So Dark The Water

By R. L. Keller

(Presented for the Picture Contest “The Pier”)

 

“Everything is lost,” he moaned softly.  “What am I going to do?  I don’t know how to go on.”

The indomitable – until now – figure of Admiral Harriman Nelson (Ret.), head of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research and designer/builder/owner of the futuristic submarine Seaview stood forlornly on the wooden pier, metal railings standing silent vigil between him and the ocean, watching as a full moon illuminated that very same submarine sailing away, never to return.  Lee Crane, the man Nelson had chosen to pilot Seaview, to take over when he himself could no longer go on, to lead the Institute into the future, was dead.  Seaview’s XO, and Lee’s best friend, Chip Morton, quit because he didn’t want to serve without Lee at his side, and most of Seaview’s crew had left as well, unwilling to work aboard the vessel without either the CO or XO to depend on to get them safely home from whatever chaos Nelson’s projects got them into.

The sweater Nelson wore over his khaki’s did nothing to stop the shivering that came straight from a shaking heart.  Nelson wasn’t sure who was taking Seaview away.  He just knew that it was never going to return; that nothing was ever going to be the same.  All of his dreams were dying and there was nothing that he could do to stop it.  Maybe he should climb over the railing, fall into the sea, and die as well.  Why go on when there was no reason; nothing to live for.  He slowly stepped over the railing, holding on for one last second; one last look at everything he’d wanted his life to be, now forever out of his grasp.  As Seaview sailed over the horizon he simply let go, allowing the cold water to take him to oblivion.

And woke up in a cold sweat, shaking and shaken, but safely in his own bed, in his own house, on the hill overlooking his Institute.  Seaview was just visible in the distance through a large window, snug in her open berth, gently riding the tide.

“A dream,” Nelson muttered softly.  “It was only a dream.”  It was still several minutes before he could take a normal breath from the hyperventilating that he’d awakened with.  Deciding that he could walk with legs no longer quaking he got up, stripped off his now sweat-soaked pajamas, and climbed into the shower, letting the water wash away the nightmare.  He knew that he’d have to control his expression when he met with Lee in just over two hours, to go over several proposals that had come in for Seaview’s use.  The younger man was extremely perceptive to Nelson’s moods, and Nelson in no way wanted to discuss the dream.  He took a deep breath and shoved his face into the hard stream of water.  “This one stays firmly buried?”