Three Days to Remember

The captain of the submarine, Seaview, lay in his bunk, wide awake at 2:00 a.m., unable to sleep. Lee Crane’s thoughts were on the Seaview’s next mission: "babysitting" a group of dignitaries who wanted a tour of the submarine as well as a three day trip out to inspect Sea Lab Alpha. Crane felt uncomfortable having civilians on board. They seemed to always be getting in the way of his crew and the efficient running of his ship. He thought perhaps this group might be better but he didn’t hold out much hope. Anyway, it was only for three days and then Seaview was scheduled for some maintenance which meant at least a week’s shoreleave for crew and officers. Lee sighed and rolled over and eventually got to sleep.

********************

The officers of the Seaview stood in line to greet their guests as they boarded the submarine. Five civilians were piped on board and Admiral Harriman Nelson made the introductions. Dr. Robert Blensoe was a scientist known for his research into the use of plankton as a food supplement. Professor Conrad Rutner was the head of Architecture on a sabbatical from Georgetown University and was well known for his teachings on the value of constructing an underwater city. His assistant was Tony Mendoza, a brilliant student of architecture. The last two guests were John Metcalfe and Laura Simmons who were sent by the U.S. government to report on the proceedings. The basic premise of the expedition was to see if the construction of an underwater city was feasible at this time. Sea Lab Alpha was an experimental station conducting tests to see how well people survived in enclosed spaces for great lengths of time five hundred feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

As the dignitaries were shown to their quarters, the crew began preparations to get under way. The submarine, Seaview, was an impressive sight as it glided majestically along. The sun glinted off its silver hull as it slowly disappeared from the surface of the water leaving only a wake of bubbles and foam as it dived into the depths.

"All ahead standard, Mr. Morton," ordered Captain Crane.

"Aye, sir, all ahead standard."

Captain Crane and Commander Chip Morton, the executive officer of Seaview, leaned over the chart table conferring as to the best course to the Sea Lab Alpha.

"We should be there by this time tomorrow, Lee," remarked Chip.

"Yes, the weather topside looks good, we shouldn’t have any problems," said Lee.

********************

Seaman Kowalski and Chief Sharkey were in the missile room carrying out a routine inspection of the diving equipment. They had been told that the men of the Seaview were going to be observed as they went about their duties. Since the crew often spent weeks and sometimes months living and working aboard the submarine, often running submerged for great lengths of time, they were considered excellent subjects for study.

"Chief, " began Kowalski, "I don’t know about being a guinea pig for these civilians to study. What are they looking for anyway? Do they think we are going to sprout gills or something just because we spend so much time underwater in a submarine?"

"I don’t know, Kowalski," answered the Chief. "I just know I follow orders and that’s what the Skipper said to do. Cooperate with these civilians and answer their questions. They even have Doc taking blood samples from some of the crew so they can study the results."

"Well I’m not volunteering for that study, needles make me nervous."

"Come on, let’s get this equipment inspected before the skipper shows up on his own personal inspection tour."

********************

Chip Morton had the con in the control room. The Seaview was making good time. They should be arriving at the coordinates in another six hours. Captain Crane descended the spiral staircase to the control room. Chip glanced up at the Captain and saw that he was definitely not in a good mood.

"Chip, if I have to show one more civilian around this submarine, I’m going to jump ship, if that was possible in a submarine," growled Lee, running his hand anxiously through his hair. "How long until we reach the rendezvous?"

"About six hours now if all goes well."

"Where’s the admiral?"

"He’s in the lab with Dr. Blensoe, conducting some plankton experiments I think," answered Chip. "You know, Lee, the crew is getting a bit on edge with all these experiments and stress tests they have to take. Kowalski says everytime he turns around he trips over someone with a clipboard who’s taking notes and watching his every move."

"I know Chip, I understand how they feel, but the Admiral says it’s important that the scientists gather as much data as possible on what it is like to live underwater for long periods of time. If they want to go ahead and build an underwater city, they need to know how people will be affected by the isolation and changes in pressure. I’ve given two blood samples myself, already, and Mr. Metcalfe and Miss Simmons have followed me all over the ship asking questions. I finally managed to lose them by suggesting they interview Doc. Carry on Chip." Lee smiled and started to walk toward the observation nose.

