Chapter 7

"Get yourself together," Lee thought as he tried to breathe through the pain. He pulled himself along the floor toward the head. He didn't make it before he heaved up more fluid. By the time he did manage to reach the head, he was dry heaving.

The intercom on the wall was slightly closer now than the phone on the floor by his desk. At that point, he realized he might do just as well to crawl out into the hallway. "Ten feet. You can do it," he encouraged himself. He made it five feet before another round of dry heaving began. He tasted bile on his tongue. His throat ached and burned.

Five more feet took another two minutes, interrupted by more dry heaves. He felt as though his liver tried to come up his throat. "One shot at this," he thought. He pulled himself upwards, bracing on the door. He reached up for the intercom handset, knocking it down. He fell down with the handset. He reached out his hand for it, pressed the button. No words came out. "Breathe," he reminded himself. "Cr . . ." he managed in a mere whisper before the next attack came. He curled up in a ball. He had to get out in the hallway to find help if he couldn't talk. The door now seemed further away than possible, however.

Knocking, he heard knocking. He tried to say enter, but he couldn't make a sound loud enough to penetrate the door. Wait, of course he could. He knocked on the wall.

"Sir? Are you here?"

A violent retching noise answered Ryder.

Sick Bay, 2200 hours

Ryder and a med tech carried Captain Crane to Sick Bay. Lee's dry heaves continued steadily until several minutes after Dr. Jamison injected Lee Crane with an anti-emetic.

Ryder stayed by the Captain, uttering calming words, until he saw the drug provided him some relief.

"Any idea what brought this on, Captain?" Dr. Jamison asked.

Crane nodded, but he couldn't speak.

Dr. Jamison shined a light in Lee Crane's throat. "Get him some ice chips, Frank. Don't try to talk yet, Captain. You're throat is massively inflamed and trying to talk will only make it hurt worse. Just relax."

Crane shook his head. Perspiration flew off.

"I don't like it. He's hot, pulse is racing, heartbeat is fast. Captain did you eat or drink anything recently? Just nod."

Crane nodded. He raised a hand to show the motion of drinking coffee.

"There was a coffee pot and cup on his desk, Doctor."

"Go to his quarters and, no, wait."

"You don't think I had anything to do with this?"

Dr. Jamison didn't respond to Ryder even though Lee Crane shook his head "no". Dr. Jamison considered what to do for a moment, then picked up his phone. "Admiral, the Captain is in Sick Bay. I don't know yet whether it's food poisoning, a virus or something else. If you could, there's a coffee pot and cup in his cabin that I'd like to examine. Thanks."

Ryder continued to object. "I didn't even serve him tonight."

"Why were you in his quarters?"

"I just came to borrow a book and I found him like this."

Crane nodded. He tried to say something, but merely croaked instead. Another wave of pain coursed through him and he nearly fell off the table on to the floor. Dr. Jamison stood by his side, using his body to keep Crane on the table.

"Damn. His temperature is rising."

The Admiral was through the door next. "How is he?"

"Not good. Frank, prepare a couple of slides. Do a control slide from some coffee from my pot too."

"Can't you give him something?" Admiral Nelson asked.

"I don't know what to give him. I could make him worse. Help me get him back on the table."

"Ryder, what do you know about this?" Admiral Nelson asked.

"Nothing. He gave me the night off. I went to get a book from his cabin and I found him on the floor."

"Lee confirmed that's what happened."

"Did he tell you anything useful?"

"His throat is too inflamed to speak."

"Okay, if Ryder didn't bring him coffee, then someone else had to." Nelson picked up the phone. "Get me Commander Morton."

"Chip, I need to find out who brought Lee dinner. Discreetly, if you please."

"I can answer that, sir. He went down to the galley himself. He wasn't taking any chances after yesterday. Why?"

"He's very sick."

"Like the other night?"

"No. It may just be food poisoning or a bug."

"Lee complained about stomach trouble two days ago."

"When?"

"In the morning."

"I don't know what to make of all this."

"Keep me posted on Lee's condition, please, sir."

"I will, Chip."

"Doc, Chip thinks Lee got his own dinner, and coffee too, I presume. He also said he had some stomach trouble two mornings ago."

Dr. Jamison was looking through the microscope as the Admiral spoke. "I find it hard to believe the Captain would have poisoned his own coffee, sir."

