Cutting open the box, he opened it to find a well stocked care package. It contained a package of cookies, packs of chewing gum, a Popular Science magazine, several novels, a Sudoku book, a small gift wrapped box…and a letter.
He sat down at the table and opened the letter.
Dear Son: A lot has happened in my life lately that has made me stop to think about what is really important. I’ve come to realize how foolish I was for not taking a more active role in your life and not being there for you when you were growing up. I know it’s probably too late, but I’d really like to try to make it up to you. I’ve been such a jerk and for that I’m truly sorry.
I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness and I wouldn’t blame you if you never want to see me again. It is my sincere hope, though, that you will call me when you get back into port. I’d like to come see you and spend some time with you. We have a lot of catching up to do. -Love, Dad.
Mickey wiped the tears from his cheeks and looked around to see if anyone was watching him. He quickly put everything back in the box and headed back to his rack before anyone noticed him crying. He was a bottle of emotions and they were about to explode. The last thing he wanted was for the eruption to occur out here in the open. He had to get back to the privacy of his rack.
He headed aft from the mess deck into the missile compartment keeping his head down and holding tightly to the box he was carrying. Just a little farther…hold on Mickey. You can make it. He passed Jones just as he reached the number six missile tube. “Hey Mickey.”
Mickey didn’t respond. He kept his head down and kept going. He had to make it to his rack!
Finally, he put the box in his rack and climbed in after it. He slung the curtains shut and laid there trying to catch his breath. He had to regain control of himself.
After several minutes he turned on the small light attached to the bottom of the rack above his. He looked back in the box and pulled out the small gift wrapped box. He carefully opened it to find a wristwatch. Removing it from the package, he set the time, and put it on.
He beamed as he looked at the new watch on his wrist. This was truly a good day! He couldn’t wait to get back to port to call his dad. Mickey turned out the light and cried himself to sleep. While he slept, a tiny door opened on the side of the watch and a tick crawled out. It slowly journeyed to an exact location between thoracic vertebrae T4 and T5.
**********
After several hours of sleep, a sailor rustled the curtains on Mickey’s rack. “Hey McCoskey, get up. Time for watch.”
Mickey dragged himself out of his rack, went to the head to splash some water on his face and brush his teeth, and then stumbled aft toward the engine room. He had a new purpose in his walk. He held himself just a little taller than usual. And he had a shit-eating grin on his face that he just couldn’t seem to relinquish.
Between the missile compartment and the engine room stood the reactor compartment. This is where the nuclear reactor resided that provided power to the entire submarine. The radiation in this room would quickly kill a person when the reactor was critical and at power. Men outside the reactor compartment were protected by several thick layers of shielding that lined the walls. Due to the size of the reactor and its associated piping and valves, the reactor compartment took up the entire 42-foot width and height of the submarine. It was like a 30-foot long plug inserted into the submarine between the missile compartment and the engine room.
Mickey transited through the 30-foot long reactor tunnel. This was a single passageway that allowed a person to skirt past the reactor compartment to access the engine room. There was a ventilation pipe traversing the tunnel over his head to one side. About a month ago he had moved to the side of the tunnel to allow a shipmate to pass in the opposite direction. He hadn’t been paying attention and banged his head on a valve associated with this ventilation pipe. He had seen stars for five minutes. This time he was careful to watch where he was going.
Exiting the aft end of the reactor tunnel he entered the engine room and the familiar heat and noise of the steam machinery hit him. This was not unusual. He spent most of his time back here in the aft part of the sub. The engine room was three levels tall and accommodated the entire height of the submarine. His destination was on the upper level. Arriving at Maneuvering in the upper level he popped the door open he said, “Request to enter to relieve the Reactor Operator.”
The Engineering Officer of the Watch responded, “Enter.”
Mickey stepped inside and closed the water-tight door behind him. This small room was familiar to him. He spent many hours here each day. Four hours on watch and then eight hours off. Four hours on, eight hours off. It was a never ending cycle throughout the day and night, day after day. A friend of his from Nuke School was on a surface ship. His friend had told him they had to pull six and sixes when under way. Oh, how that would suck!
Once he closed the water tight hatch, the noise level of the engine room instantly subsided. The heat was left behind as well. Fresh cool air was continuously pumped into Maneuvering keeping it nice and comfortable as compared to the steam driven engine room that surrounded it.
Maneuvering was the brain center where the nuclear reactor was operated from. The electrical plant and the main engines were also controlled from this room. It was essentially the brains and operations center for all forms of power generation and distribution on the submarine.
On the far right side of the room was the Electrical Control Panel. Sitting in a chair in front of this panel was the Electrical Operator. The panel he was monitoring had various gages and lights displaying voltages, amperes, and phase relationships. It also showed the status of the steam driven electrical generator, the main battery, and all electrical busses and systems throughout the submarine. From here the Electrical Operator could distribute power to various systems or isolate power from various parts of the boat in case of emergency.