"Aye, aye, sir." Morton started to check the charts again when suddenly there was a terrific explosion! Seaview lurched violently to one side and then back again. The crew in the control room were thrown out of their seats. Those already standing were tossed about from side to side, desperately trying to hang onto something. Sparks shot out of some of the consoles and there was a smell of smoke and then steam as some of the pipes burst overhead. Crane was thrown against the chart table as he tried to make his way back. He was momentarily stunned and just managed to get on his feet again when the motion of the submarine threw everybody back to the other side.

"We’ve lost control, Skipper!" yelled Chip. "There’s no power, we’re going down!"

Lee grabbed for the microphone. "Engineering, what’s going on down there!"

"It’s the circuits, sir, there’s no power. The controls are jammed!"

"Circuitry room, report!" There was no response. "Circuitry room, what’s your situation down there?" Silence. Crane clicked the microphone again. "All hands, brace for collision, we’re going to hit bottom!" No sooner had he uttered the words, then the Seaview came to an abrupt halt as the submarine hit the bottom with a sickening crunch.

The men of the Seaview picked themselves off the deck and began inspecting for damage. Crewmen rushed to the control panels with fire extinguishers to put out the fires. Crane surveyed the situation anxiously. He picked up the microphone again. "Damage control, report!" yelled Crane.

"We are on auxiliary power, sir. There’s damage to the outer hull. Some leakage in frames 54 and 56. Minor injuries reported."

"Very well. Get all available men on damage control. I’ll be in the circuitry room."

"Aye sir."

"You’ve got the con, Chip," yelled Crane as he rushed out of the control room heading for the circuitry room. He was met there by Admiral Nelson and as they both tried to enter the circuitry room, they were pushed back by the smoke pouring out of the doorway.

"Fire in the circuitry room. Fire detail on the double!" Crane yelled into the microphone.

In a few minutes the fire was out and Nelson and Crane surveyed the damage. The admiral carefully checked out the wiring. "Lee, this is no accident. Somebody has deliberately set an explosive device in here."

********************

Captain Crane and Admiral Nelson were in the observation nose, discussing the Seaview’s situation. The damage to the outer hull had to be repaired before they could get underway. A team of divers had to go out to make repairs. Luckily, they were not too deep so the divers would be able to work comfortably. The electrical repairs were underway and all leaks were under control. Crane issued the order for three men to form a diving party to make repairs. He was planning on going with them to see for himself what kind of damage there was.

"Admiral, if we have a saboteur on board, I don’t want to take any more chances so I’m posting guards at all the critical areas of the ship," said Lee.

"Good idea, Lee. You know, we only have our regular crew on board. The only new personnel are our "distinguished" visitors. It seems that one or more of them may be deliberately trying to sabotage this mission. Unfortunately I don’t know who or why."

"I don’t understand why anyone would want to try to destroy Seaview, Admiral. We aren’t carrying any top secret equipment. This is a peaceful mission. I can’t see how building an underwater city would be any kind of threat to anyone."

"There are many groups of people in this world who want to stop our country from making any progress which may benefit mankind. Smaller countries could reap enormous benefits from coming up with the idea first and would think nothing of trying to stop us by destroying Seaview. Or it may just be the work of one person who stands to gain in some way by stopping this mission."

"And killing themselves in the bargain?"

"They may have been prepared to sacrifice their own lives in order to stop this mission. The deaths of Dr. Blensoe and Professor Rutner would be a great setback to the establishment of an underwater city. But our concern right now is getting Seaview repaired so we can reach our rendezvous point as soon as possible. You better get suited up, Lee, and I’ll see what we can do about finding out who is at the bottom of all this."

"Aye, sir." Crane was anxious to see how badly damaged the Seaview’s hull was. He headed for the missile room to join the rest of the diving party.

