The Dragon in the Sea (12 page)
Read The Dragon in the Sea Online
Authors: Frank Herbert
“Well?”
“Skipper, I asked you a civil question. Phrased a bit loosely, perhaps. What I want to know is how much longer until we reach Novaya Zemlya?”
Sparrow held himself in rigid control, thinking:
Security
?
A spy trying to draw me out with a clever guess?
He said, “I don't see where it's your concern how long it takes us to get anywhere.”
Security
?
A spy trying to draw me out with a clever guess?
He said, “I don't see where it's your concern how long it takes us to get anywhere.”
Ramsey returned his attention to the tube.
Is he convinced that I'm a Security officer?
Is he convinced that I'm a Security officer?
I could ask him for the exact coordinates,
thought Sparrow.
But would it prove anything if he doesn't know them? Or if he does know them?
thought Sparrow.
But would it prove anything if he doesn't know them? Or if he does know them?
Ramsey set up a bell jar and vacuum pump, the tube resting on the black mastic sealer inside the jar. He removed the jar, arranged a small remote-control console, replaced the jar.
Sparrow watched carefully, still undecided about Ramsey.
“This is going to be slow,” said Ramsey.
Lord in heaven, if I only knew!
thought Sparrow.
Is he a spy? How can I tell? He doesn't really act like one.
thought Sparrow.
Is he a spy? How can I tell? He doesn't really act like one.
Ramsey locked a stool in place before the bench, sat down. “Slow and easy,” he said.
Sparrow studied him.
It could be a clever act. I'll get busy checking the shack tubes, watch him
. He said, “I'll
start checking out your tubes.” He removed a cover plate at the left, found scales, began removing tubes, weighing them.
It could be a clever act. I'll get busy checking the shack tubes, watch him
. He said, “I'll
start checking out your tubes.” He removed a cover plate at the left, found scales, began removing tubes, weighing them.
Minutes ticked awayâan hour, two hours ⦠two hours and forty minutes. Inside the bell jar, the parts of the tube were laid out in rows. Sparrow long since had finished his job, was watching the work at the bench.
“No booby trap,” said Ramsey. He activated a magnet arm inside the jar, lifted a grid section. “And I still don't see how they rigged this thing to go off. This looks like standard stuff.” He rotated the part on the magnet. “There's nothing arranged to fuse with an overload. Nothing extra at all except that micro-vibrator and its capacitor power source.” He replaced the grid section. “Our boys are going to want to see that.” He picked up a cathode segment, turned it over, set it down. “No trigger. How was it done?”
Sparrow looked to the camera which had been capturing every movement of the examination, turned back to Ramsey. “We have another problem.”
“What's that?” Ramsey straightened, rubbed the small of his back.
Sparrow slid off his stool. “How're we going to get word of this back to base? If the EPs get us, the things we've discovered are lost. But I have an ironclad order against breaking radio silence.”
Ramsey stretched his back. “Do you trust me, Skipper?”
Before he could stop himself, Sparrow said, “No.” He frowned.
Ramsey grinned. “I'm still the one with the solution to your problem.”
“Let's have it.”
“Put the whole story onto a squirt repeater andâ”
“Squirt repeater?”
Ramsey bit his lip, coughed.
Damn! Another BuPsych-Security secret.
It had slipped out.
Damn! Another BuPsych-Security secret.
It had slipped out.
“I've never heard of a squirt repeater,” said Sparrow.
“It's something new in ⦠uh ⦠electronics. You code a message onto ultra-stable slow tape, then speed up the tape. You set the message to repeatâover and overâa little squirt of sound. It's recorded at the receiver end, slowed for playback and translation.”
“That's still breaking radio silence.”
Ramsey shook his head. “Not if the message is broadcast by a little set in a floater rigged to start transmitting long after we've gone.”
Sparrow's jaw fell. He snapped his mouth shut. Then “Could you rig it?”
Ramsey looked around him. “We have all the essentials right here.”
Sparrow said, “I'll send Garcia in to help you.”
Ramsey said, “I won't need any help withâ”
“He'll help you anyway.”
Again Ramsey grinned. “That's right. You don't trust me.”
In spite of himself, Sparrow grinned back at the amusement in Ramsey's face; then wiped the grin from his features and from his thoughts. His brows drew together.
Is this all an act on Ramsey's part?
he wondered.
