Shimmer
By R. L. Keller
Author’s note : while my stories usually have a zinger or two, the boys took over this one and decided to have a little fun of their own. All I can say is, read at your own risk J RLK
A
small frown crossed Chip Morton’s face as he pulled into the driveway of his CO
– and best friend – Lee Crane. Chip was
only a couple of minutes later than he’d said he’d be; traffic was a mess, to
say the least. In fact, that’s one
reason Chip had volunteered to pick Lee up this Friday evening. They were headed for a formal reception at
NIMR; their boss, Admiral Harriman Nelson, was hosting the event, honoring
science project award winners from all of the area’s schools and awarding half
a dozen scholarships for high school seniors as well as several for junior
college students. With parking at a
premium this would mean one less car.
Enough
years around Lee had taught Chip that Lee was always ready at least five minutes
early so, when he wasn’t already waiting, Chip had a moment of
uncertainty. The front door was open
behind the screen door so Chip figured that Lee had merely stepped away for a
second. But when Lee still hadn’t
appeared after two minutes the frown came back and Chip exited his car and
entered Lee’s front hallway. “Lee?” he
called out, trying not to let any of his concern enter his voice.
“Sorry,
Chip,” came down the stairs. “Be down in
a second.”
“No
problem,” Chip answered, starting to relax as Lee’s voice sounded normal. He ambled into the front room to wait and a
small grin hit his face.
For
the last several days Lee had been somewhat under the weather. Nothing serious, not even enough to set off
Jamie’s radar although Chip had made sure that NIMR’s CMO knew about it. Just a head cold, but it had sapped Lee’s
usually limitless energy level enough that he hadn’t argued – too much, anyway
– when Chip had urged him to take the afternoon off in preparation for what
would probably be a long evening of schmoozing with the locals.
What
was now tickling Chip’s funny bone was seeing the stained glass afghan that had
recently appeared in Lee’s house, usually neatly adorning the back of the
couch, lying haphazardly across one arm.
Chip had a sneaking suspicion that Lee had laid down once he’d gotten
home and covered himself with the afghan, had probably fallen asleep, then
hurriedly tossed it aside once he awoke and realized that he was running
late. Not worrying that Lee was getting
worse, although making a mental note to keep an eye on him this evening
nonetheless, Chip walked over and returned the afghan to its normal position.
Chip
wasn’t totally sure where the afghan, it’s bright pastel blocks each edged with
black giving it it’s name, came from; Lee had never said. But Chip had his suspicions and his grin
spread. Chip had commanded Seaview on a
two-week cruise while Lee had remained confined to his home, recuperating from
some fairly serious injuries sustained during a battle with poachers.* With Jamie aboard Seaview as well, Lee’s care
had ended up in the hands of the CMO’s not-so-secret weapon, Nurse Esther Hale,
USMC (Ret.). Chip had personal intel
that the outwardly tough-as-nails retired Gunnery Sergeant had a heart of gold
– intel that he carefully kept to himself.
But he did know that Nurse Hale knit and crocheted during quiet periods
to help keep her fingers nimble. He had
a strong suspicion that she’d made it while ‘commander-sitting.’
Chip
knew that Lee would be embarrassed if he were caught, even by his best friend,
resorting to an afternoon nap so the afghan was neatly back in place by the
time he heard Lee’s steps on the stairs.
He met Lee in the doorway and kept a neutral expression on his face as
Lee’s eyes flicked toward the couch.
Ever so briefly a shy, sheepish grin crossed Lee’s face before he
quickly covered it with a frown as he caught Chip giving him a look up and
down. “What?” he growled.
Chip
grinned. “Just checking. With all the city officials in attendance,
can’t have Seaview’s captain with his uniform amiss.”
Lee
sent him a disgusted look. “Like I’ve
suddenly forgotten how to put on a dress uniform?” Chip shrugged but his blue eyes were
twinkling merrily. Lee shook his
head. “I’m surprised that you’re not pushing
me out the door. I thought you had a new
secretary to pursue.”
Chip
raised a finger. “Research assistant,
not secretary,” he corrected sternly, but it was spoiled by the broad grin on
his face.
“Sorry,”
Lee apologized insincerely. “It’s so
hard keeping up with you.” Chip sent him
a glare, as well as a gentle backhand, but they both grinned and headed out the
door.
Thankfully
they were able to avoid the chaos around NIMR’s front gate – staff was entering
through an obscure service gate and Security pointed Chip to an open space next
to Admiral Nelson’s sedan. There were a
couple of quick comments about rank thankfully having its privileges before
Chip got sidetracked by several groups of people walking past, making their way
from this back parking lot towards the conference center where the reception
was being held. Lee grinned as he
recognized one of the women as Chip’s newest…
The grin spread as Lee stopped himself from calling the statuesque
brunette a target. That was most
definitely not how Chip treated NIMR’s female employees. He enjoyed ‘playing the field’ as it
were. And such was his charm and honest
sincerity that even when he’d gone on to someone new he stayed friends with
everyone else. It was one of a multitude
of things for which Lee had always admired his gregarious friend.
Lee
turned to close the car door, trying to remember the brunette’s name – it was
something unusual – and closed his eyes briefly, hanging on to the door frame
as a bit of vertigo hit him. It
surprised him; while the cold had slowed him down a tad it had been more
annoying than anything else. He glanced
around once he felt comfortable enough to reopen his eyes but his momentary
lapse had apparently gone unnoticed – thankfully. He’d taken several steps away from the car
before Chip seemed to realize he’d abandoned his CO and stopped to wait for
him. Lee tried to shoo him off with the
brunette with a flip of his hand but Chip wasn’t having any part of it. As Lee got closer Chip told him firmly, “If I
have to tolerate the next three hours in dress whites, I’m not letting you get
out of it by disappearing into your office.”
“Yeah,
like I’d get away with that,” Lee groused before both men smiled and followed
the growing crowd headed for the reception.
A
grin crossed Lee’s face about two hours later.
Actually, he’d had a smile on his face most of the evening. It was a pleasure watching his boss, Admiral
Nelson, enthusiastically emcee the program.
He was very much in his element encouraging continuing enthusiasm in the
students being honored for the sciences that were so much a part of his own
being and his excitement had a way of spilling over into those around him. Lee had been surprised, back in his
This
particular expression, however, wasn’t triggered by Nelson but by Chip. Now that the formal festivities were
concluded, the social aspects of the gathering took over – NIMR staff putting
their best faces forward, as any large employer in an area liked to do. Lee had spent the last bit of time ambling
through the crowd, adding his own personal congratulations to the students and
chatting amiably with those city officials and local businesspeople that he
knew. Chip had been doing the same,
circulating through the room. But Lee
had just spotted him over by the hor d’oeuvers table, apparently pointing out
some of the tastier delicacies to… Drat, he grumbled to himself, why can’t I remember her name?
But
he suddenly had something else to think about as a bit of the vertigo once more
caused him to briefly close his eyes.
When he felt it pass nearly as quickly as it hit he decided that in this
case, at least, the excess of bodies in the room was responsible for his
feeling of being overly warm and he headed for the doors out to the patio area
for some fresh air.
He
had his hands on the railing around the edge of the patio, staring out across
the expanse of grass leading down toward the ocean, when a hand holding a cup
of what looked like punch appeared in front of him. He instantly frowned when he followed the arm
to a face. “What did you spike it with?”
he demanded of his nemesis in all medical matters – and one of his closest
friends – Dr. Will Jamison. He assumed
Jamie had seen his momentary discomfort and rapid exit from the reception.
Will
merely chuckled and held out his other hand, also holding a cup of punch. “Would you rather have this one?” When Lee continued to frown, he continued. “You’re not the only one who was in need of a
break. I saw you head out and it gave me
an excuse to sneak out as well. It’s
definitely getting warm in there.”
During
the explanation Lee’s expression softened and he finally took the proffered
refreshment. “Thanks,” he said with a
quick nod and a soft grin. The two men
stood quietly, shoulder to shoulder, until Lee noticed a hand reaching toward
his face. He caught the wrist in a near
vice-like grip and glared at the doctor.
Will
stood very still, not struggling, and kept a benign expression on his
face. He knew that the fastest way to
tick Lee off was to argue with him.
Sometimes, if he was very patient, he could actually get Lee to
cooperate. Lee held his wrist so long
that Will was beginning to think that this wasn’t going to be one of those
times. But Lee finally allowed his stiff
posture to relax, let loose his grip, and briefly closed his eyes. Ever so lightly Will touched the back of his
newly released hand to Lee’s forehead before once more returning his gaze to
the view in front of him.
Lee
allowed the silence to continue for several moments before his curiosity got
the better of him. “Well?” he muttered.
Will
sent him a grin. “I was only going to
suggest that you stay out here a bit longer before going back into the stuffiness
in there.” He gestured toward the
conference room. “But as usual you’ll do
as you jolly well please no matter what I say.”
He shrugged, his grin increasing as Lee sent him a glare, and he headed
for the doors.
“Thanks,
Jamie,” floated his direction. “For the
punch,” Lee added. Will heard the caring
in the first part and the humor in the second part and he laughed out loud, but
didn’t turn around before returning to the festivities.
Lee
continued to grin. His battles with the
doctor were legendary – especially among Seaview’s crew. Yet, the two strong-willed men had formed a
very strong bond of friendship and respect.
They still sparred for real on occasion, loudly and with genuine
emotion. But for the most part they were
able to reach an agreement both could live with without either feeling too put
upon, or Nelson having to step in and settle matters however he saw fit. The grin was still in place when Lee polished
off the punch and headed back inside.
His
first stop was to refill the cup; the punch was a little sweeter than he’d have
liked but it was cold, and actually tasted pretty good. He spotted Jamie in conversation with a group
that included the Admiral and
“What’s
so funny?” Lee turned to find Chip at
his shoulder.
“None
of your business,” Lee nattered back, the grin never leaving his face.
Chip
easily returned it. “Ami and I are
headed out for a late dinner…” That’s her name, Lee mentally snapped
his fingers. Pronounced with a soft ‘a’ as in ‘and.’
Why can’t I remember that? “…and I didn’t want to strand you here,” Chip
finished.
“No
biggy,” Lee told him. The hand holding
the refilled cup indicated the room, still full of people. “Not like I can’t find a ride home.” Neride,
he mentally brought up the new researcher’s last name. He sent Chip a pointed eyebrow. “Just behave yourself – she’ll be on the next
cruise, you know.”
Chip
pulled himself up to his full height. “I
always behave,” he told Lee firmly. “And
I’m not likely to forget the cruise; it’s pretty much all she talks about,
getting to go on Seaview.” His
expression relaxed but there was a slight note of disappointment in the comment
that had Lee grinning again.
“I
keep trying to tell you, Seaview is tough competition.”
“Yeah,
yeah,” Chip grumbled, before switching track again. “You really don’t mind? When I suggested picking you up I really had
no intention of abandoning you here.”
Lee
backhanded him lightly. “I know that,
you idiot,” he told his friend fondly.
“Go. Now. One of us should make an enjoyable evening
out of this.”
Chip
waggled his eyebrows. “I plan to,” he
said, his humor back. Lee flipped a hand
at him and the blond headed off.
His
good mood firmly back in place as well, Lee maneuvered through the room,
chatting easily. But it wasn’t long
before things started to wind down. He
was actually thinking that, without Chip around to nag him, he might just sneak
over to his office for a couple hours – there always seemed to be more
paperwork than he had time for. He
looked around to see how easy it would be to make his escape and discovered Lt.
Chris James at his elbow. “What’s up,
lieutenant?” he asked amiably.
“I
was just about to head out, sir. Thought
that I’d check and see if you needed a ride.”
Lee
sent him a pointed eyebrow. “Meaning,
Mr. Morton told you to make sure I wasn’t stuck here.” His voice was firm.
But
there was a noticeable sparkle in his eyes that the younger man had served with
him long enough to pick up on, and Chris let a small grin show. “Yes, sir.”
Lee
chuckled. “Far be it for me to be the
cause of you ticking off the XO,” he told the lieutenant amiably. “Just let me say my good evening to the
Admiral.”
Will
was still part of the group around Nelson when Lee walked quietly up. He shared a quick grin with the doctor and
then very carefully controlled his expression when he realized that the Admiral
was explaining to the mayor, as well as several local businesspeople, why he
was so excited about some ongoing research NIMR was doing concerning plankton
reproduction. Nelson eventually glanced
his way, read the sparkle that Lee was unable to keep out of his eyes, and
paused. His own eyes were bright,
although his expression was borderline sheepish, as he finally realized how
he’d allowed himself to get wound up in what he found totally fascinating but
what outsiders might not! “Something,
Lee?” he used his captain’s presence to get himself out of the slight social faux pas.
Nelson
couldn’t see Will’s face but he still had a pretty good idea of why Lee has
having such trouble controlling a grin.
Lee took an extra second by coughing discretely into his hand. “Was just checking to see if you needed
anything, sir,” he got out fairly under control.
Nelson
took a quick glance at Will, who was barely maintaining a neutral
expression. “We’re just about ready to
wrap things up here,” Nelson told Lee, glancing around the starting to empty
reception hall. “I’m sure that Will
would appreciate you getting a little extra rest, fighting that cold like
you’ve been.”
Lee
wanted to frown but out of the corner of his eye he saw Will have to turn his
back to the group and smother a snort of laughter and it caused him to grin at
the old, overused but still perfectly accurate assessment of Will’s opinion of
how Lee didn’t always take care of himself.
He nodded. “Yes, sir,” he agreed,
causing Nelson to grin broadly.
“Hopefully
you have plans for the weekend that don’t include nonstop paperwork.” Will apparently decided that, with Nelson
running interference, it was safe to fire a potshot of his own.
Lee
started to send the doctor one of his better command glares but it got
short-circuited as Nelson snorted. It
didn’t help at all when the mayor, privy to a couple precious sparring matches
between Seaview’s Captain and CMO, couldn’t control her own snicker. Lee decided that he might as well surrender
as gracefully as possible and made his escape.
* *
* *
Actually,
Lee surprised everyone who knew what a total workaholic he could be. He hit his office Saturday morning for about
an hour, made a quick appearance on Seaview to check on how a couple of minor
repairs were going, and then left. He
did take a few reports home with him but spent most of the weekend puttering
around his house or jogging along the beach.
Chip called Sunday and brought
steaks over for dinner that they grilled, and downed them with a couple of
beers. With all the extra rest, Lee was
feeling a good deal better Monday morning than he had most of the previous
week.
The
usual Monday-morning-while-in-port strategy session in Admiral Nelson’s office
was mainly to go over the upcoming cruise.
It wouldn’t be a hard one. In
fact, for the first few days or so Seaview would only be a few hours’ journey
from her homeport. One of NIMR’s
long-running projects involved various studies being done with dolphins. They had occasionally, over the years, worked
with the Navy’s own projects into dolphin training, but mostly the projects
revolved around general physiology and health maintenance as well as
communication studies. Most of the
research involved the Bottlenose as well as other common varieties, but this
specific cruise was targeting the lesser-known Risso’s dolphin. NIMR’s research team was headed by Drs.
Michael and Alexis Travers, a couple who had met and married after coming to
NIMR nearly ten years previously. While
Seaview’s senior staff had seen the project proposals and cruise parameters,
the Travers had been invited to attend the meeting to answer specific questions
anyone might have. They’d brought along
their lead research assistant, and Lee sent Chip a well aimed, albeit gentle,
kick when Ami Neride followed the couple into Nelson’s office. Chip sent Lee an instant glare, but covered
it quickly as all the men stood at the two ladies’ entrance. It appeared that Nelson hadn’t anticipated
the inclusion of the assistant as they were one chair short around Nelson’s
desk. Chip immediately retreated to the
couch along the wall, beating Will by only a couple of steps.
Nelson
began the session by giving a brief overview of the project. Their target species was Grampus griseus, or Risso’s dolphin. It was identified and named in 1811, and for
the next hundred years at least was thought to be somewhat rare. Eventually biologists realized that, instead
of preferring relatively shallow waters like the more common varieties, it was
usually found in deeper water along the continental shelves away from
coastlines, as well as around seamounts.
They tended to travel in pods of from three to fifty members, but
occasionally joined up and formed super pods of several thousand. They were also seen with other species of
dolphins, and hybrids had been recorded in both captive and wild populations.
While
Risso’s dolphins had a similar body style to the more familiar Bottlenose
variety they were slightly larger, averaging around twelve feet in length, with
a rounded head like a pilot whale and a larger, slightly curved dorsal fin that
had occasionally been mistaken for that of a killer whale.
“But
only by the inexperienced or casual observer,” Alexis Travers interjected. “They are much lighter in color and as they
mature their bodies tend to pick up more and more scarring, to the point that
older dolphins can appear almost white.”
“Scarring?”
Will asked. “Are they aggressive?” He didn’t like surprises when it came to
possible injuries.
“Not
at all,” Ami Neride assured him rather adamantly before seeming to remember her
place, and looked to the Travers to continue.
Alexis
sent her a grin and nodded. “They
actually don’t really have teeth,” she told the others. “They have from two to seven sets of peg-like
quote teeth unquote on the lower jaw only, which they tend to lose as they age. The scarring is thought to be caused
partially by their contact with each other but mostly from their main prey,
squid.”
“Mike,”
Lee asked the so far silent member of the research team, “I understand using
Seaview as a diving platform since you need to be further from shore than if
you were working with Bottlenose dolphins.
Could you walk us through a typical dive? I’m a little unclear on your procedures.”
“Actually,
so are we,” the biologist admitted with a slightly sheepish grin. He pulled a picture out of a file folder that
he’d carried in with him. “This is a
picture of the data collection units we’ll be using.” It showed what looked like a clear plastic
outer unit protecting a smaller internal meter of some sort. “It’s called a data logger, and was developed
by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in
But
Chip had a question. “Why is it made to
fall off so quickly? Wouldn’t you get
more data if it stayed on longer?”
Mike
was already nodding halfway through the question. “The longer they stay on, the easier it is
for the dolphin to move out of range and we lose the whole thing. And also, some of the data would be redundant
after the first several hours anyway.”
It was Chip’s turn to nod. “
“We’ve
adapted their unit to record how deep the animals dive, speed at which they
swim, as well as heart rate and respiration.
With the GPS data of where we tag them compared to where we pick up the
logger once it falls off we can make some guesses as to daily travel
patterns.” She paused and sent the group
a sheepish smile. “But we’re actually
hoping that they don’t travel too far so we’re not chasing them halfway across
the ocean to retrieve the units.”
“And
just how do you propose to attach these units to wild animals?” Chip was beginning to get confused again.
Mike
Travers nodded toward Ami. “Our secret
weapon – we hope,” he told the others, and the research assistant blushed. “Ami spent time with the
“Well,”
the assistant admitted, “most of the time.”
“Like
other dolphin species,” Alexis continued the explanation, “the Risso’s is
relatively curious if not threatened.
We’ll have divers in the water hand spreading squid bits to entice them
close. The loggers will be attached to
quick-release poles and Mike, Ami, and I, as the animals hopefully relax and
enjoy the free food, will use the poles to reach out and slip the units in
place.”
“How
deep are you planning to have to dive?” Will asked.
“While
the Risso’s like deeper water they still spend a lot of time near the surface
as they need to breathe. We’ll be
working with them no more than twenty or thirty feet deep – there’s no need to
go any deeper.” Will nodded.
“The
choice of your diving sites?” Lee wanted to know.
“
“One
step at a time,” Nelson told the group.
“While it is an ambitious project, its one that’s long overdue. Risso’s are lovely dolphins that haven’t had
their fair share of acknowledgement.”
There were enthusiastic nods from the other researchers, and Lee turned
and sent Chip a quick grin.
The
group discussed a few more points but, since all agreed that it was going to be
somewhat a ‘trial and error’ type of cruise, at least at first, the meeting
didn’t last much longer. As everyone
stood, Ami suddenly slapped a hand just underneath her throat and everyone else
stopped dead and stared at her.
The
researcher blushed. “Oops. Sorry.
Just felt my necklace slip.” She
held out her hand and in the palm lay a pendant with a cameo carved on the
surface, the two ends of the chain hanging from it. “I’ve been having some issues with the
clasp.”
“That’s
lovely,” Nelson told her.
“I’ve
told her that if she’s not careful I’m going to steal it,” Alexis said, but
with obvious good humor in her voice.
Nelson
took a longer look as Ami continued to hold it out. “I seem to recall seeing something similar.” He looked at her. “Can’t for the life of me remember
where.” If he was fishing for an
explanation it didn’t work – Ami merely smiled.
Lee
took a step closer. The cameo, elegantly
carved, showed a mermaid half astride a dolphin – a common or Bottlenose, from
the head – their lower bodies disappearing into the crest of a wave. “You should have a jeweler check that clasp,”
he said, before realizing how officious that sounded and he ducked his head,
sending her a shy smile.
She
grinned broadly at him and nodded.
“Actually, I did before leaving
“I
can recommend a good jeweler downtown,” Chip chimed in. He sent Lee a momentary glare as Lee had to
turn away and cough discretely into his hand.
“Sorry,”
Lee turned back. “Remnants of a small
cold.”
“Skipper,”
Will said sternly, “we’ll just see how much diving you do on this cruise if
you’re still fighting that cold.” Lee
wanted to send a glare at his CMO, but couldn’t hold it when he realized Will’s
eyes were sparkling with his own barely contained humor.