Next to the Electrical Control Panel, sitting in the middle of the front wall was the Reactor Control Panel. The Reactor Operator was sitting in a chair in front of this panel. His panel displayed a large quantity of gages, meters, and lights depicting the status of all reactor control systems. From here he could monitor the status of the reactor coolant pumps, the reactor fill pump, and the main coolant valves for each loop. There were gages for monitoring reactor coolant temperature and pressure. Three different gages displayed nuclear instruments for measuring and monitoring reactor power at various points along the power curve. There were indications displaying rod height and switches for controlling pressurizer heaters, main coolant valves, and reactor coolant pumps. At the heart of it all was the big daddy itself. Right in the center of the panel directly in front of the Reactor Operator was the shim switch. This was a large black switch that fit in the palm of the Reactor Operator’s hand and caused the rods to move in or out of the nuclear core of fissionable Uranium. When it came down to it, this switch controlled enough power to provide electricity to a small city indefinitely. The temperature of the reactor coolant, and thus the power supplied, was controlled by moving the rods in or out with this switch.
On the other side of the Reactor Control Panel, on the far left side of the tiny Maneuvering room was the Main Throttle Control Panel. The Throttleman stood in front of this panel and monitored the various steam pressures and vacuum gages. There were two large wheels on the front of the panel. One was larger than the other. It was made of stainless steel and was about 24 inches in diameter. This wheel was used to open and close the main throttle valve. Opening this valve allowed steam to enter the main steam turbine. The main steam turbine was in turn connected via a reduction gear to the main shaft which extended out the aft end of the submarine and turned the huge propeller. Next to this large wheel on the front of the Throttle Control Panel was a smaller stainless steel wheel about 18 inches in diameter. This wheel controlled a steam valve which would turn the ma
in steam turbine in reverse and allow the submarine to move backward or slow down rapidly in an emergency situation.
The heart of the Throttle Control Panel was the Engine Order Telegraph. This was the primary form of communication between the Control Room in the forward-upper level of the boat where the Officer of the Deck and the Chief of the Watch gave orders for driving the submarine and the Throttle Control Panel located in the engine room in the aft part of the submarine. When the Officer of the Deck gave the order for a certain bell or shaft RPM this would be entered on the Engine Order Telegraph in the Control Room. The exact same indication would show up on the Engine Order Telegraph at the Throttle Control Station in Maneuvering. The Throttleman would then acknowledge the Engine Order Telegraph to show he had seen the order and open or close the throttles to match the order.
Behind each of these three watch standers was the desk of the Engineering Officer of the Watch, or EOOW as he was sometimes called. He was in charge of the entire reactor plant and engine room. From his vantage point he could see all three panels and instruct any of these three watch standers. He was also in communication with the Engineering Watch Supervisor and other watch standers throughout the engineering spaces. His desk was in Maneuvering because Maneuvering was the heart of operating the reactor plant and engineering systems.
Mickey entered the room and proceeded to the Reactor Control Panel. He received a turnover from the Reactor Operator as to the current condition of the Reactor Plant and then reviewed the logs. After he was sure he knew all the pertinent information about the plant status he said, “I’m ready to relieve you.”
The Reactor Operator said to the EOOW, “Engineering Officer of the Watch, request to be relieved by Petty Officer McCoskey.”
The EOOW replied, “Very well, relieve the watch.”
Mickey said to the Reactor Operator, “I relieve you.”
The Reactor Operator responded, “I stand relieved.” He then signed over the logs as being properly relieved by Mickey and handed him the log sheet.
Mickey sat down in the seat in front of the Reactor Control Panel and familiarized himself with the current condition of all the gages and instrumentation in front of him. He settled in for the next four hours of duty.
As he went about his daily monotony, the tick on his back was recording everything he saw, everything he heard, and everything he said. Each piece of classified information about the world’s deadliest weapon, or doomsday machine as some people called it, was being methodically collected and recorded.
Chapter 51
January, year 5.
“Bingo!” Dan had just received word from the pilot who had spent the past week and a half searching for the yacht. The boat had been located about two miles off-shore at Monterey Bay, about 75 miles south of the inlet to the San Francisco Bay. He called Rocky and arranged to meet with him and Red to discuss strategy.
The three of them met at Rocky’s house an hour later. They spread out a large map of the Monterey Bay area in front of them along with photos the pilot had taken that afternoon. “The Yacht is anchored here,” he said pointing to a spot on the map and drawing an X with a red felt-tip pen. “It’s about two miles off the coast near the Monterey Canyon. This is one of the largest undersea canyons in the world. There is an entire network of deep sea valleys down there.”
“Do you think we should swim out from the shore?” asked Red.
Rocky had dived in Monterey Bay several times before and knew the answer to that one. “No. We’ll be going in at night. The entire shoreline is fraught with large rocks and fierce waves. We’ll be better off approaching by boat. We’ll anchor about 200 yards from the yacht and swim the rest of the way.”
