What The…?

By R. L. Keller

“What the…” came in a growl from Sonar. Lee had barely raised his head from the navigation chart he and Lt. James were studying when Senior Rating Kowalski at Sonar this shift almost yelled. “Skipper!”

Lee quickly took the few steps needed to stand at the rating’s shoulder but didn’t bother asking what the problem was – it was rather obvious. Seaview’s ultra-modern sonar station was to all outward appearances having a major panic attack. “All stop,” Lee called out, the order relayed instantly by James. Lee watched as Kowalski, Seaview’s most experienced Sonar operator, flipped switches and adjusted dials but couldn’t make the instrument settle down. “All back slow,” was Lee’s next order followed by, “Admiral Nelson to the Conn. By the time Nelson scurried down the spiral stairs Lee had once more stopped the giant submarine as Sonar had gone back to operating normally.

“Whew,” Kowalski blew out a breath and sent a glance between Lee and the fast approaching Admiral.

“Yeah,” Lee agreed, and turned to Nelson. “We were traveling your marked course, sir, when suddenly Sonar went crazy.”

“Flipped out big-time,” came softly from Kowalski, once more concentrating on his instruments. Lee and Nelson shared a quick look before Lee continued.

“I stopped and backed up, and now it seems fine.”

“Something straight ahead set it off,” Nelson translated.

“I’ve never seen it do that, sirs,” Kowalski told them. “Ever. And I’ve seen it do some pretty weird stuff.”

“Careful with that word ‘weird’,” Lee gently teased the rating, in reference to what had become a bit of a standing joke aboard Seaview. “But I have to agree, Admiral. This was a new one to me as well.”

“Okay,” Nelson drawled out. “Lieutenant,” he addressed James, who had the Conn, “all ahead, dead slow.”

“Dead slow, aye, sir,” and James gave the commands to once more ease the sub forward.

And once more Sonar was okay and then went totally berserk. “All stop,” Lee called before Nelson could. He glanced around the Conn. “Chief?” he questioned Seaview’s COB, Chief Sharkey, who he knew had been watching other instruments around the Conn.

“Nothing, sir. Ah, sirs,” he amended. “Everything else is normal.” Lee did a quick look around, and all other crewmen gave him a negative shake of head.

“Weird seems to fit just fine,” was Nelson’s observation. It got a soft snort from both Lee and Kowalski. “Back us off to just out of range.”

“Of what, sir?” Lee asked as James once more reversed Seaview.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Nelson told him. “Depth?”

“Shallow enough to dive,” Lee confirmed. “Or would you rather take FS1?”

Nelson pondered that one. “I’d say this calls for up close and personal,” he said with a sparkle in his eyes that had Lee almost cringing. He kept a straight face, although he had a feeling Nelson saw his reaction anyway. “Besides,” Nelson continued, “since I don’t see Chip I’m assuming that he’s not back yet.”

“No, sir,” Lee told him, and a small grin appeared. “And I gather you don’t want to postpone this inquiry until he does.” Seaview’s XO and Seaman Riley had been dispatched that morning to deliver a NOAA researcher that they’d had aboard for the last week back to Pearl Harbor Naval Base while Seaview continued exploring towards the western end of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The pair weren’t expected back for another hour or so.

“Sharkey?” was Nelson’s next question.

“Yes, sir?” came instantly.

“Break out that little hand-held sonar unit and meet me in the Missile Room.” As the COB’s “Aye, aye, sir,” was heard, Nelson looked at Lee. “I assume that you’d rather stay aboard, with Chip off boat.”

“I’ll go if you want me to,” Lee told him. “I have confidence that Lt. James can keep Seaview out of trouble.”

Nelson chuckled softly as Lee sent the young lieutenant a grin, and James ducked his head slightly at the implied compliment. “Sharkey and I are just going to wander around out there and see if we can pinpoint what’s causing the trouble. Since it isn’t affecting anything else I’m guessing a strange mineral deposit of some sort.”

“I’ll send out watchdogs just in case,” Lee told him, back in firm control.

It caused Nelson to chuckle a bit louder. “Had no doubts that you would,” he told his captain and headed out the aft hatch, Sharkey right behind.