“Get
used to it,” Alexis told Ami as she nodded towards Seaview’s officers. “I’d recommend bringing your own shovel –
gets a bit thick from time to time.” Everyone cracked up at that, and dispersed
still grinning.
Will
hung back an extra few seconds. “Looks
like it’s going to be one of ‘those’ cruises,” he muttered to Nelson.
Nelson’s
grin spread. “Would you rather it be
boring, weird, hazardous, or just downright nasty?” he asked all too
innocently.
Will
frowned before his own grin returned.
“Point taken. But those
two…” He didn’t finish the thought.
“Agreed,”
Nelson nodded. “Still, better than the
alternative.” Both men shuddered
slightly, remembering a recent cruise where Lee and Chip had spent most of the
time at each other’s throats because of a misunderstanding caused by a
passenger.** As Nelson’s expression
changed to one of almost puzzlement, Will raised an eyebrow and Nelson once
more smiled. “Ms. Neride’s necklace,” he
started by way of explanation. “I know
that I’ve seen that design before.
Somewhere,” he added with a shrug.
“Mermaids
and dolphins. Not that unusual.”
“True,”
Nelson admitted. “But that particular
image…” He shrugged again. “No biggy, as Chip would say.”
“You
just hate puzzles,” Will teased his boss amiably.
“Also
true.” Nelson gave him a broad grin.
* *
* *
Two
days later Lee hit his office for about an hour then, grabbing his briefcase,
he stopped at his car for a small duffle bag and headed for Seaview. They weren’t due to sail until the
mid-afternoon tide but he always used any excuse he could come up with to spend
as much time as possible aboard his ‘Gray Lady,’ as he called the boat. Today he could take a leisurely stroll
through the submarine, checking on the few bits of maintenance and repairs that
had been scheduled since they arrived home from the last cruise. He knew that the crew teased behind his back
– and the senior officers to his face – that there wasn’t a nut, bolt, or screw
in the entire boat that Lee hadn’t had his hands on at some point in the years
since he’d come to NIMR. He would merely
grin – they were probably right. Lee had
always been a very ‘hands on’ kind of officer, and with each rise in rank there
was that much more within his reach. He
made a quick stop in his cabin, just long enough to toss his stuff on the bunk,
before heading for the
He
had to bury the instant grin that hit his face as he found Lt. Chris James had
beaten him there, but the grin wouldn’t stay hidden. The young lieutenant was becoming every bit
the officer that both Lee and Chip had expected him to be. They had had a couple of quiet conversations
between themselves about just how long James would be content aboard Seaview
before he became bored and wanted to return to the regular Navy where he could
continue up the food chain on a more rapid timetable to his own command. They felt that he’d one day make a great
CO. But so far Chris had shown no inclination
to go anywhere. With no other crewmen in
the
“You
keep doing Mr. Morton’s job I’m going to have to find more for one or the other
of you to do,” Lee told him as he realized James was working on the Navigation
parameters for the second part of the cruise, from the Channel Islands west to
Wake Island.
Lt.
James sent him a stricken look. “Oh, no,
sir,” came out in almost a panic before he noticed the sparkle that Lee couldn’t
keep out of his eyes, and he took a deep breath. “I was just taking a few minutes to
familiarize myself with the route Mr. Morton had already plotted before I have
a meeting with Chief Hauck.” James was
also Seaview’s Weapon’s Officer, and worked closely with the boat’s
Master-At-Arms.
“Ah,”
Lee nodded, the grin breaking through in both expression and voice. “Still happy with your duty here?” he asked
casually as he reached for the maintenance clipboard lying on the chart table.
“Yes,
sir,” James answered enthusiastically.
“I’ve learned so much since accepting this position.” He sent Lee a quick, shy, look. “I wasn’t sure I’d like it, at first,” he
admitted.
Lee
nodded. “I got that feeling,” he told
the younger man.
Chris
ducked his head again slightly. “Seaview
isn’t what I was expecting.”
“Join
the club,” Lee told him with a broad grin, which Chris returned with slightly
less volume.
“But
I’m so glad now that I came. You and Mr.
Morton are great – I’m really appreciating the chance to work with you.”
“Thank
you,” Lee told him sincerely.
“But
I know that I’ve still got a long way to go, a lot more to learn.”
Lee
looked at him openly. “Not as much as
you seem to think.”
“Thank
you,” it was Chris’ turn to say. “But
I’m very happy to stay right here. As
long as you’ll have me,” he added.
Lee
laid a hand briefly on the younger man’s shoulder. “Works just fine for me.” A look of pure mischief hit his face as he
noticed movement by the aft hatch. “With
you around keeping Mr. Morton on his toes,” he gestured toward the navigation
chart, “I don’t have to worry about him getting sidetracked and running us into
a seamount.” They both chuckled, Lee
decidedly harder than Chris.
“Seems
to be too much hilarity going on in here for this close to sailing,” came
officiously from the back of the room and the object of their conversation
entered the
“Just
talking about you,” Lee told Chip, still grinning. Chris buried his head back into the
navigation chart but Lee could still read the smile on his face that he was
trying desperately to control.
“Harrumph,”
Chip did his best Nelson impersonation and finished walking up to them.
“Thought
that it was a good time to remind Lt. James of how much I’ve come to depend on
him, especially on cruises like this one where your attention will be more
focused on the passengers – well, one of the passengers, anyway – then it will
be on your duties.” At that bit of
joking harassment James could no longer contain himself, grabbed up one of the
clipboards off the chart table with a muttered, “I have a meeting with the MAA,
if you will excuse me,” and he scurried out of the Conn practically before Chip
could acknowledge that he’d taken the duty.
The glare Chip sent at his back was quickly transferred to Lee, but he
couldn’t hold it in the face of Lee’s continued bright smile and he finally
raised an eyebrow.
“Just
a little subtle feeling out of how he sees his immediate future,” Lee told
him. “I know we’re happy with him, and I
thought that he was happy here. Just
wanted to make sure.”
Chip
had begun to nod toward the end of Lee’s explanation before the frown
reappeared. “But at my expense?” he
grumbled.
Lee
shrugged. “Seemed appropriate at the
time,” he told his longtime friend with another grin.
Chip
finally relaxed and grinned as well, giving Lee a quick slap on the back as Lee
headed toward the spiral stairs for his walkthrough of the boat. He had no problems at all being the straight
man to Lee’s occasional hijinks with the crew.
He admired Lee tremendously for his easy leadership style. Chip did try, but he was perfectly happy
being the stricter of the two. It fit
his personality more, at least aboard the boat, and gave a good balance to the
command team. It worked especially well
on Seaview, with their ability to handpick the crew. There was never any doubt of who was in
command. Everyone knew that while Lee
may appear relaxed and easygoing he was, nonetheless, always on top of every
aspect of Seaview’s cruises. He kept
close watch over everyone’s safety. Well,
everyone except himself, Chip muttered before he had to grin. That’s my job, and the grin
spread. The crew held Lee in high esteem
for Lee’s willingness to go toe to toe with Admiral Nelson on those happily
infrequent occasions when Nelson put either his research or his passengers
before Seaview or her crew. There had
been instances… Chip shook his
head. While he’d had great respect for
Seaview’s first skipper, John Phillips, there was no doubt in his mind that
Seaview wouldn’t have returned home intact a time or two if it hadn’t been for
Lee’s quick thinking and determination.
Doesn’t mean I’m not going
to get him for that crack he made to Chris, he muttered
quietly before the grin reappeared. This
would be an easy cruise – he’d get his chance.
Lee ambled back to the Missile Room, knowing that
Chief Sharkey was supervising the loading of the last supplies – mostly
perishables for the Galley. The grin was
still on his face and the few crewmen he ran into, without knowing what had
caused it, still returned it easily.
As did the COB when Lee entered the Missile
Room. “Almost done here, Skipper,” he
told Lee.
“No problem, Chief.
There’s lots of time. I’m just
wandering around, killing a little time myself.”
Sharkey didn’t believe that for an instant. He was far too familiar with his CO saying
that he was just walking around but his eagle eyes never missing so much as a
misplaced screw. But he nodded and
grinned nonetheless, knowing that Cdr. Crane expected nothing more unless he
asked. And also, he was just as apt to
take care of any little problem he found himself instead of calling anyone else
to fix it.
All well there as he expected, Lee continued his
easy amble through the boat. He actually
startled Jamie when he poked his nose into Sick Bay – as much as Lee kept an
eye on all areas of the boat, he rarely set foot in the CMO’s domain unless
either he, or one of his crew, was incarcerated there. Jamie was matching contents of the drug
locker to an inventory list and didn’t notice Lee watching him.
“Suddenly don’t trust your corpsmen?” Lee finally
asked with an upraised eyebrow.
Will jumped slightly before sending Lee a
frown. “You know better than that,” he
growled before the frown faded, to be replaced by a slightly evil grin. “Just double-checking that we have a good
supply of cough syrup aboard.”
Lee chuckled openly and easily at that jab. He so appreciated having Jamie around. It might appear to outsiders that the two men
did nothing but snipe at each other. But
there was a strong bond of friendship and respect formed between the two which
actually allowed the verbal battles that both quite enjoyed. Oh, they got hot and heavy on occasion, for
sure. And extremely pointed. But even then it was balanced with an
understanding of each other’s reasoning.
Will raised an eyebrow of his own. “Need something, Skipper?” he asked
carefully. The quickest way to tick Lee
off was to push, but he was also curious as to why Lee had shown up in his
least favorite part of his otherwise beloved boat.
Lee’s grin spread.
He knew exactly what Jamie was angling for. “Nope,” he answered easily. “Just making a pre-cruise walk-through. Well,” his grin turned a little sheepish,
“and staying out of Chip’s way until there’s more to keep him busy.”
Will laughed.
As he’d told Nelson this was in all likelihood going to be an
‘interesting’ cruise. “You know how I
feel about self-inflicted injuries, Skipper.
You’re on your own with your XO.”
Lee laughed as well, sent his CMO a backhanded salute, and continued his
tour.
Coming back through Officers’ Country he heard
voices ahead and found Chip directing Ami Neride to Guest Cabin ‘B’ as the Drs.
Travers carried bags into Cabin ‘A.’ Lee
grinned as he walked up and greeted the others, but somewhat avoided looking
directly at Chip for fear he’d crack up from his comments earlier to Lt.
James. As Ms. Neride stepped back into
the corridor from checking out the cabin Lee caught sight of a bit of chain
around her neck, visible because the top button of her blouse had been left
open.
“I see you got your necklace fixed,” he told her by
way of casual conversation.
She sent him a grin. “Yes, thanks.
I’d be absolutely devastated if I lost it. It was passed down to me from my mother. It’s been in the family for a long time.”
“I’m surprised that you don’t have it locked away,”
Alexis commented.
Ami sent her a bit of a sheepish smile. “I know that it seems stupid, but I could
never do that. It’s just…” She paused, and no one interrupted. “I take far too much comfort in the memories
it gives me to not have it with me constantly.”
Lee nodded.
“Understood,” he told her, and then looked at the Travers. “You’ll show her around?”
They both nodded, and Mike added, “We’ll make sure
she knows where she can and cannot go.”
He looked at Ami. “My first time
aboard I wandered into restricted territory without realizing it.”
“Oops,” Ami said quietly.
“And that wasn’t the worst part of it,” Alexis
continued with a broad grin. “It was
Admiral Nelson who caught him.” Both Lee
and Chip cringed, seen by the other three.
“Yeah,” Mike added with a nod. “I was afraid I’d be keelhauled.” The others chuckled, the two Seaview officers
a bit less than the ladies.
“As I recall,” Chip took up the story, “what saved
you was, Curley had been surreptitiously following you and let the Admiral know
that you hadn’t caused any problems.” He
turned to Ami. “Chief Jones was
Seaview’s first COB.”
Mike nodded.
“Never was I so glad to see that man as I was at that moment,” he said
with feeling.
“I’ll be sure to pay attention to where I can and
can’t go,” Ami told the others. Everyone
grinned, the researchers headed aft toward the science labs, and Lee and Chip
headed forward to the spiral stairs down to the
Chip made a quick swing into his cabin as they
passed it so he didn’t see Lee suddenly stop and have to place a hand on the
closest bulkhead to keep himself from swaying as once again he was hit by a bit
of vertigo. Chip did hear the sound of
the clipboard Lee was carrying hitting the deck. “Lee?” he called out, and scurried out of his
cabin and around the corner. But by the
time he got there the vertigo had passed and Lee was just reaching down to
retrieve the clipboard.
“Nothing, Chip.
It just slipped out of my hand,” he waved off Chip’s suddenly worried
expression.
Chip sent him a frown. “Getting clumsy in your old age?”
Lee backhanded him gently. “Hey, you’re older than I am,” he reminded
his friend. He turned and headed for the
stairs, Chip walking at his shoulder through Seaview’s wide corridor.
“Yeah, but I take much better care of myself,” Chip
muttered back grumpily. That was a small
reminder of how much Chip disliked Lee’s continued service with ONI, the Navy’s
Intelligence agency, and the fact that Lee rarely came back from an errand for
them entirely in one piece. Lee as usual
let it pass with just a nod and a small smile to his old friend, who he knew
fussed because he cared.
“You ready to take over my job?” he asked with
overdone innocence. “Sounds like you’ve
got me pegged for the Retired Sailor’s Home.”
“Fat chance,” Chip growled right back. “You’re staying right here where I can keep
an eye on you.” He smirked. “However, I may have to have Jamie confine
you to quarters and I’ll stick you with all my paperwork as well as your
own. Can’t have you dropping stuff all
over the boat. Too hazardous.” While his voice was firm through most of the
comment, it started to break at the end with the humor that was matched by the
sparkle in his eyes.
“You’ll be too busy chasing after Ms. Neride this
trip, you wouldn’t pay enough attention to details and we’d probably sink,” Lee
nattered right back. But he, too, could
barely get it out with a straight face.
By this time they were coming down the stairs, and nearly ran into
Admiral Nelson at the bottom.
“Gentlemen,” Nelson said sternly as Lee and Chip
finally saw him and straightened up, facing him with identical expressions of
slightly overdone attentiveness.
“Sir,” they said together.
Nelson had no idea what had caused it this time but
he sent both of them a broad grin.
Despite the fact that Lee and Chip were two of the finest young men, let
alone officers, that Nelson had ever met, they still occasionally reminded him
of bickering ten-year-olds. And he
appreciated both of them all the more because of it. “I gather things are in order for sailing?”
he asked. No matter what else was going
on, both Chip and Lee would put their duties before anything else.
“Lt. Keeter has the
“Just finished a walkthrough of the boat,” Lee told
his boss. “Everything is under
control. We’ll be ready to sail on
schedule.”
“Good, good,” Nelson told them, still smiling. “Then I’ll leave you to your duties. If it’s safe,” he added, his grin spreading
to include his eyes.
Both Lee and Chip sent him sheepish grins. “Aye, sir,” they answered, again together.
There was a snort that sounded suspiciously like
Chief Sharkey coming from the direction of the aft hatch, and when Lee glanced
around the
Seaview sailed as scheduled at 1530 hours. Lee did give Chip a little nudge when Alexis
and Ami came down to watch from the Observation Nose. But by then both men were firmly back in
Command mode, the silliness controlled for the most part. Chip returned the nudge when Lee got a little
carried away with his ‘Angles & Dangles’ maneuvers as Seaview entered open
water, making sure that everything was secured aboard the submarine while they
were still fairly close to port. Both
women had to grab the firmly bolted down table to keep from falling off their
chairs. Even though they were only
headed to the south side of San Miguel Island, the westernmost of the four
northern Channel Islands, Lee would have everyone following departure routines
the same as if they were headed out for much longer. And, Lee reminded Lt. James as he ran through
the commands, there were no plans to return to port before heading off to
By 1800 hours Lee had Seaview comfortably settled
at his first destination. The seas were
remarkably calm so he had surfaced after the Angles & Dangles. This far offshore there weren’t a lot of
private craft, but what there were could easily give Seaview a wide berth. Most of the locals were familiar enough with
what they perceived to be nothing more than Nelson’s oversized mobile marine
laboratory that they pretty much left the submarine alone. Mike had joined his wife and Ami in the Nose
part way out, followed shortly by Admiral Nelson. Lee had kept track of their conversation with
half an ear, attentive in case Nelson needed something. But he had otherwise left them alone, content
to watch his crew maneuver the giant submarine easily and efficiently to the
chosen destination.
He did look up as Nelson escorted his guests
through the
The others were seated, already chatting about the
following day’s expectations, when Lee and Chip got their plates filled and sat
down at the same table, but toward the other end instead of across from Nelson
as was their habit, that place taken by the two ladies. Will had also separated himself slightly from
the group so Lee and Chip were basically opposite him. The three shared a grin at the animated
conversation being carried on among the scientists. Will and Lee grinned at each other, not
including Chip in the silent acknowledgment of their previous
conversation. Chip knew that he’d missed
‘something’ but chose to ignore it. When
Lee and Jamie started in – about anything – it was usually wise to just stand
back and watch the show. He was a tad
disappointed that today it only seemed to be a quick nod instead of any kind of
involved verbal sparring match. But he
chose to commiserate that minor disappointment by concentrating on dinner.
Cookie apparently did some of his prep work on
shore before coming aboard, as even for the short time they’d been at sea he
had come up with a full meal of caesar salad, chicken-fried steak, cubed and
herbed red potatoes, fresh green beans cooked with onions and bacon, and
whole-wheat rolls. Chip noticed Will
keeping a casual watch on how much Lee ate but carefully avoided saying
anything. He’d heard from Sharkey that
Lee had been aboard early so he probably hadn’t had anything for lunch. Chip had come down early as well but he’d had
the good sense to grab a few things in the cafeteria first. But Lee pleased both he and Will by not only
polishing off what he’d originally taken, but also the slightly larger than
anyone else’s piece of pineapple upside down cake that Cookie delivered
personally. Chip did toss a slight glare
at the chef’s back and say off-hand that maybe they needed to suggest he have
his eyes checked – that he usually gave Chip the largest piece of dessert. Nelson glanced at that end of the table as
both Lee and Will laughed at the obviously fake growl in Chip’s complaint. Lee smirked slightly as he refused to switch
plates with his XO, but nothing more was said.
Nelson and his guests were talking about dolphin respiration rates when
Lee and Chip headed back to the
Lee didn’t stay long. Bored, he grabbed up the duty roster and
headed out for what his crew called ‘the Skipper’s walk-a-boat.’ When things were quiet they never knew where
Lee was going to show up – or what hour of the day or night he’d be there. Usually he’d just wander around, taking the
time to visit casually with whoever had the duty in whatever part of the boat
he ended up. Tonight he spent time in
Engineering, played a few hands of poker in the Crew’s Quarters, and poked his
nose carefully into the Galley. Cookie
wasn’t overly fond of interruptions but Lee couldn’t resist the chocolate smell
wafting into the corridor. He was
rewarded with an extra-thick, fresh from the oven brownie. Grinning his thanks, he grabbed a cup of
coffee and carried it forward.
There seemed to be something going on in the
Observation Nose as Lee came through the aft hatch into the
Suddenly, as he stood with the others watching the
show, a different shape appeared. While
the body was dolphin-like, the head was much more rounded with the
characteristic crease down the center, top to bottom, identifying it as a
Risso’s. He was also fascinated by the
haphazard lines of scaring apparent over most of the dolphin’s body, but
heavier on the front half than the back.
He smiled as Ami laid a hand on the herculite window and the Risso’s
very nearly came close enough to touch it from the outside. Everyone was quiet, but Lee saw grins on
everyone else’s faces as well as several more Risso’s joined the Bottlenose in
the bit of apparent people-watching.
“Must be the place,” Chip said softly at Lee’s
elbow.
“They are different.” Lee hadn’t until then noticed Will, sitting
with his back against the starboard bulkhead.
“You need to make it out of your hole more often,”
Nelson teased his CMO, who did tend to spend most of his time in his own
territory and only occasionally came up to the Observation Nose to read.
“Unfortunately I’m usually kept busy,” Will
retorted, with a pointed look at Lee.
Lee glared back but a snicker from Chip morphed it fairly rapidly back
to a smile.
“We’ll try to keep things quiet for you this
cruise,” Lee assured him, earning a couple more snickers from both Chip and
Nelson who knew only too well how Lee somehow always managed to put himself in
the line of fire before he’d let anything happen to any of his crew.
“You should go swimming with them,” Ami entered the
conversation, her voice filled with excitement.
“They’re marvelous creatures.”
Her expression turned to puzzlement as Lee and Chip both cracked up,
Nelson snorted, and even Mike and Alexis grinned.
Will merely shook his head. “Thanks but no thanks,” he told her
quietly. “I’ll watch from in here.”
“Doc doesn’t like being underwater unless he has a
submarine around him,” Lee took pity on Ami’s confusion.
“Oh. Well,” she turned back to Will, “You don’t
know what you’re missing.”
“We
keep trying to tell him that,” Chip told her.
“I
know exactly what I’m missing,” Will assured the group and the grumble had
everyone, even Ami, smiling. He nodded
to the windows where the dolphins were still swimming casually back and forth. “But if anything could convince me otherwise
it might be them.”
