview and use the submarine
as an observation post. Instead, she
continued to follow the whale shark, snapping pictures and taking notes. When Lee ordered her, in his best Command
voice, to return to Seaview, she told him snidely that if he was afraid, to
take his men and go; that she’d be back when she was finished.
Hearing
the exchange, everyone in both the Missile Room and the Conn practically held
their breath. Most of them could count
on one hand the number of times they’d heard that particular tone in their CO’s
voice. Anyone who was smart went out of
their way to make sure that they didn’t!
While all were perfectly aware that Lee had a temper, he so rarely lost
it with his crew. Most discipline on
board was left in the Exec’s all too capable hands. Those in the Conn had the added discomfort of
watching Chip physically shudder at Lee’s order for Dr. Compton to get her six
back to Seaview – NOW! Her irreverent
reply to go blow it out his ear, heard all too clearly by everyone, had Chip
reaching for the mic and calling Admiral Nelson to the Conn.
Lee
wanted nothing so much right at that point than to grab Dr. Compton, shake her
until her teeth rattled, and kick her backside all the way back to the
sub. His years of experience diving kept
him from anything quite so brash. While
the Hammerheads might scurry away at sudden movement the reef sharks, if they
were actively on the hunt, would react just the opposite. He took a long breath to get himself back
under control as best he could, and headed silently and carefully in the
scientist’s direction.
She
saw him coming and apparently assumed that he’d acquiesced to her wishes. She was therefore surprised when he grabbed
her arm none too gently. “I told you,”
he growled, biting his tongue to remain at least semi-civil, “to get back to
the boat. This dive is over.”
Unfortunately,
Lee could almost have predicted what happened next. Dr. Compton screamed angrily, struggling
against Lee’s grip on her arm as he tried to pull her back towards where
Seaview laid waiting. Kowalski swam
smoothly but as rapidly as he could down to help out. But he hadn’t yet reached the pair when the scientist’s
frantic gestures caught the attention of the reef sharks.
Fortunately
just the tail end of the pack and not the whole group. Lee figured that Compton was so focused on
her anger at Lee that she didn’t realize that half a dozen or so of the sleek
reef sharks zipped up to see what the commotion was all about. He twisted to put his body between the sharks
and the scientist and almost instantly felt one bump his leg.
His
relief that it was only a bump was short-lived.
As the first shark turned sharply away it was followed in by the
rest. Lee felt the pinch of a quick bite
on the back of his left calf at the same time there was another, slightly
harder, nibble on the back of his right shoulder. He figured it was finding a shark inches from
her face that finally caused Compton to quit struggling. Kowalski arrived at the same time, with the
other two lookouts only a few feet behind.
Lee almost smiled to himself despite his anger at Compton for starting
the whole mess in the first place as the three lookouts positioned themselves
facing outward, with Lee and the doctor in the center, and ever so gently
discouraged the sharks from any further snacking on their skipper by poking
them away with the ends of their spear guns.
It would have been so easy for one of them to have nailed one of the
attacking sharks. But they’d used their
heads and not put any further blood in the water. Lee decided that he couldn’t be hurt all that
badly, as easily as the group gave up their attack and headed off to join the
rest now that the extra divers had taken all the fun out of their hunt.
Dr.
Compton remained silent as she snatched up her record-taking equipment,
thankfully attached to her diving belt by cords. It was just as well. As angry as Lee was at that moment he would
have made her leave it where it fell. He
finally realized, now that everything had calmed down, that both Chief Sharkey
and Admiral Nelson were yelling at the dive party, trying to find out what was
going on. He figured that it was
Nelson’s frustrated tone that had the three lookouts waiting for Lee to answer,
perfectly aware that their Skipper was one of the few people they knew of who
could and would stand up to the volcanic-tempered Admiral. Lee merely responded that everything was
under control and that they were on their way in. He did, finally, smile as Kowalski had enough
nerve to ask the Chief to have one of the corpsmen meet them in the Missile
Room. By asking for a corpsman and not
Doc, it would tell everyone aboard that while there were injuries, they were
minor. The two bites were stinging badly
from the salt water, but Lee still didn’t think that they were anything to
worry about.
Apparently
those aboard Seaview had a different opinion.
Not only was Jamie waiting when the hatch door was opened, but Chip and
Nelson were there as well. Lee sighed
heavily. They’d all have to wait until
he got done giving Dr. Compton a piece or three of his mind about what had just
happened.
But
several things occurred all at once, disrupting Lee’s plans. Dr. Compton had been unbuckling her scuba
harness even as the last of the water drained out of the dive chamber, and the
hatch barely started to open before she shoved against it, nearly bowling over
Chief Sharkey in the process.
Practically throwing her gear on the deck she stormed up to Nelson and
started yelling.
“Of
all the stupid, irresponsible stunts to pull on a dive…”
Nelson
cut off her tirade in a voice even louder and angrier. “I’m so glad that you are admitting your
mistakes, Doctor.” He glared at
her. “It will save me the trouble of
pointing them out!” He glanced at her
diving gear. “Not to mention the
disgusting habit you have of carelessly tossing your diving gear around. I’m surprised that you haven’t drowned long
ago, with your ignorance of the simplest of safety regulations.”
The
instant the yelling had started everyone else, including Lee, had gone totally
silent. The seamen present started
looking for a convenient hole to crawl into.
Lee had just stood still until Chip took one arm and Will the other, and
sat him down on the nearest bench. Chip
unbuckled Lee’s gear as Will started a cursory exam. Chief Sharkey, after closing the hatch once
all the divers had exited, glared at Dr. Compton’s back as he reached to pick
up her discarded gear.
“Doctor,”
Nelson continued loudly just as Compton was taking a deep breath before
continuing her outburst, “you will go to your cabin, and stay there until told
otherwise. Mr. Morton.”
“Sir?”
Chip answered instantly, straightening from continuing to help Lee off with his
scuba gear.
“Set
a course for home, and have Dr. Compton’s equipment removed from the
Observation Nose and stowed. We’re done
here.”
“Admiral,”
Compton all but screamed over the top of Chip’s “Aye, aye, sir.”
“You
were given an order, Doctor,” Nelson glared at her as he spat that out. “You will either obey, or we will turn around
and dump you and your gear back on Santa Cruz Island with your team as
unceremoniously as you just dumped your diving gear on the deck, and you can
find your own way home.”
Lee
was just deciding that maybe he’d better get between the two combatants before
things got any more out of control when Dr. Compton abruptly stomped out of the
Missile Room, Nelson’s continuing glare all but scorching her back. Lee nonetheless brushed Will’s hand off his
shoulder and started to stand up, but was stopped by Will slamming his hand
down on Lee’s other shoulder at the same time Nelson turned the high-velocity
glare on Lee.
“You,”
Nelson pointed at finger at him, “will report to Sick Bay.”
“Yes,
sir,” Lee answered, his eyes slightly lowered.
Will removed his hand and Lee stood up, finally acknowledging that the
shark bites were still stinging badly.
