Chapter 11
Doctor's diary.
Entry Date: Sunday, 15th July, 2018.
'It's EJ's third birthday today, and what a day. He had opened his cards and presents and was playing with his new toys when my phone rang….'
Rose's diary.
Entry Date: Sunday, 15th July, 2018.
'Three years already. I'm sure living with a part time lord messes with the passage of time, or my perception of it at least, because I can't believe EJ is three already.'
'His birthday started off well, and then got rather interesting….'
British Navy Prototype Stealth Class Submarine Endeavour.
200 nautical miles off the Cornish coast.
Captain Stuart Grant was holding the metal framework around the periscope as the helmsman put a 15 degree angle on the bow planes to dive the boat down to a depth of 300 feet.
"Three hundred feet Captain," the young sailor announced.
"Level off and hold your course."
"Aye aye sir."
They were on the maiden voyage of the ten man stealth submarine, which would put the new boat through its paces. They would stay submerged in international waters, executing a number of manoeuvres that would test its stealth capabilities.
"Sonar. How much water below us?" the Captain asked.
"One hundred and fifty feet sir."
'We're still on the continental shelf then', Grant thought to himself. Soon the depth would plummet down the continental slope the abyssal plane over ten thousand feet below.
"Two hundred feet, three hundred, five, eight, one thousand," the sonar operator called out. They were leaving the shelf and heading out into the big, wide and deep ocean.
"Forward hydroplanes at 15 degrees, take us down to one thousand feet helm."
"Aye aye sir."
That was it; they were off the continental shelf and over the abyss. That place where there be monsters.
"One thousand feet. Levelling off," the helm announced.
"Thank you Mr. Moffat. Right lets see what she's made of shall we? Open her up to fifty knots."
"Fifty knots aye sir." The helmsman slowly pushed the throttle levers forward, and the hum of the engines could be heard through the hull.
"That's nice and smoo…."
The Captain was interrupted by the boat lurching to starboard, followed by a rumbling boom that rang the boat like a bell. Everything went black as the power failed, before the emergency lighting kicked in and the computers rebooted on auxiliary batteries.
Captain Grant pulled himself to the intercom using the handrails. He was about to call for a damage report when a familiar Scottish voice came out of the speaker.
"Cap'n, can ye hear me?" Duncan McDonald, the Chief Engineer asked.
'Thank God', Grant thought. If the Chief was still alive, they had a fighting chance. "Chief. Talk to me."
"Cap'n. We've had an explosion in the engine room. We've lost the main engine and the generator. The hull is breached and we're takin' on water. I've lost Spanners off my team."
The Captain had a knot of fear and dread in the pit of his stomach. On a surface ship, fire was bad enough and taking on water meant that if you couldn't stem the flow, eventually you would have to take to the lifeboats.
On a submarine, you couldn't go on deck to get away from the smoke, and you first had to get to the surface before you could get in a life raft. Most submarine accidents did not end well for the crew.
"I'm going to try and reroute the power and then close off the watertight compartments by hand," McDonald said.
"Very well Chief," Captain Grant said in a calm voice that belied the fear he felt in his core. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. We need you alive."
"Bein' alive may be a luxury none of us can afford Cap'n. McDonald out."
"Sir. We're sinking," the helmsman said. "It must be the weight of the water we're taking on board."
"Blow some air in the ballast tanks, that should buy us some time." He reached the intercom. "Chief, we need some propulsion if we're going to get back onto the shelf." Grant knew that if they stood any chance of surviving this, they needed to get back on the continental shelf. Even so, it was still 450 feet below the surface, and that was 450 feet too far without assistance.
"I can give ye the electric motor, but I'm not sure how long the batteries will last Cap'n."
"Good work Chief. I'll take anything you can give me. Helm, hard about and run for home."
"Aye sir."
The boat sluggishly leaned over as it turned a half circle and headed back towards land.
They weren't going to make it. There was no more air ballast in the tanks, and the watertight compartments weren't being closed quickly enough. They were starting to sink.
