How
Not To Climb A Seamount
By
R. L. Keller
“Harry, sit down before
you fall down,” Admiral Harriman Nelson (Ret.) scolded himself. “You’re worse than Lee!” Then he smiled sheepishly as he settled into his
favorite chair, an over-stuffed recliner in his livingroom, and carefully shook
his aching head. He, as well as Chip,
and especially Dr. Will Jamison, was constantly on Lee’s case to slow down and
let his body heal properly on those occasions when the younger man had put
himself in harm’s way – usually to save someone else who found themselves in
danger. But Lee would never listen; he’d
be up and off again, doing whatever he felt needed doing, driving those around
him crazy because he simply refused to believe that his body wasn’t ready to
tackle whatever his brain told it to do.
And here Nelson was trying to do the same thing!
By rights Nelson knew
that he should probably still be in NIMR’s Med Bay. Will had, reluctantly for sure, allowed
Nelson to return to his house on the hill, citing an unwillingness to listen to
the staff’s constant complaints about the Admiral’s short-tempered treatment of
them. When even Will’s not-so-secret,
secret weapon, Nurse Esther Hale, USMC (Ret.), started muttering threats to
“just shoot him full of sedatives so we can get some peace,” Will did his best
to read Nelson ‘the riot act’ and sent him home to be watched over by his
daytime housekeeper, Mrs. Garcia, and stay quiet. Preferably in bed, at least for the next several
days, but Will wasn’t stupid enough to think Nelson would follow that
order.
Nelson sighed
heavily. “But he’d have your head if he
found you climbing that step stool,” he continued, glancing up at the large
clock over the fireplace. Daylight
Savings Time had occurred the previous day and just that simple matter of the
clock being an hour off started to drive Nelson a little whackers. He had deliberately not reminded Will that
today and tomorrow were Mrs. Garcia’s normal days off, and she hadn’t come the
previous day because Nelson was in Med Bay.
Nelson was stubborn enough not to call someone in just to change the
clock. “Yes, Will, I can already hear
you yelling,” and then he jumped when the phone rang. “Nelson,” he answered not quite in his usual
authoritative manner, expecting Will to have discovered his deceit.
“Security, sir,” came
carefully instead. “There’s a Captain
Cory Mains at the front gate to see you.
I called Med Bay and they said you’d been released.”
That’s
one way to put it, Nelson mumbled only to himself.
“But he’s not listed on
your appointments,” the guard continued, “and I don’t recognize him.”
Nelson had to think about
that for a second. “You’re new on the
gate,” came out stronger.
“Yes, sir.”
“Capt. Mains is an old
friend. He’s been here before, but not
within the last few months. Point him
toward my house.”
“Ah, without an escort,
sir?”
Nelson almost
smiled. Obviously Dewey – or more likely
Lee and/or Chip – had ‘discussed’ a few things with Security after the Bishop incident.* “Without,” he confirmed, and hung up. More slowly than he liked he stood up and
headed to the front door to welcome his former XO.**
“Must be serious,” Cory
greeted Nelson’s outstretched hand with a firm shake as he looked his former CO
up and down, “to get you out of uniform.”
Nelson frowned at the
reminder that he was wearing casual slacks and a sweater over a polo
shirt. “It’s what some un-named source
brought to Med Bay after Will was ‘encouraged’ to release me,” came out in a
growl. He wasn’t made any happier by
Cory’s instant laugh, but quickly nodded and invited the man in.
“Commander Crane,
perhaps?” Mains continued to tease his former boss.
Nelson shook his head,
finally starting to smile. “Of that I’m
sure. Will banished Lee from NIMR
several days ago and Chip dragged him off to the family farm for some
much-needed R & R.”
Mains raised an
eyebrow. “Another one of ‘those’
missions?” he asked carefully. He was
very aware of both Nelson’s and Crane’s occasional missions for ONI, the Office
of Naval Intelligence.
Nelson cringed. “Would you believe that we were on a
supposedly simple charting mission for NOAA, and I decided to sidetrack a bit
to check out a weird anomaly in our findings?”
“Knowing you,” Mains
grinned, “that makes perfect sense.”
Nelson sent him a sheepish look.
“It didn’t quite go as planned, I take it.”
“Understatement of the
decade,” Nelson admitted, but he tried to change the subject and raised an
eyebrow as the pair settled into chairs in the livingroom.
“The Lechner,” Mains
named the submarine he commanded, “is in for some repairs and upgrades. I took Leave to visit family in Nevada, then
decided to wander this direction and catch up on what mayhem our mutual
favorite commander has been up to.” He
sent Nelson a smirky grin.
“Saving my six. Again!”
Nelson sent Mains a soft glare.
“So no, you can’t steal him.”
“Heaven forbid,” Mains
told him instantly, his hands raised.
Both men ended up chuckling, but it was Main’s turn to send a raised
eyebrow between the chairs.
“Tell you what,” Nelson
admitted defeat with a shrug. “You
change that clock,” he pointed to the offending reminder of what he couldn’t
yet do, “while I go make coffee.”
~ ~ ~
“Skipper to the Conn,”
came through the all-boat intercom in Chip’s calm voice, interrupting Lee’s
conversation with a couple of off-duty JO’s in the Wardroom. He grabbed the last cookie off the plate
Seaview’s chef had placed on the table the instant Lee sat down; he’d purposely
left it, wondering if either Lt.’s Keeter or Bryson would take it. Now he stuffed it into a broad grin as he
rose, sent them another nod, and headed forward in his usual brisk stride. While Chip pretty much always sounded calm no
matter what chaos was happening around him, Lee could usually tell if his XO
was under any kind of stress. This call
sounded totally normal so Lee took the time to glance at all the crewmen and
their instruments as he made his way from the aft hatch up to the chart table. The only things slightly abnormal were,
Seaview was coming to a stop and COB Sharkey was standing in the Nose. Lee raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think we’d get back to the rock
formation the Admiral wanted to check out for a couple hours yet?” Lee asked
the blond.
“Got sidetracked,” Chip
told him, and nodded toward Sharkey just as Nelson came down the spiral
stairs. “Knew where he was so notified
him directly,” Chip told Lee with a slightly smug grin. Lee just shook his head and joined the other
two at Seaview’s unique front windows.
Visible in the much
shallower waters than they’d been travelling in was…something. Lee wasn’t sure and he turned toward his
boss. “A wreck,” Nelson told him. “At least, that’s my best guess on minimal
visual inspection.”
“A very old one,” Sharkey
murmured.
“A wreck of what?” Lee
questioned.
Nelson shrugged. “That,” he said, “will require further
investigation.”
“Big surprise,” came
softly from the chart table and three pairs of eyes turned to stare at
Chip. Four pairs, actually, as Lt. James
was also giving his XO a strange look.
Chip cringed. “That wasn’t
supposed to come out aloud,” came with lowered eyes. Snickers from the Nose matched grins around
the Conn.
“What is this place?” Lee
changed the subject away from Chip’s small oops by asking Nelson. “I don’t remember anything this shallow on
the charts.”
“Has to be part of the
Emperor Seamounts,” Nelson told him.
“But you’re right; I don’t recall anything this close to the surface,
either. At least, in this specific area
of the seamounts. But then,” he told Lee
with a sparkle in his eyes that was easily recognized by those who worked
around him, “we haven’t often been in this area.”
“No, sir,” Lee agreed,
already mentally adding several days to the charting mission they were currently
on.
Nelson grinned; he easily
recognized the expression on his captain’s face – that of resignation. Nelson was perfectly aware that he all too
often threw a monkey wrench into Lee’s and Chip’s well-thought-out organization
of missions. Heck, he was the boat’s
owner; he could do anything he wanted!
Not that he messed them up for no good reason. Merely his good reason. He was just extremely pleased that the pair
‘switched gears’ so easily. He knew that
they knew how much he appreciated them both.
He thought that, perhaps however, he didn’t tell them that often
enough. “I’m quite sure that you and
Chip have already planned on at least a couple of extra days this cruise,” he
now told Lee.
The brunet nodded
sheepishly. “Yes, sir.”
Nelson openly
chuckled. “Sharkey,” he turned to the
COB, “suppose you pre-flight FS1, and you and I will photograph this whole area
from all sides. That will give me a
better idea, hopefully, of what we’re actually looking at and maybe we’ll get a
clue as to what that wreck might be.
I’ll go grab a bunch of collection units, just in case.” Sharkey and Lee both grinned, causing Nelson
to return it sheepishly. “Better to have
them and not need them than the other way around. I’ll grab your flight jacket when I get mine.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” The COB stepped over to the Flying Sub’s
upper hatch.
“Lee, you want to pilot?”
