CHAPTER 7
JULY 23RD –DAY 112
Matthew was up at the crack of dawn. He was dying to see what Ron had accomplished. Careful not to disturb Su Li, he got out of bed and started out toward the deck.
“Where do you think you are going?” Su Li’s voice teased as he opened the door to the bedroom.
He looked back at her. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I was just going to take a little walk up to the bridge to see how things are going.”
She looked at him playfully. “I do not think you are fully rested yet.” He looked wistfully toward the bridge, then into her inviting eyes, and smiled.
“You’re probably right,” he agreed. He closed the door and turned back to his wife.
Johnson stared down at the briefcase in his lap. It was late, and the trip back had exhausted him. The impeccable man behind the mahogany desk waited for Johnson to look up before he spoke.
“We have missed the rendezvous date because of your failure to get the ship to the island on time. The ship will have to remain where it is for at least a month before we can risk anyone taking her out.”
Johnson didn’t reply to the accusation, but his face showed his irritation. He hadn’t caused the storm.
“I understand some of the crew met with an unfortunate accident,” taunted the man. “You should take better care of your men.”
“Yes, sir.” Johnson refused to invite more taunting with further comment.
“What about those inhabitants, Mr. Johnson? You investigated the island before this project. You claimed it was uninhabited –Perfect, you said.”
Johnson felt his ire rising. “It was; there wasn’t a sign of anyone on the island on our first visit. We didn’t see any inhabitants this time either. Only the hut. And it was in pieces.”
“Perhaps you should have checked it out.” A trace of a smile appeared on the man’s lips, as though he enjoyed Johnson’s discomfort.
“We couldn’t; there was just enough fuel to get back. Perhaps they came from one of the other islands in the vicinity. They must be gone since the hut is broken down.”
“Let’s hope so, Mr. Johnson.”
Marie and Doris brought breakfast a few hours later.
“Pancakes?” Matthew was amazed. “Some room service!”
“And real coffee,” Marie added. “We have pancake mix, flour, powdered milk, and plenty of water, butter, vegetable oil, eggs, even meat. Enjoy!” She and Doris headed for the door.
“How’s Ron doing?”
Doris brightened. “He’s doing all right. He thinks he’s found the problem with the engine. He hasn’t got it fixed yet, but he’ll get it. Enjoy your breakfast. We can talk about ship things later.” She turned toward the door.
“Doris, I have to go out that door sooner or later; I’d like to be prepared.”
“I’m surprised at how well he’s doing. But he feels responsible for everyone.”
“I know how that feels.”
She nodded in assent. “I’m not sure he can handle the strain.”
“How about Dave? Has he been a problem?”
She laughed. “Dave follows him around like a little puppy. He can’t do enough for him. He’s almost becoming a nuisance.”
Matthew laughed heartily. “That, I’ve got to see.”
“I don’t know what’s happened. But if he thinks anyone is a little slow in listening, he gives ‘em hell. In a way, I think Ron gets a kick out of it.”
“That’s a good sign. It sounds like he’s doing okay.”
“He is, really. But it is a strain.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Thanks, Matthew.” Impulsively she kissed him on the cheek. “You’re a real honey.”
“Tell that to my wife. Ow!” he shouted in mock pain when Su Li kicked him under the table.
Su Li left discreetly when Ron came in.
“Hey, Captain. How’s it going?”
Matthew smiled. “Okay, I guess. I’m still tired, but I’ll be all right.”
“Don’t be surprised if you punk out today too. You’ve been under a lot of strain. It takes its toll. It might take you a few days to get back in shape. Don’t you worry about it. We can handle things.”
“I hear you’ve been doing a great job,” Matthew said.
“I just did what I thought you would do.”
Matthew grinned. “I’m not so sure I could have done as well.”
“Are you kidding? You’re the one who got us here!”
“The others have had a lot to do with that. I don’t know a lot of people who could have held up as well. How are you holding up?”
Ron sighed, “I’m doing all right. Being on a military ship again doesn’t help, though. It scares the hell out of me.”
“I can imagine. I’ve learned a little about what you’ve been going through. I’m not sure I could put up with it as long as you have.”
“I haven’t done so great. My wife could tell you some pretty good horror stories.”
“I’m sure she could. I know she’s helped, but you’ve never given up. You’d have never lasted this long otherwise. I know a lot of people that never got over Vietnam. They just gave up.”
Ron took a deep breath and looked around at the walls of the cabin. This ship would be his new prison for a while. He would deal with it this time, too.