********************

Riley, Kowalski and Chief Sharkey were in their wet suits and ready to enter the escape hatch when Captain Crane arrived in the missile room.

"You men go ahead and get started, " ordered Crane, "I’ll join you as soon as I get my gear on."

"Aye, skipper." The three entered the escape hatch and were soon checking the damage to the hull. They had been in the water only a few minutes when Crane joined them. They determined that repairs would take less than an hour with the four of them working. Suddenly, Riley began to act strangely. He dropped his tools and began to look around, shaking his head as if trying to clear his vision. He stared at Crane, almost as if he were looking through him. Then Riley reached down and pulled his knife from the sheath attached to his leg. He advanced toward Crane, brandishing the knife and then lunged toward him slashing the knife back and forth. Crane tried to swim out of the way but Riley kept after him. Crane managed to grab Riley’s arm to try and get the knife away from him but not before Riley managed to slash the Skipper’s arm, cutting through his wet suit and drawing blood. Sharkey and Kowalski both grabbed Riley’s arms and tore the knife from his grip. They wrestled with him as he tried frantically to break loose then suddenly he went limp. Crane signaled to Sharkey and Kowalski that he could make it back to the submarine by himself and they were to bring Riley back aboard.

********************

Doc Jameson finished stitching up the wound on Lee Crane’s forearm and applied a bandage. "Try not to tear the stitches out, Skipper, take it easy for a few days with that arm, OK?"

"Sure, Doc," answered Crane. "Thanks." With a worried look, Crane looked over at Riley who lay unconscious on the bunk. "What happened to Riley, Doc, he’s never acted like that before."

"I’ll tell you what happened," interrupted Laura Simmons, who had been observing the situation. "Your crewman has just shown us what can happen when the stress of living underwater becomes too much.

"That’s impossible!" argued Crane. "We’ve only been at sea for barely three days. We’ve been on many tours of duty for much longer than that with no ill effects. There has to be some other explanation."

Doc added, "According to Chief Sharkey, Riley seemed perfectly fine until he went on that dive. I’d like to check the air supply in his tank. Maybe there’s an explanation there."

"Good idea, Doc. Let me know what you find out. I’m going to check with damage control and see if the hull has been repaired yet." Crane looked over at Laura Simmons. "And Miss Simmons, would you mind joining the others in the observation nose. I believe Admiral Nelson would like to talk to you and your colleagues."

"Yes, captain, I’ll be right there."

********************

Admiral Nelson surveyed the small group gathered in the observation nose. He suspected that one or more of them was responsible for almost sending Seaview to the bottom but unfortunately he didn’t know who the saboteurs were.

"Gentlemen and Miss Simmons," he started, "As you know we had a small explosion on board but things are under control now. The repairs to the hull are nearly completed and we should soon be under way again. Until we reach our destination, I must ask that you all return to your quarters and remain there." There was an immediate protest from the scientific group at this news.

"Admiral, we still have many tests to perform on your crew and . . . .," argued Miss Simmons. Admiral Nelson held up his hand to stop the protests.

"I must insist that you all go now. As you have heard by now, this explosion was no accident. I’m afraid that you are all under suspicion. With just our regular crew on board, that leaves you five as suspects. For everyone’s safety, I must ask you to stay in your quarters until we reach the rendezvous." There were more grumbles from the five civilians but they all began to make their way to their cabins.

Lee entered the observation nose just as the others were leaving. Nelson glanced up at the young captain. "How is the arm, Lee?"

"A bit sore. It will be fine in a few days." Lee looked around and, seeing that they were alone, added: "Admiral, I just got through talking to Doc. He finished checking out the air tanks that Riley was using. There was a high concentrate of an hallucinogenic gas in the air supply. Riley regained consciousness a little while ago and said that he thought I was some kind of sea creature coming to attack him. Doc said he wasn’t surprised that Riley was seeing things. He said if we hadn’t brought Riley back when we did that he could have died from any more exposure to that mixture."

"I see," said Nelson. "What I don’t understand is why anyone would want to contaminate Riley’s air supply. We have any number of divers that could have completed those repairs. Why Riley?"

