Chapter 3
Eastern Pacific Ocean, Due West of San Diego CA., April 2, 2014
Calm seas and clear skies greeted the crew of the Cousteau as morning dawned. NUMA's director started his day by jogging around the deck as part of his morning exercise ritual. The Cousteau had a clear jogging path about her main deck, though the pathway was actually intended for the movement of research equipment. As he made his way around the ship, Pitt saluted the Captain who was up in the bridge keeping his eyes on the electronic indicators. Except in the case of an emergency, there was little for Captain Decker to do for the ship could run itself under computer control from the main control room several decks below. Still, the ship needed a pilot and a set of eyes and the quick thinking of a human being in the event that something unexpected happened, and Decker was certainly the man for that job. For the moment the ship was under his command though once he'd entered the course that had been provided by Pitt into the ships computer there was little more he needed to do. Unless there was any reason to deviate from their path, Decker would only have to watch out for other traffic on the high seas.
Pitt jogged by Dirk Jr. and Summer who were assisting the Trouts who were preparing a sonar probe for deployment. Once beneath the surface, they would drag the electronic transducers behind them, and test out the ship's under water mapping equipment. It was with such instruments that the NUMA teams had discovered lost ships and airplanes, as well as mineral deposits and previously unknown surface bottom features. Dirk waved at his son and daughter as he jogged past.
On the opposite side of the ship, Al Giordino and Joe Zavala were inspecting the hoists which would be used for lowering the deep diving submersibles which allowed men to explore and work near the ocean floor. Joe had barely finished his latest submersible design and had it flown to the NUMA sea base in time to sail with the Cousteau. He still had several days work ahead of him to finish installing and testing the rest of the sub's systems, and hoped to have it ready to test sometime during the Cousteau's sea trials. Needless to say, Al Giordino was as excited as Joe was about making the first dive.
Kurt Austin decided to stay clear of his friend Joe while he was busy working on the submersible. Joe was his happiest when he had tools in his hands, and Kurt knew better than to offer his help. As an engineer, Austin would have made a good plumber. He waved to Dirk Pitt Sr. as NUMA's director passed him on the main deck.
The first full day out was pleasant enough. Captain Decker had got the ship up to twenty five knots, not anywhere near her top speed, but he was breaking in the engines gradually. The Trouts had finished their checkout of all of the laboratory's electronic equipment, and had verified that the new sonar was operating as designed. Al Giordino and Joe Zavala managed to run though about half of the submersible's check list and were confident that Joe's craft would be up to the task of reaching the ocean bottom in most of the Pacific. Dirk Jr. and Summer worked on getting the dive gear checked out, everything from the usual SCUBA regulators and tanks, the under water maneuvering units, even the exotic JIM suits, which were actually 'wearable submarines', were all in working order.
By late evening the Cousteau was several hundred miles west of the US mainland, and the crew was enjoying their first real dinner meal in her galley, as the previous evenings meal had been cold sandwiches brought on board just prior to leaving the dock. Chef Morrison had slaved away in the kitchen all afternoon to prepare a feast fit for a king. He'd wanted the Cousteau's first real dinner seating to go off without a hitch. The ship's food lockers had been well stocked with fresh seafood, steaks, and vegetables. The pantries contained pasta, flour, yeast, and spices. His staff baked their own bread fresh, and cooked everything on propane gas stoves. Nothing had been reheated from frozen in microwaves. The wine list was all domestic, from California and New York State. NUMA was a patriotic agency, after all.
Several hours after the evening's meal, the Cousteau's crew gathered in the ships media room for an evenings entertainment. Hiram Yeager had dug up some old scifi movies on DVD and had loaded them into the ship's entertainment system. Yeager's selection for the evening's night at the movies was now playing to a crew eager to relax after a hard day of work. Normally, the Cousteau's media room was used as a large conference room, it had a large 150" projection screen at one end of the room's long dimension, and smaller computer monitors along each of the longer walls. At the other end of the room hung an electronic grease board upon which a speaker could draw on. The seating could be rearranged in various configurations, with and without a central table. At the moment the room was set up in a theater configuration.