“My wife’s not the only one who has helped. You’ve had a big hand in it.” He paused and sighed. “This monkey’s been on my back for years. There’re times when I feel like I’m pulling myself out of a deep hole, and I know that if I can just get out, everything will be okay. Then the sides cave in, and I fall right back down to the bottom. It gets harder to climb up each time. I’m getting tired of it.”
“It just feels that way because you’re getting close to beating this. Your monkey’s getting scared. He knows you’re going to throw him off soon. He’s got a strangle hold on you because he’s hanging on for dear life. It may be choking you, but don’t give up now. You’re about to get rid of him.”
“If I can just get through this thing with this ship.”
“You are getting through it. You’ve been in command since yesterday. That’s what I need. Someone I can depend on.”
“You’re right, ” said Ron thoughtfully. “I thought I was gonna go down the tubes when you asked me to take charge yesterday, but I didn’t.”
“No, you didn’t. It was a big help knowing I could count on you.”
Ron looked like he was about to cry. He cleared his throat loudly. “Thanks, Matthew.”
“I’m not just saying it, Ron. I mean it.”
Ron nodded gratefully, and cleared his throat again. Then he changed the subject. “Tell me something: What is an abandoned military ship doing out in the middle of nowhere? I know I sound paranoid, but I think we’re involved in something way over our heads.”
“I’m sure we’ll find out,” Matthew answered.
After Ron left, Matthew went up to the bridge. He was disappointed. The ship’s speed was eight knots, quite a bit less than he’d thought it was yesterday. John was still working on the computer system without success. The radar system was up and running, but he couldn’t tell if it was working. Sonar still didn’t show anything either.
Carl was at the helm. “Hey, Captain. How’re ya doin’?”
“Good. I hope you haven’t been here since yesterday.”
Carl laughed. “No. Rick, Will, and Chuck helped out.”
“Great! How’s it going?”
“We’ve been traveling up and down a lot of ocean. It’s not as easy as it looks. The current throws her off course, especially at low speeds. You have to keep an eye on it all the time.”
Matthew grinned. “You found that out, huh?”
“Ron had her up a little faster yesterday. It was easier to hold her steady, but it was easier to over-adjust. We were all over the place.”
“Keep working at it. You’ll get it.”
The course he’d ordered yesterday
put them around two hundred miles away from the island, and he felt a little safer. He was looking out the forward port windows when Doris and Jeff came in.
“Sleeping beauty! How’re you doing?” Jeff certainly was in good humor.
“I was doing fine.”
“Well, prepare yourself, old man. Ron has called a meeting in the dining room. He wants us to give our reports at the same time so you don’t need to run around asking questions.” Matthew nodded. That was sensible. “Fifteen minutes. –That is, if you can handle it. That’s why I’m here. Marie sent me up to check you out and give you the okay.”
“Well, how do I check out, Doc?”
“Miserable, as usual, but I can give you a clean bill of health. Let’s go down to the dining room.”
The tables in the dining room were set up so all could talk to and see one another easily. Jeff ceremoniously escorted Matthew to a chair next to Su Li.
When Ron came in, he greeted Matthew with a nod, turned to the others, and started the meeting.
“Jeff. Why don’t you start us off by bringing Matthew up to date on the electrical systems?”
Jeff stood. “We haven’t found the problem with computer communications yet. We don’t have test equipment, so it’s hard to know where to start.”
“Try checking cable connections,” Matthew interrupted. “You said the ship has been through a bad shakeup. Maybe some are loose.”
“We’ve been doing that. There’s just a lot of connections and only a few of us to check them.”
“Sorry.”
Jeff waved it off. “No problem. Like I said, we’ve been checking connections, but it takes time. The rest of the electrical system seems to be in order. We’re concentrating on the computer link to the control room. Doris is in charge of communications and radar. She can tell you about that.”
Jeff sat down and Doris stood. “I think we’ve found the problem with the radar system. The wave-guides were full of water.” She directed an explanation to the others. “Wave-guides are tubes that carry the high frequency waves that the radar system sends and receives. If they get wet, the signal shorts, like when you drop your radio into the bathtub. It won’t work too well after that.”
She turned back to Matthew. “We’re drying them out now. I don’t think there’s anything else wrong with the system, but we can’t be sure until we test it. We should probably find a way to protect the guides from getting water in them. Communications seems to be working. We haven’t tried to call anyone, but all the checks I made tell me there’s nothing wrong.”
Ron called on John next. The young man looked around the room. Most of the others were old enough to be his parents. He took a deep breath.
