ONE week had passed since Admiral Beatty had had his retirement party at the World Navy Base in Singapore. As he had said to Admiral Jellicoe, he was making good on the promise he'd made to his family by taking them on a cruise out to the Seychelles which were located in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Their mode of transport was Beatty's very own private yacht called the Lady Gray. It was an old vessel painted cream and white and had cabins to sleep up to ten people if the need was there. However, there were only six aboard for this trip. In addition to Beatty was his wife Joyce of whom he'd been married to for forty years. There was also their daughter Charlotte, her husband Joe and their two children; Melanie who was seven and Samuel who was four. Towards the bow of the yacht in front of the superstructure was a climbing frame that had been added during its refurbishment for the kids to play on as the journey from Singapore to the Seychelles was going to take a number of days. It was netted off too so that there was no danger of Samuel getting loose and potentially falling overboard despite the high sides of the hull.
Whilst Melanie and Samuel were playing, Beatty was at the helm. Joyce was in the galley making drinks and Charlotte was getting frustrated with Joe. "Why did you bring all this with you?!" she fumed. "We are supposed to be on holiday!"
"Hey, I didn't ask to come on this trip!" fumed Joe who had the majority of the dining table covered with a laptop and a number of papers belonging to the accounting department he was employed by. "You forced me to come!"
"We've not had a family holiday for years!" snapped Charlotte. "Why can't you make time for us for a bloody change?!"
"Because my work is important!" Joe snapped back.
"SO IS OUR FAMILY!" bellowed Charlotte.
"OH, FOR GOODNESS SAKE, ENOUGH!" Joyce now cut in, silencing the pair. "Both of you, cut it out, please!"
"Mum, stay out of this," said Charlotte.
"No, I will not, darling," Joyce said. "You are on your father's boat. Act like the responsible adults that you were both brought up to be. Now, Charlotte, keep an eye on the lunch whilst I take this up to your father."
"I can take it," said Charlotte, wanting to get away from her husband.
"No, I'm taking it," Joyce said firmly. "Your father and I are due some well-deserved time together, and I intend to enjoy every moment of it. I don't want it ruined by your petty squabbles."
Charlotte growled in frustration as she went to attend the lunch which was cooking in the galley. Joe went back to his work whilst Joyce carried two glasses of pineapple juice up to the bridge where her husband was at the controls.
"Here you are, dear," Joyce said as she placed one of the glasses beside him.
"Ah, thank you, Joyce," answered Beatty gratefully. He took a swig from the glass. "Did I hear some shouting just now?"
Joyce rolled her eyes and groaned. "Yes, you did," she said. "I'm afraid Joe didn't leave his work behind when we set out. Charlotte's furious and I do fear this could be the breaking point for them."
"There will be no divorce on this trip," said Beatty firmly. "I'll admit we're only into day three of our voyage and things are rather dull but that'll all change when we get to the Seychelles. You wait and see."
Barbara smiled as she looked out across the vast empty ocean ahead of the yacht. A slight breeze was just taking the edge off the midday Sun. In the play area below, Melanie and Samuel were having a great time. They certainly weren't bored. "It's so beautifully quiet out here," she remarked.
"Yes, it is," agreed Beatty. He looked over at the radar screen. "I believe we're only souls for hundreds of miles."
What nobody on the yacht could have known was they weren't the only ones in the area. Lurking in the darkness beneath the surface was the mysterious unmarked submarine that had attacked the CV-9 cargo plane. Inside the control room located in its conning tower was a sophisticated operations system that could be handled by just two people. One was George Corbett who could operate everything from where he sat. everything from the propulsion to the weaponry.
The other chair was for the man in charge of the submarine - Captain Max Barker who was now entering the room through the automatic opening doors. "Mr Corbett - report!"
"Target aircraft will come into range in ten minutes, sir," Corbett acknowledged.
Captain Barker sat in his commander's chair. "Is the surface clear?" he asked.
Corbett turned to his combined sonar and radar screen. "Surface is clear, sir."
Barker looked round at him. "You're sure?" he asked sternly. "Earlier you were complaining that it was giving you false readings."
"I believe I've sorted those problems, sir," replied Corbett.
"Very good," Barker said with a nod. He turned back in his chair to face his holographic tactical display. "Surface and get ready to fire."