In the heat of the confrontation he’d all but forgotten them. The one on his leg, which he could see, was
barely weeping blood from a couple small punctures. Somewhere along the line Will had placed an
eight-inch square of gauze over the bite on Lee’s shoulder so he had no idea of
how bad that one was. He headed for the
hatch out of the Missile Room, expecting Will to be right behind him. Instead Frank, the senior corpsman, appeared
seemingly out of nowhere and the two made their way in silence to Lee’s least
favorite part of his otherwise beloved boat.
The
glare, only slightly softened, stayed on Nelson’s face until Lee had left the
room. When he turned back to Seaview’s
CMO he had himself almost back under control.
Will sent him half a smile. “He’s
fine, Admiral. I’ll be lucky to slow him
down long enough to put a couple stitches in his shoulder.”
“Harrumph,”
Nelson growled, and stomped out. Will
just smiled, gave his head a small shake, and headed after his corpsman.
Lee
was stretched out on the exam table in the middle of Sick Bay, laying on his
stomach letting Will clean the bite marks on his shoulder, when he heard the
corridor door open. “Man, that was one
stupid shark,” Chip quipped cheerfully, walking up to Lee on the side of the
gurney opposite the doctor.
Lee
glanced at Will. “I know I’m going to
regret this.” He turned and looked at
Chip. “And what led you to that
conclusion, Mr. Morton?”
Chip’s
grin spread. “Just look at the
evidence. He got one taste of you, spit
you out, and still came back for another munch, not realizing the first time
that there isn’t enough of you to make it worth the effort.”
As
Will chuckled at the horseplay, Lee shook his head and laid it back on his
crossed forearms. “Two different
sharks,” he mumbled.
“Ah.” Chip’s voice held triumph. “That explains it. Had to have been a female who left that love
bite on your leg.”
“Status
Report,” Lee ordered harshly, never moving.
Chip
winked at a struggling-not-to-laugh Jamie, but had his own voice under
control. “Course laid in for Santa
Barbara, speed set at normal cruising, lights are green across the board, and
Chief Sharkey has a detail dismantling Dr. Compton’s equipment.” His only reply was something muttered too low
for either of the others to understand.
“Sir?” Chip sent him a formal request for clarification.
Lee
lifted his head, but his “never mind,” ended in a yell of pain as Will pressed
an antiseptic-soaked pad on the shoulder wound.
Lee sent a glare the doctor’s direction.
“Skipper,
I don’t know where that shark has been eating lately but I can be pretty sure
that it wasn’t haute cuisine in a fancy restaurant. Nor has he bothered to brush his teeth in the
recent past. Not only am I going to do
everything in my power to disinfect what I can see, I’m going to give you a
shot of long-lasting antibiotics in your six and put you on a ten-day course in
pill form. Which you will take,” he
added firmly, as Lee seemed ready to argue.
Lee surrendered and put his head back down on his forearms.
“Where’s
the Admiral?” Both Chip and Will heard
the almost hesitant way Lee asked the question, and raised mirror-imaged
eyebrows.
But
Chip answered promptly. “In his lab, as
far as I know.”
“You’d
better get back to the Conn. Just in
case…” Lee didn’t finish the thought.
“Now
Lee,” Chip returned to his teasing voice, but his expression stayed somewhat
worried. “Lt. James is going to think we
can’t trust him to do a simple thing like stay on course.”
“I
double-check you all the time and it doesn’t seem to cause you any
trouble.” Both Chip and Will grinned at
that more normal-sounding comment.
“Yeah,
but I just ignore you,” Chip smarted back.
“Chris still takes things a little too seriously.”
Lee
turned and sent his XO one of his better Command glares. “He’s an intelligent man,” Lee said firmly. “Always a useful talent for an officer.”
Chip
straightened to Attention. “Yes, sir,”
he said with a smart salute.
Lee
put his head back down with a mumbled grumble, but Chip saw the beginnings of a
grin form and gave Will a quick thumb’s up before leaving.
“Can’t
you hurry up, Jamie?” was Lee’s next complaint.
“You’re taking forever for a couple of insignificant little nibbles.”
“Which,
if not treated correctly, will turn into major septicemia,” Will grumbled right
back. “Chill, Skipper,” he continued in
a softer voice. “I’ll have you out of
here in time for lunch. I haven’t
forgotten that you basically missed breakfast.”
“Swell,”
Lee muttered, barely audible. “Not
really hungry,” came out with a little more volume.
“Not
a problem, Skipper,” Will told him lightly.
“I can always tuck you into one of those bunks over there for four hours
and start an IV.” That earned the
expected glare. But Lee relaxed as Will
ignored it and went on cleaning the injury.
He controlled the smile that was threatening to escape and quickly but
carefully finished treating the injuries, covered both with medicated bandages,
and gave Lee the shot he’d mentioned. As
Lee sat up, Will handed him a small paper cup with several pills in it and a
glass of water. Lee just glared at him,
not reaching for either, and Will let the grin appear. “I repeat, Skipper. Chill.”
The grin broadened slightly as Lee frowned and ever so slightly lowered
his eyes, but still watched the doctor’s face.
“Two are different antibiotics from the shot. The ones I want you on for awhile, just to
cover as many bases as possible. You’re
almost as bad as your XO for having weird reactions to things.” Lee’s frown deepened but he didn’t say
anything. “The third is a mild
painkiller.”
“I
don’t need that,” Lee said instantly, his head popping back up as his glare
increased.
“You’ll
think not when the adrenaline rush you’re still living on wears off.” Will gave Lee a look filled with caring
concern. “Skipper, it will do nothing
more than take the edge off. I promise.”
Lee
gave him a long look but, as Jamie rarely outright lied to him, and especially
under these seemingly innocuous circumstances, Lee quickly downed the pills.
“Thank
you,” Will told him, and pointed to a chair by the door. “Chip brought you a fresh set of clothes. Both of those bandages will survive a quick
shower.” He sent Lee a grin. “By the time that you’re dressed Cookie
should have lunch ready.” Lee just shook
his head, but sent his CMO a soft smile as he grabbed the clothes and turned
toward the head at the end of Sick Bay.
With
Will nowhere in the vicinity when Lee emerged from cleaning up, he ignored the
doctor’s prescription of food and instead went in search of Admiral
Nelson. He’d had a serious talk with himself,
letting the hot water wash away his anger at Dr. Compton as well as the salt
water residue. He still thought that
he’d been right in wanting to end the dive, but he admitted that he’d handled
the confrontation badly. Nelson’s anger
needed to be directed at him, not Dr. Compton.
Lee knew that he couldn’t change the Admiral’s decision to stop the
research project and head for home, but he was hoping to make the trip a little
more pleasant for the scientist than being confined to quarters. Since Chip had mentioned the lab, that was
Lee’s first stop. Nelson had his head
glued to a microscope when Lee entered so he stood quietly waiting to be
acknowledged.