“I found a backup and got the computer to boot up. Then I tried a couple of programs to test it. One of the programs crashed the system, and I had to load the backup disk again.” He paused to take a breath as he warmed to his subject.
“I put the system in maintenance mode to prevent programs from making changes to the system. Then I ran the program again. When I terminated it, I got a message that it tried to delete some of the system files, but the operating system wouldn’t let it. This time, when I shut the system down, it booted up with no problems.”
“What was the program used for?” asked Matthew.
“The title of the program was R E M C T R L. You know, like ‘Remote Control.’ I think it was used to control a couple of ships because it had a database with the names Seaview and USS Washington in it. When I started it, I got an error message that said there was no communication with either ship. One part of the program let me create a radar picture and download it to either ship. Apparently, the ship saw that picture instead of the real thing.
“Another part of the program allowed me to steer either ship. All I had to do was set a course and speed and download it.” John shrugged. “It looks to me like it controlled those two ships and then tried to remove all traces of itself, but it crashed instead. They probably never even knew it unless they tried to reboot the system.”
“Did you try to delete the program and run the system?” asked Ron.
“Yes, I did after saving a copy of it. Then I rebooted, and everything came up fine. We don’t have communications to the control room, so I can’t do a full systems check, but the bridge computer is working perfectly. I’m sure this is the program that caused the problem.”
He sat down, and Ron stood up to give his report. “The high temperature cut out was due to a plugged filter in the cooling water system and an intermittent break in the thermocouple wire. We found spare parts in the storage compartment and replaced them. We had the ship up to twenty knots yesterday with no sign of overheating.”
“I thought I noticed it,” Matthew said.
“We’re having a few navigation problems though.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t handle over eight knots, especially since we have to man the control room. With computer control we could run on auto pilot at higher speed, so I’d say that’s top priority.”
Matthew nodded in agreement.
Ron paused. “Anything I’ve forgotten? Oh, yeah, we’ve done a quick look around the ship, but that’s all. We should do a thorough investigation. That’s all I have. You are now officially in charge.” Ron looked relieved.
“I don’t see why. You’ve all managed quite well without me. I think I’ll go take a nap.”
“Don’t even think about it!” exclaimed Ron. “You’re the captain! –Captain, whether you like it or not.”
“Okay, okay. What have you done about setting up watches and duties?”
“Nothing. Except for the helm and temporary kitchen duty.”
“It’s only the second day. Let’s keep doing what we’re doing for the time being. Is there anyone else here with electrical experience?”
Rick raised his hand. “I’ve done electrical repairs on cars.”
“Good. Take Carl with you. He’s an instrument technician. Just stick someone else on the helm. Anybody else got anything?” Jessica raised her hand. He nodded to her.
“There are five other cabins on the ship in addition to the captain’s and the executive officer’s. Each is big enough for two people. Ron and Doris should have the executive officer’s cabin since it’s close to the bridge.” She looked around for approval.
“We can divide the other five among us. We can give each family a number. Then we can draw numbers out of a hat so everyone can have a turn in the officers’ quarters. If we give Helen and John each a number, they can also get a turn. One week per family, or person. Or we could switch every two or three days, whatever everyone thinks is best. Since we shouldn’t be on the ship for more than six weeks, I prefer three days. That way everyone will get to have a turn.” Her suggestion met with immediate approval.
“Good idea. But we should do that with all the cabins.
“Forget it!” objected Ron right away. “But we should do that with all of the other officers’ quarters.”
“Forget it!” objected Jeff, as Ron had. “Doris, go up and move in.” She looked at him and hesitated. “Right now!” he ordered. When some of the women pushed her, she looked at Ron, got up and left the dining room.
After she left, Matthew asked again if there was anything else.
“We need to set up a duty roster,” Ron suggested.
“Right. If radar is up, we should monitor it. Can you set up a temporary watch?” When Ron nodded at that, Matthew continued. “You can call me on the ship’s intercom if you need me. If there isn’t anything else,” He rose and gazed slowly at each face in the room. “Thank you everyone. You’re doing a great job. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re in this together. Let’s do this.”
Su Li commandeered Matthew as soon as the meeting broke up, and walked with him out on deck. He was exhausted already, and the day had hardly begun.
“If this is what Ron goes through every day, I feel sorry for him.”
“You are
just tired. Come back to the cabin and rest up a bit. They have things under control.” He let her guide him back to the cabin. She lay down with him until he slept.
Four hours later, he woke, refreshed. Su Li wasn’t in the cabin, so he went up to the bridge. Will was at the helm and Chuck was monitoring radar. Carl had the computer console apart, and was tugging on the cables one at time checking for loose wiring.
