A/N - Thanks to everyone reading and for those of you following with author and story alerts. A special thanks for those who have left comments and reviews; including Seasoul, Craniac, and Aida Bezares, whom I can't thank by PM. : ) Things will be heating up, so stay tuned!
Chapter Seven
Lee leaned over Kowalski's shoulder watching a large green blob moving across the sonar screen in the opposite direction of Seaview's approach. The large contact had revealed itself suddenly; they had in fact, mistaken the previously stationary object as the seamount charted on their maps. The object had concealed itself against the mount, its position completely stealth until it suddenly moved.
"Hydrophones?" the Captain inquired succinctly.
"Non-mechanical, Sir," Patterson replied.
"It looks like we might catch a view from our port camera," Chip inserted from the captain's side.
Lee nodded in agreement. "Monitor on," he ordered.
The momentary fuzz of the monitor quickly sharpened into an underwater view of the sea, but the silt stirred up from the object took a moment to clear before they were able to catch a glimpse of a gigantic tentacle.
Hastily, Lee snagged the mic. "Admiral, it's the squid!"
"We have the same reading on sonar, Lee. Are you sure it's the squid?"
"Affirmative, we had a quick visual before it moved out of camera range," Lee answered, leaning over the sonar station as Ski made adjustments to track the creature within Seaview's twenty-file mile radius.
"It's moving away from our present position," the Admiral observed. "I would venture to postulate that the deterrent frequency worked. When Seaview moved in, it was compelled to move on."
The large mass had moved a safe distance away and was now stationary once again, the creature apparently unaffected from its current position.
"It's settled about ten miles off our port bow, Admiral."
"Hmmm," the admiral pondered. "Keep tracking the creature's movements; we'll deal with it in due course. Continue onto the fissure."
Lee bit his bottom lip, studying the stationary green blob on sonar and then nodded in agreement. Though he couldn't afford to lose the killer-squid, he was well aware that the open fissure was the root cause of the current crisis and was, therefore, their greatest priority.
"Very well, Admiral. Steady as she goes, Mr. Morton."
He lingered only a moment longer at sonar, then added an encouraging pat to Ski's shoulder. "Keep on it, Kowalski," he admonished and headed to the chart table. "ETA, Mr. Morton?"
"About six minutes, Skipper," Chip answered.
Lee reached for the mic. "Admiral, ETA in six minutes."
"Your vector looks good. Stay on your present course and hold 100 yards from the vent."
"Aye, 100 yards."
Lee stowed the mic and focused his attention out Seaview's windows. The submarine's slow approach inched their progress along as Seaview's floodlights lit her path in the otherwise darkened world of the undersea.
"Tracking a contact, just inside our sonar grid," Ski reported.
"The squid?" Lee inquired, his brow tightened in heightened concern.
"Negative, a new contact. It's holding steady at twenty-miles off our starboard stern."
"Very well," Lee acknowledged, satisfied that the deterrent frequency was so far, providing a corridor of safety for them to work. He continued focusing on the windows for a few minutes before catching a small hint of the flying sub's yellow hull. "Admiral, we have you on visual."
"You're lined up perfectly," Harry informed. "Move into position and we'll do the same."
"Aye Sir," he acknowledged, sharpening his attention on their current path. "Steady on, Mr. Morton," he coaxed as the large submarine inched closer to the vent. "Steady… steady…," he guided before ordering, "All stop."
Chip echoed the order and helm responded with Seaview inching into position, her approach perfectly timed by Lee as the sub's momentum stopped an impressive 100 yards from the vent, just as her captain intended.
"All stop; trim satisfactory, Skipper," Chip reported, joining Lee in the Nose.
"There's thousands of vents just like this scattered across the globe," Lee said in a quiet, whimsical voice. "It's hard to believe this one could be the cause of so much death and destruction."
Chip nodded, both men taking in what looked like an ordinary vent, spewing a white cloud of steam; they had both seen hundreds of them. This one, however, vented all the way from the earth's core. Its white plume of heated water was loaded with rich elemental properties; at least one was responsible for the mutant growth of the various sea creatures they had seen thus far, or perhaps it was a combination of elements in their raw form, they didn't know which at this point. They only knew it had to be sealed.
