Chapter 10

Lee watched the Seaview ahead and above FS1. Her stern caught an unpleasant bump from a giant wave, like the one that had been enough to flip FS1. Lee imagined the jolt felt aboard. Meanwhile, his head pounded in a rhythmic counterpoint to the throbbing in his hand. He wondered if he had enough energy left in his tank to finish the tasks ahead.

Lee had hoped his part would end when they boarded Seaview. The doctor could remove the damn hook shank, give him a strong painkiller and let him sleep. Just the thought of sleep made him nearly succumb. No, he didn't dare. He blinked his eyes several times, then pinched his left cheek. Yet he felt like he was losing the battle. A loud ping gave him focus. Lee almost chuckled when he saw the source: the low fuel light. He and FS1 shared that problem.

Docking time arrived. With fuel near empty, Lee wanted to get it right the first time. Get her in position, hold her steady, and blow ballast. Once barely inside the bay, the magnetized cradle would assist FS1 into the dock and hold her steady. It looked easy when done correctly, but thanks to FS1's size relative to the bay, it always was precarious.

Steady and slow. The right hand balked, but Lee didn't have to ask too much of it for this maneuver. Seaview was infinitely more stable 100 feet below the surface; so was FS1. Seaview came to a nearly full stop; Lee matched it. He could do it. The bay opened and the lights from inside guided him. Yet everything seemed dimmer than it should be at this depth. Hang on Lee, he encouraged himself. Still, he faded.

"Ree! Ree!"

"Huh?" Lee heard something like his name and snapped to attention. "Chip?"

"Ree. Head hurts. Home."

"Soon, buddy. Very soon," Lee rebounded. Lee eased her up, slowly up, tedious second after second, not so long in real time, but long in experienced time. Clunk. A little hard, perhaps, but the jarring motion helped jolt Lee more awake. "We're home, Chip."

Lee wasn't sure things really were all that much improved for them, but positive thoughts had kept him going until now. The bay beneath closed. Another minute gone. One more until the water was pumped clear. Why was it that it seemed so much slower when time was critical? At last, the hatch opened from above.

Stu Riley descended the rungs, followed by the doctor and another crewman, Jacobs.

"The supplies are in the aft locker, Riley. Take them directly to Air Revitalization. I'll be right behind you."

Dr. Will Jamison glared at Lee, his mouth half-opened to argue. He was cut off by Lee speaking first.

"Take care of Chip, Jamie. I promise to come see you when I can." Lee headed toward the ladder as he spoke, then suddenly turned around. He hastily grabbed the roll of duct tape still hanging off his chair. He hung it off the end of his wrapped right hand.

Will - despite it violating all his instincts - nodded in confirmation. Chip's head wound did take priority over an ambulatory Lee.

Lee took the ladder slowly - the best he could do with one hand. After that, he sprinted through the Control Room to the stairs, heading down and aft for Air Control. He couldn't afford to get distracted on the way.

Lee hopped through the open hatch and stopped dead in his tracks. Sharkey and Cookie stood inside.

"Cookie?"

"Ain't no one eating anything anytime soon in this bouncing tub. Admiral figures if I can truss a bird, I can wire pretty much anything. Sharkey and me already replaced the lead wires and were just waitin' on you for the relays."

Lee looked down at his useless right hand. "All right then. Riley and Jacobs should be here in moments with them and the pump. Anything else break since last I heard?"

"Nah," Sharkey reported. "We had a compressor scare, but it was just a loose wire from all the turbulence up top. It's already fixed, Skipper."

"Good. You and I should be able to get that pump done in about ten minutes, and then you can get those relays seated properly, she should be good to test."

"Skipper, maybe it'd be best if I had Riley help with the pump and you supervise."

"You're making me feel like a glorified delivery boy, Chief."

"More like a glorious one, sir. You can't imagine how happy we all are to see you. This ride will be one no one forgets for a long time, but the sooner we put it behind us, the happier we'll all be."

Lee moved away from the door, making room for Riley and Jacobs. Lee hovered over Sharkey and Riley as they seated the pump in place. Sharkey fastened in the hardware as quickly as he could before he undertook the rewiring. Lee guided Sharkey through it, making sure each connection was securely tight. Lee looked at his watch.

"Much as I'd like to test her on a smooth ride, I don't want to use reserve oxygen in case we find more trouble. That means we have seven minutes to finish as much of this as we can, gentlemen. She'll need a good fifteen minutes after that to effectively get good air pumping through the boat."

