Far From The Sea We Know (43 page)

“Bad news,” Chiffrey said. “Really bad. I’d
like to keep it from the crew for a while longer. I just gave your
father and the Captain a quick rundown, and I want to fill you in
as well.”

“Matthew?”

“No. Two of our submarines have
disappeared.”

“You had submarines in the area?”

“They were standing well off, twenty
kilometers at least from the circle’s perimeter.”

“You never mentioned submarines
specifically. Were they armed?”

“They are Navy attack submarines, so of
course they are armed. But they were not moving any closer and they
certainly were not attacking.”

“Then what were they doing?”

“At the exact time of their disappearance,
we don’t know. In this present situation, they have been making
contact every six hours, which is unusual. Generally, they maintain
almost complete radio silence. In any case, they both missed their
call.”

“How do you know it isn’t just some kind of
communication problem?”

“They had specific orders to surface if they
had communications or any other kind of problems. We’ve had
aircraft on patrol continually searching for hours now, and AI
augmented satellite surveillance. Nothing.”

“Couldn’t it be some kind of interference in
the communication frequencies, maybe from the dome? Perhaps
they—”

“Excuse me. They didn’t find the subs, but
they did find something. All these vessels are equipped with an
emergency buoy. The system is extremely hard and reliable, like the
black boxes aircraft carry.”

He held out a pen as if it were a submarine
and motioned the action with his other hand. “If they have an
accident—and can’t reach the surface—the buoy can be released on a
line, and it rises like this and then begins transmitting a radio
signal when it reaches the surface. It will self-release in
catastrophic circumstances. They received a brief signal from one
of these buoys and they found it. The line was severed, and it was
drifting freely. This doesn’t leave much room for doubt. Between
the two, there were three hundred and eighteen men onboard. As far
as Command is concerned, at best they are trapped on the bottom. At
worst, lost. They’re searching the area where they found the buoy
but haven’t found any sign of them.”

“Maybe the buoy malfunctioned.”

“Then where are the subs? The odds they both
had problems at the same time are not even worth talking
about.”

“You push a stick in a hornet nest, and this
is what you get.”

“You’re just defending out of habit. You
were right, before, to say this thing is dangerous. And I’m sorry,
but you do have to hear this now: your idea seems to be we just
quarantine this whole section of the Pacific and never come within
two-hundred kilometers of it again, hoping, I suppose, that whoever
or whatever is down there in that goddamn thing leaves us alone. No
effing way.”

She stared him down, but he was not going to
back off. She took a few breaths and said, “I never said never.
You’re inferring things in a situation where all the rules have
been changed. Pulling back for a short time would be wise, and it’s
something you should consider. We can’t just be apes, shaking a
stick at what we fear.”

“Even if you’re right, unless they can
account for those subs and their crew soon, they are not just going
to pull back to sit and wait.”

“Do you have any confidence they can be
found one way or the other?”

“Thank you for your concern. We absolutely
will not stop until we find them, but it could take days or weeks
or longer. All those men have people that care deeply about them.
Wives, children. Mothers and fathers.”

He paused for a moment. “Look, I haven’t
given up hope. No one has. It’s still possible they are alive, but
we’ve spent years making these vessels extremely difficult to
locate, so it won’t be easy.”

“When is your deadline?”

“Twenty-four hours.”

“Then they’ve already begun ramping up for
some kind of assault, haven’t they?”

“The subs could still make contact before
the time is up. If not, or if we find some sign such as debris or
bodies, the Navy and other forces will approach the dome. If they
are attacked or compromised in any way, they will take it out.”

“What makes you believe they can do
that?”

“I’m not at all sure they can. Listen, there
were some higher-ups who wanted to go in long ago, and with this,
it’s now unanimous. Those men on the subs may all be dead now, and
maybe because of me.”

“I’m sorry.”

He paced back and forth, then looked at his
watch as if waiting for a sign. He looked out at the sea then back
at her. “I asked them to let us try one more time to make contact.
Before this situation gets out of control.”