Corbett pressed a button that forced air into the ballast tanks. The submarine then slowly began to rise like a shark stalking some surface prey as it made its way towards the surface.
Charlotte appeared on the bridge. "Lunch is almost ready," she told her parents.
"Okay, dear, I'll tend to it," said Joyce. "I'll dish it up. You get the children."
Charlotte nodded and went to get Melanie and Samuel from the play area. Joyce followed her back down to the galley, leaving Beatty alone once again on the bridge. He looked at the controls to make sure that everything was in order, and then looked out across the bow once more. He then began to frown when he saw something strange. About seven-hundred yards dead ahead of the Lady Gray was a mysterious black object rising out of the water. "What the devil?!" he exclaimed and pulled back the throttle to neutral, stopping the engines and allowing the yacht to start slowing down.
Charlotte came round to the front of the yacht where the children were playing. "Come on, lunch time!" she called to them.
"Yay!" cheered Melanie, eagerly jumping down from the climbing frame and heading off along the deck towards the lounge area where they would be eating.
Samuel was on the top of the climbing frame. He was about to climb down when he too noticed the strange object rising from beneath the surface. He sat there and simply stared at it, unsure of what it was.
Charlotte, having realised that only Melanie had done as instructed, went back to get her son. "Sammy, come on! Lunch is waiting!" she said.
Samuel pointed out to sea. "Mummy, look! Big fish!" he said.
Charlotte looked to see what he was referring to. She then stopped dead in her tracks and stared in disbelief, unable to find any words.
Melanie sat down eagerly at the table close to where her father had begrudgingly moved a large pile of his papers so that Joyce could lay the food out for them, Charlotte and Samuel.
"You're not eating with us?" Joe asked.
"No, Wilson and I will eat upstairs," said Joyce. "He needs to still be able to see where we're going."
Joe snorted to himself as Joyce moved away. "So much for being together as a family," he muttered darkly to himself.
"Daddy?" Melanie suddenly piped up.
"What?"
"Why has it all gone quiet?"
Joe looked at her, confused. Then he began to listen and realised something. Everything had gone dead quiet. He glanced out of the open doorway at the back and noticed that the wake behind the yacht was dying out. "That's strange," he remarked. "The engines have stopped."
Joyce re-joined Beatty on the bridge. Now she found herself looking out at the mysterious vessel that had appeared in front of them. "Oh," she said with intrigue. "Are these some of your old colleagues, Wilson?"
Beatty had been observing it through binoculars, trying to find something that could identify it. But he had found nothing. "I don't believe so, Joyce," he answered. "I don't recognise this class of submarine at all." He put down the binoculars and picked up a small video camera which he switched on and then began to record.
The mystery submarine had unwittingly surfaced just over five-hundred yards in front of the Lady Gray. Despite its high-tech scanning equipment and jamming devices, it had failed to detect the yacht and as a result, neither Barker nor Corbett had any idea that they were being watched.
"Target aircraft in range, sir," said Corbett.
"Good," said Barker. "Then it's time, Mr Corbett."
"Aye, sir."
Joe came out onto the promenade deck of the yacht and came round to the front where he found Charlotte and Samuel, who she'd managed to get out from the climbing frame, standing right at the front of the bow. He stared out at the submarine with as much confusion as the others had. "Where the hell did that come from?" he asked.
"I have no idea," replied Charlotte. "But I don't think I like the look of it."
Melanie then appeared, wondering what was going on herself. Unlike the others, she got rather excited at the sight of the submarine. "Oh, wow!" she gasped, running to the very front and looking out across the water to it.
It was at that moment that everyone aboard the yacht noticed a long pair of hatch covers was opening up along the forward deck of the submarine. Then a platform with a missile on it rose up from inside. The two children were oblivious to what this was, but the four adults suddenly found themselves tensing up. For a few seconds they began to fear that they were the target. However that was quickly dispelled when the platform rose upwards to point towards the sky. Moments later, the missile was launched. It made a great WHOOSH as it went which frightened Samuel who immediately began crying loudly. Melanie almost fell over in shock. Charlotte, Joe and Joyce all watched with wide eyes following the tail-fire of the missile as it disappeared into some low hanging clouds off to the East.
