Jenks stood straight and looked at Jack. In turn, Collins looked at his watch and then back at Jenks. “We are scheduled to leave this world soon, Master Chief. You yourself said the phase shift reactor is too unstable to wait too long, even with it shut down.”
Jenks reached into his pocket and gave something to Ellenshaw. Charlie accepted it, and then he looked from the object to Jack.
“There. Give me five hours. If I’m not back, Charlie knows how to start the chain reaction to get the phase shift operational. The frequency is constant. You should be right back where we started in the Atlantic of our world.”
“No, I can’t take the chance, Jenks. I have too many men depending on your calculations. You can’t tell me Charlie can think on his feet on this if something goes wrong. No offense, Doc.”
“None taken, Colonel. But I think the master chief is right. We, at least our kind, did this thing to these beautiful people. We have to do something.”
“No.” Jack sat down in an unoccupied chair and rubbed his hands over his face. He looked up and faced his two people and the interested ears of the sailors around him. “What do we do if we actually find survivors? Uproot the whole species from their world and return them to ours? That would be almost as cruel as what Salkukoff and his superiors have done. We can’t return them to their life before this, and we can’t bring them back.” Jack stood and walked toward the hatch, where it was opened by a marine. He stopped and turned. “I’m sorry, Master Chief, Doc, but no. We have too much riding on this. I am not losing another man under my command for a reason not of our choice. We make the attempt to leave in five hours. I suggest you prepare the reactor on Simbirsk, and let’s get these boys home before Salkukoff really puts his scorched earth policy into full swing. Because I think we are the final domino he has to push over.”
They watched Jack leave, and Jenks looked at Ellenshaw. “I hate officers.”
Charlie just pushed his glasses back onto his nose. He saw one of the young seamen looking their way. The kid had to be no more than nineteen years of age. Ellenshaw fixed on the seaman. Jack was right to a point — these boys, along with the Russians and the British, deserved to get home. But still, he was fighting his own conscience and needed to know if he was alone in his confusion.
“What would you do?” Charlie asked.
Every ear in CIC heard the question, and it was if they all wanted to answer. But the young man held Charlie’s eyes.
“I think…” The boy hesitated momentarily until the lieutenant nodded that he could offer that opinion if he wanted. “I think that we won’t make it back anyway. I also don’t like running away. What happened to those people isn’t right, sir. I mean, what is our duty here? I thought we were here to protect those who can’t protect themselves. Does it matter where those innocents live? I say we not only find those people but also that we stay and get the asshole who caused all of this.” The boy lowered his eyes. “Sorry, Lieutenant.”
No words were spoken. Jenks was proud of what the new navy was currently producing. He could not have said it any better than the young radar tech who had placed everything into such simple terms that he had wished Colonel Collins could have heard it and reminded him of his duty. He knew Jack was killing himself over the losses of his Event Group people the past few years and was compounding his mistake by overprotection. Jenks came to a decision. He looked at the large marine guard and saw that he was watching intently, although silently.
“Lieutenant, feel like giving us heroes an hour without reporting a radar contact heading toward the island?”
The young officer looked around at all the eager faces inside CIC. They were waiting.
“The radar and sonar equipment is still sketchy, Master Chief. Sometimes we lose everything at once. Possibly for at least three hours.”
Jenks smiled and popped a cold cigar into his mouth. “Goddamn, I guess the navy is still on the ball when it comes to getting competent men. Thanks, son. Now you keep in contact with the Doc and me. We’ll be on secure channel 6. Keep the remote searching but under no circumstances lead those catfish-lookin’ bastards to the survivors. Understood?”
“You got it, Master Chief.”
Jenks turned and faced Charlie. “Well, Doc, you feel like disobeying the colonel’s orders and stealing a boat?”
Charlie looked taken aback at first, and then he came to a quick decision.
“We need more men,” he said simply.
The large marine finally stepped from the hatchway and faced the entire CIC.
“That shouldn’t be a problem, Master Chief. I have marines just standing around and getting spoiled by these navy boys. I think about fifteen of us. The Brits have the Simbirsk covered.”
“Thank you, son. I can only guarantee that I’ll volunteer to get shot by firing squad first.”
“The US Marines appreciate that.”
With that simple statement, the rescue of the villagers by Jenks and his team of American pirates was under way.
Jack, Carl, Jason, and Henri examined the small Europa link as supplied by the laptop. Jack pointed out the graph and shook his head.
“Even Europa Jr. is having a hard time keeping this damn thing in check.”
“Even with Jenks having removed the main power coupling?” Jason asked as he too saw the graph lines as they spiraled to the top every ten minutes.
“It has to have something to do with the uranium stolen from Chicago in the ’40s,” Jack said. “Jenks and our late Professor Gervais couldn’t get safely into the glassed perimeter surrounding the damn thing without causing a meltdown. They said we would have to wait until we were safely home again to decipher this mess. Until then, Europa will have to siphon off her power to other areas of the phase shift program, as you can see.” Jack ran his finger along the graph, and they all saw what he was saying. The graph clearly indicated that the power fluctuations were growing and for longer durations. “She’s about to run out of time and space on where to place the added power runoff. Europa?” Jack asked. “Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, the weather topside is getting a little dicey. We have storm clouds developing directly overhead.”
“Yes, Colonel Collins,” the twin sister of Europa replied.
“How long until containment of the power source is lost?”
“Estimate three hours, forty-seven minutes until phase shift is unstoppable.”
“Oh, wonderful,” Jason said as he turned away from the bad news.
Henri looked at his watch. He grimaced as the pain he was feeling after the fuss late last night showed on his face.
“Regardless, I suggest we get the Simbirsk, Peter the Great, and Shiloh tied down good and then recall all personnel just in case your little sex symbol computer is off on her estimate.”
“I hate to agree with Mr. Optimist here, but he’s right, Jack.”
Henri looked at Everett but kept his rebuttal at bay.
Jack merely nodded in agreement.
“Where is our esteemed science team?” Henri asked instead.
Jack looked around. “I thought they were right behind us.”
The alarms sounded from above deck, and that got everyone’s attention.
A Russian-language announcement sounded over the loudspeakers. They heard, even from their low vantage point, many hundreds of feet running across decks far above them.
“They just announced general quarters,” Henri said as he started to leave.
Jack removed the radio and called Shiloh. “Collins to Shiloh actual, over.”