Nelson asked. “Just in case I need
Sharkey to help with collections,” he clarified.
It was Lee’s turn to grin
sheepishly. The whole boat knew that Lee
absolutely loved piloting Seaview’s bright yellow ‘offspring.’ “Sounds like a plan, sir,” he told his
boss. With a nod to Chip, who had easily
heard the conversation in the Nose, he headed up the stairs to grab his own
flight jacket.
It was an easy trip for
all three. This area of the seamounts
chain was long dormant, the waters relatively calm since the weather topside
was pleasant. Lee’s easy handling of the
small craft made both Nelson’s photography and sample-taking trouble free. The last collection unit was filled almost
before any of the three realized, but even this close there was no clue to what
the wreck might be. Part of the problem,
there was nothing much identifiable, merely a lot of bits and pieces, some
loosely connected but not many. Nelson
speculated that more could be buried in the soft top of the seamount but they
didn’t try to retrieve anything with FS1’s arms.
“Ah,” Nelson started as
Sharkey reported there were no more empty units, “I guess we go back.” His face and his voice were both a bit
sheepish.
Lee chuckled softly. “One more trip around the top for photos?” he
asked, his eyes bright with mischief.
Nelson laughed
outright. “You just want to play some
more with your favorite toy,” he teased.
“Yes, sir,” Lee easily
agreed. They spent another twenty
minutes before reluctantly returning to Seaview. Nelson and Sharkey went out the back hatch
with the collection units, headed for Nelson’s lab, while Lee finished shutting
down FS1 before joining Chip at the chart table. He called Seaman Patterson forward to take
care of the still photos and video that Nelson had shot, then he and Chip
kibitzed a bit about what of the area seemed to fascinate the Admiral. All either could do was shrug that one off,
and Lee grabbed up the Duty Roster to make one of his casual ‘walkaboats’
before supper.
Conversation at the meal
was mostly Nelson expounding on what he’d noticed as he transferred the water,
soil, and mineral samples from the collection units to labeled containers to be
studied later so that the collection units could be sterilized for future
use. So far nothing had stood out as
different or unusual. “With the
exception of that particular seamount,” his voice held puzzlement, “this area
of the Emperor Seamounts should be mostly guyots; extinct volcanoes that have
eroded into tabletop mounts no closer to the surface than about 700 feet.” He sent Lee a look. “And that wreckage…” He paused to take a bite of food, and swallow
it before continuing. “As much as the
area has been studied, and it has,” he told Lee, with a glance that included
Chip next to Lee and Will next to Nelson, “I don’t remember anything about a
wreck.”
“It didn’t look new, from
what I could see,” Chip offered.
“No,” Nelson confirmed.
“There are still active
hotspots not that far away,” Lee pointed out.
“This is still ‘Ring of Fire’ territory.” He referred to the active shifting of earth’s
plates all around the edges of the Pacific Ocean that spawned earthquakes, and
volcanic and tsunami activity leading to always present danger.
“True, Lee,” Nelson
agreed. “But it’s also territory that
remains under pretty constant observation, studied by any number of
institutions around the world. I don’t
remember reading or hearing about a seamount in this particular area that’s not
as heavily eroded as the others, nor anything about a wreck.”
“Could an underwater wave
have deposited a wreck in nearby deeper water on top of the mount?” Will asked.
Nelson pondered that one
while he ate another bite. “Got me,” he
admitted. “But nothing we saw today
indicated that there was any recent activity strong enough to have caused
something like that.”
“A puzzle for sure,” Lee
offered.
Will shuddered before
sending Nelson a stern look. “You and
your puzzles,” was muttered ever so softly.
Both Lee and Chip had to quickly bury snickers, and it was Nelson’s turn
to look sheepish.
“Understood, Will.” Nelson hated puzzles; he wasn’t ever
happy until he could find a solution. “So,”
he sent a look across the table to his captain, “I spend the next bunch of
hours studying the charts of the area and comparing them to the photographs we
took. Hopefully something will start to
make sense.”
Lee sent a carefully
neutral look back. “I’ll tell Chief
Sharkey to toss you out of your lab no later than 0100 hours. If you’re up later than that Jamie will whine
when you want to dive the site in the morning.”
Chip choked on the bite of food he was trying to swallow quickly before
he coughed it across the table. Nelson
sent Lee a quick glare before he had somewhat the same reaction to his
captain’s slightly irreverent comment.
Will sent Lee a nod. “At least someone listens to my
regulations. Although, it’s not
usually you,” he told Lee bluntly. That
snipe at the one person on the boat who most frequently ignored the CMO set
both Chip and Nelson to laughing. Lee
took another bite of his dinner with a slightly smug look, and Chip kicked him
before all four concentrated on their plates.
It ended up being a quiet
night. Lee passed by the Admiral’s lab
just before 0100 on his way to his cabin and grinned when there were no lights
showing. When he walked by Nelson’s cabin
and saw lights still showing from the small crack under the door, however, the
grin spread as he walked softly past.
It appeared once more, as
he was just sitting down to breakfast, when Nelson walked into the Wardroom
with his head buried in a handful of what turned out to be research charts of
the area. “Anything interesting, sir?”
he asked carefully, and the grin widened as it took his boss an extra few
seconds to register the fact that someone had spoken to him. The quick glare that appeared on the older
man’s face as he looked up instantly softened as he caught Lee’s expression.
“Harrumph,” Nelson
muttered, merely for effect, and poured himself a mugful of coffee before
sitting down in his usual place opposite Lee.
“Puzzle upon puzzle upon more puzzles,” he told his captain, laid down
the charts and all but polished off the coffee in one long draw. Glaring at the now nearly empty mug he walked
over to refill it, but also this time picked up what he wanted from Cookie’s
ample breakfast selections. “Unless our
GPS is totally scrambled,” he started as he sat back down.
“Which it isn’t,” Lee
assured him firmly.
Nelson sent him a
nod. “There should be nothing between
the Yomei and Kimmei Seamounts except guyots, the tops of which are all at
least 600 feet below the surface.”
“We measured this one at
just over 150 feet deep,” Lee repeated what he knew Nelson was already aware
of. “No signs of recent upheaval in the
entire area, but it’s not like something this out of place could go
unnoticed.” More obviousness, but Nelson
merely nodded.
“Exactly,” Nelson agreed
between bites of baked eggs loaded with leeks and covered with a light caper
sauce, hashbrowns, several types of bite-sized fruit, and toast. He glanced toward the passageway into the
Galley where Seaview’s chef was standing.
“Got a little carried away this morning?” he asked, pointing toward the
slightly extravagant eggs.
Cookie shrugged. “The crew got scrambled.” He nodded as both Lee and Nelson
grinned. “I was playing with a new
recipe.”
Which explains why he’s
watching Lee so closely, Nelson told only himself, to see
if Lee likes it. Which was
apparently the case as Lee took another large bite. “Definitely one to hang onto,” Nelson told
the chef noncommittally, but with a slight nod in Lee’s direction that the
younger man didn’t see. Cookie buried a
grin and headed back into the Galley.
Apparently oblivious to
the previous comment, although Nelson did wonder about the slightly strange
expression on Lee’s face that he was having difficulties controlling, Lee
asked, “Are you going to contact any of the research teams that have been here
lately?”
“Right after breakfast,
actually,” Nelson told him. “The couple
of ‘feelers’ I sent out last evening gave me the names of several team leaders
who have been in the area with ROV’s.
I’ll try to get a timetable of who’s been where when.” He frowned.
“That was an awkward sentence that I seem to have used before. Sorry.”
He sent Lee a small smile.
Lee shrugged. “Made perfect sense to me, sir,” he said
before stuffing the last bite of eggs in his mouth, and eying what was left in
the heated pan.
“More in a minute,”
Cookie called through the service port.
Lee was just cleaning out the last of the original tray when Chip came
through the door.
“Hey,” the blond growled.
“More coming,” Cookie cut
off whatever Lee was about to growl back.
Instead, he sent Chip a smirk and returned to his place at the table.
“Harrumph,” came softly
from Chip’s direction.
“Now what have
they done,” came from the door as Will walked in and caught the interplay
between the two younger men. “Or do I
want to know,” he added carefully.
Nelson laughed through
his own portion of eggs, of which he had every intention of getting more once
Cookie refilled the tray. “Boys being
boys,” he told the doctor. It caused exactly
what he intended – both Lee and Chip sent him small, bashful, grins. Cookie appearing with more eggs brought a
stop to the momentary silliness, and Nelson caught Chip up on what they’d been
discussing.
“It’s just barely
possible,” Nelson theorized, “that somehow the ROV’s missed this one particular
section.”
