Chapter 3

Captain's Cabin - 2100 hours

Lee returned to just outside his cabin door to begin his customary evening walk. He chided himself as he realized what he'd done. "Too much routine is getting to you," he laughed at himself. Then an idea entered his head. He went into his cabin and retrieved a book. He stopped by the guest quarters.

"Yes, who is it?"

"Captain Crane."

"Yes, sir. Come in, sir."

"At ease, Ryder."

"Is everything all right, sir? I'm not late, am I?"

"Relax. You're fine. I was about to do an early evening tour and it occurred to me that I had a book you might enjoy."

"Why thank you, sir."

"It's only a loaner, mind you."

"Did you draw these?"

"Every one of them. Some of those probably shouldn't see the light of day, but if you don't tell the Navy, I won't either."

"You can really draw."

"I'm a decent sketcher, but I wouldn't claim to draw well."

"Was the Nautilus really as cramped as she looks?"

"I can't tell you the number of bumps on the head and the bruises on my side I took on her. Seaview is a luxury liner comparatively speaking."

"I thought so. I've only been on some old decommissioned subs, but I've never understood how anyone could stay on them for as long as they did."

"Not for the claustrophobic, that's for sure. Speaking of which, do you feel more comfortable now?"

"About that, sir?"

"Yes, speak freely."

"I mean, the quarters are great and all, and getting away from Rogers is even better."

"But?"

"I'm concerned that it will look strange to the crew, make it harder for me to fit in."

"I understand, but there was nothing else available. I just didn't feel right leaving you in with Rogers. So for now, let's just see how this works out, all right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Care to join me on the rest of my evening tour?"

"The crew calls it your evening shakedown."

Lee laughed. "All the better. In fact, now I insist you come along."

That night's tour lasted an hour and a half again. Lee had a ten minute discussion with Foster in the Circuitry Room about the general cluttered state of the area during an upgrading process. Otherwise, it was mostly a breezy walkthrough with Lee pointing out differences between the Seaview and subs he'd served on previously. Ryder took in every word attentively. The tour ended at the Captain's cabin.

"I'm in for a quick shower. You can just leave my things out for me."

"Yes, sir. Will you want your cocoa tonight?"

"I think so. Maybe a cookie or two to go with it. Hadn't much appetite earlier today."

"I'll bring them right away."

"Twenty minutes will be fine."

The Captain was sitting in his pajamas at his desk when Ryder returned.

"Sit, Ryder. You best eat at least one of those cookies, otherwise you'll have to return them to Cookie and he won't like it."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

Something occurred to Lee very suddenly. He wrote a note. "Take this to Commander Morton, if you would."

"Yes, sir. Shall I come back for the dishes tonight?"

"Please. No need to knock. Just come in."

Twenty minutes later, Ryder emerged from the Captain's cabin with the Captain's clothes over his arm covering the dishes below.

"Goodnight Ryder," the Captain called after him. "I enjoyed tonight," he called out sleepily.

Seaman Anderson passed Ryder in the hallway at that very moment.

Captain's Cabin, 0600 hours

Lee Crane was dressed and sitting at his desk when Seaman Ryder arrived with his breakfast and the night reports. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Captain. Will you be needing anything else?"

"Not unless you can do something to make this mission more interesting."

"My mother always warned to be careful what you wish for, sir."

"Smart woman. Dismissed."

Control Room, 0645 hours

"Everything's running smoothly, Lee," Morton reported.

"Swell. Any word from the Admiral."

"No. Not much of interest here either."

Lee caught an odd intonation in Chip's statement. "Up top?"

Chip followed Lee upstairs to the periscope housing room.

"What's of interest elsewhere?"

"I'm aware of the Rogers and Ryder situation. May I ask you what the hell you were thinking?"

"Excuse me?"

"Putting Ryder in the guest quarters."

"Nothing else was available. Kowalski indicated that no one would take a switch into Rogers without serious complaint. Ryder's not really one of the crew anyway. He'd be officer material if he was interested."

"Lee, I think it was a mistake."