“And it will, if they move in.”

“Already is, truth to tell. Only thing we
have left is to throw a Hail Mary pass. Otherwise, it’s the locker
room for us, and they send in their own team.”

Some of the anger she had been directing at
Chiffrey, ever since he had arrived, should probably have been
aimed at the source of these decisions. He was trying to play both
ends against the middle, perhaps, but now he himself had become the
middle and was being squeezed like a fender between two ships.

“Okay,” she said, “What does Captain
Thorssen say? And my father?”

“I gave them two options. Wait twelve hours
and then have the
Valentina
escorted out of the area. Or
wait twenty-two hours, and then we’ll all be choppered out. If we
leave the
Valentina
here, they’ll provide a crew to move her
out of harm’s way. You civilians all have the option of
disembarking by air any time from now on. You can be out within the
hour.”

“I’m not leaving,” she said.

“Your father and Captain Thorssen told me
the same thing, but after I tell everyone their options, there may
not be enough hands left to crew the ship.”

He scanned the horizon again as if watching
for an adversary. “This was already working its way to the top of
everyone’s pile, but with the subs missing, it’s now a flashing red
light. For the president, the secretary of defense, all the
intelligence agencies. If you’ll remember what I said before, it
takes time for things to filter up, but they have, and we’re in
full-blown crisis mode now. No one here can tell me why or what the
dome is hiding, so I have nothing to offer Command.”

“All right, I get it.”

“Not quite. Until now, we had a standoff of
sorts, and no one had been hurt. Losing two attack subs is not just
another inexplicable incident to be pondered. They were both fairly
new, but proven. We are talking the absolute standard in hardened,
hidden, and therefore almost unassailable, assets. Anything that
can take them out must be assumed absolutely lethal.”

Penny looked at Chiffrey’s hands. The blood
was draining out of his fingers from gripping the rail so
tightly.

She understood. “They see the loss of the
subs as the first shot already fired.”

“Exactly, and they want to make sure the
next shot is theirs because it may be the only one they get. We
have to move fast, and there will be no reprieve this time. Use
what little time we have left wisely.”

He turned and walked away without another
word, perhaps the clearest indication of the seriousness with which
he took events as they were unfolding. They had to come up with
something, and she now saw the only thing it could be.

She entered her father’s cabin to find that
Chiffrey was also there. She just came out with it before anyone
else had a chance to speak. “We need to send the
Bluedrop
down again.”

“And why do you think that?” her father
asked, seemingly not surprised.

“To provoke whatever’s down there, of
course.”

“Am I missing something?” Chiffrey
asked.

“We only have twenty hours now,” she
replied. “Unless we make contact, the military will make their move
with everything they have. Even nukes, right?”

“Not really,” her father said calmly. “They
have missiles that can take out an enemy sub, and they include
nuclear-tipped missiles, but we can assume they will start with
conventional armaments first.”

Chiffrey shook his head. “I’m afraid I have
to inform you that they will use any means necessary. ‘Any’ means
any.”

“Are you insane!” her father yelled. “I
realize the situation is critical, but have they lost their
minds?”

“I’m sorry, Doctor. It’s not my decision or
recommendation. The President herself authorized it, although they
won’t take that step easily. The loss of the subs changed
everything.”

Her father sighed deeply and looked at each
of them one by one. “I had no idea we might get into anything like
this.”

“It’s not your fault,” Chiffrey said.

“Not so sure about that, but Pen’s right.
Let’s go down again and knock on the devil’s door. We have nothing
to lose.”

“Your lives, perhaps,” Chiffrey said.

“Anyone who wishes, with your help, can
leave the
Valentina
, and no blame. Offer’s still open, I
assume? Good enough?”

“If we do send the
Bluedrop
down,”
Chiffrey said, “there is every reason to believe that the same
thing—or worse—will happen again.”

