Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Part 13

Anyway, Chip thinks the O.O.M. is getting senile. He says the only thing to do is to say nothing and double the work details. He says if it was any other kind of a s.h.i.+p on any other kind of a mission, it might not matter, but when it's the end of the world, you don't hold a crew together by telling them how bad things are."

"He doesn't know this crew," said Crane; but the brave loyal words did nothing about the cold lump which had formed in his stomach. "Any more good news?"

"There's something wrong with Hodges."

"The Third? Heck, there's nothing wrong with him a sh.o.r.e leave won't cure. What's his trouble?"

"He was, well, praying."

"If that's bad, it's curable. But is it bad? Some of my best friends-"

"He was saying the Lord's Prayer in the magazine, and he wouldn't stop. Dr. Jamieson said he didn't think he could stop." She shuddered. "It was awful, Lee-awful. He started during the phone call, and he just went on and on."

"Dr. Hiller has him under some sort of therapy, hasn't she?"

"Yes. She took care of him. She whispered something to him and he stopped praying, but he seemed to be very dazed. She led him away like a child."

"d.a.m.n. That makes us a little short-handed on the bridge. I guess I'll have to take his watches....

it doesn't surprise me too much, though, honey. I've heard before that people getting their heads candled sometimes come unglued for a while. I'll have a word or two to say to Hiller, though. She should've kept her hands the h.e.l.l off him."

"Oh, I wouldn't do that, Lee. Really not. She's awfully good, and she only took him on because he was getting jumpy. He hasn't been able to sleep, you know. If it weren't for her the chances are he'd've cracked up even sooner, and maybe worse. You have to remember-nothing's normal now."

"All the more reason to act normally."

"That's what Chip said about putting that call on the p.a."

"I'll have to hear this famous phone call. Who did we talk to, anyway?"

"England."

"England? Who in England?"

"I don't want to talk about it. You'll hear it later. Please, Lee."

"All right, Cathy," he said, surprised and concerned. "Then there's only one more thing on my mind: who was the man in the yellow suit?"

"Old Emery said it was an angel." She looked quickly at him, his eyes, one, the other, searching for laughter which would be cruel then. "He was kidding, of course, but-"

"He really didn't come from this boat?"

"If he did, he was in two places at once. When we saw him out there, we thought it was one of your men-Gleason or Smith. And then when you... when he got away from you, we looked around and there both of them were behind us, watching. O'Brien and his little helpers had their hands full in Main Control and the engine room. Cookie was in the greenhouse with us too-oh, everybody, everyone was aboard but you. And just to cap it-there wasn't a yellow suit in the rack."

"You're right, there wasn't, and we went over every one of them." He shook his head. "What bothers me is that the suit was strictly Navy-identical to the one I had on. Not only that-you saw me set out shark repellent? Well, what nudged me to do it was that that... angel of yours... he set some out too, upcurrent. I used mine mainly to check just that-it was identical."

"He did? Lee, who was he? Who was he?"

"I can think of three possibilities. One, no matter what you said, it was someone from the Seaview Seaview-someone you thought you'd checked but didn't. (That, by the way, is my choice.) Two, it was a man from another submarine-which makes no sense at all, because the only way there could have been one around without our detecting it a half a day ago would be for it to be lying doggo-lying exactly where we would stop, or within a few minutes' scuba swim. And n.o.body knew where we'd stop until we stopped. Even if someone outside had known of our plan to tap the cable, they'd have hundreds of miles of cable to guess at. And just to dispose altogether of that nonsensical silly submarine, it would either be fer us or agin us. If it was fer us, it would have given us a hail. If it was agin us, no diver in no yellow suit would've pegged that shark for me."

"Why would anyone be agin us?"

"Anyone wouldn't, which finally disposes of the whole silly idea."

And what's your third guess?"

Lee Crane spread his big hands. "He was an angel," he said.

CRANE LAY ON HIS BUNK LISTENING TO A tape recorder. The first thing he heard was his own voice: CRANE: Segment twenty-four, pair one. [Silence, five seconds] Segment twenty-four, pair two.

SPARKS: Hold it! Hold it right there, Captain Crane, while I pull up the gain. [Chatter, scratches, chatter. And what sounds like a voice.] Captain, we got something. We got something. Can you hook on with your needle-probes, sir? That's Segment twenty-four, pair 2.

CRANE: Hold on a minute. [Pause, 15 seconds] Try that. [Over background of bad static, a woman's voice, crooning]

VOICE: [very English]... ride a c.o.c.k horse, to Banbury Cross, and what will poor robin do then, poor thing...? For oh, for oh, the hobby-horse is forgot. 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did boil the beer of all those coves, in the name of the Father, the Son- SPARKS: h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo. h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo. This is the atomic submarine Seaview Seaview, United States Bureau of Undersea Exploration. h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo, do you read me. [A moment of silence, but for the backsurge of noise]

VOICE: I say.

SPARKS: h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo. This is the atomic submarine Seaview Seaview. Answer, please.

VOICE: This is the operator. May I help you?

SPARKS: I have a top priority, urgent call for Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C. Where are you, operator?

VOICE: Southampton, natur'ly. What number are you calling?

SPARKS: Operator, this is an emergency. This is the submarine Seaview Seaview, Admiral Harriman Nelson calling the President of the United States in Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

VOICE: You're pulling my leg.

