SHADOWS

By

Philippa Timms

Deep below a sea that held many wonders of life, dark deeds were being done. Soon the whole world would know. A message would be sent to Admiral Harriman Nelson…a very deadly message….

"Two whole weeks, Ski!" Exclaimed Stu Riley as he gloomily fitted his surfboard into the back of his open-topped car. "We were going to have two whole weeks of having nothing to think about except sun, sea and surfers!" Riley could tell from the look that Kowalski was giving him that he also did not think much of the idea of having to cut short their shore leave

"You just had to say those immortal words Stu. ‘Come on Ski, you do know that the chick’s can’t resist a surfer!’ And what happened? We've just had enough time to unpack the boards," grumbled Kowalski as he began to help Stu with the rest of their gear.

"I wonder what’s the emergency this time?"

"We’ll find out soon enough." Riley looked closely at the tied boards. "Make sure they'll firmly secured, Ski."

"Yep, they’ll last us the trip back for sure."

"Good, as from what I’ve heard they want us back at the Institute ASAP."

Kowalski jumped into the passenger seat and with a wry grin on his face turned and said,” well what are we waiting for?"

***

The small inflatable craft snuck into the tiny sandy shore under a moonless night. No human eye watched their arrival as the two men, dressed in combat black, silently pulled the small craft up the sandy shore and camouflaged their means of escape under a convenient outcrop of rock.

One of the men started to pull out of the craft a small rucksack and stepped back.

“Whoa…..”  were the first words uttered on the island by Chip Morton as he fell backwards over a sand-submerged Giant Turtle.  The second and third were lost to the wind.

The turtle did not think much of this incident either and began to flap its fins. Digging into the sand.  It flew everywhere as the turtle again, tried to lose himself into the sand and covering Chip Morton at the same time.

“Chip, if the Admiral were here,” Lee said, but paused as if reigning in emotions that he did not want to feel.  Could not feel, not here and now.  But then began to talk again as if he had not stopped.  “I’m sure he would commend you in checking out the local wild-life….”

Chip went to answer but all that he got for his effort was a mouthful of wet sand. “Caaaugh….” Was all that come out as the sand reached the back of his throat spluttering even more as Lee helped him up.

“Come on…and be more careful…with these. They are for one thing and one thing only,” Lee told Chip, with an edge to his voice that Chip had never heard before. Lee handed him a now sand coved rucksack. Chip nodded trying to get rid of excess sand at the same time.

Lee by this time had taken out his flashlight and had pointed it out to sea. Turning it on and off in three short bursts. This in turn was repeated way off, a mere pinpoint on the horizon.

“Come on we’ve no time for beachcombing. We’re ending this now.” Lee did not wait for Chip to reply as he went up the beach towards the dense jungle that ended abruptly as it came into contact with the sand rocks of the shore. 

***

Some miles away, a man  watched all that was happening and smiled and laughed an insane laugh. Now just one move, one key to press and all his years of work here, deep in the Pacific Ocean would be complete. He raised his index finger to press down on the keypad...

As Morton and Crane made their way in land, the ‘terrorist base’ that held their attention was beginning to see what trouble they were in.

 “John, we’ve gotta problem!” Came a high, almost panicked voice behind him. John had almost forgotten that he was not alone on this base and almost fell off his computer chair as he spun around at the new voice from his panicked co-worker in their little venture, and dived through small open hatch that separated him from the rest of the scientific base.

“WHAT?” He mouthed annoyed that his train of thought had been broken just when everything had been coming together.

Harry just waved his hands in the air. “They’ve found us. The Institute’s here,” Harry responded sounding less panicked. But still with fear burning in his eyes. John just sighed again and scratched his head.

“And?”

“They’ve been monitored and they’ve got the evidence.” Harry pointed behind John and towards the mathematic equations that were flashing on the screen. Just before a large yellow Pac Man screen saver replaced them. It’s mouth wide open in a toothless grin. “And they’re coming for us….”  

“For us?” Harry scratched his curly red hair. “But we made sure Nelson and the Seaview just repeated history.”

“Well, like, it’s SO not!”  John by this time was panicking.

“We’ve done something wrong with the last watch test. They think we’ve bad guys now. And it would seem from contact with Washington, that now so do they,” Harry said deep in thought.

 “Maybe I should go dress in black and breathe deeply?”

“Huh?” Harry asked looking up from his computer. “I doubt that’ll help much,” he said after it had sunk in what John had just said.  “But I don’t see what we can do differently. We’ve gotta stay in the shadows with this.  Go and see Doctor Pem. I’ll calculate a time jump.”

John nodded; he wondered if they could change the past so much now their future was so obvious. And if going back in time now was what got everything so out of whack in the first place. But then Doctor Pem would know. Doctor Pem knew everything about this project. But whatever happened, times were about to change.

***

It had been a bight sunny day in Santa Barbara. At dawn there had not been a cloud in the sky. Only a light breeze blew over the harbour.  The odd lonesome gull giving the odd squawk as it flew overhead. The Nelson Research Submarine Seaview bobbed up and down in her pen. All was quiet on this, for once, peaceful day. 

Not that you could see Seaview from the main gate, but John Taylor knew she was there and could quite well imagine her outline. His mind drifted back over the years he had worked on her and then his move to Washington. “Huh?” He asked as the guard waved his papers back at him.