The water was clear enough that Lee could follow a good bit of the action as well as hear the conversations over the dive channel as he stood in Seaview’s unique Nose. Nelson and Sharkey, watched closely by Seamen Nielson and Rodgers swimming overhead with spear guns on the lookout for sharks and anything else that might not be friendly, swam slowly toward the place where Seaview’s sonar had originally flipped out. When the small unit Nelson had invented some years ago also had issues, they noted their position on GPS and circled to come at the spot from a different direction. They kept it up until Nelson had totally circled the area and had a good fix on where he was sure was his target. With an ‘all clear’ from the watchdogs he and Sharkey cautiously approached the center, searching visually for anything unusual. That particular area wasn’t overly rocky, mostly covered with fine silt and sand, and the pair carefully waved their hands, shifting the silt and looking for anything buried under it.

“Sir,” Sharkey said excitedly, “got something.” Lee saw Nelson quickly swim over. But then there was silence as the two seemed to merely stare at the seafloor.

“Sir,” it was Lee’s turn to say when he could no longer stand the silence.

“Not sure, Lee.” Nelson’s voice held puzzlement. “It looks…” Again there was silence.

“Sir?” again Lee prodded.

“Hang on.” This time Nelson’s voice held a small note of irritation. “Chief, did you by any chance bring a set of tongs?”

“Yes, sir,” Sharkey’s voice was smug. “In case you found a mineral sample that you didn’t want to pick up by hand.”

“Well,” Nelson told everyone listening, “while it’s not exactly mineral I’d rather not touch it.” The silt that the pair had stirred up had dissipated just enough that Lee could follow Nelson’s next movements. Once Sharkey handed him the tongs he reached down and picked ‘something’ up out of the small depression Sharkey had made.

Lee couldn’t see what it was, only an object of some sort about four inches square. “Someone drop a Rubik’s Cube?” he asked softly over the dive channel.

Nelson snorted. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he told Lee.

“I’m not so sure, sir, that it’s safe to bring it aboard,” Lee told his boss carefully.

Sharkey could be seen nodding vigorously but Nelson remained silent, turning the cube this way and that. Eventually he reached out and touched it carefully with a gloved finger. “Sharkey?” he asked.

“Apparently you just shut the thingamajig off,” Sharkey confirmed. “It’s not messing this up,” he indicated the little sonar unit, “anymore.”

“Then I guess that it’s safe to bring aboard,” Nelson said confidently, and all the divers headed back toward Seaview, Nelson still holding the cube firmly in the tongs.

Lee met him at the dive hatch and took a careful look as Nelson handed him the tongs and started removing his gear. Lee looked at it from all sides but didn’t touch it. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Actually,” Nelson said, “now that I can get a good look at it, I have.” Lee stared at him. “Down, Lee,” Nelson told his now totally focused captain. “It’s one of ours.”

“NIMR, sir?”

“No. Ours as in American military,” he explained.

“Sir?” Lee was still totally confused.

“I have to admit that I didn’t realize it would work underwater,” Nelson confessed, peeling off his wetsuit. Lee absentmindedly handed him a towel as he continued to stare at the cube.

“It’s sort of an early warning system,” Nelson continued. Lee finally quit staring and focused on Nelson, although he continued to hold the thing gingerly by the tongs. “They were experimented with around outposts during ‘Desert Storm’, picking up movements by possible insurgents and alerting the posts. I thought that they were abandoned as not being reliable. Either the frequent sandstorms would bury them or the moving sand itself would send out fake readings.”

“But what’s it doing out here?” Sharkey asked.

Nelson shrugged. “Haven’t a clue,” he admitted. “But I’m going to find out.”

“What do you want Seaview…” Lee started.

But Nelson cut him off. “We’re staying right here,” he ordered. “At least for now.”

“Yes, sir,” Lee told him.

Now dressed, Nelson took the thing from Lee, holding it in his hand since it seemed to be safe, and headed out of the Missile Room. Lee shared a look with Sharkey, they both shrugged, and followed the Admiral. Lee headed back to the Conn to update Lt. James. He assumed that Sharkey followed the Admiral wherever he was headed.

Lee knew that Nelson kept Sparks busy for the next hour or so, but still hadn’t seen him when FS1 sent her homing signal. Lee started to walk forward, in preparation for welcoming Chip back, when the blond’s voice all but yelled over the mic. “Mayday, Seaview. Having instrument trouble.”

Lee managed to grab a mic before Lt. James could. “Chip, circle FS1 and approach from our tail. That should clear your instruments.”

There was silence for a bit before Chip’s voice came back, his dry, ‘XO in command’ voice clearly in evidence. “Lee, you want to explain what just happened?”