“They’re
wonderful,” Ami agreed. “Wild and
untamed, free spirits for sure, and yet seemingly enjoying human
companionship. Amazing.” One of the Risso’s came close to the window
and she once more laid her hand against the herculite. The dolphin seemed almost puzzled that it
couldn’t make direct contact, causing more smiles, and an almost-giggle from
Ami.
Finally,
something apparently more appealing to the mixed pod – a late-night snack,
perhaps – caused the dolphins to wander off, as did the people as well. Lee polished off the last swallow of coffee
and was turning back toward the
“Skipper?” Lee had almost forgotten that Will was still
sitting in the corner, but immediately there was a hand on his upper arm.
He
tried to shrug it off. “Relax,
Jamie. A bit of a headache.” By that time the sensation had passed, as
rapidly as it had appeared, thankfully, and Lee frowned until Will released his
grip. Will said nothing, merely
continuing to give him a questioning look, and Lee finally relaxed and gave the
doctor a small grin. He held up the now
empty coffee mug. “Maybe a bit too much
of Cookie’s high test.”
Will’s
expression said all too plainly that he wasn’t buying it. But both men knew that he’d not likely
challenge the explanation. Will was
aware that Lee did fight the occasional tension headache but that it was rarely
serious enough to warrant Will’s attention.
And Lee knew that Will wouldn’t start an argument over something so
simple, and especially in front of the entire
“Humm,”
was Will’s only comment now. “Perhaps
you should consider decaf.” That caused
Lee to frown even further and Will to grin broadly. It was an old joke on the boat about how
strong Cookie made coffee. And there were
very few on board who didn’t praise the chef for it because it was exactly how
everyone liked it.
“Perhaps,”
Lee told him, but both his voice and expression left no doubt about what he
thought of that idea. Will sent him a
quick grin and followed the others up the spiral stairs. Lee watched him leave, grateful that the
doctor’s outline stayed firmly in place, unlike Ms. Neride’s just a moment
previously. Giving his head a quick
shake he put his coffee mug down near the carafe that Cookie and his assistant,
Higgins, kept supplied in the Nose, and walked back to the chart table. He kibitzed with Lt. O’Brien for a bit before
heading to his cabin and the never-ending paperwork. For a change, since they’d only left port a
few hours ago, this stack actually did have an ending and Lee made it to his
bunk at the almost unheard of time – for him – of 2230 hours.
* *
* *
He
was making his first hit on the coffee urn in the Wardroom the following
morning when Chip came in. The blond
said nothing, merely walked over and poured his own mug full of Cookie’s
morning brew, which tended to be even stronger than what he made the rest of
the day – but not by much. That mug went
down in about three swallows and he poured it full again. This time he stopped after it was only half
gone and sighed heavily.
“That
bad?” Lee asked. He’d not felt Seaview
move strangely, or heard any alarms or anything out of the ordinary
overnight. “We’re too close to home for
you to be that torqued about anything.”
Chip
sent him a bit of a chagrinned look, polished off that mug of coffee, and
answered as he refilled it for the third time.
“Went right to sleep, and then spent the night fighting nightmares. Really stupid, nonsensical garbage.”
“How
many times have I warned you about second helpings of dessert?” Will had walked in and caught Chip’s
comments.
As
Lee choked on a swallow of his own coffee, Chip glared at the doctor. “For your information I only had one slice at
dinner last night.”
“Yeah,
but usually you hit the Galley for seconds about 2100 hours,” Will snapped
right back. Lee put down his mug – this
was getting fun and he was afraid he’s spill coffee all over himself from
laughing too hard.
Chip’s
glare increased. “That’s only sometimes,
Doctor,” he growled. “When Cookie makes
cherry pie.”
The
chef’s disembodied voice floated into the Wardroom from the Galley. “And when I make apple pie, and peach pie,
and blackberry cobbler, and…” Whatever
else he said was downed out by both Lee and Will breaking out in laughter. Chip sent them both dirty looks and started
to fill his plate with Cookie’s usual sumptuous assortment of breakfast
items. Lee winked at Will, but both
quickly joined Chip.
Once
they were all sitting in their usual spots – Will on one side of the table and
leaving a place next to him for Admiral Nelson, with Lee and Chip sitting
directly across – Will asked not unkindly, “Did you get any sleep last night?”
Chip
shrugged. “That was part of the
weirdness. They never woke me up. I just got up this morning feeling like I’d
gone twelve rounds with one of Lee’s sea monsters but not really knowing why.”
“My
sea monsters?” Lee raised both eyebrows.
“You’re
usually the one who runs into them,” Chip told him matter-of-factly.
Lee
shrugged. “Point taken,” he agreed
amiably. Will just shook his head.
“What
have they done now?” came from the door, and Nelson walked over.
“Chip’s
seeing sea monsters in his sleep,” Lee answered way too innocently. He got an elbow in his ribs for the comment
and sent his XO a quick glare.
“Business
as usual around here,” was Will’s assessment.
Nelson chuckled as Lee and Chip finally went back to eating, and he
walked over to get his own breakfast.
Once
he sat down, he and Lee discussed plans for the day. Hydrophones had continued to track the
dolphin pod. The different clicks and
whistles told Nelson that the Risso’s and Bottlenose dolphins were still
hanging together so he suspected that was par for the course for this group. It wasn’t at all unusual to find the two species
together, especially if the food supply was plentiful for both since they
tended to eat slightly different diets.
It was speculated that the Bottlenose might make pests of themselves as
the divers used squid bits to coax the Risso’s closer. But Nelson also pointed out that the more
gregarious Bottlenose might also help make the Risso’s more relaxed and easier
to tag. As the three researchers joined
them at the table there was all sorts of speculation on how the day would go,
but Nelson’s continued ‘one step at a time’ was still the best way to look at
it.
Once
Lt. James had joined Chip and Lee in the Conn Lee got ready to participate in
the first dive, scheduled for 0930 hours.
No one questioned that Seaview’s Skipper, whose love of diving was second
only to his devotion to the sub and her crew, would be going out on as many of
the dives as he could. He did take the
time to warn the lieutenant, totally aware that Chip could hear him, to be
especially attentive to his XO this morning; that Chip hadn’t slept well and
might end up curled up in the corner of the Observation Nose, snoring. He winked at James, sent a grin at Chip who
had crossed his arms over his chest and was sending a glare Lee’s way that
would have had any other member of the crew running for their lives, and headed
up the spiral stairs. With women aboard,
changing would be done in the cabins. He
was still grinning when he hit the Missile Room.
Admiral
Nelson was standing with the Travers as Lee walked up. Chief Sharkey handed him a tote that Lee knew
contained chopped squid so that he and two of the other four Seaview divers who
were suited up could act as bait – literally – for the dolphins. He saw Ami cast disparaging glances at the
other two Seaview divers as, instead of bait packs, they picked up spear
guns. “Relax, Ms. Neride,” he told
her. “We rarely dive without
watchdogs. Too many surprises could be
waiting out there.”
Admiral
Nelson joined in. “They are only going
along to keep an eye out for trouble.
The rest of you, I suspect, will be so focused on the job at hand that
you wouldn’t notice, oh, say, a Great White shark wandering in for a free
meal.”
“But
the spear guns?” Ami still complained, disgust evident in her voice.
“Not
to worry,” Lee assured her. “The last
thing we’d want to do is put blood in the water if there are sharks
around.” He nodded toward his men. “They wouldn’t be chosen to dive if they
weren’t fully trained in procedure.” Ami
shrugged, still appearing unconvinced, and walked over to her own equipment
bag. Lee shrugged as well, aimed at
Nelson and the Travers. All three
returned it. Both Drs. Travers had been
aboard Seaview enough not to think anything at all about the extra divers. Alexis turned and headed for Ami for a little
private conversation.
Lee
turned back to Nelson. “I’m a little
surprised that you aren’t sending out a diver or two with cameras.”
Mike
answered. “He suggested it – I asked him
not to.” When Lee pointed an eyebrow at
the researcher he got back a sheepish grin. “If this goes exceedingly bad I’d rather there
not be any visible evidence,” he admitted.
“It
would never get beyond the boat,” Lee assured him.
“That’s
what I said,” Nelson added.
“I
just want to see what happens…” Mike
paused again. He glanced over to where
his wife and Ami were still talking quietly.
“Mike,”
Nelson asked, his voice sincere, “what’s really going on?” He knew that the researcher was holding back,
which displeased him. But he also knew
the man well enough that there was no doubt a good reason.
Mike
sent him a nod and came clean. “Ami
just…well, she just seems a little spooked about something. Almost superstitious. I checked the
“Do
you think that she lied about being there?”
Nelson’s voice was stern.
“Oh,
no,” Mike hurried to reassure his boss.
“NIMR Security vetted her and didn’t raise any red flags in her
background. And I personally
double-checked her references.” It was
his turn to shrug. “She just doesn’t,
apparently, like her picture taken.”
“She
wouldn’t even be recognizable in a wetsuit,” Lee tried to be logical. He got back another shrug from Mike.
Nelson
suddenly grinned, a mischievous sparkle appearing in his eyes. “How about I go work on a mini-cam that we
can attach to the spear guns. I think I
have everything I need.” Lee could
almost see his mind working on the puzzle.
“Ms. Neride will never even realize what’s happening.” He looked at Mike. “Of course, not for today’s dive, and only if
you want it.”
“Lexi
and I would really like more record of this project than just journal notes and
pages of data. It has great potential
toward future projects.”
Nelson
was nodding absently, his mind already hard at work. He send a quick glance Lee’s way, although
Lee got the distinct impression that Nelson didn’t actually ‘see’ him as much
as remember that’s where he was standing, before heading for the door.
Lee
grinned at Mike. “Two cameras, spear
gun-mounted, about to be added to his patents list.” Both men chuckled and prepared to head out
for the dive.
“Just
don’t mention them to Ami,” Mike warned, and Lee grinned his agreement.
Lee
was in the last group to go out – with eight divers they went out in three
groups. First the two watchdogs, Seamen
Nielsen and Roberts, exited the boat by way of the dive hatch. Lee saw Ami frown again but with a glance at
Alexis she didn’t say anything. Next
went the three researchers, each carrying an aluminum pole about twelve feet
long. There was some kind of locking
mechanism at one end that held one of the data loggers Mike had shown them a
picture of. They also all had several
more units attached to their dive belts.
At the other end of the pole Lee could see a simplified trigger used, he
assumed, for releasing the logger when it was in place. Finally Lee and the other two Seaview divers,
Seamen Henderson and Richardson, each with a large pouch of bait slung over
their shoulders, took their turn in the hatch.
Once
out Lee looked around. Seaview had
stayed where she was overnight but this morning Chip had settled her just
slightly deeper in the water. Her
Conning Tower would still be just barely visible, alerting other boats to her
presence. Lee found everyone waiting,
and looked to Mike as leader of this dive for directions. As always, Lee was grateful for the
communications equipment in Seaview’s dive gear – it made things so much
easier.
It
was decided to go out, away from Seaview about fifty yards or so, and spread a
little bait to see what happened. Lee
sent the watchdogs on ahead and near the surface, advising them to swim as
casually as possible so as not to disturb any wildlife they might run
into. Lee and company swam about fifteen
feet beneath them, also at a seemingly lazy pace. They collected a couple of curious Bottlenose
dolphins, and Lee grinned as he watched them practically tease the divers as
they swam in and around the group. Here
in the
When
they reached a spot Mike was happy with he directed Lee and the other two bait
divers into sort of the center of a circle created by he, Alexis, and Ami. Those three hung quietly in the water as Lee
and company each scattered a few pieces of squid. The two Bottlenose were quick to take
advantage of the free breakfast. But as
Mike had hoped, their happy – apparently – clicks quickly brought a crowd. And, as also hoped, among the pod were about
ten Risso’s. The researchers waited as
more squid was released, allowing the dolphins to get used to everything before
they started their part of the dive.
Lee
had his hands full with an overly friendly Bottlenose so just caught the tail
end of Ami slowly swinging her pole out, appearing to just tap the dorsal fin
of one of the Risso’s. It startled the
dolphin, but
Apparently
the Bottlenose decided that Lee wasn’t dispensing food at a rapid enough rate
and tried to get its nose into the pouch.
Lee laughed as he brushed it gently away. Chip’s voice in his ear also chuckled. “Gotta be a female dolphin,” he said lightly,
causing Lee to frown but the other Seaview divers to snicker softly. Lee glanced back in the direction of the
boat, realizing that Chip obviously had the Nose camera on with the relatively
clear water and could see at least part of what was happening.
“Lt.
James, now you know why I reminded you to be especially watchful this morning,”
Lee took his revenge. “I knew XO Morton
wouldn’t have his mind on his work.”
That crack got all sorts of reaction through the radio and the sound
from the boat was suddenly gone. Lee did
a bit of snickering himself and went back to his own duties of dolphin baiting.
All
told the researchers tagged eight Risso’s dolphins and it was a very jubilant
group who headed back for the boat an hour later. Even Ami seemed surprised at how well
everything had gone. Lee had noticed,
after his little quip to the
Lee
was swimming toward the back of the group, half-listening to Ami as she chatted
away about how well everything had gone and the kinds of information that
they’d hopefully garner from the loggers once they fell off and were retrieved
– at some point that afternoon, hopefully – when his eyesight suddenly went a
bit blurry. He’d been looking in Ami’s
direction – not at all an unpleasant picture and he mentally complimented Chip
on his good taste in women – when her outline went from perfectly clear to
suddenly wavy and fuzzy. He stopped
swimming and shook his head, also taking the time to clear his mask although
that didn’t actually seem to be the problem.
“Skipper?”
Nielsen asked, coming up along side him.
“Nothing,”
Lee told him automatically, resettling the mask in place. He sent his worried crewman a nod. “Back under control,” he said casually. And it seemed to be; when Lee looked around
everything was back in focus. The two
finished their trip back to the boat and waited their turn to enter the hatch.
Glancing
around the Missile Room and seeing that Chief Sharkey, as usual, had everything
under control, Lee went first to his cabin to change and then to the Conn. He grinned broadly at the glare Chip sent
him, winked at Chris knowing full well that Chip could see it, and headed for
Riley at the hydrophone station who was also monitoring the signals that the
loggers were transmitting. It appeared
that the pod, now that their free breakfast had come to an end, was slowly
traveling east toward the southern side of
Lee
glanced up as Chief Sharkey entered the aft hatch, puzzling over whatever was
on the clipboard he was carrying.
“Problem, Chief?” he asked
“Did
Ms. Neride spend a lot of time on the surface, sir?”
Lee
shrugged. “Not that I noticed.”
Chip
chose that moment to join them. “The
Skipper was kept too busy with an amorous Bottlenose to notice much of
anything,” the blond got in a little revenge of his own.
The
glare Lee sent him was tempered by his own good humor at the ribbing, and he
turned back to Sharkey who was grinning broadly at his Senior Officers’
antics. “Why do you ask?”
Sharkey
handed him the clipboard. “Just finished
recharging all of the air tanks. Hers
were still about half full when all the others were pretty well used up.”
“Divers
in extremely good physical condition usually use less air then the average
diver,” Lee observed, stating something that they all knew. But glancing at Sharkey’s figures he could
understand the man’s puzzlement.
Chip
was reading over his shoulder. “Those
figures do seem a bit extreme,” he agreed.
“No chance of an instrument malfunction?”
“No,
sir,” Sharkey told his XO firmly. While
Chip kept his XO mask in place, Lee grinned at the COB. The crew took great care not to tick off
their XO, and malfunctioning equipment was a quick way for that to happen. Sharkey knew that Chip wasn’t being at all
accusatory but he was still quick to squash that thought.
Lee
handed the clipboard back. “Just keep an
eye on it,” he advised. “It’s really of
no major concern unless she was using too much.”
“Aye,
aye, sir,” Sharkey agreed.
Chip
nudged Lee. “Lunchtime.”
Lee,
who hadn’t been paying the least bit of attention to the time, glanced at his
watch before turning a frown on his XO.
“You go ahead. I’ll keep an eye
on things here.”
Chip
crossed his arms over his chest. His
voice was quiet but there was a stiff tone to it when he spoke. “All that blither about Chris having to keep
an eye on me, and now you don’t trust him to follow a radio transmitter
signal? I don’t think so, junior.” It caused Lee to burst out laughing. He backhanded Chip lightly on the upper arm
and headed aft, the duty crew trying to control their own snickers as they
enjoyed their Senior Officers’ lighthearted hijinks.
Chip
and Lee were already seated in the Wardroom eating meatloaf sandwiches, potato
salad, and sliced pears, when Nelson entered with the Travers and Ami Neride
right behind. Will was sitting in his
usual place at the table across from them, thoroughly enjoying listening to the
pair continue to chide each other about half a dozen odds and ends as they
ate. It was a clear signal of an easy,
under control cruise, and Will valued it as an unfortunately all too infrequent
occurrence.
If
he hadn’t been looking directly at Lee when the others entered the room he’d have
missed the quick look of… He wasn’t sure
what it was. Lee had ever so briefly
closed his eyes, stiffened slightly, then almost as quickly opened his eyes and
once more relaxed. Will realized that
Chip, who was usually very tuned in to Lee’s moods, had missed it as he’d
greeted the others – in particular Ms. Neride.
It appeared to Will that Lee had been looking in her direction as well
when whatever happened, happened. But he
wasn’t sure. He knew better than to
challenge Lee over such a seemingly innocent moment, but nonetheless resolved
to keep his eye on his least favorite patient.
But
the moment did bring back a quick memory of last night’s little incident in the
Nose, as well as his meeting with Lee on the back deck of the
But
he shrugged off that possibility. It was
very rare for Chip, no matter where his focus was directed, not to be extremely
tuned in to what was going on with Lee.
Chip was the oldest of three siblings and he’d grown up always looking
out for his younger sisters. When he’d
met Lee at
Lee
wasn’t sure what happened. One instant
he was happily nattering away at Chip and the next his vision suddenly went
blurry and he felt like he was going to topple over. As instantly as it hit him it went away
again. He opened eyes that he’d not
really realized he’d closed and greeted Nelson and the others amiably. He did give a sideways glance at Jamie. If the doctor had noticed anything amiss Lee
was sure that he’d have challenged his CO, especially after last night in the
Nose. But Jamie was at that point also
exchanging greetings with the researchers and asking how things were going,
apparently just to make conversation, and they all ended up listening to an
excited recitation on how well the morning dive had gone.
At
one point, when he could get a word in edgewise, Lee asked Nelson all too
innocently how his new little project was coming. Mike choked on the bite of sandwich he’d just
taken but waved off the instant concern he got.
Nelson’s eyes were once again sparkling as he told Lee that it was
coming along quite nicely, but other than that didn’t explain what they were
talking about. It was forgotten as Ami
went back to telling Jamie how much information would be added to the little,
when compared to other dolphin species, that was known about the Risso’s. Nelson, Lee and Mike shared a quick, private
grin, and went back to polishing off their meal.
The
afternoon turned into a bit of an adventure, albeit a fairly controlled
one. Chip surfaced Seaview about 1400
hours and Chief Sharkey launched a zodiac with he, Mike, Seaman Riley, and Ami
aboard. Lee went topside in the Conning
Tower along with Seamen Kowalski and Patterson.
All three were wearing headsets that allowed them to keep in touch with
Seaman Rawn on hydrophone,
Chip
nudged him back. “Probably used to doing
things on a good deal more limited budget.
Not everyone can have their own sub.”
Both men chuckled and started getting crew organized for the project.
Part
way through the retrieval process Chip joined Lee topside. The pod had apparently found a good feeding
area and hadn’t moved much for the last half hour or so, and Chip was confident
in Lt. James’ ability to keep Seaview correctly positioned. He sent Lee a firm look when Lee grinned at
that comment, after how Lee had been using Chris in his cracks toward
Chip. But his easy grin quickly came
back as well as they watched the zodiac head after another logger.
Toward
the end of the retrieval process there was some consternation that they might
have lost one of the eight units. More
than two hours after the first logger had bobbed to the surface, the last one
quit transmitting. The zodiac cruised
the general area where most of the other loggers had been found and Chip, still
topside, instructed James to ease Seaview closer to the area as well so that
Lee and the others could scan better for it on the surface. Everyone was about to give up about 1730
hours when it finally showed up barely off Seaview’s port side near the bow.
“Better
check the battery in that one,” was Alexis’ comment – she’d joined a group of
seamen on Seaview’s deck, all trying to scan the ocean for the unit. It was quickly collected, the zodiac brought
back aboard, and Seaview once more submerged, now off the south coast of
Anacapa as the mixed dolphin pod continued to stay in that area.
Lee
and Chip ended up pretty much by themselves when they headed for dinner. Nelson was watching the researchers download
the data from the loggers, which seemed to be of more importance than food to
the group. Cookie wasn’t thrilled, to
say the least. But he calmed down as the
four entered the Wardroom just as Lee and Chip were headed back to the
He
was wandering past the open door to the labs when Nelson spotted him, and
motioned for Lee to join them. “I gather
everyone’s happy with how things went today,” he told his boss.
Mike
looked up from his computer. “We’re
still amazed at how well the dive went this morning.” He glanced at his wife. “As much as we wanted it to work, we really
weren’t expecting that kind of success.”
“Speak
for yourself,” Ami jibed, but it was said with a grin in both her voice and
expression.