"We're in position, Lee," Harry's voice was heard over the com.
"Aye Sir," he acknowledged, leaving behind the reflective moment and moving directly to the laser, adjusting the sighting unit to his height and locating his objective. "I've got it in my sights, Admiral."
"Very well, aim for the base. At my mark, we'll initiate a fifteen second blast."
"Did you say fifteen seconds?" Lee confirmed, concerned that a sustained blast would concentrate the laser beam's destructive force to the point of liquefying the bed rock.
"Affirmative, fifteen seconds exactly," he replied, emphasizing the last word. "If my calculations are correct, the initial blast will collapse the chimney over the vent and heat the rocks to the molten threshold at 600 degrees Celsius; the sea water will then cool the rock and provide a seal," he explained.
"Aye Sir," Lee acknowledged, confident in Harry's calculations as he leaned into the unit and removed the trigger safety. "Very well. Chip, countdown for us," he directed. "On your order, Admiral."
"All right," Harry said, making ready from FS1. "Ready… aim… fire," he directed, at which point both he and Lee concentrated fire power on their respective targets as Chip counted off the seconds in the background.
"… thirteen, fourteen, fifteen."
"Cease fire," Harry ordered.
Lee released the trigger but continued to view the target from the sighting device. A few seconds passed before the silt cleared enough to witness the red glow of the collapsed vent begin to harden. The bedrock underneath would take longer to cool, but he was confident that Admiral Nelson had taken that calculation into consideration.
"Undersea quake, Sir," Patterson reported from hydrophones.
Chip moved to the computer behind helm and retrieved a read-out. "Two point six, Skipper," he recited.
Lee nodded, not expecting a significant shockwave from the minor quake. "Did you get that, Admiral?"
"An expected outcome as the gas is rerouted to its alternate course," the Admiral explained. "Position Seaview to a safe distance to monitor the vent."
"Aye, Sir. Mr. Morton, all back slow and make preparations to dock the flying sub," the Captain ordered, stowing the laser sights overhead as he spoke.
"We're not quite ready to dock yet, Lee," Harry informed.
Lee made brisk steps toward the chart table and snagged up the mic. "Admiral, you'll have a rough ride if a significant quake hits; not to mention the fact that the squid is still out there," he argued fervently.
"I'm aware of that," Harry placated, "but we're in a position to retrieve the twelfth sensor and we need to collect more water samples to determine if the vent is indeed sealed," Harry countered in what he obviously considered the next reasonable course of action.
Lee held the mic in his hand, weighing Harry's point. The twelfth sensor potentially held the evidence to prove that someone had sabotaged the sensor array. However, even that important detail wasn't his first priority at this point.
"Sonar, has the squid moved?" the Captain inquired over his shoulder.
"Negative Sir," Kowalski replied.
"Admiral, I don't want to lose the squid. If it gets antsy, we're going to have to go after it."
"I agree, but it's very likely that after its last attack it's in a resting state," he noted without saying the obvious, that the squid had just fed and was likely digesting. "Continue to transmit the deterrent frequency from Seaview; we'll turn off the frequency emitter from our side. That should keep the squid from reacting to our movements while preventing the creature from moving back in until we're finished."
Lee expelled a breath of resignation then raised the mic. "Very well, Admiral, but I want FS1 ready to bug out at either the first sign of the squid moving or if seismic activity increases," he admonished, well within his rights as captain to make this demand, even with the flag ranking officer.
"Fine, Lee," Harry answered distractedly, confident that Seaview's Captain would see things his way and already making preparations to carry out his objectives.
Lee raised a tired hand to his brow, his fingers brushing lightly against the gauze on his forehead, having nearly forgotten it was there in the busyness of his duties.
"Are you all right, Lee?" Chip asked in quiet concern.
"I'm fine, Chip," the tall captain replied, accepting his friend's concern but ready to move on. "I just wish the Admiral wasn't right about the sensor."
