Williams’ purging of the bay was fortunately uneventful. I was thankful because I didn’t know much more stress I could take. I needed a checklist of things to worry about now with the introduction of another anomaly in my previously orderly life. It was just too much happening too soon. And nothing was what it seemed.
Chapter 13. Monopole
On our return to the station, we headed straight to the mess for coffee. Briscoe insisted and the Lieutenant and I agreed. We had a presentation to prepare before Bowman’s meeting and we knew a group consensus of our mission’s discoveries was in order. Otherwise, he might suspect some form of deep-sea mass hysteria.
Williams took a pen and small notepad from her pocket and began to write.
“Number one,” she said, “The SeaPod was gone. Apparently cut from the tractor wheel according to Briscoe.”
He nodded agreement.
“Number two: Briscoe found a piece of cutting rod. Still have that Briscoe?”
He pulled it from his shirt pocket and dropped it on the table.
“Yep, brought it from my dive pouch. That’s it.”
I picked it up and examined it.
“Looks like a torch rod to me.”
“Number three,” she continued, “and this is a whopper: Briscoe discovered a glowing point in the silt near Pod Bay 2. When I tried to approach it, my SeaPod navigation failed. I had to reboot the system as Marker did yesterday only this time the SeaPod, a different one, I should add, was not on AutoDock. Comments?”
I had to speak no matter how off-the-wall it sounded.
“When I saw the Chief kicking the silt from its surface, it seemed to come alive glowing brighter with more colors as I watched. Maybe it’s just me but I see a strange connection here. On our first approach to the station when you were driving. Lieutenant, the same system blackout occurred as we passed over the object. Then Edwards took the same SeaPod out and crashed it coming out of Pod Bay 2. He had to pass over the object on his way to the front of the station to crash under Pod Bay 1. Finally, the Chief’s suit power weakened to near failure mode as he stood over the object waiting for me to retrieve the torch pack. And when I returned and stood there with him and dropped the pack, my power also began to fade. It’s like the object is stealing power.”
“Or control,” Briscoe said. “It’s a monopole, a center of attraction. I’ve read about them somewhere. But I think they’re only theoretical.”
He cast his eyes down then stared at me.
“I hate to say this, Marker, but I’m in full agreement with you. That thing is sucking the life out of everything around it. But why hasn’t it done that before? Did you notice anything unusual out there before we arrived, Lieutenant?”
She closed her eyes for a moment.
“Um, no. Not that I can remember. Except Dan Li’s empty Exosuit was found not far from that location.”
“So maybe it was waiting to be triggered my some motion and Briscoe’s boot aroused it.”
“That’s absurd, Marker. You’ve been watching too many sci-fi movies.”
Williams laughed.
“Yeah, Marker. I saw that one too and that notion’s just out of the question.”
As we finished our coffee, we all agreed that we were up against something beyond our comprehension especially considering the secrecy of the station’s mission. When we finally realized that the object could possibly be tied to another undisclosed compartment of Umbra’s security web we decided to present our findings to Bowman and let him try to sort it all out. We certainly couldn’t.
Lieutenant Williams stood and walked to an Ivy console on a nearby wall.
“Ivy, Sue Williams here.”
“Good afternoon, Susan Williams. What can I do for you today?”
“Please notify Dr. Bowman that we have returned and are ready to meet with him at his convenience.”
“Message received and transferred. Anything else?”
“No. Thank you, Ivy.”
“You’re quite welcome, Susan Williams. I’ll notify you when Dr. Bowman responds.”
She returned to our table sighed and sat biting at a fingernail.
“So,” Briscoe said yawning, “I wonder when we can get some sleep. We arrived here early this morning without sleep and we’re still going strong fourteen hours later. I haven’t slept since seven a.m. yesterday and it’s now three p.m. the next day. That’s thirty-two hours I’ve been awake. I’m beginning to feel like I’m on a hospital staff.”
The Lieutenant and I laughed at his humor but I knew how he felt. Everything was beginning to blur in my mind. My concentration was muddled and my energy gone. I stood, grabbed the Chief’s mug along with mine, walked to the coffee urn, and refilled them.
“Thanks, Marker. This may get me through the next shift. They’ll be calling me into the ER at any time now.”
Almost on cue, Ivy’s voice burst forth from the overhead speakers resonating through the mess hall.
“Susan Williams, Dr. Bowman requests your presence in Pod Bay 2.”
“That also means you two,” she said to us. Downing her coffee she rose from the table and headed toward the core hatch. Then turning back she asked, “Coming, fellows?”
“Right behind you,” answered the Chief gathering the torch tip into his pocket.
In her footsteps, we scurried into Quad 2 and down the hatch ladder into Pod Bay 2.
Alone in the empty bay Bowman greeted us. He was not pleased: he glared up from pacing over the empty SeaPod pad and stopped.
“Where the hell is the SeaPod? You were supposed to bring it back.”
“It was gone, Dr. Bowman, apparently cut loose,” Williams said.
His face flushed with anger for a moment then after a deep breath he calmly replied, “May I ask who cut it loose, Lieutenant? Was it you? Briscoe? Cross? You are the only ones who have been out there since the accident. Please explain that.”
“I can’t sir but Briscoe did find a spent cutting torch tip under where it had once rested. We had to assume it was forcefully freed by something or someone. Even the tractor wheel spoke was mangled where it had become entangled in the SeaPod.”
“So I assume you talked this over amongst yourselves,” he said. “Where do you suggest we go from here? Briscoe, Cross, you’re supposed to be on top of this. Did you find any other evidence of tampering out there?”
The Chief flashed a glance my way before speaking.
“Yes and no, Dr. Bowman. At the base of the crawler under Pod Bay 2, I happened upon something buried beneath the ocean floor. We had doused our lights—”
“Wait a minute Briscoe. You found something buried? Was it one of our probes?”
“I don’t think so, sir, unless your probes can glow and suck power from nearby objects. Marker and I think it may even be the culprit in all these crashes.”
“That’s absurd,” he shouted. “Nothing can do that. Anything else unusual about it?”
Remembering that moment standing over it, I related my experience.
“I know this may sound ridiculous too but I when I was checking my suit’s power in the HUD, I noticed the clock’s time read 1254 hours. By the time I had dropped the torch pack and finally got the Chief moving, which must have taken at least five minutes, I checked my power level again and the clock showed 1250 hours. Either my clock malfunctioned or the object the Chief called a monopole reversed the passage of time.”
“Rubbish!” he said then paused in deep thought. He shook his head as if to rid his mind of a notion.