"Well, Admiral, that’s the other thing I was going to tell you. Chief Sharkey was checking out all the equipment after the incident and realized that Riley had taken my air tanks by mistake. I joined the diving party a bit later as you recall. I was supposed to be the victim. I suppose whoever did this thought that killing the captain might have jeopardized the mission." Lee looked at Nelson and smiled. "Or at least it might have held things up a while until you had time to bury me at sea."

Nelson laughed. "Well thankfully we don’t have to make those arrangements but we do have to do some serious thinking about who is responsible and why they are trying to end this mission. Lee, I want guards posted at each of our visitor’s cabins. They have been asked to stay in their quarters. Let’s see if anyone tries to leave, shall we?"

"Aye, sir. Repairs are complete now and we are preparing to get underway."

"Good. Let’s get to Sea Lab Alpha as quickly as possible. Maybe there will be some answers when we get there."

The intercom crackled. "Admiral. This is Sparks. Could you come to the radio shack?"

"I’ll be right there."

********************

Admiral Nelson was not sure what to make of this latest bit of news. Seaview had been in radio contact with Sea Lab Alpha every four hours since the mission had begun. The crew at the Sea Lab had reported that everything was fine but now Sparks had lost contact with them. Nelson had ordered Sparks to keep trying every fifteen minutes and to report any progress. He asked Captain Crane to report to his cabin in ten minutes so they could discuss the situation. The Admiral returned to his cabin and was about to unlock the door when he found that it was not locked. He slowly entered the room and was greeted by the sight of a revolver aimed directly at his head.

"Come in, Admiral Nelson. I’ve been waiting for you."

"Well that answers one of my questions," said Nelson, looking into the face of the saboteur. "I don’t have to go looking for the person responsible for almost sinking the Seaview or do you have someone else working with you?"

"No, Admiral, I am quite alone. I am sorry that the guard outside my cabin had to be eliminated. My country has gone to quite a lot of trouble to arrange for my passage on your Seaview. You see Professor Rutner’s assistant met with quite an unfortunate accident a few weeks ago just after he found out he was going on this mission. I was able to take his place."

"And just what exactly is your plan? Is your country so interested in being the first to build an underwater city that it would think nothing of killing over a hundred people on Seaview?"

"Oh, no Admiral. We have no interest in this underwater city of yours. But we do not wish you to reach Sea Lab Alpha, at least not yet, not until we are finished there."

"What in blazes do you mean?" Admiral Nelson was losing patience with this Tony Mendoza or whatever his name was but he wasn’t the one with the gun so all he could do was keep him talking and hope to catch him off guard.

"Unfortunately, your country has built their Sea Lab very close to one of our secret missile sites. We have kept close watch on the occupants of the Sea Lab and my people have had no need to bother their "neighbors" until now. You see our sources tell us that you plan to build an underwater city on the site where you have your present Sea Lab and of course, my dear admiral this would just not do. You see our predicament, don’t you?"

There was a knock at the door. Mendoza motioned to Nelson to be quiet.

"Admiral?" It was Crane. He knocked again. "Admiral, you wanted to see me?"

Mendoza moved behind the door. Lee opened the door and saw Nelson standing there looking at him strangely. "Lee, watch out!!" Nelson yelled but it was too late. Mendoza struck Crane on the side of the head with his gun. Crane fell to the floor and did not move. Mendoza quickly glanced out in the hall to see if there was anyone else around and then dragged Crane away from the door and shut it and locked it quickly. Nelson made a move towards Mendoza but stopped quickly when he saw the gun pointing at him again. Nelson looked down at Crane. "You hit him pretty hard. Let me help him."

"Don’t you worry about your captain, Admiral. He may be better off than the rest of you. He won’t be awake when the Seaview explodes into a million pieces. My job is nearly done. You will never find the bomb I have planted. There won’t be enough time. In fact. . ." Mendoza glanced at his watch. "I’d better be going myself very soon."