Beatty followed it with his camera and soon he caught sight of what it was heading for. It was another CV-9 cargo plane. Within seconds of sighting it, the missile struck the aircraft right underneath the tail section. There was a violent explosion which ripped the plane apart. The back section fell almost directly downwards whilst the front two-thirds spiralled down uncontrollably before hitting the water belly-first and exploding on impact. The sound of the shockwave caused all the windows on the Lady Gray to rattle.
Charlotte and Joe forgot all about the animosity they'd had in their recent times and grabbed hold of each other whilst Charlotte had one hand over her mouth in shock.
Joyce too had her hands over her mouth, horrified by what she'd just witnessed.
Beatty turned off his camera and lowered it down. "Gosh," he remarked. "So that's what's going on out here."
Joyce then looked nervously over at the submarine which was lowering the platform back into its hull. "Do you think they've seen us?" she asked.
"I'm not going to wait to find out," Beatty replied. He then noticed the others out on the foredeck. "EVERYONE GET INSIDE!" he bellowed. "HURRY!"
Charlotte scurried off carrying the still crying Samuel in her arms. Joe took hold of Melanie's hand and rushed her back to the cabin as well.
"Get below with them, Joyce, and make sure everyone is strapped in," Beatty instructed. "This could get deadly."
"I can't leave you up here!" Joyce protested.
"Joyce…I'm not asking," Beatty said sternly. "Get below!"
Reluctantly, Joyce gave in and hurried back down inside the cabin of the yacht. Beatty powered up the engines to full and spun the wheel hard over to the right. The Lady Gray turned a full one-hundred and eighty degrees before picking up speed as it raced to get away from the mystery submarine.
It was most unfortunate that the sudden burst of speed from the Lady Gray was what caused it to be noticed. A sudden beep sounded which caught Corbett's attention. He blinked and stared in surprise at the small contact that had appeared on the sonar screen. "Sir! Vessel on the surface!"
Captain Barker turned sharply in his seat. "What?! You said the surface was clear!"
"It was, sir!" insisted Corbett. "It just appeared out of nowhere."
"Get me a visual, now!" barked Barker.
Corbett flicked some switches and the periscope camera on the top of the conning tower sent a live video feed to the monitor screen in the control room. It turned to the port-side of the submarine. Now both men could see the cream and white yacht racing away from them at high speed.
"Looks like a pleasure craft, sir," said Corbett. "They must have seen everything!"
There was a sharp THUD as Barker angrily slammed his left fist against his control console. This was the very thing he had not wanted to happen. He took some breaths to calm himself before giving a most disturbing order to Corbett. "Bring the guns online. DESTROY IT!"
An alarm began to wail throughout the submarine as the turret at the base of the conning tower began to swivel round to port. The twin barrels began to rise upwards as the radar guided it towards its target of the Lady Gray.
Even though they'd already managed to put a small amount of distance between them and the submarine, Beatty knew they were not out of danger yet. He had just about been able to hear the sound of a siren blaring out from the submarine above the roar of the yacht's engines. He grabbed a radio microphone. "Joyce, can you hear me?"
Joyce, who was down in the cabin with the rest of the family, quickly answered. "Yes, Wilson, I can hear you."
"Is everyone strapped in?" Beatty asked.
"Yes, dear," answered Joyce. "Everyone is strapped in. Are they coming after us?"
Beatty looked back over his shoulder. He could just make out the submarine in the distance. He was about to answer when he saw a bright white flash coming from the base of the conning tower followed seconds later by a distant boom which he recognised instantly as the sound of high-calibre guns firing. "BRACE YOURSELVES!" he shouted and dropped the microphone. He spun the wheel to port. The yacht leaned over as it turned. There came a whistling sound from overhead followed by two sharp blasts as two eight-inch high explosive shells landed in the water about ten metres away.
"MUMMY, DADDY, WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" cried Melanie in terror.
"Oh, my God, THEY'RE SHOOTING AT US!" wailed Charlotte.
"GET US OUT OF HERE!" Joe bellowed up towards the bridge.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK HE'S TRYING TO DO?!" shouted Joyce.