Nelson
heard someone come in but was still trying to get his own temper back under
control. He and Chip had stood in the
Control Room earlier, listening to the exchange between the divers. Nelson understood Lee’s decision to abort the
dive and was thoroughly disgusted by Dr. Compton’s refusal to comply. Once he’d unloaded on her he’d retreated to his
lab to cool off. Chip had poked his nose
in long enough to report that Seaview was headed home per orders, and that he’d
just checked Sick Bay and Lee’s injuries were indeed fairly minor. Nelson had just grunted, and Chip had
promptly withdrawn.
Seconds
turned into a minute, and still whoever had dared enter his domain was
quiet. Nelson sighed heavily and almost
reluctantly looked up. He had to quickly
control his expression as Lee stood before him almost at Attention, acting more
like the underage plebe he’d been when Nelson first met him than Seaview’s
ultra-competent captain. “Did Will
release you, or did you escape?” he asked, the half-smile he couldn’t control
easing the harshness of his tone.
It
wasn’t lost on Lee. “Released,” he
answered with a small grin of his own, before once more going serious. “I came to apologize, sir,” he said quietly.
“Whatever
for?” Nelson thundered and stood up.
“That woman…” He was so angry he
just sputtered rather than finish the thought in less than diplomatic terms.
Lee
finished it for him. “Was just
concentrating on her job. If I hadn’t
instigated the confrontation, probably nothing would have happened.”
“Bosh,”
Nelson uttered gruffly, and brushed off the comment with a wave of his hand.
“No,
sir,” Lee insisted. But softly, in
deference to Nelson’s continued anger.
“The sharks were ignoring us for the most part, and continuing on to
wherever they were going. I should have
just left things alone.”
Nelson
leveled a long look at his captain.
“Lee,” he finally said, back under control, “you were doing exactly what
you always do – assessing the situation, balancing the possible dangers against
the necessity of the mission, and deciding on a judicious retreat. There was nothing wrong with your logic.”
“I
chose to err on the side of being overly cautious when it wasn’t needed. I was wrong, sir.”
Nelson
sent Lee another long look, sighed, and settled a hip on the corner of his
workbench. “And why do you think that
was?”
“Sir?”
“One
of the qualities that makes you an excellent sub driver is the ability to
quickly recognize potential problems, and act to limit or negate those
problems. While I have not always been
overly pleased about a few of your decisions…”
Nelson sent Lee a hard look, which Lee met head on. Both men thought back on the times Lee had
locked horns with Nelson over various cruise parameters. Lee had never been afraid to stand up for
what he believed. And in his mind, crew
safety was paramount. “I have
nonetheless respected your decisions,” Nelson continued. “Why are you questioning yourself now? Especially when that woman has been a thorn
in your side since she very first came aboard.”
“That’s
just the point, sir. I think I let her
penchant for causing trouble get in the way of logic.”
Nelson
shrugged. “I’m all for letting the
punishment fit the crime. What it comes
down to is, her inability to follow orders.
Apparently she gets away with it around her team members. It does not go over well here.” The last sentence was punctuated with a hand
slapping down on the workbench.
“No,
sir,” Lee acquiesced softly.
They
were interrupted by the all-boat intercom.
“Skipper,” came in Chip’s clear command voice, “your presence is
requested in the Wardroom.”
A
quick glare at the com speaker caused Lee to miss Nelson’s own glare at the
interrupting piece of equipment, and he ducked his head slightly as he looked
again at his boss. “Jamie’s doing,” he
muttered.
“Another
member of the crew who takes his responsibilities seriously,” Nelson told him.
“Yes,
sir,” Lee admitted with a sigh.
Nelson
stood and laid a hand briefly on Lee’s shoulder. “We’d better go or he’ll whine.”
“Yes,
sir,” Lee repeated, this time with a smile.
Will
gave some thought as to why both Admiral Nelson and Lee sent him suspiciously
snide glances as they walked into the Wardroom together before sharing a
private smile. But he didn’t let it
bother him. However it had happened,
Nelson was apparently over his temper tantrum, and Lee appeared to be putting a
sufficient amount of food on his plate to at least partially make up for the
missed breakfast. Now, if he’ll just
eat all of it, Will muttered quietly into his coffee mug, already seated at
the table. But he needn’t have
worried. As was often the case, Chip spent
the meal gently needling his CO and friend, which Lee took easily and even
dished a bit back. Nelson for the most
part remained quiet, only doing a bit of mumbling into his own coffee mug when
Lee asked Cookie to send a tray to Dr. Compton’s cabin. Will did bury a grin when Seaview’s
temperamental chef didn’t even bat an eyelash at the change of the scientist’s
location from Observation Nose to her cabin.
Hard to keep a secret on a submarine – especially when most of the
conversation precipitating the change had been delivered in enough decibels to
nearly rattle torpedoes in their racks.
As
often happened, Will dawdled over his meal.
Unless he was needed in Sick Bay he enjoyed the quiet chatter of a
relaxed crew. The junior officers took
their cue from Lee and Chip for the most part.
When they were in a bantering mood, the juniors often were as well. Because the CMO wasn’t actually in the chain
of command no one felt threatened kibitzing in his presence. While he and Nelson often spent time together,
everyone knew that Will kept his own council about bits of information he might
pick up unless it could effect the smooth running of the boat.
Tonight
Nelson dawdled as well. Will had taken
note of his near silence during the meal.
But as Chip and Lee kept them entertained, Will didn’t question his
boss. There were only a couple other
juniors in the room and they were at the far table, engaged in deciding where
they were going on their three weeks’ leave once Seaview got home. When CO and XO headed for the Conn, Will
pointed a quizzical eyebrow at Nelson who, unusual for him, also seemed in no
hurry to leave. Nelson just sighed
heavily, and Will frowned. “That’s far too
recognizable a symptom – especially since I’m usually the one doing it. What’s Lee done now?”
Nelson
snorted, but it turned into a grimace.
“He’s already taking the blame for this morning’s incident.”
“So? What’s new about that? He takes responsibility for everything that
happens around him.”
Nelson
didn’t say anything for a bit, seemingly concentrating on his coffee. “He was just in my lab,” he said finally.
Will
nodded. “Figured that’s where he headed
when he left Sick Bay. He asked, when
Chip brought him a fresh uniform, if he knew where you were.”
Nelson
sent Will a quick grin. “I asked him if
he’d escaped.”
Will
returned it. “Minor bite on the
leg. The one on the shoulder took a
couple of stitches. I’ll have to watch
him for infection.”
Nelson
nodded again. “Chip told me.” He sent Will another quick grin. “Poked his nose in the lab door, gave me the
update, and left as rapidly as protocol allowed.”
“Still
in a bit of a snit, were you?” Will asked with a grin of his own. “The Skipper didn’t look noticeably scorched
when you two walked in.”
“Didn’t
have the heart,” Nelson admitted. “He
looked so miserable, feeling like he’d caused that whole mess this
morning…” Nelson’s voice trailed off as
he struggled to get himself back under control again when the diving incident
all came crashing back.
“Humm,”
Will observed. “Or has he just learned
how to calm you down from one of your moods?”