Lee couldn’t help the grin in his own voice. “Once you get back, Mr. Morton,” he told his XO, and best friend, formally. But his grin faded as Nelson once more scurried down the stairs.

“FS1?” he demanded, obviously having heard at least the first part of Chip’s call.

“Chip’s got her back under control and approaching from our tail, sir. You didn’t by any chance turn that thing on…”

“No,” Nelson growled. “I didn’t.” He grabbed up a mic. “Seaview to FS1. Did you note your position when you experienced the trouble?”

There was a short pause. “We can come pretty close, sir,” Chip answered carefully.

“Another one?” Lee questioned out loud.

“So it would seem,” Nelson agreed, and they waited somewhat impatiently for Chip to dock the little craft under Seaview’s Nose.

Once Chip had been given the short version of the last couple of hours’ adventures the three settled around a chart of the area. “Not realizing that you’d stopped,” Chip told the others including Lt. James, “I headed southerly, away from any possible boat traffic along the Marine Reserve area. When I realized that Seaview’s signal was behind us I circled back. We were somewhere in this area,” he pointed southeast of where Seaview now sat, “when everything screwed up.”

“Everything?” Nelson all but demanded.

“Well,” Chip amended, “no, sir. But I was scanning for Seaview and suddenly the directional readings weren’t making any sense. I called in, Lee said to circle, and the readings straightened out. No more problems coming in.”

“Another cube, sir.” There was no question in Lee’s voice.

“That would be my guess.”

“What did Washington have to say, sir?” Lee knew that at least one of Nelson’s calls had been to the Pentagon.

“Harrumph,” Nelson spat out. “Head for that position,” he jabbed the chart where Chip had indicated his issues started. “Carefully,” was the next order before Nelson stomped up the stairs.

Lee and Chip shared a look. “You heard the man, Chris,” Lee turned to Lt. James, who still had the Conn.

“Aye, aye, sir,” the lieutenant answered crisply and started issuing the orders to put Seaview back in motion. Lee and Chip shared a quick nod and the blond went to put his flight jacket away before officially taking command.

Because Seaview’s progress was slow and cautious, she hadn’t quite reached the target area by suppertime. Nothing more had been seen or heard from Nelson, although once more Sparks had been busy. Lee and Chip decided to grab their meal a bit early, while they could.

Apparently they were unable to control their expressions because, as they approached the Wardroom from one direction Seaview’s CMO, Dr. Will Jamison, came from the other. “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

Chip frowned but Lee grinned slightly. “The Admiral has a puzzle,” he told the doctor.

“Help,” Will muttered, causing Chip’s expression to finally lighten. The whole boat knew that the words ‘Nelson’ and ‘puzzle’ used in the same sentence all too often lead to chaos.

“Lee,” came from behind him and he turned to see the Admiral also headed for the Wardroom.

“Haven’t quite reached the search area yet, Admiral,” Lee told his boss, and stepped to one side to let Nelson precede him and the others. “Figured that we’d grab a slightly early bite so we’d be ready to dive when we did.”

“My thoughts exactly,” and all four dished up their plates. “I gather you haven’t heard,” Nelson said to Will as they sat down on one side of the table as Lee and Chip settled opposite.

“Nope,” Will confirmed. “Been busy catching up on medical journals.”

Once more Nelson supplied a short version before turning to Lee. “Robert is not happy.” The others knew that Nelson was referring to the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Robert Jones.

“Oh, oh,” Lee muttered softly. No one asked Chip to repeat what had slipped out of the blond’s mouth too softly to be clearly heard. Chip had no love whatsoever for that particular agency.

Nelson sent them both a nod. “There have been rumors circulating that someone,” he hesitated, “and Robert wouldn’t, or couldn’t, identify a specific entity…” There was another low grumble from Chip and Lee elbowed the blond, although gently. Chip sent him a nod and Nelson and Will shared a small grim grin. “When the Army went to retrieve the sensors once their usefulness had been deemed untrustworthy they came up a few short.”

“How many is ‘a few’?” Will asked.

“Robert didn’t specify.” Nelson frowned. “Nothing much was done about it because they’d already had issues with the things getting buried by shifting sands and dying.” He got nods from Lee and Will. Chip remained focused on his meal.

“And now?” Lee risked asking.

“Now,” Nelson growled, “the rumors start.” He stuffed a bite of dinner in his mouth and chewed furiously for a few seconds before swallowing. “Whatever is going on, Seaview is tasked with finding out.”

“Can you tell, sir, if they are still directional sensors? Are they sending intel in a specific direction?”