"You found something?"

"Yes."

"Is it serious?"

"Frank, hang an IV, ringer's lactate, full open. Let's get in a corticosteroid, antihistamine and activated charcoal."

"What's all that mean, Doc?"

"We don't have time to figure out what he's been poisoned with. I just have to throw medicine in him, dilute whatever the poison is and hope enough of it leaves his system."

"What are the odds?"

"He'll either improve rapidly or not respond."

"In which case?"

"I'll throw everything else at him. And we pray."

Control Room, 0100 hours

"Dr. Jamison thinks he's stabilizing," the Admiral announced as he entered the Control Room.

"Thank god," Chip sighed.

"Yes, but we must find who's doing this to Lee before he ends up dead."

"Any suspects?"

"Someone put something in his coffee tonight. We don't have a clue who."

"Does Lee know?"

"He can't talk yet. From now on, he won't be left alone."

"Damn it. We should have done that yesterday."

"Yes, in retrospect, I should have treated that more seriously."

"Doc didn't think Lee's life was threatened by what he was given yesterday, though. It all seemed kind of ridiculous instead. More like someone's bad idea of a joke."

"True, but Lee's the Captain of the Seaview and I should have treated it as a major threat."

"Could we be missing something here, sir?"

"Like what?"

"A threat to Seaview?"

"I got the sense from you and several others that this is likely to be more personal, the Ryder/Rogers matter."

"I know, but at a certain point you have to wonder."

"I'll consider it, but so far the only threat I see is to Lee personally, not to the mission. If you come up with anything to suggest otherwise, let me know immediately."

Control Room, 0600 hours

"Good morning, Admiral."

"Everything smooth through the night, Mr. Morton?"

"Yes, sir. We should arrive at the coordinates you requested by 1000 hours."

"Doc says that Lee improved greatly through the night."

"Wonder how long before we see him?"

"Not today, Doc said. I'll take the conn for the next few hours. You go get some sleep. I think Mr. O'Brien can manage after that."

"Promise to call me if there are any issues?"

"Yes, Mr. Morton, I'll do that."

Sick Bay, 0830 hours

The Captain groaned and stirred. "Again? Damn it." The words came in a raspy whisper.

"Morning Captain," Dr. Jamison offered. "Feeling better this morning?"

"It's morning?"

"Yes, try not to talk too much. Your throat is highly irritated. Talking will make it worse."

"Admiral?" Lee squeaked.

"In the Control Room relieving Mr. Morton. He's been apprised of your progress."

"What happ . . . ?" Crane couldn't finish the word. His voice had gone again.

"I was hoping you could tell me that. The coffee in your cabin last night contained poison."

The Captain closed his eyes in thought. After he'd eaten his sandwich in the galley, he came back to his cabin where he found the coffee pot waiting. He'd sat sipping and reading until the cramping began. The coffee. The doctor was certain. But who? Anderson had brought it up, at least he said he would. Yet Anderson had made the coffee for Dr. Livsey before Lee had even entered the galley. Livsey wasn't in Sick Bay. It didn't make sense. Then again, his cabin had been empty when he came inside and he found the coffee waiting. Someone else could have come in and drugged the pot. Yet if they didn't know the coffee was there, why would they do that?

"Go?" Lee managed to croak out.

"Honestly, Captain, you are impossible. You'll stay here until I discharge you. You're weak as a kitten right now."

Lee couldn't argue the fact, much as he'd like to. He'd rather be anywhere else, but an exhausted, voiceless Captain wasn't much use. He continued to think about what could have happened. Sleep intervened before he made progress.

Sick Bay, 1100 hours

Ryder visited Sick Bay to check on the Captain who had just begun to stir.

"Hi, sir. You look much better."

The Captain shrugged.

"He can't talk yet, but he's on the road to recovery."

"Is it okay if I talk to him?"

"Sure. I'm going to get some fresh coffee. Don't leave till I return, okay? Captain's been known to leave without being discharged and I promised the Admiral I wouldn't let him out of my sight without a guard."

Ryder nodded okay.

"Sir, something happened this morning, I overheard something. I'm not sure it means anything, but given the weird stuff that's happened to you, I wanted to talk to you."

Lee nodded.

"You know that Anderson's been tending to Dr. Livsey. Well, early this morning, Anderson went into Livsey's cabin and stayed a long time. Disconcertingly long."