“We’ve
just been toying with skipping tomorrow’s dive and heading straight for
“Not
a problem,” Lee assured his boss. “The
course is already plotted. Seaview is
ready, however you want to handle it.”
Nelson glanced at the others, got nods of agreement, and returned his
gaze to Lee. Lee nodded. “I’ll go lay in the course. ETA approximately fifty hours.” Nelson nodded and Lee headed for the
* *
* *
The
next couple of days were pretty quiet aboard the submarine. Lee’s usual routine of spending a good part
of the day in the Conn, coupled with how well Lt. James was fitting in and
learning the giant sub’s idiosyncrasies, allowed Lee to tease Chip into taking
the time to show Ami around a little more.
Lee and Chip both used the time to run crew in various parts of the boat
through a series of proficiency drills, neither surprised by the high ratings
all around.
However,
by the second night Lee was a tad bored, as could happen without enough to keep
his mind active. Not that he ever
complained about the quiet times – they were a much appreciated balance to the
all too frequent periods of total chaos that could erupt at a moment’s
notice. But they could lead to Lee not
sleeping well just from lack of sufficient exercise. He got back up after tossing and turning for
over an hour and headed out for another ‘walk-a-boat.’
His
mind a bit more settled about 0200 hours, he passed through the
“She
came down about half an hour ago,” the lieutenant told him. Lee nodded and walked forward.
“Guess
I’m not the only one who couldn’t sleep tonight,” he told her casually when she
turned.
She
smiled. “Nope,” she admitted, before
turning back to the windows. “Such an
interesting and unique way to travel.”
Lee
grinned. “I totally agree.” He came to stand a few feet from where she
was sitting and also stared out. There
wasn’t much to see except the water the sub was displacing as it traveled. But it was still mesmerizing. Ami was far from the first person to be
fascinated by the sensation.
They
remained silent for several minutes, each in their own thoughts. Lee figured that it was going too quickly
from watching the action of the water against the windows to glancing at the
researcher that caused his vision to suddenly blur to the point of making him
reach out to lay a hand on the window to steady himself for the quick moment it
took for the sensation to pass. When he
glanced at her again she was looking at him somewhat strangely.
“Sorry,”
he said automatically, although he wasn’t too sure what he was apologizing
for. He glanced at Keeter but the
lieutenant had apparently missed Lee’s bit of vertigo – thankfully. As Ami continued to watch him he
shrugged. “Bit of a headache,” he
explained away the moment. “Guess I’ll head
for bed. Again,” he added, and Ami
finally nodded and smiled.
Lee
pondered the little ‘spells’ he’d been having as he headed for his cabin. They were unusual for him, but he didn’t
think them serious enough to mention to Jamie as they weren’t causing any
trouble. He snorted softly, mostly at
himself, admitting that even if they were causing trouble, as long as they
didn’t interfere with his ability to do his job he still wouldn’t tell the
doctor. That thought actually causing
him to smile, he once more undressed and lay down.
This
time he fell asleep fairly quickly, thankfully, for what was left of the night,
but woke up a few minutes later than usual.
Chip and Nelson were already eating by the time he entered the Wardroom,
although it didn’t look like they’d been there long. Chip made a crack about Lee over-sleeping,
and Jamie joined in with “that’s what happens when you wander around the boat
half the night.” Lee had no intentions
of asking how the doctor knew that, and in fact smiled as his thoughts from the
precious few hours ago slipped back into his mind. He knew none of the other three would
understand the smile, instead of the frown that a good many of Will’s cracks
about Lee caused, and that in itself caused the grin to spread.
“He’s
up to something,” Chip muttered to Nelson and Will, but still loud enough that
he knew Lee could hear as he dished up his own breakfast. Lee winked at Cookie who was keeping an eye
on things, causing the chef’s craggy face to split into a smile as well. “Told you,” Chip complained at that unusual
expression coming from Seaview’s cook.
Lee
chuckled as he sat down next to Chip and across from Nelson. “Do I have to be up to something?” he asked
innocently. “Can’t I just be enjoying
life aboard Seaview?”
Chip
gave him a long look and then turned back to Nelson and Will. “Like I said, he’s up to something.” It caused the other three to laugh and even
Chip finally grinned.
“Your
lady friend might be sleeping in as well,” Lee told Chip as everyone went back
to eating. “She was in the Nose when I
came through about 0200.” No more had
the words come out of his mouth than all three researchers entered the
Wardroom.
“Oh
goody,” Will muttered only loud enough for the four men to hear, “someone else
who doesn’t seem to need any sleep.” The
other three chuckled softly at one of Will’s ongoing complaints about his
captain. Their grins caused the Travers
to share a look of puzzlement. Lee
noticed that Ami seemed to just ignore it, and nothing more was said as the
three joined them.
Talk
was general. Mike asked Nelson if he’d
ever found the problem with the malfunctioning logger unit. Both men had taken turns puttering with it
and apparently Nelson had had it last.
“Finally,”
Nelson told him. “I started tracking the
wires that led from the battery to the transmitter. I know we both already checked them but
nothing else made sense – everything else was checking out fine.” He shook his head. “Finally found the tiniest of nicks in one of
the wires. Barely visible. In fact, I still don’t understand why or how
it caused the total malfunction of the transmitter. But apparently it was because, once I
re-wired that section, it seems to be just fine.”
“We
have other units,” Mike said. “We don’t
really need to use it. If we can get
seven or eight of the units attached each dive that should be plenty.”
“Any
idea how many dives you’ll want to make around
He
got shrugs from all three researches.
“If we can locate the super pod that’s been reported there, and if we
have as good luck there as we did with the first dive, maybe three or four,”
Mike told him.
“And
assuming,” Alexis added, “that we don’t end up tagging the same dolphins over
and over because they’re the most curious.”
“Or
most hungry,” Chip quipped.
“Chip
and food,” Lee muttered. “Always
inseparable, even in thought.” He got a
kick under the table for that crack as everyone else chuckled.
“Because
of individual scarring patterns,” Ami spoke up, “it should be fairly easy to
keep that from happening.”
Lee
carefully controlled his expression.
“Especially if there were cameras in the water to snap pictures as you
tag each one.”
Alexis
nodded as she chewed the bite of sausage she’d just taken. “That would be a big
help,” she agreed.
“The
more people and equipment in the water, the more chance of something disturbing
the dolphins and messing up the tagging,” Ami told her. Alexis just shrugged. “If we each jot down a few notes about the
dolphins we tag, that should be sufficient to keep from tagging the same ones over
and over,” Ami continued. “It would only
take a second.”
“Pictures
would take even less,” Chip theorized.
Ami sent him a frown.
Nelson
spoke up, carefully controlling his own expression after having to bury a grin
at Lee’s suggestion. “Suppose we see how
the first dive goes. We can amend our
procedures after that if we feel we need to.”
That seemed agreeable to everyone, even Ami.
Later
in the Conn Lee asked Chip, “Ami not like her picture taken for some
reason?” He didn’t mention his
conversation with Admiral Nelson and Mike Travers prior to the first dive.
Chip
shrugged. “Haven’t a clue. But it kinda sounded like it, didn’t it?”
Lee
nodded. They both looked up as Ami and
Alexis came down the spiral stairs and settled into chairs in the Nose. Lee started to open his mouth to say
something but was stopped by another of the little dizzy spells he’d been
experiencing, and this time Chip caught it.
When Lee reopened his eyes Chip was glaring at him, his arms crossed
over his chest. It was such a typical
‘big brother Chip’ look that it caused Lee to smile. “Yes, Chip?” he asked oh so innocently.
Chip
opened his mouth, thought better of what he’d been about to say, and glanced
around the
“Aye,
aye, sir. I have the
Lee
followed Chip easily, still with the slight smile on his face. He knew that he was in for one of Chip’s
chewing outs. He even admitted that he
probably deserved it, even though the little spells were more annoying than
anything he felt was actually serious.
He’d been known, when circumstances warranted him to be on his toes, to
tell Chip where he could shove his concerns and concentrate on the job at
hand. But things were quiet and it would
be easier to just let Chip get it out.
He had every intention of dismissing it away as he had the previous time
with Ami – just a bit of a headache. It
was an explanation that Chip could understand – the whole crew knew that Lee
suffered the occasional headache although no one but Chip, Nelson, or Doc was
likely to call him on it. So he calmly
followed Chip out the hatch and down the corridor a ways to a quiet section,
where Chip turned and once more stared daggers at him.
“Chill,
Chip,” Lee started. “It’s just a bit of
a headache I’ve been fighting off and on.”
He said it with the same small smile in place, trying to calm down his
ticked off XO. And best friend.
“Jamie?”
Chip asked in a fierce growl. He wasn’t
near ready to calm down. He didn’t
believe Lee for a second and felt that there was something else entirely going
on. While it was true that Lee fought
headaches they were almost always tension headaches caused by whatever chaos
Seaview was trying to survive at the moment.
Everything was far too quiet right now for Chip to buy that explanation.
Lee
merely shrugged at Chip’s question about the doctor. “Nothing to bother him with,” he answered.
Half
a dozen comments, each one more scathing than the last, zipped through Chip’s
brain so fast that he barely paused.
When Lee was this much under control, no amount of badgering from Chip
was likely to break him. But Chip also
wasn’t ready to let it go. Again he
jerked his thumb over his shoulder and headed in the direction of
But
Lee, with another quick grin, followed Chip to his least favorite part of the
boat. Better to let Jamie find nothing –
that would be the only way Chip would let go of his little temper tantrum.
Will
had no idea what was going on when Chip stomped through his office door, followed
by a slightly grinning Lee. He stood up
from where he’d been sitting at his desk reading a medical journal and merely
looked at the two. When Chip said
nothing, having turned and glared at Lee, Lee finally spoke. “Chip’s a tad irritated,” he started. There was a noise from Chip, almost a snarl,
and Lee’s smile increased as he continued.
“I’ve been fighting a piece of a headache off and on the last few days. He seems to think that I should have told you
about it.” He’d been glancing back and
forth between the two but now looked fully at Will. “I didn’t because it’s nothing.” He shrugged.
“A little annoying, perhaps,” he admitted.
Will
nodded. It corroborated what he’d seen
himself both in the Observation Nose and in the Wardroom – a quick stab of pain
that almost immediately went away. He
was grateful that Chip had managed to get Lee down to
Now
he needed to accommodate both men.
Chip’s concern could not be summarily dismissed, but neither could Lee
be pushed too far. “Mr. Morton, you’ve
done your duty. I suspect that you have
a boat to get back to running.” He used
his lecturing tone, knowing that both men would expect it from him given the
circumstances. Chip nodded, sent another
glare Lee’s way, and left. Will’s voice
was a good deal softer when he addressed Lee.
“Skipper?” he asked, careful to question, not challenge.
“It’s
nothing, Jamie,” Lee answered, the smile still in place.
“You
have any objections to my verifying that?”
Will kept his voice under control and added a small smile of his own.
Lee
knew exactly what Jamie was up to and it caused another grin. “No, sir.”
He used the little joke the two shared, that Lee would ‘sir’ a
lesser-ranked officer, and Will’s grin increased. He led the way into
With
Will continuing to keep things casual Lee stayed relaxed and allowed the doctor
his ‘fun and games,’ as both he and Chip occasionally grumbled about. Will wished that Lee were always this
amiable, and at one point actually said it out loud.
“I
can change that in a hurry,” Lee sent the doctor one of his better command
stares.
Will
knew better than to accept the challenge.
“And screw up a perfectly good morning?” he teased. “You’re not usually that mean.” Both men chuckled. Finished with his exam and not finding a
single thing to contradict Lee’s diagnosis, he stepped back from the
gurney. “My report should placate your
Executive Officer,” he told Lee, and Lee nodded. “But if it keeps up your friend won’t be
happy.”
Lee
sent the doctor one of his shy, through-the-lashes looks. “Sometimes having your best friend as your XO
creates a bit of a problem.”
“Because
you can’t order him to shut up?” Will asked with a grin.
“Exactly,”
Lee muttered before he also grinned.
Will
chuckled before getting serious. “You’ll
let me know if it gets worse? Please?”
Lee
was not unaffected by this friend’s concern.
“Promise, Jamie,” he said sincerely.
Will
nodded. “Then get out of here and go
harass your XO. I have more important
things to do.” They both chuckled, and
Lee headed back to the
“Told
you,” Lee sniped at Chip as he walked up to the chart table. He glanced forward and saw that Mike and the
Admiral had joined Alexis and Ami.
Seaview was traveling at a fairly shallow depth and there was enough
light filtering through the water that the occasional school of fish could be
seen. Nelson glanced his way and he
walked forward. “Sir?” he asked as he
came to a stop next to Nelson.
“All’s
well with the boat?” Lee realized that
Nelson must have assumed that Lee had been off on one of his tours of the sub.
“Actually,
I was running an errand for the XO,” he answered with an enigmatic little
grin. “But yes, all’s well.” His grin spread at that private little joke.
Nelson
wasn’t sure what was causing his captain’s lightheartedness this time but he
was definitely enjoying it. Lee could be
moody when things weren’t going well.
“Good. ETA still the same?” He knew it was or Lee would have already
informed him. But this was an easy way
to advise the researchers.
“Yes,
sir,” Lee played the game he recognized Nelson had presented. “We’ll slip into the area between 0200 and
0400 hours tomorrow morning. Lt.
Keeter’s already been advised to slow down and enter the target area with as
little disturbance to the local wildlife as possible. We’ll start a search for the pod after
breakfast. If they haven’t found us
first,” he added with another little grin.
Nelson nodded. Lee had noticed
Ami shoot him a curious look when he’d mentioned running an errand for
Chip. She’d covered it quickly, but Lee
sent her an easy look. “A question, Ms.
Neride?”
She
apparently didn’t realize that her look had been seen, and blushed. “Sorry,” she slightly stammered. As it dawned on her that Lee was still
waiting for a response, as now so were all the others, the blush
increased. But she finally continued. “I guess that I just found it curious that
the captain would be running errands for an underling.”
Nelson
choked off a snort as Lee’s grin spread.
But he didn’t get a chance to respond as Chip, who had obviously been
listening, appeared at Lee’s shoulder.
“Every so often I have to remind him of a couple of his duties that he
tends to forget.” The blond deadpanned
that commentary about how Lee tended to look out for everyone on the boat
except himself.
As
much as Lee wanted to smack Chip for his continued needling, he couldn’t;
especially after his parting comment to Jamie a few minutes earlier. But he wasn’t about to totally let it go
unchallenged. “It’s the wise commander
who allows his underlings,” he purposely used Ami’s term, “to have their
occasional little victories or they start to whine.”
“I
did warn you,” Alexis reminded Ami, “that it gets a little warped around here
every so often.” At that all three of
Seaview’s ruling triumvirate cracked broad smiles. As Chip turned to head back to the chart table
Lee gave his shoulder a light slap before turning and going with him.
Nelson
shook his head as he looked at the researchers.
“I am constantly fascinated and amazed by the things I learn on cruises
like this.” His face split into a wide
grin. “And some of it even involves
marine science.” As the Drs. Travers
returned the grin and Ms. Neride merely looked confused, Nelson headed up the
spiral stairs to his cabin.
A
little while later a light knock on his door made him lift his head from the
book he was perusing. “Enter,” he called
out. Expecting it to be Lee he raised an
eyebrow when, instead, Will ambled casually in.
“And to what do I owe this visit?” he asked. “Not that I object to the company,” he added
quickly.
Will
grinned. Since coming to NIMR he and
Nelson had formed an easy, comfortable, friendship. Will hadn’t been at all sure that he’d be
able to deal with the temperamental genius persona that was his new boss. And there were definitely times when he
walked softly around the man. But over
time each found in the other someone that they could relax with, unwind from
the chaos they all too frequently found themselves in and, while surrounded
with men for the most part younger than they were, enjoy the camaraderie of
someone their own age.
Will
walked over, handed Nelson the folder he was carrying, and settled into the
chair next to the desk. “Just wanted to
keep you abreast of a minor medical issue I’m monitoring.”
Nelson’s
expression went totally confused.
Normally Will reported to Chip.
Nelson would eventually hear, but not usually in this manner. He opened the folder, read quickly, and
pointed an eyebrow at Will. “What’s
going on? I haven’t noticed anything.”
Will
grinned. “Chip did.”
Nelson
relaxed back into his chair. “So that’s
what he meant when he said he was running an errand for his XO.” Nelson went on to explain his conversation
with Lee earlier in the Observation Nose.
Will
nodded. “I swear he was actually
enjoying Chip’s little tantrum.”
Nelson
chuckled. “I wondered what had put him
in such a good mood. I was not,
however, about to ask.” Both men
smiled. “You’re comfortable that there’s
nothing seriously wrong?”
Will
nodded. “I’ve seen a couple of his
little episodes myself.” Nelson frowned
but it only caused Will’s smile to broaden.
“Just a very brief flash of pain and it’s gone. Nothing serious enough that I wanted to risk
messing up a perfectly pleasant cruise by challenging him about it.” That caused Nelson’s smile to return. “Chip all but dragging him down to
“And
he seems to be sleeping,” Nelson added.
That was most often Lee’s other sign that something was bothering him.
Will
nodded before his eyes settled on the book Nelson had been looking at and a
mischievous, and slightly evil, grin crossed his face. “You seem to be the only frustrated one at
the moment.”
Nelson
briefly glared at Will but it morphed fairly quickly back into a slight smile,
and he nodded. “Picked this up at the
library before we sailed, as well as a couple of others. They discuss artifacts found in shipwrecks in
the
“You
don’t think that it’s stolen,” Will nearly growled out the accusation.
Nelson
flipped a hand. “Oh, good heavens,
no. Much more likely that it was
designed after an artifact of some sort.”
Will
relaxed and nodded. “Wouldn’t it just be
easier to ask Ms. Neride?”
“I
all but did, in my office the other day.
If she didn’t answer then…” He
flipped his hand again.
Will
nodded at the book. “I gather that you
haven’t found it yet.”
Nelson
shook his head. “No.”
Will
stood up. “Well, I’ll leave you to your
research. I know how snitty you can get
when you have too many interruptions.”
He burst out laughing at the glare he got for that crack and headed for
the door. Just before it closed behind
him he heard a soft chuckle from Nelson, grinned again, and returned to his
office and his own reading – the medical journal Chip and Lee’s earlier visit
had sidetracked. Lee wasn’t the only one
Will didn’t want to tick off on such a relaxed cruise as this one was
being. While he knew that Nelson would
want to be apprized of what was going on, he also knew how almost paternal
Nelson could get where Lee was concerned.
Will was rather pleased with how well this morning had gone, and sent a
silent prayer that it continued on through the entire cruise.
* *
* *
The
first sight to greet Lee when he came down the spiral stairs the following
morning was Ami Neride standing in front of Seaview’s front windows, her hand
on the herculite, watching half a dozen Bottlenose and common dolphins
frolicking just out of her reach. Many
more shapes could be seen further out into the water. He hesitated ever so slightly – it had
finally dawned on him that almost every time he was around her he’d have one of
the little dizzy spells that were bugging him.
But steps behind him turned out to be Chip and he continued on down.
“Well,
looks like we don’t have to go searching,” was Chip’s light comment as he, too,
hit the bottom of the stairs. “Seems Ami
is a bit of a dolphin magnet.”
“Definitely
a time saver if she can find the Risso’s as easily,” Lee agreed with a
smile. He headed for Lt. Keeter as Chip
continued forward to have a few words with the researcher. He and Keeter shared a quick grin before
Keeter got him currant with Seaview’s status.
Lee turned and was going to say something to his XO about heading for
breakfast but Chip and Ami had their heads together talking. Lee shared another quick grin with the
lieutenant and headed aft, thinking that it might be a good idea to suggest
that Chip go out on the next dive. Chip
didn’t get near the chance that Lee did to enjoy one of both men’s favorite
activities and he knew that Chip would enjoy the chance to spent the time ‘outside’
with Ami.
He
was already sitting in the Wardroom, eating and visiting with the Admiral, when
Chip and Ami came in accompanied by Mike and Alexis Travers. Hydrophones were indicating that, while they
might not have found a super pod, there were still a fair number of dolphins
checking out the supersized stranger in their territory. The researchers hadn’t seen any Risso’s out
the windows, and so far instrumentation wasn’t picking up their slightly
different sounds. No one, however, was
concerned. Ami assured everyone that
they wouldn’t have any problems finding their target species. Lee tried to bury a grin as he sent Chip,
sitting to his right, a nudge with his foot at that statement, after Chip’s
crack earlier. Chip was a bit more
successful at keeping a straight face when the nudge was immediately
returned. Nelson sent both younger men,
sitting across from him, an upraised eyebrow, but continued visiting with the
three researchers. Lee did notice that
he seemed to be keeping an eye on Lee more than usual and assumed that Jamie
had said something to him about the previous morning’s goings on.
Thoughts
of Seaview’s CMO caused Lee to straighten up and stare at the empty spot at the
table where Jamie usually sat. All
conversation stopped and all eyes turned toward him at the sudden abnormal
movement, and Lee was immediately self-conscious. “Sorry,” he said, relaxing and dropping his
eyes. “Just wondering what’s making Doc
late for breakfast.”
“Keeter
didn’t indicate any problems overnight.”