“With luck, having accidentally discovered a second one. Well…” he sent Lee a small grin, “after accidentally discovering the first…” Lee returned the smile. “We’ll be a whole lot more careful how we collect this one. Hopefully, knowing where we found the first, we can make a guess at triangulation and find where the transmissions are going.”

“Tricky, assuming who’s on the other end has discovered that the first unit went dark,” Lee told him.

“Definitely,” Nelson agreed.

“Maybe whoever they are,” Will said, “will think like the Army; that all the bugs aren’t yet worked out of them.”

“Perhaps,” Nelson told him but without much conviction.

“Or they’ve already noted our presence in the area,” Chip offered, albeit with deference to Nelson.

“Unfortunately an all too definite possibility,” Nelson agreed.

“Instructions?” Lee asked.

Nelson shrugged. “At this point, proceed as we see fit.”

Will snorted softly, then ended up being stared at by the other three. “In other words,” he told Nelson, “considering past experiences no one had guts enough to tell you otherwise.”

Nelson’s glare was short-lived as both Lee and Chip tried unsuccessfully to bury snickers. “Harrumph!” he growled but sent the doctor a short nod, and all hurried to finish their meal.

Lt. James was just bringing Seaview to a stop as Lee and Chip re-entered the Conn. “Didn’t want to get too close to where Mr. Morton had issues, sir,” he answered Lee’s pointed eyebrow, “without further instructions.”

Lee sent him a nod, and noticed Chip’s Duty expression slip ever so fractionally. Chris James was becoming every bit the command officer that they had anticipated when he’d been hired to replace the irritating Lt. Bishop. Chip accepted command of the Conn although Chris stayed close by, causing another quick grin between his CO and XO. Once they’d both studied the chart Chip eased Seaview forward until Kennison, now on Sonar, sang out that it had once more gone wonky, and Chip backed off until there was no more interference.

This time Lee went out with Admiral Nelson, along with four watchdogs instead of two. Nelson sent them a glance as he changed into his wetsuit but, with one look at the expression on Lee’s face, said nothing. Sharkey gave Lee the small hand-held sonar unit and Lee and Nelson entered the dive hatch once the other four were outside.

Now that they knew what they were looking for it didn’t take nearly as long to find this one as it had the first. But unlike the first, Nelson took detailed readings of its directional location before picking it up, this time with just his gloved hand, and turning it off. Then all six men made a hasty retreat back to Seaview. Once changed, Nelson told Sharkey to put the unit with the other one, safely locked in his private lab, and he and Lee joined Chip at the chart table in the Conn.

Nelson was now able to determine which way the second unit was facing, and which direction it was in all likelihood sending its signal. Given where they’d found the first one, all three men offered guesses – pretty much all they could do – as to where they might find any more. And especially, what they could possibly be protecting; nothing in the area seemed logical. As Lt. O’Brien came on duty at 2000 hours Chip tossed Chris, who’d remained close, out of the Conn with orders to get some rest, to Chris’ chagrin and Lee’s chuckles. Then Nelson turned the tables on both Chip and Lee, giving them the same order. They did settle on having O’Brien, and Lt. Keeter when he took over ‘D’ watch at 0200 hours, meander slowly through several sections they’d marked on the chart as possibles for further sensors. But both had strict orders to not approach if Sonar indicated a problem; merely note the location, back off, and continue to prowl. Neither Sonar, Hydrophone, or Radio had so far indicated any other ships or subs in the area. If there was contact everyone understood that General Quarters would be sounded just in case.

But all remained quiet during Seaview’s night. Lee surprised himself and, he suspected, both Chip and Nelson, by sleeping. It was one of Lee’s two immediate signs of stress: not sleeping, and not eating. It regularly drove his friends, especially Will Jamison, up the wall. Lee suspected that the combination of the evening dive plus lack of any detectible suspicious activity had allowed him the undisturbed rest. Whatever the reason, he hit the Conn only a few minutes earlier than he normally would. Lt. Keeter was just showing him on the chart where instruments had located another probable cube when Chip and Nelson came down together, and all four stared at the chart as they visually deciphered what was starting to form. As Lee noticed a hard look cross Nelson’s face he said quietly, “Sir?”

Nelson stared at the chart a few seconds longer. “The first unit was here,” and he put a finger on the chart. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a directional output for that one. However,” a pen landed on the chart where they’d found the second one. “We do know where that one was pointed.” He lined the pen up, the tip where they’d found it and the pen itself down the line it was transmitting. “Now, we have another one approximately here.” He grabbed a pencil and with the eraser in the possible place it should be, played with it along various directional lines trying to line it up with the others in some formation that would make any kind of sense.