Amuse me. Throw me off guard. It could be.
Is this all an act on Ramsey's part?
he wondered.
Amuse me. Throw me off guard. It could be.
Ramsey glanced at the wall chrono. “My watch.” He indicated the parts in the bell jar. “This'll keep.”
“I'll stand your watch,” said Sparrow. He thumbed his chest mike. “Joe, come to the shack. Johnny's figured out
how to get a message to home base. I want you to help him.”
how to get a message to home base. I want you to help him.”
“This shouldn't take more than a couple of hours,” said Ramsey. “It's really a simple rig. I'll report in as soon as we've finished.”
Sparrow pursed his lips in thought, stared solemnly at Ramsey. “There's something else. I'm instituting a new watch procedure: two men on duty at all times, never to leave actual sight of each other.”
Ramsey's eyes widened. “There are only four of us, Skipper.”
“It'll be rough,” said Sparrow. “We'll stagger the watches, change the second man in mid-watch.”
“That's not what I meant,” said Ramsey. “It'll be more than rough. There are only four of us. Isolated. Under your plan, we'll obviously be watching each other. When you watch another man it tends to make you suspicious. Suspicion sets up a paranoiac situation whereâ”
“Your reluctance to accept an order for the general safety is being noted and will be entered in the log,” said Sparrow.
Ramsey's face took on a look of watchful remoteness. He thought:
Take it easy. This is the paranoiac learning that Obe mentioned
. He said, “Efficiency will suffer if we'reâ”
Take it easy. This is the paranoiac learning that Obe mentioned
. He said, “Efficiency will suffer if we'reâ”
“I'm still the captain of this vessel,” said Sparrow.
“Yes,
Captain,”
said Ramsey. He made the title sound faintly reproachful.
Captain,”
said Ramsey. He made the title sound faintly reproachful.
Sparrow's lips thinned. He whirled, left the shack, hurried aft to his quarters, bolted the door behind him. He sat down on his bunk, swung the folding desk into position. The faint whispering of the induction drive resonated
through the wall behind him. The
Ram
had an uncertain, shifting motion; the bottom turbulence of the Arctic Current.
through the wall behind him. The
Ram
had an uncertain, shifting motion; the bottom turbulence of the Arctic Current.
He thought:
We've a spy aboard. It's obvious someone activated that spy beam. I wish I'd had Joe checking Ramsey when he opened that tube. He says there was no internal trigger system in the thing, but he could've hidden something from me.
We've a spy aboard. It's obvious someone activated that spy beam. I wish I'd had Joe checking Ramsey when he opened that tube. He says there was no internal trigger system in the thing, but he could've hidden something from me.
From a recess in his desk, Sparrow removed his private log, opened it to a clean page, smoothed the log flat. He took his pen and, in a neat cramped hand, wrote the date, then: “This date Ensign John Ramsey made objection to a Security procedure designed to ⦔
He paused, remembering that he'd ordered Garcia to the shack. He thumbed the switch on his chest mike: “Joe, are you in the shack?”
Garcia's voice came out of the wall speaker. “Righto.”
“Just checking,” said Sparrow. “Would you have a look at that spy beam, see if there's anything about it we may have missed?”
“Righto, Skipper. Been doing just that.”
“That's all,” said Sparrow. He turned back to his log.
In the shack, Garcia looked up from the bell jar. “You're dead right, Johnny-O. No trigger.”
“What's that thing look like to you?” asked Ramsey.
“Only one thing it could be,” said Garcia. “A relay amplifier.”
Ramsey nodded. “Right. The actual signal's coming from someplace else.”
“It'd have to be close,” said Garcia. “Just giving you a freehand estimated-type guess, I'd say within ten feet.”
Ramsey rubbed the back of his neck.
“What're you wearing a phone for?” asked Garcia. He nodded toward the monitor phone in Ramsey's left ear.
“Monitor on the seismo,” said Ramsey. “If another spy beam goes offâ”
“Good idea.”
Ramsey brought his hand around to the side of his neck, passing it over the faint scar which covered the pellet.
“What'd you find in the spare?” he asked.
Garcia shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Skipper checked the shack while I was dismantling that tube,” said Ramsey. “Negative here, too.”
“Hadn't you better get started?” asked Garcia.
“Huh?”
“Building your little gadget.”