SPARKS: Operator, this is a genuine emergency. This is the submarine Seaview Seaview. We have tapped into the undersea cable off the Brazilian coast. We have a crash priority call for the President of the United States. Can you get us through?

VOICE: [Completely businesslike] One moment please. [Twenty seconds silence]

SPARKS: h.e.l.lo Southampton. h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo.

VOICE: One moment, please, Seaview Seaview. I've put in a trunk call to the Foreign Office. I think I've got through and they're ringing. I say, y'know, this is the first call I've handled in two days. I was lit'r'ly talking to myself.... I'm not getting the Foreign Office. P'raps it isn't ringing after all, there could be a short. I'll try some numbers at the Home Office.

SPARKS: Southampton, could you put us through to the admiralty, or the RAF Signal Corps?

VOICE: I'll try, sir.

SPARKS: Could you put some other operators on it? And may I speak to your supervisor?

VOICE: [Cold, tense] I am the other operators, sir. I am the supervisor. I am the charlady and the bottlewasher and the sweeper-up and the doorman. Oh I am the cook and the captain bold, and the mate of the Nancy Lee.... Sorry, Seaview Seaview. I've been on duty for three days and I haven't had tea since yesterday.... The ringing signal's stopped. Maybe it never was ringing, what? Ring out wild bells...

SPARKS: Southampton!

VOICE: Mrs. Symonds is the relief operator, what? She came a little late in her little blue hat.

She floated right up to the window and she bobbed about, and she went away with the tide, and when the tide came in, there she was again. [Suddenly businesslike] I'm sorry, sir. I've been ringing London right along, but I can't get an answer from telephone Central. I'm afraid I shan't get through. The wires are down all over the west coast, y'know. This one London line sounds live, but there hasn't been anybody on it in days.

SPARKS: Operator, what about the overseas lines?

VOICE: All out, sir. First noise, ever so much noise, and then one by one they went out. Until you came. Where did you say you're calling from?

SPARKS: United States Submarine Seaview Seaview, tapped into the submarine cable off Ferdinand de Noronha.

VOICE: Oh, I say: that is a lark.

SPARKS: Could you speak a little more clearly, please. There's no way you can relay this call to Was.h.i.+ngton, then? Or to the British authorities?

VOICE: Not until they put the lines right, sir.

SPARKS: [Off mike] Yes sir, I'll ask. [On mike] Operator, Admiral Nelson wants to know everything you can tell us about the world situation.

VOICE: Now I know you're pulling my leg. He's been dead for years.

SPARKS: The American Admiral Nelson!

VOICE: Oh yes, of course. I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry, I've been, you know. And no tea. I say, you wanted to call Was.h.i.+ngton in America, what? Oh dear, you can't, you know, it isn't there any more. At least the Government are not. The very last I heard was that they had moved into Virginia, the mountains, you know. There were some calls from New York too, there are still people there. In the tall buildings. They want water. They want food too, but mostly water. The rivers have all gone salt, you see, with the sea coming in. [The background noise louder. The voice fainter.]

SPARKS: Please speak a little closer. Can you read me?

VOICE: Would you repeat that, please.

SPARKS: I'll shove in more... uh... there. [Loud, and badly overmodulated] Can you read me now?

VOICE: Ouch! Oh, my poor ear. Yes, I read you, Seaview Seaview, only the noise is frightfully loud too.

SPARKS: Can you tell us any more news?

VOICE: Oh, not possibly, I can't remember all those awful things.... The Prime Minister asks us to keep calm for the duration. The Royal Ballet refused to cancel, last I heard, and I don't know what will happen because they say the water's up to the first balcony at Covent Garden. There was word that the sea would overrun Panama, you know, between the Americas. There's no chance for the hollyhocks, they hate so much wet, you know. Oh, you'll want to know about the riot in California, they burned down Dr. van Allen's home. He wasn't there, Dr. van Allen, I mean, you know, the radiation belt chap. There's bad fighting in Israel too, something to do with the arm of the Mediterranean that's filling up the Dead Sea, they blame it on one another. And oh, there's Mrs.

Symonds coming back, I can see her little blue hat floating along like a toy boat. And then there's all those s.h.i.+ps gone out to sink that submarine, that scientific wallah's submarine, the Seaview Seaview. Oh, but you're the Seaview Seaview, aren't you? So they can't have got you yet, can they?

SPARKS: What s.h.i.+ps? Operator, please speak more slowly.

VOICE: Sorry. Is this better? What s.h.i.+ps? Oh, some silly spat they had at the United Nations, and there was a vote to go out and find you, and it wasn't carried, and some of them got quite livid and said they would make up their own task force and sink you.

SPARKS: How did the United States vote? [Background noise up]

VOICE: Oh, I say, I haven't the faintest. The water's pouring in downstairs, this time, I imagine the tide's higher than ever. And Mrs. Symonds!

SPARKS: Operator! Operator!

VOICE: Why, she's going to float right in the window down there. Bless her old heart, she drowned three days ago and still she wants to come back and relieve me. Plucky, what? Are you there? I say, h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo, are you there?

SPARKS: Operator! Operator!

VOICE: I say, I can't hear you. Are you there? Are you there? [Background noise up]

SPARKS: Seaview Seaview, calling Southampton operator. Can you read me?

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