Chip nodded, he'd been briefed and knew what was at stake. "You're right as well, Lee. We can't allow the squid to escape. We know where it is right now."
"We're not going to allow it to escape," he shot back aggressively, the grainy picture of a small emergency raft surrounded by enormous tentacles ingrained in his mind, along with the realization of how many lives had been lost thus far.
Their eyes met with the passion of Lee's statement boring into his first officer's, alluding that failure wasn't an option regarding the squid.
"Aye, aye, Skipper," Chip agreed, adding his own confidence to the captain's statement then turned toward the Control Room. "All right men, look alive. We have work to do," he admonished, instilling the same urgency in the men that Captain Crane had given him.
Lee checked his watch and then turned toward the windows. Seaview was stationed half a mile from the fissure, too far to monitor the flying sub's progress from this distance, but his focus drawn to the sea, nonetheless, as he pondered the all-to-familiar quandary. Though not the exact scenario, he was aware that the two of them had played out similar dilemmas before: Harry pushing the safety envelope in the name of truth or scientific exploration, and him, balancing the well-being of Seaview and her crew; the least of which, included a stubborn four-star admiral who had the irritating propensity to nearly always being right in his assessments. He smiled briefly at the thought until the smile faded as the momentary humor waned, giving way to the reality of the dangerous venture. His responsibility for every soul aboard Seaview was an inescapable burden of command, but knowing that his best friend was so vulnerable at the moment, made the load on his shoulders all the heavier.
Be careful, Admiral, he urged silently before turning back to the Control Room to focus all his efforts on the mission.
# # # # #
"The last water sample has been retrieved, Sir," Sharkey reported while stowing the robotic arms.
"Good," Harry replied, reaching for his throat mic. "Lee, we have the water samples and are proceeding to the sensor."
"Very well, Admiral. We're tracking the squid; so, far, he's content to stay where he is for the moment."
Harry nodded; his assumption that the squid was digesting was, so far, holding true. It was a good thing, because even at ten miles out, a creature of its enormous size was capable of covering a lot of ocean very quickly. "Very well, ETA from present position… six minutes."
"Ready, Chief?" Harry asked, having received the sign-off from Seaview.
"Aye, Sir, samples are stowed and the robotic arms secure," Sharkey replied, settling into his seat and readying himself for his next orders.
"Um-hmm," Harry replied in a familiar closed-mouthed response he often used when multi-tasking. A moment of silence passed as he turned to the heading of the sensor in question.
"Uh… Admiral? I'm confused about something," Sharkey asked once on their way.
"Oh? What's that?" he replied rather nonchalantly; their friendship, despite the difference in rank, affording a somewhat different conversation than one might suppose.
"We have no idea how long the sensors have been giving us bad readings; right?"
"That's correct."
"Then, uh… why aren't there more over-sized sea creatures out here. I mean, we've seen a couple, but man, the size of that squid would suggest we should have run into far more," he postulated.
"The 'size of that squid', as you say, is exactly the reason why we haven't," Harry answered matter-of-factly then continued when the look on Sharkey's face registered his confusion. "As the squid grew, its need for a sustained food supply grew as well. The only natural prey of giant squid are whales, which were frankly not a threat any longer; but my guess is, it didn't have to hunt far for food large enough to satisfy its hunger near the fissure… at least, not right away. I believe that its food supply began to run low and that's why the attacks escalated in the last six weeks or so. The food supply is also the probable reason why the squid's hunting grounds centered around the fissure," he hypothesized further, "resulting in its incredibly large size and obvious appetite."
Sharkey blew a breath and shook his head incredulously. "Just how are we going to kill it, Admiral?"
"First things first, Chief," Harry replied somewhat sharply, though Sharkey knew it was his passion speaking, not a rebuke. "Let's retrieve the sensor and get back to Seaview, but I've got an idea that I think will work," he finished mysteriously with a thin grin.
"Aye, aye, Admiral. Sensor dead ahead," he replied, dutifully placing his full attention on the matter at hand.
The yellow manta-like craft glided through the depths with ease as Nelson guided her skillfully toward the twelfth sensor.
"There it is," Sharkey note, pointing just ahead.
