Here's the ladder to the upper hatch,' said Peace's disembodied voice. ' Wait, here's a toggle by the clock.' I heard the click of the switch and a faint light came on from the self-contained waterproof of batteries. The depth needle steadied as Willowtrack took up her periscope depth. The bronze glowed evilly in the poor light.
Strip!' ordered Peace.
MKG unzipped his khaki and I tugged at buttons. Then MKG stood in his underpants, the Remington in one hand and his two plastic-wrapped packets of documents in the other.
The gurgling of the forward trim tank echoed through the confined space.
Peace put his foot on the first rung of the ladder. ' Right? Remember, ballast-control will sense it as soon as I flood.'
He indicated two valves at chest level. When the pressure equalizes, open those and step out, John.'
Peace swung himself up. A locking wheel creaked. A stream of sea-water cascaded in. However hardened a submariner is, this is still the awful moment he fears above all else-when water comes rushing in., In a moment it was up to our knees.
Pressure-watch it!' called Peace.
My eyes went to the big dial. The needle was swinging upwards. God! It seemed loaded with lead!
The water rose to my thighs. Suddenly there was a new
note. The diving officer had detected the inrush of water.
He was pumping water from the for'ard trim tank.
Our discarded clothes, as if unwilling to be separated from us, clung soggily around our bodies. Peace spun the valve to its maximum. The water shot up to our armpits.
Pressure!'
My ears roared as the air compressed in the upper area of the trunk. I began to feel dizzy. Breathing was difficult. Blow and go!' commanded Peace.
I nodded to MKG and inadvertently took a deep breath. It was like a hot iron shoved into my chest. I started to cry out, but I knew I had to save every breath of air for the ascent. I plunged under, tugged hard at the wheel valve. It seemed to come away in my hand-it was in perfect order.
Don't hold your breath!' warned Peace.
I ducked under and spun the second locking valve. With quite unnecessary force I tugged at the escape door. It opened as if it had been counter-balanced. I paused. A faint sunlight glow of green came from above as I stood poised on the metal step. Then I lurched forward. An iron band clamped round my chest. The pain was acute. I let go my breath and shot upwards. Bubbles boiled from my mouth, uncontrollably. The pain vanished. It was like stepping into an ever-lightening room. Deep green changed to light, to turquoise, to blue-I was blinking in bright sunshine! I was on the surface. Devastation's black hull was close and our dinghy was stroking for it.
There was a splash near me-MKG! He screwed up his eyes, grinned and swam awkwardly to me, keeping the Remington and his papers clear. Before he could speak, Peace broke surface.
He laughed. Blow and go! You need a tranquillizer beforehand, Commander!'
Peace cupped his hands. 'Devastation! Boat ahoy! Here!'
In reaction, I found myself laughing out loud at the stunned surprise of the four ratings. They gazed unbelievingly as our clothes appeared one garment by one in slow motion from the depths.
The men dug their paddles in. The petty officer in charge burst out, Strike a bleeding light! It's. Commander. Peace!'
Jesus!' exclaimed a rating.
The third poised his paddle in mid-stroke. ' The skipper'e' s become a flaming merman!'
' Slap it about!' retorted Peace good-humouredly. Just testing Willowtrack's escape gear. Here, haul us aboard.' The petty officer looked uncertainly at MKG "Im too, sir?'
Peace grinned "Im too. Now-Devastation! Smartly, lads.
The boat sped across the water. There was a burst of chatter from the men on the deck casing. Peace, naked except for his underpants, stood up.
Peters, on the flying bridge, stood thunderstruck. ' Sir l'
This is an exercise!' yelled Peace. Clear the casing!
Clear the bridge! Stand by to dive!'
We hustled unceremoniously through the forward hatch.
The diving alarm sounded as we reached the control-room.
Peace, dripping water, went to the diving-stand.
Peters's agitated voice came through the bridge speaker.
Control-Bridge. All clear topside.'
Officers; automatically carrying out the drill, did not take their eyes off Peace. They-and the crew-would talk about this until it became a legend.
Jettison the anchor!' snapped Peace.
Jettison the anchor-aye aye, sir!' repeated a startled junior officer and spoke rapidly to the torpedo-room. No time to rig the ship to dive and compensate her. Peace was taking her down like a train, relying on his own skill and the diving officer's.
' Shut the induction, Bob!' he ordered.
The toggle on the BCP went over; the hatch clanged to. Open the vents!' said Peace. Take her down! Periscope depth! Left full rudder! Ahead flank! Course two-sevenzero. Smartly!'
The diving officer's hands raced across the panel. Engineroom annunciators flicked to maximum speed. I felt the propeller bite and Devastation, badly out of trim but diving hard, swung in a half-circle to take her westwards out of the bay. Peace called, Sounding!'
Forty feet!'
There were less than thirty under us! If a coral finger projected from this uncharted bottom… Follow the bottom down to the thirty-fathom mark. I want continuous soundings.' Peace beckoned to me. ' It's thirty fathoms for about a mile westwards of the point. After that it falls away to a couple of thousand. I'm taking her deep.'
You don't think Tyler hasn't heard all this fuss of our getaway?' I asked sombrely. Willowtrack is good-bloody good Geoffrey.
Tyler will come after us, you can be sure of that,' he replied tersely. Sonar?'
Confused echoes bearing one-eight-zero degrees, range two thousand yards. Can't make anything of it yet, sir!'
Two thousand yards! That meant we had a flying start over Willowtrack. Sonar is not accurate under 2,000 yards. Willowtrack would be having our own listening problems, exaggerated by the racing propeller and St Brandon's broken agglomeration of coral-heads, islets and reefs. On our present course, however, we would soon be in deep water. Peace knew that the hot sun must have created a thermal layer in the water offshore anything up to 200 feet deep. Sound even the sound of our full-ahead engines-would be distorted, reflected, deflected, by this layer. I guessed he would play the layer to the full, but he would lose it pretty soon if he headed deep and far from the land as apparently he was doing. For the moment, however, we were safe by virtue of our high-tailing start. It was a respite, no more.
Peters came across and said formally to Peace, outlined against the unreal glow of green and red from the instruments, Wish to report, sir, radio out of action.'
' How?' The dark shadows masked Peace's eyes and the strange light emphasized his cheek-bones, so that he looked like some avenging angel at the controls.
' While you were aboard Willowtrack, sir, Williams was on duty. Maybe he didn't hear her coming
Her!' I gasped.
Peters became agitated: Mam'zelle Adele, sir. She broke into the radio-room with a pistol.
A Colt with a hocked hammer, I'll bet,' said Peace grimly.
Williams didn't hear, sir-maybe he was dozing from the effects of the long shifts he's worked. Before he knew where he was, she'd hit him over the head with the butt and dragged him out here-' he jerked his head towards the steel door of the radio-room-' and before we could do anything, she had locked the door. She's been there ever since.'