Forty-five minutes later, the SEALS exited the tank and divided into three groups. The platoon commander and one diver would follow Krail’s command on the Hawkbill, eight divers would join Charon on B-82, and the remaining six divers would return to the Rushmore to prepare the ASDS for deployment. As Krail explained the operation, the smaller, more maneuverable ASDS and Sea Sprite submersibles would use the data generated from the Hawkbill to place the C-4 canisters and cratering charges at the bottom of the Devil’s Finger. Charon’s crew would then take over the wiring of the charge arrays to a central trigger located on the stable platform of B-82. Finally, when the all-clear was given, the C-4 would be detonated, followed quickly by the slower-acting cratering charges that would bring the walls of the canyon down on top of the radiation leak and reseal the seafloor.
That afternoon, Charon confirmed that the oil reservoir in B-82’s GBS had been offloaded. The gate valves of the offshore loading system were shut down and the platform was secured. Charon assured the rest of the group that there was no possibility of damage due to concussion from the explosives, or the loss of oil from the GBS if the charges produced any pressure effects in the fossil-fuel lenses below. With a measure of chagrin, Garner realized that Global B-82 was about the only thing within twenty nautical miles of the detonation that was even estimated to be secure when the Devil’s Finger was collapsed. Even if all went as planned, the ships and broken floe ice could be tossed around as easily as floating corks. As the seafloor buckled and collapsed there might be any number of catastrophic aftereffects. Large ice floes might break into thousands of uncontrollable pieces as the sea surface heaved up, creating massive wave disturbances.
Garner continually raised these concerns to Krail as the SEAL squads began setting the canisters into place. What worried Garner even more was Krail’s focus on the actions of the SEAL platoon to the exclusion of all else including, perhaps, common sense. Contrary to Garner’s more cautious evaluation, Krail apparently wanted the plan to proceed with military expediency and about as much subtlety.
“The C-4 packages are being set into the bottom at an angle,” Krail explained. To illustrate, he held up two pencils with their bottom ends angled toward each other like a distended V. “Once they’re wired together, they’ll be detonated in pairs along the fault, moving north to south. The effect will be like knocking snow off a roof — the seafloor will collapse onto itself. The cratering charges will then backfill the canyon below and bury the fissure where the radiation is entering the bottom current.”
“Assuming the charges are buried deep enough to fracture the bedrock in the first place,” Garner countered.
“Always assuming,” Krail said, slightly annoyed. “But it’s quicker and more decisive than attempting any kind of dredging or back filling even if we had enough sediment to work with.”
The most difficult part of setting the charges was pushing them far enough into the sediment that the concussion worked directly upon the bedrock, not sideways into the sediment layer or upward into the water column. Then, once the walls of the canyon were collapsed, the veneer of natural sediment would act as filler around the larger pieces of fractured bedrock. The chances that the radiation would migrate through the sediment especially the clay-based elements were practically zero.
The radiation seeping in through the bottom of the fault would effectively be cut off from the water flowing over it.
“And you’re certain you want to start the chain reaction from north to south? Toward the rig?” Garner asked.
“Charon called it, and convinced me to agree. We need the momentum from the shallower end of the canyon to drag the deeper portions with it. Besides, we’ve got a five-mile distance and a few hundred meters’ depth between the blast and the rig.”
“Not much for a surface wave to traverse, or a fissure in a fault line, for that matter.”
Garner’s rational persistence began to irritate Krail.
“So what do you suggest? Moving the rig to the south, or tunneling the leak farther north?”
“I’m only suggesting we do this in stages, a few charges at a time.”
Krail shook his head.
“It’d never work. We might not generate enough force. You know as well as I do, we have to absolutely pulverize the rock or we’re just creating a temporary stopgap.”
“You can’t possibly know exactly how the fault is going to react to that much explosive power.”
“That’s right. In fact, the only thing I do know is how much C-4 I’m able to set down for this operation. No cement. No trenching. Just a pile of canisters and a few tough bastards to put them in place. I know that if this isn’t enough, there ain’t any more for us to use on short notice. That being the case, I’m not inclined to be poppin’ off charges onesy-twosy until we’re all out of ordnance and that wall of rock isn’t even dented. This is Charon’s area of expertise, and for once, I’m inclined to agree with him.”
“I understand, Scott,” Garner said. “I just need to know we won’t be creating a bigger problem.”
“We won’t be.”
Krail’s certainty was as much of a guarantee as Garner could expect under the circumstances.
“How long until the last of the charges is in place?” Garner asked.
“Two hours, twenty minutes,” Krail said without the need to consult his watch. “After that Charon’s men can primacord the detonators together using the JIM suits and the Sea Sprite. The whole array should be in place by the end of today.”
“And you’re sure you’ll have enough force down there?”
“Yes I am.”
“All at once?”
“We’ll get it, buddy. We’ll do whatever it takes to cut off the flow by dusk tomorrow and then you can handle the slick. If you ask me, that’s the real problem.”
The deadline Krail alluded to had been defined only that morning. The NOAA weather satellites showed a late spring blizzard passing through the area within the next thirty-six to forty-eight hours. In addition to reducing visibility and making the surface operation uncomfortable, the weather would in all likelihood wreak havoc with the wrangling nets deployed by the icebreakers. The current plan was to cut off the source of the leak before the storm hit and move the surface vessels far enough east that they would miss the worst effects of the weather.
With the majority of the C-4 canisters already in place, the success of the operation hinged on Charon’s group linking the charges for sequential detonation on time.
“What’s the estimate from Charon’s group?” Garner asked.
“Exactly on time and precisely on budget, of course,” Krail said. “He knows what needs to be done, and he also knows we’ll be cutting things pretty damn tight, even if he saves us time by walking on water.”
“So, given the choice between two unpredictable forces?”
“Between Charon and the storm? My money’s on Charon. It has to be.”
Convinced that things were as much under control on the oil rig as could be expected. Garner had one of Krail’s men take him back over to the Phoenix. He wanted to double-check the arrangements Carol’s team was making. The Global Vagabond was now within two hours of their location. The North Sea was making good progress through Fury and Hecla Strait, and agreed to meet the other two vessels north of Committee Bay, where the radioactive slick merged with the ocean’s surface.
Typically, rig crews used tow ropes or water cannons to deflect the course of surface ice away from the platform. A preferable method used wake wash to push the ice a few degrees in one direction or another to avoid collision. Each of these methods depended upon small, maneuverable boats specially designed for the task, and never was such an exhaustive relocation of the ice required. Given the resources at hand, Zubov and Byrnes tried to achieve the desired results from a fourth method: Kevlar-coated ice nets, which could be stretched around the floating ice like a hammock. On the Phoenix’s afterdeck, the two men tried to rig some sort of arrangement that would allow two massive ice seines to be attached to the A-frame on the ship’s stern. The winches would not have to reel the nets in the slack could be taken up by either of the flanking vessels but the rigging had to prevent undue stress from tearing the lines or pulling them off their spools.