The submarine fired another salvo. Beatty turned the wheel again. This time to starboard. These shells landed much closer than the first, sending up huge columns of water that bracketed the yacht. Beatty got a soaking as the water splashed down over the bridge but he shrugged it off. He had to keep going. A third salvo was fired from the submarine. He turned to starboard again. This time the shells landed behind causing no harm. However he failed to hear the next salvo getting launched and these landed dangerously close to the yacht. The blasts caused several windows to shatter causing everyone inside to cry out in terror. Beatty swore out loud and spun the wheel to port once more. The yacht almost rolled onto its side due to the sharpness of the turn but luckily it managed to level itself out once he'd straightened it up again. Now he ran straight towards a distant group of uninhabited islands. He quickly realised that if he could get round behind one of them, the submarine would lose sight of them and have to cease its fire.
Using the islands as cover wouldn't be necessary as it turned out, for the speed of the Lady Gray soon allowed it to get out of the range of the submarine's guns. Beatty quickly realised this when the next three salvos all landed behind the yacht at roughly the same area. However he did not reduce speed.
"WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED FIRING?" Barker bellowed at Corbett.
"They're out of range, sir," answered Corbett. "We're just wasting shells."
Barker went red with fury. "GodDAMNIT, MAN!" he roared. "DON'T YOU REALISE WHAT THIS MEANS?!"
Corbett's lip quivered slightly. "Y-Yes, sir. I do," he said meekly.
Barker was seething with anger. "Dive the ship! Get us the HELL OUT OF HERE!" He got up very quickly from his chair and stormed furiously out of the control room leaving Corbett to flood the ballast tanks with water. The submarine quickly submerged and disappeared from sight.
Beatty looked back once again. He realised there were no longer any shells coming their way and the submarine was no longer visible on the horizon. He still did not reduce speed until they reached the safety of the shallow waters around the small group of islands nearby. He then cut the engines and hurried down into the cabin. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.
Melanie and Samuel were both crying their eyes out and Charlotte and Joyce also had tears from the fear they'd experienced during the attack. Joe on the other hand was livid. "I hope you're going to do something about this?" he said angrily.
"Oh, believe me, my boy. I most certainly am," Beatty answered. He hurried back to the bridge and checked his video camera. To his relief, it was still intact and the footage was unaffected. "I'm sorry, Joyce," he then said to his wife when he returned. "It looks like I'm cutting my retirement short for the moment."
Four days later, once the Lady Gray had been nursed back to Singapore, Beatty was back in his old uniform in the very same room where he'd had his retirement party. The room was very different to what it had been before when he'd last seen it. Armed guards were stationed at every door to keep anyone from entering and the big windows were covered by strong metal shields. The long table in the middle was empty of any food or drinks and had several high-ranking officers from the various Navies that made up the South-Eastern Alliance Fleet. Also there were representatives of the French, British, American and Free Bereznik Navies.
Admiral Jellicoe was seated at the far end of the table to where Beatty was giving his presentation. After giving a detailed analysis of what he'd witnessed, he then went on to show the officers the footage he'd captured of the attack and of the mystery submarine.
"Good lord…" Admiral Jellicoe remarked when the footage had finished. "You were damn lucky to get out of there, Admiral Beatty."
"Yes, Admiral," answered Beatty. "It was certainly a close one, that's for sure."
"Is your family okay, sir?" asked one of the senior officers.
"Very shaken by the ordeal, Commander," said Beatty. "But no injuries, I am pleased to say. I wish I could help you more, ladies and gentlemen, but I'm afraid this is as much as I can provide for you."
Jellicoe stood up. "Thank you, Admiral Beatty," he said. The screen then retracted into the ceiling as the lights came on. Jellicoe then addressed the rest of the officers in the room. "Ladies and gentlemen. I am sure you are all aware of the tragic and unexplained disappearances of cargo aircraft over the Indian Ocean since the start of this year. Up until now, we've had absolutely no leads as to who or what was behind this. And whilst we are still unaware of the who, we now know of the what. A submarine of unknown origin is somewhere out there hiding in the depths of the Indian Ocean, targeting unarmed civilian aircraft and then disappearing without a trace. Our job therefore is undoubtedly a difficult one. We need to find this submarine and stop it from attacking air traffic. At the moment it has only shot down cargo planes, but I dread to think how long it could be before it targets a passenger aircraft."
A murmur of agreement spread amongst the assembled officers.