“But you’d think that
depth finders on the surface boats would have spotted it,” Chip countered.
“You’d think,” Nelson
agreed. “But stranger things have
happened.”
Lee sent Chip a
grin. “Leave it to Seaview’s front
windows.” The other three men all
nodded, Nelson quite smugly, which did not go unnoticed by the others.
“I do wonder about the
wreckage almost more than the puzzle of the seamount,” Nelson switched gears,
albeit only slightly. “We’re close
enough to Japan, China, and Russia that it could belong to any of them.” His turn to shrug. “Or none of them,” he added.
“Hopefully bringing in a
few pieces will give you a clue,” Lee told him.
“I gather nothing so far in the soil samples you took yesterday, sir?”
Nelson shook his head as
he headed to get more eggs. Cookie had
really outdone himself this time! Once
he sat back down he added, “Still some test results to get back. But so far nothing but what I would expect to
find on the top of a guyot.”
“A who?” Will all but demanded.
Nelson chuckled. “When volcanic islands start to erode in more
northerly latitudes, where reefs can’t form and evolve into atolls, they end up
as guyots, basically another name for a flat-topped underwater seamount.”
“Thank you,” Will
accepted the geology lesson easily as the others grinned, and headed to get his
own second helping of eggs. Nelson
glanced toward the service window and caught Cookie absolutely beaming before
seeing Nelson and turning away.
“From the glimpses we got
of the wreck, it looked like wood,” Lee offered. “Can’t be all that old if it hasn’t totally
disintegrated.”
“I had a look at some of
the pictures Pat developed before taking them to you,” Chip told Nelson. “My first thought was, a surface vessel broke
up in a storm and only parts fell on the seamount. Or guyot,” he quickly corrected. Nelson grinned. “Everything else went into the deeper waters
around.”
“And depending on what we
find when we dive the guyot this morning,” Nelson told his XO, “we may do some
further scouting around the base.” He
paused to polish off his second portion of eggs and eyed the serving dish. No one said anything as Cookie came out of
the Galley carrying a pan with scrambled eggs.
He exchanged that for the one in the warmer tray, then brought what was
left of the baked eggs over to the table.
All four men raised their plates and Cookie divided up what remained
between them. While his expression
remained neutral all four officers had to bury grins as they polished off their
meal.
“When would you like to
dive, Admiral?” Lee asked after draining his coffee mug. “That deep we’ll be limited on time, even
with the gas mix.”
Nelson nodded. “I’d use FS1 but I want to dig around in the
top of the mount,” he sent Chip a quick grin for the less formal term, “and see
what’s underneath the silt. If anything,
other than the remains of volcanic rock,” he added with a frown. “I simply cannot justify the height having
remained uncharted.”
“Somebody built an
underwater structure on top of an old mount?” Lee asked.
“That thought had crossed
my mind,” Nelson admitted. Chip whistled
almost silently. “We’ve seen weirder,”
Nelson told him.
“Unfortunately,” Chip
muttered, frowning.
“About 0930,” Nelson
finally answered Lee’s question. “It
will take a little extra time to get gear sorted out.”
Lee nodded and
stood. “I’ll get Chief Sharkey started,”
he told Nelson and headed out.
Chip also stood. “I know you’re headed to the Conn,” Nelson
told him offhand. “Would you rather join
us on the dive?” It was understood by
all that Lee would automatically assign himself to the dive team. While Chip enjoyed diving he did less of it
than the others, preferring to stay in the Conn in case any craziness erupted;
unfortunately, an all too frequent occurrence.
Chip hesitated ever so
briefly. He might snap retorts to Lee
when they were yanking each other’s chains but he was rarely that relaxed with
the Admiral. However, “Someone has to
stay aboard to put the pieces back together,” came out almost on its own, and
Chip turned several shades of red as he straightened to Attention.
Will choked on a bite of
food, but Nelson merely grinned and waved Chip off. The blond wasted little time exiting the
Wardroom, and the door was firmly shut before Nelson let out the laughter he’d
barely kept controlled. “Never a dull
moment,” he told Will through the continued snickers. He sent the doctor a wink. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” It was Will’s turn to chuckle as Nelson
polished off the last of his coffee and also left.
* * * *
Five men headed out
through the dive chamber just after 0930 hours.
The first out were Seamen Kowalski, Nielsen, and Marks. All armed with
spear guns. Marks also carried a supply
of collection bags, as did Lee who exited with Nelson once the others were
out. Lee also grabbed a spear gun;
Nelson sent him a raised eyebrow but didn’t argue. One, it wouldn’t have done any good – since
Nelson had been kidnapped Lee’s security instincts had been raised to a whole
new level! And two, with the anomaly of
the seamount literally staring at them, it paid to take all the precautions
they could. Nelson took several pieces
of equipment, secured to his diving belt, to help excavate different parts
around the upper level of the mount.
But, thankfully, all the
precautions proved unnecessary. They had
to dodge several different species of sharks but none proved overly
aggressive. Nelson did smile to himself
when he realized Chip was keeping Seaview’s front windows pointed directly to
where he was working. He suspected Lee’s
fine hand had something to do with the maneuver but it wouldn’t have surprised
him at all to find that it was entirely Chip’s idea. Nelson said nothing over the speaker, merely
continued to give the other divers instructions about what he was doing and
which direction he was headed in next.
But he returned to Seaview – reluctantly to be sure as breathing tanks
were depleted – with few answers. He
wasn’t at all surprised to find both Chip and Will in the Missile Room upon his
return to the giant submarine, and updated both as he sat down and removed his
diving gear.
“Nothing,” he sent an
almost snarl towards Seaview’s CMO when Will looked his direction. “I used the longest drill bit I have and
still came up with nothing more than silt and basalt.” He waved a hand towards Seaman Marks as the
other three divers exited the diving hatch, they having waited for Nelson and
Lee to come in first. Marks was loaded
down with nearly a dozen collection bags.
“Exactly what I would expect to find.”
He finally relaxed and sent Will a small smile. “And not what I wanted to,” he
admitted.
“I gather we’re not
moving from this spot for the foreseeable future.” Will knew his boss all too well. There was a soft snort from Chip’s direction
as he helped Lee off with his gear, and Lee nodded as well. “The wreckage?” Will now asked.
Nelson shrugged. “Brought in several pieces, a couple from the
top, and one I found a bit further down the side. All are wood of some kind. I suspect we’ll find more around the base of
the mound. I need to figure out what
kind of wood; that might help determine what it’s from. Or not,” he shrugged again. “Could just be flotsam that floated this far
on the surface before finally sinking.”
He glanced up. “You don’t usually
concern yourself with these kinds of details.”
Will sniffed. “I think you’re starting to rub off on
me.” He sent Nelson a slight glare. “Not necessarily a good thing,” and he turned
and left the Missile Room to the sound of a good many badly muffled
chuckles. Nelson just shook his head and
finished getting dressed.
He got quick grins from
both Lee and Lt. James, Chip’s Second most often in the Conn, when he came down
the spiral stairs about an hour later.
Chip had his ‘XO on Duty’ expression under firm control. Sort of; Nelson did see his lips twitch ever
so slightly. He gave his head a quick
shake and joined Lee, standing at the windows looking at the seamount. Seaview, he could feel, was descending ever
so slowly. From his lab he’d heard Lee
give the orders for all instrumentation to be put on high gain as the submarine
headed for the base of the mount. The
bottom was below Seaview’s crush depth – they’d have to use FS1 for the final
part. But Lee was making as much use of
the submarine’s unique features as he could, scanning the puzzling underwater
structure.
“So far, sir, nothing
unusual,” he reported to the OOM. He
nodded toward the controls for the forward cameras, where Patterson was
standing. “We’re taking pictures as we
go.”
“Excellent,” Nelson told
him, with a nod toward the seaman.
“Nothing so far in my tests. The
wood is Indian mahogany, easily available in most places and highly prized by
boat builders.”
Lee nodded. “Age, sir?” he asked.
“Undetermined so
far. Doesn’t seem to be very old, but
mahogany is prized for its longevity.”
Lee nodded. “So far, the pieces
we brought in don’t look to have been joined together with anything else.”
“Maybe a barge of lumber
capsized in a storm?” Lee theorized.
Nelson shrugged. “I’d think we’d find bundles were that the
case. But at this point, anything’s
possible.”
“Six hundred feet,” Chip
called out. He ordered the outside
lights to be turned on as they were starting to lose surface light, and nudged
Seaview slightly closer to the seamount’s side.
There wasn’t much to see other than what appeared to be merely the
decaying sides of a multi-million-year-old dead volcano; Nelson relayed
off-hand that the other seamounts in this general area were estimated to be in
the fifty-million-year-old range.
