A Road Built in Hope
Chapter one
Admiral Harriman Nelson sat alone in the Observation Nose of his submarine Seaview, absently stroking the side of his head deep in thought as he stared out the huge windows in front of him. The mission they'd just finished, a collaboration with the Scripps Institute and the University of Alaska, had been an easy one: study the canyons of the Bering Sea and its sea life. The cruise had gone well and the discovery of an unknown skate nursery had been the highlight. Usually a species with low reproductive rates, in some cases taking three or more years to hatch, the information of the location of the nursery was an important find for conservationists. Seaview and her crew had performed as he expected on the cruise: perfectly.
"Well, that was a pretty smooth mission," Lee Crane, captain of the submarine said with a big smile on his face as he entered the Observation Nose and seated himself in a chair beside Nelson, diverting his attention from his musings slightly.
"Yes, yes it was," Nelson said distractedly as his eyes never left the view before him.
"What's that tone mean?" Lee asked with a laugh. "You don't like cruises that don't have any problems? No monsters? No aliens or…"
"Oh, yes I like them just fine! I've just been sitting here going over in my mind some of the findings we've made on this cruise," Nelson said with a big smile. "There's enough data to keep me busy for awhile."
"So why aren't you down in your lab going over some of the results? Not that I'm not glad you're taking a little downtime for yourself. You don't spend enough time relaxing."
Nelson waved a dismissive hand in Lee's direction. "Downtime…who needs downtime?" he asked with a lopsided smile on his face. "It's overrated."
"You mean to tell me the thought of sitting around doing nothing is unpleasant to you?"
"Not exactly unpleasant. Just…all right…unpleasant is a good word," he said laughing as he glanced over at Lee, astounded once more at the easy camaraderie he had developed with the young man by his side. "There's just too much to do to sit around…relaxing."
"And yet, here you are," Lee said, enjoying the light banter he was having with the man he considered his best friend. The two had a friendship Lee couldn't remember ever having with anyone else, and that included Chip Morton. Although Chip was closer to him in age, their conversations were…different than what he always had with Nelson and it still surprised him the depth of feeling he had for the man beside him, more like a brother than a friend.
"Well, all this relaxing is getting nothing done," Nelson said as he rose from his seat and stretched. "Think I will head down to the lab and start looking over some of the…"
What he was about to say was interrupted by an urgent voice on the intercom. "Admiral? It's Chief Sharkey. I'm in the Circuitry Room, sir. Do you think you could come down here? We've got problems."
"What kind of problems, Chief?" Nelson asked as he grabbed a nearby microphone, worried at the slight tremble in the chief's voice.
"I…I found something in the circuits. It…it looks like a bomb, sir."
"I'll be right there," Nelson said harshly after a quick second to control the sudden rush of adrenaline that shot through him and began to head from the room. Stopping quickly by the plotting table, he leaned towards his executive officer. "Chip, how much water are we in?"
"Fifteen thousand feet keel to bottom," he said quickly, already having obtained the answer as soon as he'd heard the call from Sharkey.
"Damn! Plot a new course now!" Nelson yelled as he headed out the hatch. "Find the shallowest water and head there at flank! Find us a plateau to drop down on if you can!"
With that, Nelson, followed by Crane, raced out of the Control Room as Chip ordered the course changes quickly.
~O~
Running rapidly down the corridors, Nelson's heart raced as scenarios and possibilities passed swiftly through his mind as he tried to anticipate what he would find waiting for him. After what seemed an eternity, he entered the Circuitry Room on a run and stopped short when he saw Chief Sharkey and Seaman Kowalski standing with grim faces inside the room. Sharkey merely pointed a shaking finger to the rather large device embedded in the circuits. Walking slowly to the panels, Nelson gasped as he saw wires going off in all directions from a large box planted squarely in the middle of the main panels with a countdown already at twenty-five minutes.
Sensing Lee had followed him, he said without turning, "Lee, find me some tools."
Going to a nearby locker, Lee pulled instruments from it and brought them to Nelson who laid them at his feet.
"I want everyone out of here. Now! Clear this corridor and get the crew as far away from here as possible. You too, Lee!" Nelson said without looking at him as he began to trace the wires, his mind racing.
"Admiral, I should stay. I can help you!"