"Gentlemen, ladies, please," Jellicoe ushered for silence. "I have called this meeting to discuss how we are going to try and combat this threat. Now, I understand we know absolutely nothing about this type of submarine, but-"
"Tigershark." Silence fell across the room as all eyes turned to the man who'd just interrupted Jellicoe. A man in a black and gold naval uniform coughed and then stood up. "Excuse please, Admiral Jellicoe," the man went on. "But I am aware of this submarine."
Confused looks and murmurs from the others could be heard.
Jellicoe coughed loudly for silence. "Go on, Admiral Karistoff-Yan?"
Admiral Karistoff-Yan was the leader of the Free Bereznik Navy. He was looking somewhat ashamed of what he was having to say. "My fellow comrades. The submarine in the footage taken by Admiral Beatty may be of unknown origin to you. But not to me. That vessel was the latest development in Bereznik stealth submarine technology. Far more advanced and deadly than the ones that attacked Gibraltar. We called it the Tigershark. However, we never got to use it. The ceasefire was called before it could be completed."
"If it wasn't completed, then why is it out in the Indian Ocean attacking aircraft, Admiral?" asked one of the Royal Navy officers.
"After the ceasefire was called, we took on the task of disassembling our deadliest weapons in agreement with the treaty," explained Admiral Karistoff-Yan. "The Tigershark was taken in tow by a pair of Tugs to be scrapped. Our newly-elected president of the Free Berezniks did not want such a dangerous weapon in his country's military. However, it never reached the scrapyard. The tow cables broke during a storm and it was believed that the Tigershark sank. However, we could find no trace of it as we couldn't know for sure where it was when it broke away from the Tugs."
"It's been over twenty-five years since the Global Conflict ended," said another Admiral. "If it didn't sink, who found it and where's it been all this time?"
"Undergoing extensive rebuilding, I can tell you that much," said Admiral Karistoff-Yan. "I was on the team that originally designed the Tigershark. It did not have a gun turret mounted at the base of its tower. Nor was it designed to have a retractable missile launcher. It was originally built with missile tubes. Whoever it is that has taken control of our former submarine has turned it into a far deadlier weapon than we could have ever made it into."
"I'd beg to differ with that," said the Commander who'd asked Beatty about his family. "The whole point of submarine warfare is to remain hidden and attack without your enemy knowing you're even there. All of our submarines can launch missiles whilst submerged. And yet this one has to surface so it can launch! Kind of defeats the purpose of it being a submarine, wouldn't you all agree?"
A large amount of agreement took place amongst the officers.
Once again, Jellicoe made a call for silence before addressing them all. "Thank you, Admiral Karistoff-Yan. That information has been of tremendous help."
"Admiral Jellicoe, I cannot apologise enough for once again the bad people of my country are once again out causing unnecessary trouble," said Admiral Karistoff-Yan. "You will have both my word and the full support of my ships at your disposal. We will do whatever we can to help you bring Tigershark to justice."
The other officers were hugely impressed by the willingness of the Bereznik Admiral.
"And that help will not go unappreciated either, Admiral," said Jellicoe. "Thank you very much." He then addressed the rest of the table. "Ladies and gentlemen. We are here to formulate a plan to lure this Tigershark submarine out and then stop its reign of terror by any means necessary. The help and support from you and all your fleets will be greatly appreciated. In addition, I have taken the liberty of inviting a member of International Rescue to this meeting. Of course they can't be here in person, but I have no doubt that they are turned in with everything that's been said so far." He paused and looked down at a small speaker that was built into the table. "Mr T - can you hear us?"
"Yes, Admiral Jellicoe," answered the voice of Jeff. "Loud and clear. And I'm up to speed with everything that has been said so far."
"Excellent," said Admiral Jellicoe as he began to address everyone once again. "Now then, this is what I am proposing we do."
Scott sat in the lounge of the Tracy Villa with Virgil, Gordon and Alan. Brains, Kayo and Grandma were also there. Jeff however was not. Everyone was mostly quiet. Scott sat at Jeff's desk with Grandma close-by. Virgil was playing slow classical music on the piano. Alan was as usual playing one of his video games whilst Gordon was engaged in a game of chess with MAX whilst Brains watched on. Kayo stood by the window, looking out over the Pacific Ocean. She and Scott still hadn't had their talk. Both had been wanting to, but they both knew it needed to be just them together, and the right time hadn't come. Scott had been rather depressed following the discovery of Captain Carter and Kayo had stayed away from him out of respect.