“Could this one,” Lee
offered, “have been bigger than others, so has taken longer to disintegrate?”
“In which case it should
be one of the named guyots, and even more frequently studied,” Nelson
countered.
“Another theory shot down
in flames,” came ever so softly from the chart table. Lee turned and glared at his occasionally
obnoxious XO as Nelson chuckled and softly backhanded Lee’s shoulder in the
casual way he often used to express friendship – not necessarily only between
he and Lee. Lee did notice that Lt.
James was missing and glanced at his watch.
Nearly 1145 hours. “Sent Chris
off to eat,” Chip seemed to read his mind.
“He’ll be back shortly.”
“When he does,” Nelson
told him before Lee could do anything except nod, “he can hold station while we
eat. Including Patterson,” he sent a
smile the seaman’s way, “before going any deeper.”
“Yes, sir,” Chip and Lee
answered in stereo, and sent each other a quick grin.
Which had all three
officers entering the Wardroom at 1210 hours, just as Will was sitting down to
a plate of cold turkey sandwich, dilled chicken pasta salad (Nelson had to bury
a snicker – that was one of Lee’s favorites.
Perhaps Cookie was trying to fatten Lee up) and a fruit medley. Both younger men deferred to Nelson and let
him dish up his lunch first, and he was careful to keep a benign expression on
his face as he took a healthy portion of the salad – it was one of his
favorites as well.
Talk at the table was
general boat’s business, with just enough kibitzing about the seamount to spark
Will’s interest. He wandered forward
just as Seaview resumed her slow descent.
Book in hand, he settled against the starboard bulkhead where he usually
sat, keeping an eye both out the windows and into the Conn.
“Not reading your book,”
Lee teased him at one point, as once more he and Nelson were watching out the
front.
“It’s starting slowly,”
the doctor told him, “and not grabbing my interest.” Lee glanced and saw the title, ‘Still Life’,
by an author’s last name of Penney. Will
shrugged. “I’m sure it will get
better. At least,” he muttered, “Lu-Tsi
says it does.” Both Lee and Nelson
grinned at mention of Will’s wife. ***
Chip had just called out
the 800-foot level when Nelson’s eyes caught something. “All stop,” he ordered, and it was instantly
repeated by Chip. Nelson walked over to
the camera screen where he could adjust to a closer view. Lee followed him over, but couldn’t figure
out what had caught his boss’ eye.
“Sir?” he asked.
Nelson touched a spot on
the screen. “What does that look like to
you?”
“A rock,” Lee told him
honestly. Will snickered as Nelson
frowned.
“A rock that shouldn’t be
there,” the OOM told his captain. “I
can’t be sure until I bring it in, but that looks more like granite than
basalt.”
Lee wasn’t sure how the
Admiral could see the difference through the camera lens but then, that’s what
being a genius meant. “Too deep to dive;
we’ll have to retrieve it with FS1,” he stated the obvious. “If the wood we’ve found is from an old ship
this could be some kind of ballast stone.”
Nelson nodded. “That would make the most sense.” Lee sent Chip a nod and headed to pre-flight
the small Flying Sub as Nelson headed up the stairs to retrieve his and Lee’s
flight jackets.
What should have taken
them only moments to zip out and retrieve the rock with FS1’s arms ended up
being a study in patience. Not one
of Nelson’s strong points at the best of times.
First, the currents which had until now been fairly easy for the
submarine to handle suddenly got stronger and threatened to yank the smaller
craft every which way but where Lee wanted her to go. Then, when they were finally near enough to
their target for Nelson to reach out with one of FS1’s arms to grab it, he
discovered that it was much larger than he’d originally thought.
“An iceberg,” Lee said
out loud, although mostly to himself.
“Nine-tenths underneath and only one tenth showing.” Nelson agreed with a short grunt before
activating the second arm and started trying to unbury the rest. That’s when they discovered that it wasn’t
granite, but some kind of concrete. And
also that it was too big to bring aboard, let alone even pick up. A few words came out of Nelson’s mouth that
Lee carefully chose not to listen to.
“Humm,” Nelson finally
stopped glaring. “Head back to Seaview,”
he ordered Lee, then called the sub himself to have Chief Sharkey grab some
specific tools and have him join them.
Once that was accomplished, Lee moved back to the ‘rock’ and held the
small machine as steady as possible while Nelson and Sharkey, working together,
managed to chip off a small enough chunk that they could then grab and bring
aboard. At Nelson’s nod, Lee once more
docked FS1 in her hold.
Nelson and Sharkey headed
immediately to Nelson’s lab with their ‘prize.’
Once Lee finished shutting down the smaller craft he joined Chip at the
chart table. He could only shrug at the
blond’s raised eyebrow. “We’ll hear when
he’s ready to tell us,” Lee told both Chip and Lt. James. They stayed at the current depth but backed
Seaview away a hundred yards from the seamount, and Lee headed out on one of
his ‘walkaboats’ until he had further orders.
None came before supper,
but Nelson was only half a minute behind Lee and Chip getting to the
Wardroom. He answered Lee’s instant but
silent question with “High density concrete,” but then had to bury a grin. Tonight’s entrée was broiled salmon, with
scalloped potatoes topped with bacon strips, mixed greens salad, green beans,
and fresh whole wheat rolls. Cookie was
definitely up to something! Heaven only
knew what dessert would be. Lee only
nodded at Nelson’s short answer, waiting until they were all seated before a
look encouraged Nelson to expand the explanation. “No indication that the block was attached in
any way to the mount, only so large that we couldn’t budge it.”
“Too large to be a
ballast stone,” Lee hypothesized. “Fell
off a barge? Or the wood we’ve been
finding is what’s left of a barge.”
“But where would a barge
be headed, in this part of the ocean, sir?” Chip wanted to know.
“Between Japan and Alaska
would be the logical answer,” Nelson told him.
“Since when has logic had
anything to do with Seaview missions?” was grumbled from the doorway as Will
walked in. Both Lee and Chip snickered
“Now Will,” Nelson
started, but had to work hard to control his own expression, “we don’t
purposely do illogical projects.”
“Harrumph,” the doctor
growled, in perfect imitation of one of Nelson’s favorite responses, and headed
to dish up his dinner. Once he was
seated in his usual spot next to Nelson he sent his boss a small glare. “Couldn’t prove that by me,” came out before
he stuffed his mouth with food. Both Lee
and Chip cracked up, and Nelson sent his CMO a smile and a nod.
“Does seem like that from
time to time,” he agreed. “But more
often than not we do come up with a logical ending.” Will merely shrugged, and Lee turned the
conversation back to the present.
“Any way to trace the
concrete, sir?” he asked Nelson.
“Working on it,” the
older man responded between bites. He was
getting curious about Cookie’s motives for the somewhat elaborate meals. He hadn’t noticed that Lee was losing weight
– that would always set the chef’s mind toward preparing Lee’s favorite foods. And really, nothing that Cookie had fixed,
with the exception of the new breakfast item, was anything he didn’t do
anyway. Just, usually, not all three
meals in a single day.
But he had more pressing
puzzles at the moment. “As I said, it’s
a form of high-density concrete. It has
several uses, but the one most concerning use is in the construction of atomic
power plants, as the heavy weight aggregate used makes a structure more
resistant to all possible types of radiation.”
“Oh, that’s just dandy,”
came softly from Will’s direction.
“There are other applications,”
Nelson added quickly. “Even hospitals
use it for shielding in the construction of their oncology departments.” Will uttered a soft snort. “Universities use it in research facilities,”
Nelson continued. “It’s used in
off-shore drilling to cover underwater pipelines; for the bottom layer of
bridges, and other underwater structures…”
“Domes on top of
seamounts?” Lee asked carefully.
Nelson sent him a quick
glare. “Not that I’ve heard of that ever
happening,” he told his captain slowly and firmly. “But yes,” he admitted, “that would totally
make sense.”
“Oh, goody,” Will
mumbled.
This time it caused
Nelson to smile. “What’s got you in such
a ‘wonderful’ mood this evening?” he asked, purposeful amusement in his
voice. Lee sent the doctor a quick grin
as Chip had to bury a snicker.
Will frowned, but finally
answered. “Switched from the book to a
medical journal article I’ve been avoiding reading because of who wrote it,”
came out in almost a snarl. “The man’s a
blithering idiot!”
“Then why read it,
Jamie,” Lee asked in his quiet way. “If
you knew you weren’t going to like it…”
He stopped as Will sent him one of the nastiest glares any of the three
men had ever seen on their CMO’s face.
“I can’t write a rebuttal
without having read it first,” Will spit out, before his expression turned from
nasty to evil. “Three pages of notes
later…” and the smile he sent around the table was scarier than the glare.
