Counterpoint (54 page)

Helpless to avoid the impact, everyone
watched in fascinated terror as the mysterious shadowy mass took
form and texture as it slowly got closer. The shape was roughly
oval, one moment larger in width, then circular, then deeper. The
poorly defined edges were constantly changing.

Now within 50 meters, the solid cloud
had a pulsating texture; it was not a solid after all. At 20
meters, it dawned on the awestruck crew that the threat was no more
than an enormous shoal of fish. The teaming, shiny black bodies
writhed and darted, striving to get to the vessel before its
neighbour.

“Slow down the motors commanded Joe
Buck, they can’t hurt us in here!”

The Pilot brought the vessel to a stop
and to maintain stability, resumed a forward ground speed of five
knots. In an instant, the mass surrounded the sub, blocking out all
visibility. The computer navigation system also became confused,
the motors shut down, and the vessel started to veer off
course.

A new fear swept through the crew as it
became clear the fish were in a feeding frenzy, the meal was the
submarine. The fish knew only one thing, this strange, sleek
monster was injured, and the taste in the water was gourmet!

The occasional close-up of the fish
revealed they were not a species anyone had ever seen before. They
had long, sleek bodies, covered with a shiny black skin, like
patent leather. Their mouths were large and cavernous, the jaws
lined with a palisade of needle sharp teeth. Lures bristled around
the mouth like antenna when they stopped, sweeping back flat
against the body as they darted forward. Grotesque and ferocious,
the evil creatures searched and glided sensually over the hull
until displaced by others, wanting to follow the scent.

Bill Davis called out a warning. “We
have lost control of the sub, the motors must be restarted on
manual control so we can try and steer away from here!”

“We can’t see where to steer!” The
Pilot called back. At the moment, we are being carried along by the
current, the best I can do is remain parallel with the flow and
hope we don’t drift into the rock face. I will need to go into
reverse to keep our forward ground speed low, so I am restarting
the motors!

A few deft taps with his fingers on the
console sent power to the motors, but within seconds the straining
sound and shuddering followed by instant shut down confirmed their
worst fears. The propulsion system was clogged solid with the
crushed flesh of the fish. They were going nowhere until the tubes
were cleared, manually.

Hearing all the commotion, Max, Carla
and a few others of the crew, made their way up from sick bay to
see what was going on in the control room. When Joe Buck saw Max,
he was surprised and somewhat dismayed to see him up and about.

“
How come you are
always around when there is trouble?” Joe questioned, with a
sneer.

“Because you always let it get out of
control,” Max snapped back.

Bill turned to Max and explained about
the fish having jammed the propulsion tubes. “We need to clear them
pronto because at any moment, we could be swept into the rocks at
some twenty five knots. We cannot see to navigate with the fish all
around.”

“What are they after?” questioned Max
to no one in particular.

“Food!” Remarked Ingrid. “Perhaps the
coating on the hull is attracting them?”

“Unlikely,” mumbled Bill, “It has been
well tested in the real world, and no creatures go near it,
including barnacles and weed.”

“One possibility springs to mind,” said
Max quietly, as he looked at Carla. She gave a deep shudder as she
turned to glance at the teeming fish.

“Oh God, no!” She exclaimed. “That
could have been us.” She looked at Max for confirmation, he
solemnly nodded.

“I believe they have the taste of human
flesh, poor Jim to be precise. I am sure his air tank exploded and
with all the blood in the water, they are looking for the
body.”

“But that was miles back up the
tunnel,” Joe Buck scoffed, “why hang around us? “

The Pilot had just made a rough mental
calculation. He figured the drift of Jim’s body in the increasing
current and the speed of the sub, would coincide with a position
two miles further up the tunnel.

“The figures show it’s possible, but
why are they swarming around us still?” The Pilot added.

“Jim Boswell’s body fluids are still
adhering to the hull in the minute surface pits of the special
coating,” said Max.