The eyes of John's portrait beeped as he called in from Thunderbird 5. "Any news from Dad, Scott?" he asked.
"Nothing," Scott replied. "It's all very quiet and I can't say I'm liking it."
"He's been gone for five hours in this secretive meeting of his," said Gordon. He had turned away from the chessboard to look at John, and in the brief moment of distraction, MAX moved a Bishop into a position next to Gordon's King.
"Checkmate," said Brains.
Gordon spun back around. "WHAT?!" he exclaimed as MAX warbled in triumph.
"What, no way!" laughed Alan. "Did you just get beat by MAX, Gordo?"
Gordon spluttered indignantly as the others started laughing.
Virgil stopped playing and turned to the others. "Whatever it is that Dad's in a meeting about, it must be very important," he said.
"Yeah, but how important?" asked Scott. "I do hope whatever it is he's not gonna keep us in the dark."
The sound of a door opening made everyone look over towards the rocket painting where Virgil would begin his launch sequence. On the opposite side of it was a concealed door leading to Jeff's secret room. A room that only he could access. It had been in here where he'd been having his very important meeting.
Scott quickly vacated the chair at the desk so that Jeff could sit in it.
"Keeping it warm for me, are you, Scott?" Jeff asked.
"I, er," Scott began but Jeff chuckled to show he was joking.
Jeff then addressed everyone in a most serious tone. "No doubt you've all been wondering why I've been absent for the past few hours. Well, now I'm gonna tell you. I've just got out of a meeting with the Top Brass of the World Navy in Singapore. One of their senior officers who recently retired witnessed the shooting down of the latest aircraft to be lost over the Indian Ocean."
"You meant the one that went down a few days ago?" asked Alan.
Jeff nodded. "And here's the culprit," he said. He forwarded a still image from the footage taken by Beatty's camera to the projector in the table.
Everyone gazed in amazement at the image of the large black submarine sitting on the surface.
"Oh, m-my!" exclaimed Brains, quickly going down the steps to have a closer look.
"A sub?!" said Gordon. "Well, I'll be damned!"
"Gotta say, I wasn't expecting that to be the cause of this," said Virgil.
"Wait, are those guns at the base of its tower?" asked Scott.
"Y-Yes, Scott," said Brains. "Eight-inch high-calibre g-guns as well."
"Guess that's what it's been using to shoot the planes down?" said Kayo.
"Actually no, Kayo," said Jeff. "It's got a missile launcher concealed into its forward deck. It used that to shoot the plane down. Then it tried to blow the retired Admiral's yacht out of the water with the guns when they made their escape."
"They did escape, didn't they?" asked Virgil anxiously.
"Luckily yes, Virgil," said Jeff. "Unharmed but I suspect the trauma won't go away any time soon." He gritted his teeth. "There were two kids on that boat. If that had been hit…"
"Don't talk like that, Jeff!" said Grandma sternly. "They weren't, and we need to be thankful for that."
Jeff nodded. "Yes, of course," he said.
"So what's the plan, Dad?" asked Gordon. "What did the Navy want us to do?"
"Do?" Jeff repeated. "We're not doing anything, Gordon. We're a rescue organisation. It's not our job to go hunting for rogue submarines."
"Whose Navy has it gone rogue from, Dad?" asked John.
"It's a former Bereznik sub, John," said Jeff.
"Of course it is!" said Gordon, rolling his eyes. "Just like the ones at Gibraltar."
"Except this one was never commissioned into service, Gordon," said Jeff. "It was decided to scrap it once the ceasefire was made; only it broke free from the towing vessels in a storm and was presumed to have sunk. Clearly though it didn't and some unknown group has gotten their hands on it."
"So the Navy has asked for our help and we're not doing anything?" said Alan. "Did you refuse our help, Dad?"
"I never finished what I was going to say, Alan," said Jeff. "The Navy did ask if we'd be willing to help with the search. I declined as it's not what I set International Rescue up to do. However…" He paused impressively. "John, I want you to monitor the Navy frequencies throughout the operation."
"Sure, Dad," said John. "But if you're not wanting to help them, why do you want us to monitor?"
Jeff composed himself before answering. "Because I have a hunch that this operation of theirs could go south very quickly!"