“Wouldn’t it just be easier to go out and get it so we know for sure?” Chip offered.

Nelson sent him a momentary glare but the others all knew – Keeter perhaps a bit less than Lee and Chip – that Nelson wasn’t glaring because of the question, it was merely his way of pondering an answer. At least, that’s what they were hoping. Finally Nelson let out a long breath. “So far we’ve been lucky. We haven’t run into any unfriendlies.” The others gave him nods of agreement. “But we have no idea how long that luck will last.”

“Then the faster we have a definite location the less time we spend stumbling around trying to guess what’s going on, sir,” Lee told him firmly, his command voice very evident.

Nelson almost smiled. That was Lee – decision instantly made, full speed ahead. Chip had a tendency to rag on Lee for not thinking an action through, just plunging ahead without thought to the consequences. Chip was a planner to the core; he didn’t like surprises and wanted time to search for the proper - to him - course of action; he didn’t always appreciate Lee’s gung-ho approach. But Nelson knew differently, and knew that for all Chip’s harping he knew better as well. Lee did think things through. He simply had the ability to evaluate all options at a much higher rate of speed than most people and come to a conclusion that produced the best results. What he didn’t do, and what tended to drive Chip a little crazy, was always take into account the consequences to himself. Lee would always, no matter what, put others first.

“I suspect that you’re right, Lee,” but raised a hand to stop his captain giving any orders. “After breakfast,” he ordered first. Lee opened his mouth to argue but stopped after taking a good look at the expression on Nelson’s face.

“Yes, sir,” Lee backed off. But his back was stiff as he turned and headed out the aft hatch, Chip right behind, and once more Nelson almost smiled.

The meal was quickly inhaled by both CO and XO, and Nelson felt Seaview start to shift slightly before he could swallow the last of his coffee. “Yes, Lee,” he muttered into the bottom of his mug. Safety regulations were obviously going to be pushed to the limit – not waiting a full hour before diving. It had been a light meal, especially on Lee’s part. And Nelson had absolutely no doubt that Lee would be on the dive. Seaview’s instruments weren’t the only things on high alert!

The dive went off without a hitch. Once more they gathered around the chart table as Nelson studied his notes and another pencil was positioned on the chart. This time Chip’s finger pointed to where lines were starting to converge. “But there’s nothing there,” he muttered.

“That we know of,” Nelson’s voice was firm.

Lee’s finger joined Chip’s, but further south. “I’d suggest that we approach from this direction.”

Nelson’s “Agreed,” came out at the same time as Chip’s “Yes.” All three looked at Lt. James, already plotting a course.

“Give us a wide circle, Lieutenant,” Lee told him. “Make it look like we’re pulling out and leaving.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” Chris answered with a nod but never taking his eyes off the course he was plotting. Nelson and Lee grinned and Chip looked smug.

“Keep me posted,” Nelson told Lee. Not that Lee wouldn’t, but…

“It will take a few hours to keep it looking casual, sir,” Lee told his boss. “I don’t understand why we haven’t already been at least looked at, if not outright challenged.”

“Quiet, you,” came softly from Chip’s direction as he studied Lt. James’ figures and prepared to start Seaview in motion. “Don’t be tempting fate. Sir,” he added with a quick flick of his eyes. Nelson grinned and headed up the stairs as Lee nodded, grabbed up the Duty roster, and headed for one of his casual ‘walkaboats’.

By some unrecognized cerebral link the three entered the Wardroom just after 1130 hours, all coming from different directions. Nelson had spent the morning in his lab dissecting the cubes. Chip stayed on duty in the Conn keeping Seaview to a casual pace but with all instruments turned to their highest gains keeping a lookout for anything unusual. And Lee had tried, without a whole lot of success, to walk off his growing concern and nervousness by wandering around the boat, casually visiting with whoever happened to be on duty. Cookie glanced through the passageway between Wardroom and Galley as they entered. “Coffee’s hot, lunch ready in five,” he told them.

“Sounds good, Cookie,” Chip told the premier chef – and Seaview’s back-up Nuclear Reactor Technician. Nelson sent the blond a raised eyebrow. “If our calculations aren’t totally off-base we should run into another sensor in about forty-five minutes,” he confirmed the Admiral’s unasked but obvious question.

