Seconds ticked by, and eventually MacGyver decided to try and move. Tentatively stretching out his arms, then legs he confirmed that he was still in one piece. He fumbled in the darkness, until his fingers made contact with the seat he'd almost crashed into. He used it to push up from the floor just as the emergency lighting kicked back in.
To Mac's right, Laura was brushing at her clothes, her hands shaking, but she too appeared in one piece.
Mortimer was already back at the controls, pushing buttons and throwing levers with a look of concern quickly spreading across his features.
MacGyver joined him, resting an arm on the back on the pilot's seat and looking out at the odd angle they were sitting at in comparison to the apparently undamaged U-boat. "Looks like German build quality gave us a thrashing," he commented. "So how bad is it?"
"We have some major issues," Mortimer confirmed. "The umbilical has finally disengaged, but we've lost the motors, the planes are partially jammed so we only have limited steering, and ballast control is down, so we can't just blow the tanks to get to the surface." He paused, chewed a little and then scowled. "Shall I go on?"
"Oh I think that's enough for now." Mac glanced at Sand. She'd turned a ghostly white, which he hoped was down to fear rather than lack of life support. "How about oxygen?" he asked quietly.
Mortimer tapped a gauge. "Life support appears undamaged, although that's not gonna be much comfort if we can't find a way to move…"
Mac grabbed the radio mike and keyed it. "Sun Dog to Eternal Flame, we have a situation down here, please respond?" He tried several times, knowing how long it had taken on his previous attempt.
This time, the line remained silent.
Laura swallowed hard. "It's just because we lost the umbilical right? And the storm is hampering normal communications, yes?"
Mac licked his lips. Should he tell a possible lie and agree, or proffer up his real suspicions that things might be as bad topside as they were on the sea floor?
In the end, Mortimer took care of the answer. "It could be they're just busy with their own issues right now." He looked soberly at MacGyver. "I've heard you're pretty good at fixing things. Wanna help me try breath some life back in this puppy?"
Mac smiled wanly. "I thought you were never gonna ask." He pulled his penknife from his pocket trying to keep the mood light. "So where do we start?"
Mortimer pointed behind them to what looked like a wall of electronics. "We can't fix the bent planes, but maybe we could restore drive? I don't think there's damage to the actual motors, so the fault must be in the circuits in here." He pushed up from his seat and led Mac to a protruding panel. "I just know the basics, I'm trained to pilot this girl, not fix her up, so I sure hope you know your stuff."
"Nope," MacGyver couldn't help but tease, albeit with the truth as he began to unscrew the plate. "I can't say as I've touched the innards of a sub before – well, not unless you count one that someone tried to drown me in, and that turned out okay."
Mortimer scowled but didn't push for answers. He simply watched as Mac pulled off the sheet of metal and began examining the wiring and circuitry. "See anything?" he eventually asked.
Mac tapped lightly on a section of one of the control boards with the tip of his knife that had turned a garish black. "I think this is kinda the equivalent of surge protection, and its pretty much blown." He frowned, his eyes scouring the DSRV, but things like paper clips and safety pins just didn't find their way onto mini-subs.
"So we blew a fuse and don't have a replacement?" Mortimer's gum chomping slowed as he apparently sobered to their situation.
The sullen expression and lack of chewing actually helped MacGyver. "Oh I wouldn't say that…got any more of that gum?"
Laura gaped. "You want to chew at a time like this?"
Mac's lips curled into a smile. "No ma'am, I want to fix this circuit board." He took the stick of Wrigley's that Mortimer offered up, unwrapped it, and folded the foil wrapper for size as an impromptu fuse.
"Will that actually work?" Laura looked incredulous as she watched.
MacGyver shrugged. "Well, what you have to realize is that the wrapper will just be acting as a bridge to complete the circuit, it might not burn out like the original did if there's another surge, and that means the motors could fry if there's a next time."
"Yeah, well I don't see a whole lot of other alternatives," Mortimer bemoaned. "So can you just try it anyway and put us out of our misery? We're eating oxygen here while we think about it!"
Laura nodded. "He has a point, just do it."
Mac licked his lips and slid the wrapper between the two contact points. "Okay Larry, try firing her up."
Mortimer sucked down a breath and clicked on the motor controls. There was a pause, and then the indicator lights finally turned green. The pilot exhaled and momentarily closed his eyes. His lips moved silently, and MacGyver suspected Larry was saying a prayer to whatever god was listening.
"Right, let's see what we got." Mortimer settled into his seat and tested out the joysticks. After a few seconds he looked up. "We can go down, but not up, straight ahead or left, nothing else."