Obviously Chip had been paying attention to the lieutenant’s report even
as he was talking to Ms. Neride.
Lee
frowned. “Word of anything serious
enough to keep Jamie busy better not have waited for the morning report.” It caused both Chip and Nelson to smile. Lee wanted to hear about problems the instant
they happened – if not before! The
entire crew knew that Lee expected them to be attentive to their jobs enough to
try to anticipate a potential problem before it actually became one.
No
sooner were the words out than the Wardroom door opened and the object of the
last few moments’ conversation walked in.
All heads turned in his direction and it was his turn to straighten up
and glare. “What?” he demanded.
“You’re
late,” Nelson told him matter-of-factly.
“Lee
was worried,” Chip added with a nod toward his CO.
Lee
frowned at his XO but turned quickly back to Jamie. “Just wondering what kept you. There weren’t any reports of a problem.”
Will
grinned and relaxed. It could be
frustrating to work around someone who fussed over something as simple as
someone getting up late. But in a way it
was almost comforting to Seaview’s crew that their Skipper kept such close
track of those kinds of seemingly innocent occurrences. It was merely another instance of how
carefully Lee watched over his crew.
“Chill, Skipper,” Will told him amiably.
“You
end up with some of Chip’s nightmares?”
Nelson decided, with the current silliness that had been going on, he’d
get in a jab or two of his own. He
winked across the table at the two younger men.
“Thankfully
no,” Will told all three.
He
was nearly drowned out by Chip’s “My nightmares? They’re all Lee’s
fault. Sir,” he added only slightly late
as he jumped from a decidedly harder kick from his left.
Lee
sniffed. “I was going to let you
dive when we find the next pod,” he told his XO officiously. “But just for that you can stay inside.”
“Suppose
you both go diving, get eaten by a giant squid, and the rest of us can enjoy a
nice, quiet cruise,” was Will’s suggestion.
Nelson
touched his napkin to his lips. It was
obvious to everyone that it was an attempt to control his about-to-explode
laughter at the antics, but he actually got out a fairly controlled, “I’d
really rather not have to interview for a new Command team, Doctor.”
Will
didn’t miss a beat. “Then I suggest that
you go out with them,” came back with a pointed look at his boss.
As
Lee and Chip both put completely innocent expressions on their faces, Nelson
got a thoughtful one. “Not a bad idea,”
he told Will, and looked across the table at the two younger men. “Not a bad idea a’tall.”
Lee
sent Chip a disgusted look. “Just like
Once
Will got his breakfast and sat down, conversation went back to a casual sharing
of ideas about how the day would go.
Weather was fairly good topside, which was a plus. Seaview would stay submerged until they’d
located, and hopefully tagged, the first group of Risso’s. Beyond that, it was another ‘take it one step
at a time’ kind of schedule.
Because
of being a bit late Will was only half done eating when everyone else headed
for either the
Lee
shook his head with a shy grin. “I’m
fine. Just wanted to make sure that you
are,” he said softly.
It
was Will’s turn to shake his head – for an entirely different reason. Typical Lee, he wasn’t going to be happy
until he knew that all the members of his crew were okay. Will just rarely saw this side of Lee
directed at him. Of course, he also
didn’t often give Lee reason to worry about him. “I’m fine,” he said firmly. “A little indigestion keeping me from
sleeping as soundly as usual. Not nearly
as frustrating as certain patients of mine causing me sleepless nights,” he
added pointedly.
Lee
had the good grace to send him his shy, through-the-lashes look, but then got
thoughtful. “Lu-Tsi send along
leftovers?” It was a reference to
another time when dinner with his wife had left Will with serious indigestion,
although in that case it had been restaurant food, not something that Lu-Tsi
had cooked.
“No.” Will didn’t look up when he delivered the one
word answer, hoping that Lee would let it drop.
He should have known better.
Lee
let the silence fall between them for a bit before finally asking softly,
“Jamie?”
Will
send his CO a glare. “You tell your XO
and you can expect to be made very unhappy the next time I get you down
to my territory.” Lee gave him a way too
innocent look. “Harrumph,” Will did a
pretty good Nelson impersonation, but eventually explained. “I came down to the Wardroom last night for a
last cup of coffee just as Cookie was putting the last piece of molten
chocolate sauce cake away.” That had
been the chef’s choice for dessert the previous evening. “It never made it to the fridge.”
Lee
burst out laughing. He couldn’t help
himself. And it only got worse, the
deeper Will frowned at him, until finally even Will was forced to chuckle
softly. “You mean you actually beat Chip
to it?” Lee finally got out. Will merely
shrugged his shoulders. Lee sent him
another broad grin and finally headed for the
Part
of the grin was still on his face as he came through the aft hatch into the
Control Room. He’d felt Seaview start to
move slowly as he left the Wardroom and knew that Chip had started a slow
search for their target. He ambled
forward, glancing at all the instrumentation – it was a habit so ingrained that
he did it without even realizing anymore.
Stopping at Hydrophones, he laid a hand on Seaman Riley’s shoulder. The younger man sent him a glance and a quick
shake of his head, indicating that so far there was no joy finding the
Risso’s. Lee merely nodded and continued
forward.
He
stopped again briefly at the chart table and glanced at the approximate course
Chip had laid in. It wasn’t exact
because the plan was to wander slowly through the area keeping a lookout
through the front windows, as well as using the Hydrophones, to hopefully track
down the Risso’s. He sent a nod Chip’s
way, with a bit of a wink to Lt. James that he knew Chip could see, and headed
the rest of the way into the Nose where all three researchers plus Admiral
Nelson were keeping watch. The latter
sent him a raised eyebrow.
Lee
knew what Nelson wanted. The Admiral had
given him a lopsided grin on his way out of the Wardroom as he realized Lee was
hanging back. Lee was formulating a
response that would answer Nelson without alerting Chip, who could easily hear
what was going on. Lee was very familiar
with Jamie’s forms of retaliation and was taking the doctor’s earlier threat
quite seriously. But he was momentarily
sidetracked by a call from the Radio Shack.
“Skipper,”
Lee’s
face lit up and he grabbed the nearest mic.
“Hey, Jack. You beat me to the
radio. I figured that you’d still be
sleeping in, with you guys doing so little work, and decided that I’d give you
another couple of hours.” A glance at
Chip showed the blond matching Lee’s broad grin. Behind him he could hear Nelson explaining to
the researchers that Colonel Mayfield commanded a unit from the Army Corps of
Engineers who were at the moment assigned to Wake to do repairs to the
airfield.
“Yeah,
right, Crane,” came back in a growl.
“You were caught sneaking into our territory at 0-dark-30, and now it
looks like you’re trying to sneak out without so much as a ‘by-your-leave’.”
Lee
chuckled. “Nope. That’s what I was going to tell you. We’ll be prowling the area for the next
several days at least, looking for Risso’s dolphins…”
“Who?”
cut him off, and Lee chuckled again.
“Never
mind. It would take too long to explain
to an Army guy.”
Something
came through the speaker that was happily too low to hear clearly. “You bubbleheads going to have time in your
obviously under-worked schedule to try and win your fifty bucks back?”
Nelson
sent Lee a puzzled look. “Hang on a
sec,” Lee told Mayfield, and he explained the comment to his boss. “Last month, when we were in the area
replacing earthquake sensors while you were in D.C. we stopped off to say Hi
and ended up in a touch football game.
They won.”
“They
cheated,” Chip added from the chart table.
“Only
a little more than we did,” Lee said with a shrug and a smile.
Nelson
took the mic away from Lee. “Sorry,
Colonel. I’m afraid that any renewal of
your own personal Army-Navy turf wars will have to wait for a later date.”
“Geez,
Crane. You could have warned me the boss
was along,” Mayfield complained.
“And
spoil the surprise? Now why would I do
that?” Lee smarted right back once he’d retaken possession of the mic.
The
same ‘something’ from earlier was grunted through the speaker. “Whatever.”
Lee grinned at Nelson, who returned it easily. “Well, let us know when you sink. We’ll let
Mindful
of the ladies present Lee didn’t say what he’d have liked, and rang off
instead. He then had to endure a glare,
fake though it obviously was, from Nelson.
“Apparently I need to quit turning you loose by yourselves if you’re
just going to go off and waste my work time playing with the Army.”
“Yes,
sir.” But Lee could barely get it out without
laughing, and Nelson’s grin came back at the same time.
They
were interrupted as Riley called out, “Mr. Morton, ten degrees port, sir. Not positive, but I’m getting a slightly
different call.” Chip gave the commands
to change Seaview’s heading as Lee walked back and picked up the extra
headset. He glanced forward as he
listened to what Riley was hearing. The
three researchers were glued to the windows but Nelson was watching him. As Seaview completed her lazy turn and the
sounds from the hydrophone became more pronounced, Lee grinned and gave both
Chip and Nelson a ‘thumbs up.’ It was
only a few more moments before there was an excited “yes” from the
researchers. Lee walked forward again as
more and more Risso’s dolphins appeared, and shared a grin with both Chip as he
stopped at the chart table, and Nelson still in the Nose.
Despite
the silliness of how it started, all three senior officers headed off with the
researchers to prepare for the dive. Lee
would once more be one of the ‘bait,’ as would Chip and Seaman Henderson. As Lee entered the Missile Room he saw Ami
Neride spot four spear guns laying at the ready instead of two as on the
previous dive, and made a preemptive strike before she could mount a tirade of
her own. “More chance of shark activity
in these waters, Ms. Neride.”
“The
more dolphins, the less chance of sharks,” she came back with a glare. “Those are totally unnecessary.”
“I
hope so, too,” Lee answered calmly. He
was having a hard time not smiling as he noticed a small bit of added equipment
on two of the sleek weapons. But he knew
that a grin now would be totally misinterpreted by the woman and only cause
further friction. “It didn’t cause any
trouble on the previous dive.” He was
grateful when Alexis backed him up.
“You
admitted that you forgot all about them once the tagging started,” she joined
the conversation as she double-checked her own equipment. “Get used to it, Ami. I know that you don’t like spear guns. Or weapons of any kind. But that’s not going to change the way dives
are handled on Seaview so just get over it.”
Lee
was surprised at the almost angry quality in Alexis’ voice and shared a raised
eyebrow with Chip. Mike, standing with
them, said quietly, “Bit of an ongoing argument. Lexi’s had her fill of it. Ami can’t seem to get it through her head
that she’s not going to change NIMR’s safety regs just because she doesn’t
personally happen to like it.”
The
rest of the dive preparations were carried out pretty much in silence. A small grin did break through as Lee watched
Admiral Nelson pick up one of the two specially equipped spear guns. Seaman Nielsen picked up the other one; Lee
assumed that he’d already been briefed by the Admiral. Seamen Roberts and Richardson collected the
other two and the dive got under way.
As
one of the final divers out, Lee was almost disoriented by the sheer numbers of
dolphins. He’d never been in such
congested waters before unless you counted schools of small fish in and around
some of the coral reefs. That was
nothing compared to this many ten to fourteen foot bodies darting past
him. There was also a short pause as
Mike apparently waited for the Admiral to take over the dive and start issuing
orders. When he didn’t, hesitantly at
first but quickly with more confidence, Mike once more set his teams in motion.
Again
the pod consisted of a mixture of species but this time the Risso’s far
outnumbered the Bottlenose and common varieties. All seemed unintimidated by the divers and
were more than happy to accept a free meal.
Lee divided his time between handing out squid bits and watching the
Admiral overhead. While his movements
were seemingly casual, the spear gun always seemed to be pointed at the end of
whichever researcher’s tagging pole was closest to a Risso’s. Lee could see that divers were going to be a
part of the pictures, but the dolphins were the main attraction as well as the
tagging process itself. Ami was
dutifully making notes on a dive card when she successfully tagged a dolphin,
but Lee noticed that Mike and Alexis were only making half-hearted efforts.
Dive
conversation was casual and easy. The
three researchers kept each other appraised of their movements, successful
tags, and the unavoidable failures. Lee
and Chip lightly sniped at each other about not being fast enough with the bait
and messing up a researcher’s aim. It
was a jubilant group that set the last of twelve loggers in place barely fifty
minutes after the dive started and headed the short distance back to the boat -
with so many dolphins they hadn’t wondered far away.
Lee
had a moment’s hesitation as he exited the dive hatch back into the Missile
Room, as usual in the last group to return.
Nelson had his back to the room, bending over one of the benches, side
by side with Chief Sharkey. But he
quickly realized that the two men were using their bodies to shield the fact
that Nelson was removing the two mini-cameras from the spear guns. As he noticed Ami was giving them a quizzical
look he quickly gave Chip a light shove.
He started nattering at the blond about who did the best job of dolphin
baiting, which effectively collected the three researchers’ attention to he and
Chip and away from Nelson. Lee figured
that Mike caught on to what he was doing since the researcher rather
enthusiastically joined the fray, refereeing a tally of who did how many. Thankfully it only took Nelson and Sharkey a
moment to disconnect the cameras and Nelson to head for his cabin to change and
Lee could stop teasing Chip, who didn’t have a clue what had started the bit of
haranguing. As both Mike and Lee backed
off he shook his head at them and also headed for the hatch. Lee shared a quick grin with Mike before
following his XO.
None
of the researchers were in the Observation Nose when Lee hit the Control Room
so he took a quick moment to let Chip know what had been going on in the
Missile Room. He’d barely finished the
explanation when both Ami and Alexis came down the spiral stairs into the Nose. Lee winked at Chip and asked Riley, in a
voice loud enough to also carry forward, how the signals were doing from the
loggers.
“Green
across the board, Skipper,” the young seaman told him brightly.
“Good,”
Chip broke in. “Handing out all that
food made me hungry.”
“You’re
always hungry,” Lee groused the old, familiar line, but he couldn’t keep a grin
from poking through. “Ladies,” he
addressed Alexis and Ami, “we’d better stoke up before Chip hits the line or
there won’t be anything left for us. Not
to mention that it’s going to be a busy afternoon with twelve loggers to
retrieve.” Chip sent him a glare that he
easily ignored, but it caused the two ladies to smile.
“And
let’s not forget the computer time downloading and analyzing all the wonderful
data we’re collecting,” Alexis said as she somewhat reluctantly left the view
out the windows. “A long day for sure.”
As
the ladies passed through the Conn Chip kept step right behind. Lee brought up the rear, his eyes dancing
over all of the instrumentation but not stopping at any of the stations. The group had barely hit the Wardroom when
they were joined by Nelson and Mike. Lee
kept a casual eye on the door, but he had barely sat down when Jamie walked
in. Chip had apparently been keeping an
eye on Lee because, as Lee dropped his eyes from the door to his plate, a soft
kick nailed his right ankle. Lee sent
his XO a frown, but it morphed fairly quickly into a sheepish grin and both men
turned their attention to their plates.
They
also kept tabs on the conversation Nelson was having with the researchers about
how well everything had gone that morning.
Lee coughed softly to cover a snort when Nelson informed Chip that he’d
commandeered Seaman Patterson for the next several hours. Having been brought up to speed by Lee
earlier, Chip merely nodded. Patterson’s
father was a photographer by profession and had taught his son pretty much
everything there was to know about developing film. Pat was no doubt already busy in the lab
developing the pictures that the Admiral and Nielsen had taken that morning on
the dive.
Once
everyone returned to the
Ami
spent the time rewriting the notes each researcher had taken that morning about
the physical descriptions of the dolphins they’d tagged. Lee heard her make a couple of comments about
Alexis’ and Mike’s rather sparse commentary, but those two merely shrugged them
off with some fairly noncommittal comments of their own. Lee looked at Chip and they both shrugged –
there was no telling what would happen when the presence of the photographs was
revealed. Chip’s thought was that, from
his perspective, it was more likely that the baiters would be in the pictures
with the dolphins than the researchers since with their long poles they were
actually further away from the dolphins that were being photographed. Lee nodded – that was his idea as well.
But
any confrontation over the photography could be postponed for the moment as it
was time to get ready for the retrieval portion of the dive. Lee heard a low muttered, “Hope this goes
faster than the last time,” but wasn’t able to identify the source. In these, much more open waters, even holding
where they were at periscope depth, Seaview wasn’t quite as steady as she
usually was. On the surface she was
going to roll even though the waters were actually fairly calm, and submariners
by nature were lousy surface sailors and tended toward seasickness faster than
regular Navy personnel. Lee decided that
a little moral support might not be a bad idea about now. He grabbed the mic and double-clicked for an
all-boat channel.
“This
is the Captain,” he started. He saw Chip
try, and fail, to bury a grin. He knew
that his XO was thinking that there wasn’t a person aboard who wouldn’t
instantly recognize Lee’s voice even without the preamble. It caused Lee to smile as well as he
continued. “We’re about to head topside
for the retrieval phase of this morning’s dive.
While the weather is good it’s still open ocean. Make sure everything in your area is secure,
and be careful as you move around the boat.
An
hour later Lee was at his chosen post atop the Conning Tower, along with Senior
Rating Kowalski. Once more COB Sharkey,
Seaman Riley and Ami Neride were in a zodiac, portside of Seaview’s bow. Today they were being aided by a second
zodiac to starboard manned by Lt. Keeter, Seaman Mickelson, and Mike
Travers. Alexis had wanted to be on
deck, as she’d been the last time, but Lee banned anyone being there unless
absolutely necessary – he didn’t want anyone missing a step with an unexpected
wave and ending up overboard. Thankfully
the weather was holding and winds were light but Lee was still reluctant to
take any unnecessary risks so the deck remained clear except for launching the
zodiacs, and later when they would be retrieved. Alexis’ momentary miff was immediately
mollified when Lee invited her to join him in the tower.
Right
on schedule, four and a half hours after it was attached, the first logger
popped to the surface and the game was on.
From the comments going back and forth, everyone was happy having the
second zodiac deployed, and even Ami expressed appreciation for the extra
help. Chip came up to the tower about
halfway through the exercise and handed Lee a couple of soda crackers, causing
both Lee and Kowalski to snicker. Lee
declined – he was perfectly happy topside.
When Kowalski, too, shook his head, Chip munched on them himself as he
helped scan the waters.
During
a lull in communications traffic Lee became aware that Chip was humming softly
to himself as they waited for the next logger to appear. It took him a bit to recognize the tune but
when he did he burst out laughing. Both
Alexis and Kowalski raised eyebrows.
Chip blushed slightly before singing the chorus:
Strike the bell second mate,
let us go below
Look you well to windward
you can see it’s gonna blow;
Look at the glass, you can
see that it has fell
Oh we wish that you would
hurry up and strike, strike the bell.
It
was an old sailing song, when bells were used to mark the hours. Eight bells signified end of watch and the
sailors on deck would be off duty and could go below, out of whatever foul
weather they found themselves in. Lee’s
continuing grin only broke when communications announced another logger had
surfaced, and everyone got back to their jobs.
None
too soon for everyone the last logger was finally retrieved, all hatches were
secured, and Lee could allow Chip to submerge to a more congenial depth for the
submarine and her crew.
It
was a jubilant but tired group who finally traipsed into the Wardroom over an
hour later than usual, just after 1900 hours.
Will had dawdled over his dinner, more than anything to keep Cookie
company. The premier chef, while
understanding the reasoning behind it, still fussed until the three senior
officers were safely seated in his domain with full plates of food in front of
them. Even the researchers had forgone
starting to download data until they had a good meal.
As
usual, once Lee finished eating and then checking the
A
door slamming loudly ahead of him, beyond a corner in the corridor, momentarily
wiped the smile away. There weren’t any
alarms, loud voices, or running footsteps – it made the sound of the door seem
to echo even more. But Lee was mostly
just curious as he neared the corner, intent on finding out what had happened
to cause it. He totally wasn’t expecting
to be barreled into. As he hit the
corner so did the rapidly moving form of Ms. Neride, coming from the other
direction. Slender though she was, at
5’8”, and as relaxed as Lee was, the collision sprawled both bodies against the
bulkhead and collapsed them onto the deck.
Lee had only a moment to realize who it was before he had the added
problem of being hit with one of his little dizzy spells. He heard the researcher start to apologize
but it took him a few added moments to catch up. Unwilling to try standing up just yet, he
settled for a deep breath and merely tried to open his eyes. Thankfully he was successful. Ms. Neride was also still sitting – well,
sprawled, actually, as was he – rather ungracefully on the deck. She was, however, in the process of getting
herself back under control and gathering up some pictures that had apparently
been scattered in the collision. Lee
reached for a couple laying next to him as he also managed to gather himself
into a more controlled sitting position and discovered that they were of that
morning’s dive. Ami had discovered she’d
been photographed and wasn’t happy!
Unfortunately, all that knowledge did was cause Lee’s grin to return.
“A
problem, Ms. Neride?” he asked, handing her back the photos.
“This
was done without my approval,” she growled, before her expression softened ever
so slightly. “Sorry I bumped into you
that way. Are you all right?”
Lee
chuckled and tucked his long legs in a little closer. “I’m fine.
And, we don’t exactly need a junior research assistant’s approval to run
ops here on Seaview.”
Ami’s
frown came back, but not as fierce as the first one. “It was just a surprise, is all. I don’t like having my picture taken.”
“And
which one, in those pictures, is you?
The quick look I got, all I saw were dolphins and wet suits.”