“How’re you making out?”
“Haven’t found anything,” Carl answered.
“How’s radar looking?” he asked Chuck.
“I don’t know if it’s working. I haven’t seen anything.”
“Where’s Ron?”
“He’s in the control room with Jeff and Doris,” Carl told him.
Matthew found them pulling on cables, as Carl had been doing on the bridge. “How’s it going?” he asked for the nth time.
“Nothing yet,” answered Jeff.
He watched as they worked. They were doing everything that could be done. He felt left out. “Maybe I’ll look around a bit. Check out the ship.”
“Mm hm–” answered Ron.
Since he was already there, he started in the control room. Convinced that Ron had already inspected the control room, he did a cursory check. He was surprised to find manuals in the closet next to the operations console the men were working on.
“Look at this.” Ron and Jeff looked at the manuals, then at one another like two people who had just been caught goofing off on the job.
Doris was puzzled. “What’s going on?”
“The captain has found something that we should have.”
Matthew opened the manual and studied it. He was about to give it to Ron when a name hit him. “Hey,” he said quietly. He gave it to Ron, and pointed at the name.
Jeff looked over Ron’s shoulder. “Hey, this is great. Now we have the manuals.”
Ron glanced at him and then back at Matthew. A shocked expression was on his face. “We’re in deep trouble.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Doris.
“This is the USS Washington,” answered Matthew in an emotionless tone.
“I knew it!” exclaimed Ron. “We have to tell the others.”
“Let’s confirm it first.” Matthew looked at Jeff. “Can you and Doris handle this?”
“Sure. The manuals should have a trouble shooting section.”
“Good. Let’s take a quick check to see what manuals we have; then Ron and I are going to do a little exploring.”
Jeff read the titles as they took them out of the cabinet. “Bridge Operating Console, Radar System Maintenance and Operation, Sonar System Maintenance and Operation, Global Positioning System.”
“Good grief!” exclaimed Ron. “They’ve got everything, welding data, electrical cable runs, even mechanical drawings and piping layouts. They could virtually duplicate the ship with this stuff. I’ll bet the spare parts room would make NASA green with envy.”
“Let’s find out. We’ll go through the rest later.” As they left the control room, Matthew made a mental note to assign someone to take a complete inventory.
The afterdeck was designed to open up to allow access to the compartment underneath it. There, they found a number of wooden boxes. They pried the cover off the first box. It was full of spare parts. The next contained test equipment.
“What’d I tell you? This is way more than normal, even for a ship like this.”
Matthew pried open a third box. It was full of weapons. “What?”
Ron reached in and took one out. “Laser sights.” He retrieved another item. “Infra-red headgear.”
They became more uneasy with each box they opened. They found the spare parts Ron expected. More of the boxes contained weapons: infrared binoculars and headgear, laser controlled antitank rocket launchers, rifles equipped with laser sights, most of them classified armament that would never be released, and certainly not stored in a ship stowed away on an unknown island.
“We’re up to our necks in it,” Ron said. “They’re definitely gonna come looking for this ship. What the hell are we gonna do?”
“We’re just going to have to figure something out. We have to get computer control of this ship ASAP. Let’s button up here and hope the bad guys don’t get here before school is out.”
“School?”
“Yeah. We’ve got people just dying to learn how to navigate a military vessel.”
Matthew put the lids back on the boxes while Ron stood staring. “So long as we ain’t just dyin’.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
They put the lid on the last box. “We’d better get everyone assembled in the dining hall. Can you put this ship on autopilot? I want everyone in on this.”
“Not without computer control.”
“Can you secure the helm?”
“Sure. But we won’t be monitoring radar.”
“At five knots we couldn’t do much if we saw anything.”
“True. I could put radar on automatic. It’ll set off an alarm if anything gets within –let’s say, twenty thousand yards.”
“All right. Do it. We’ll meet in the dining hall.”
On the way up to the main deck, they encountered Jeff. “We found it! It’s in the connection to the navigation console in the control room. There was a handwritten note in the manual about a defect in the stress connectors. That’s why we had a hard time finding it. The connectors look solid, but the wires have broken off the pins inside one of them. When we twisted and stressed the cable, we made connection with the bridge.”
“When will you have it fixed?”
“Uh –We don’t have a soldering iron or tools to repair it.”
Ron pointed down the stairway. “Tell you what. Go down there into that compartment under the afterdeck. You’ll see some boxes there. Open a couple of them. When you find what you need, come up to the dining hall. We’ll be there.”
