Chapter 5
It had been several hours now. Rangitaiki and I had been over what happened several times. We had now resumed our original course, and were making 15 knots. In the meantime, we were in the chart room around the table looking at the glass or crystal shard I had recovered.
"I wonder if it's related to whatever caused the ship to disappear?" Rangitaiki aske me. I shook my head.
"I don't ken, but for sure it was were th' 'hip shuid hav bin sunk."
"Hmmm" was her only response. She reached out and flipped the shard again. It was an unusual blue hued shard. It was pointy on both ends, but one was longer then the other, overall it was about 7 inches long and ½ inch thick.
"Rangitaiki, I-uh" I started, wanting to know where our relationship was after the incident.
"It's okay, I belive it was an accident. Honestly I was in shock too after it happened, but I do admit I also got a bad feeling. I was afraid to admit it, but I think I might have been around when you had yours. Besides with it vanishing like this, and no one somehow getting off? I don't know something is admiss" she replied, looking me in the eye. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Thats good I wasn't sure what I would do if you hated me." I admitted. she smiled at that, and nodded.
"I can understand that. Now getting back on topic, I've never seen any glass or crystal like this before" she continued "I almost feel something coming from it when I handle it, but I'm not sure. Here do you feel anything?" she offered the shard to me. I took it in my right hand. I wasn't sure if I felt anything. I absent mindly tapped it against my left wrist, seeing if I sensed anything. Then something happened. Even though I watched it, I couldn't easily describe what it was that occurred. The shard bent around my wrist, as if it was fluid. Out of shock I let it go, and watched as it made itself into a wristband. I looked up and saw that Rangitaiki meet my eyes. confusion just as prevalent on her face. I reached with my right hand and grasped at it, pulling it over my hand carefully. Once it was off the shard returned to being a shard. I got it close to my left hand and it returned to being a wristband.
"I hev never seen summant lek 'at before" I commented.
"Neither have I". I removed the shard and set it back on the table.
"I think we best leave it here for now" I told her. Rangitaiki nodded and we left the room. I made sure to lock the doors tight, and then headed down to the main deck.
"What are you going to do now" Rangitaiki had followed me down.
"I think its aboot time I figured oot how to use my rangefinders and main guns" I replied "Perhaps if I'd used them to fire a warning shot, th' fiasco could have bin avoided."
"Main guns? Rangfinders?" Rangitaiki asked, clearly confused by those terms.
"Main guns, ur th' main weapons I use! For my class its six 4.7 inch guns, two in each turret. Due to th' range, about 170000 yards at a 40 degree elevation, th' human eye can't mesure th' range or accuracy. So rangefinders provide a way of measuring the range using optics." I explained. I pointed at the two forward turrets, as by now we were on the foredeck able to easily see them. As I did, I rotated the turrets to face port. I was intending to practive with them, so launching them forward would not give me the best idea for their accuracy for practice.
"So these are those weapons?" Rangitaiki asked. I nodded. "What is a destroyer exactly? I'm not familiar with that type of ship." she continued. I pondered my response as I elevated the guns.
"I can't say am very familiar with th' history, but a Destoryer is an escort 'hip! Genrally ye can break th' main warship types, or at lest whit am familiar wi', into 5 categories. Submarine, Destroyer, Cruiser, Aircraft Carrier, and Battleship. Some of these hav subcategories, but 'ats no' important for now. A battleship and aircraft carrier ur th' two most important ships, they function as th' flagship an' main display of power in a fleet. Cruisers are th' all around type of 'hip, able to escort or function as a display of power depending on how ye use them. Destroyers ur escort vessels! They exist mainly to escort th' other types, to offer assistance an' protection against enemies. Especially against submarines! Submarines ur commerce raiders, an' hunters. They seek out enemy ships and destory them, either as a group or individually. They don't fit into th' fleets as th' other types do." Rangitaiki nodded at this. I took this opportunity to examine the turrets while I loaded some rounds. Before messing with the range finders I wanted to make sure the guns worked.
"So in short you are one of the work horses? like a ironclad frigate?" was Rangitaiki's question. I stopped at that. That didn't sound right, especially as frigates were another type of escort vessel for convoys, but ironclad told me that it was not that.
"I don't think so. Ironclads ur well before my time, an' I did say generally. Th' roles I carry oot depends on whit's asked of me. For example I ken some destroyers who helped ground forces with fire support, or led sweeps to clear oot harbors an' stretches of water of enemy craft. A'll hav to think more on whit the best way to describe myself is. Now ye ur going to want to cover your ears! I plan to test my guns, an' these are loud!" I infromed her. Se quickly slapped her hands over her ears. I then fired.
