******Chapter 3
"This is the last one. Just put the rest on the pier."
Charge handed her over a large packet. Bomber was relieved. This was the last piece of equipment they had to discharge. Finally. It felt like weeks ago that they had managed to fish out most of the lost equipment from the Willis Islet barge. It had been packed in watertight containers that stayed on the surface for some time before sinking. Then they were ordered to help with the relief and clean-up on the other islands that had been hit by the storm. In between she had helped Swain with the injured.
Now they just finished unloading some equipment for the local technical support service. She couldn't think of what the men could have possibly ordered that was so heavy. Probably ordered stones she guessed. It must have been something like that. Her arms felt like jelly and she wasn't sure whether she had any muscle in her body left that didn't aches. Actually the whole crew was exhausted; she could see her crew mates sitting around at the deck or the pier, massaging their aching muscles or just relaxing in the warm late morning sun.
Bomber was sure of one thing: If she had to board a RHIB the next few hours, she would just fall overboard with the first wave. The young woman let herself drop on one of the bitts near the gangway of the Hammersley and stretched out her legs. Maybe the Boss would give them the day off. She could go to the beach and sunbath, just do nothing and relax. The seashore looked promising from here, white sand, smooth waves, no people around. She could probably take one pair of the binoculars with her and see if she could spot some Red-footed Boobies. Charge had told her of these birds and she didn't believe him at first. He had said that they had feet as red as blood and that there were even some with azure-blue feet. These birds are spectacular divers, he had said, they plunge into the ocean at high speeds to catch prey but are very clumsy when it comes to landing and take-off.
But on the other hand, her bunk seemed a place worth to be as well. She drew up her legs and laid her head on her knees.
"You ok?" Swain knelt down before her, a hand on her shoulder. "You should get some rest. When did you last slept and eat something, Bomber?"
He sounded concerned. She lifted her head and looked at him with bleary eyes.
"Could ask you the same question, Swain. You look like how I feel. Don't worry, I'm ok, just let me sit here for a while." She reassured him.
Swain patted her back. "Okay. Just make sure you get some rest and a decent meal later on." He stood up and entered the gangway, saluting wearily to the watch on deck.
2Dads plumped down on the pier next to Bomber and massaged his nape.
"I'm dead beat. Hope we don't have to sail today." He looked up at her, smiling sheepishly. "Maybe we could go to the beach if we do get some time off?"
"That sounds like a plan! I'm coming with you." Spider entered the gangway and grinned brightly.
"What's with you? How comes you are in such a good mood? Did you sleep through the last few days? 'Cause you seem to have too much energy left. Maybe I should bruise my ribs the next time." 2Dads grumbled. He had hoped to have some time alone with Bomber. The other sailor looked hurt. He had wanted to help but Swain had ordered him to light duty and so he had had to sit at the bridge and help RO coordinate the teams. It wasn't his fault he wasn't allowed to join them with the hard work. Spiders face lit up.
"Boss said we can have the day off. We're to leave tomorrow morning at 1100 hours. All personal that isn't on watch is free to have some fun. I already looked. You two are the perfect companions for my plans. You are not on watch tonight so we're going to have fun. Come on. Go get changed. I heard they have pool table, darts and table tennis up there in the local bar."
He was completely ignoring that he still had his ribs bandaged and that Swain surely wouldn't approve to his sports plans. Bomber heaved herself to her feet.
"I'm sorry guys. As much as I'd liked to see you lose, you have to go play without me. I'm due for a shower and a meeting with my bunk. But thanks for the offer."
She squeezed herself past Spider and disappeared through the door at the portside.
2Dads shrugged. "That leaves us two. That's good because I hadn't had the chance to talk to you about something." He stood up and put his arm around his crewmember, leading him away from the ship. "Remember your mermaid...?"
Spider sighed. This was going to be a long night.
There it was again. Sara slammed the book she had been reading in the corner. It landed between some shirts and a week old newspaper. She frowned. I really do have to clean up this mess she made a mental note for herself. A week ago, everything seemed perfect, it had all started so well. Her colleague Tom had called and told her that he would come back earlier than planned. Something with his ex-wife, something about problems at home he wanted to get away from. Something like this, she couldn't remember the exact words. She had packed in no time, waiting eagerly for the ship that would bring her to the mainland, impatient to get off this old wreck. It was getting on her nerves. The hydrophones had broken down two more times, then the radio wouldn't work any more, coffee machine short-circuited and what had put her over the edge was the next call, Tom again. He sounded stressed but that wasn't the real problem.
