“American slang for throw or toss,” Ellenshaw explained.
“Instructions, Colonel? Over.”
Collins again raised his radio to his mouth, but before he could say a word, the humming started. It was so intense that men had to quickly cover their ears. Then the lighting dimmed as the large lightbulbs sitting on their ceramic base started to glow softly.
One of the Russian commandos reached out and placed a hand onto the thick glass that separated them from the machine inside. The man was trying to steady himself from the onslaught of sound.
“No!” Jack yelled when he saw the movement.
Before anyone could react, a small bolt of electricity shot from the ceramic base of the machine, penetrated the glass, and slammed into the man’s hand. His body jerked, and a spasm coursed through him, and then he collapsed to the steel deck. All eyes widened when they saw the sparkle of light that coursed over the commando’s extremities. Then a loud pop was heard, and then the Russian soldier just vanished before their eyes. As suddenly as everything had started, it wound down. Lighting returned to normal, and then the bulbs inside the glassed-in chamber dimmed to almost nothing.
“Shiloh, Shiloh, this is Collins. Update on those readings, over.”
“Shiloh to Collins, we lost power momentarily but are back up. Readings are down to almost nothing. Sea temps still remain high.”
“Copy and stand by; out for now.”
Ryan and the Russian professor leaned over to the spot where the electrocuted man had been. There was a vague outline where he had fallen prone to the deck, but nothing else. Professor Gervais moved his hand over the cold steel of the deck and immediately pulled it back when the steel gave way by at least two inches. It was like poking a bowl of Jell-O. Then the deck solidified once more. Jason and Gervais looked up and then over at Collins.
Salkukoff smirked as if the joke were on Collins. “Before we start tossing accusations around, Colonel, perhaps we should—”
The sound of the generator starting to spin wildly filled the space. Each man knew this assault was different. Electricity filled the air. The smell of ozone wafted freely, and men started to gag. The bulbs inside the chamber flared to life once more, only this time they were so bright that they burned the eyes of those who turned that way. Each man, through natural instinct, hit the deck.
“Shiloh, Shiloh, seal the ship! Get every man belowdecks!” Jack screamed into the radio just as Salkukoff was doing the same with Peter the Great.
Suddenly, everyone felt the electricity shoot through their bodies. The noise was ear shattering, and the deck beneath them actually warped and became sickeningly pliable. The sound of the powerful generator nearly burst the eardrums of those closest to it. Charlie Ellenshaw screamed in pain and was soon joined by all.
The very air around the writhing men turned into a wave of nausea-filled movement and liquidity.
The last sensation Collins had was the feeling of falling.
Outside, the world was on fire. The burst of power from the Simbirsk flowed over and around the men on her upper deck. Those closest to the hatchway leading below vanished in a puff of blackened dust as those farther away just burst into flames. The towline to Shiloh melted and then snapped with a twang, sending the far end into the Shiloh and her riggers, slicing them in two. Then the heat wave struck Shiloh and sent her fantail high into the air until it came crashing down into the sea. Every one of the riggers burst into flame or was thrown into the boiling waters surrounding the large cruiser. Everything that was flammable on the outer decks melted or flamed so brightly it looked like a magnesium explosion.
Inside the bridge, Captain Johnson hit the deck hard, as did his control crew. Windows smashed inward, and then to the captain’s horror, he felt the deck beneath him start to tremble and then actually wave up like an early morning surf. It was like he was lying in a soft pool of water. Seeing this, one would think the deck and other steel members of the ship didn’t dance under them, but to the sensations the body felt, they were moving and felt almost as if the very atomic structure of the deck and hull was breaking down. Johnson tried to stand and, with much effort, finally managed. As he did, it felt as though the deck had become a piece of melting rubber. He looked out of the broken bridge window just as the Simbirsk vanished in a bright explosion of light and sound.
Before he could react, the USS Shiloh and her burning and battered Dutch escort ship, De Zeven, blinked out of existence 1.2 seconds after the Russian ship.
The pressure wave expanded outward. It was now a wall of water and heat that resembled a nuclear detonation. It traveled at the speed of sound outward from a spot that was now nothing but vapor and the largest whirlpool ever created on the surface of the world’s oceans. It was gaining power exponentially as it moved out and down.
The pressure wave was almost as intense below the sea as it was above. It caught Thorne and his crew unawares as the thump of seawater from above slammed into them. Lights went out, and the power plant screamed to keep her station between the Russian cruiser and his own surface assets. It wasn’t enough. Water lines broke, and the heavily welded seams of the boat started to be stretched beyond her engineering. Not one but two forward torpedo tube outer doors were twisted at such an angle that not only did her outer doors collapse, it warped the heavy pressure door inside. The interior forward spaces of Houston were now open to the sea.
“Emergency lighting!” Thorne said over the din of yelling men at their stations.
“Conn, sonar, we have a massive surface detonation. Unable to pinpoint at this time.”
Before Thorne could answer, the bow of Houston dipped down. Then they all felt the acceleration of the boat as it started a plunge for the seafloor two and a half miles below.
“Blow ballast. Give me full rise on the planes. All back full! Shut off those damn alarms!”
As the command was relayed, Thorne felt the bow fall to an even steeper angle of dive. He heard the two powerful GE nuclear reactors scream in protest as the engineering department took Houston to 115 percent power. She would either redline or explode in the next four minutes.
Then the real pressure strike hit. The stern of the Houston was thrown up and then actually overtook her forward momentum, and the giant attack sub somersaulted downward. Finally, her bow planes dug their teeth in, and Houston righted herself as the wave flowed past them.
“Helm’s not answering, Skipper,” XO Devers called out. He was bleeding from his head and was soaked after getting one of the many leaks shut down. “Engineering says we’re close to redlining.” All the men were injured in some way from their circular ride to the roof and then being slammed to the deck. Most quickly recovered and resumed their watch. They were now hanging on to their stations as the world tilted downward. What was even more disturbing was the fact that several of the crew felt their hands travel completely through their consoles. Their feet were also being sucked into the steel of her deck. As men nearly panicked, they looked down and around but could not actually see the deck and other solid objects bend or soften. It was if they were sensing it but not able to see it. Most thought they were hallucinating these factors.