“Help,” came softly from
Chip’s direction. It was Nelson’s turn
to snicker softly.
“More exploration of the
mount, sir?” Lee got back on track.
“Most definitely.” Nelson
returned to the main topic as well.
“Chip, let’s go as close to the base as you can take Seaview.”
“In this area,” Chip
answered, also back to business, “about a thousand feet from the bottom. FS1 can easily handle the rest.”
“Tonight, sir?” Lee
asked.
Nelson took a deep breath
and let it out slowly. With a quick
half-nod in Will’s direction that the doctor didn’t catch but Lee and Chip did
he told them, “As much as I want answers, I think we’ll hold off until tomorrow
morning.”
“Yes, sir,” came back in
unison.
* * * *
Nelson wasn’t sure what
he’d have as food selections the next morning, but found things back to normal:
blueberry pancakes, hashbrowns, both link and patty sausage, and
cantaloupe. He was also a bit surprised
not to find either Lee or Chip there.
“They already ate, sir,”
came from the Galley doorway and Higgins, Cookie’s assistant, poked his head
out. “They seemed in a bit of a
hurry.” He sent Nelson a quick nod. “But they both ate plenty.”
Nelson gave him an
off-hand wave and dished up his own meal, smiling that there was no doubt
Higgins had been talking about Lee and Chip, and wanting Nelson to know that,
despite plans for the day causing them to be up early, they’d both not
neglected the meal in any way. Typical
Cookie worrying over his charges, and typical Higgins backing him up. Nelson’s grin spread.
It faded as Will walked
in just as Nelson was sitting down. The
doctor also hesitated, looking around, but nodded when Nelson explained that
Lee and Chip had already eaten and were no doubt in the Conn planning strategy
for the day. Will filled his own plate
and sat down opposite of Nelson, where Lee usually sat. Nelson hesitated but finally asked carefully,
“Rebuttal paper written?”
Will snarled out a couple
of grunts but finally nodded. “Needs
some editing to smooth out a couple areas I…”
“Wasn’t overly tactful?”
Will sent him a
glare. “That’s close enough.”
Nelson grinned. “Can’t remember when I’ve seen you that
ticked,” he offered good-naturedly. Will
Jamison was one of the calmest, most level-headed men Nelson had ever met. That’s why he was so perfect as Seaview’s
CMO; he took what came at him – and there had been some doozys – with calm
calculation and strategy for a favorable outcome. He buried a quick grin. Mostly, he told himself. There has been a time or three, usually
caused by Lee… He gave himself a
shake. And nearly as often by me.
Apparently he’d not
buried the grin well. “Whatever you’re thinking,
Admiral,” Will muttered darkly, “I don’t want to know!”
Nelson snorted. “Actually I was just thinking about what an
excellent choice I’d made for Seaview’s CMO.”
“Harrumph,” came out grumpily,
but Will did finally send his boss a quick smile. But the frown came back just as quickly. “What disasters should I be preparing Sick
Bay for today?”
Nelson choked on a bite
of food. “Chill, as Chip would tell
you. We’re merely continuing to check
the sides of the guyot for anomalies until we are no longer comfortable with
the depth. Then Lee, Sharkey, and I will
take FS1 down to the bottom. We’ll come
up the opposite side, meet up with Seaview, and work our way back up.” He shrugged.
“Not sure after that. Perhaps
more diving where it’s not too deep.
What we find – if anything – will determine further actions.”
“Business as usual,” Will
translated, still frowning. But it
seemed to Nelson that the doctor’s mood lightened at least a little, and the
pair kibitzed fairly good-naturedly.
Once finished, Will headed back to Sick Bay while Nelson hit his lab for
last minute test results, then headed to the Conn. He hadn’t felt Seaview change positions so
figured that Lee was waiting for Nelson’s presence before continuing to inspect
the guyot.
They didn’t descend quite
so slowly this morning as they had the previous afternoon, and hit Seaview’s
maximum comfortable depth just before 1200 hours. Nelson suspected Lee and Chip of having
collaborated on that before he’d joined them in the Conn. Or perhaps Chip had done it on his own, as he
announced the depth and suggested lunch before starting to pre-flight FS1. Yep, Nelson told himself, from the
expression on Lee’s face it was definitely a Chip maneuver, and sent the
blond a nod and a smile as he approved the plan. Another person he was so extremely proud to
have aboard Seaview.
He nearly laughed out
loud as he headed for the Wardroom, Lee and Chip half a minute behind as they
stayed in the Conn to give a few orders and start setting up for the
afternoon. Admiral Jiggs Stark,
ComSubPac, and one of Nelson’s oldest friends, was still ticked at him for
swiping Chip out of Jiggs’ chain of command and hiring him as Seaview’s first –
and only – Executive Officer. Jiggs, it
seemed, had early on recognized the blond’s knowledge of the computer sciences,
and the knack for organizing anything.
The same qualities Nelson
had himself recognized, as well as Chip’s ability to remain calm under the
craziest of situations. Nelson’s smile
increased; Chip didn’t always consider himself to be all that calm under
pressure. But give him an assignment –
or even something he simply assumed to be important – and there was never a
worry that it wouldn’t be totally accomplished.
With as much completion and perfection as a person could expect!
The grin, now a smirk,
was still on Nelson’s face as he walked into the Wardroom. “Help!” came instantly, and Nelson noticed
Will already seated at the table in his normal spot.
Nelson burst out
laughing. “You have no idea what I was
thinking about,” he challenged the doctor between continued chuckles, and
headed to pick up his own meal.
“Nor do I want to,” Will
sniped back. But he, too, finally
smiled. The pair had become good friends
since Will had come to NIMR. While they
didn’t tease each other nearly as often as they grinned when Lee and Chip did
the same thing, it was still a comfortable relationship that both appreciated
greatly.
Nelson gave his head a
shake as he sat down next to Will.
“Merely giving myself a pat on the back for having the foresight to
surround myself with competent employees.”
“What’s Lee done now?”
“Chip,” Nelson corrected,
but didn’t explain as the two younger men entered the Wardroom. Will sent him a nod, and they both
concentrated on their meal until joined by the others. “No last-minute disasters, I take it.” Nelson directed the comment toward Chip,
causing Lee to raise an eyebrow. Nelson
merely smiled.
“No, sir,” Chip told him,
with only a moment’s hesitation. “Just
thought that I’d have Patterson give a quick once-over to all the photographic
instruments aboard FS1. Kowalski’s doing
the pre-flight while Chief Sharkey is also eating. Wasn’t sure how long you’d be out.”
“Perfect,” Nelson told him,
with another private smile that did not go unnoticed by the others. But the subject was dropped as Lee asked
Nelson if he’d learned anything more about the origins of the concrete.
Nelson shook his
head. “Nothing specific. I’m still waiting to hear back from
Dewey.” He referenced Dewey Caudill,
NIMR’s head of Security, and a man who had friends everywhere. Or so it always seemed whenever anyone was in
need of intel of any sort. “I asked him
to check with companies who specialize in this form of high-density concrete,
see if anyone would admit to a shipment of some having traveled anywhere near
here.”
“You’re still thinking a
load got dumped in a storm?”
Nelson sighed. “Hoping would be a better word,” he admitted.
“Yes, sir,” Lee
agreed. “That would be the most
agreeable answer.” There were nods and a
couple of mutters from Will and Chip.
Nelson squared his
shoulders. “We’ll deal with whatever we
find,” he assured the others firmly.
“Yes, sir,” Lee told
him. “We usually do,” he added with a
quick straightening of his spine. The
rest of the meal was finished mostly in silence.
With FS1’s greater
maneuverability they were able to stay closer to the side of the guyot. Not that it made much of a difference; there
was still not much to see beyond what they would expect to find. Nelson was dividing his attention between the
front windows and the camera view screen as Lee eased the small craft deeper,
expounding to both Lee and Sharkey – whether they wanted to hear it or not,
although both were very used to Nelson’s excitement of anything
underwater-related – about recent discoveries made in the Sea of Okhotsk. Expeditions from mainly Japan and Russia, but
including other countries as well, had discovered upwards of 500 new
species. “Oh,” he hedged, “they are
mostly similar to other deep-water species found in both Antarctica and the
northern Atlantic.” Excitement still
showed on his face, and the other two smiled broadly. “But so many were previously unknown, and
especially in this area.” He paused. “Maybe it’s not so weird to find this so far
unidentified guyot.”
“Anything’s possible,
sir,” Lee answered carefully, causing Nelson to send him a quick grin. “What kinds of life did they find?”