"Sara I have to keep you waiting, I'm sorry. Jenny's at the hospital and I have to take care of the kids. Just stay in there for a week, I'm sure getting everything organised 'till then. Don't worry about the hydrophones, I'll fix them when I come back. One week without won't do any harm. Make yourself comfortable, I already talked to the institute, all experiments are postponed, just leave everything as is. Your holiday starts right now. Just not at the expected way. Sorry again, bye." With this he hung up.
She couldn't blame him, Jenny was his sister after all. But this wasn't fair. Sure she had fixed the hydrophones herself, both times. She wanted to know what it was that she had heard a few weeks ago for the first time. She had described it to Tom who had sounded stressed when she had told him. Then he had tried to convince her that it was nothing worth investigating. That she had wondered about but she had let the matter drop. Then the sound had come back. She sent an email to Robert, asking for his expertise. Of course he had asked for a sound file. She managed to get the hydrophones working again and actually recorded the sounds. Which she couldn't send him because, of course, the internet had broken down the day after. She then decided to just wait for Tom and let him have all the fun. But no, not even reading was allowed it seemed.
"What was that for crying out loud?!" she asked herself.
A high-pitched 'bing' sounded through the station. And again, and again. It was nerve-wracking. And it was getting louder. Sara stopped short. This was new. She looked at her sonar readings and frowned again. Could this be...?
"I have to reach RO, he would know" she mumbled to herself and grabbed the radio. The watch caught her gaze, it showed 2200 hours.
"HMAS Hammersley, this is Sara River on channel 19, please respond."
Please please please let it work this time, she prayed silently. A static crackle, nothing...
She tried again. "Australian Warship Hammersley, this is Sara River on channel 19, please respond." Nothing but crackle...
"Dammit!" Sara cursed and hit her fist on the console.
Then...
"Miss River, this is the RO of HMAS Launceston speaking. How can we be of assistance?"
"Oh, er, hi." Sara wasn't sure what to say next. She hadn't expected anyone else to answer her call.
"Do you have an emergency, Miss River?"
"No, not exactly. But I really have to talk to the RO of HMAS Hammersley right away."
"Well, we can try to patch you through then." The radio officer wondered if there was a new RO assigned to Hammersley. He had met the old one once and couldn't imagine someone actually wanting to talk to this person.
"Thanks a lot, Sir." Sara waited impatiently. Why did this take so long? She paced back and forth in the little space between the radio console and the wall. Finally she heard the voice she had hoped for. There was a lot of static but it was definitely Robert's.
"Miss River, this is the RO of Hammersley speaking. Good to hear from you. Got worried when you didn't send the sound file."
Despite her distress, Sara smiled. She had told him long ago he could call her Sara but he insisted on the more formal 'Miss River'.
"RO, thank god. Sorry for calling so late. Listen I don't know how long the radio is going to work this time, there's much more tape than wires. The sound is back and it is getting louder this time. I can't send you the file right now there's technical problems but maybe you can hear it in the background. I do have an idea what it could be. Tell me, you don't have any secret naval activities out here, do you? 'Cause I figured out where I last heard something like this. It was the high-frequency output of a minehunter."
"As far as I'm informed, there are no minehunters out there, Miss River. I check with NAVCOM and call you back."
"Thanks Robert. I'll be here for another week, my colleague is delayed, so take your time. I'm going to shut off the hydrophones and hope that whatever causes this sound is going to leave soon. Can't hear it any more. And I do hope it isn't a minehunter 'cause that would mean they found something I don't want to have near my station. At least not when I'm on it." Nor anyone else of course, she silently sent an excuse to her colleagues.
"I'll contact you as soon as I know more, I promise. And Sara – take care of you. RO out."
This was the first time he had called her by her first name. Was that a good or a bad sign? She didn't know. The young woman bent over to the control board to switch off the hydrophones. Then she secured the USB drive with the sound file in her pocket. When she heard a sound from the back of the station, she swung around. It came from the moon pool. Sara stood up, suddenly getting goose-pimples.
"Tom, is this you?" No answer. Great, now I start to hear the ship's kobold, she thought and turned around again to see whether she could find her book. It really was time for her holiday. She couldn't finish the thought. Something hit her hard on the head. Her vision got blurred, the last thing she saw were two figures in black wet suits. She could feel her knees buckle. Then nothing but blackness.
Someone was hammering on the door. Mike Flynn rubbed his eyes and tried to decipher the numbers on his watch. 0230. What could possibly be so important at this time in the night? They had reached port late the day before and he went home for a good nights sleep in his own bed after checking in with Commander White at NAVCOM. Hammersley was laying in port, watch was set, X had the ship. There could be no problems. He stood up and reached for his trousers. The hammering went on.