Lee shrugged. The same had been said about him and Ryder recently. It was not a good basis upon which to jump to conclusions.

"When I went past Dr. Livsey's door, I swear I heard one of them say something about you, that you wouldn't be a problem anymore. I don't know what they meant by it exactly, but given what happened to you, it seemed troubling."

Lee closed his eyes in thought. It could have been as simple as Anderson telling Dr. Livsey about what had happened to Lee and Livsey was glad that Lee would stop throwing obstacles up to continuing with the mission. Or it could be something more insidious. Lee opened his eyes and tried to speak. Nothing came out. He gestured for a pad to write on. Ryder pawed through the doctor's desk until he found a pen and pad.

"Anderson left me the coffee last night."

"What does it mean?"

Lee shrugged in confusion. "Going to Control Room. Want you to stand by in quarters," he wrote.

"Why there?"

"Safe."

"From what?"

"?" Lee wrote. "Order."

Lee got up, but then reeled backward. "Help me to cabin," he wrote. Ryder took him there and helped him put on a fresh uniform. "Thanks. Back to your cabin now," Lee wrote.

Ryder began to argue. He couldn't imagine the Captain going back down a ladder by himself, but the Captain would not be dissuaded.

With great effort, Lee Crane climbed down the ladder. As he did so, he felt a disconcerting change in the Seaview. It seemed to him that the lighting dimmed as if the ship had switched to emergency lighting, although he considered it possible that it was his eyesight that was dimming. He wanted to run to the Control Room to see what was happening, but running was not an option in his condition. He continued his slow walk there, using the wall as a prop.

Control Room, 1125 hours

"We're dead in the water, Admiral," Chip Morton said.

"What happened?"

"A complete electrical failure. We're on auxiliary reserve."

"Raise the Circuitry Room."

"Foster here."

"What the devil is going on there?"

"We've had a massive burn out, sir. We should have continued with the upgrade."

"How long before you can make repairs?"

"It could take as long as two days. It's serious, Admiral."

"Let's get a full repair crew in there immediately and find a way to get this ship going."

"No one can work in here until the scrubbers clear the air, sir. That'll be . . . cough cough . . . a while. I'll assemble a repair crew while they're going."

"Then get the hell out of there until it's safe. Let me know when you get back in and can do a better assessment."

"What does this mean, Admiral?" Dr. Livsey asked as he entered from the Observation Deck.

"We're operating on reserve power until the electrical system can be repaired."

"How long can we stay this way?"

"Dead in the water? Not long. Auxiliary power will provide emergency lighting and air circulation for a couple of hours, but running the scrubbers will shorten that time. Sparks, see if there are any ships nearby."

"How could this happen?"

"I don't know. It shouldn't have. There's no good reason for a massive electrical failure short of mistake or sabotage."

"Your man said something about an upgrade?"

"Captain Crane ordered it delayed until we successfully navigated the Ring of Fire."

"Could that have made the difference if it had been finished?"

"Possibly, but that doesn't explain a massive system failure. Just what are you insinuating?"

"You must admit your Captain's behavior has been most bizarre the past several days."

"He was drugged and poisoned, quite possibly to cover up someone's mischief."

"Sir, we should take steps to consolidate our air usage," O'Brien interrupted.

"Right. All crew report to emergency stations and remain there until further notice. Conserve oxygen at all costs."

"O'Brien, what do you have on the status of the Circuitry Room?"

"Scrubbers are working. Air should be viable in ten more minutes."

"Foster, you should be able to enter in ten minutes. Do whatever it takes to allow us to blow ballast. I don't care if you have to daisy chain every available battery on the boat!"

"Yes, sir. We're ready to go shortly after we reenter. I'll update you on our progress."

"What does all that mean, Admiral?"

"If we can get to the surface, we'll at least be assured air supply while we assess repair possibilities."

"And if repairs aren't possible?"

"We'll have to find help."

"Sparks, is there anything nearby?"

"Navy says the closest friendly ship is four hundred miles away."

"And less than friendly?"

"None that the Navy is aware of, sir."

"Kowalski, anything on sonar?" "Earthquake activity and volcanoes are making sonar readings erratic, Admiral, masking items, distorting them. Hard to tell feedback versus objects."

"Damn. I should have listened to Captain Crane."