“The special texture is rough like
shark skin and is designed to create a frictionless interface with
the water,” Bill explained. “Perhaps some blood remains because it
couldn’t be washed off.”

“Of course!” Exclaimed Max, loudly. “We
now have tons of fish-paste oozing from the sub’s fundamental
orifices, so until that is picked clean by those voracious
scavengers, we are stranded!”

Max turned to Joe Buck and threw a
question at him. “What do we do then Joe?”

The Senator flushed up, he could see no
immediate solution and tried to consider the options. They had to
get moving, the longer they drifted the more chance of a serious
collision. They couldn’t start the motors with the blockage, and
could not venture outside to clear it because they would be eaten
alive.

If they could clear the blockage, then
restarting the motors with the fish swarming around might cause
another blockage.

Seeing no sign of an answer from the
Senator, Max turned back to address everyone in the control
room.

“What have we got on board that is
toxic or downright distasteful to hungry fish? Can we discharge it
into the propulsion tubes, so the crushed fish remains are no
longer attractive to others?”

A technician replied with a brief list.
“50 litres of diesel fuel from a mobile generator for arc welding,
about the same amount of lubricating oil, though some will be
needed for the sub to function for an extended period.”

Kate Winslow suggested various drugs
and chemicals from sick bay.

Ingrid chimed in with a real downer to
their rising hopes. “You might temporarily keep the live fish out
of the tubes, but the sub will suck them in again when the motors
start to draw water. The strong current will sweep away any
substance you manage to get outside in a long, thin toxic stream,
easily avoided by the fish.”

“What we really need is a mesh screen
at the ends of the tubes, letting water in but fine enough to
exclude the fish.,” Suggested Bill.

“Why is there no screen now?” asked the
Senator.

“It creates turbulence which can be
heard by detection equipment,” Bill replied. “Besides, it was never
thought to be a real problem. Normal shoals are too thin in numbers
to have any effect. The same probability exists with bird strikes
in jet engines, it happens, but statistically a minor risk.”

The Senator grunted his disapproval
with the reasoning, but said no more.

Could we build a screen, ventured
Carla? Everyone, but Max looked at Carla with a mixture of disdain
and amusement, what a bloody silly question, but then she was only
a girl.

Max asked her what she had in mind. “If
the grid could be fixed at the ends of the propulsion tubes, it
would solve the future blockage problem. I overheard one of the
crew or technicians say the propulsion tubes can be accessed
through a service cover direct from inside the sub.”

Max pursued her line of thought. “What
about the dead fish blockage and the live fish in the tubes?”

“Well!” she replied confidently,
“judging by the voracity of the fish, I doubt much of the blockage
will be left by the time we are ready, but perhaps it could be
cleared by hand when you are in the tubes. More live fish can be
excluded by the hydraulic covers at the ends of the tubes, while
work inside proceeds.”

“There is at least one significant flaw
with your plan,” said Max, smiling. Her face dropped.

“You said, when
you
are in the tubes.”
There is no way I am going to let you near those fish, dead or
alive, but otherwise, it could work.”

She grinned at Max; she didn’t mind
that sort of a tease.

Bill made the observation that access
could only be achieved if the pumping discs were away from the
access hatch, otherwise the way would be blocked. As he spoke, he
typed in a command to his control panel, the monitor screen
displayed a schematic of the mechanism. “Only one disc was clear,
the other was blocking the opening.”

“Can we run on one tube” asked the
Senator?

“No!” replied Bill, “the levels of
propulsion power we will need rule that out.”

“Well, we have got to do something!”
Pressed the Senator.

“Can we make the grids?” Asked Max,
trying to restart the discussion on a positive track.

“Yes!” said one of the reactor
operatives, we have everything you need, and it can be made up as a
push fit, for welding in place.”

“What about a personal cage that could
fit around me?”

The young man looked oddly at Max and
so did the rest of the gathering. “What do you mean he queried?”
Not sure if he heard right.