"You can’t do this!" yelled Nelson. "Tell me, why have we lost contact with the crew at the Sea Lab?" Out of the corner of his eye Nelson noticed that Lee was coming around. Lee was lying on the floor behind Mendoza. Nelson tried to signal him to stay still and was able to catch his eye. Lee nodded and then closed his eyes again.

Mendoza took another quick glance at the still form of the captain and continued with his conversation.

"I’m sorry to report, admiral, that the Sea Lab was destroyed a few hours ago. You see one of their divers came very close to our missile site yesterday and my people could not take the chance that someone would discover it, so there was an unfortunate accident. I believe it was the same type of bomb that I have planted on the Seaview." Mendoza gave an evil grin as he watched an enraged Nelson try to contain himself. Just as Mendoza started towards the door, he felt something grab his leg. He was pulled off balance slightly but managed to swing around and turned his gun on Crane, shooting him in the side. Crane released his grip but then Nelson saw his chance and tackled Mendoza, wrestling the gun away from him. Nelson looked anxiously at Lee.

"I’m OK admiral," said Lee weakly. "You have to find that bomb!"

Admiral Nelson went into action. He called Sickbay to get Doc to take care of Captain Crane. He sent out search parties to look for the bomb. Commander Morton was in charge of bringing the ship to the surface and breaking out all the lifeboats. If the bomb couldn’t be found then at least the passengers and crew could hope for survival in the lifeboats. All hands were ordered to the lifeboats except for the search parties and the officers. Nelson attempted to question Mendoza to see if he would reveal the whereabouts of the bomb but Mendoza wasn’t about to tell him anything. He would not be a traitor to his country and he was ready to go down with the Seaview if need be.

Mendoza’s cabin was searched. Nelson even questioned Professor Conrad Rutner. Tony Mendoza had been Rutner’s assistant but the Professor said he hadn’t known Mendoza that long, only a few weeks. His other assistant had been killed in an automobile accident just a short while ago. Professor Rutner said that Mendoza had come highly recommended. He found him to be highly qualified in architecture but he was a loner and not very talkative. The Professor said he spent quite a bit of time alone in his cabin recording his notes on his tape recorder. Nelson quickly grabbed the microphone and sent a search party back to Mendoza’s room.

Nelson met the search party there. "The tape recorder!" he said. "Find it!"

"Here it is, sir." Kowalski indicated a black box on the bunk. Nelson grabbed it and then gently opened it and examined it carefully. "This is it!" he yelled. "To the missile room, on the double!" He handed the tape recorder to Kowalski who ran with it to the missile room. Nelson arrived on his heels and loaded the recorder into the torpedo tube. Sharkey fired the torpedo and sent the bomb into the sea. All was quiet for a few seconds. Then there was a terrific explosion that rocked the Seaview back and forth slightly but not enough to do any damage. The passengers and crew out in the lifeboats received a rocky ride but no one was injured.

********************

The next day, Admiral Nelson, Captain Crane and Commander Morton were having coffee in the observation nose. They had reached the Sea Lab yesterday, or what was left of it. They had searched around for a missile site but only found the remains of what had recently been some kind of weapons bunker. Mendoza’s people had worked fast to retrieve their missiles and would no doubt find some other hiding place somewhere in the depths of the vast Pacific Ocean.

"How are you feeling, Lee?" asked Nelson. His captain had not had an easy mission.

Lee smiled and looked over at the admiral. "Well, admiral, I never did look forward to having civilians aboard Seaview. I guess this time was no exception. I was pretty lucky that the bullet only creased my side but it’s still pretty sore. I’m really looking forward to a nice shore leave while Seaview’s having her scheduled maintenance."

Chip grinned at the admiral and then spoke to the captain. "Oh, Lee, didn’t they tell you. Seaview’s maintenance has been postponed. We have another important mission. Twenty-five nuns from the Sisters of our Sacred Heart Order are bringing fifty orphans aboard Seaview to transport them to the new orphanage in Fiji."

Lee spluttered and started to choke on his coffee and then looked over at Chip and the admiral. Neither one of them could keep a straight face.

"Just kidding!" said Chip.

The End