The Snow Tiger / Night of Error (63 page)

So we carried on, zig-zagging back towards Falcon, fruitlessly dredging the seemingly profitless Pacific.

And then we hit it!

My voice shook as I called the vital figures out to Clare. ‘C-Cobalt – 4.32 per cent.’

She looked up, startled. ‘I didn’t catch that one, Mike – at least I think I didn’t.’

I said shakily, ‘This is it – 4.32 per cent cobalt!’

We looked at each other wordlessly. At last I said carefully, ‘We’ll assay again from that last load. More than once. Paula! I want everything washed down again – cleaner than ever.’ And the three of us threw ourselves into a routine that was suddenly anything but boring.

The results were dotted around my first one like Campbell’s bullet-holes around mine on the target. 4.38 – 4.29 – four times I tested, and every test checked out.

I croaked, ‘Hell, I’ve got to tell Geordie. He’s got to change course.’

I dashed up on deck leaving the girls thumping each other’s shoulders. Ian was at the wheel. ‘Whoa up!’ I shouted. ‘We’re going back to the last site.’

His eyes widened. ‘You’ve never found something?’

‘That I have! Where’s Geordie?’

‘He’s off watch – I think in his cabin.’

I left him to supervise the change of direction and pounded below. But Geordie wasn’t impressed. ‘Four per cent is a long way from ten,’ he said.

‘You damn fool, Geordie. It’s twice the percentage that’s been found in any nodule before, apart from the one we had in London. We must have struck the edge of the concentration.’

‘Well – what now?’

‘We go back and cruise that area, keeping an eye on the echo sounder. That’ll probably tell us something.’

He swung out of his bunk and put his trousers on. ‘It might tell you something; it won’t mean a thing to me. Thank God we’ve been keeping careful records of our position.’

‘Come on – let’s tell the boss.’

Campbell had already been told. We found him in the lab with the girls, looking at the figures. He turned as we came in, his eyes bright with expectation. ‘Have we found it, Mike?’

I was suddenly cautious. I said carefully, ‘We’ve found something. Whether it’s what we hope is another thing.’

‘You goddam scientists,’ he grumbled. ’Why can’t you ever tell a straight story?’

I pulled out the chart I had been making from the recording echometer. ‘There’s a ridge running along here, roughly north and south,’ I said. ‘The top is within nine thousand feet of the surface. We picked up our prize nodule here, on the east side of the ridge at eleven thousand feet. I’d like to sail at right angles to the ridge, striking east – this way. I’d like to see how the depth of water goes.’

‘You think the depth might have something to do with this?’

‘It might. It would be the natural accumulation area for the greatest volume of nodules hereabouts, rather than in the very shallowest areas – even though there’s never more than one layer of thickness of nodules anywhere.’

‘I thought they’d be there in great piles, humped up together.’

‘Sorry, no,’ I said. ‘That’s never been found. The best evidence from some deep-sea photographs is that there are parts of the sea-bed which are lumpy underneath the sediment layer, indicating that many more nodules might be buried there, but in that case they’d have stopped growing anyway, being cut off from their life-line – the sea water itself.’

But for the only time they were not interested in my impromptu lecture. I hastened to correct myself.

‘Don’t worry, the billions of tons I promised you will be there, even if it does lie only one layer thick. There are lots of things we have to find out still.’

We arrived in the vicinity of the last site with members of the crew, rather ludicrously, peering at the surface of the ocean as if it could show them anything. Geordie said, ‘Right – now which way?’

I drew a pencil line on his chart. ‘Follow that course, please.’

As we sailed I watched the trace of the echometer with intense concentration. The line showed a gradual deepening of the water – not a sudden drop, but a falling away as though from mountains into the plains. After we had gone about ten miles the bottom began to come up again from 13,000 feet. I made sure it wasn’t just a local condition and then said, ‘I want to go back about two miles.’

‘Okay,’ Geordie said, and gave brisk orders. We were doing most of this work under engine as it was tricky for sail, and I was grateful for the continuing calm weather which gave us the minimum of wind and ocean drift to contend with. I thought for just one envious moment of how easy it would all be on land.