Kerbang! The four forward guns fired at once. Sending a shockwave across parts of the deck. I hadn't thought about that, but with luck we were behind one of the turrets so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. When they had gone off I had felt the vibration in me. It didn't bother me, but I hopped that it didn't unsettle Rangitaiki. Instead she looked a combination of shocked and impressed. Which is not what I had expected.
"Ye okay?" I asked her
"Ye-yes, I just wans't expecting that." came her reply. I nodded in understanding.
"Well, am aboot to practice a little wit th' guns, so if ye want to be away from th' sound, ye'd best head inside, It'll defen th' noise. Plus I'm no' going to be doing much else so there's little reason to stay oot here wit me."
"All right, it is late so I'll go get something ready to eat!" with that she headed to the gally. We didn't have much variety of food, but Rangitaiki was much better at getting it prepared then I was. I left her to do that while I tired to focus on using my rang finder independently. I focused on my hull trying to feel them out. Instead of heading deep into my hull like I did for the engines, I felt around the upper structures. I had readily been able to use my Type 291 and Type 293, perhaps because it passively added onto my senses. Same with the ASDIC. I did manage to find the rangefinders. I rotated it to face the proper direction and then tried to use them.
This disoriented me, as with my eyes open not only was I seeing what was infront of me but, what I could see through the rang finders as well. creating a nusating experience. I quickly closed my eyes, and focused on sensing the output for the rang finders. this time, I just saw the rang finders' view. this kept me from getting nauseous. I mentally adjusted and tuned the range finders, to get me at around 1000 yards, to practie close range shooting. once I did that, I ran the caculations through my fire control computers, and adjusted my main guns accordingly. once my preparations were ready I fired. This time, I watched with my rangfinders as the shells splashed down.
I repeated the process several more times, getting closer to my aim point every time. I kept meticulous count of how many rounds were fired. I knew I was operating on a limited supply, even if full, so I decided to keep my pratice short. After I watched my last shots, I looked up, and noticed that it was late in the afternoon. Considering everything that had happened today it hadn't felt like it had been that long. I returned the turrets to their starting positions, and headed inside.
I went back to the chart room, to look at the shard some more. That was the last big mystery now. I didn't expect to solve it, but perhaps I might come up with something if I examined it. Entering the room, the shard was where I left it last, on the middle of the table. I picked it up and looked closely at it. I was at this for some time, before I heard a knock.
"Enter!" I reposoned, not taking my focus on the shard. I heard the door open and Rangitaiki entered.
"Here's the afternoon meal" she told me, setting a plate down on the table.
"Thank ye!"
"Are you hoping to see something?"
"Aye, theres no good reason why 'at should have been there." I replied, reaching out to grab some of the food. "How low ur we?" I asked her.
"We still have another week's worth, but we might want to start rationing it." she replied. I nodded. I had hoped that by now we would have run into someone or some land mass. Excluding the slavers from earlier we hadn't run into anyone. I wasn't sure how big this ocean was, but my understanding was this wasn't too different from the Pacific. I sighed.
"Hopefully we encounter sommant soon. Those slavers wen't oot here for th' hell of it". Rangitaiki agreed.
"There has to be something nearby. I just hope we find it soon." There wasn't much to say so we continued on in silence. I wasn't having much luck with the shard, unsurpsingly, so I held it up to the light in the room. Nothing happened, but the refraction of the light was interesting. I noticed the sun was starting to set of the port side, or roughly to our west. For the heck of it I held it up to the sun. Closing one eye as I did.
Clunk. it felt as though something changed. Then suddenly we were weightless. It lasted a brief moment, before: splash! My hull landed in water. We were shaken off our feet, but nothing fell off the shelves.
"Whit th' hell!" I cried, picking myself off the ground.
"Are you okay Javelin!"
"Aye, and ye Rangitaiki!?"
"I'm good, just a little startled"
" 'st's good, lets …." I trailed off, looking out the windows properly since what ever happened, happened.
"Javelin what is it?" Rangitaiki asked. I didn't answer. I grabbed my javelin and bolted to the route to the bridge.
"What the!?" I heard Rangitaiki call after me, before I heard footsteps following me. I burst out onto the bridge and fully took in our surroundings. The sea was unusual. The amount of light was too. Instead of evening, and a setting sun, it was like midafternoon, with a lot of light. The sky was an unusual blue, and the water reflected it perfectly. The water was also flat. perfectly flat, not a calm flat, but an unusual flat. There were no waves, and it reflected the sky perfectly, like a mirror. I looked behind us and I didn't even see a wake behind us. There was no noticeable sun in the sky, nor any clouds, and no wind. This was in stark contrast to what the conditions had just been.
"What's going on…." Rangitaiki started. I shot a glance at her, and saw she was looking around as welll.
"So its no' just me then" I breathed. She nodded.
"No I see it too. Do you know what happened?"