Even as Dr. Jamison began his exam of Chip, he worried about the Captain and his wound. Maybe though, with just a little luck, everything would return to normal in a few minutes. Except that when "normalcy" returned, Sick Bay would be overrun by crewmen and officers who'd persevered through dings and twists during the last several hours. Will could only pray that none of these injuries would be severe. Lee Crane might not care about his hand in the middle of a crisis, but he couldn't afford to wait much longer for medical attention without risking permanent damage. Necrosis may have already begun. Chip's wound was much more recent.

"How many fingers am I holding up, Mr. Morton?"

"Where?"

"Try opening your eyes."

"Oh. Surrrrrrre," Chip slurred.

"How many?"

"Six, no seven."

"Can you see my face?'

"Both of 'em."

"If I give you a hand, do you think you can get up the ladder?"

"Depends. Where are we going?"

"Sickbay."

"Yuck."

"Let's try anyway." Will undid Chip's restraints and helped him up.

"Which ladder?"

"This one," Will said as he placed Chip's right hand on the ladder.

"'Kay. Got it now."

"We'll give him a hand from up here, Doc," O'Brien added. "Seven minutes until we resurface."

Lee Crane felt a little useless and very proud of his men at the same time. They could do this work without him hovering. He even pondered going to Sick Bay, but he couldn't until he knew the system was working. Besides, Doc was busy with Chip. No, Lee would stay put.

To keep busy, Lee dug through the electrician's box with his left hand until he found a simple A/B switch. He was so weary that he had to do something or risk passing out. Setting A would let the system run manually - as it had been before the pump blew - meaning no finely balanced air mixture or thermostatic control, but at least they could run smoothly submerged while other repairs continued. Setting B would return control to the computer when the relays and wires in that system were finally repaired.

It was a small contribution to make, but with Patterson and so many others best qualified to repair the system down with injuries, it would save a few minutes reading schematics and fishing for wires for whomever did the repairs. Let them focus on the rotted relays - not so hard to find - and the attached wiring. Except with a useless right hand, Lee was just fumbling. He dropped the switch twice while balancing it in the crook of his right arm trying to loosen the screws at the connectors.

"You need a hand, Skipper?" Riley offered as Sharkey double and triple-checked the replacement pump's security and connections.

Lee nodded. "Damn."

"I'm sure the Doc will be able to fix it, Skipper."

"Black wires to negative terminals, whites to positive. Then take it over to the Chief."

"You want to check this over, Sir?" Cookie called, distracting Lee from worrying.

"Yes, tighten that connection a bit. Make sure you've pushed those relays all the way into the socket - gently, if you please."

"O'Brien to Captain Crane, come in please."

Lee fumbled the radio off the wall with his left hand, dropping it then recovering it quickly before depressing the talk button. "Crane here."

"We either need to take her back up now or go on reserve oxygen, Skipper. It's getting close in here."

"Take her up, Mister O'Brien. With any luck, we can bring her back down in fifteen to twenty minutes."

"Aye aye, Sir. All hands, prepare to surface."

"Riley, Jacobs, secure everything loose on the double. We don't need anything banging into the equipment now." Lee saw that the Chief was still wiring the temporary switch. He tossed the roll of duct tape to the Chief. "Tape the switch on the pump like you want it to outlast you, Chief."

"Aye aye, Skipper."

Lee's eyes ran along lowered panel doors to the circuitry. "Secure the first panel, Cookie," he ordered as he took a last look at the two open panels. "Damn."

"Did I do somethin' wrong, Sir?"

"No, Cookie. I think that by the time we get home, we're going to find lots of loose hardware from this trip. Give me a screwdriver."

"I can do it, Sir."

"It'd take me longer to show you and my fingers will fit better." Lee was inside the panel working on the problem as he spoke.

"Turbulence expected in ten seconds. Brace yourselves."

Lee counted as he tightened. He didn't dare have a screwdriver in the panel when turbulence hit or he'd do more damage than he'd fixed. On two, he pulled it out. "Flip the A switch, Chief," he yelled. Lee jammed the screwdriver in his hip pocket, and was raising the cover panel twisting the latch as O'Brien's voice announced "Impact."

The panel cover smacked partway down, the corner digging into Lee's head just as he was flung forward into the falling sheet metal. Lee's hands instinctively reached forward for a handhold. His left hand clutched at air, while his right only found a flat surface. Momentum carried him forward. The shank hit the panel. Lee groaned. Seaview's stern then crashed back down and she rolled to port. Lee crashed to the floor with her, rolling and smacking head first into the bulkhead.