"I see it," Harry responded, both men's attention fixed on the flashing light denoting the sensor's position.
"Admiral," Captain Crane's voice was heard on the radio filled with controlled concern. "Be aware that the squid moved inward about a quarter- mile. It may be getting antsy."
"Very well, Lee. We're here on site. We'll wrap this up in just a few minutes."
"Very well."
"All right, Chief. It looks like we're only going to get one chance at this, so let's get it right," Harry admonished lightly.
"Aye, Admiral," the spunky noncom replied, wrapping his hands around the control sticks and testing the robotic arms.
"Obviously, this isn't my first choice," Harry explained. "But I'm afraid it will just have to do, since we can't dive in these contaminated waters," he said, referring to the fact that the sensor was going to be retrieved remotely by severing the hardwire connection to the data cable with a laser cutting tool that he controlled.
It took a few minutes for Sharkey to secure the sensor and another minute for Harry to sever the wires before the electronic device was freed.
"Admiral, the creature has made another adjustment in position. It could be an indication that's its ready to move."
"Acknowledged. We just need one minute to secure the sensor."
Lee's reply was less than enthusiastic and Harry could tell Seaview's captain was apprehensive about the possibility of losing the squid, but they were so close. Only a minute more, he coaxed silently as Sharkey remotely maneuvered the sensor into the collection chamber.
"Got it, Admiral," Sharkey announced proudly.
"Good work, Chief," he complimented. "Now, I need one more water sample."
Sharkey winced, hesitating only slightly before throwing caution to the wind to voice his concern. "But Admiral, the Skipper seems pretty anxious about that monster-squid-thing," he reminded respectfully while attempting not to be perceived as questioning the admiral.
"It will only take three minutes if you start now," he countered with a voice that harbored a cool, collective, don't-question-the admiral tone.
Sharkey cleared his throat and complied, "Aye Sir." He knew that when the Admiral used that particular tone, there was no use arguing any further. He was lucky the Old Man didn't bust him back to Seaman Recruit for questioning his orders in the first place, but serving aboard Seaview had afforded him a unique relationship with arguably the Navy's finest flag ranking officer. Still, he knew his limits and more importantly, he trusted Admiral Nelson. Focusing his attention on the duty at hand, he worked diligently to retrieve the water sample within the three minutes that Nelson expected. Upon completing his task, he couldn't help but smile. "Sample retrieved, robotic arms stowed," he reported.
"Fine, Chief," Harry replied with a hint of satisfaction while reaching for his throat to activate the mic. "Lee, we're done here; returning to Seaview."
"Aye Sir, we're ready to receive you."
The captain's voice held a measured amount of relief as Harry turned the flying sub about and made a direct line toward Seaview.
"I'm sure glad that frequency you rigged on Seaview was enough to keep the squid from moving in," Sharkey added with a grin. "And you did say you had an idea of how to kill it?" he probed hopefully.
"That I do, Chief, but I don't think you're going to like it. In fact," he chuckled lightly, "I'm pretty sure Captain Crane isn't going to like it either," he said with a wry grin.
# # # # #
"Admiral, you've got to be kidding?" Lee exclaimed incredulously. Harry and Sharkey had come aboard over two hours ago and he had barely uttered three words to him. Instead, the Admiral had checked the squid's position on sonar, ordered the water samples and seismic sensor taken to his lab, then disappeared out the aft hatch taking Chief Sharkey with him.
"It's the only way to ensure the squid is destroyed," the admiral countered calmly as Sharkey made himself as 'small' as possible on the other side of the room, attempting to look busy and uninvolved in the impending battle between Seaview's Creator and her Master and Commander. Though appreciated, Sharkey's effort to remain uninvolved wasn't quite enough as Lee turned toward him.
"Chief, would you give us a moment?"
"Aye, aye, Skipper," the uncomfortable COB replied, happy to leave his two commanding officers to work out their divergent plans of action in private.
Upon Sharkey's departure, Lee walked across the room, leaned against the table and folded him arms across his chest defiantly. "Now, explain to me how making yourself bait for a man-eating squid is going to help anything."