“
Because of the
position of one of the discs blocking the access hatch, that grid
must be fixed from the outside, because there would be no way out
of the tube. You cannot be in the tube when the discs start moving,
under power. If I had a shield round me, I could get to the bow and
stern opening of the tube, by swimming along the hull. I could fix
the grid externally, without being eaten alive,” explained
Max.

“I am sure we could do something,”
replied the man thoughtfully.

“But won’t you be swept away by the
current?”

“I don’t think so; we are drifting with
it at the moment,” replied Max.

“Is anyone prepared to come with me,
outside, while someone else works on the other tubes from
inside?”

No one moved, but all of them broke
into a low murmur of excuses.

In an act of devilment, Max looked at
Senator Buck, who withered in embarrassment at his gaze.

Unfortunately, others followed Max’s
gaze and looked to Buck for leadership.

“I’ll do the inside, then,” he blurted,
cursing his mouth, for volunteering him on the mission.

A technician said he would join Buck,
as he knew what to do in the tube and how to weld.

No one wanted to go with Max though;
the fish were still in frenzy outside. Carla knew Max would go
anyway, even if no one went with him, so she said she would join
him. She smiled weakly at Max, terrified at the prospect of those
fish trying to rip the flesh off her.

The crew set about making up the grids
and personal cage. Because of the restricted cover plate opening to
the accessible tube, the pre-cut bars had to be marked for assembly
and finally welded in position. If a bar broke loose later, it
would certainly seize the mechanism.

The personal cage was more of a
challenge, it had to fully enclose both people and allow the
occupants to crawl or swim along the hull without drifting off.
Limbs outside the close mesh would not be feasible with such
vicious creatures searching for juicy flesh. The plastic hull skin
was too thick to allow the use of magnets and too rough for
suckers.

The team came up with novel protective
suits for Max & Carla, made up of thin sheet aluminium, wire
and grease all held together with an outer, overlarge wet suit.
Thin copper wire was loosely wound over their bare bodies, then
barrier cream and grease, then a wet suit. Next, carefully cut and
shaped, thin aluminium sheet, formed the body armour. The joints
were a stiff wire mesh, formed ball shaped, to allow full joint
movement. Over this was another larger wet suit to hold things more
or less in place. Grease soaked leather gloves, woven with wire
were to be initially covered with metal cans during the swim along
the hull, forming a tight fist kept them on. They would be
discarded and dangle on strings when fitting the grid as full
manipulation of hands would be necessary then. A head piece of mesh
completed the first line of defence. Hopefully the grease would
render the flavour of their bodies less palatable and form the
second layer of protection. Finally, a connection was made to the
innermost copper wire for a high frequency electrical device. The
device was made from camera flash electronics encapsulated in epoxy
resin. This created an electrical force field around them in the
water. Their bodies were at zero potential and trailing external
wires charged the water. As many sea creatures use weak electrical
fields to find their prey, this ruse might disrupt this ability or
give them a nasty shock, if they touched the circuit.

Even their air hose was protected from
attack by flexible metal shower hose.

After being dressed Max and Carla
climbed through the opening into the chamber, it was extremely
difficult to move in the suits, but hopefully, in the water it
would be easier.

As the water flooded the chamber, they
were grateful for the cooling effect of the icy water, the hot
water had been left a long way behind.

Holding each other close, the outer
door swung open; the moment they were dreading had come at
last.

The other teams had their own fears and
problems. The whole submarine had to be pressurised to match the
water pressure outside to reduce the chance of leakage. The outer
tube doors were never designed to seal perfectly at this depth, so
flooding was a danger. With both ends of the propulsion tubes
closed off by the hydraulic doors, air was pumped in to replace the
water as it was pumped out. The cover plates, like small doors
between submarine and propulsion tubes, were unbolted and hinged
back, as soon as the water level was below the opening.