"Admiral Nelson says he’ll see you now," Taylor nodded at the young man; if he had any doubts about coming back he pushed them to the back of his mind. But did swallow pretty deeply at the thought of just why he was here and then tried to put it at the back of his mind.

With a curt thank you to the guard he set off towards the main office complex. But still he imaged that slim, gracefully, glass nosed submarine. Just waiting for his return. So close, and yet so far away.  Putting his papers away, John reached into his, back trouser pocket. Checking he still had the small bronze pocket watch on a chain. That was now his anchor in what was to him was the past.

“Oh….” John exclaimed as he almost dropped the watch. He grabbed at it. For a second he seemed to wink out of existence and then shimmered back again. He looked around hoping no one had noticed. He checked the time on the watch again and then, he continued his way back towards Nelson, Crane and hopefully access to the Seaview. Not that if events went to plan he would see her again. Again he sighed, but tried to smile.

Sitting at her desk was one thing that had not changed, and it made him glad for the first time since taking on this mission. It made him very uneasy that he had to bring Nelson in without telling them the full nature of the enemy.

"Angie," he greeted her with a grin. "It’s nice to know there’s a constant in this mad universe."

"You know it’s been a long time. The Admiral’s missed you." Angie smiled back.

"I bet he has!" John could not believe the last comment, even from someone as beautiful as Angie. Their last conversation had been far from amicable. Even after four years, that mere thought of the last conversation with Nelson still smarted, not that he could blame him. As her amber eyes glowed up at him he decided not to dwell too long on past events. "Is the old man alone?" He waved his arm towards the door.

"He, and Captain Crane are waiting for you." She took a deep breath and laughed the low laugh that John had never forgotten, even after all of these years. "And don’t call him the old man, you know how much he hates it!"

"As long as I don’t get called lad, we’ll be well away." So much had happened at the institute. Coming back here now he could remember it all, just like it was yesterday. For John, thanks to the watch, it was, well, just about a week. But John had built on that day, to where he was today. John had made sure that the institute was well protected in terms of computer security, whether the Admiral wanted it or not.

Crane sipped his coffee with Admiral Nelson. He wondered just why this meeting had been called, a meeting that had surprised him. Their orders from Washington had been very explicit. But it did not tell them why had to be the Seaview.

"Are we ready?" John asked.

"Just what do you want us to do?" Asked Nelson.

"Just do what ever I say Admiral. That’s the be all and end all of the mission. As you’ve no doubt noticed, I’ve marked the chart as to where I want Seaview to go. All that you’ve got to do is take us there. Read the mission reports and I await your decision."  Taylor got up without waiting to be dismissed and leaned towards the Admiral. A menacing gleam in his eye. “The sooner the better!

***

Lee Crane managed to get some of the back-story on John Taylor over the next couple days.

Nelson had been in Washington for most of the computer trials; according to all the reports that he had received they had not gone well. Taylor had been on special assignment to oversee the installation of all of the new computer terminals that linked NIMR worldwide.  John had a major falling out with Nelson over computer software and had returned to Washington after he had told the Admiral where he could put his submarine.

It was the late and Lee Crane saw Taylor heading rapidly towards the Admiral’s office. Taylor was just about to enter the office, Crane close behind. Suddenly Lee was hit by a massive wave of dizziness that stopped him in his tracks. It had such force he had to lean against the side of the corridor for support.

The whole world seemed to be crashing round his ears. A blinding light seemed to block his way. As Crane covered his eyes from the radiance he caught sight of Taylor caught in a tongue of energy. The last thing that Crane remembered was wondering what the hell was happening.

Lee Crane opened his eyes, blinked at the brightness of the room. When he found that he could open his eyes, he pushed himself up, and found himself wishing he had not done so as quickly, as a spasm of pain shot through his head. It passed as quickly as it had come. Groggily he looked around the room.

From the various instruments, bunks and other tale-tale objects, he concluded that he was in the Institutes sickbay. He just wished that he could remember how he had got here.

Some days later on his office computer Admiral Nelson studded the maps that John Taylor had left them. Dotted around the small, wild remote islands of the Pacific were some of the best undersea research facilities, or had been. A single Submarine over the last two weeks had destroyed years of research. The attacks had formed themselves into a chain reaction. But now their base had been found. Seaview called in to neutralize the island terrorists. 

For hours he tried to find logic in the attacks. But for some they needed none to attack and kill.

Nelson hated it when computers did this to him. The entire screen in front of him was a mass of colour; his science paper lost somewhere in its bowels. NIMR’s main complex had just had delivered some of the most up to date computer hardware. He had just started to call up some of his old documents to see how the system would respond to the demands of NIMR.  For some reason a large yellow Pac-Man had invaded his computer screen and had begun to eat all of his data.

This would have been something that John could have sorted out in an instant.  But he had been killed in the accident; at the main office complex. He was sure that it was somehow linked with this mission. But nothing had been proven.

Nelson muttered under his breath and hit the keyboard hard. Soon he had the data back and studied the target island. 

Soon, thanks to his staff, Pem would fully be in control, of being able to travel in time. There would be no one to stop him. Maybe he would even repay Nelson by making him and Seaview his pet project.

Deep below a sea that held many wonders of life, dark deeds were being done.. Soon the whole world would know. A message would be sent to Admiral Harriman Nelson…a very deadly message…

Nelson would make sure, in John Taylor’s name… They would leave no stone unturned. John would not have died in vain.  They would find out just who was there lurking in the shadows....

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