Nelson almost laughed out
loud at Lee’s way of telling Nelson he was prepared for an oceanographic
biology lesson that he could probably care less about, but knew Nelson would
enjoy tremendously. But he carefully
controlled his expression, and kept his enthusiasm to a reasonable level. “Mostly, because of the extreme pressure at
this depth, single-celled organisms. But
also, small crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, and various worms and
fish.” He gave the others a broad smile. “But all extremely exciting!”
“Yes, sir,” came back
respectfully from both Lee and Sharkey.
Nelson smothered a snort
and went back to his visual inspection.
He did request stops along the way to collect samples; Sharkey had
stowed several boxes of collection units.
But it still only took them just under two hours to reach the seafloor.
There, things took a turn
for the weird. Not an unusual phenomenon
for the crew of Seaview. But it always
caused a moment of consternation, and lots of extra caution, before executing
any more plans. In this case the three
men, in their machine, just sat and stared for a few minutes. There, canted slightly by the slope of the
terrain but still sitting almost upright, was what looked like the derrick of a
drilling rig. Nothing else around it,
although the base looked to be settled into the soft silt of ocean bottom.
“Okaaay,” Nelson drawled
out. “There have been reports
speculating the possibility of gold and silver deposits in the Kuril Trench,
but…”
“That’s not exactly a
mining rig,” Sharkey muttered the obvious.
“Nor are we all that
close to the Trench,” Lee added. “And
even if the claims turn out to be true…”
“Exactly,” Nelson
finished Lee’s thought. He drew in a
large expanse of air and let it out slowly.
“Okay.” This time it came out
crisply. “Make a circle around the
base,” he ordered, and Lee once more put the craft in motion.
But nothing out of place
turned up, with the exception of another large concrete block. No wood, although as Lee pointed out
carefully at one point, smaller pieces like they’d found at the top could be
buried in the soft silt. “Harrumph,”
Nelson growled and the circumnavigation of the mount continued. Once back at the derrick Nelson took a bunch
of pictures, Lee moving FS1 so the Admiral could view it from all sides, before
they returned to Seaview, this time on the opposite side of the mount from
where they descended, taking more photos and collections as they went. It was nearly 1945 hours before Lee secured
FS1 into her docking clamps.
Sharkey started to gather
up the collection units but Nelson told him that could wait until after their
delayed supper. Lee shared a quick look
with the COB; no one had thought to bring coffee along and he suspected the
Admiral was having caffeine withdrawals.
After a quick check with Chip, still in the Conn although Lt. O’Brien
was already there, ready to take “C” watch, all three headed for the Wardroom,
Nelson telling Sharkey that it was easier for Cookie – or more likely Higgins
at this hour – to serve the Chief a hot meal there than in the Crews’
Mess. Chip tagged along, just because.
Cookie, it seemed, hadn’t
taken well to ‘his’ officers missing the meal, and instantly appeared with
prepared trays of pork chops smothered in mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes,
green beans, and apple sauce. Lee sent
Chip a raised eyebrow but the blond didn’t confirm that he’d called the Galley
the instant FS1 neared the submarine.
Lee shrugged, they both grinned, and sat down. Cookie brought an extra piece of chocolate
cake, that night’s dessert, for Chip, to grins from the others.
“Could the derrick not be
a derrick?” Chip asked as discussion revolved around what they’d found. “Could it have been part of a crane of some
sort?” Sharkey snickered and Lee sent
his XO a quick glare for the accidental – or not – play on words, but Nelson’s
expression was thoughtful.
“I didn’t think so at the
time,” he admitted. “But if the top arm
was missing…” He looked at Lee. “Loaded to a barge to place the concrete
blocks on the mount?”
Lee shrugged. “At this point your guess is as good as mine,
sir.”
“We definitely need a
better look around the top part of that mount,” came forcefully from the older
man.
“Yes, sir.” Lee agreed.
* * * *
There was speculation at
breakfast the next morning; Nelson figured that both Lee and Chip had spent at
least part of the night postulating instead of sleeping. He wasn’t about to comment since he’d barely
slept at all for that very reason.
“Could some country have built, or at least tried to build, some sort of
listening station out here surreptitiously?” Chip asked his boss. “We blasted the top of the mount with sonar,
but if it was built using those concrete blocks nothing would have shown up
except solid rock.”
“Which in itself is
something of an anomaly,” Nelson told him, “since the inside of the guyot
should be more porous basalt.” Chip
nodded.
“But wouldn’t using that
grade of concrete also inhibit instrumentation of any sort getting a signal
out?” Lee asked.
“Unless they – whoever
‘they’ are – wanted the instruments themselves shielded but were planning on
external antennas.”
“Interesting place for
intel-gathering. Russia, China, Japan,
Korea, all not that far away.” Lee
frowned. “North Korea…” He didn’t finish the thought as Chip and
Nelson both nodded. But suddenly he sat
up straight, his expression a dark frown.
“Lee?” Nelson asked,
almost carefully. He, as well as Chip
and Will, stopped eating and all but held their breath – it wasn’t often they
saw that look on Lee’s face, and it usually boded no good for someone!
This time Lee looked at
his boss, although not with anger. “Did
you ever hear any more about what that strange bit of manmade island was we
found? Just before it blew up.**** Sir,” wasn’t exactly an afterthought, but the
slight pause before it caused the other three, once the word was out, to
release the tension that had instantly grabbed them when Lee stiffened.
“As if it never
happened,” Nelson told him, his voice filled with frustration. “I’ve asked a couple of times, finally gave
up. No one claims to even know where to
find the original copy of my report, with the pictures I took.” He sent a small smirk to the others. “Thankfully I kept copies of everything.” Will snorted softly as Lee and Chip nodded.
“You think this has
something to do with that?” Chip asked Lee.
“Totally different area of the ocean.”
“Little hard to make an
island look natural in this area, with enough foliage on top to hide an
installation.”
“So they hide it in the
top of a seamount?” Chip expressed doubt.
“Or tried to,” Nelson
opinioned. “Although, everything looks
too natural to have been messed with that much.”
“Good landscapers,” Will
offered in his dry way.
“Something is for
sure going on,” Nelson grumbled. “And I will
get to the bottom of it one way or another.”
“The top, not the
bottom,” Will told him. “You’ve already
been to the bottom and found nothing.”
That caused quick grins from Lee and Chip, which they instantly buried
in their meal. Nelson sent his CMO a
quick glare but finally concentrated on his plate as well, his lips twitching
ever so slightly.
“Dive team ready when,
sir?” Lee asked after a few moments.
“Humm,” Nelson seemed to
ponder, although Lee had a feeling Nelson had already given the action a fair
amount of thought. “Make it 0930
hours. And I want a full team, men with
drilling equipment to check as much area as time and depth allows, and each one
with an armed escort.”
“Yes, sir,” came back
instantly. Both he and Chip quickly
finished eating and headed out. Even
before Nelson and Will finished eating there were calls to specific crewmen to
report to the Missile Room for new orders and instructions.
“Does it ever get boring,
Admiral,” Will asked with a quick grin, “the ability to give orders and have
them so instantly carried out?”
Nelson smirked. “I’ve seen you around Med Bay,” he told his
CMO.
Will nodded with a
slightly sheepish expression before another frown appeared. “Just wish it would work that well in Sick
Bay,” he grumbled and all but glared at his boss.
Nelson had the good sense
to acknowledge Will’s battles with Lee, Chip, and even himself when what they
wanted to do differed from what Will ordered them to do. “Got to have some constants in the world,” he
said softly with half a smile. Will all
but growled, and the pair finished their meal in silence.
The Missile Room was
fairly packed when Nelson walked in just before 0915 hours. As many extra air and gas-mix tanks that
could be put into service were lined up and being double-checked. One bench was covered with small hand-held
drilling equipment, another with every speargun on the boat. Lee and Sharkey were going over what appeared
to be a hastily drawn map of the area, assigning teams of two to as many
locations as Lee felt safe, considering the depth and limited time the gas-mix
would let them stay out. Nelson glanced
at it only briefly before changing into his own gear, trusting Lee to have the
dive under as much control as possible under the unknown circumstances. As teams started to peel off and gather gear,
Sharkey came over to finish helping Nelson get ready. “Dive master?” Nelson asked him.
“Yes, sir. Got everything and everyone as organized and
prepared as they’re likely to get.”
Nelson nodded. “Understood.
How long after we get back in will the tanks be recharged, just in
case?”
“The Skipper and I were
just working on that. I’ll have a crew
standing by the instant you all start coming in. Call it an hour, but 90 minutes would be
safer.”
“And two hours would give
all the divers a bit of a break before they’d possibly have to go back
out.” Nelson sent his COB a quick smile.