Nelson
paused for half a second, and then sent one of his better glares the doctor’s
way. Will just chuckled into his coffee
mug. “Hadn’t thought about it that way,”
Nelson finally admitted. He paused
another couple of breath’s lengths.
“Think I’m going to have to keep a better eye on that young man,” he
finally grumbled. Will’s chuckles just
became louder.
* *
* *
By
1630 hours Lee was having to be extremely careful not to let Chip realize how
he was stiffening up. The blond would
start harassing him to go lay down and Lee wasn’t about to do that. He knew only too well that that would just make
things worse; as long as he kept moving he could keep the stiffness from settling
in any further.
He’d
spent the first hour after lunch in the Conn, watching his crew and enjoying
their almost effortless but nonetheless extremely competent handling of the
giant submarine. Admiral Nelson had
wandered through shortly after lunch, giving Lee a speculative look before
continuing on. Lee had just raised a
quizzical eyebrow and momentarily interrupted his conversation with the
helmsman, Layton, about some continuing education classes in navigation. But Nelson had, after the briefest of pauses,
just continued through the Conn and up the spiral stairs. Lee exchanged a shrug of shoulders with Chip,
and continued his conversation. It was
when he moved across to the Magnometer station and a few minutes’ conversation
with Drury about the rating’s oldest daughter’s latest dance recital that he
began to feel his shoulders and back complaining. A walk through the boat, while it stretched
his legs, did nothing for the rest of him.
The boat was headed home, all was quiet, and there wasn’t anything to
just ‘help’ his crew finish working on so he went almost reluctantly back to
the Conn. And, back under the eagle eyes
of his XO.
Chip
was doing his best to keep a straight face.
He knew perfectly well what Lee was up to when he’d left to go on one of
his ‘walkaboats.’ He also wasn’t
surprised when Lee was gone such a relatively short time. The slightly unhappy expression on Lee’s face
as he came back in through the aft hatch was immediately covered up, but the
glimpse Chip got of it was almost his undoing.
He busied himself with the charts of the next portion of the cruise as
Lee slowly made his way forward, stopping along the way to have brief
conversations with Chief Sharkey, posted as usual close to the hatch, Lindsey
on Hydrophone, and Daystrom on Sonar.
When he finally made it as far as the chart table, Chip once more had
himself under control.
He
knew perfectly well that asking Lee to just surrender to the inevitable and go
lay down was hopeless. But as Lt. James,
in his capacity as second Weapons officer, was using the quiet time to work
with Lt. Savitch to further his knowledge of Seaview’s small arms lockers, Chip
decided that a little gentle ribbing might be in order. Savitch had requested shore duty after this
cruise was over. His parents were
getting up there in years and were not in the best of health. Lee and Chip had talked a bit about who was
going to replace him. Chip wasn’t sure
if James was ready for the first position.
He had a lot on his plate already, being so new to the boat, and
assigned to Watch duties. Lee had
countered with giving Chris the position but with Chief Hauck as his
second. It made a lot of sense since
Hauck was Seaview’s Master-At-Arms, and very familiar with the armament
aboard. Something else to be
straightened out while Seaview was in port.
“That
was a short trip,” Chip told his CO as Lee finally wandered up to the chart
table. “Nobody to help fix anything?”
Lee’s
instant frown went just as quickly sheepish, and he shook his head. “Everything running smoothly,” he admitted.
“Bummer,”
Chip teased him, and Lee finally smiled softly.
“Not even any paperwork to do?”
Lee just shook his head. Not so
much because there wasn’t any but because it would mean sitting down, and he
still wasn’t ready for that. “That’s got
to be a first.” Lee was always
complaining about how much more of the stuff there seemed to be with NIMR than
with the regular Navy.
“Where’s
Chris?” Lee asked, changing the subject.
Chip explained and Lee nodded. A
slight, private grin crossed his face as he thought back on what had happened
to require the hiring of a new junior officer for Seaview.
It
wasn’t all that long ago that they’d finally managed to get rid of Lt. Bishop,
Seaview’s second officer under her original captain, John Phillips. Lee knew that there had been problems with
the man from letters that Chip had written to him after Seaview was
launched. Once Lee took over after
Phillips’ untimely death, the issues quickly became even more evident. He had, however, merely kept a close
watch. At least at first.
Bishop
was a competent enough officer but a strict disciplinarian, and not at all
suited to Lee’s more laid-back style.
Unfortunately, Nelson was loyal to anyone who could do their jobs and
refused to see the discord that the man’s unyielding attitude created within
the seamen as well as the other juniors.
Chip, while wanting frequently to smack Bishop in the chops, was fairly
good at keeping him in line now that the man couldn’t go running to Phillips
any time he wanted. Phillips, like
Nelson, had chosen to overlook the man’s shortcomings in the tact department
because he was, all things considered, a good officer.
Lee’s
private grin threatened to get the better of him, and he used it to tease his
best friend. He put a stern look on his
face as well as in his voice. “You
behave yourself around Lt. James,” he ordered.
“We need to keep this one.”
“Me,”
Chip all but yelped, and then had to send a glare around the Conn to squelch a
few instant chuckles from the duty crew.
While the two officers had been talking quietly, the crew knew from
Chip’s reaction that their skipper had just needled his old friend about
something. “You’re the one,” Chip
continued in a much more under control voice but with the glare now directed at
Lee, “who kept talking to Bishop about ways to advance his career. Leaving bulletins on his desk about new Navy
ship rotations, assigning him extra duties aboard Seaview…”
“I
wanted to make sure that he had a thorough working knowledge of as many of the
different duty assignments as I could,” Lee cut Chip off, defending himself
with a hurt expression on his face. His
eyes, however, gave his merriment away.
“He’s a good man.” He hesitated
just a moment, and then smiled. “Just
not for Seaview.”
Chip
nodded. “I’ll give you that one.”
The
pair worked in amiable silence for awhile.
Chip was still puttering with the charts, checking for any potential
trouble spots on the journey home. If
there was one thing Chip hated, it was surprises on a cruise that could have
been avoided by diligence to one’s duties.
Lee puttered for awhile with the Duty Roster. Now that Patterson and Blake were no longer
needed by Dr. Compton they could be inserted once more into the general
rotation. It was something that Chip
normally would have done. But as he
hadn’t gotten around to it just yet, Lee was perfectly happy sharing the job.
Lt.
James came back at 1730 hours. Lee had a
hard time controlling his expression as he flipped through the status reports
for the last couple of days, just because it gave him something to do. Chip immediately started, in his best XO
voice, pointing out to the young lieutenant a couple of areas where Seaview
would have to maneuver carefully to avoid potential problems, as well as the
latest weather report which was showing a squall line about to dissect
Seaview’s course. As Chip started to
wind down, Lee turned toward them.
“Mind
you keep Seaview smooth and steady, Lieutenant.” He sent a quick flick of a smile Chip’s way
before once more addressing James. “The
XO gets seasick far too easily.”
“Aye,
aye, sir,” Lt. James answered carefully.