"I'm coming." He went downstairs, nearly tripping over his shoes on the way. Opening the door a crack, he looked in the pale face of his radio officer.
"RO, what the hell are you doing here? It's in the middle of the night."
He opened the door completely and let the young officer in.
"Sir, I'm sorry I had to disturb you at this time of the night. We tried to contact you over the mobile but you didn't answer."
"Yes, battery is dead. What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost. Here, have a seat."
He shoved the young man to a chair and with slight pressure forced him to sit down.
"Now, what is it?" he asked again and pulled himself a chair in front of his RO.
"I think we do have a problem. Well not we exactly but Miss River. You remember her?"
Of course he did. Mike had thought of her several times over the last few days. He couldn't lose the bad feeling he had had when she left and had wanted to ask RO to contact her and see if everything was ok. He forgot in the chaos of the storms aftermath. Now his bad feeling came back.
"Miss River? What's with her?" he asked trying hard to sound calm.
"She contacted me some days ago shortly after we met her. She asked if I could help her with some readings she could make no sense of. She said that she would sent me a sound file which she never did. As you know, the station is really old and there where communication problems before. So I didn't get worried. But yesterday at 2200 she contacted the Hammersley and reported the same sound she had heard before. Sir, she said she thought she was listening to the high-frequency output of a minehunter."
"Minehunter?" Mike Flynn was alarmed.
"Yes. I heard the sound over radio, it sounded similar. I contacted NAVCOM to ask if there are any warnings for the region but NAVCOM didn't sent out a minehunter. So I carried out some investigations at the harbour masters office. There is no hydrographic survey ship out there either, nor any other ship that should be possible to create that kind of sound." He paused than continued.
"Sir, do you remember the report HMAS Kingston sent last month?"
The CO paled. "You're thinking of..." His voice trailed off. If RO was right, the young biologist was in deeper trouble than he had feared. He stood up.
"Inform NAVCOM, we have to leave immediately."
RO was at the door already. "That's why I'm here, Sir. We already got order from NAVCOM. All attempts to reach the research station failed and the marine institute she is working for is really worried. They also lost contact to the colleague who should have taken over this week. Hammersley has been crash-sailed. We're due to leave at 0300."
"Come on Spider. You have to help me." 2Dads begged. Spider didn't look convinced. He was on night watch and had been on his tour when he had met his fellow sailor in the passage outside the communications room.
"This is the perfect opportunity. RO just left the ship. I've been waiting for this moment for days. All you have to do is stand guard and make sure that nobody sees me sneaking in and out of the ComCen."
"You're stupid enough to do this, right? Know how many rules you are breaking with this? If RO finds out..."
"He won't. And it is in the middle of the night. Everyone is asleep except us and the X at the bridge. Now stop arguing. We don't know how long he will be gone. It's just two minutes, in and out, he'll never notice. I have to have that email address."
Spider looked at his mate like he had developed a serious mental illness. Then he sighed.
"2Dads, please. There are plenty of good looking women out there. Why her? Why risking your career for someone you met just once? You barely talked to Miss River."
"Because RO will be furious when he finds out I contacted her via email." The blonde man smirked. "He won't be able to find out where I got the address from and that is going to drive him nuts."
"It's all about a prank? Mate there sure has to be an other way to do this then breaking into the communications room." Spider shook his head in disbelief. Sometimes he wondered how his friend had lasted this long in the navy.
A ringing stopped their argument. 2Dads got his mobile out off the front pocket of his shirt and read the message. He looked up at Spider who returned his gaze expectantly.
"It says we are crash-sailed. We're leaving at 0300."
"Guess your stupid little prank has to wait then. Let's go to the bridge and find out what happened." Spider swung around and lead the way, 2Dads right on his heels.
Up at the bridge, Kate McGregor was getting reports of the crew members that had checked in. She looked up when she overheard footsteps on the staircase.
"Spider, 2Dads. Good to see you. RO is picking up the CO. As soon as they are on board, we leave port. Spider go and see if you can find Swain and Buffer, I need them to get the ship out of port and the crew ready."
"Yes ma'am." The seaman hurried down to do what he had been told. The X's voice didn't sound like she would have appreciated any questions right now.
"2Dads, go wake up Charge. We need all the power he can get out of the engines." She looked at his blue shorts and the flower-printed shirt and raised her eyebrow.
"And go get changed. Shore leave is over."
As holidays are coming soon, I wish you all a peaceful christmas time :-)