“Yes, sir, “Sharkey
agreed. “Might help calm the Skipper
down a bit as well,” was said so quietly that only Nelson could hear.
“Possibly,” Nelson
agreed. But privately he had his doubts
that Lee would calm down at all until they had hard facts to answer all the
questions that had been raised these last few days. Maybe not even then, Nelson told only
himself, depending on what those facts turn out to be.
When everyone was ready
they started packing as many people into the dive chamber as they could get at
one time, to get everyone out as fast as possible. Nelson was impatient, but allowed Lee to talk
him into going out last so that as much protection as possible was already in
place. But once out Nelson noted that
teams had immediately scattered to cover their assigned areas and Lee quickly
pointed to the area he’d given Nelson, closest to the side where Seaview sat
parked but nearly 240 feet deep.
They made their way
carefully, adjusting their breathing mixtures the deeper they went and noting
the other divers they could see doing the same.
While every person who served aboard a submarine had to know how to dive
safely, Seaview was unique in that, because NIMR could hire independently of
the Navy, she carried more Expert and Master divers. More were needed to handle the scientific
studies that were her usual missions, which also explained why she carried so
much diving equipment and deep diving gas mixtures, so that her crewmen were as
prepared as possible for whatever challenges they faced.
But this was a bit
extreme for even Seaview. Nelson was
very happy to have staffed his boat the way he had, but wasn’t taking for
granted that even they could figure this mess out.
His first act upon
reaching the area Lee had assigned to him was to try and brush away the layer
of silt that covered what should be basalt rock underneath, remnants of the
long-dead volcano that had originally formed the seamount. He’d done a bit of that when he’d made his
first dive, but this time he really worked at it, although trying to be careful
so as not to ‘muddy’ the water and destroy visibility, and was rewarded by
finding not basalt but concrete. “We hit
concrete,” Lee called out over the dive channel. “Everyone, stay sharp.”
Nelson almost
smiled. There wasn’t a man out on this
dive, nor many still aboard the sub, that wouldn’t by now be aware of how on
edge their Skipper had become. Chip,
too, he suspected, and knew that whoever was on duty in the Conn would be extra
sharp in their duties to avoid anything they did – or didn’t do – setting off
the tempers of their Senior Officers!
The calls that went out
from teams over the next several minutes were a mix of “So far, nothing,” and
“Only rock here,” so what happened next was totally unexpected. Nelson was working outwards from the spot
he’d been brushing, trying to find the edges of the block. Lee was hovering slightly above him, watching
out for non-friendly wildlife and also watching the couple of teams he could
see – one to his left and another maybe 40 feet almost directly above. There were a couple of calls over the dive
channel from teams out of sight saying that they were still only finding basalt
and silt. Lee knew that part of
Sharkey’s job was noting which team was finding what, and moving them to
slightly different areas to search further as long as their air supplies were
within safe limits of getting back to the sub.
“Now what?” Lee heard
Nelson mutter. He looked down to find
that the Admiral had indeed reached an edge of the block, but then hit only
basalt. He settled next to his boss since
so far there weren’t any unfriendlies in the immediate area and started
brushing where, from the size of the block they’d found, there should be
another edge. Nelson did the same with
where a third side should be. A quick
glimpse upward showed Marks and Henderson, the team above them, seeming to do
the same thing although Lee hadn’t heard them say anything. Not totally unusual as the pair were often
dive buddies and could work easily without much actual conversation, just as he
and Nelson were doing now.
He hit an edge about the
same time as Nelson, also merely finding rock, and they both went to work
finding the fourth side. Once found,
they pulled back a foot or so and stared at the block. It was much the same as the one Nelson had
taken a sample of, but where that one was more a cube of solid concrete, this
one seemed to be only a few inches thick – just a slab, seemingly placed
against the side of the mount. Lee
glanced at Nelson and the pair tried to get a firm grip on the top edge and
pull it free. Stuck fast! Nelson let out a soft growl, Lee grinned, and
both braced themselves better and tried again.
Nothing – not even a tiny wiggle.
“Fastened somehow?” Lee
postulated.
“Got me,” Nelson told
him, and the pair worked to expose more of the edges all the way around.
But before they made much
progress Marks called out, “Admiral, you’d better see this,” and both Lee and
Nelson started up the side of the mount.
Lee could see Marks watching Henderson who looked to be just starting to
drill right next to the straight edge of what was apparently another concrete
block. He’d actually expected the
Admiral of doing the same thing before getting Marks’ call. He glanced at his dive meter – still enough
air to do that if what Henderson found didn’t take too long.
Nelson was sort of
scrambling up the last few feet of seamount to join the other two, Lee floating
several feet away from the side but level with his boss, when Henderson’s drill
seemed to suddenly go through whatever he was working on. It startled the man and he let out an
undetermined sound just as what appeared to be the entire block of concrete
seemed to explode off the face of the mount with great force, smacking Nelson
dead center in the chest. Marks and
Henderson, slightly to each side, were also struck but with more glancing
blows. Lee was far enough away that he
didn’t get hit except with water pressure, but that was enough to knock him
backwards. The water was instantly
filled with silt and gravel, blocking visibility beyond more than a few inches.
“Admiral,” Lee shouted as
soon as he once more had control of himself, but was drowned out by more
blasts, thankfully seeming to be mostly contained inside the mount. But they further disturbed the water and
reduced visibility even more. The dive
channel was instantly filled with so many voices that it was hard to make out
individual comments. Lee tried to get to
where he’d last seen Nelson but could find nothing but water and grit. Fearing the worst, he assumed that Nelson was
sinking, stunned or perhaps even unconscious, incapable of swimming, and he
headed down through the murky mess. He
was barely aware of Chip’s voice cutting through everyone else’s, ordering all
divers to check on their closest crewmates, then everyone get back to Seaview with
the exception of pairs closest to where Nelson, Lee, Marks, and Henderson had
been. Henderson finally got through that
he and Marks were a little stunned but basically okay, but that Nelson had been
hit full force, had no idea about Lee and, with instant lack of visibility,
could see neither of them.
“Lee!” Chip instantly
shouted.
“I’m fine,” Lee managed
to get out, although even he could hear the tremor in his voice. “Headed down after the Admiral. He must be stunned because he’s not
answering.” He ignored everything
else. Experienced Master Diver that he
was, he still gave no thought to how much deeper he was going. He had only one thing on his mind – find
Nelson!
It took forever, although
later he figured that it hadn’t actually been more than a minute, tops, before
his outstretched hands, searching through the muck his eyes couldn’t, touched
neoprene and he grabbed onto an unresponsive arm. “I’ve just got hold of the Admiral,” he
called out, hoping that his voice would cut through the rest of the
traffic. “He’s not moving. Can’t see my meter but I don’t think he fell
a whole lot deeper than where we were originally. Coming up.”
He hesitated. “Could use some
help,” he admitted.
Half a dozen voices
responded to that most unusual comment coming from their Skipper, and while the
water was still too cloudy to see very far, several hands grabbed him and
Nelson at about the same time. Lee tried
to rouse his boss, gently shaking the arm he maintained contact with and trying
to get a response to increasingly distress-filled questions. Nielsen’s voice told him – and everyone else
glued to the dive channel – “He’s breathing, sir. I just felt air bubbles from his regulator.”
At that Lee let out his
own deep breath. He had no idea that his
body had gotten so tense, or that the expulsion of air was that noticeable, but
instantly another hand had hold of him.
Surprising even himself, he didn’t argue as he and Nelson were guided
gently but swiftly back to Seaview.
Half a dozen divers waited
outside the hatch, hanging quietly in the water but all keeping watch in
different directions. All with
spearguns, Lee noted, although there was no outward appearance of threat.
Well,
Lee thought, unless you considered an underwater explosion from unknown
sources a threat. He shook his head
and it finally sunk in that Sharkey had wanted the chamber clear so that Nelson
could be brought in immediately on arrival, not having to wait a second longer
than necessary. But it was also clear who
the COB had chosen to wait for their turn.
Nor was there any delay
once inside. The water had barely
drained before the hatch was opened. Lee
had maintained a grip on Nelson, as had Nielsen, with Lewis having let go of Lee
but remaining only inches away. But both
corpsmen were ready to grab Nelson, lifting him out carefully and placing him
on a stretcher where Will was ready, supply boxes and several pieces of
equipment within easy reach. Lee watched
hesitantly, back to barely breathing, but Chip was instantly by his side,
easing him over to the closest bench where he and Kowalski started helping Lee
off with his gear. “Jamie?” Lee asked
the doctor almost tentatively.