Campbell looked at my tracing. ‘What do you think?’

‘There’s some sort of valley down there,’ I said. ‘We’ve come from a ridge, crossed the valley and begun to climb up towards the opposite ridge. I want to go back and dredge where it’s deepest – it’s about 13,000 feet.’

Campbell rubbed his cheek. ‘Bit deep for commercial dredging with a drag line. You waste too much time just going down and coming up again.’

‘If the stuff’s rich enough it should pay.’

He grunted. ‘That’s what we’re here to find out.’

By now everyone knew what was in the wind and there was a lot of tension as the dredge went down. Ian was at the winch and Geordie himself at the wheel, keeping
Esmerelda
on station. It seemed a particularly long time before Ian, watching the cable tension meter, slipped the winch out of gear and said, ‘She’s bottomed.’

Geordie’s hand went to the engine controls. Campbell swung round, fussing like an old hen. ‘Careful, Geordie, we don’t want any mistakes now.’

Esmerelda
crept forward, taking the strain on the cable. I could visualize the dredge at the bottom of the abyss, scraping forward in utter darkness, gathering the nodules and debris into its maw like a vast-jawed prehistoric creature.

Then the job was done and Ian had the winch in gear again. The drum started to turn and the crew began to stow the wet and slimy cable into the hold as it came off the drum. Again it seemed to take ages and the tension increased until our nerves fairly twanged. Taffy said hoarsely, ‘For God’s sake, Ian, pull your finger out!’

Geordie said calmly, ‘None of that, now. Take it easy, Ian – you’re doing just fine.’

Thirteen thousand feet is nearly two and a half miles. It takes a long time to haul a full dredge up from that depth, especially when you’re not too sure of your cable and taking it slowly. Normally nobody took any notice until the bucket came inboard, but this time everyone’s attention was riveted, and when at last the dredge broke surface there were many willing hands to swing the boarding derrick out and bring the haul in.

Geordie had handed over the wheel to Danny and he ran forward to help release the load. A cascade of nodules swept onto the deck, together with the usual lot of slimy mud. Taffy stooped and picked up a nodule. ‘This doesn’t look any different to me,’ he said, clowning disappointment.

Ian said, ‘Ye daft loon. Leave it to Mike, would you? He knows what he’s doing.’

I hoped he was right.

Campbell said, ‘How long, Mike?’

‘The usual three hours. I can’t do it any faster.’

Nor did I – in fact it took longer. The lab wasn’t very big and we had enough trouble with three of us working there. Now Campbell insisted on coming in and watching, and wherever he stood or sat he was in the way. In the end I
bundled him out despite his protests, but I could hear him pacing up and down in the passage-way.

At the end of three and three-quarter hours I opened the door and said, ‘Congratulations, Mr Campbell. You’ve just become the father of a 9.7 per cent cobalt nodule.’

His eyes lit up. ‘We’ve hit it! By God, we’ve hit it!’

‘Bang on the nose,’ I agreed happily.

He leaned against the bulkhead and sighed deeply. ‘I never thought we’d make it.’ After a few moments his brain started to function again and he said, ‘What’s the density?’

‘Ten pounds to the square foot. That’ll keep you busy for the next few years.’

His smile grew jubilant.

‘Come up to the saloon, all of you. Let’s have a drink on it. Get Geordie down here.’

In the saloon he opened the liquor cabinet and produced bottles of whisky and gin, and set about pouring drinks with great energy. Clare and I managed to linger in the passage just long enough for a quick hug and kiss before joining him with Paula, and Geordie arrived a moment later, beaming.

‘To you, Mike. You’ve done a great job,’ Campbell said expansively.

I included them all in the toast, and we drank it with great cheer. ‘It isn’t finished yet, though,’ I warned them. ‘We’ve got to find the extent of the deposit. There’s a lot of proving to be done.’

‘I know, I know,’ Campbell said. ‘But that’s detail work. Do you realize we’ve done it, Geordie?’

‘I’m very pleased for you,’ Geordie said formally.

