INTRUDER
ALERT
By
Mary Elliott
Captain Crane
had just completed his nightly walk about the sub and entered his cabin with a
mug of hot chocolate. Taking a seat on his bunk, he kicked off his shoes and
plumped up his pillows to lay back, unwind and
enjoy his hot drink. It was shaping up to a much longer than
planned mission filled with countless delays in investigating the
mysterious behavior of dolphins. Now it was Christmas Eve and instead of
roasting chestnuts on an open fire with his current lady
friend he was stuck underwater on a cold sub (the temperature control was on
the fritz)
with a crew of grumbling men. And to top it off,
Admiral Nelson had turned into Scrooge when Lee had suggested sending the
flying sub to pick up something special for Christmas dinner now that they
would be missing the holiday with family and friends.
Finishing off
the hot chocolate, he temporarily placed the mug on the shelf above his head
thinking he would close his eyes just for a few minutes before attacking the
ever-growing stack of end-of-the-year reports on his desk. For his Christmas present he should've asked Santa for one of his elves to do
his reports. Lee drifted off imagining a very short blonde blue-eyed version of
Chip with pointed ears dressed in a stocking cap and curly-toed shoes. Smiling
to himself he promised to send Santa a letter next
year for exactly that gift.
As their captain
slept the scene in the control room was anything but
relaxed. Riley was on sonar and reporting to Mr. O'Brien he had unidentified
objects fast approaching the Seaview.
There were no sounds of screws and it didn't sound
like any vessel he’d ever encountered. It could be biologics but the grouping
was like nothing he had ever come across. Mr. O'Brien had just turned to Burke to see if he was picking up anything
on his instruments when the entire control room heard a thump and then something
dragging on the outer hull.
Minutes later
reports were coming in from throughout the boat of an intruder. From the
frequency of reports and distance between the sightings there had to be several
unauthorized visitors. Mr. O'Brien hit the intruder alert alarm calling all
hands to general quarters.
The alarm woke
Lee with a start. Quickly sitting up his head hit the ledge above his head
sending his empty mug crashing to the floor. Slipping his feet into shoes he
raced to the cabin’s door; he would worry about cleaning up the mess later. It did
sadden him to break the mug, which the crew had given it to him last Christmas.
It was described to the World's Best Skipper on one
side and a drawing of the Seaview on
the other side.
Reaching the
control room he encountered controlled chaos. Mr.
Morton, having arrived a few moments before the Captain, was questioning two of
the crewmen who have reported the intruders.
“Sorry Sir, I
can’t give a very good description, I know I saw someone but just can't
describe him.”
“What about you,
Johnson?”
“I saw someone
exiting the missile room hatch but like Thompson I can't remember what he
looked like.”
“You mean you
both reported an intruder but you can't give us one piece of identification?”
Both Thompson
and Johnson looked at each other then at the two officers and nodded their
heads in unison. The skipper dismissed them telling them to return to the
search party.
“Alright Mr.
O'Brien exactly what did this noise sound like? Could there have been divers
outside attaching a bomb to the hull? Riley thought this contact was a
biologic, could the noise possibly have been a shark or dolphin bumping into
the boat?”
“I don't think
it could have been a diver sir; no reported vessels in the area. And as for the noise it was a thump like something dropped
and then was dragged for a very short distance. A shark or dolphin will more
than likely hit the side of the sub, and you know unless they were injured
their own radar would have prevented them from crashing into us. Anything large
like a blue whale would have given us a bit of a jolt.”
Intruder
sightings were still being reported to the Conn, but
security was receiving the same answer, no one could give a description of what
they saw. Lee and Chip simultaneously thought of Senator Dennis and his hallucinations
but that couldn’t be possible in this situation.
Admiral Nelson
had made his appearance a few minutes before after making sure all his
classified papers were secured and experiments not
tampered with. The captain looked at his superior and shrugged his shoulders in
confusion having no answers to what was occurring on Seaview. Suddenly the alarm to the escape hatch sounded; someone,
or something, was leaving the boat.
Once again there was a scraping noise above them causing all
three officers to rush to the nose of the boat. There before them was in
unbelievable sight. Moving past them a heavyset man in a red wetsuit was
sitting in a sleigh being pulled by eight dolphins.
The white-haired man turned and waved then jerking the reins the dolphins
quickly swam out of sight.
Nelson, not
looking at his two officers, cleared his throat and announced he was returning
to his lab. The captain, in a hushed voice,
ordered Mr. Morton to secure from general quarters. The XO finally found his
voice and obeyed the order. He returned the mic just as Cookie called from the
gallery.
“Sirs, I didn't
think we were getting additional supplies. Now that general
quarters has been canceled, I’ll start cooking for Christmas day. The
crew is really going to be happy with the hams and roasted goose for dinner.”
The skipper
started to answer but was interrupted by a call from
the MAA reporting a very unusual sight in the crew's quarters. Each bunk had a
stuffed Christmas stocking hanging from it. A small decorated
tree stood on the table loaded with colorfully wrapped presents. Soon other
areas of the boat were calling in and reporting mysterious Christmas decorations
appearing throughout the boat. By this time Lee was
beginning to wonder if he had hit his head harder than he thought when he
jumped up from his bunk a little earlier.
The skipper
decided he had heard and seen enough. He was returning to his cabin, maybe with
a side trip to Sick Bay for an x-ray of his head. Standing in the corridor Lee paused with his
hand on the doorknob, afraid of what he might find. Taking a deep breath he bravely pushed open the door and entered the room.
No stockings, no gaily-wrapped Christmas presents were in sight. Lee smiled; he
knew it. Someone from the crew had played an elaborate Christmas prank on the
boat but didn't dare enter the private quarters of her
captain. The Santa sighting must've been a holograph
or something. Probably a couple men were in on it to
get everything done so quickly.
Confidently he
crossed over to his desk; it was time to work on those end-of-the-year reports.
As he pulled out his chair, he finally noticed that instead of reports
scattered all over the top of his desk there was only one large pile being held in place by his undamaged mug. Propped up against
the mug was an envelope addressed to him. Sinking down
on to the chair, he picked up the envelope and with shaky hands
he opened it.
My dear Lee,
I hope the
reports are completed to your satisfaction. I was a
little rushed, so many stops, so little time. For next
year, I suggest you write that letter to me if you wish an elf for your
Christmas secretary. Enclosed is a picture of a very capable young elf. His
name is Bobby; you did request blond hair and blue eyes didn't
you? His specialty in the workshop is toy submarines. Be forewarned, he eats a lot of cookies. Be a good boy and stop giving Jamie so
much trouble; he's only looking out for you.
Merry Christmas,
S.C.
Lee carefully
replaced the letter, got up, crawled into his bunk, and pulled the covers over
his head. He was babbling over and over to himself… It's all a dream… It's all a dream…
It's all a dream.
Merry
Christmas to all and to all a good night.