"Then what the hell should I have done? Leave the poor kid there to get whaled on by Rogers?"

"No."

"What would you have done?"

"Tried to make them work it out."

"That wasn't going to happen based on Kowalski's experience with Rogers."

"Then find a volunteer to switch bunks temporarily or ask Kowalski to do it. Have him hot bunk with someone if necessary. Instead, you redshirted the kid."

Lee pondered. "I guess I have. Not sure I can undo it now."

"Probably not."

"Shit."

"The best intentions often go awry."

"That helps a lot."

"I'll try to keep an eye on things at night."

"I'd appreciate it."

"Lee, I know . . ." Chip started then stopped. "Never mind."

"I . . . ," Lee started and then stopped. Instead, the old friends nodded at each other; words weren't really necessary. They headed back to the Control Room.

Thirty minutes later, Lee left the Control Room for "a few moments" to use the head. He reemerged in another forty minutes, pale and sweaty.

"You okay, sir?" Kowalski inquired.

"Don't tell Cookie, but I don't think breakfast agreed with me. Either that or too much coffee."

"Can I bring you something to drink?"

"Yeah, better make it plain water, though. Thanks."

Lee recovered quickly. The rest of the morning passed uneventfully with nothing out of the ordinary except the receipt of an "iffy" seismological report for the area to which they headed, one notorious for seismic activity. Lee spent the time before lunch plotting course alternatives.

Admiral Nelson poked his head in from the Observation Deck. "Join us for lunch in the Wardroom, Lee?"

"Sure, sir."

As Admiral Nelson and Dr. Livsey talk and ate, Lee picked at his food eating less than usual. Dr. Livsey discussed the samples they were collecting and the possible results of testing with great enthusiasm.

"Is everything clear for our next destination, Lee?"

"We're keeping an eye on the weather conditions."

"What difference could the weather possibly make to us at this depth?" Dr. Livsey asked.

"Weather in this case includes seismic activity. You can't collect core samples during an underwater earthquake or volcano."

"We can ride one out nearby, however," Admiral Nelson inserted.

"That's true, depending on our position and the severity of the activity. But if it's a bad one or a series, we may need to divert.

"Divert? Whatever for?" Dr. Livsey asked.

"For repair of undersea military installations or even rescue work."

"I don't understand."

"If the seismic activity was severe, tsunamis are possible. As to repair work, undersea cables could need to be fixed or resecured," the Admiral qualified. "None of that's likely to happen, Dr. Livsey. Captain Crane is just a worrywart."

"I believe that's in my job description, Admiral. I'll keep on things and let you know, if I may be excused now."

"Sure, Lee. No worries, Doctor," the Admiral reassured.

The rest of the afternoon was wait and watch. Seismic activity was increasing exponentially. So much for boredom, Lee thought. He would have settled for seeing some interesting new species of fish.

"Take her to half speed, Mr. O'Brien," Lee ordered before Chip came on duty.

"Evening, Mr. Morton."

"Evening, Captain. Anything new and exciting happening?"

"Seismic activity toward our destination is increasing steadily. Take it slow and keep a close eye on reports from the Institute. Advise me of any sudden changes."

"Before or after I swing a hard U-turn?"

"Either, as long as you do."

"Is the Admiral aware of the possibility?"

"Just the generalities. I'll touch base with him soon, unless you'd rather do it."

"Hmmm. Tell you what, I'll take this one for the team, on the condition that you get the next one."

"Thanks."

"Boy, that was too easy. You okay, Lee? You look a little worn out."

"I'm fine."

"Right."

"I'll check in later."

"I know. You want dinner in your quarters, Lee?"

"Maybe just some soup and toast."

"I'll arrange for it."

"Thank you, mother."

"She'd thank me more sincerely."

Captain's Cabin, 2010 hours

Kowalski brought the Captain's dinner.

"Thanks, Ski. Listen . . . it's now clear to me that I may not have dealt with the Rogers and Ryder situation in the best way. Can I count on you to keep tensions diffused if needs be?"

"Me? I'm usually the hothead."

"Not so much anymore. When I first came aboard, yes."