“I’d suggest ignoring it, sir,” Lee told his boss, “and head straight for whatever it’s supposed to be guarding. No one seems to have paid any attention to us so far.”

“I tend to agree,” Nelson concurred. “The more I study those cubes the more confused I get.”

“Why’s that, sir?” Lee had no misconceptions that Nelson wouldn’t continue his thoughts. Just, sometimes, it helped to nudge the conversation along. Lee knew that he was being impatient so tried to control his tone.

Apparently without success as Nelson sent him a small grin. “From what Robert told me, these may not be a take-off of the ones he thought,” he said, and now had both younger men’s total attention.

“Something totally different?” Lee’s voice carried a small note of doubt.

“Perhaps two technicians working independently developing something similar.” Nelson smiled. “It does happen.”

“Or two entities having access to similar technology developing something to suit their own purposes,” Chip offered.

Nelson nodded. “Also possible,” he agreed.

“We know, unfortunately,” Lee grumbled with a frown, “that R & D,” he referred to the Naval Research and Development division, “has been compromised at least a couple of times.”

“Yeah,” Chip did a bit of his own grumbling. Seaview had borne the brunt of those problems on more than one occasion. “Sir,” he added as Lee nailed him with an elbow, causing Nelson to send them both a fond smile.

“Now what have they done?” Will Jamison growled, walking in and catching the tail end of the conversation as Cookie started laying out the noon meal. Today it was simple: thick ham sandwiches, potato salad, fruit jello, and chocolate cake.

“Reminding me why I hired them,” Nelson finally answered the CMO. “Although there are times…” he added. Will snorted softly as Lee and Chip both sent their boss sheepish grins.

The younger two ate quickly and scurried back to the Conn to prepare as best they could for whatever lay ahead. Nelson, while not dawdling, stayed a bit longer as he laid out for the doctor what they knew, what they thought they knew, and admitted that they had absolutely no idea how the next few hours might go.

“Oh goody,” Will complained. “One of those missions.”

Nelson nodded. “Fraid so,” he admitted. “We have to check it out. We just have no idea what ‘it’ is.”

“That needs to be written into Seaview’s mission plan,” Will told his boss.

“Who says that it isn’t,” Nelson teased back. Will snorted, and Nelson followed the younger men to the Conn.

The next couple of hours went by uneventfully. They didn’t run into the expected sensor, and were starting to get even more confused than they already were when once more Kowalski at the Sonar station muttered something under his breath. “The sensor, finally?” Lee asked, walking over to him.

“No, sir,” the rating told him. “I’d swear that it’s a floating island.”

“Kowalski,” came out in a warning tone from Chip. But before he could say more Lee cut him off.

“No, Chip,” Lee held up a hand as he looked over the rating’s shoulder. “I’ve never seen anything read like this.” He now had Nelson’s attention as well, and the Admiral came from the Nose to stand behind Kowalski’s other shoulder. All three continued to study the unknown images Sonar was sending back as Chip slowed Seaview even more, creeping slowly up on whatever it was they were approaching.

What finally came into focus, both on Sonar and eventually out the front windows, had everyone figuratively scratching their heads. The seafloor around them wasn’t extremely deep, but rising in the center of their focus was a mount that ended about forty feet below the surface of the ocean. From the top of the mount came four heavy-duty chains – the kind large ships used for anchors. The chains stretched upward, attached to what had all the appearances, as Seaview approached, of an island. And a good-sized one at that – maybe half the size of a baseball field. Chip had stopped Seaview a good hundred yards away and at Nelson’s order slowly surfaced, her nose pointed directly at the ‘island’. As it came into view they were amazed; the place was covered in soil at least three feet deep, held in place by heavy timber seawalls. More made up the ‘floor’. There were an abundance of shrubs and small trees that didn’t quite camouflage a building of some sort sitting almost dead center.

“Someone’s get-away cabin?” Chip theorized.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Lee shrugged back and looked at Nelson.

“I suggest we go knock and find out,” Nelson told him.

“Sparks,” Lee called back to the Radio Shack, the Conn’s aft port section, “try ringing the doorbell if you can find one.”

“Aye, sir,” the senior radioman answered as there were a couple of soft chuckles from around the Conn; one of them Nelson’s as Chip crossed his arms over his chest and sent Lee a small glare. Lee glanced around and shrugged, causing more snickers. “No response on any channel,” Sparks called forward a half minute later.