Ami’s
expression softened even more as she quickly scanned the photographs, and was
starting to turn slightly sheepish when another voice echoed down the
corridor. “Lee,” Nelson not quite
shouted, and hurried up to the pair.
“We
were just having a meeting of the minds over a point of boat’s order, Admiral,”
Lee told him casually, with another soft grin.
He started to gather his legs under him as he finally felt under enough
control to stand. Nelson reached out a
hand to both he and Ms. Neride. Lee took
it easily and used it mostly as a balance point to once more stand. Ami was a few seconds behind him, but also
finally accepted the help.
When
they were back on their feet Nelson asked, “And were you able to reach any conclusion?”
Lee
pointed a raised eyebrow at the researcher.
She sent him a quick smile but addressed the Admiral. “I believe so, sir,” she told him. “I think that its time I got back to work and
helped the Travers download all that data we collected today.”
Nelson
nodded. “I know that they’d appreciate
the help. We’re planning another dive
for 0900 hours tomorrow.” She nodded and
headed back in the direction she’d been coming from. It was Nelson’s turn to point an eyebrow at
Lee.
He
grinned softly. “I gather she didn’t
take well to being shown the pictures.”
“You
could say that,” Nelson agreed with a grin of his own, before giving Lee a
speculative look. “You are okay?”
“I’m
fine,” Lee repeated, but with one of his slightly shy smiles. “She sort of…caught me by surprise.”
“So
it would appear,” Nelson deadpanned. He
nodded aft. “The boat safe for the
night?”
Lee
repeated the small, shy grin. “Yes,
sir. Everything’s shipshape.”
“Good. Then suppose we grab a cup of coffee in the
Nose and then make it an early night.
The latest weather report, while not all that bad, is calling for
slightly stronger winds tomorrow.
Retrieval could be a bit more of an adventure than it was today.”
Lee
was already nodding. “I saw the report
earlier.” He sent Nelson a smirk. “Already advised Cookie to break out more
crackers.” Nelson chuckled, gave Lee’s
shoulder a soft backhand, and the two headed forward.
Weather
predictions for the following day were spot on.
Unfortunately. Lt. James held
Seaview slightly lower in the water, at barely periscope depth, to minimize the
sub’s exposure to the slowly building waves topside, as once more Chip joined
Lee to be bait divers. As they prepared
to head out Lee saw Ms. Neride send a glance toward the spear guns. But when she realized that Lee was watching
her she sent him a small smile before concentrating on her own equipment. With her head down she didn’t see Admiral
Nelson, who had seen the exchange, share a grin with Lee.
Once
‘outside,’ the tagging portion of the dive progressed rapidly. With each dolphin tagged, the researchers
were getting better and better at the process.
The dolphins were being helpful as well, sticking to a relatively small
territory considering that it was nothing to have a pod travel great distances
in a fairly short amount of time. It was
theorized that a steady food supply was what had allowed this size of a pod to
form in the first place, and was sufficient to sustain the numbers at least for
the time being. And the handouts from
the divers weren’t hurting the dolphins’ amiability and cooperation in the
least. There were off and on comments
between the divers related to individual markings on some of the Risso’s. Nelson, whose powers of observation no one
ever questioned, called Mike off of one over friendly dolphin, but okayed all
the others questionable as to whether or not they had been tagged the day
before. Before anyone really realized
it, all twelve loggers were in place and the divers headed back inside.
Chip
shared a grimace with the entire
He
only partially got his wish. The skies
were threatening but at the beginning of the process the winds were only
minimally stronger than they had been the day before. Lee delayed surfacing until the first logger
announced its release and arrival topside, and everyone once more jumped into
action.
The
first logger was safely corralled and the second had just reached the surface
when both Alexis and Chip joined Lee and Kowalski in the Conning Tower. Lee gave them a grin, turned back to the
ocean, and then did a double take and turned back for another look at the
t-shirt the researcher was wearing.
Alexis held the bottom edge out slightly and flat so that he could read
it more easily. The shirt itself was a
sky blue in color. Across the chest
there was a drawing of several Bottlenose dolphins swimming. Above the picture was the caption, “Advice
from a Dolphin.” Underneath was, “Have a
playful spirit; Be curious; Find someone you really click with; Sound out new
ideas; Glide through the day with ease; Find your life’s porpoise; Jump for
Joy.” *** Lee chuckled, and gave her a
nod and a half-salute before everyone got back to business.
The
loggers decided to be perverse today, most of them staying attached to their
hosts a good hour longer than they had previously. Between that and the slowly but steadily
building winds even Lee, who regularly spent time in small sailboats, was
tempted to reach for the package of crackers Chip had brought up with him
before all of the units were retrieved and Lee could settle the boat several
hundred feet below the starting to roil surface. But he also was able to take a little revenge
on Chip at dinnertime for all the times the blond harassed him about heading
for the Wardroom when Chip delayed the trip by nearly half an hour to let his
stomach finally settle down.
Cookie’s
dinner selections were a bit more normal, although his entrée of oven-fried
chicken did point toward him not necessarily wanting to use the stovetops that
afternoon. There was also more
gingerbread for anyone who might still be feeling the after effects of the
rolling seas topside. Even though Lee
and Chip were late, they still beat Admiral Nelson and the three researchers by
almost fifteen minutes.
Nelson
walked over to where Lee was sitting while the other three headed to fill their
plates. “Have you checked tomorrow’s
weather?” he asked.
Lee
nodded. “Lousy,” he said around a bite
of baked potato. He swallowed before
continuing. “The storm is supposed to
blow itself out by mid-afternoon tomorrow.
After that it looks good for the next several days.”
“So,
no tagging tomorrow,” Nelson said, half to himself as he stared at nothing in
particular. Lee didn’t quite get a grin
buried and Chip gently kicked his shin, both of them thinking the same thing.
“So,
sir, what would you like to check out in the area instead?”
Nelson
momentarily glared at him before his expression softened and he chuckled. “That predictable, am I?” Lee and Chip both sent him cherubic
expressions. It caused Nelson’s chuckles
to increase. “Actually,” he admitted,
“Ms. Neride was telling me of a rather unique rock formation that might be fun
to check out since we have the time.
I’ll show you on the charts after dinner.”
“Yes,
sir,” Lee told him with a grin, and Nelson went over to dish up his meal.
Lee
lingered over dinner, listening to the casual conversation of the others at the
table. The Drs. Travers had no problems
with the day off. They could start
collating all of the data that the loggers were collecting. Ms. Neride immediately perked up at mention
of checking out the seamount that she’d told Nelson about, but just as quickly
backed down and sent the Travers’ a shy look.
Alexis
grinned. “There’s no reason that you
have to spend the whole day staring at a computer screen,” she told Ami. “You’re welcome to show Admiral Nelson around
the seamount, now that you’ve piqued his interest in the area.” She sent Nelson a look. “As long as you don’t mind, sir.”
Nelson
grinned. “Not a’tall,” he told everyone,
and then focused on Ami. “You can show
me why you think the area is so fascinating.
I’ve never heard anything overly special about it.”
“Not
special, per se,” Ami admitted. “Just
unusual and interesting.”
“Well,
it will still be good to get samples from the area. I take every opportunity I can get to dive in
areas I’ve not been to before.” Once
more Lee and Chip shared a look, and Nelson’s grin increased. “Obviously, not the first time those two,” he
nodded toward his senior officers while still speaking to Ami, “have heard me
utter that sentiment.” He sent Lee an
amused look as Lee gave him one of his through-the-lashes looks, accompanied by
a nod and a small grin, before excusing himself and heading for the
Nelson
sent Lee another amused grin when he walked up to the chart table about twenty
minutes later. Lee returned it easily
and watched as Nelson studied the chart for a moment before pointing out the
specific seamount he wanted to explore.
Lee nodded but let Lt. O’Brien, who had the
* *
* *
Apparently
it was Lee’s turn to deal with nightmares.
Like Chip’s, they didn’t wake him up.
But half an hour earlier than his usual time he rolled out of his bunk
feeling like he’d gone ten rounds with the giant squid Jamie had threatened him
with. That thought actually putting a
smile on his face, he spent an extra few minutes in the shower letting the
water wash away the last of his sleepiness as well as helping tense muscles
relax and headed for the Conn only a few minutes ahead of his normal schedule.
As
Lee expected his super-efficient crew, led at the moment by Lt. Keeter, had
Seaview stationed quietly at a depth of 100 feet, approximately 50 yards off
Nelson’s targeted seamount. Lee was
surprised at the relatively shallow depth since Seaview was so stable in the
stormy sea. Keeter had a slight smirk on
his face when Lee glanced up from the charts, having figured out what the
lieutenant had done. He’d set Seaview
facing into the leeward side of the seamount.
With the underwater structure acting as a windbreak, so to speak, any
heavy waves were deflected down Seaview’s long sides and left the submarine
pretty much unaffected. Lee gave the
lieutenant a nod and a light slap to his upper arm in acknowledgement of the
maneuver, gave a quick glance to all the instrumentation as he walked through
the
He
hadn’t been there long before Chip wandered in, followed shortly by Admiral
Nelson and then Jamie. While Chip had
come by way of the Conn and knew how Lt. Keeter had positioned Seaview, Lee had
to explain to Nelson and the doctor that no, Seaview wasn’t sitting at a
thousand feet, well below not only the heavy seas but scuba depth as well. Chip did mutter something about having to
keep a better eye on the lieutenant; that it looked like Keeter was after the
XO position. But he smiled as the
comment caused the other three to chuckle, and Lee to give him a soft backhand.
Lee
and Chip were just about to head back to the
“What’s
up, Jack,” Lee started off easily, expecting the Army colonel to snipe back a
reply.
“Sorry,
Captain Crane, this is Lt. Ryan Ruiz.”
Lee recognized the man as Mayfield’s second-in-command. “There’s been an accident. Jack, ah Colonel Mayfield, slipped in the mud
while helping peg down some equipment and hit his head. Our medic isn’t totally comfortable handling
the injury on his own. We’re hoping that
you could send your doctor over to evaluate, and possibly evacuate to Schofield
Barracks on Oahu if necessary, using that weird yellow flying saucer of
yours. Because of the storm there’s no
way we could get a plane in here much before nightfall, and that’s only if the
weather breaks on schedule.”
Jamie
had headed for the door the instant he’d heard what the problem was. Lee sent him a nod as he listened to the rest
of the message. “Doc’s already getting
ready, Ryan. We moved during the night,
but ETA should be about an hour for the Flying Sub.”
“Great. Pete says so far Jack seems stable but we
really appreciate the assist.”
“Happy
to help,” Lee assured him, and broke the connection.
Chip
had headed out the door on Jamie’s heels, and already had Sharkey pre-flighting
FS1 by the time Lee joined him in the
Nelson
raised an eyebrow when he came down the spiral stairs, with Will right behind
carrying one of his emergency packs and followed by John carrying two
more. Lee easily read the question on
Nelson’s face of why Lee hadn’t automatically volunteered for the mission. “If Jack needs to be evacuated there won’t be
time to return here,” he told the Admiral, who nodded his agreement to that
logic.
Will
also heard the explanation as he handed his supplies down to a waiting
Kowalski. Finding the rating added to
the mission, he decided to leave John behind just in case he needed to be gone
for awhile instead of leaving just Frank to handle anything that should come up
aboard Seaview before he could get back.
It
was a pretty quiet
His
expression turned instantly from concern to disgruntlement at Jamie’s first
sentence. “I’m a little in awe of
Colonel Mayfield,” the doctor started.
“I didn’t think I’d ever find someone with a harder head then you,
Skipper.” Nelson grinned and Chip
snickered, breaking the tension of the last two hours.
Several
comments passed swiftly through Lee’s mind but he quickly got himself back
under control. “I gather that means
Jack’s going to be okay?” he finally settled on.
Jamie’s
chuckle came through the speaker. While
Lee’s comment had been neutral, everyone who knew him could still easily read
the snipe that stayed in his voice as he said it. “He’ll be fine, Skipper. He’ll be fighting a wicked headache for the
next several days but that should be the worst of it. We’ll hang around for a few hours, just in
case. But I don’t foresee us not being
back by suppertime.”
Lee
was quick to get his sense of humor back.
“In that case, tell Jack I didn’t realize he was so clumsy, letting a
little mud get him down. I thought Army
guys were used to slogging through the stuff.”
“And
I’ll deliver his message about hard heads when I get back,” Jamie assured him,
and they broke the connection.
“That
should be an interesting message, considering how the football game ended,”
Chip told his CO with a barely controlled smirk.
Lee
chose to ignore it and turned to Nelson.
“Were you still wanting to make your dive, Admiral?” he asked, also
ignoring Nelson’s grin as he watched Lee studiously ignoring Chip.
“Absolutely,
now that we can concentrate on this area instead of where Doc is.” He barely controlled a smirk of his own. “With Sharkey gone you’ll need to reassign
duties.”
Lee
nodded. “No problem,” he assured his
boss, before it was his turn to smirk ever so slightly. “Just so long as the COB doesn’t find out how
easily we got along without him.”
“Heaven
forbid,” Nelson barely got out around a chuckle, and everyone headed in a
different direction to get ready for the dive.
His
mind on the best way to shift assignments, Lee turned toward the chart
table. But he stopped short as he
watched Chip cross his arms over his chest and send Lt. James a slightly toned
down version of his ticked-off-XO glare.
Suspecting the cause, Lee finished taking the couple of steps to the
table. “What did Chris beat you to this
time?” he asked the blond with a barely controlled grin.
“I was
going to work on the Duty log but it seems I’ve had that job usurped,” Chip
muttered. But Lee easily noted that Chip
wasn’t overly upset – his voice held a subtle note of humor.
“They’re
just suggestions, sir. Ah, sirs,” Chris
said hesitantly. “I made a few notes
while we were waiting to hear about Colonel Mayfield.”
Lee
nodded. “And you have a problem,” he
once more addressed Chip, “with the suggestions?”
Chip
finally dropped his arms to his sides and let a quirky bit of grin break
through. “Actually, no. Well,” he amended, “except for being tossed
out of the
Lee
finally glanced at the young lieutenant’s notes and discovered that Chris had
given himself the
“Not
complaining, exactly,” Chip told him. He
sent a quick glare at Chris before his own expression morphed into a grin. “Just used to doing it myself,” he admitted.
Lee
winked at Chris and gave Chip’s upper arm a quick swat. “If it will make you feel better you can fill
out and sign the Duty sheet before officially turning the
Admiral
Nelson raised an eyebrow when Lee entered the Missile Room, the grin still all
too evident on his face. With Chip right
behind him, Lee chose a benign reply to the unspoken question. “Just enjoying the calm cruise,” he told his
boss. “Seems like we don’t get very many
of them.”
Nelson
nodded. He did send a glance Chip’s way
and Lee suspected that the blond had made a face of some sort behind his
back. “We should try to manage it more
often.”
“I’m
all for that,” Lee agreed. “But,” he
added with a sigh, “I won’t be holding my breath.” Nelson chuckled, but his expression was more
commiserate than humorous.
Seamen
Henderson and Richards were suited up to act as watchdogs. Chip gathered up some of Nelson’s sampling
equipment and Lee grabbed the collection bags.
So far Ms. Neride hadn’t said anything.
But as everyone prepared to head out Lee saw her pick up a digital underwater
camera as well as a collection bag of her own and he raised an eyebrow.
Ami
sent him a small smile. “When I was here
before I saw… Well,” she hesitated, “I
thought that I saw, anyway, what looked like markings of some kind on some of
the rocks.”
“What
kind of markings?” Nelson asked. Lee and
Chip shared a quick grin. It took very
little to spark the Admiral’s interest.
“That’s
part of the question,” Ami answered. “I
only got a glimpse, and didn’t have any way to record what little I did see.” She shrugged.
“It could have been nothing more than algae making abstract lines.”
Nelson
nodded. “Not exactly where I would
expect to find any kind of archaeological site.”
“Exactly,”
Ami agreed. “I’d just like to poke
around and see if I can find them again.”
With that, the group headed out.
Lee
went out first with the two watchdogs, and Nelson, Ami and Chip followed. There was a moment’s discussion about what
everyone was going to do before Nelson led the way toward an area near the top
of the seamount, but still on the leeward side away from the heavier
currents. He did ask Ami where she had
seen, or possibly seen, the markings on the rocks, but she indicated that
things looked different somehow and she wasn’t sure. Nelson speculated that, while they weren’t
all that close to what was called the Pacific Ring of Fire – a band that rimmed
the ocean marked by higher than average earthquake activity – that the seamount
could have suffered changes.
“How
long has it been since you were here?” Chip asked.
“Been
awhile,” Ami admitted. “You’re right,
Admiral, there could have been any number of changes.”
It
was decided that, at first at least, the group would explore together. Lee and Chip helped Nelson take several core
samples from different areas while Ami stayed close by, occasionally flipping
over a rock but mostly just looking around.
Lee kept an eye on her – he was a little gun-shy about visitors to the
boat suddenly taking off on their own without warning. But Ami did nothing to set off his radar and
he finally allowed himself to relax a bit more.
When
they started the dive there were no dolphins in the area, just the occasional
school of indigenous fishes. They hadn’t
been out long when
Admiral
Nelson finished one core sample, spent a few moments glancing around the area,
and finally headed port and slightly deeper until he located a likely spot for
his next one. Chip dutifully followed
along after he and Lee shared a grin through their masks – typical ‘Nelson on
the prowl’ dive. Lee waited to see where
Nelson stopped, which actually wasn’t all that far away, before floating over
to where Ami was. She sent him a grin
before continuing to gently turn over a series of rocks, explaining that so far
she’d found no indication of anything not naturally occurring. Lee watched her for a bit, studying her
search pattern, before going off a few yards and starting his own simple
search.
They
were both startled by the sound of a small explosion and a yelp of pain that
sounded like Chip and they scurried in that direction. By the time they got there Nelson had things
pretty much back in control. “I was just
finishing taking a sample which Chip was reaching for when the drill blew
apart,” he explained. Chip was holding
one hand folded over the other but didn’t seem in a great amount of pain.
“A
fragment of the bit ripped my glove and nailed my index finger,” Chip continued
the explanation. “Minimal damage, but
the salt water hitting it stings all get-out.”
“I’ll
bet,” Lee told him with feeling, having had the experience of salt stinging a
wound far too many times. “We’d better
head back to the boat.”
“For
this little thing?” Chip’s protest was
drowned out by Nelson.
“I’m
done. The drill is broken, anyway, so I
can’t take any more samples. I’ll take
him back. There’s no need for you and
Ms. Neride not to stay out longer if you want to.”
Lee
looked at Ami. She ducked her head a
bit, but answered. “I was just about to
ask if it would be okay to poke around over in that direction,” she indicated
starboard, “for awhile. Still plenty of
air in the tanks.”
“Go,”
Chip added. “I feel like enough of an
idiot… Don’t you dare say it,” he challenged Lee, and Nelson chuckled. “No need to mess up the rest of your dive,”
he looked at Ami, “for this,” and he indicated his hand.
“Richards,”
Lee called, “escort the Admiral and XO back.
As
they swan more starboard the current tugged at them a bit more, but they hugged
the seamount and it wasn’t all that bad.
Ami stopped here and there to look at the rocks but didn’t find anything
interesting and continued on. Lee was a
bit bored but enjoyed the chance to indulge in a purely pleasure dive –
something he so rarely had a chance to do.
Even the dolphin baiting, while relaxed, kept his attention on being in
the right spot at the right time to distract a dolphin while one of the
researchers tagged it. Now he had the
time to notice how easily Ami swam, almost like one of the dolphins she was so
fascinated with. Lee himself was an
excellent swimmer, and diving came second nature to him. But even he couldn’t match her seemingly
effortless motions.
A
soft “oh” brought his focus back.
“What?” he asked.
“Look,”
and Ami pointed slightly ahead and below her.
Lee could just make out what looked like a concave area in the face of
the seamount as Ami headed for it.
“Careful,”
he warned, following.
“Oh,
don’t worry,” she told him sincerely. “I
know how easily these things appear and then instantly disappear.” They both approached the area with extreme
caution.
“
“Aye,
sir,” was instantly answered back. Lee
and Ami studied the area around the opening.
“Everything looks stable, sir,”
“Same
here,” Lee told him. “But keep your eyes
peeled.”
“Aye,
sir,” sounded once more as Lee and Ami carefully moved closer to the opening.
What
had looked like a simple concave in the side of the seamount proved to be the
opening into an actual cave. Lee and Ami
hung just outside the opening, shining their flashlights around as much of the
inside as they could. It looked like
just more rocks until Ami’s light bounced off something bright. She looked at Lee. “Do we dare?” she asked. “I’d really like a better look. It’s probably nothing – a mineral deposit or
something. But…”
Lee
appreciated her attitude. He was
actually holding in a grin – if Nelson had found this he’d have most likely
charged inside despite the obvious danger.
He glanced once more at the area around the entrance but everything
seemed stable. “
“Aye,
sir,” came back in much more of a hesitant tone than before. He definitely had his doubts about the wisdom
of what his CO was about to do, but he also wasn’t about to disagree. He had, unfortunately, locked horns with Mr.
Morton not all that long ago**** during a dive and was hesitant to make that
mistake again! But, he still wasn’t
overly happy.
Lee
easily read the young seaman’s hesitancy.