"Could we try docking with the U-boat?" Laura was staring out at the dark behemoth they were sitting over like it was the shark, and they were the pilot fish. "Maybe there's something onboard we could use?"
"If it's not flooded," MacGyver pointed out, "but we have to remember it sank for a reason."
Mortimer shrugged. "I think we have to try, ironically with the plane damage we sustained, about the only direction we can go is over the U-boat's escape hatch."
MacGyver nodded. "Okay, you get us over the hatch and I'll go and set up the docking collar." He glanced at Laura. She was staring at the U-boat again, but now all the enthusiasm had gone – replaced by a look of dread, and was that even hatred in her eyes?
Mac thought about what they'd been through against the E.R.R. before, and guessed Sand was thinking those thoughts too. Maybe U3524 should have been left alone in its watery grave, where its evil past could no longer harm anyone.
...
Moving the Sun Dog over the escape hatch with damaged controls had taken longer than any of them had anticipated. Then it had taken MacGyver a further half an hour to master the soft docking collar's controls and get that into place.
Now, as he stared down at the circular metal hatch release of the U-boat, Mac wasn't sure how he felt about opening up the sub.
There was a small chance it wasn't flooded, and a big chance it was. There was an even bigger chance there would be bodies of the original crew still lying in the depths of the thing. Of course he'd seen skeletons before, but somehow this unnerved him more than he cared to admit, and he didn't even know why.
Reaching down, MacGyver felt the slimy, cold surface of the handle and almost recoiled. Instead, he held fast and attempted to spin it, expecting it to be jammed with age.
The handle refused to move on the first attempt, and he was about to look for something to use as leverage when something gave below his grip and the wheel began to turn albeit painfully slowly.
MacGyver gulped and pushed harder until the wheel came to a stop and the hatch was ready to open. He tugged hard, expecting to find the space below flooded.
It wasn't.
There was a hiss as the pressure between the two ships equalized, and an outrush of stale air hit Mac's senses, but the inside of U3524 was pitch black, and empty.
This shouldn't be happening. There shouldn't be air, even if it is stale!
Mac reached up and grabbed one of the DSRV's emergency flashlights mounted on the wall. He flicked it on and let the beam play down past the ladder and into the depths below.
There was the smell of diesel oil, intermingled with must and other poignant aromas, but definitely not the distinctive smell of bodies decaying.
But then, they would just be bones by now, wouldn't they?
Mac couldn't help but shiver anyway as the thought hit him he may have just opened up a tomb.
He clambered back to the wall of the DSRV and to the internal intercom controls. "Folks, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the U-boat has hull integrity – at least in the section where the escape hatch is located." In the background, he could hear Laura getting excited again, and it made him smile. He hadn't liked the darker side he'd seen of her earlier. It had been like she'd given in.
Moments later, Mortimer and Sand joined him in the aft of the mini-sub, their faces looking more hopeful now in the muted red lighting.
"Can we try going aboard?" Laura asked first. "I mean…"
"Are there bodies?" MacGyver finished for her. "I don't know, but I guess there's only one way to find out." He held onto his light with one hand and began the decent into the U-boat.
The rungs of the metal ladder were cold to his hands, and he wanted to shrink back, like he was touching a snake. Mac shook off the feeling and carried on until his boots hit the deck plate below.
He blinked, letting his eyes become accustomed to the darkness, and then swung around his flashlight to get his bearings.
The sub was narrower than most would imagine – a grimy world that smelled of diesel and stale air, but in this section at least, no skeletons.
There was the sound of dripping water from somewhere, and the shadows that filled the hull danced like fifty-year-old ghosts.
MacGyver tried to resist the urge to shiver, but didn't quite manage it. It was like a blanket of cold air had been wrapped around him.
From above, he heard the metallic clang of boots on iron and noted that Mortimer and Sand were joining him in the bowels of the submarine. He hoped they were ready for the atmosphere that was about to assault their senses.
"Did you find any crewmen?" Laura asked as she bounced down from the ladder.
Mac shook his head. "Nope, but there's a lot more of this U-boat to check out yet." He nodded towards open hatches to the for and aft of their position. "Looks like the hull is holding in more than just this section."
Mortimer whirled around with his own light, checking out the plates that made up the submarine's structure. He shook his head, his brow creasing into a frown. "This is so impossible. The corrosion alone on a sub of this age should have led to major water ingress by now."
Laura scowled at him. "What corrosion? There's oxidation, yes, but nothing more than surface rust."