“Great.” Jeff ran down the ladder.
“Do you think that was smart?” asked Matthew. “When he sees what’s in those boxes, he’s gonna freak!”
Ron walked toward the afterdeck. “Then we won’t be the only crazy ones on the ship.”
Matthew stared at Ron’s back. Then, he shook his head and followed.
When Jeff got up to the dining hall, his face was white. He’d had a rude awakening, and Matthew regretted he’d allowed Ron to do this to him. He also wasn’t sure that he’d made the right decision to take the ship. He may have exposed all of them to a new danger.
Matthew stood and addressed everyone. “We’ve confirmed that this is a US military ship. The manuals we found indicate that she’s the USS Washington. There are weapons in the after bay, most of them classified top secret. There must be several people in the War Department in on this together. One man couldn’t have pulled this off alone.”
John raised his hand. “Why the program to control the radar system on the USS Washington if this is the USS Washington.”
“Good question. But the answer won’t get us anywhere now. What’s more important is, what do we do next?”
“Don’t you know what to do?” asked Dave.
“I have some ideas, but I’d prefer to hear what you people have to say first.”
“Do you think it was right to take the ship?” asked Nancy. “It seems dangerous for us here.”
Matthew sighed and looked at Su Li. If he’d put them in danger, he had put her in danger too. “I’m afraid that’s possible.” He paused. “But, I don’t know what else we could have done.”
“One thing’s for sure,” put in Ron, “we’ve got a better chance here than if we stayed on the island.”
“Ain’t much of one if we can’t go faster than five knots,” Will drawled, “but I reckon it’s better’n no chance at all.”
Matthew raised his hand to stop the chatter. “We can’t change what’s been done. We need to discuss our options.”
“Can’t we call someone on the telephone?” a
sked Marie. “We can communicate with the shore, can’t we?” A chorus of voices agreed.
“We can’t,” said Ron. “If we call anybody, the bad guys might be listening and pinpoint us. Besides, who’re we gonna call? We don’t even know who the good guys are. We’ve got a military ship, outfitted with top-secret equipment. What do you think is gonna happen if we try to bring this ship into port?”
“Why not throw the stuff overboard?” suggested Carl.
“Because it might give us leverage against the bad guys and the bad guys,” Ron answered. A few snickered.
“I agree. We can dump it anytime if it becomes necessary,” said Matthew.
“I knew we should have discussed this before we took the ship.” Dave glared at Matthew.
Ron stood up and raised his hand. “Wait a minute.” Dave looked like he wanted to say more. “Dave, sit down and be quiet.” Ron continued when Dave sat down. “It doesn’t matter what we did. The ones who brought the ship to the cavern already killed four people; that we know of. What do you think would’ve happened if they knew we were on the island? And, we all saw what happened on the way out of the cavern. Those guys would’ve killed us to get this ship.”
He paused to let that thought sink in. “We’ve relied on Matthew to make the decisions, and it’s worked up to now. We can’t start second-guessing him at this point. We need to work together so we can get out of this mess.” With that, he turned to Matthew. “Captain. You did say you had some ideas.”
Matthew nodded and then took a deep breath. He directed the first question to Jeff. “Did you find what you were looking for under the afterdeck?”
Wide-eyed, Jeff nodded. “We expect to have it fixed by the end of the day. That is, if we don’t find anything else wrong.” He shrugged. “If there are other cable problems –“
“Okay,” Matthew answered. “Just keep at it.” He looked at Doris. “What about radar?”
“I haven’t had time to follow it up, but I think it’s one hundred percent.”
“Then we’ll have to check it out when we have the time. The main priority is to get the ship up to speed. I hate to say it, but this will mean practice.”
“You mean drill don’t you, Captain?” Carl asked the obvious.
“I was just trying to be tactful. But that’s exactly what I meant.” Matthew looked at each one of them. “The guys who want this ship are going to be looking for us. If we’re going to survive, you’ll have to trust that I know what I’m doing, and do exactly what I say –no questions asked.”
He sounded like the captain of a naval vessel addressing his crew for the first time –Actually, he was. He remembered the continuous drilling that had made his reactions automatic. He sat back in his chair and sighed, his eyes roamed over the group. Su Li touched his arm. He gave her a short nod to let her know he was all right.
“It’s not going to be easy. We’ve got a lot of hard work in front of us. If we want to get home, we have to drill. In the Navy, we called it General Quarters drills, GQ for short. You’ll each get an assignment for GQ, and you’ll have to know that assignment like the palm of your hand. When we’re on the bridge, I’ll refer to you by your job. That will avoid confusion when we change shifts. It also means you’ll have to learn all the nautical terms.”