He wasn’t overly thrilled with the move, either. But there simply weren’t any indications of
excessive risk, and his own curiosity was getting the better of his usually
cautious nature. It would please him no
end to present Nelson with something unusual.
Or even usual, but unknown to the Admiral in this area. He did enjoy Nelson’s enthusiasm for all
things marine, even if he didn’t always understand a thing Nelson was saying
about whatever it was. He and Ami took
one more glance around the edges of the opening and carefully slipped inside.
The
calm water inside was an instant change from the currents outside. Ami and Lee stopped just inside and once more
shown their flashlights around the interior.
It wasn’t a large area – only about four yards top to bottom and about
ten yards deep. Ami’s light once more
found the shiny spot, about halfway back on one wall, and they both swam over
to it.
It
was, as expected, a bit of mineral deposit of some sort. Lee still had a couple of collection bags
tied to his dive belt, along with a small pick, so he carefully knocked off the
small bit of shiny material and stowed it while Ami went back to studying the
walls.
“Oh,
my…” Ami breathed.
Lee
turned to see what had caused the comment and found her flashlight illuminating
‘something’ on the very back wall. As he
got closer he saw what looked like markings of some sort. The first one that looked remotely familiar
was what was almost a trident, although it was sideways and not quite
complete. He also saw a vertical line
intersected by three horizontal ones, and something that looked like an
upside-down peace symbol but without the circle around it. A few of the other markings ‘almost’ looked
familiar, but everything else was just squiggles to him. “What is it?” he asked.
Ami
didn’t say anything for a bit while she played her light over the collection of
markings, definitely not of natural origin.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted finally.
“Can you shine both lights on it while I get some pictures?” Lee took her flashlight and used it and his
own in tandem to illuminate the area, which measured about two feet
square. Ami took a dozen or so pictures
from slightly different angles before taking her flashlight back, and the pair
went back to studying the walls inside the small cave.
There
was absolutely no warning for what happened next. One moment Lee was starting to once more pull
out his pick to take a sample of an ore of some sort and the next he was hit by
something on the side of his head hard enough to momentarily stun him. He half-heard a shouted “Skipper?” in his ear
but for a moment was unable to respond.
He also heard a “Captain?” and felt his arm being held and his body
coming to rest on what he assumed through the fog to be the bottom of the
cave. “Captain,” came again a little
more insistently.
“What
happened?” he finally managed to mutter.
“Henderson,
the Captain was hit by a falling rock.
He doesn’t appear seriously hurt, just stunned. What happened out there?”
“All
I can say is, out of nowhere a blast of current hit the area and the opening
was buried in a sudden rock slide.
Knocked me about forty yards away before I could catch myself and get
back.” Lee could hear other voices,
probably from the dive channel, but either the voices were being muffled by
distance or his own condition was making it impossible to hear them
clearly. Either way he wasn’t under
enough control yet to join in.
“The
opening seems totally closed from in here,” Ami reported.
“Out
here as well,”
“No
problem,” Ami told him. Lee finally got
his eyes to open and she sent him a small smile. “We’re okay here for now. How do you feel” she turned her attention to
Lee.
“Ask
me again when I can think straight,” came out before Lee could stop it. Ami’s outline was once again fuzzy and he was
having difficulty concentrating. He
momentarily closed his eyes again but it unfortunately wasn’t any better when
he reopened them. He tried to look
toward where the cave entrance had been but all he saw was rock. It caused him to reach for his dive meter to
check how much air remained in his tanks.
“We’re
okay for awhile, yet,” Ami told him.
“Not
according to this,” and he held out his gauge.
It showed only another five minutes of air.
“
Lee
could hear
“The
Admiral had just made it back inside Seaview when the slide happened, Skipper,”
Lee
had to grin, despite the seriousness of the situation, as he recognized the
seaman’s attempts to remain calm and also reassure Lee and Ami that things were
under control. He sent the younger man a
verbal acknowledgement and once more opened his eyes, hoping that the fuzziness
had finally passed.
It
hadn’t. In fact, it was worse. Not only was Ami’s outline continuing to
waffle, her legs were starting to disappear into a fishtail. Or, more accurately, if Lee could describe
his faulty vision with that term, a dolphin tail. He shook his head, decided rather abruptly
that that wasn’t a very smart thing to do under the circumstances, and tried to
stay quiet. Unfortunately his oxygen
tanks chose that moment to give notice they were nearly empty and his eyes
popped back open of their own volition.
Ami
seemed to notice the problem instantly, removed her mask and helped Lee with
his, and let him take several breaths before Lee pushed it back to her. With his senses not totally under control he
couldn’t be sure, but it felt like she only kept the mask for mere seconds
before it was once more placed over his face.
Again he opened eyes that had closed but the situation was continuing to
deteriorate. This time Ami had turned
totally into a dolphin. No, wait, he half-muttered to
himself. There was, indeed, a dolphin in
the cave, but there was also a figure, mostly female. But the figure wasn’t wearing a wetsuit or
carrying dive gear. She was just hanging
in the water next to Lee, making sure that the oxygen mask was firmly over
Lee’s face. She was smiling, apparently
in no need of auxiliary equipment to breathe.
Lee decided that, all things considered, he’d be better off keeping both
his eyes and mouth closed on that subject.
In
addition to those obviously faulty senses he acknowledged that he must be
suffering other problems when, with no awareness of passing time, he heard
Nelson’s voice firmly in his earpiece.
Or, at least, thought he did. By
this time he wasn’t sure that he could trust anything except the fact that he
seemed to still be breathing fairly normally through the mask.
“Lee?”
he thought he heard the Admiral again.
He thought he responded to that one, but a more insistent “Lee!” was the
only reaction until Ami answered.
“We’re
okay for now, Admiral.” Lee tried to
open his eyes. He could feel the mask on
his face, feel himself take a breath.
His logic told him that she must be using his out-of-air mask to
communicate. But the quick look he took,
still showing the almost-woman next to him sans any diving equipment at all,
made him quickly close his eyes and take another deep breath as she continued
talking. “We’ve got enough air for about
fifteen minutes. Captain Crane got hit
in the head by a falling rock and he’s in and out. But he’s breathing easily.”
“I
don’t quite understand how you have that much air left – you should be nearly
out. Are you sure you read the gauge
right?”
“Yes,
sir.” Even as fuzzy as Lee was he could
hear the smile in her voice. “I’m a
really efficient swimmer – I had extra left over in my tanks.”
“Okay,”
Nelson said, not quite hesitantly but not sounding all that sure, either. “We’re just evaluating the slide area. It doesn’t look too bad. We should have you out safely in plenty of
time. Tell me about the inside of the
cave.”
“Fairly
small,” Ami told him. Lee decided, what
little he was functioning and not trusting himself to get anything coherent out
anyway, he’d just keep quiet. “We’re
against the back wall, about ten yards from the opening.”
“Good. We’re just about ready to start shifting
things out here.”
Lee
wasn’t quite sure what happened next. He
thought that he pushed the still working mask to Ami, knowing that as much as
she’d talked to Nelson she had to be in need of air. His still faulty senses had her immediately
pushing it back on his face and he didn’t have either the strength or
assuredness of his being right to argue.
Accepting that Ami seemed to have things well in hand here, and trusting
Nelson to handle everything else, he tried to relax and just breathe naturally.
Again,
without any seeming preamble, he found himself floating through the water. He risked trying to open his eyes and
discovered a diver on either side of him, easing him through the once more open
entrance to the small cave. The brief
glance showed no sign of either the dolphin or the almost-woman he vaguely
remembered, just people in wetsuits, several carrying either equipment bags or
extra air tanks. He tried to pull free
of the divers assisting him and instantly had Nelson’s voice in his ear.
“Easy,
lad,” and Lee realized that it was the Admiral who had hold of his right
arm. “Just relax and let us lead
you. From the rip in the top of your
wetsuit it looks like you took a pretty good whack.”
“Head
tells me pretty much the same thing,” Lee tried to joke back, to relieve some
of the tension and worry he heard in Nelson’s voice. Apparently it worked as he heard Nelson
softly chuckle.
“Doc
will have up-front examples for comparing hard heads,” came through the dive
channel in Chip’s mellow tone, his usual dry humor very evident.
“How’s
your hand?” Lee tried to change the subject.
“Obviously
better than your head,” was snapped right back.
“Ahem,”
Nelson cleared his throat. Lee took it
as an attempt to not burst out laughing.
“Suppose we continue this discussion once we’re back aboard.” The Admiral tried to sound officious but
apparently Chip heard the same lack of an honest grumble as did Lee because
they answered at the same time in much the same tone.
“Yes,
sir.” This time Nelson wasn’t able to
muffle the snort.
The
sound of an underwater rockslide made it through Lee’s muddled thought
processes and all the divers stopped and turned, having to momentarily battle
heavier currents and muddy water. “Well,
that’s the end of that cave,” Lee heard Nelson mutter.
“Good
thing we got them out when we did.” Lee
recognized Seaman Mickelson’s voice and traced it to who had hold of his left
arm.
Actually,
Lee wasn’t totally unhappy to accept the help back to Seaview. His head was pounding out the William Tell
Overture with amazing clarity despite how loud his ears were ringing. He was still a little leery of opening his
eyes, all things considered, but when he did things seemed to stay in better
focus than they had inside the cave.
Although, that wasn’t saying much!
At least the dolphin and the weird woman had disappeared.
Lee
realized that his sense of passing time was still out of whack when they’d barely
left the cave and he found himself being assisted into the dive chamber. He roused enough to try to shake off his two
now unnecessary bookends as the water finished draining. He managed to dislodge Mickelson but just as
he did his knees buckled and everything went black.
* *
* *
Lee’s
next moment of awareness was finding himself lying down and turned on his side
so that the wetsuit could be stripped off.
“Easy, Skipper,” he recognized Seaview’s senior corpsman, Frank, as he
momentarily rebelled against the handling, and he tried to relax. As Frank continued to examine where the rock
nailed Lee’s head, John finished getting rid of the wetsuit and drying Lee
off. They both helped him slip into a
pair of pajama bottoms, and Lee relaxed and let the men do their jobs. He wasn’t overly pleased, but his head was
still pounding nicely so he knew that he wasn’t likely to talk his way out of
Chip
wandering in distracted him for the time being.
The blond’s left index finger was encased in a bandage over a light
metal splint, making it stick straight out.
“Good thing that wasn’t your middle finger,” Lee observed with a bit of
a smirk. Both corpsmen quickly buried
snickers.
Chip
sent all three men a quick glare. “Would
have been more indicative of my feelings about what happened,” he told them
dryly. “How’s his head?” he asked Frank
directly.
Lee
beat the corpsman to an answer.
“Pounding nicely but no major damage.
I’m ready to get out of here.”
“Not
until Doc clears you, sir,” Frank said quickly and seriously. Lee sent him a glare. Or tried to.
From both Frank and Chip’s reaction it apparently lacked something in
translation. “He should be back in a
couple hours,” Frank continued. “I’d
strongly advise you rest here until he releases you, sir.”
“We
could get the Admiral down here to make it an order,” Chip added
helpfully. Lee could happily have slapped
him upside the head at that moment, but Chip’s grin coupled with both
corpsmen’s snickers defused any possible comeback and Lee allowed himself to be
maneuvered into one of the lower bunks.
Chip stayed for a bit and caught Lee up on what was going on. Lee had felt Seaview moving and Chip
confirmed that they’d dived to 500 feet, well below the
starting-to-finally-calm-down surface, and were headed slowly back toward where
they’d last seen the pod of Risso’s.
“Another
tagging dive tomorrow?” Lee asked, although he already had a pretty good idea
of the answer. The weather had been
predicted to break late this afternoon and be sunny and fair for the next
several days.
Chip
nodded. “Which both of us will now
likely miss,” he complained.
“Me,
for sure,” Lee agreed. “But can’t you
just wrap the finger and go out anyway?
Surely it’s not that bad.”
“Half
a dozen stitches,” Chip told him. “Frank
just put the splint on to keep it straight.”
But a slightly evil grin started to spread slowly across his face. “Plastic wrap?” he asked, referring to
another time when Lee had supposed his diving limited because of an injury and
had surprisingly been told otherwise.****
“Or
just plain waterproof tape,” Lee told him.
“It’s only the one finger.”
Chip’s mood continued to lighten and as Lee momentarily closed his eyes
against the bright lights that weren’t at all helping his pounding head, Chip
gave him a quick tap on the shoulder and headed for the door with a much
lighter step then when he’d come in. Lee
opened his eyes just long enough to catch the look of puzzlement that the two
corpsmen shared before turning their looks on Lee. Lee’s only response was to send them a small
grin of his own before once more closing his eyes.
He
had no idea that he’d actually fallen asleep – he refused to even consider the
possibility that he’d lost consciousness – until he once more opened his eyes
and discovered that he’d totally lost track of time and it as now almost 1700
hours.
As
expected, the simple motion of sitting up brought Frank instantly out of
Jamie’s office. The corpsman had a very
slight smile on his face, in response to the ‘In charge’ expression Lee put on
his as he swung his feet down to the floor.
“Do not even start, Frank,” Lee tried to strike
first. “I feel fine, I’m going to my
cabin, and that’s that!”
Frank
tried anyway. “Really wish that you’d
wait until Doc gets back, sir.” He
hurried on before Lee could cut him off.
“I can see that you’re feeling better, and all things considered I can
be fairly sure that you didn’t suffer any serious injury. But I’d still rather have that verified
before you head out.”
“I’m
fine,” Lee repeated, and tried to stand up.
Frank was close enough by then that Lee nearly had to push him out of
the way. Unfortunately, his quick motion
caused an ever so brief bit of vertigo and he had to close his eyes. While both corpsmen knew that Lee wasn’t
overly fond of physical help, Frank’s training took over and he found himself
grabbing Lee’s arm almost without realizing that he’d done it. With eyes still closed, Lee reacted
instinctively to the unwanted grab and tried to push Frank away which, unfortunately,
caused Lee to suffer even more vertigo.
Thankfully,
before the situation could deteriorate even further, there was a growl from the
corridor doorway. “Commander,” Jamie
thundered in his most officious voice, “either Frank’s initial evaluation was
correct, you’re feeling better, and you’re just being an impossible idiot; or
Frank was wrong, your concussion is worse than he thought, and your
belligerence is a sign of worsening symptoms.
Either way, it will stop NOW! Do
I make myself clear?”
Despite
his bit of a tantrum, Lee took a deep breath and relaxed. “Busted,” he muttered to Frank, who backed up
with a grin. “I’m fine, Jamie,” he said
a bit louder and was finally able to reopen his eyes.
“Since
I trust Frank a good deal more than I do you in matters like this, back to your
bunk until I can check you out.” As Lee
started to open his mouth, Will pointed to the bunk. “That was not a request, Commander.”
Lee
took another deep breath. When Jamie was
this ticked off, and with no emergency Lee could fall back on, he was doomed. “Yes, sir,” he once more used the old joke he
shared with the doctor and carefully sat back down. But he refused to lie down and Will didn’t
challenge him about it. Will dropped his
bag inside the office door and Frank moved off to ostensibly take care of the
other two of Doc’s equipment bags that one of the seamen had brought just
inside the door before making a hasty retreat when the fireworks broke
out. “How’s Jack?” Lee asked.
Will
didn’t answer until he’d pulled a couple of instruments from the cabinet by the
exam table, grabbed a chair, and sat down next to Lee’s bunk. “He’ll be fine.” He spent a couple minutes looking at the bump
on the side of Lee’s head, and checking eyes and reflexes. “He’ll have a headache a few days longer than
you probably will.” He smiled at Lee’s
instant frown. “You’ll be back to full
duty before he is…”
“I’m
ready for full duty now,” Lee growled.
“Twenty-four
hours at the very earliest,” Will told him, shaking his mini-flashlight in
Lee’s face. Lee was opening his mouth to
argue when there was a chuckle from the door.
“Lee.” There was no mistaking the unspoken order in
the one word, but there was still a grin both in Admiral Nelson’s voice and on
his face.
“Yes,
sir,” Lee unwillingly surrendered. He
might try to order the corpsmen around, and argue with Jamie. But his naval training wouldn’t allow him to
refuse an order from Nelson unless he had an extremely good reason.
“Down,
Commander,” Will continued. He got so
few chances to get the upper hand with his most uncooperative patient that he
decided to push a little further with Nelson there to back him up. As Lee hesitated and the frown increased,
Will took a moment of pity on him and allowed his own stiff posture to relax a
bit. “Chip will be here in half an hour
with your dinner. Make nice and I might
be persuaded to let you go back to your cabin for the night.” He sent Nelson a grin that he knew Lee could
see as he got up. With his back to Lee
he didn’t see what happened next. But
Nelson pointed an eyebrow at Lee and when Will took a look, Lee was reluctantly
returning to a prone position. The two
older men headed for Will’s small office, where the eyebrow was pointed at the
doctor.
Will
grinned. “He’s fine,” he said quietly,
so it wouldn’t carry beyond the door. “I
just like the feeling I get when he actually has to do something I tell him
to. Well,” he qualified, “even if I
needed a bit of help from you.”
Nelson
all but choked, keeping the guffaw that statement caused from spilling
out. Shaking his head, he left by way of
the office door – there was no way he’d keep a straight face if he had to look
at his stubborn young captain right at that moment. Thankfully he was two corridors over when it
finally did bubble to the surface, caused by running into Chip who was now off
duty and headed for
“I
gather Jamie has things well in hand?” the blond asked as both men stopped.
Nelson
continued to grin broadly. “Oh, yes,” he
agreed. “Our esteemed CMO is his usual,
efficient self.” Another bubble of
laughter escaped.
Chip’s
grin spread. “Safe to go in there?”
Nelson
nodded. “He’s expecting you to bring
Lee’s dinner.”
“No
problem.” Chip reversed direction and
headed for the Wardroom. Nelson
continued to smile as he made his way to the lab.
Twenty
minutes later Chip entered
“Status
report,” Lee demanded of his XO.
“Chill,”
Chip snapped back, but with a grin at his obviously frustrated CO. Frank was checking the inventory in the
bandage locker, or at least pretending that he was. There was little doubt in Chip’s mind that he
was more likely there to keep Lee from making a break for the door. Whatever the reason, he snagged a small table
and set it next to Lee’s bunk. The chair
Doc had taken over was still close by and both Lee and Chip were shortly
eating. Between bites Chip got Lee
current. Seaview was back where she had
been the day before, north of
“Ami
didn’t show you the pictures she took? I
thought that it was a digital camera and she would have instantly downloaded
them.”
Chip
shrugged. “Once I managed to get out of
Frank’s clutches I went straight to the
It
was Lee’s turn to shrug. “Did Admiral
Nelson get the mineral samples I collected?
Was that bag still on my belt?”
His frown came back. “Afraid I
don’t remember much after getting conked.”
He had absolutely no intention of telling Chip about the dolphin and the
woman who wasn’t Ami. His friend would never
stop teasing him about that!
Chip
had nodded when he mentioned the collection bag. “Yep.
Took one look and headed for his lab.
Well,” Chip amended, “after waiting around long enough to make sure you
were probably okay.”
Lee
chose to put a slightly evil grin on his face.
“And you’re jealous that he didn’t spend any time worrying about you,”
he told his XO.
“Hah!”
Chip muttered with a fierce frown.
“Frank met all you guys in the Missile Room while John finished
bandaging my finger. When they got here
I thought for a second that the Admiral was going to order me to my cabin. For this,” he added with a growl as he raised
his injured digit.
“Speaking
of which,” Will spoke from the doorway of his office, “if you’re done eating I
want to check that.”
“Don’t
trust your corpsmen?” Lee couldn’t resist the chide.
“Keep
it up, Commander, and you’ll spend the night right where you are.” Happily, whatever Lee said was low enough
that not even Chip heard it clearly, although the grin that hit his face was an
indication that he still had a pretty good idea of what it was. He walked over to the exam table and settled
a hip on the edge. Will unwrapped the
finger, put more ointment on the cut and slightly burnt area, and handed Chip a
couple of ibuprofen before rebandaging it again. “Are you officially off duty?” he asked the
blond.
“Sort
of,” Chip admitted.
“Good. Then suppose you take him,” Will pointed to
Lee, “and both of you hit your racks. I
don’t want to see either of you out of your cabins until morning.”
Chip
turned to Lee. “Then we’ll just have to
make sure that he doesn’t see us,” he said brightly.
“I
have a couple of suggestions for taking care of that small detail,” Lee
smirked.
“OUT!”
Will ordered, before all three chuckled.
“Aye,
aye, sir,” Chip gave the CMO a backhanded salute. Lee wasn’t quite that
whimsical. He was still feeling the
effects of the rock and concentrated on getting up and walking over to the exam
table without falling on his face.
Will
grabbed a bathrobe and slipped it around Lee’s shoulders with a final
glare. “Commander?” he challenged.
Lee
nodded. “My cabin. Understood, Jamie,” he acquiesced.
“I will
check on you.”
“Oh,
I have no doubts of that.”
“We’ll
just have to wait until he’s crashed for the night,” Chip told Lee. At the instant glare that brought from their
CMO, both Chip and Lee chuckled again.
But they also sent Will a nod before heading for Officers’ Country.