He hesitated as Chip sent Lee one of his better Command glares. Lee openly grinned, and reached out to gently
backhand Chip’s shoulder. James finally
relaxed, realizing that the two old friends were just bantering with each
other. But he nonetheless started
seriously studying the charts as CO and XO headed for an early dinner.
* *
* *
Cookie
was not a happy man. Seaview’s
slightly altered cruise parameters had left him short of a few staples. He hadn’t bothered to mention it when they
stopped at the Galapagos Islands. It
would have been fairly easy to stock up on a few things, but he hadn’t at that
time considered it a problem. Late that
morning, as he started planning one of the Skipper’s favorites for dinner, he
realized that he was short a couple of ingredients and had to improvise. Exchanging chicken for the pork loin that he
usually used wasn’t too bad. But adding
rutabagas when there wasn’t enough carrots changed the flavor of the mixture
that resembled a shepherd’s pie, a thick stew topped with mashed potatoes. To make amends – not that the Skipper would
complain, but just because - he’d had Higgins, his assistant, whip up a molten
chocolate pudding cake for dessert.
Things were running late, and he practically snarled when Will came
through the door at 1740 hours.
Recognizing the mood, even if he didn’t know the cause, Will chose to head straight for the coffee urn and ignore the fact that the evening meal wasn’t already laid out. He’d only taken a couple sips when he heard Cookie mutter fiercely about something. He knew he was risking a tirade, but asked anyway. “What’s up, Cookie?”
A
pan clattered in the sink as Cookie gave it a toss, but he answered after a
deep breath. “Just realized that I
didn’t fix a tray for that woman researcher.”
Another pan hit the sink. “And
neither of us have the time to go hauling it up there.”
“I’ll
take it up for you,” Will offered. If
nothing else it would be a convenient way to get out of the Wardroom for a few
minutes. Cookie didn’t say anything,
just send him a nod. But Higgins gave
him a quick look of relief as he scurried around the galley.
There
was no answer when Will knocked on Dr. Compton’s cabin door. He waited a few seconds, thinking that she
might be in the head, and knocked a bit louder.
She better not have left the cabin without permission, Will
muttered to himself. He admitted that
someone may have released her from being exiled, but somehow that didn’t seem
likely. At least not yet. He knocked a third time, still got no answer,
and tried the door. It wasn’t locked,
and Will opened it and stepped inside.
He’d
no more than noticed the scientist, sitting cross-legged on the bunk with her
back against the bulkhead, when she opened her eyes and saw him, giving a
slight squeal before getting herself under control. “Sorry, Doctor,” she immediately apologized,
and shifted to sit on the edge of the bunk.
“I didn’t hear you.”
Will
nodded, and turned to set the tray of food on the small desk set against the
far bulkhead. A thought hit him, and he
turned and looked at her with a firm expression on his face. “You didn’t hear me, did you?” he asked,
putting special emphasis into the question.
She obviously heard that but didn’t answer, merely dropping her eyes a
bit. Will crossed his arms across his
chest. “That’s what’s been causing some
of the problems?” She still didn’t
answer. “Obviously it’s not a constant issue.”
“Comes
and goes,” she admitted. She took a deep
breath and finally looked at him directly.
“Lately it’s been more going than coming.” She tried a small smile, but it died rapidly
in the face of Will’s frown.
“You
shouldn’t have been diving at all,” he growled.
She
bounced to her feet. “Don’t you think
that I know that?” she told him indignantly, before once more backing
down. “But I wanted to complete this
project. I needed to.” Her look implored Will to understand.
“Explains
a few things,” Will told her gruffly. He
wasn’t quite ready to forgive her for possibly putting not only herself but her
fellow divers in jeopardy by the omission.
But he relaxed enough to rest a hip on the desk. “I gather you’ve so far been able to hide it
from everyone.” She nodded. “Otosclerosis?”
Again
she nodded. “A form of it, anyway.”
“The
accepted theory is that it’s hereditary.
People who have seen your background reports never suspected anything?”
She
almost growled her answer. “Apparently
I’m one of the weird ones where it shows up out of the blue. No one in my family has it – at least back
the three generations I’ve been able to research.”
“Rough,”
Will commiserated.
“I
went to off-campus doctors to keep anyone from finding out. I knew that I was going to have to have
surgery but I wanted to complete this set of projects first.” She sighed heavily. “At that point it still wasn’t too bad. But it became apparent right after we got to
the Galapagos that it was taking a rather dramatic turn for the worse. That’s when I contacted my director about
needing to get home sooner than expected.
He has no idea why I was so excited when he told me about Seaview. It meant that maybe, just maybe, everything
I’d already done wouldn’t be wasted.”
She looked down again. “I may
never have another chance.”
“Because
the surgery could leave you permanently disabled.” Will tried his best to keep up with current
medical information. Sometimes the best
laid plans or, in this case, surgery, backfired and left the patient worse off
then before.
“Bingo,”
she said disgustedly, before turning an imploring look on Will. “Please don’t tell the others.”
“Why? Admiral Nelson can’t get much angrier at you
than he already is.” He let that sink in
just a moment before continuing. “On the
other hand, Commander Crane has assumed responsibility. At least for this morning’s incident. It might be wiser to leave well enough
alone.” Will shuddered at what Nelson’s
reaction would be to this new piece of information.
Compton
gave him a puzzled look. “Why would
Crane do that? I mean, the Admiral made
it plain to everyone who he blamed for what happened today.”
It
was Will’s turn to sigh heavily. But all
he said was, “Eat your dinner. I’ll have
to think about what, if anything, I tell the others,” and he headed back to the
Wardroom deep in thought.
On
the one hand, knowing what he did now, telling the others would hopefully
convince Lee that what had happened wasn’t his fault, thus relieving him of the
guilt he’d dumped on himself. On the
other hand, making the knowledge public at this time would no doubt cause Dr.
Compton heat from the entire crew for as long as she was aboard. As they were still several days from home,
Will wasn’t looking forward to the decidedly uncomfortable atmosphere that
would almost certainly create. It
wouldn’t do anyone, least of all the senior officers, any good whatsoever. Therefore, by the time he once again entered
the Wardroom he’d decided to keep silent.
But only until Dr. Compton was no longer around. Once they’d gotten rid of her he’d tell Lee
what he’d discovered. The story would no
doubt get out eventually. But by then
the source of the problem would no longer be within range and the expected
anger should die a rapid death.
When
he re-entered the Wardroom, Lee and Chip were just starting to fill their
plates. Cookie was apologizing for
dinner not being up to his usual standards.
Chip took a quick bite and told him that it tasted just fine. Lee just laughed and told the temperamental
chef that he was sure that anything he fixed would be wonderful. Admiral Nelson walked in right behind Will,
and the two older men shared a smile.
Lee was a veritable genius at smoothing ruffled feathers among his crew,
thus keeping a smoothly running boat
But
as light banter between all four men continued through the meal, Will’s eagle
eyes noticed the less than fluid movements his CO was trying so hard to
conceal. He struggled, somewhat
unsuccessfully, to contain his mirth at the oh-so-typical actions. It had taken Will only a few days around the
young man to discover that Lee simply chose to ignore anything short of
imminent death – and the jury was still out on that one – that would keep Lee
from less than total performance of his duties.