“This swim will be a little different from any you’ve experienced before,” he told Red. “There are giant kelp forests all over this area. Sometimes the kelp soars more than 150 feet high. During the daytime it’s beautiful to swim through. At night, however, it can be dangerous because it’s easy to become entangled in it. We’ll have to be very careful. If you become entangled or snagged, you can use your knife, but you can also break it in two by bending it in half. It’s kind of like snapping a plastic butter knife. You can pull on it all day long and it’s tough as nails, but bend it in half and it will break in two.”
They spent the next several hours planning the mission and making arrangements to rent a boat. Rocky had his own scuba gear, but they had to rent gear for Red.
**********
They loaded up the boat as the sun went down and began their journey. They had rented the boat at a port close to Monterey Bay, so they didn’t have far to travel. While they were on their way to the anchor point, Rocky told Red about his adventures diving in these parts.
“You won’t see it tonight in the dark, but this is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever dived. The kelp forest provides nutrients that support all kinds of marine life. The undersea currents rise from the deep canyons and provide a vertical up-rush of krill shrimp each day. This attracts the baleen whales who feed on them. Baleen whales are among the largest creatures on earth. They can reach lengths of 110 feet long and weigh as much as 420,000 pounds. They have two blowholes which makes them blow a spout in a v-shaped pattern. As big as they are, sometimes these whales jump completely out of the water. Now that’s a splash you’ll never forget!”
“There are also Humboldt squid in these waters. In the daytime, they generally remain deep, usually over 1,000 feet deep. They come up closer to the surface at night to hunt and feed. They travel in shoals or schools and can change color rapidly at will. Scientist aren’t sure why they change color, but they think it has to do with communication. They grow to about six feet long and about one hundred pounds. It’s not likely we will have any trouble out of them, but they have been known to attack and kill divers. They demonstrate some intelligence and are the only invertebrates ever observed to hunt for their prey in a cooperative fashion.”
“Other common sea creatures you might encounter are harbor seals, bottlenose dolphins and sea otters.”
Red was intrigued. “It sounds like an impressive place. Maybe we can come back and dive together during the day sometime.”
By now they had arrived on-site and dropped anchor. Dan had entrusted the mission to the two of them and remained at home. He wouldn’t be any good to them with a broken arm anyway. Rocky and Red each had a wet suit, scuba gear, a flashlight, a dive knife, and a 9 mm Glock. They also had a rope they would use to board the yacht. This was much less firepower than they were used to operating with, but it would have to do. They made a final check of their gear, sat on the edge of the boat and fell backwards into the cold water of the Pacific. A minute later they disappeared into the dark water.
Rocky had been right. The swim was not like any Red had ever been on. The kelp forest presented a challenge. He found that by swimming a little deeper he was able to transit a bit easier. The kelp tended to collect near the surface in large clusters. The vines below were a bit more navigable. He wondered what this would look like in the daytime. Unlike his usual missions, he didn’t have night vision goggles tonight, so it was a bit like walking through a forest of trees in the dark of the night. He just had to feel his way between the vines. He did occasionally get a vine snagged on a fin or around the top of his air tank. Fortunately his dad had told him how to free himself and each time he got away without incident. Since it was dark, he didn’t actually see any of the sea creatures Rocky had described to him. Yes, he would definitely have to come back in the daytime.
The normal method of measuring distance at night would involve counting your kicks. This method didn’t work out so well in the current environment. Since they had to work cautiously around the kelp vines and stop often to free themselves from entanglements, they had trouble keeping up with how far they had travelled. This required them to surface periodically to determine their distance
to the target.
Eventually they approached the yacht from the rear. Red arrived first and held on to the back of the boat while he waited for his dad. One minute went by, then two. Three minutes went by. Red was beginning to become concerned, but finally his dad surfaced nearby and joined him.
Red filled him in on what he had observed. He hadn’t heard any voices onboard or any sounds of activity. There didn’t seem to be any lights on except the white mast light.
They took off their fins and tanks and tied them to the engine. Red threw the rope with a monkey fist on the end and looped it over the railing above. He allowed extra rope to feed until the monkey fist had dropped back down to his level. Gripping both ropes he scaled up the back of the yacht and boarded. After climbing aboard he immediately crouched and pulled out his Glock. Scanning the deck all around, he determined there were no immediate threats. He motioned over the side for Rocky to follow.
They conducted a thorough search of the main deck and found no evidence of any hostiles. They cautiously opened the door to the cabin and cleared the room in a methodical pattern. There was a light coming from under a door leading down below decks. This is where it would get hairy.
They stood at the door and listened. There were no sounds coming from within. Red tried the doorknob. It was unlocked. Rocky stood back as Red attempted to enter. The door did not open. In the dim light Red tried to figure out what the problem was. He chanced using his flashlight and discovered a deadbolt installed above the doorknob. The key was in it. Slowly he turned the key, opened the door and looked inside. He motioned for Rocky to follow him and they found themselves inside a small cabin below decks. There was a woman asleep on a small bed. A lamp was lit on the table beside the bed giving them a clear view of the room.