"Nae, I just looked though th' shard at th' sun, when suddenly 'is happened. Can ye see if ye can figure oot where we ur?" I asked her in return.
"Let me see…" she set to work with her tools to see if she could figure out anything of where we were. As she worked I felt out with my radars, and ASDIC to see if I could sense anything. I couldn't. The sensors were working, but they weren't picking up anything. I ran to the edge of the bridge and looked at the horizon. It was hard to see where the sky ended and the water began due to the reflections. I couldn't see anything with my eyes, in any direction.
"I don't know where we are, less so then before. Its almost like we fell into somewhere that shouldn't exist" Rangitaiki told me. I sighed.
" 'at's no' good. Run doon an' grab some binoculars, am no't getting anything on my radar or ASDIC. So were are going to have to scan ourselves!" Rangitaiki nodded and vanshised into the superstructure. I continued to look around, hoping to see anything that broke the glass like water or sky. At the same time I ran what happened through my mind hoping to see something that could help. Nothing came up.
"Here" a breathless Rangitaiki had retunred, shoving a pair of binoculars into my hands. I accepted them and started to sweep the horizon. Frantic minutes of searching brought nothing. Neither Rangitaiki or I saw anything.
"Am no' seeing anything." I informed Rangitaiki "I think oor best bet is to keep watch." Rangitaiki nodded at this.
"I didn't see anything either." We silently continued to stand watch on the bridge. Sweeping the horizon in all directions ever so often with binoculars. After what felt like hours the first change happened. Suddenly it went dark. Like it was night. There was a small amount of light, such as what you would expect from the moon, but there was no moon in the sky. By the same token, there weren't any stars either. There was one unsuall glow though.
"Is the shard glowing?" Rangitaiki asked. I held up the shard so we could both see. It was indeed glowing, a faint blue light.
" 'at's unsual" was all I could say. We sailed on like this for a long time. As it was dark the binoculars were almost useless. I monitored my radar and ASDIC, but detected nothing. Eventually Rangitaiki and I were sitting side by side, backs to the wall, as we faced aft.
"I can't think of any explanation" Rangitaiki was saying. I nodded in agreement. "I have heard of a lot weird things, from different folklore and supposedly magic creations, but this is the weirdest. What did you do again before this happened?"
"I looked at th' sun through th' shard" I held it up again.
"Hmmm, thats it?"
"Aye. I canny say as to if 'ats th' cause, but that all I ken." we sat in silcence for a little longer.
"You know, you might as well try doing that again?" Rangitaiki finally said. I looked at her. "Oh don't look so concerned, it doesn't hurt to see what will happen. whats the worst it could do?" I sighed and decided not to tell her how it could, in my opinion, get worse. That said this was the first real suggestion on any method to solve the problem.
"It's worth a shot!" I finaly said standing up. I looked at the sky, hoping to see something I could use for a sun replacement. I didn't see anything, unsurprinsly, but I got a feeling to look at one place in particular. I raised the shard and looked at that spot, closing my other eye. Clunk. The feeling of weightlessness returned, along with a splash. At the same time the world was bright. The sun was in the sky, and a breeze was blowing.
"You did it!" Rangitaiki cheered, giving me a hug.
"I did" I responded, still confused as to how that worked. I looked down at the shard.
"I guess the trigger is looking at the sun or something through the shard" Rangitaiki followed my vison. I contemplated for a second, flipping the shard around in my hand. I then slapped it on my wrist, letting it form the wristband.
"I think it's best we don't let 'is oot of oor sight" I told Rangitaiki. She nodded in response. With that I looked up to try and see our surroundings. It was still open ocean, but something felt different. "Rangitaiki, check where we are! Am going to check my clock" I told her. I rushed downstairs to the chart room where my clock was. If I remembered correctly it had been about 20:31 when I had rushed out to the bridge. Now the clock read 10:45. That couldn't be right. there was no way that we had spent that long in the weird other place. I hadn't been able to keep track, but by my reckoning it had only been about 1:00 when I had looked though the shard. At the very least it had been what ever passed for night in that place. Not morning. Confirming the time I raced back up to the bridge. Rangitaiki was still working out where we were.
"I got it!" she cried after a couple minutes "We appear to have moved a couple hundred mils!" I didn't know what Mils were, but it was probably some measurement system.
"So we somehow managed to travel a long distance in 'at other world?" I asked. She nodded at that.
"I don't understand it myself but we did!" she responded. I walked over to the side of the bridge and looked forward. My thoughts were interrupted by something. in the distance there appeared to be a smudge of some kind. I raised my binclulars for a better look. What I saw made me catch my breath.
"Rangitaiki! I see land!"
With this the first story arc ends. The first couple of arcs will be short, but the further in the story the longer and better they become.