When the others noticed his amusement Will just shrugged. “Nothing important,” he told them, and the
light chatter continued.
He
got the expected quick glare from Lee as they all finished eating and he asked
Lee to come down to Sick Bay for a few minutes so that he could check the
injuries. Lee’s instant “They’re fine,”
was followed immediately by a snort from Nelson. Chip almost got a snicker buried. Lee ducked his head but still managed to send
the blond a fierce glare before reluctantly following Will out the door.
Once
in Sick Bay, Will started taking a few things that he needed from a cabinet
while Lee unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off. Or, rather, tried to. By that time his shoulders had stiffened
badly, and he sent Will a disgusted look when Will turned, saw the problem, and
grabbed the shirt collar at the back and helped slide it off Lee’s arms. “Let’s see.
What would Chip say about now, Skipper?”
Will sent his least cooperative patient a fond smile. “That’s what happens when you play with
opponents bigger than yourself?”
Lee
sent him a copy of the glare he’d sent Chip a few minutes previous, but turned
and lay face down on the exam table. “Or
something equally smart-aleck,” he mumbled, his forehead resting on his crossed
arms.
Will
chuckled. “Relax, Skipper. We’re headed home, the boat’s quiet, the crew
calm. Well,” he hesitated, “Admiral
Nelson needs to take a few deep breaths.”
He chuckled lightly. “But
nothing new there. Brace yourself,
Skipper. I’m going to rub some Mineral
Ice across your shoulders and on the back of your neck. You know the drill – it will be cold at
first, but it will warm quickly and help those muscles relax.” Lee gave an abbreviated nod, and did nothing
more than clench his fists when the pain-relieving gel was applied.
Will
was silent for a bit, massaging the jelly-like ointment into tense muscles and
tendons, being very careful to keep it away from the bite marks. As he felt the tension beginning to relax he
said offhandedly, “You know, Skipper, I’ve been thinking.”
“Should
I break out a fire extinguisher? You
working that brain so hard and all,” Lee grumbled, but his shoulders shook
briefly with silent laughter.
Will
got his revenge by slapping a glob of the cold gel halfway down Lee’s spine, and
had the satisfaction of hearing Lee suck in a hard breath. But his fingers were gentle as he started to
spread it around and rub it in. “With
everything so quiet,” he finally continued, “I was wondering what the chances
were of maybe having you fly Dr. Compton home in the Admiral’s new toy.” Seaview had just recently had renovations
done, which included a berth under the nose for Nelson’s latest invention, a
small yellow craft that was part submersible and part airplane. Will didn’t even pretend to understand its
mechanics. He did know that Lee had
taken to it with an enthusiasm most everyone aboard had never seen in the
serious young man. “I’d suggest Admiral
Nelson do it but I don’t think putting those two in such a small confined
space, unsupervised, would be a good idea.”
“And
you don’t think I’d toss her out in the middle of the ocean and forget where?”
Lee spat out.
Will
smiled. “No, I don’t,” he answered
honestly. “You might be tempted,” he
admitted. “But you have too much respect
for life to carry it out.” His only
answer was something mumbled too low for Will to make out, and he wasn’t
foolhardy enough to ask Lee to repeat it.
“Having her aboard is only going to be a constant reminder to the crew
of what happened. Not to mention that a
few extra days off wouldn’t do you any harm, either.”
“I
could use the time to maybe get a head start on all the paperwork that I’m sure
has been building up in my office,” Lee offered.
“Not
what I had in mind,” Will muttered, and again Lee’s shoulders moved slightly
under his hands.
There
was silence for a bit while Will continued to work the gel into knotted and
hard muscles. “I gather that you haven’t
mentioned this to Admiral Nelson?” Lee asked.
“Nope,”
Will admitted. “And since you and he are
the only people who know how to operate that thing…”
Lee
gave a quick nod. “Hopefully that will
change soon. Chip needs to be
certified. And the Admiral wants Chief
Sharkey to be as well. I’m thinking
Kowalski and at least two or three others, for backup.” Will grinned.
Lee’s emphasis on cross training of personnel was very popular with the
crew. “You about done?” That came out as a definite complaint, and
Will’s grin spread.
“Almost,
Skipper. Just relax.” But he hurried up just a bit. Lee gave him another glare when Will handed
him several pills. Will just crossed his
arms and sent it right back, and Lee reluctantly downed them before reaching
for his shirt. Will happily noted to
himself that the younger man’s movements were much less stilted. The gel was only a stopgap. But he was becoming all too familiar with the
fact that an uncomfortable Skipper didn’t sleep well. The gel would radiate heat for several hours,
by which time, with a little luck, Lee would be ready to settle down for the night.
Will
was sitting at his desk about half an hour later, sipping coffee and catching
up on some medical journals he’d not yet gotten around to reading, when the
door from the corridor was thrown open and Admiral Nelson unceremoniously
stalked in. “Something I can help you
with, Admiral?” he asked amiably.
Nelson’s
expression stayed threatening. “You can
tell me why I should expend any more NIMR time and resources on
that…that…woman,” he finally spat out.
Will
didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he
reached behind him for another mug, filled it about two thirds full of coffee
from the small pot that he kept going in his office, and topped it off with a
bit of brandy from the bottle in his bottom desk drawer. He set it on the other side of the desk, and
waited until Nelson sat down and took a long swallow first. “For precisely the reason that you just
exhibited, Admiral,” he said firmly.
“The sooner she’s off Seaview, the sooner everyone will calm down.” He leveled a particularly stern look at Nelson
when he said ‘everyone’.
“Harrumph,”
Nelson muttered, but continued to work on the ‘doctored’ coffee.
“I
gather the Skipper didn’t entirely explain my suggestion.”
Nelson
drained the mug, and finally softened both his expression and voice. “Don’t think that I gave him the chance,” he
admitted.
“More?”
Will asked, nodding to the mug.
Nelson
took a deep breath, but finally shook his head.
“I’d better go unruffle some feathers.
Not Lee’s,” he quickly admitted.
“He was his usual philosophical self.”
Will
grinned. “Let me guess. Our calm, cool, and collected XO got a little
steamed?”
Nelson
nodded. “Didn’t say anything, of
course.”
“Heaven
forbid,” Will agreed.
“But
he really doesn’t take kindly to anybody yelling at who he considers his little
brother.” Both men shared a quick
chuckle at that description of Seaview’s command team.
“Unless
it’s him doing the yelling,” Will qualified.
They shared another chuckle before Nelson stood and left.
* *
* *
Lee
glanced around as he climbed down the access ladder the next morning into
Seaview’s newest addition, the Flying Sub.
Admiral Nelson had apparently been puttering with the unusually designed
craft for several years, but hadn’t done much about it. Lee had spotted the designs on Nelson’s desk one
day shortly after taking command of Seaview, as he waited for the Admiral to
return from a meeting. He’d been
intrigued by the little craft, and encouraged Nelson to continue working on it.