“Sure.” Ramsey turned back to his bench. As he turned, the speaker above the seismoscope rasped to an upper-range sound. Ramsey's eyes snapped to the scope. The pulsing green line made a sharp upsweep, repeated.
Bonnett's voice came over the speaker from the control deck: “Skipper.”
Sparrow's bass tones: “What is it, Les?”
“Seismic shock somewhere astern.”
“I have it here,” said Ramsey. “Torp blast. It's in the same range as the EPs' 24-K fish.” He scribbled some figures on a note pad, picked up a slide rule, set it, read it. “About a hundred miles astern. Well within range of drift for that little package we left behind us.”
“Would they waste a torp on that little thing?” asked Sparrow, then answered his own question. “What's the matter with me? Of course they would. All they'd see on their gear would be the signal. They'd think it was us lying doggo.”
“That's the way I figure it,” said Ramsey. He looked at Garcia. “What do you say, Joe?”
Garcia was trembling, face pale. He shook his head. Ramsey stared at him questioningly. He appeared extremely agitated.
Sparrow's voice boomed from the speaker: “All hands: as soon as I am finished with work here, I will relieve Mr. Bonnett.” There was the sound of a throat being cleared.
Ramsey glanced at the wall chrono. “About time. Les has been on three straight watches.”
The skipper's voice continued: “At that time I will post a new watch schedule in the wardroom. It is to go into effect immediately.”
Garcia had brought himself under control. He said, “What's eating the skipper? He sounds angry.”
Ramsey outlined the new watch schedule.
“What the bloody!” said Garcia. “As if we weren't nuts enough already!”
Ramsey stared at him.
That was an odd reaction for an engineering officer
, he thought.
For a psychologist, okay. But not for Garcia.
That was an odd reaction for an engineering officer
, he thought.
For a psychologist, okay. But not for Garcia.
In his quarters, Sparrow wrote: “I must make certain there is no opportunity for anyone to activate a spy signal when we reach the well.” He penned his signature, made the final period an exclamation point, closed the log, and returned it to its hiding place.
The timelog repeater on his cabin bulkhead showed seven days, nineteen hours, twenty-three minutes from point of departure.
Sparrow stood up slowly, left his room, closing the door meticulously behind him. He turned, strode forward to the wardroom. As he passed the shack, he heard Ramsey
saying: “This stabilizes the micro-timing of the take-up spool. It has to be right on.”
saying: “This stabilizes the micro-timing of the take-up spool. It has to be right on.”
Garcia's answer was lost to Sparrow as he stepped into the wardroom, closing the door meticulously behind him.
They dropped the signal squirter in the next watch. Sparrow noted the timeâseven days, twenty hours, forty-eight minutes from departureâand entered it in the main logbook. He added the position from the sonoran chart: sixty-one degrees, fifty-eight minutes North Latitude, seventeen degrees, thirty-two minutes West Longitude. The squirter was set for a four-hour delay.
“Very good, Johnny,” he said. There was no warmth in his tone.
Ramsey said, “We make do with what we have.”
“Let us pray that it works,” said Sparrow. He looked at Garcia. “But we won't count on it.”
Garcia shrugged. “It
could
work,” he said. “If anybody hears it.” He stared coldly at Ramsey.
could
work,” he said. “If anybody hears it.” He stared coldly at Ramsey.
Sparrow thought,
Joe's suspicious. Oh, Lord! If Ramsey's a spy, he'd key that squirter to a wave length the EPs are listening to. It'll tell them we're on to the spy beam and they'll redouble their patrols!
Joe's suspicious. Oh, Lord! If Ramsey's a spy, he'd key that squirter to a wave length the EPs are listening to. It'll tell them we're on to the spy beam and they'll redouble their patrols!
“Am I relieved now?” asked Ramsey.
“Until your watch,” said Sparrow. He stared after Ramsey.
In his quarters, Ramsey brought out the telemeter box, examined the tapes. Sweeping disturbance lines hit his eyes. Now Sparrow was reacting. But what reaction! They
reminded Ramsey of a feedback record. Each succeeding wave worse than the one before. The whole area from the discovery of the spy beam was a scrambled record of disturbance.
reminded Ramsey of a feedback record. Each succeeding wave worse than the one before. The whole area from the discovery of the spy beam was a scrambled record of disturbance.
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