"Lee, I don't have time to argue. I need you alive to take care of Seaview and her crew if this goes wrong! Go! I need to think and I can't do that with you here!"
Lee hesitated for a moment as fear filled him for Nelson and the boat. Finally he acknowledged Nelson's order and headed for the door. Stopping, he pulled a mic from its cradle, turned it on to transmit and walked back to Nelson, passing it through the straps on top of his shirt and draping it over his shoulder. "So we can hear you if you need anything," he said briefly as he clasped him quickly on the shoulder. He headed for the door and started to leave the room but stopped and looked back at Nelson, wondering briefly if it would be the last time he saw him alive.
As if he could sense Crane's thoughts, Nelson turned and stared at him for a moment before nodding briefly. Lee smiled weakly, then left, closing the door behind him.
Relieved to be alone, Nelson continued to trace the wires through the circuitry, attempting to figure out how to defuse the bomb. "I think I recognize this type of bomb. I've seen a device much like this one before but it's been awhile. Same layout though," Nelson said quietly as he began to work at separating the wires and figuring out how to defuse the complicated device. "I need to cut the wires in a certain sequence or she'll blow. Then I need to isolate the explosive from the trigger. Just need to remember…"
An eternity seemed to pass before Nelson sighed. "I've got the sequence. I'm disconnecting the wires one by one. Say a prayer I'm right," he said softly.
Time passed as if in slow motion as the crew waited for Nelson to finish defusing the bomb, their hearts in their throats as they knew they were all in danger.
"All right. Wires cut. I'm isolating the explosive now," he said in a hushed voice.
Time seemed to stop as silence came from the Circuitry Room, then they heard Nelson sigh heavily. "I…I think that's got it," he said breathlessly. "Countdown has stopped. I'm removing the bomb now."
Nelson ran a shaking hand over his eyes and knelt by the device, pondering who could have planted it and why.
Shortly after that, Nelson heard the door being opened and felt Lee kneel by his side, gazing at him in concern.
"You all right?" he asked as he took in Nelson's pale features.
Nelson nodded briefly. "I am now. This was too close."
"Yes, it was," Lee said as he stared at the countdown that was stopped at three minutes. "Who would do this?"
"I don't know. Find out who was on duty in here and question them. Connecting this took time. Find out if anyone was seen coming or going from here," Nelson said, his eyes never leaving the device before him. "This bomb would have taken out all our major systems and in all likelihood we would have endured a slow death from asphyxiation if we weren't crushed to death first when we dropped below crush depth. We would have been dead, literally, on the bottom of the sea."
"Never to be seen again," Lee whispered.
"It looks as though there's enough explosive here to damage us pretty badly," Nelson said as he rose with the device in his hands. "I need to get this to my lab where I have the tools to remove the explosive from the device to render it completely safe. Make sure there's no chance…" Nelson stopped speaking and started in fear as he heard the unmistakable sound of ticking resume and saw the numbers begin to click downward again.
"No…God no," he said in anguish.
"Admiral…what is it?"
"There's a secondary trigger," he said in fear as he watched the seconds begin to count down again. "Set to go off shortly after the device is removed is my guess. Damn it! I didn't think of that! I need to try to get it off the boat now, there's no time to try to defuse it again!"
Going over quickly in his mind all the possible places he could eject, flush or simply drop the device overboard, he formulated a last ditch plan, hoping he had time. "Clear the Missile Room and all the corridors leading to it. Now!" he yelled as he quickly headed out of the room with the bomb in his hands, hearing Lee broadcast his orders to the ship.
As Nelson ran through the passageways, he cursed his laxity as he knew he had messed up. He should have known a device as complicated and sophisticated as this one would have a back-up plan. If he could get it to the Missile Room, he could eject the bomb out through the diving chamber, or at the least contain the explosion in it, and they may just escape with minimal damage. If he could reach it in time.
He got to the Missile Room quickly, relieved to find it empty and headed for the dive chamber, placed the bomb carefully inside, closed and dogged the hatch and began to fill the chamber with water, intending to expel the bomb out the chamber.
And it might have worked with just a little more time, he thought briefly as he heard the explosion rip the chamber apart and felt himself flung backwards as the dive chamber door exploded outward hitting him and knocking him into a rack of dive equipment. "So close. I'm sorry," he thought as pain exploded in his head and chest and darkness claimed him.