Right
now her interior didn’t look anything like the designs. She was packed with all of Dr. Compton’s
equipment, stowed and secured for travel.
It didn’t leave a lot of room in the already small craft. But all the instrumentation, and the area
around the two cockpit chairs, was free of clutter. Lee gave himself a mental reminder to commend
Chief Sharkey on how well everything was arranged.
He
was just finishing up the pre-flight checklist when footsteps on the ladder
announced Dr. Compton’s arrival. He’d
left informing her of the change of plans to Chip the night before, while he
did a final walk-through of the boat before hitting his rack. Chip had told him over breakfast that she’d
just nodded when he’d told her to report to the Nose at 0930 hours. She hesitated at the bottom of the ladder,
and Lee indicated the co-pilot’s chair as he got up and secured the ladder into
its in-flight position. Silently he
showed her how to adjust her flight harness.
She seemed even less disposed to conversation than Lee was, although in
Lee’s case it was just because he was concentrating on everything that needed
to be checked before the little craft could be safely launched. He was also still a little ticked off at
Jamie for getting in a parting shot – literally – before he’d let Lee out of
his sight for the four days it would take Seaview to get home, and was being
careful not to take his snit with his CMO out on Compton.
He
got a bit of personal satisfaction when FS1 dropped out of her belly hatch and
headed for the surface, and again when he launched her into the air, as the
scientist clenched the arms of the chair in a death grip. But he grinned when Compton started to
practically giggle with enthusiasm as it became apparent what the little craft
could do.
Once
he reached cruising speed Lee put the craft on Auto Pilot and unbuckled his
harness. Thoughts of coffee had him
searching through the gear for the pack Sharkey told him Cookie had
supplied. It wasn’t immediately evident,
and Lee spent a bit wondering where the COB would have considered a convenient
place to stow it.
Just
as his eye spotted it tucked at the end of the small bunk he felt the craft’s
stabilizers bobble a scant half-inch. He
quickly grabbed the pack and returned to his seat, dropping the pack between he
and Dr. Compton. The look she gave him
said all too plainly that she’d felt the slight hiccup as well. “Sorry,” he told her. “FS1 is quite new. We’re still getting the bugs worked
out.” She just shook her head.
Lee
grinned to himself as he spent a couple minutes flipping switches and checking
gauges. Once he was fairly sure that
nothing serious was wrong, he nodded toward the pack. “Should be coffee in there,” he told
her. She took the hint, pulled out the
thermos and two cups, and poured.
As
she handed one to him she asked, “Sandwich?”
Lee
shook his head. “Not right now,
thanks. It’s roughly a five-hour
flight. Depends on the headwinds. I’ll probably have one before we get
home.” She just nodded, and there was
silence between them.
“Where
will you be dropping me?” she asked several minutes later.
“San
Diego Naval Base…if that’s okay. We’ll
dive about five nautical miles out and come in underwater.” He patted FS1’s instrument dash. “She’s not quite ready for public
viewing.” Lee sent her another
grin. “When I call in for clearance I’ll
request a driver and vehicle to get you home.”
“Thanks.”
Once
again there was silence between them.
Lee absentmindedly sipped his coffee, reaching out occasionally to
adjust a dial or check a switch, enjoying the smooth ride in the little yellow
craft. A soft private smile spread
across his face. Nothing on the early
designs Lee had seen designated a color scheme.
Nor did Lee ever give it a thought, just assuming that she would be the
normal dark gray of most underwater vessels.
Seeing the finished machine for the first time, painted bright yellow
with tiny blue trim on the top of the fins, he’d been speechless. He’d simply stood there, staring, while
Nelson chuckled. Finally, Lee had
managed to utter one word – “Why?”
Nelson had laughed outright, slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Why
not?”
He
still had a soft smile on his face as he reached to check a gauge in the center
of the panel. His shoulder twinged just
enough to make him flinch and the smile changed to a frown. He almost subconsciously glanced at Dr.
Compton before getting himself back under control, and saw a small frown on her
face as well. Taking a moment to compose
himself by sipping his coffee, he said quietly, “I need to apologize.”
But
at the same time he spoke, so did she.
“I’m sorry about yesterday.”
There
followed the usual, awkward momentary silence.
Lee finally shook his head sadly and tried again. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry for causing
yesterday’s…ah…incident.” He sent her a
shy, sideways look.
“You
had lots of help,” came out in a grumble.
As Lee started to frown her expression turned sheepish. “Most of it from me.” As Lee would have interrupted, she raised a
hand. “Please, Commander. I’m perfectly aware that I’ve
been…difficult.” Lee carefully
controlled his expression. “I
guess…” She paused a bit, and Lee didn’t
interrupt her. “I do know better,” she
tried to defend herself. “About the
equipment and stuff…” Again her voice
trailed off. She was looking down, but
finally raised her head to meet Lee’s eyes.
“I have a lot of things going on right now. I guess that I just lost perspective.” The smile she tried was half grimace. “Really good practice for a researcher, huh?”
The
smile Lee sent back wasn’t much better.
“You didn’t catch us at our best, either. The tail end of a long cruise; we’d lost a
man – were still feeling the effects of that and just wanted to get home,” he
admitted.
“And
instead, you get stuck with an overly focused scientist so hell-bent on her
research that she forgot the bare minimum of common sense.”
It
was Lee’s turn to lower his eyes. “I
wouldn’t go quite that far.”
“Admiral
Nelson certainly didn’t have any problems pointing out my shortcomings.” There was defiance back in her voice.
Lee
clenched the fist that wasn’t holding the coffee mug, but almost instantly
relaxed it. “The Admiral…” He took a deep breath. “Look…I don’t want to argue with you all the
way home. Okay? Mistakes were made. On both sides.”
There
was silence again for a bit. Mention of
the Admiral sent Lee’s thoughts back over his aborted conversation with Nelson
the previous day in Nelson’s lab. “I
think…” he started, and then paused to organize the random images going through
his brain. “Doctor…” he tried again,
before a pained expression hit his face.
He sent her a look that was half speculation, half embarrassment. “Look.
Do you have an actual name I can call you? I have enough trouble with regular
doctors. One in particular,” he
grumbled. “And your ‘d’ is only a ‘ph’.”
She
sent a sheepish look of her own over the top of the coffee mug. “My friends call me Sandi,” she told him with
a heavy sigh.
Lee
raised an eyebrow. “How do you get that
out of the initials M.L.?”
“Myrtle
Lysandra,” she muttered almost too softly for Lee to hear. “Named after my two grandmothers.”
“Ouch.”
She
nodded. “My parents are both very
soft-spoken people. When the
grandparents told them that they needed to name their first child after them
neither Mom or Dad had the guts to argue.”
Her look momentarily brightened.
“It could have been worse. If I’d
been a boy I’d be Herman Ludwig.”