Mortimer prodded at a small section of hull that had paint damage, but hardly any rust was present there either. He blinked, shook his head again as if incredulous, and finally raised his hands in the air in defeat. "Well the rust that should be here," he complained. "I mean what is this, some kinda ghost boat?"
MacGyver wasn't buying that. "C'mon, there has to be a rational explanation for what's going on here, and it's our job to find it, and maybe even use it to fix our own situation." Without asking them their opinion, he began to move forwards, hoping the pair would follow.
Mortimer popped in another stick of gum and stuffed his hands in his coverall pockets, then gave chase, with Sand bringing up the rear.
At first, there wasn't a whole lot to see, just some very cramped bunks complete with ancient blankets. It was like a time capsule, frozen in 1945 and only just being opened.
And yet to Mac, there was still something "off." Something he was missing that niggled in the back of his mind.
Eventually, they came to a cabin, and MacGyver fanned his light across the brass nameplate on the door. This was Commander Witt's room.
Mac pushed inside the tiny officer's quarters and held the beam of his light on a small table. There were papers still set out on it, curled, and tanned with age, but very obviously orders.
He turned to Laura and indicated the documents with a nod. "Can you translate for us?"
Laura moved to the table and carefully picked up the papers. After briefly scanning them she looked up at both men. "This really is the U-boat we thought it was. Commander Witt was ordered to fake the scuttling and proceed to a small inlet where the Nazis had a refueling port. Then he was to escape with the art treasures to Argentina."
"You know, finding those documents still laid out like that is kinda weird?" MacGyver pointed out. "I mean, would Witt leave orders out on his table so openly? And speaking of Witt, where is he and the crew, 'cause I'm not seeing any bodies?"
Laura huffed. "Isn't that a good thing? It means the submarine isn't a war grave, and we can look for the art!"
Mac winced. "Shouldn't we be concentrating on getting out of the mess we're in first?"
"I'm an art expert, not an engineer," Laura pointed out. "There's nothing I can do to fix anything, but I can search for the antiquities." She looked at Mortimer. "We could go in one direction and MacGyver the other…"
It was clearly a plan to get her own way, but MacGyver let Sand's persistence go. Right now, he wanted answers, and he wanted a way back to the surface more than he wanted paintings. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll take the engine room; there might be something I can use back there."
Before Mortimer could argue his part in the plan, Sand had scurried through the nearest hatch and vanished into the gloom, leaving just the beam from her bobbing flashlight visible.
MacGyver shrugged and smiled at Mortimer, who quickly gave chase to the over-excited expert.
Once they were gone, Mac turned and moved in the opposite direction, towards where the batteries and diesel engines lay. Even before he reached the correct compartment, he knew he was close due to the overwhelming smell of fuel, grease and oil. It made MacGyver wonder how sailors managed for months submerged in such conditions.
The hatch ahead was closed, and he paused at it. Was it closed because there was sea water beyond? Had this section actually flooded and that was why the U-boat had sank? He tapped the end of his light on the door, listening for a change in note compared to the intact compartments, but the sound that came back told him the engine room should also be free from water.
MacGyver swallowed and carefully swung on the circular release lever, half-expecting the worst. There was a hiss as old air escaped, but thankfully no water.
He exhaled and moved inside, not quite ready for the surprise that awaited him.
The engines were relatively clean – no, not just clean, these diesels had been serviced and worked on recently.
Whoa, what the heck is this..?
Mac moved closer inspecting the pair of MANN engines, unable to resist the urge to actually touch them as if they were alive. The coldness of the metal did little to quell the craving he felt to try and start the things.
After a moment, he decided to investigate the motor room in the next compartment. It was where the huge battery cells that powered the sub under water were kept – although after more that forty years they technically would be useless.
Technically, Mac reminded himself, but since when has anything been normal since we boarded this thing?
The motor room didn't disappoint.
Instead of the ancient rows of metal plates submerged in tanks that served as batteries in 1945, U3524 had been refitted with something much more compact and modern.
Mac carefully moved over to them and inspected the ratings on them. He was no expert, but at a guess, given their size they'd only been installed for emergency use.
Not large enough to run submerged for long…but then given its age the structural integrity of the U-boat probably isn't up to that anyway.
MacGyver shook his head. Exactly what had they stumbled onto?
Turning tail, Mac clambered back through the hatch doors in search of Mortimer and Sand. As he moved swiftly through the tight confines, he couldn't help but wonder if the art hadn't been already stolen. But even that didn't explain the U-boat's condition, how it had gotten here, and who had done the work to it.
A light up ahead signaled he'd found the others, and he slowed slightly, taking down a few breaths of stale air.