"Put the pedal to the metal lad," the Captain said to the young sailor, trying to keep his spirits up in what were probably their last few minutes on this Earth. He watched the computerised topographic display of the sub heading for the shelf. It was going to be close. If they maintained this speed and rate of sinking, they should just glance the top of the shelf and settle on the beach, 450 feet below the surface.
Northumberland Place.
Notting Hill, London.
"Happy birthday Eyulf," Donna-the-house said as he opened the first envelope.
"Thank you Donna," he said looking up at the ceiling.
The card was from his parents, and had Bugs Bunny and Elma Fudd on the front. EJ liked Bugs Bunny; he was smart and always came out on top, just like Daddy. He opened the other cards from relatives and friends.
He had already opened his presents, and one of his favourites was a 12 inch tall action figure from Space Patrol, the cool 3D animated TV show. He was explaining the plot of an imagined adventure to his father when John's phone started to play the theme from 'The Godfather'.
"That's Grumpy," EJ said as John took his phone out of his pocket and answered the call.
"Hi Pete, are you calling to wish EJ a happy birthday?" John asked light-heartedly.
"Er, yes of course, but maybe later. I'm sorry to call you when you're off shift John, but we've got an incident going on 200 miles off the coast, and we don't have much time."
"No, that's okay, Pete. What's up?"
Rose saw the change in his face. "John?" she asked with concern. He held his hand up to indicate that he was listening to an important call.
"There's been an incident on a submarine, an explosion we think. The Ministry of Defence have asked us if we've got any tech that will raise a sunken sub from 450 feet of water in the next six hours."
"That's a big ask!"
"I know John, but I've got nothin'. I'm hoping you can pull one of those rabbits out of your hat."
John took a deep breath. "Okay. Send me the details and I'll have a look at it."
"John, what's the matter?"
"The Navy have lost an experimental sub with all hands. The M.O.D is asking if Torchwood can do anything to help. I'm going to the office to look at the details."
John's office was a study on the ground floor that had been kitted out with office furniture and equipment from Torchwood. He sat at the desk and logged on to his computer. Rose came and sat next to him as he started to read the details.
An emergency transponder had been released from the stricken sub. It was the marine version of a black box flight recorder and transmitted data on the status of the vessel.
The Endeavour was in 463 feet of water, perched precariously on the edge of the continental shelf, 207 nautical miles from Land's End in Cornwall. There were nine survivors on board, waiting to either slowly suffocate or for the sub to slip off the shelf and fall into the abyss, where at around 3,000 feet the boat would implode under the enormous pressure.
Clyde Naval Base at Faslane in Scotland had a prototype submersible recovery system designed by a young post graduate engineer named Rajesh Kumar. The problem was that the equipment was in port at Faslane, and it would take too long to get there and deploy.
"I need to go and have a look at the stricken sub," John said, reaching for Rose's hand and giving it a squeeze.
Rose returned the squeeze. "We're coming with you. You're not doin' this alone."
The time rotor pumped up and down as the TARDIS materialised 463 below the Atlantic Ocean, next to the Endeavour. Rose was assisting with piloting the TARDIS, while EJ was in the playroom with all his presents.
John started to scan the boat with a penetrating sensor beam. It showed a cylindrical hull 122 feet long and 22 feet in diameter that displaced 408 tonnes. It had two decks and a conning tower. The lower deck was dedicated to engineering and life support, while the upper deck contained the control centre and living quarters.
"Can we get the TARDIS on board and evacuate that way?" Rose asked, standing at his shoulder and looking at the screen.
John slowly shook his head. "That's what I was hoping, but it's too small inside, even if we try and land with the TARDIS on its side."
Rose could feel his anguish. They were mere feet away from nine doomed souls, and they may as well have been on the moon. If he didn't come up with something soon, they would have to stand there and watch those nine souls die.
"Couldn't we tow it to the surface with the TARDIS?" Rose asked hopefully. "I mean, you towed a whole planet out of the Medusa Cascade."
"Well, to be accurate, the Earth fell out of the Cascade. The TARDIS generated a gravity well, a bit like a black hole, and the Earth fell towards that black hole. The TARDIS then moved the black hole and the Earth kept falling towards it."
"Ah, so if we tried that we'd empty all the oceans," she theorised.