“Guess
I got off easy,” Lee told her with a small grin. “I was named after family as well. Lee is my Mom’s maiden name, and Benjamin my
Dad’s first.” He reached carefully down
for the thermos and poured them both more coffee before continuing. “Anyway, what I wanted to say was, I think I
was taking out my frustrations at being unable to stop the accident that cost
us a crewman by being over-protective of you.
I didn’t think that I was…” His
voice trailed off. “But the more I think
about it…” He shrugged.
“And
when I finally slowed down yesterday – well, got slowed down,” and a grumble
entered her voice before she gave herself a slight shake, “I realized that you
weren’t doing anything much beyond common sense.” She sent him a frown. “I still think that we would have been fine
yesterday.” As Lee opened his mouth to
reply she cut him off. “But, you could
just as easily have been right,” she admitted.
“You’d think that, as often as I was reminded,” she sent him a quick
hard look, “that I was subject to a different set of rules than I’m used to,
that I’d have found a better way of dealing with the problem than blowing you
off.” She cringed slightly. “I just don’t take being slowed down
well.” Her expression by that time had
turned somewhat sheepish.
Lee
grinned. “Gee, I never would have
noticed.” His grin broadened ever so
slightly as she glared at him. “On the
other hand, you did give the crew something to talk about.”
“Sorry
about that.” Her voice and expression
softened again.
Lee
shrugged – carefully. “Definitely gave
everyone something else to think about other than the first part of this
cruise.” He filled the next few moments
finishing his coffee and looking thoughtfully out the front windows. “Not totally a bad thing,” he finally added.
“Thank
you – I think.” She sent him a
speculative look.
Lee
finally grinned broadly. Somehow, he
didn’t think that anyone else aboard Seaview would think that their minor
detour on the way home from Antarctica was a good thing. Twenty-four hours earlier, Lee would have
been on their side as well. Just
maybe, perhaps, I’ve learned a valuable lesson not to let one incident color
another.
He
shook his head softly at that thought as he took back control of FS1 from the
autopilot. He knew himself far too well
to think that he’d no longer be troubled by incidents that he knew he should
have handled better. And he could
already hear Chip’s disbelief that this trip had been any kind of learning
experience. Humm – think I’ll save
myself that lecture and keep that thought to myself when Seaview gets
home. But he knew that he did need
to finish the conversation that Admiral Nelson had started in his lab. Once again his mentor, his friend, his… Lee never did totally know how to describe
his relationship with the man who had been so influential in his life. Nelson had been able to see through one of
his own infamous temper tantrums and center on the crux of Lee’s actions. That, or he and Jamie got their heads
together. Would explain a few looks
Doc’s given me the last few days.
But
his speculative frown turned almost instantly sheepish. It was actually a good feeling, being
surrounded by people who cared about him as much as his ‘family’ at NIMR
did. So they ‘mother-henned’ him on
occasion. He guessed he could handle
that – up to a point, anyway. Better if
he’d quit giving them reasons to do it. Something
to work on, he told himself, and settled a little more comfortably in FS1’s
pilot chair for the rest of the trip home.
Epilog
As
he felt Seaview slow in preparation for entering the channel from open water
into her underground lair at NIMR, Will Jamison picked up the small bag he
carried between his two ‘homes’, the submarine and NIMR’s Med Bay Health
Center. He’d had second thoughts after
Cdr. Crane left Seaview, knowing how easily the young man ‘forgot’ to take
medications. He wandered forward to the
Observation Nose, prepared to debark as soon as Seaview docked and track Lee
down immediately to make sure that the shark bites were healing correctly.
He
had ended up keeping quiet about Dr. Compton’s medical condition. The instant Lee had radioed in that he’d
arrived home, the entire crew had seemed to release a long sigh of relief. Will saw no need in any further stirring up
of the issue. He was even contemplating
not telling Lee; it all depended on what kind of mood he found his CO in. He had no intention of bringing up the
just-completed cruise if Lee had put the distasteful aspects of it behind him.
Even
as Chip issued the orders to maneuver Seaview into her berth, he grinned as
Will came down the spiral stairs and nodded toward the windows. “You won’t have a problem finding him,” he
said with humor before returning his concentration to the job at hand. When Will looked he saw Lee standing on the
dock, watching the giant submarine ease into position. She was barely snugged against the dock
before Will saw Lee head for the boarding hatch so he just settled a hip on the
corner of the table and waited for his patient to come to him, the irony of
that thought putting a broad smile on his face.
“Where’s
the saucer of cream?” came in Admiral Nelson’s voice. Will cocked a quizzical eyebrow. “You’re smirking,” Nelson explained.
Will
chuckled, but all he did was shake his head.
While he might thoroughly enjoy the moment, he wasn’t about to embarrass
Lee by explaining in front of the whole Duty Crew. As he merely sent Nelson a smug grin, the
reason scurried down the boarding ladder.
“Sir,
you needn’t break your neck,” Chip told Lee formally, his blue eyes sparkling
despite the growl in his voice. “I’m
perfectly capable of settling your precious lady into her berth.”
“I
know,” Lee assured him. “But four days
with just you in command, I figured that I’d better check and see how many
crewmen suffered nervous breakdowns.”
Nelson’s
snort of humor was barely louder than Will’s, which effectively stopped Chip’s
retort. At least momentarily. Both older men had no doubt that Chip would
get his revenge.
But
Will frowned as Lee tried to bury a yawn.
“Commander,” he growled, using Lee’s formal rank as a sign of his
displeasure, “I better not find out you’ve spent the entire last four days
working.”
Chip
cut off Lee’s response. “Don’t worry,
Jamie. If he’s managed a way to keep you
from finding out, there’s still my sources.”
Lee’s instant frown at Will transformed into a glare at Chip.
“Lee?” Nelson brought everyone back to the important
point of the conversation. They were all
too aware of how Lee could focus on work to the detriment of eating and
sleeping.
“I’m
fine,” Lee growled before he could stop himself. Eyes ever so briefly lowered before he looked
openly at his boss. “I drove down to
“Who?”
Chip asked. “Anyone I know?”
Lee
sent a quick glance Will’s direction, accompanied by an equally quick smile,
before answering. “You’ve met – sort
of.” The grin broadened. “But no, you don’t know her.”
“Her?”
Chip instantly pounced.
“Chill,”
Lee ordered. “I want to check the status
reports for your trip home,” and he effectively closed the conversation by
walking to where they were kept.
From
Lee’s quick glance his way Will knew exactly who Lee had gone to see, and
didn’t get his grin under control fast enough to keep Nelson from seeing
it. “I gather you know what – or rather
who – he’s referring to?” Nelson’s voice
was a growl, but kept very low so as not to be overheard.
Will
responded just as quietly. “Not
totally,” he fudged. Both older men
watched Lee’s easy, flowing movements as he reached for the current reports and
started going over them as Chip finished getting Seaview settled. “I’m just pleased that he’s apparently
healing just fine.” Nelson raised an
eyebrow as Will prepared to head out.
“Oh, I’ll track him down later,” he admitted, and Nelson nodded. “But for now, it’s pretty obvious that he has
things under control.”
*see Cobwebs by R. L. Keller