"Good memory, sir." Kowalski instinctively rubbed his jaw where the Skipper had connected with a punch on their first meeting.

"And a generally good judge of character, I hope."

"No argument there, Skipper."

"Is there anything more going on that I need to know right now?"

"I don't think so, no, sir."

Crane cocked his head as if ready to ask a question, then stopped himself. "I'll trust you then."

Control Room, 2130 hours

Lee Crane returned to the Control Room for one more seismological update. Several hundred leagues away, in the direction they were heading, the earth beneath the sea rumbled steadily. No expert was willing to conclude that it would amount to anything significant, but then again, earthquake science was still in its infancy. In the end, the decision to go forward would be left to those commanding the Seaview. Lee knew it could wait until morning.

Lee began his "evening shakedown", again mindlessly backtracking to his cabin to start the tour. As he had the prior night, Lee scoffed at his adherence to blind ritual and disregarded it. He stopped to check on Ryder. He felt obliged to keep an eye on the kid and figured that the crew would mind their manners if they knew the Captain was keeping a close watch on him.

Ryder was sitting at the small desk drawing.

"What are you up to?"

"Drawing the Seaview."

"That's not exactly how the missile room looks. How long were you there?"

"Five minutes."

"Impressive for five minutes. Come on, we'll go take another look. Bring your sketchpad if you like."

"Isn't the Seaview's design classified?"

"Not the parts you're likely to sketch."

They spent ten minutes in the missile room. Ryder's attention to detail matched the Captain's.

"Why is the ductwork so large on the Seaview? I mean, I know how important air exchange is on a sub, but this ductwork is unusually large."

"I can't say the Admiral knew how often it would be needed when she was designed, but the ability to access compartments through the ductwork has been a bit of a theme in her operation."

"How so?"

"Bypassing locked compartments when the occasional mad scientist or traitor has run amok on the ship, getting into flooded compartments that have been sealed before the water level is critical."

"It seems to me that the ductwork would fail if the water got that high and got through the air system."

"That's why the ductwork is all high density PVC with numerous internal cut offs."

"If a compartment gets flooded, does the ductwork cut off automatically?"

"Yes, but it can be manually unsealed if the sensors don't detect significant water pressure."

"Is the system really strong enough to hold back flood water?"

"I would say that the system could stand improvements and a few more redundancies. On more than one occasion, we have had to do some emergency welding to protect the ductwork."

"I imagine it's still tight quarters up there."

"Again, not for the claustrophobic, nor the obese. Come on, let's finish up rounds. Then I'm turning in. Don't tell anyone, but Cookie's food didn't sit so well with me today."

They finished their walk, deeply engaged in conversation about Seaview's design, and with only polite nods by the Captain to the evening crew. The exception was at the Circuitry Room, which was messier than the night before, to the point where the Captain spoke to the crewman inside from outside the door frame.

"Foster, I thought I told you to get this area uncluttered. We'd have a devil of a time getting to the main panels quickly if we needed to. Get Patterson in here to help if you can't do it yourself. I want it cleared by morning."

"Yes, sir."

Lee shook his head and moved forward. They went up a deck and came to a stop at the guest quarters.

"Ryder, put your sketching away and then come to my quarters in half an hour or so for turn down. I've got a little follow up research to do on underwater volcanoes before I retire."

"Yes, sir."

"Maybe you should stop by the galley first for yourself. You could stand to have a little more meat on those bones." The Captain pinched Ryder's arm.

"Not the first time I've heard that, sir."

"Me either, Ryder. Probably why I'm the one who usually ends up in the ductwork! Evening, Anderson," the Captain added as the seaman passed them.

Captain's Cabin, 2400 hours

The Captain was poring over an underwater seismology textbook when Ryder returned for turn down with his evening hot cocoa. Ryder laid out the Captain's pajamas on the bed.

"Shall I come back for your laundry and the cup later, sir?"

"Yes, in an hour, I'd say. I've gotten rusty on my seismology."

