Bones directed the high intensity beam along Liberty Bell 7 as they circled it from a short distance above. “There it is!”
They looked down on a smallish rectangular opening in the spaceship. Dane guided the submersible through a series of incremental maneuvers until they were at eye level with the open hatch. Pillows of silt wafted from the bottom.
“Can you see in there?” Dane asked.
Bones pressed a rocker switch to move the search beam so that its light was cast inside the capsule.
“There’s some crap scattered on the floor, but everything looks to be in pretty good shape.”
“Crap? Can you elaborate?”
“There’s a bar of soap. You know, like one of those little motel soaps that I always steal. Or take with me, it’s really not stealing, right, if you’re staying…”
“Bones! Stay focused.”
“Okay, but there’s something else…something shiny… Looks like a small metal square thing on the floor of it.”
“Equipment that broke off?”
“It sort of looks like a box. If I can scoop it up we'll know for sure.”
“If you can do it quick. We need to get a move on.” Dane tapped their battery gauges.
“I see the nuke! Cylinder shape, maybe a foot long, just like they said.”
“Why not just grab it so we can scoot?” For Dane, keeping the sub perfectly positioned above the capsule, battling the micro-currents, was a stressful task.
“It’s a really small opening. I think I should practice with something non-critical first. I’ll use the magnet attachment on the small manipulator arm so that I can snatch up that box. Once I do that I’ll have the feel for it and go back in for the nuke.”
Bones pressed a button to retract a metal cover that exposed a magnetic surface on the end of the grab arm. Then he operated the videogame-like controls that extended the arm in through the hatch opening to the interior of the space capsule.
“I’m in…” He positioned the arm over the box and lowered the magnet-containing claw to the capsule floor. A puff of silt billowed around the mechanical arm. Then he raised the arm, box attached, and retracted it back through the open hatch, ensconcing it safely inside the sub’s tool bay.
“I was always good at those claw grabber games.”
“Yeah, yeah, you just won the little cheap toy. Now go for the big stuffed animal to make your date really happy.”
“We haven’t been at sea long enough for you to start looking good.” Like a dentist requesting drills from an assistant, Bones brought out the manipulator with the largest claw.
“This looks like it’ll do.” In the briefing, no one knew the exact dimensions of the nuke. That data had been lost to the ravages of time. “Too bad they couldn’t make a specially fitted claw for this thing.”
“You’re a SEAL. Improvise.”
“How do I make this thing flip you off?”
“Hold on,” Dane said. An upwelling of water lifted their craft, and he took a moment to correct their position. “Okay, resume operations.”
“Going in.” Bones extended the manipulator arm to full length until it passed through the craft’s open hatch. Dane’s hand rested on the sub’s control joystick, positioning the craft over the capsule like a hummingbird on a flower. Bones rotated the claw arm.
“I’m over the nuke. Making a grab for it.”
Dane realized he was holding his breath as Bones brought the grasping tool over the cylindrical device and pressed the button that retracted its claws. They closed around the cylinder and Dane clenched his fists, as if in support. Bones gave the arm a tentative lift, saw that it held.
“I have it. Are we steady, Maddock?”
There was a two second pause while Dane confirmed his position relative to the capsule.
“Yeah.” The word came in an exhale of breath and draining adrenaline.
“Withdrawing the arm with the package…here it comes… I’m just inside the hatch…”
Suddenly a brilliant light appeared out of nowhere in the darkness above and in front of them.
“We’ve got company! What is that?” Dane asked. “Not one of your contraptions, right?”
“Negative.” As they watched, the light expanded through their bubble window, homing in on them.
“Another sub?” Dane queried.
“No, it’s an ROV. Autonomous, too, since it’s got no tether. They sent a robot down here.” Bones sat up straight, the usual glimmer of mischief gone from his eyes. He was all business. “And it’s heading our way.”
Chapter 6
“They must be watching us through that thing.” Dane kept his eyes locked on the remotely operated vehicle as it approached their mini-sub. “It’s time to split. You have the nuke?”
The remote-controlled robot halted its forward progress near the perimeter of Deep Black’s floodlights. It hovered there, looking for all the world like a mechanical sentry who came across an intruder and now awaited instructions on how to proceed.
“Let me get the other arm around it.”
A flash of light pierced the darkness.
“Is that thing taking our picture?” Bones asked.
“Looks like it.” Dane frowned. What was going on?
“Must be the TV people. And I totally forgot to put on my makeup.”
“I don’t know.” Dane watched as the ROV barreled toward them, chewing up the intervening space at a rapid clip. “I think they’re trying to ram us.”
“What the hell would they do that for?” Bones growled.
“I don’t know. Just get a grip on the nuke.”
“I’ve got it! Go!” Bones yanked the joystick back at the same time as Dane kicked the thrusters on full, sending the sub shooting upward.
“Son of a…!” Bones left his phrase unfinished as he let his head slam back into the co-pilot seat’s headrest.
“What is it?”
“The nuke hit the side of the hatch when you put the pedal to the metal. It got knocked loose.” He paused. “I dropped it.”
“Did it land inside or outside the capsule?” Dane would have preferred it landed outside, since that way it had a chance of being covered by silt and overlooked by the Science Channel expedition. Also, it would make for an easier grab when they went back.
Bones leaned forward against the dome, shielding his eyes against the intruder’s piercing spotlight that it leveled at them. “It fell back into the capsule.”
Dane only exhaled sharply in reply.
“At least it didn’t explode, right?”
“Tell that to the Admiral.”
“He’d probably prefer that it exploded.” Bones turned and saw the ROV skirt past the spacecraft and adjust its attitude upward.
“Hey, that spybot’s still chasing us.”
Another white flash invaded their cabin.
“It’s trying to take a picture of our license plate, I guess,” Dane said, aiming their sub almost vertically.
“We could test out the weapons system on it.” Bones eyed the missile pod control assembly, a gleam in his eye.
“Not unless they shoot first or try to disable us in some way.”
“Screw them. Let’s go back down for the nuke and hope they try something. I’m in the mood to kick some ass.”
Dane glanced down at the battery display. “No can do. We took too long searching. We’ll be lucky to get back to the surface within a safe range.”
“Well then I’ve got a Kodak moment for it.” Bones raised both middle fingers in a double salute.
Dane only shook his head as he increased thruster speed to maximum, rocketing them toward the surface. Standard ascent procedure called for the proper amount of sub’s ballast, lead weights, to be jettisoned, causing the craft to float gently to the surface. Dane knew, however, that although the bends, a scuba diver’s malady that arose from ascending too rapidly, was not a concern for them in the mini-sub, that they would run their battery bank down before they reached the surface at this rate. Also, he knew that an ascent from depths such as these could spin out of control as it gained speed and buoyancy when the water became shallower. He had no desire to go end over end before rocketing through the surface out of control, creating a spectacle for whoever happened to be watching topside.