"Followed by all the rocks, and the moon, the asteroids and all the planets, and finally the sun," he told her.
"Oh John. What are we goin' to do? We can't just leave them there."
"You're right. I need to speak with this Kumar chap and find out what his recovery system is like. I may be able to adapt it to use with the TARDIS."
He activated the TARDIS communications panel and called Torchwood. "Pete. I may have an idea. Can you contact the M.O.D and tell them to expect me at the Clyde Naval Base. I need to speak with a Rajesh Kumar."
"Oh that's great news, John. I'll call them now."
Clyde Naval Base was on the side of Gare Loch on the Scottish west coast. The TARDIS materialised on the 2,000 feet long dock where two Vanguard submarines were moored. A number of military police officers ran towards it with weapons drawn as John, Rose and Eyulf stepped out.
"DON'T MOVE!" one of the officers shouted.
"How dare you point a gun at my son," Rose raged, putting her son behind her, eyes blazing.
John put his hand on her arm. "It's alright Rose, this is a sensitive naval base, and we've just bypassed all their security."
Rose calmed down a little. "Still, it's not like we weren't expected."
"STAND DOWN YOUR MEN CORPORAL!" a voice boomed behind them. The officers immediately lowered and holstered their weapons. They turned and saluted the officer who had given the command.
"Sorry sir. We didn't realise," the corporal explained.
"That's alright Corporal, carry on." The officer in black uniform and white, peaked cap stepped forward and held out his hand. "That's quite an entrance. You've got to be from Torchwood, which means you must be Dr. Smith. I'm Rear Admiral Damien McLeod, welcome to Faslane."
John shook his hand. "I'm John; this is my wife Rose, and my son, Eyulf."
"Hello," Rose said, shaking his hand. He gave a questioning look regarding their son. "We don't normally bring him on this kind of outin', but it's all happened a bit quick. And he gets the chance to see a submarine close up."
"It's my birthday. I'm three," he announced with pride. Once the men with guns had moved away, he looked around him and saw the submarine. His mouth fell open and his head tilted back to look up at the conning tower.
"It's SO big," he said in awe.
"Thank you for agreeing to help us with this problem. The Endeavour is top secret and cutting edge, and the crew are irreplaceable."
"Damien, I'm sorry to be blunt, but we don't have much time. I need to speak with Rajesh Kumar."
"Of course, Doctor. I have a car here that will take us to his workshop."
They drove across the base, past large warehouse style buildings where the vessels that harboured here were repaired and maintained. The 4x4 pulled up outside a smaller warehouse, and the Rear Admiral got out, followed by the Smiths.
They went through a door to the side of the large roller-shutter doors into a workshop with large equipment, machinery and lifting gear. A young Asian man in overalls was leaning over a workbench, working on a complex looking device.
"Rajesh, Dr. Smith is here to see you," McLeod said.
There was a clang and a clatter as he dropped a tool he was using. He looked up with a look of awe on his face. "Dr. Smith, I can't believe you've come to see my work."
Rajesh picked up the tool he'd dropped and hurriedly came around the bench to greet them. "Raj Kumar," he said shaking their hands.
"John, Rose, EJ," John replied, nodding to each in turn. "Is that one of my power assisted spanners you've got there?"
Rajesh looked at the tool he was holding and grinned. "Of course, one of the best tools I've ever used. Makes my job so much easier. In fact most of my tools are Smith tools."
John grinned back at him; he always liked to meet people who were as enthusiastic as he was. "So, Raj, I need you to show me your submarine recovery system, and we don't have much time."
"Oh, right. Well, it's over here." He walked across the workshop to a pallet with a large yellow submersible on it. This is the R.S.S.R.S, remote submersible submarine recovery system, or 'arse' as I like to call it.
Rose spluttered a laugh as EJ looked up at her with a grin. "Man said arse Mummy," he giggled.
"Yes, I know. But it doesn't mean you have to say it, does it?" she admonished.
"No Mummy. Sorry," he said sheepishly.
"Oh, I am most terribly sorry Mrs. Smith. I did not mean to get your son into trouble," Raj apologised.