"I don't think I know enough about underwater seismology to get rusty, sir. At school, I got the impression that underwater earthquakes presented no great danger to subs and not even that much to topside vessels, at least in the middle of the ocean."

"True, but as we're collecting core samples from the ocean floor, that could be a problem for us if we're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Moreover, this is potential volcanic activity, which could be a different story. There's very little research on that as to subs and I'm not sure that I want Seaview to be the main source of future research."

"I see."

"Here. Why don't you take a look at this for a few minutes? I'll shower and change now, lest I fall asleep in my uniform again."

"Um, yes, sir."

Ryder kept his head down in the book as Captain Crane undressed, showered and donned his pajamas.

"Learn anything interesting?" Lee asked when he emerged.

"That in deep enough water, there would be little danger from molten flow in terms of hull temperature, but you could find yourself with damage from lava if you didn't move out of the way quickly enough."

"Certainly wouldn't be good for sensors, instruments and waste disposal systems."

They managed to talk for another hour about design and natural hazards after that. At 0100 hours, Ryder emerged laundry in hand over the nightly cup and saucer.

Lee Crane slept heavily that night. He was still in his pajamas when Ryder delivered his breakfast and laundry at 0600 hours.

"Morning, Ryder. Should have hit the sack earlier last night," Lee yawned. "Smells good. Something different today?"

"An omelet with lots of veggies. I suggested to Cookie that you might like more protein in the morning."

"How'd you know?"

"Just a guess based on your body type."

"Similar to yours."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll eat before I change. Cold eggs are not my favorite."

"Right, sir. Anything else I can do for you this morning?"

"The night reports?"

"Oh, right, sorry sir. I wanted breakfast to be warm. I'll go get those for you now."

"No need to do that," Chip Morton said from just outside the cracked door. "I've got them."

"Morning, Chip."

"Morning, Lee."

Chip gave Lee a look. "You can get this stuff later, Ryder, after I go on duty."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed," Lee said from habit although Ryder hadn't waited for it before leaving and shutting the door.

Chip stared at Lee.

"Yes, Chip. You have something you want to say to me?"

Chip got up and made sure the door was fully closed.

"Lee, I was thinking that it would be best to put Ryder on a daytime detail, maybe working for the Admiral and Dr. Livsey."

"Why? I have no complaints about his service and he's a delight to talk to about the ship. Reminds me of myself when I first went on a sub, eager to swallow up every detail I could."

"Because of appearances, Lee."

"What appearances?"

"You asked me to keep you apprised of scuttlebutt. I'm trying to do that."

"Spit it out then."

"It's not sitting well with the crew, how you've singled Ryder out for special treatment."

"You mean the guest quarter thing? Surely everyone understands that by now."

"It's more than that, Lee. You're in and out of the guest quarters, taking him on nightly tours, he's seen coming out of your cabin after midnight . . ."

"Excuse me? Just what are we getting at here?"

"Me, nothing. Look Lee, I know you. I understand why you've taken this boy under your wing, but the crew is talking."

"That's their issue, not mine."

Chip glared at Lee, saying nothing.

"They can't possibly think that . . . no, it's ridiculous. I've never behaved inappropriately on the ship."

"Except when possessed by aliens or under mind control," Chip snickered.

"There's nothing amusing about this, Chip."

"No, sir. I would have to agree," he continued to snicker.

"I just don't know, Chip. I'll have to think it over. I don't want to kowtow to the innuendo of ignoramuses."

"On the good news front, at least the mission promises to provide more of a diversion soon. Look at the latest readings."

"Oh. Does the admiral know yet?"

"No, it's your turn. Dr. Livsey is beginning to get on my nerves."

"Had enough chemistry of sediment lectures already?"

"I'm sure it's fascinating stuff."

"To someone." Lee began to change into his uniform. "What are your recommendations for our course?"

"I think we should stay clear of the Ring of Fire until it either calms down or explodes."

"Duly noted and agreed," Lee said as he pulled on his pants. "Let's just hope that the Admiral sees it our way for a change."

"Good luck with that."

"You're right. He'll probably want to sail right into the epicenter to take readings," Lee laughed as he shook his head.