"Sir, we are receiving a communication."

"From who?"

"I don't know."

"Put it on speaker."

"This is the Submarine Ting Wa of the People's Republic. We are aware of your situation and are prepared to offer assistance."

"This is Admiral Nelson of the Seaview. Where are you and what are your terms?"

"We are an hour away from your position. We will deliver your crew to neutral ground in exchange for which you will give us the Seaview."

"I don't think so," Nelson said.

"Very well. We will be in your vicinity shortly. We will either help you or wait until your crew is dead and then take your boat."

Lee Crane walked unsteadily into the room.

"Lee, what are you doing here?" Admiral Nelson asked.

"Ship stopped?"

"A massive electrical failure."

"Not possible unless sabotage." Lee's voice faded. He pointed at Dr. Livsey. "Anderson too."

"Now is not the time for unfounded accusations, Lee."

Crane held himself barely propped up by the chart table.

"Not as unfounded as you might imagine," Anderson said as he entered the Control Room hatch with a gun pulled. "Everyone face down on the floor, except you, Admiral." Anderson came up to Lee Crane and kicked him hard in the side, sending him to the floor. Once Lee was there, Anderson kicked him in the chest. Lee curled up, wheezing for breath. "God, what a pain in the ass you are, Crane. We should have just killed him like I suggested, Dr. Livsey."

"Livsey, why?" Admiral Nelson stumbled.

"Power and prestige, to start. The Seaview at my disposal for research."

"How about loyalty to your country?"

"That too."

"The People's Republic?"

"Yes, and I suggest you take their offer. I promise they will deliver you into neutral hands, all but one of you."

"Who?"

"Crane?"

"Why?"

"Because he failed us before. Because we do not accept failure. We shall learn from him."

"You know I won't allow that."

"One hundred twenty men saved in exchange for one. I think you shall agree. I think Captain Crane would be the first one to accept that deal if he were in better shape."

The Admiral looked Lee's way. He was a shell of himself, but the Admiral thought he'd moved several feet closer to the door while the Admiral was engaged with Livsey. Anderson seemed to think Lee of no further consequence and no longer watched him. Was that a sign that Lee just gave him with his hand? The Admiral resolved to keep Livsey and Anderson distracted just in case.

Admiral Nelson walked toward the nose of Seaview with no objection from Livsey or Anderson. He tapped on the window. "Who else is in on this?"

"You are delaying in the hopes of a miracle, Admiral. There shall be none."

"Foster? That's why you wanted Lee out of your way. To distract him from seeing what Foster was doing and keep the rest of us off balance. For god's sake, he's not assembling any repair crews at all, is he? He's making sure things can't be repaired."

"Assume what you wish, Admiral," Livsey smirked. "It won't change a thing. Your only hope for survival is to be boarded. The offer will not be open long."

"Has it occurred to you that you might not survive either?"

"We can help ourselves to reserve oxygen as you perish."

"We could stop you."

"You could try. Then you will lose men to gunshots instead of oxygen deprivation. If you do not accept our generous offer, you will be condemning your crew to certain death. That is not your way, Admiral."

Nelson couldn't argue. He could only distract longer. He paced and thought. Meanwhile, Crane had somehow managed to crawl out of the Control Room.

"We could push this faster, Livsey. I could start shooting people now." Anderson moved his gun from crewman to crewman until he aimed at the spot where Crane no longer was. "Jesus, he's gone. I'm going after him."

"No," Dr. Livsey ordered. "He can't get far and he can't change anything at this point. Secure the hatch. No one else will trouble us then."

"I don't like it," Anderson complained.

The Admiral eased toward the intercom. He fully expected to be shot, but he had to give his men a chance. He grabbed it, surprised that Anderson didn't do anything.

"Go ahead, Admiral, order your men to surrender," Dr. Livsey said.

The Admiral nodded. "Men, the Seaview has been sabotaged. Our air supply is critical. Our only choice is to accept the help of the People's Republic who will arrive within the hour. You know what to do. Fight," he shouted at the end. He dropped the speaker and attempted to move behind the shelter of the stairs before the inevitable shot came. Instead, Livsey cackled.

"No one heard you, Admiral, but it was entertaining to watch you try! Foster cut the intercom system after his last call."

The Admiral did his best to hide his frustration. "My men will find a way."

The wait began.