Rose smiled at the young man kindly. "That's alright Raj, he doesn't need any help gettin' into trouble. He can manage that all on his own, and it's Rose, by the way."
"So, Raj, how does it work?" John asked, getting back on topic.
"Oh, yes, of course. The submersible is a floatation device delivery system. The robotic arm picks up one of the 50 'smart' capsules and attaches it to the mooring cleats around the deck of the boat." He pointed out the arm and the floats as he explained.
"When enough floats have been attached, the software controls the inflation of each float so that the vessel rises slowly and evenly. As the vessel rises, air is vented from the float to maintain a constant ascent rate," he said proudly.
"That's brilliant," John said admiringly. "Have you ever used it?"
"We've run trials in the loch, and we've gotten the bugs out. We've yet to test it out in open water under real life conditions."
"Well, I'd like to change that. Will it deploy from an airship? I'm afraid a ship will take too long to get there," John told him.
Raj looked disappointed. "The idea is to eventually have it fitted in a rescue airship, but at the moment, what you see is what you get. The trials were conducted on a jury rigged research vessel in the loch."
"Is there any other way to attach the floats to a sub, divers' maybe?" John suggested.
"Our navy divers are good John. But to drop them from an airship into 450 feet of water and ask them to carry out an unrehearsed mission with equipment they haven't trained on is asking for trouble."
"Couldn't we do it from the TARDIS, John? Y'know, use the air envelope to protect us like we do in space when we're lookin' out?" Rose said.
"Air envelope? In space?" Raj and Damien questioned together.
"Er, yeah," John said by way of explanation before turning to Rose. "At that depth, the pressure will be over 200 psi. It would be all the TARDIS could do to keep the water from bulging in through the doors." He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged his ear. "We're running out of options and out of time."
"What's the matter, Mummy?" EJ asked, picking up telepathically on his parents feelings of desperation. "Why is Daddy sad?"
Rose stooped down to be at eye level with her son. "There are some brave men stuck at the bottom of the sea. Raj has got those floats that can rescue them, but we can't get down to them to fix them in place."
EJ looked deep in thought at what he'd been told, before smiling at his parents. "What about Daddy's friends under the sea?"
John and Rose looked at each other and then at their son.
"What?" they said together.
"Your black and white friends that you told me about."
"Orcas?" John said with a puzzled expression that turned to astonished realisation. "Orcas! Of course. Son, you are brilliant." He turned to Rose. "He's inherited your ability to look at a problem from the outside. Brilliant."
A couple of years ago, a killer whale had swum up the river Thames and couldn't find its way out. John had gone into the water and talked to the juvenile, who like any teenager thought he knew better and had wandered off from the pod.
In a media frenzy, he had ridden the orca like a surfboard, out of the Thames and into the North Sea where his parents were searching for him. The pod had adopted John as one of their own in gratitude for returning their wayward son.
They told EJ the story once as a bedtime story, and showed him the news reports that were archived on the internet. EJ loved to see his clever father riding on the back of his black and white friend.
"Raj, I need a hydrophone that connects to a PC," John said with a voice that was full of hope and conviction. "Damien, I need the specs on that stricken sub that can be displayed on a media screen."
"I'm afraid all information on the Endeavour is classified," the Rear Admiral informed him. "I don't have the authority."
John gave him a steely look. "Then find me someone who does, or do I have to call Harriet myself?"
"H,Harriet?" he asked, hoping he didn't mean who he thought he meant.
"Yeah. Y'know, the President. She'll be very upset with you. And besides, my security clearance is off the scale. I have to keep secrets that no one should have to keep."
He faced the Rear Admiral and stood toe to toe. "Tell me Damien, if you knew how, when, where and why a loved one died. Could you keep that secret from them? Because that's the kind of secret I have to keep all the time." he said quietly. "Now nine men are relying on their superior officer to do the right thing and save them."
"I'll make the call," he said as he took out his mobile phone.
"Thank you. Now let's get these floats into the TARDIS and get underway."
200 nautical miles off the Cornish coast.