“Patterson,” was Lee’s next request, addressing Seaview’s senior Hydrophone operator.

“What sounds like maybe a small generator, sir,” the seaman answered. “Nothing else.”

Lee turned to Nelson. “Then knock it is, sir,” he told his boss. “But well-armed,” he added firmly.

“Agreed,” Nelson told him. “Chip, nudge us up to the bulkhead. Chief,” he addressed the COB, “guards posted on the deck, and we’ll take several with us.”

As Sharkey’s “Aye, sir” sounded Lee patted Kowalski on the shoulder. “You’re with us,” he told the rating. Kowalski slipped off his headphones as Chip called Seaman Benjamin to the Conn. Everyone knew that, if there was any chance of a fight Seaview’s Senior Rating, one of the boats, and Lee’s, staunchest supporters, wanted to be right there in the middle of it!

Ten minutes later, with three well-armed men keeping watch from Seaview’s forward deck and two more aft, Nelson, Lee, Sharkey, Kowalski, Seaview’s MAA Chief Hauck, and three more security men prepared to step gingerly from the deck to the island. Hauck went first, then his men. They spread out a bit, looking around. When all remained quiet the rest stepped over. “Weirder and weirder,” Sharkey muttered as he followed Nelson along what appeared to be an overgrown path that lead to the building.

“Deserted?” Lee postulated, looking at the weeds starting to obliterate the path.

“But deserted what?” Sharkey asked.

“I’d say we’re about to find out,” Nelson told him as he stopped in front of a heavy metal door set into a cinder-block building. He gave it a couple of firm knocks but got no response. “Anyone have suggestions?” he asked, pulling a small camera out of his pocket and snapping a couple pictures of what appeared to be a keypad security lock, but with strange symbols on it instead of numbers.

Chief Hauck stepped forward and reached into the backpack one of his men was wearing. “Just happened to bring along a lock pick,” he quipped, and proceeded to attach a small shaped explosive charge directly above the keypad. Everyone stepped back and Hauck detonated the charge, with satisfactory results – the door swung open. Hauck and his men entered first, although Nelson could see that Lee was clearly impatient to follow. Nelson had to admit, so was he! He managed to keep Lee back barely thirty seconds before Lee charged in, followed closely by Kowalski. Sharkey and Nelson went in as well.

They found themselves in sort of an anteroom from which several doors took off. “All clear,” came in Chief Hauck’s firm voice as he appeared from one doorway. There was instant confirmation from the rest of his team as they appeared from the other doorways. The sound Patterson had heard was indeed a generator, as small lights illuminated the interiors of each room. “In here,” Hauck indicated behind him, and while the security team spread out outside to check the rest of the ‘island’ Nelson, Lee, Sharkey and Kowalski followed Hauck back into the room.

“What the…” ‘Ski once more muttered, causing Lee to send him a small grin.

“Seems to be your new catch phrase,” Lee told the rating, but Lee himself wasn’t sure what he’d just walked into.

The room was perhaps forty feet long and twenty feet wide, although almost all of the wall space, floor to ceiling, was covered with electronics of one sort or another. It almost looked like an ultra-modern submarine control room but there weren’t any places to sit. Both Nelson and Lee laid down their weapons and started to prowl the equipment, trying to figure out what it was. Kowalski looked around but retained his weapon and stood guard by the door as Chief Hauck joined the rest of his team outside.

“Admiral?” Lee finally asked as he stared at a bank of gauges, switches, monitor screens, and things that he had no idea about what they were. Instructions here and there weren’t in English and Lee couldn’t figure out what they were instructions for.

“Fascinating,” Nelson said from across the room.

“You understand any of this?”

“I’m beginning to,” Nelson told him. Lee abandoned his section of instruments and joined Nelson across the room, carefully adjusting this knob and that. “It’s a satellite tracking station,” Nelson finally told him, “if I’m not totally mistaken.”

“Not like one I’ve ever seen,” Lee admitted.

“Me, either. But most of the instruments are shut off.”

“Saving power?” Sharkey asked.

“As good an answer as any,” Nelson told him, flipping a few more switches and getting no results.

“People’s Republic?” Lee’s turn to guess as he studied the panels more carefully.

“Or North Korea,” Nelson nodded. “Although I can’t imagine what either would want with an installation like this clear out here.”

“Who can understand what either of them think they’re doing,” Sharkey growled, and the others nodded agreement.

“And then to just abandon it,” Lee added. “Just leave it sitting here.” He shrugged. “Now what, sir?”