“If anyone has anything better, believe me. I’d like to hear it. Anyone who’s against this, speak out now. I need to know I have your full support.” He paused to give his friends a chance to object.
“We’re all in agreement?” When no one objected, he continued, “Then we need to get started on setting up a roster.”
He turned his attention to Robert. “I want you and Nancy to be in charge of light maintenance. You’ll have to take an inventory of ships supplies. Pick who you want to work with you. If anything needs fixing, you’re the people to see. If you can’t fix it or it’s too big, see Ron.
“Chuck, if you and Cindy see me after the meeting, I’ll tell you what assignments we need, and you can make up a duty roster. That should take some of the pressure off Ron so he can get the ship in order. Keep families together if possible. Once we fix data communications, those who are assigned to the control room will have to pull duty on the bridge. The control room will just about run itself. Any questions?”
When no one answered, he stood up wearily. It seemed that Ron had been right about his ‘punking out’. The past 100 plus days had taken their toll. “Okay, let’s get a temporary crew on the bridge. We need to monitor radar and sonar from now on. Let’s do it.”
JULY 26TH –DAY 115
“The ship is gone?” Johnson asked. Then he shrugged. The Aswadáns had proven time and again that they weren’t to be trusted. “I’m not surprised. They couldn’t wait to get their hands on it.”
“Well, they didn’t wait, of course,” replied the man, “but that is not the problem. Someone else got the ship before they got there. At least that is what our contacts have informed us. They met the ship on the way out of the cavern. They’re looking to find her.”
Johnson was incredulous. “They don’t even know where she is? Didn’t they follow her out?”
“Apparently they dropped their men from a helicopter outside the cavern. The helicopter left as soon as the drop was complete. Once the ship hit the open sea, no one saw which way she went. They investigated the island afterward and found an entrance to the cavern from the island.”
Johnson was speechless.
“So much for your only entrance from the sea, Mr. Johnson.”
“You believe these people?”
“They could be lying. Nevertheless, we have to investigate it, don’t we?”
JULY 28TH –DAY 117
Chuck and Cindy made a General Quarters duty list, and they spent the next few days exploring the ship. Someone found clothes, all Government Issue, or GI, which gave even more credence to the ship’s origin.
It was better than the clothes they had been wearing for the past weeks. Even the smaller uniforms hung on some of the women, but they didn’t seem to mind. Matthew smiled at Su Li. Folds of fabric engulfed her small frame.
He’d received a set of khakis from Jeff just before the last meeting. Someone had sewn captain’s bars on the shoulders. Ron had even found a baseball cap with scrambled eggs on the brim.
John, Jeff, and Doris restored computer communications. John found a number of simulation programs that helped in training. Virtual training, almost as good as the real thing.
Matthew studied everything he could about the ship. She was classified at thirty-five plus knots. He had no doubt she could do much more, but they had to learn how to navigate her at slow speeds before they could push her.
The ship had a Global Positioning System, but Matthew wanted them to learn how to use the navigation table. Although radar and sonar were capable of tracking plots, they plotted every contact on the navigation table, which helped them to track its course in relation to their own. A point of light under the table represented the ship and its position. The light moved along the chart in the direction of the ship’s course. At various intervals, the navigator plotted an “X” on the spot at the ship’s position. Connecting the X’s gave them the ship’s average course.
Using the navigation table, they learned how to navigate to pre-plotted points. The most difficult drill was similar to the man overboard drills Matthew had been through. At the start of the drill, someone threw a marker-buoy into the water. The navigator marked the ships position on the chart and then called out course changes to bring the ship back to her original position. The ship didn’t respond immediately to the helm so they had to make a number of course changes to reach their target. They drilled until they were thoroughly familiar with it. In the beginning, they took several hours to find the buoy, even losing one.
Matthew insisted that they learn everything. The more they learned, the quicker they would get home. They threw themselves into their work, even taking pleasure in it. During the weeks on the island, when
the situation had looked hopeless, they had learned to work together. Now with the incentive of getting home, they honed that experience, becoming efficient team players.
There were battle simulations, sonar exercises, and simulations with submarines and torpedo avoidance. Even the women, normally not enthusiastic with computer games, were drawn in. It pitted them against a common enemy. It required cooperation and hard work to beat it, and they didn’t beat it often.
Robert and Nancy took inventory of the ship’s contents and cataloged everything they found.