“I will be counting on it,” her father said.
“That’s what you were thinking, Pen. Yes?”

“Something like that.”

“And she’s right. It’s clear to me now. This
may be the only way we have at the moment to establish a line of
communication. Risky, no doubt, and that is why I’ll be going down
solo.”

“I knew you'd say that,” she said. “No, full
stop, to you going alone.”

“Doctor Bell, I understand you feel
responsible,” Chiffrey said, “but are you absolutely sure?

“I am. This is long past being an
interesting phenomenon. It’s clear to me that whatever we have
stumbled upon could be one of the most significant events in human
history. We can’t let that turn to hell.”

Her father turned his gaze toward her for a
long moment. The trace of a smile was on his lips as he said, “That
is the big picture, but my personal reason for going is Matthew.
Deep down, my bones tell me there is no real malevolence here. We
have to demonstrate that to those with their finger on the button.
As long as the power possessors involved don’t know what they are
in front of, they have no way to determine whether there is a real
threat and they will do what they must. The risk is acceptable,
given what’s at stake.”

Penny had listened quietly, having already
prepared for his response. When she finally spoke, she did so as
calmly as she could. “If we agree to send you down to act as a
lure, you will not be going alone.”

“I’m certainly capable of handling the
Bluedrop
solo.”

“This has to include me,” she said.

“And why, exactly, is that?”

“There were four people on the
Bluedrop
, but only Matthew was taken. Why?”

No one said anything, so she went on.
“Matthew had more contact with the lead whale we were tracking than
anyone else. Even before coming onboard the
Valentina
. It
was contact of a special kind, and I believe that is why he was
taken. Or maybe chosen. Later, most of the others here were touched
somehow on the day the whales vanished, but not me. If I’m right, I
am one of the few people on this ship who was unaffected by
whatever happened that day. Maybe the only one.”

“Hmm,” was all her father said, while
glancing at her with his “let’s-discuss-this-later” look.

In spite of that, she continued. “Ask the
people who were there. When the whales disappeared, it didn’t even
cause me a flutter. I looked around and everyone else was strewn
about like so much wet laundry.” She glanced at Chiffrey. “Even you
didn’t look so good.”

“Little motion sickness was all.”

“While I was in great shape. Listen, if
whatever occurred the last time down there happens again, I might
be the only one who could remain conscious.” She leaned a little
closer to her father. “You couldn’t remember a thing, after
all.”

Her father frowned. “Are you saying you have
your own private immunity?”

“You cannot count on a repeat performance,”
Chiffrey said to her. “If I were you—”

“But you’re not me, are you? You can save
your concern for someone else. Becka, perhaps.” She looked her
father straight in the eyes and said, “I’m going with you.”

“Penelope, of course I can’t let you,” he
said, but she could tell he was softening.

“Why not?”

“For one thing,” he said, “you are my
daughter.”

“Dad…”

“Yes, I know, I know. Some things I can’t
outgrow. If anything should happen…how can I allow you to take such
a risk?”

“You mean like the ones you always seem
overjoyed to take on a regular basis? You’re on the thin edge
there, not me. In addition, I have a connection with Matthew. I
need to be there. You have the final say, but I am definitely going
with you.”

Her father, exasperated, looked at Chiffrey.
“This is our family’s version of ‘being reasonable,’ in case you’re
wondering.”

Chiffrey came close to smiling, but seemed a
little disappointed. “Okay, supposing you both go down, and one or
both of you go missing like Matthew. Then what? Aren’t we right
back where we started? I mean, we could try putting a tracer on
you, I guess,”

Penny glanced at her father who shook his
head and said, “We’ve already seen how easily communications can be
lost. Matthew’s clothes were left behind, so I wouldn’t give any
kind of radio tag much of a chance.”

“But that doesn’t matter,” Penny said. “If
we make it there and back, then it’s likely we’ll have something
new to report. If one or both of us go missing, that will give us a
better chance of making some kind of contact. And that is what we
need. We all know that.”