The corpsmen had been
quick but careful to start stripping Nelson of his gear, a process that had
started in the dive chamber as Lewis and Nielsen had begun to loosen straps
once the water was mostly drained.
“Breathing,” Will answered, his voice hard because he didn’t want the
interruption but knowing that he needed to say something to the no doubt very
worried younger man. Not to mention
everyone else standing around. “Ask me
later,” he added as he grabbed a couple bags.
He indicated for Frank, his head corpsman, to grab most of the rest, and
directed a couple crewmen to carry the stretcher and they all hurried toward
Sick Bay. John, the other corpsman,
headed over to Lee with the last bag.
Lee was prepared to blow him off but a hard “Don’t even think about it,”
from Chip had most of the remaining crew in the area turning their heads – to
cover grins, Lee knew, at Lee’s instant denial of injury and Chip’s order
otherwise. While the XO ordering around
the CO might not go over so well on a regular Navy ship, here on Seaview, given
certain circumstances, it was occasionally allowed. Lee did take note that COB Sharkey was
getting the rest of the divers in as quickly as possible now that the injured
were aboard.
John’s assessment was
quick – Lee had suffered a bit from the shock wave but was otherwise
unhurt. He did ask about how deep Lee
had to go to find Nelson, and Lee repeated that he hadn’t been able to see his
meter.
“234 feet when we got to
you,” Nielsen responded from where he stood at one of the other benches, drying
off after removing his gear.
Lee nodded. “I’d barely started up,” he told John. “No need of further decompression than what
we did.”
“Figured, sir,” John
admitted, “from what we heard. Just
double-checking.” He sent Lee a quick
grin. But he also gave Lee a simple
once-over-lightly, smoothly but not wasting any time. With the Skipper you knew you didn’t have
more than moments before he was off to whatever he felt needed doing unless
either Doc or the Admiral gave him a direct order otherwise.
This time it was Chip who
tried to sidetrack him. “Let John make
sure you’re fit for duty. All I want to
do at this moment is go blast the top of that goat into smithereens,” came out
in a growl.
“It’s guyot,” Lee
corrected, “and who says I’ll stop you?”
He sent Chip a glare but allowed the corpsman to finish his quick exam
and tell Lee that he seemed fine but to have Doc check him once things settled
down. Lee frowned, Chip nodded, and John
headed for Sick Bay as Lee started to get dressed.
The water had cleared
somewhat by the time they got to the Conn.
Instruments were able to somewhat penetrate the top of the mount now
that there was a hole in the side. Still
not a lot of information coming in, although Lt. James reported that there had
been several more explosions heard while Chip was in the Missile Room.
“Water hitting electrical
equipment?” Chip theorized.
“Makes as much sense as
anything else,” Lee agreed. “Still
totally weird. But no way am I sending
anyone anywhere near to check it out. At
least,” Lee added, “until there’s been no noise for at least 24 hours.”
Chip nodded. “Assuming someone doesn’t show up in the
meantime to find out why their sensing equipment stopped working.”
A hard look hit Lee’s
face. “Let them,” came out in as nasty a
tone as Chip had ever heard from his friend.
“Sonar,” Chip called over
to Patterson, who had the Duty this shift, “gain on high alert.” Knowing the highly trained seaman, his
equipment was probably already turned as high as it could get. But it never hurt to double-check, and Chip
knew that Pat wouldn’t take umbrage at the probably unnecessary order.
“Aye, aye, sir,” came
instantly back.
Lee walked slowly through
the Conn, not questioning his crew, just needing to do something. “Go,” Chip all but ordered him. “Sir,” he added with a quick grin, knowing
where Lee really wanted to be was checking on the Admiral. “We’ve got this,” he added, with a nod toward
Lt. James.
Lee took the offer for
what it was – Chip knowing that Lee was worried about his boss, his mentor, his
friend, his… So many things the Admiral
meant to him that he couldn’t always put it into words. “Just don’t blow anything up,” he ordered
none-the-less, and then added with a grim grin, “at least until I get
back!” Chip nodded, also a bit grimly,
and Lee headed aft.
Extreme worry relaxed at
least partially when he came through Sick Bay’s main door and found Nelson on
the center gurney, eyes open, his head turning in Lee’s direction when he heard
the sound of the door. “Don’t you dare
move, Admiral,” came instantly from the CMO, standing off a few feet and
writing furiously on a chart. Nelson
glared at the man and Lee finally smiled.
But he still asked
cautiously, “Jamie?”
Will sent Nelson a glare
as he put the chart down. “Battered,
bruised, two broken ribs, three more cracked, strained back muscles.” He paused and took a deep breath. “So far, no major organ damage, and the dive
gear diminished most of the sound shock waves.
However,” and he glared at Nelson, “he’s staying here the entire way
home and then going straight to Med Bay until I’m sure there’s nothing more
going on.” The glare shifted to
Lee. “I assume we’re headed home.”
“Not until we figure out
what’s going on with that seamount,” came from Nelson, not in his usual strong
voice but an order none-the-less.
Lee sent Will a quick nod
but walked over to Nelson’s side. “From
initial reports, the drill let water into a cavity and caused whatever
electrical equipment was inside to short-circuit and explode, sir. There’s been some further noises, and even
with a hole in the side sonar and hydrophones haven’t been very helpful.” He straightened up slightly more than he’d
been standing. “I’m not sending anyone
to explore further until it remains quiet over there, at least 12 hours and
preferably 24.” He glanced at Will. “If Jamie wants you in Med Bay, we can send
you and he home by FS1.”
“Not a chance,” Nelson
ordered, his voice getting stronger. But
he also glanced toward his CMO.
Will buried a smirk. Nelson must really be hurting to actually
allow Will that decision. “At this
point, I don’t think that’s necessary.
Decision subject to change,” was added with another glare at the
Admiral. Nelson sent him an ever so
brief nod and it was Lee’s turn to bury a grin.
~ ~ ~
“So,” Cory Mains asked
Nelson, “did you figure out what it was?”
He and Nelson were polishing off the meal that the Admiral had called
out to have delivered from one of his favorite Italian restaurants.
Nelson shrugged. “Logic still says a listening post of some
sort. There were several more
explosions, enough so that Lee refused to send divers to try and explore
further.” His expression hardened. “I wanted to stay long enough for the water
to clear, hoping to find enough bits of equipment left to identify the source.” He frowned.
“Overruled,” came out in a growl.
It was all Mains could do
to bury outright laughter, but snickers still slipped out. He was all too aware that Nelson didn’t take
orders well – from anyone! “So, no
clue.”
Nelson’s hard expression
softened ever so slightly. “Once we’d
left the area Lee took FS1 back, just to see what was left and, if possible,
check to see if anyone had shown up to investigate.” Mains nodded.
Crane wasn’t a man to leave things undone if he could at all help
it. Just another reason he was such a
good fit to Nelson’s personality. “Lee
took pictures, but could find nothing at that point that he could even pick up
and bring back for analysis. The only
thing he could make out were half a dozen square holes. Well,” he paused, “what were
square. It seems from the pictures,
indentations had been made here and there.
Some kind of equipment was put inside, then sealed with the concrete
blocks. Whatever it was, I don’t think
that it was as yet operational. Our
instruments should have picked up external sensing equipment which there would
have had to be for anything to penetrate the blocks, or even the basalt,
although the holes weren’t all that deep.
Something could have been planted just under the outer layer of basalt
and been effective, I suppose.”
Mains thought about that
as he took a sip from the glass of wine Nelson had poured for him. Nelson frowned slightly as he was limited to
just coffee, but it quickly switched to a small smile. “So someone, and your theories as to who are
certainly valid, wanted to monitor movements in the area, both surface and
underwater.”
“We still can’t explain
why the height of the guyot was so off from what it should be,” Nelson
added. “But we can be fairly sure that
the individual pockets of instrumentation were in some way connected. Drilling a hole in one, letting in water,
corrupted it to the point it exploded, and eventually led to the others
exploding as well. Whoever set them up
obviously had some sort of bubble set-up so they could install everything and
seal it up before taking the bubble away and making everything look natural.”
“Getting sneaky,” Mains
told him.
“Unfortunately.” A smirk hit Nelson’s face. “But we got sneakier.”
“Here’s to American
ingenuity,” Mains toasted his former CO, and polished off the wine.
Nelson mumbled something
that sounded like ‘dumb luck,’ which Mains chose to ignore. “Whatever,” Nelson added a bit louder, and
toasted Mains back.
~ finis ~
* See “Missing” by R. L. Keller
** See several stories by R. L. Keller,
including “Job Hunt” and “Unexpected Reunion.”
*** Mrs. Will Jamison used with permission
of her creator, Cris Smithson
**** See “What the…” by R. L. Keller