After a presentation of Irwin Allen's "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", and Walt Disney's "20,000 Leagues under the Sea", Dirk Pitt Sr. decided to call it a night and returned to his cabin. Most of the crew followed his lead, though a few hard core insomniacs stayed for an encore of "Forbidden Planet" before retiring for the night.
Eastern Pacific Ocean, April 3, 2014
Dirk Pitt Sr. woke early and took his early morning jog around the deck. He showered and shaved, and then dressed for work as a seaman. His next stop was the galley for breakfast, where he found most of the ship's crew already seated. Pitt got himself some coffee, and a plate of scrambled eggs and steak. He sat down next to Al Giordino, who was already having his second cup of java.
"Good morning." Al greeted Dirk. "I take it you've already had your morning run around the ship."
"Yes, I did." Pitt said. "The sea seems a bit rougher than yesterday, I can feel the ship roll a bit."
"I noticed that too." Al replied. "I wonder if the Cousteau's stabilizers are out of adjustment?"
"Maybe." Pitt replied. "Still, she's handling very well. I'd estimate our speed right now at about thirty knots."
"I think closer to thirty five." Al corrected him. "We should make it into Perl ahead of schedule."
The ship's PA system suddenly came to life. "Mr. Pitt, please pick up the intercom phone!" The operator in the radio shack repeated his message. Pitt walked over the the bulkhead where a wall phone hung. Strange that in this day and age where wired phones had mostly been replaced by cellular ones, vessels such as the Cousteau still had wired communication devices scattered about them.
Dirk picked up the instrument. "Pitt here, what's up."
"You're wanted in the control center." the operator answered. "You have an urgent video call."
"Very well," Dirk answered. "I'm on my way there now."
When Pitt arrived in the ships 'war room' he found Rudi Gunn waiting for him on the other end of the connection. Vice President Sandecker was also on a video link conference call, both his image and that of Rudi Gunn were displayed on the monitor in split screen. As Dirk walked in, Sandecker saw him over the web-cam.
"Hello Dirk." the Admiral began. "I'm sorry to interrupt your pleasure cruise, but it appears that Cousteau is going to have to start earning her keep a bit sooner than we expected. I hope she's up to the task."
"She's proved herself quite shipshape so far." Dirk answered, "though Al thinks her stabilizers may need some fine tuning. No one is getting seasick though."
"That's good news." Sandecker replied. "How soon can you make it into Perl?"
"Well if we crank her up to flank speed we could get there sometime early tomorrow" Rudi replied.
"Do it." Sandecker answered.
"What's going on, sir?" Pitt asked.
"I'm going to need to call on NUMA's expertise locating underwater shipwrecks on the QT." the Vice President explained. "Our assistance has been requested by the Japanese government, via their Washington embassy, and they want this kept quiet."
"The Japanese have lost a naval ship?" Pitt asked.
"No, it isn't that simple." Sandecker replied. "I assume you are aware of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 last month. Several countries are expending their resources trying to locate any trace of the aircraft that vanished without a clue. It seems that the Japanese have been actively part of the search, but they have been keeping their involvement secret until now, though only our government is currently aware of this."
"Why would the Japanese be interested in finding the aircraft?" Rudi asked, "That is other than for humanitarian reasons. No Japanese citizens were on that flight."
"None that we are aware of, anyway." Sandecker replied. "The passenger manifest may have contained some errors or omissions. We'll both find out more when you get to Perl Harbor. The Japanese are sending several members of their navy, as well as a few scientists from their Science Ministry to Hawaii. They will join the crew of the Cousteau for this mission. I'll be in Perl when you arrive tomorrow and there'll be a briefing for you and your crew on board your ship."
"Very well, sir." Pitt replied. "I'll look forward to your boarding the Cousteau tomorrow."