Ron and Matthew took care of the weapons in the after-bay. Jeff accompanied them. They noted each weapon’s serial number and description for Matthew to enter into the computer. Ron’s predictions of a well-stocked parts room proved to be correct.
Upon opening the first box, Jeff whistled. “It looks like they packed the whole bridge in here!”
Matthew left them to take count and went back to the bridge, which had changed hands as another shift took over. After taking a quick inventory, Ron and Jeff reported.
“It looks like they’ve duplicated every important piece of equipment on the ship,” Jeff said. “We could probably build a new bridge with the parts. The test equipment is the best I’ve seen. It’s too bad we didn’t find this stuff right away. We would have repaired the ship a lot quicker.”
“All of the officers’ quarters have terminal inputs,” Ron added. “Any one of them can be connected directly to the bridge console. We could run the ship from any one of them. We probably have the equipment somewhere on the ship.”
When Ron had given his assurance that the engines were at one hundred percent, Matthew decided to try her out.
This part of their training would enable them to navigate the ship at higher speeds. If they could handle her, they would reach the US in ten to fifteen days instead of the six weeks it would have taken at five knots.
At another meeting, Nancy asked, “Can’t we get there any faster?”
“We haven’t figured out how to get the ship into port,” answered Matthew. “We’ve got a stolen military vessel that will cause a real stir in Washington, not to mention the weapons. Someone high up won’t want this information to get out.”
“I still wonder if we shouldn’t throw the stuff overboard,” said Jeff. “It is contraband no matter how you look at it. If there is corruption that high up, they might have the juice to try to pin it on us.”
“They can’t make it stick,” countered Ron. “Once we establish our identities, they’ll have to let us go. But they’ll hold us as long as possible. We might be able to use the weapons as a negotiating point.”
“I agree,” concurred Matthew. “We have plenty of time to discuss it before we get back.”
The first shift manned the bridge; Jeff was on sonar; Doris on communications; and Ron on the computer console, or ‘con’ for short. Marie manned radar; Carl was at the helm, and Su Li on navigation.
The Bright Moon continued heading due west. They were about a thousand miles from the African coast. Matthew was less worried about discovery by those who wanted the ship, but, as Ron had pointed out, “The bad guys might get help from the US military.”
Matthew was nervous. Under normal conditions, a trained crew of three, including the captain, could have run the ship from the bridge, but this wasn’t normal conditions, nor was it a trained crew. They needed to continue the drills.
“Helm, come to course one-eight-five, speed twenty knots.”
“Course one-eight-five,” echoed the helmsman.
“Speed, twenty knots,” echoed the con.
AUGUST 6TH –DAY 126
“We have to give them a break,” said Ron. “They’re tired.”
Matthew sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. We can put the ship on autopilot and run with a skeleton crew for a couple of days.”
“We can put radar and sonar systems on auto, too. If a contact turns up, they’ll engage the General Quarters alarm.”
“Okay. We’ll tell them at the next meeting.”
“We assume she is on the way back to the States,” the man informed Johnson, “but we’re checking all the ports along the African and European coastline, just in case.”
“The States? Why the States?”
“The Evening Star sank in that area. There may have been survivors. They may have made it to the island.”
“They said there were no survivors.”
“They didn’t find any. But, the commander who went to pick up the ship swore they looked American. You had better check it out. Get a crew and passenger list from the Evening Star.”
“We’re going to take a couple of days off from all these simulations’ drills,” Matthew notified them at the next meeting. “We’re not going to stop the GQ drills, so you’ll all get your chance to get even.” There was light laughter at that. The crew was responsible to pick the times for General Quarters drill. Not all had taken their turn yet.
“You’ve all done well. Well enough that we only need four people on the bridge, except for the day shift. That’ll continue to be a full crew. We’re going to switch the shifts around so we get the chance to work with each other. You’ll retain your normal shift number and report to your normal shift station during GQ. Those on the duty shift will always man the bridge during GQ, and you won’t be relieved until GQ is over, or you’re replaced.”
“Captain,” interrupted Shirley. They had all taken to calling him Captain. “What about those who share the same duty on the same shift?” She shared navigational duties with Su Li. Once shy, Shirley had become relaxed, more open.
“You’ll remain where you are. If you’re on the bridge, stay there. If you’re not, report to the dining hall with everyone else. Any other questions?” He waited a moment. “That’s it then. Shift two, report to the bridge.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Will stood and saluted.