"Did you find anything?" He asked as Mortimer approached. The other man's grin told Mac they had.
"You bet we did! Everything the doc here was expecting and more!" The pilot's expression sobered when he realized MacGyver's face had remained stoic. "I'm guessing you didn't find anything to get us outta here, huh?"
"Not exactly," Mac admitted. "But I did find something I can't explain. We're not the first people on this tub since the war. Someone installed modern batteries back in the motor room, and the engines have had work too."
Sand looked to Mortimer and the pair looked back at Mac disbelievingly.
"That can't be," Laura eventually stammered. "What would even be the point? The art is still here, the U-boat is at the bottom of the Baltic. It doesn't make sense."
"You're dang right it doesn't," MacGyver agreed. "And that's why we have to find out what's been going on. It might be our only clue outta this mess." He took his flashlight and headed into the galley area of the submarine.
It too was cramped, but on the few tables available for the crewmen to eat at, there were various items of cutlery and tableware.
Mac let his light illuminate the scene, and quickly noted a half-crushed Coke can and a couple of mugs with stale liquid that might have been coffee in them. He picked up the nearest mug and examined it more closely. His eyes widened in surprise and obvious distaste as he realized he was staring at a picture of a scantily clad Pamela Anderson emblazoned with the words Baywatch. "Not exactly the kinda artwork Hitler would have been looking for," he quipped, quickly replacing the mug on the table.
"So the U-boat's definitely had people on from the here and now," Mortimer nodded. "But who? Why, and how come they didn't declare their find?"
"And where are they now?" Laura joined in with the questions. "And why is the submarine stuck at the bottom of the Baltic if it can run?" She rubbed at her arms as she spoke, as if she'd suddenly turned colder.
A metallic clank stopped her from talking further, as something obviously slammed into the outside of the U-boat. The noise was followed by two more grinding thunks, like metal scraping on metal.
MacGyver reached out and touched the hull plates as another impact hit. He felt the vibrations through his hand and quickly pulled back, already suspecting what was happening.
A knot twisted in his stomach, but he didn't vocalize his concerns – at least not yet, until he was sure.
"C'mon, we need to get back to the DSRV!" Mac's voice was so commanding Mortimer and Sand instantly followed him back to the escape hatch and into their damaged mini-sub.
"W..what is it?" Laura stammered as she clambered up the rungs of the ladder.
Mac didn't answer, but made a dive for the huge glass bubble at the front of the LR7. As he reached the pilot's seat, something large and heavy smashed into the roof above him, rocking the smaller DSRV so badly an overhead pipe burst, spraying jets of water all over the cockpit area.
MacGyver quickly reached for a nearby valve and closed it, while still trying to see what was hitting them through the front port. Eventually, his eyes picked out smaller debris showering down from above and he momentarily closed his eyes in dread.
What he was seeing, and what was actually impacting with them, was sections of the Eternal Flame as it broke up on its journey to the sea bed. So far, the wreckage was confined to items from on the deck, including the crane that usually held the DSRV, but did that mean the entire ship had gone down, or that the storm was simply so bad the deck held machinery had been torn away?
As MacGyver reached out once again for the radio mike, he hoped it was the latter. "Eternal Flame, this is Sun Dog, come in?" For awhile, there was silence, only broken by the wild hiss of static.
"Sun Dog we're…going do…fast." It was Nikki, and she sounded out of breath and flustered, but then who wouldn't on a sinking ship? "McKenna deployed…life rafts…"
MacGyver couldn't push away an image of the ship sinking in the freezing Baltic waters. Inflatable life rafts or not, Nikki, Pete and the crew were in big trouble. "Nikki get to the rafts with Pete, NOW!"
There was a sudden yelp from the other end of the line, interspersed with a sound Mac couldn't identify. "Mac…ship's…rolling!"
The signal abruptly vanished and MacGyver couldn't bring himself to key the mike again. He knew it was no use. He looked over to Laura and Mortimer, but he couldn't' find any words.
They were alone at the bottom of the Baltic, trapped on an ancient U-boat with a dead DSRV. And above, their friends and fellow workers were probably about to drown or freeze to death.
Mortimer spoke first. "You know they won't have long if they're not all in the life rafts? And if the ship just rolled, some of them won't be…" His voice cracked as he said the last words, and his eyes hit the deck plate of the mini-sub in sadness.
MacGyver felt the knot in his stomach from earlier return. Pete was blind, what chance did he have if he hadn't already made it to a life raft?
But then, given the situation they were all in, what chance did any of them really have?