"Tell the guys to use the rest of the day to make sure all of the special gear is working." Sandecker replied.
"Right." Pitt answered as the Vice President closed his video connection.
"Are you going to meet us at Perl, Rudi?" Pitt asked.
"No, for the time being Hiram and myself will remain here in D.C. to coordinate logistics as they come up. Keep me posted."
"Will do," Dirk replied as the video call ended.
Pitt foundAlGiordino and Joe Zavala hiding inside the submersible that Zavala had designed. They were yelling readings back and forth, Giordino was probing with a Fluke Scopemeter, while Zavala was reading off of a check list.
"Is this thing ready for service yet?" Dirk asked.
Zavala's head popped up through the hatch. "We think so. Al thinks the secondary power bus has a small overload somewhere and we're hunting for that now. I think things are within specifications, and so far I haven't seen anything to prove me wrong."
"Well better to find out now than at several thousand feet down." Dirk told him.
"Exactly." Joe agreed. "Why are you asking?"
"We may need the services of your new machine rather quickly." Dirk answered. "We'll all find out more when we get to Perl Harbor."
Al pushed Joe aside and pushed his head and shoulders through the open hatchway.
"Don't tell me," he asked. "Sandecker called with some emergency."
"Yes, I just heard from the Admiral," Dirk replied. "At the moment, I don't know much. We've been requested to make flank speed for Hawaii."
"Well then, I guess I'd better make sure this little toy is ready." Al said as he ducked back into the submersible and continued probing with the meter. As Pitt started to walk away he could hear Al yelling at Joe, "There I think I found the problem!"
Pitt made his way up to the bridge to consult with the captain. "New orders, we need to make for Perl at flank speed. Our services have been requested by the Vice President."
"That command has already been given," Decker replied. "Rudi called me on the satellite phone minutes ago. There is one thing bothering me though."
"Any problems with the ship?" Pitt asked.
"No, but somebodies been keeping an eye on use, look." Captain Decker pointed at the radar screen, and scratched his chin. "We've been followed by that ship almost ever since we've left port. She's been keeping up with us, even after we increased speed to flank."
"Any ID on our shadow?" Pitt asked.
"No, the interloper has been keeping radio silent, and that worries me," Decker replied.
"I'll get Hiram Yeager to see if he can make an ID on her," Pitt said. "Email him the radar scans so he can try to get a match that ship's profile to anything in the database."
Ministry of Science, Tokyo Japan
Dr. Ochanomizu went over his notes a final time. He'd entrusted his assistant, Yuko Kisaragi to do most of his packing for the trip. It had been almost a month since his last contact with Hiroto Imahara, and his apparent disappearance aboard the ill fated air flight. The Ministry had used up most of its options, and now the government had decided to seek outside help with the problem. Ochanomizu wasn't exactly against working with the United States NUMA team, he'd heard some many good things about the agency and its director, a Mr. Dirk Pitt Sr.
The professor re-read Imahara's last text message one more time, trying to pick out something he still thought he was missing.
"Boarding my flight out of here in a few moments, MAL 370 to Beijing with connections to Tokyo via Taiwan. Must be careful, certain I'm being watched. Thank god for Basir, may he rest in peace. The devils will never get their hands on it."
Ochanomizu sighed, the young man had managed to convince him to get the Ministry's funding for his project based on his grandfather's notes. The professor recognized at once the true nature of the discovery, and he also saw the double edged sword of it. The thing could be the power source that could free the planet from the grip of fossil fuel driven climate change, or it could become the worst weapon ever imagined. It the Black Hand organization got hold of it, his worst fears would come true.
Atom entered the office carrying a large pile of luggage. "I thought you wanted to travel light, Hakase," he said.
"That was my intent, but I kept thinking of additional equipment that we might need," he said. "What about you, are you ready for our trip?"
"Hai!" the boy nodded. "All packed and ready."
"Well I hope I haven't forgotten anything," Ochanomizu replied. "Our flight leaves in a few hours."