Matthew grinned. He was beginning to enjoy his role as captain. His crew was getting good at their assignments. He was proud of them. Carl had a natural talent at the helm. Will, Chuck, and Dave shared that duty with him. Jeff sat at the engineering console when Ron was in the machine room or off duty. Otherwise, he was on sonar or radar and shared these duties with Marie. The women excelled at navigation. They were methodical, neat, and precise. Doris manned communications and taught the other women.
Matthew pasted a crew list on the ship’s bulletin board. Each person on the list was responsible to call the drill times. They were good at picking the worst times for the GQ drills. It gave them the chance to catch him off guard. They did their best to call GQ at the most inopportune moments. It worked better than if he had done it, and he was spared the complaints that he knew would come afterwards.
The one responsible for calling General Quarters timed it as well. It developed into competition to see which team got the best times. The first drills were a disaster, mostly confusion and laughter. He laughed with them, but he pushed them hard, and they got better. In the last few drills, they were at their posts in less than two minutes. The last one had been the best.
Sometimes it annoyed Su Li when it cut into their privacy, but he shrugged it off. Any discomfort on his part, was a discomfort for them as well. As the captain, he could call GQ at any time, so the one who had made it uncomfortable for him had to be careful.
Nancy had just finished plotting the ship’s current position on the navigation table. She was returning to the radar station when Matthew got to the bridge. Her husband, Robert was at sonar; Steve was at the engineering console; and Will was at the helm. Except for Steve, they were already at their GQ stations.
Matthew picked up the ship’s intercom. He checked his watch, and his hand moved toward the PA switch. He raised the microphone to his lips. “Uh, uh,” he warned when they tensed, “don’t jump the gun.” He waited for them to relax and then keyed the mike.
“General Quarters!” boomed the PA system. “All hands to stations! This is a drill.”
H
e repeated it. “General Quarters! All hands to stations! This is a drill.”
Ron, who had moved into the XO’s quarters, was the first to reach the bridge to relieve Steve, followed by Doris, who took her place at communications. Steve ran out of the door to the control room, almost colliding with Helen as they both tried to get through the door. Still buttoning her shirt, she backed against the open door as he raced by.
One by one, they reported in.
“Chuck here. Forward watch starboard side.”
“Acknowledged,” replied Ron through the phones he had put on.
“Cindy, here. Forward watch port side.”
“Acknowledged,” replied Ron again.
“Jo Ann, here. Aft watch starboard side.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Jessica, here. Aft watch port side.”
“Acknowledged.”
Steve, who had the longest run, reported. “Steve and Rick, here. Engine room.”
“Acknowledged,” said Ron.
Lastly, Su Li reported from the dining room. “Su Li, here. Everyone is in the dining room.”
“Acknowledged. All personnel at their posts, Captain.”
Matthew checked his watch and looked around the bridge. Helen had been taking a shower and didn’t even have time to dry off although she had brought a towel with her. Her wet, soapy blouse was buttoned in the wrong holes. She had thrown the towel around her dripping hair as soon as she got to the navigation table, but it still dripped onto her face. Matthew looked at her and broke into a smile, but she stood, dignified, at her post, prepared for battle.
He keyed the PA system. “This is Matthew speaking. That was good, people –one minute and forty-five seconds, best time yet.” He gave them time to be proud of it. “Stand down from General Quarters,” he said finally.
Matthew and Ron were checking out the terminal in the Captain’s quarters. “They’re doing well,” said Ron.
“I don’t think they’re going to get much better without more experience,” said Matthew.
“I agree. We can continue drilling off and on. We should push the ship faster, though. They need the experience to sustain speeds over twenty knots. And, I think we should include Jeff in checking up on them at night. He’s getting pretty good at calling the shots.”
Matthew nodded. “Good idea. In the meantime, let’s set course for home. At twelve knots, we should reach the US coast in eighteen to twenty days. That should give us time to come up with some kind of plan.”
“Right. Have you thought of anything yet?”
“No. I haven’t figured out what to do. But I don’t think pulling into a port with ‘Look what we found on a remote island in Africa.’ is going to work.”
Ron chuckled. “No. Probably not. But you ought to think about keeping a log.”
“I’ve already started one. Chuck has written quite a bit already. I’ve used it to summarize our situation up to our finding the ship. I’ve got a terminal in my cabin connected to the main computer with a security password access.” Matthew handed Ron a piece of paper. “This is the password in case something happens to me.”
“You call that a password? ‘bmuw?’ A five-year-old kid could figure that one out; Bright Moon, USS Washington.”
“Hey. It’s just on principle. We’re not in the CIA. Every time I update it, I’ll give you a hard copy. If you have any additions, we’ll put them in.”