463 feet above the stricken Endeavour
The TARDIS was bobbing on the swell like a cork, except that it wasn't actually touching the water. It was a few inches above, and rose and fell to match the wave height. John and Rose had set the sensors so that the TARDIS could do it automatically.
John linked the hydrophone to his tablet PC and lowered it into the water. It was an omni directional hydrophone, the type used to send and receive sonar signals. He started the universal translation app on his tablet and spoke into it.
"This is Ocean's Compass, calling Sunset Surfer, Ocean's Compass, calling Sunset Surfer."
Ocean's Compass was the name given to him by the pod Alpha Male, Sunset Surfer. The hydrophone emitted a number of whistles, clicks, squeaks and whoops in the orca language that would travel for hundreds of miles.
A minute passed before he sent the message again. Still, there was no reply. After the third attempt though, he got a reply.
"Ocean's Compass, I am Dawn's Herald. My father, Sunset's Surfer is away in the frozen seas to the north. Can my pod offer you any assistance?" The whale song was translated by the app and a female voice came out of the speaker.
"Greetings Dawn's Herald. It is a pleasure to greet the daughter of such a noble pod leader. I am desperate for help in saving the lives of some brave men, and I do not have much time," John replied.
"Then please allow me to help. My pod is not far from you, if you can emit those 'pings' that your vessels sometimes do, we should be able to find you without problem."
"Thank you Dawn's Herald, I look forward to seeing you." John activated a sonar signal through the hydrophone and put the tablet down on the console.
Poor Raj, who was still in culture shock from being inside a room that did not fit the box outside, looked at John in confusion.
"Who was that you were talking to?"
"Oh, didn't you catch the name? That was Dawn's Herald, daughter of Sunset's Surfer," he said with a smile, as though it was an everyday occurrence to talk with a killer whale.
"No, I meant, what was that? I could hear whale song while she was speaking."
"Ah. You may want to sit down for this bit, Raj. That was an orca, out there in the ocean somewhere," John said, waving his arms in the general direction of the door of the TARDIS.
"An orca?"
"Yes. Just one of the many alien species that Torchwood deals with now and again. They are one of the many species we share the planet with, and just because they come from Earth, it doesn't make them any less alien than a Sontaran or a Gelth."
Raj did sit down, or rather his knees gave way and a jump seat happened to be underneath him when they did.
"I mean, think about it. They are the perfect deep water divers for this mission. There's no danger of them running out of air or getting the bends."
"Well, yes. I suppose you're right." He was starting to suspend his disbelief and just accept the weirdness of it all.
"We put a large media screen by the doors so that they can see the plans of the Endeavour. You demonstrate where the floats should be attached, and demonstrate the attaching mechanism here in front of them, and away they go and fix them in place. Simple."
Rose flinched involuntarily. She always worried when he said 'simple'. From past experience, whenever her husband said 'simple', it was anything but.
"Who fancies a cuppa while we wait?" John said with a cheery smile. Now he knew the orcas were coming, his mood was lighter and more positive about the outcome. They went through to the kitchen/diner and enjoyed a cup of tea, EJ was showing Raj his birthday presents.
They were finishing their tea and biscuits when they heard whale song coming from the doors in the console room. They rushed through to the doors and looked out at the ocean, where they saw tall, black dorsal fins milling about. Two large black and white heads broke the water and rested on the floor grating.
John knelt down and touched the forehead of the smaller orca to make contact. He could communicate directly by telepathy, but did not have the vocal range to talk without the translator.
["You are Dawn's Herald?"]
["Yes. And you are Ocean's Compass?"]
["I am. Thank you for coming to the rescue. With your permission, I will now use the translator so that I can introduce everyone."]
["That would be nice."]
John switched on the app. "Dawn's Herald, this is my wife Rose, and my son, Eyulf."
"And this is my mate and pod leader, Approaching Storm."
John and Rose looked at each other in amazement. Approaching Storm could be interpreted as Oncoming Storm.
Rose knelt down and rubbed their foreheads. "Hello. I am very pleased to meet you both."
"Ah, you are with calf," Dawn said.
"What?" Rose said, initially puzzled and then realising. "Oh, the baby. Yes I am."