“We call Pearl and have them send enough tugs, with firepower support just in case, to haul this thing in and have it analyzed,” Nelson told him.

“I think I’d rather back off and blow it to smithereens,” Sharkey told him with feeling.

Nelson raised an eyebrow. “And send that many potential pollutants into the water?” he asked his COB

“Yeah, well…” Sharkey backed down.

“For right now,” Lee told the others, “I’d suggest we get the heck off this floating dock. It’s making me a little nervous.”

Nelson nodded. “Good idea,” he agreed. They did take the time to photograph and document the entire installation. The other rooms were mostly bare but seemed to have been living quarters. Within an hour Lee had his crew back on Seaview, and the sub backed away to what he considered a safe distance.

Nelson, after an hour of constant conversations with Pearl and the Pentagon, joined him in Seaview’s Nose. His feet had barely reached the deck when a tremendous explosion rocked the giant submarine so badly that everything not securely fastened down went flying, including a good many crewmen. Chaos momentarily reigned until crew, so adept at their jobs that they didn’t need orders, got themselves and their departments back under control. Nelson had been able to grab the stair railing. Lee, standing in the open several feet away, hadn’t fared quite so well. As Nelson was finally able to look around he saw Lee just picking himself up off the deck next to the railing around FS1’s hatch. “Lee,” Nelson couldn’t help calling out worriedly.

Lee barely heard him, so focused was he on Chip at the chart table. The blond already had a mic in one hand calling for damage reports. As Lee stood up Chip reached down with his other hand and Lt. James slowly appeared, shaking his head and rubbing his backside. Lee knew just how the young man felt!

It took a few minutes before things started to settle down and the men to begin questioning what the heck had happened. It was Nelson who waved a hand out Seaview’s windows. “Someone apparently liked Sharkey’s suggestion better than I did.” Chip had settled Seaview at periscope depth while Nelson made his calls. Outside, as currents started to clear the suddenly murky waters, they could see that not only the island was gone but the top half of the seamount as well.

Lee and Chip both started checking instrumentations but there had been absolutely no warning of the attack. “Missile?” Chip postulated. Lee shrugged and turned to Nelson.

“Guess I’d better go make a few more calls,” was the Admiral’s only answer.

Two days later, as Seaview sailed through once more calm waters, Nelson came down the spiral stairs to find Will sitting in the Nose, his attention focused on the current mystery novel he was reading. Lee and Chip were quietly bickering over whatever had their attention at the moment, and Nelson caught a small grin on Will’s face. “The children seem back to normal,” Nelson told the doctor quietly enough so that only Will heard. He poured himself a mug of coffee and settled down at the table.

Will snickered. “So it would seem. How’s the Pentagon?”

“You don’t want to know,” Nelson growled.

“That bad,” Will commiserated.

“Worse,” Nelson confirmed.

“Ouch.”

Seaview had hung around in the area until the water had cleared sufficiently to let them do a thorough search. They’d managed to retrieve a few odds and ends of electronical parts. But whatever had hit the installation – and they still couldn’t say for sure what that was – had done a good job of obliterating the place. Nelson, thankfully, had the photographic evidence but that was going to have to suffice. No one in Washington was happy but at least they weren’t stupid enough to try to blame Nelson for allowing the destruction to happen before the place could be completely analyzed. Seaview had survived the blast, all things considered, fairly well. They were headed back to Santa Barbara at half speed, and once home all plates and rivets would be given a thorough inspection just in case. Chip was muttering about several computers needing some major work but techs were already, under his direction, making repairs. Nothing else was significantly bothering the boat from getting home safely. Crew injuries had also been minor, hence Will’s ability to come up to the Nose to read, something he only did when everything was quiet in Sick Bay.

Although, Nelson told himself as he watched Will keep a surreptitious eye on Seaview’s captain. “Lee?” he asked softly.

Will grinned broadly. “His hard head has apparently saved him once again.” He shrugged. “A headache off and on,” he amended. “Chip keeps an eye on him.”

Nelson snorted. “And who keeps an eye on Chip?”

It was Will’s turn to snort. “Lt. James,” he told his boss and they both snickered.

Nelson took a deep breath, blew it out, and polished off his coffee. It was nice to have things back to normal.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author’s note: This was written in just under two days. I don’t know where it came from. It just *appeared* in my brain as I was looking at the contest picture. It might have been written in one day if my hand hadn’t given out part way through and I had to take a break. So, pardon the craziness, please 😊