SHADOWS
By
Philippa Timms
Deep below a sea that held many wonders of
life, dark deeds were being done. Soon the whole world would know. A message
would be sent to Admiral Harriman Nelson…a very deadly message….
"Two whole weeks, Ski!" Exclaimed Stu Riley
as he gloomily fitted his surfboard into the back of his open-topped car.
"We were going to have two whole weeks of having nothing to think about
except sun, sea and surfers!" Riley could tell from the look that Kowalski
was giving him that he also did not think much of the idea of having to cut
short their shore leave
"You just had to say those immortal words
Stu. ‘Come on Ski, you do know that the chick’s can’t resist a surfer!’ And
what happened? We've just had enough time to unpack the boards," grumbled
Kowalski as he began to help Stu with the rest of their gear.
"I wonder what’s the emergency this
time?"
"We’ll find out soon enough." Riley
looked closely at the tied boards. "Make sure they'll firmly secured,
Ski."
"Yep, they’ll last us the trip back for
sure."
"Good, as from what I’ve heard they want us
back at the Institute ASAP."
Kowalski jumped
into the passenger seat and with a wry grin on his face turned and said,” well
what are we waiting for?"
***
The small inflatable craft
snuck into the tiny sandy shore under a moonless night. No human eye watched
their arrival as the two men, dressed in combat black, silently pulled the
small craft up the sandy shore and camouflaged their means of escape under a
convenient outcrop of rock.
One of the men started to
pull out of the craft a small rucksack and stepped back.
“Whoa…..” were the
first words uttered on the island by Chip Morton as he fell backwards over a
sand-submerged Giant Turtle. The second and third were lost to the wind.
The turtle did not think
much of this incident either and began to flap its fins. Digging into the
sand. It flew everywhere as the turtle again, tried to lose himself into
the sand and covering Chip Morton at the same time.
“Chip, if the Admiral were
here,” Lee said, but paused as if reigning in emotions that he did not want to
feel. Could not feel, not here and now. But then began to talk
again as if he had not stopped. “I’m sure he would commend you in
checking out the local wild-life….”
Chip went to answer but all
that he got for his effort was a mouthful of wet sand. “Caaaugh….” Was all that
come out as the sand reached the back of his throat spluttering even more as
Lee helped him up.
“Come on…and be more
careful…with these. They are for one thing and one thing only,” Lee told Chip,
with an edge to his voice that Chip had never heard before. Lee handed him a
now sand coved rucksack. Chip nodded trying to get rid of excess sand at the
same time.
Lee by this time had taken out
his flashlight and had pointed it out to sea. Turning it on and off in three
short bursts. This in turn was repeated way off, a mere pinpoint on the
horizon.
“Come on we’ve no time for
beachcombing. We’re ending this now.” Lee did not wait for Chip to reply as he
went up the beach towards the dense jungle that ended abruptly as it came into
contact with the sand rocks of the shore.
***
Some miles away, a man watched all that
was happening and smiled and laughed an insane laugh. Now just one move, one
key to press and all his years of work here, deep in the
As Morton and Crane made
their way in land, the ‘terrorist base’ that held their attention was beginning
to see what trouble they were in.
“John, we’ve gotta
problem!” Came a high, almost panicked voice behind him. John had almost
forgotten that he was not alone on this base and almost fell off his computer
chair as he spun around at the new voice from his panicked co-worker in their
little venture, and dived through small open hatch that separated him from the
rest of the scientific base.
“WHAT?” He mouthed annoyed
that his train of thought had been broken just when everything had been coming
together.
Harry just waved his hands
in the air. “They’ve found us. The Institute’s here,” Harry responded sounding
less panicked. But still with fear burning in his eyes. John just sighed again
and scratched his head.
“And?”
“They’ve been monitored and
they’ve got the evidence.” Harry pointed behind John and towards the mathematic
equations that were flashing on the screen. Just before a large yellow Pac Man
screen saver replaced them. It’s mouth wide open in a toothless grin. “And
they’re coming for us….”
“For us?” Harry scratched
his curly red hair. “But we made sure Nelson and the Seaview just repeated
history.”
“Well, like, it’s SO
not!” John by this time was panicking.
“We’ve done something wrong
with the last watch test. They think we’ve bad guys now. And it would seem from
contact with
“Maybe I should go
dress in black and breathe deeply?”
“Huh?” Harry asked looking up from his computer.
“I doubt that’ll help much,” he said after it had sunk in what John had just
said. “But I don’t see what we can do differently. We’ve gotta stay in
the shadows with this. Go and see Doctor Pem. I’ll calculate a time
jump.”
John nodded; he wondered if they could change
the past so much now their future was so obvious. And if going back in time now
was what got everything so out of whack in the first place. But then Doctor Pem
would know. Doctor Pem knew everything about this project. But whatever
happened, times were about to change.