"Daddy, can I say hello?" Eyulf asked.
"Of course, you can," Dawn laughed. EJ knelt down and stroked Dawn's forehead.
"Ooh, you're smooth and wet," he observed.
"And this is Raj, the man who designed the equipment we'd like you to deploy," John said, dragging him towards the doors.
"Er, hello," Raj said awkwardly. He'd never spoken with an aquatic mammal before. In fact, he'd never spoken with anything that wasn't strictly human.
"Well, hello Raj, I'm Dawn's Herald. I'm very pleased to meet you," she said saucily. "He's cute," she said to John.
Rose snorted a laugh. "John, is she flirtin' with him? We have got to introduce her to Jack."
John was laughing as he moved a big media screen to the doors. "I think she would be more than a match for him. Are your pod able to see the screen?"
"Yes, we can see it," Approaching Storm said.
"Okay Raj, it's all yours," John said moving back and handing him the tablet.
"Ah, er, right. Okay, er, these are the plans of the Stealth Submarine Endeavour," he started, hesitantly. "Er, the attachment points are around the edge of the deck, here, here…." he pointed out each mooring cleat. He felt a bit silly and self conscious talking to a bunch of killer whales.
"Okay Raj, we can see those. What do we attach to the cleats?" Dawn said.
"Ah, right." He picked up a cylindrical buoy with a thick rope and a kind of karabiner device on the end. "This spring loaded clip will latch onto the cleat. I think if you hold it here, it will make it easier to deploy."
"Here, let me try," Storm said as he opened his mouth to accept the clip. Raj placed the karabiner in his mouth and then held a rope from another float so that he could practice. Storm used his tongue and teeth to fine tune the hold on the clip until it was easy to deploy.
He backed off the floor grating and disappeared under the water to show the rest of the pod how he was holding the clip. He resurfaced and rested on the floor grating again.
"We are ready. Let us begin deploying the devices."
"Brilliant," John said. "Raj and I will hold the clips to be taken, and Rose can keep supplying us with floats."
"And me," EJ said, a little hurt that he'd been left out of this important job.
"That goes without saying, son," John said with a proud smile, ruffling his hair.
Pairs of orcas presented themselves at the doors to take a float and then disappear under the waves. After a short while, Dawn and Storm returned.
"How goes it?" John asked.
"The system is very clever, it attaches easily," Storm said, taking another float.
"We nearly have enough to raise the Endeavour," Raj said.
"Dawn's Herald, can I ask you to tap the hull of the boat three times when you have finished? It will let the trapped men know that we are helping them," John asked.
"Of course. It will be an honour to give them hope." She took the last float and vanished.
"Right, let's take her down and watch the proceedings," John said. He closed the doors and went to the console. With Rose's help, he started the time rotor and lowered the TARDIS into the waves.
463 feet later, the TARDIS settled on the sea bed and John activated the view screen with image enhancement so that they could see the Endeavour, complete with floats that made it look like an upside down Australian cork hat. The pod of orcas were swimming around waiting to see what happened next.
"Okay Raj, I've linked the control interface through the console so that you can operate the floats from here."
Raj picked up the control panel and flipped the protective cover on the arming switch. "Well, here goes." He looked at the screen and flicked the switch. A cloud of bubbles surrounded the sub as the floats slowly inflated.
Everyone held their breath as nothing seemed to happen for a while. Then, the sub slowly righted itself and started to ease itself off the sea bed. The orcas circled the vessel as a guard of honour in tribute to the success of the floatation device. The console room erupted into cheering and applause, with EJ jumping up and down on the spot in excitement.
John raised the TARDIS along side the Endeavour until it broke the surface. Orcas leapt out of the water in somersaults, celebrating the success of the mission. Rescue airships circled overhead, ready to winch the crew to safety.
John walked down to the doors and opened them wide, dropping the hydrophone in the water.
"Approaching Storm, Dawn's Herald, thank you and your pod for all your help. Please send my kind regards to your father when you see him."
"Of course, Ocean's Compass. Until we meet again, may you have clear skies above you, and clear water below." They leapt out of the water, performed a rolling dive and disappeared below the waves.