‘The hell with that. I’m pleased for all of us. How about splicing the mainbrace, Geordie – with my compliments?’ He waved to the well-stocked cabinet.

‘Well, I don’t know,’ said Geordie judiciously. ‘I’ve still got a ship to run. The lads off watch can have a dram, but those on duty will have to wait a while yet. There’s enough
buzz going on up there as it is.’ He smiled and added, ‘I’m off watch myself.’

Campbell laughed. ‘Okay, join us.’

Geordie cocked his head at me. ‘We’re still hove-to, you know. Where do we go from here?’

I said, ‘Ninety degrees from your last course – to the south. Tell the watch to keep an eye on the echometer and to keep to the deepest water they can. We’ll go for about twenty-five miles. If the water shallows appreciably or we diverge too much off course I’d like to know at once. And I think Clare had better give you the latest bulletin, don’t you?’

Clare produced a sheet of paper with the magic figures, and Geordie took it up with him. Campbell turned to me. ‘You trotted all that out glibly enough. I suppose you’ve got an idea.’

‘I’ve got an idea of sorts. We came from a ridge and dredged in the deepest part of a valley. Now I want to run along the valley to see how far it stretches each way. The echometer record will give us a lot of useful information, and we’ll dredge at intervals along the course.’

From the deck we heard the sound of cheering. Campbell stopped in the act of pouring himself another drink. ‘Everybody’s happy.’

‘Everyone except Ramirez,’ I commented.

‘I wish he’d sink,’ said Paula, unexpectedly viciously.

Campbell frowned, then pushed the unwelcome thought from his mind; this was no time for thinking of a chancy future. Geordie came back into the saloon and Campbell pointed to the cabinet. ‘Pour your own. I’m no man’s servant,’ he said. Geordie grinned and picked up the bottle.

I rolled a nodule onto the table. ‘Geordie’s a bit doubtful as to the value of this. I promised I’d get you to talk figures.’

Campbell poked at it with one finger. ‘It sure doesn’t look like much, does it, Geordie?’

‘Just like any other bit of rock we’ve been dredging up the last couple of weeks,’ Geordie said offhandedly.

‘It contains nearly ten per cent cobalt. We don’t know much about anything else that’s in it because Mike’s only checked for cobalt, but we know there should be a fair amount of copper and vanadium and a lot of iron – and manganese too of course. Now, I’m telling you and I speak from experience, that the gross recoverable value will run to about four hundred dollars a ton.’

Geordie was still not convinced. ‘That doesn’t seem too valuable to me. I thought it was really valuable – like gold or platinum.’

Campbell grinned delightedly and took a little slide rule from his pocket. ‘You’d say the density would be pretty consistent over a wide area, wouldn’t you, Mike?’

‘Oh yes. In the centre of the concentration you can fairly well rely on that.’

‘And what would you call a wide area?’

I shrugged. ‘Oh, several square miles.’

Campbell looked at Geordie under his brows, then bent over the slide rule. ‘Now, let’s see. At ten pounds a square foot – that makes it – run to about, say, fifty-six million dollars a square mile.’

Geordie, who was in the act of swallowing whisky, suddenly coughed and spluttered.

We all shouted with surprised laughter. I said, ‘There are a lot of square feet in a square mile, Geordie!’

He recovered his breath. ‘Man, that’s money! How many square miles of this stuff will there be?’

‘That’s what we find out next,’ I said. I saw the two girls looking at Campbell with astonishment and something occurred to me. I said to Paula, ‘You’re in on this too, you know.’

She gaped at me. ‘But I’ve – I’m not –’

Campbell said. ‘Why, yes, Paula. You’re one of the crew. Everybody on this ship gets in on the deal.’

Her astonishment must have been too great for her to contain, for she burst suddenly into tears and ran blindly from the saloon. Clare cast us a quick happy smile and went after her.

I could see that Geordie was trying to work out the fifteenth part of five percent of 56 million dollars – and failing in the attempt. I said, ‘That four hundred dollars a ton is a gross value. We have to deduct the costs of dredging and processing, distribution and all sorts of extras. Got any ideas on that?’