***
It had been a bight sunny day in
Not that you could see Seaview from the main
gate, but John Taylor knew she was there and could quite well imagine her
outline. His mind drifted back over the years he had worked on her and then his
move to
"Admiral Nelson says he’ll see you
now,"
With a curt thank you to the guard he set off
towards the main office complex. But still he imaged that slim, gracefully,
glass nosed submarine. Just waiting for his return. So close, and yet so far
away. Putting his papers away, John reached into his, back trouser
pocket. Checking he still had the small bronze pocket watch on a chain. That
was now his anchor in what was to him was the past.
“Oh….” John exclaimed as he almost dropped the
watch. He grabbed at it. For a second he seemed to wink out of existence and
then shimmered back again. He looked around hoping no one had noticed. He
checked the time on the watch again and then, he continued his way back towards
Nelson, Crane and hopefully access to the Seaview. Not that if events went to
plan he would see her again. Again he sighed, but tried to smile.
Sitting at her desk was one thing that had not
changed, and it made him glad for the first time since taking on this mission.
It made him very uneasy that he had to bring Nelson in without telling them the
full nature of the enemy.
"Angie," he greeted her with a grin.
"It’s nice to know there’s a constant in this mad universe."
"You know it’s been a long time. The
Admiral’s missed you." Angie smiled back.
"I bet he has!" John could not believe
the last comment, even from someone as beautiful as Angie. Their last
conversation had been far from amicable. Even after four years, that mere
thought of the last conversation with Nelson still smarted, not that he could
blame him. As her amber eyes glowed up at him he decided not to dwell too long
on past events. "Is the old man alone?" He waved his arm towards the
door.
"He, and Captain Crane are waiting for
you." She took a deep breath and laughed the low laugh that John had never
forgotten, even after all of these years. "And don’t call him the old man,
you know how much he hates it!"
"As long as I don’t get called lad, we’ll
be well away." So much had happened at the institute. Coming back here now
he could remember it all, just like it was yesterday. For John, thanks to the
watch, it was, well, just about a week. But John had built on that day, to
where he was today. John had made sure that the institute was well protected in
terms of computer security, whether the Admiral wanted it or not.
Crane sipped his coffee with Admiral Nelson. He
wondered just why this meeting had been called, a meeting that had surprised
him. Their orders from
"Are we ready?" John asked.
"Just what do you want us to do?"
Asked Nelson.
"Just do what ever I say Admiral. That’s
the be all and end all of the mission. As you’ve no doubt noticed, I’ve marked the
chart as to where I want Seaview to go. All that you’ve got to do is take us
there. Read the mission reports and I await your decision."
***
Lee Crane managed to get some of the back-story
on John Taylor over the next couple days.
Nelson had been in
It was the late and Lee Crane saw
The whole world seemed to be crashing round his
ears. A blinding light seemed to block his way. As Crane covered his eyes from
the radiance he caught sight of
Lee Crane opened his eyes, blinked at the
brightness of the room. When he found that he could open his eyes, he pushed
himself up, and found himself wishing he had not done so as quickly, as a spasm
of pain shot through his head. It passed as quickly as it had come. Groggily he
looked around the room.
From the various instruments, bunks and other
tale-tale objects, he concluded that he was in the Institutes sickbay. He just
wished that he could remember how he had got here.
Some days later on his office computer Admiral
Nelson studded the maps that John Taylor had left them. Dotted around the
small, wild remote islands of the Pacific were some of the best undersea
research facilities, or had been. A single Submarine over the last two weeks
had destroyed years of research. The attacks had formed themselves into a chain
reaction. But now their base had been found. Seaview called in to neutralize
the island terrorists.
For hours he tried to find logic in the attacks.
But for some they needed none to attack and kill.
Nelson hated it when computers did this to him.
The entire screen in front of him was a mass of colour; his science paper lost
somewhere in its bowels. NIMR’s main complex had just had delivered some of the
most up to date computer hardware. He had just started to call up some of his
old documents to see how the system would respond to the demands of NIMR.
For some reason a large yellow Pac-Man had invaded his computer screen and had
begun to eat all of his data.
This would have been something that John could
have sorted out in an instant. But he had been killed in the accident; at
the main office complex. He was sure that it was somehow linked with this
mission. But nothing had been proven.
Nelson muttered under his breath and hit the
keyboard hard. Soon he had the data back and studied the target island.
Soon, thanks to his staff, Pem would fully be in
control, of being able to travel in time. There would be no one to stop him.
Maybe he would even repay Nelson by making him and Seaview his pet project.
Deep below a sea that held many wonders of
life, dark deeds were being done.. Soon the whole world would know. A message
would be sent to Admiral Harriman Nelson…a very deadly message…
Nelson would make
sure, in John Taylor’s name… They would leave no stone unturned. John would not
have died in vain. They would find out just who was there lurking in the
shadows....
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