Lee
had no idea what Chip had planned for the evening, and Chip didn’t
volunteer. Lee had every intention of
tackling the paperwork that had accumulated in his ‘In’ basket so he was
sitting at his desk when he heard the knock on his door. He was all cocked and primed to glare Jamie
into submission – well, at least tolerable level; Jamie wasn’t stupid enough to
actually believe Lee would have laid back down – but the visitor turned out to
be Admiral Nelson.
The
Admiral’s first glance was toward the bunk.
A bit of frown appeared as he tracked Lee to the desk but it didn’t stay
long, turning almost instantly to what Lee easily recognized as his boss trying
to bury a grin. Lee was perfectly aware
that his workaholic nature was the brunt of a good many behind-the-back
comments aboard the boat. And those that
could frequently said it to his face.
But Nelson rarely challenged Lee openly about it from the mere fact that
he was even worse than his young captain.
“
Lee
glanced down, and didn’t quite totally look back up as he answered almost
shyly. “No, sir. Haven’t started that yet. Still catching up with Status Reports.”
“It
does not need to be worked on this evening,” Nelson told him firmly.
“Yes,
sir.” Lee was still looking at him with
slightly lowered eyes but a very small grin tickled the corner of his mouth.
Nelson
didn’t miss it. “That wasn’t a request,”
he growled.
“Yes,
sir,” Lee once more said all too innocently.
“Harrumph,”
Nelson muttered before relaxing a bit more comfortably in the chair. “However, I would appreciate hearing your
version of what happened this afternoon,” he admitted.
Lee’s
eyes again went to the sheets of paper on his desk and didn’t come back
up. “Going to have to be the condensed
version,” he said quietly. “I don’t
remember a whole lot after the rock slide.”
He finally half-looked up at his boss.
“I’m
happy for now with what happened after I headed back with Chip.”
Lee
nodded and walked Nelson through following Ami as she puttered along inspecting
the seamount until they spotted the small cave.
He was very firm about the steps everyone followed before entering the
chamber – he’d been challenged too many times about acting hastily in a crisis,
without thought to himself. He always
thought that he made the right decisions for whatever was happening, but… He was adamant that, since everything seemed
to be stable there wasn’t a logical reason not to go inside. It was his turn to watch Nelson’s lips twitch
ever so slightly and figured that it was because Nelson realized that, had he
been there, he might not have evaluated the situation as carefully as Lee had
if there was something inside that he seriously wanted to see.
“Have
you found out what the mineral was that I brought back?” Lee asked.
Nelson
nodded. “Samarskite. Most unusual to find such a clean sample –
it’s usually found in minute amounts in other minerals like monazite and
bastnasite. This particular bit was
almost 15% pure Samarium – most of the time it’s less than 1%. How much of it did you see?”
“That
one small outcropping, and a flash of another one on the opposite wall. When I tapped off the sample, it looked like
the vein behind it was narrowing.” He
shrugged. “It could just as easily have
expanded again just behind what I saw.”
“I’m
guessing that it was only a small deposit.
Not only is it not usually found in so pure a sample, I’ve never heard
of any being found in this area.” He
sent Lee a tiny glare as Lee’s lips once more twitched, knowing perfectly well
that what had briefly flitted though the younger man’s mind was how easily
Nelson could be distracted by an unusual find of some sort. “What else did you see in there?” he finally
went on with his questions.
“Ms.
Neride didn’t tell you? Show you the
pictures?” Lee watched as Nelson seemed
to ponder his response.
“Ms.
Neride said that when she went to download the pictures she took of the
markings you two found, her memory card was so badly corrupted that it was
useless. I wouldn’t have expected the
seemingly minimal level of radiation that small amount could have produced to
cause the problem. However, if there was
much more that was covered, and at that strength…” His voice trailed off.
“Radiation? Hazardous to Ami and I?” Lee sat forward in his chair. “Jamie didn’t say anything.”
“Will
checked Ms. Neride and there were no signs of contamination.” A wicked bit of grin hit Nelson’s face. “He didn’t say anything about checking you. I’m not sure he cares one way or the
other.” Nelson barely got it out without
cracking up.
Lee
sent him a sheepish grin at the teasing jab and sat back in the chair
again. Although, with the doctor, there
were times… His expression wavered
slightly.
Nelson
finally grinned openly. “Relax,
lad. While he didn’t challenge you, he
did me. I assured him that even if the
levels were high enough to mess with the memory card, your limited exposure
wouldn’t cause any permanent problems.
Even with you carrying the sample it was so small that the swim back to
the boat would have gone a long way toward decontaminating both of you. Will wouldn’t have released you if he thought
there was going to be any problems.” Lee
ducked his head again as Nelson sent him a fond smile. “So, the slide?” Nelson prodded.
“There
was absolutely no warning,” Lee assured him quickly, and Nelson’s grin
broadened ever so slightly again. “Ami
had just finished taking pictures and suddenly everything got a little crazy.”
“Do
you remember the markings?” Nelson’s
voice turned from mildly amused to borderline intense.
Lee
didn’t miss the change. “Ami would
remember them better than me,” he answered cautiously.
“I’m
asking you,” Nelson told him firmly.
“Yes,
sir.” Lee wasn’t sure what was going on
but, whatever it was, he wasn’t about to get caught in the middle. His loyalties were firmly behind Nelson. Grabbing a clean sheet of paper he
half-doodled while he talked. “There
wasn’t anything that seemed overly familiar,” he admitted, “except something
that looked like a trident lying on its side.
The rest seemed to form symbols but of what I don’t know.” He continued to draw for a bit before he
turned the paper so that Nelson could see what he’d done. “Afraid that’s the best that I can do,
sir.” He’d sketched the two that had
made the most sense to him when he’d first seen them, along with a couple of
others. “Those are the only ones I
remember, and I’m not really sure about some of them; if I got them totally
right.”
“That’s
okay,” Nelson told him somewhat distractedly as he studied the page. “It’s more than I got out of Ms. Neride.”
“Why
would she not tell you?” Lee’s voice
held puzzlement.
Nelson
looked up and pointed an eyebrow at Lee.
“You tell me.”
Lee
lowered his eyes again in the face of Nelson’s demand. “I have no idea, sir,” he said softly.
Nelson
finally relaxed. “What happened next?”
“That’s
where things get a little fuzzy, sir,” Lee admitted. “There was a sudden rumble, the opening to
the cave closed over, and I got whacked.
Well, I got whacked first,” he admitted with a sheepish grin, and Nelson
nodded. “I remember bits and pieces –
“Makes
sense,” Nelson agreed.
“I
wasn’t too with it, I’m afraid.” He sent
Nelson one of his somewhat patented through-the-lashes looks, and Nelson
smiled. “My tanks were low but Ami
stayed calm. When my tanks gave out we
buddy-breathed until you got the passageway cleared. She’s obviously in great physical condition –
it had already been noted that she didn’t use as much oxygen on dives as a
normal person.”
Nelson
nodded again. “Duly reported by Chief
Sharkey.” Both men grinned at that
reminder of the COB’s attention to details.
“Do
you recognize any of those, sir?” Lee
nodded toward the sheet of paper he’d given Nelson. “I don’t know why Ami wouldn’t tell you about
them,” he added.
Nelson
shrugged. “One or two look slightly
familiar,” he admitted, before the mildly evil grin reappeared. “Although your artistic abilities do seem a
bit underwhelming.”
Lee
ducked his head again. “Yes, sir,” he
admitted. “No protractor or slide rule.” Both men grinned before Nelson nodded his
head toward Lee’s bunk. “I hope that you
are about done with paperwork for the night.”
Before
Lee could answer there was a knock on the door.
When Lee called out “Enter,” the doctor stalked in. Seeing Nelson he stopped, and Lee turned to
this boss. “I rather suspect that it
isn’t going to make any difference whether I am or not,” he told the Admiral
with a disgruntled sigh.
Nelson
sent him a grin as he stood. “So it
would appear,” he told Lee before turning.
“He’s all yours, Will.” He
reached back for the paper Lee had drawn the symbols on, sent Lee another grin,
and left.
As
the door closed, Will folded his arms across his chest and glared at Lee. Impishly, Lee responded. “I’m in my cabin as ordered, Jamie.”
Will
snorted and the glare broke. “How are
you feeling?”
“Tired,”
Lee admitted. There were times to argue
with his CMO and times to surrender.
Jamie had allowed him to leave
“Any
chance you’ll be crashing soon?”
Lee
sent him a grin. “Was just about
to.” He got up, slowly so as not to stir
up his headache any more than necessary.
The move wasn’t missed by the doctor but he held his tongue as Lee walked
to the head. When he reappeared, Will
had turned down the blankets. Lee let a
sigh escape as he slid into the welcoming comfort of the bunk, but nothing was
said as Will did a quick check before settling the blankets over his patient.
“Behave
and I might let you go play in the
“Try
and keep me out,” Lee threatened. But
both men quickly grinned before Will turned out the lights and left. The grin stayed on Lee’s face as he quickly
fell asleep.
* *
* *
Lee
did spend the following day in the
Will
grumbled but admitted that Chip’s injury didn’t warrant restricting his diving
so he once more went out as a bait diver.
Nelson also again went along – Lee didn’t ask why but he did notice that
there was once more one of the small cameras attached to the spear gun Nelson
picked up. Chip sent Lee a wicked grin
as he entered the Missile Room, suited up to go out. Lee returned it, acknowledging the blond’s
moment of triumph over the CMO.
Once
the divers were out Lee returned to the
With
Seaview in good hands Lee also went forward, settling a hip on the table where
he could see the screen, and also see some of the action out the windows. A few dolphins passed close to the windows,
appearing to peek inside and causing both Lee and Will to grin. But for the most part the dolphins were
jockeying for position around the bait divers, happily accepting another free
bite or two. Lee found his mind wandering
back to the previous afternoon, pondering why Ami would be so reluctant to talk
about the symbols on the wall of the small cave. They meant nothing to Lee with the possible
exception of what he took to be a trident.
As an archeological site it could have great meaning – depending on what
the symbols were. It crossed Lee’s mind that
Ami may not want to share her *find*, whatever it was, and had lied about the
pictures having been damaged. Whatever
was going on, Lee decided that it wasn’t any of his business. He’d give Admiral Nelson whatever he could
and leave it at that. Signs and symbols
didn’t really interest him unless they had something to do with either road
signs while driving, or something to do with the Navy. That thought caused a grin, which he refused
to share the meaning of with a questioning Jamie, and he went back to his
pondering.
He
didn’t realize that he’d closed his eyes, trying to visualize as many of the
markings on the cave wall as he could, until a soft “Skipper” interrupted him
and he found Jamie standing next to his shoulder. He momentarily frowned but his expression
turned sheepish as he told the doctor, “Chill, Jamie.”
It
was Will’s turn to frown. “Headache?” he
guessed.
Lee
shook his head – carefully because it was, indeed, continuing to pound
somewhat. But he had no intention of
admitting that. “Just trying to remember
more of what seemed to be symbols of some sort on the wall in the cave
yesterday. For some reason Ms. Neride
seems to be reluctant to share. Admiral
Nelson asked me last night and I drew what I could remember of a few of
them. Was thinking about them, trying to
dredge up more details if I could.”
“Humm,”
Will muttered, trying to decide if he actually believed his very worst
patient. Figuring that he probably
wouldn’t get a better answer anyway, he went back to where he’d been sitting. Lee continued to give him little sideways
glances, and knew that Jamie was keeping an eye on him as well, but nothing
more was said.
As
on the last dive the twelve loggers were settled into place in what seemed like
record time and all the divers headed back in.
Lee once more headed for the Missile Room. He helped Chip off with his tanks and walked
back to Officers’ Country to also help the blond, somewhat disadvantaged by his
bandaged hand, off with his wetsuit and back into a uniform after a quick
shower. Lee harassed Chip about how he’d
managed to get into the diving gear in the first place, wondering out loud if
perhaps Ami had helped him. After
ducking a swing from Chip, he laughed all the way back to the
Chatter
was relaxed over lunch. Lee took the
opportunity of a momentary lag to casually say something to Ami about her
camera memory chip being damaged and messing up all of her efforts to track
down the unusual markings. He was hoping
to open a conversation about them but his efforts fell flat as Ami just as
casually waved off the comments. Lee
briefly considered flatly asking her about the symbols but she promptly changed
the subject. He shared a look and a
brief shrug of his shoulders with Nelson before once more concentrating on the
meal.
Lee
wondered if he’d get any objections from Jamie about heading to the Conning
Tower to help during the retrieval process for the loggers as he had on every
other dive, but the CMO chose to head for
But
even Lee was willing to admit – quietly and only to himself – that, once the
zodiacs had retrieved the last logger, he needed to go lie down. Only a few minutes, he told himself, to let
the headache that had worsened while he was topside once more calm down. He wandered casually through the
Apparently
he hadn’t been casual enough. He swore
that he didn’t hear a knock on his door, but he felt the edge of the bunk sag
slightly and opened his eyes to find Jamie carefully watching him. He started to sit up but the doctor held out
a hand. “Why?” the doctor asked softly.
Lee
frowned but stayed down. “Why, what?” he
grumbled.
Jamie
finally smiled. “Why does my being here
automatically make you try to act like nothing is wrong instead of simply
admitting that your head is pounding and you need to get some rest?”
Lee
surrendered. He was rarely a match for
Jamie when the doctor took direct aim at Lee’s inability to admit injury or
illness. He’d always put on a good show
at arguing. But unless there was
sufficient reason for Lee to maintain control he seldom won those arguments. And right now he wasn’t even in the mood to
give it a good try. “Force of habit,” he
replied, and ever so slightly returned Jamie’s smile.
It
caused the doctor’s smile to broaden.
He’d been prepared, after Chip quietly ratted out his CO the instant Lee
left the Conn, for the usual arguments of ‘I feel fine, I just closed my eyes
for a second, now I’m going back to work so get out of my face.’ It was such a surprise to have Lee actually
admit that he felt lousy that Will almost didn’t know how to handle it. He finally settled on telling Lee what he was
thinking. It caused Lee to send him the
shy, through-the-lashes look that never failed to make Will think of a little
boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
It made the captain of one of the most powerful ships on earth resemble
an innocent ten-year-old. Will figured
that if he uttered that particular sentiment, however, he could kiss any
further cooperation from the stubborn young man good-bye and chose to keep that
thought to himself. Instead, he asked,
“Any chance that you’re going to stay here until tomorrow morning?”
Lee
instantly frowned. Out of sheer habit,
he realized, and immediately relaxed again, but not before he saw Jamie have to
cut off a snort. Caused, he knew, from
thinking the same thing he had, and his own grin broadened. “Chip will worry,” he settled on.
“Who
do you think called me,” Will admitted.
Lee’s frown returned. “He worries
about you,” Will added sincerely.
“One
of these days I’m going to take his worry and shove it…” He didn’t finish the growled threat as Will
burst out laughing, and once more Lee relaxed.
“Yeah, well…”
“As
the afore-mentioned overly-conscientious XO would say, Chill!” Lee sent him a somewhat toned-down version of
his sheepish grin and Will returned it.
“Any reason – besides pure stubbornness – that you can’t rest until
morning?” Spending most of his time in
his own territory he was rarely aware of the entire scope of boat’s
business. While he knew of nothing that
Lee needed to be doing, it was conceivable that there were issues Lee would
need to deal with.
Lee
shrugged. “Not that I know of at the
moment,” he admitted.
“In
that case, a few of us would really appreciate you actually resting. Okay?”
Will used his most sincere voice, knowing that it was the only one that
Lee might actually listen to at the moment.
Anything else would be more likely to tick him off than penetrate that
thick skull Will had a tendency to rant about all too frequently.
Lee
was well aware of Jamie’s tactics. But
he also realized that, at least in this instance, there was no real need to
antagonize the man. He frowned, merely
on general principles, but surrendered fairly easily. “Unless something comes up.” He wasn’t about to totally give up without a
comeback. But he also sent Jamie a
little grin, which the doctor returned.
“Understood. I’ll have Cookie send up a dinner tray.” Lee
frowned, Will glared at him, and Lee once more grinned softly. Will nodded and left. Lee considered getting up and checking his
‘In’ basket, decided that there wasn’t enough in it to worry about at the
moment, and rolled over and once more closed his eyes.
* *
* *
Chip
gave Lee’s cabin door a soft knock just over an hour later. While Jamie had said that Lee was resting of
his own accord, his best friend wasn’t taking any chances. Lee might acquiesce to Jamie’s request to
keep the doctor from going off on him but take his frustrations out later on
Chip. Knowing the reasoning behind the
flare up Chip would in no way take offense, but that wouldn’t necessarily keep
it from getting loud and disrupting the rest Chip knew that Lee needed. So, when there was no answer to his knock he
very carefully poked his head through the door, balancing the tray of food he
was carrying on his bad hand. He smiled
when he saw Lee’s legs stretched out on the bunk, his friend’s back to the
room. He entered quietly, and closed the
door just as quietly behind him.
Carefully setting the tray on the desk he sat in Lee’s big desk chair,
took the lid off the small thermos of coffee on the tray and waved his hand
across the top, wafting the smell of the strong brew in his friend’s
direction. When it didn’t seem to have
any effect, Chip put the cover back on and settled more comfortably into the
chair and prepared to wait.
Lee
could have sworn that he’d barely closed his eyes after Jamie left when he
caught a subtle whiff of Cookie’s potent coffee. Figuring that it was all in his mind he at
first ignored it. But ‘something’ in the
room was different. He quietly rolled
over and instantly smiled. Chip was
leaning back in Lee’s desk chair, his feet propped on the corner of the desk
and his eyes closed. “Trying the office
on for size?” he asked without lifting his head from the pillow.
“No,”
Chip answered easily, opening his eyes.
But he suddenly bolted from the chair.
“NO,” he practically yelled. He’d
realized the implication between the lines of Lee’s simple question: meaning,
was Chip preparing to take over Lee’s job.
Joke that it was, he wasn’t about to take any chances and moved from
behind the desk and glared at Lee.
Grinning,
Lee sat up and swung his legs off the bunk.
Unfortunately the sudden movement set his head to spinning and he had to
close his eyes to get everything back under control. Instantly there was a gentle hand on his
upper arm. “I’m fine,” he said
automatically. There was a smile in his
voice, however, and was not surprised to see, when he did open his eyes again,
Chip standing in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, frowning
fiercely. But Chip couldn’t hold it in
the face of Lee’s instant grin and they both cracked up.
Chip,
knowing his CO only too well, walked over and poured out a mug full of
coffee. He handed it to Lee who was
still sitting on the edge of the bunk.
Polishing it off in about three gulps Lee handed it back, stood
carefully, and walked toward the head.
When he came back out, Chip was sprawled in the visitor’s chair next to
his desk and he settled into his own chair.
Picking up the refilled mug, he watched as Chip reached over and pulled
the covers off the rest of what was on the tray – thick meatloaf sandwich,
potato salad, applesauce, and a large brownie.
Lee
pointed an eyebrow at his XO as he sipped on the coffee. “And which of those has received Doc’s
special treatment?”
A
broad smile split Chip’s face. “You
better hope that it wasn’t the coffee.”
As Lee thumped the mug back on the desk and glared, the blond continued. “As far as I could find out Jamie hasn’t been
near the Galley.” Lee looked unconvinced
and Chip continued more seriously. “I
specifically asked Cookie, knowing that you’d be suspicious. He swore that Jamie hadn’t touched anything,
and I filled the thermos from the urn in the Wardroom.” Lee still looked suspicious but finally
picked up the sandwich.
While
Lee polished off the meal Chip caught him up.
Once the logger retrieval was done Chip had settled the boat at 200
feet, moving only enough to keep the dolphin pod within hydrophone range. Admiral Nelson had floated through the
Lee
swatted his hand away. “Mine,” he
ordered, but both men snickered before Lee shook his head carefully. “That’s really weird, I have to admit. I’ve been around some SEALs who were
ultra-efficient divers. But even they weren’t
nearly as fit as she seems to be.” Lee
sent Chip an absolutely evil expression.
“You’ll have your hands full keeping up with her on dates.”
“The
operative words being ‘hands full’,” Chip told him with a smirk before they
both cracked up again.
“Another
dive tomorrow?” Lee asked. By this time
he’d polished off all of his dinner except the brownie. He used his fork handle to cut Cookie’s
‘death-by-chocolate’ morsel in half, grabbing one piece and pushing the other
toward Chip.
The
blond practically drooled as he took a huge bite. Once he swallowed he answered. “As far as I know. Nothing’s been said.” He once more attacked his piece of
brownie. Lee was also chewing so
remained silent. Once his bite was
dispatched, Chip asked carefully, “You staying put for the night?”
Lee’s
chewing slowed as he frowned, but his expression turned more sheepish as he
swallowed and answered. “Told Jamie that
I would. Well,” he added with a firmer
look, “unless I’m needed for some reason.”
Around
his last bite of brownie Chip said lightly, “I’ll do my best to see that you’re
not disturbed, sir.”
Lee
considered throwing his last bite of brownie at Chip, thought better of the
idea, and stuffed it in his mouth. He
did send the blond a glare. “You sure
you’re not after my job?”
“No,
sir,” Chip said sincerely before he totally cracked up. “Too much paperwork,” he got out the old joke
between snickers. Lee grinned as well
and started piling the dishes back on the tray.
Chip stood, picked up the tray, and headed for the door.
“Thanks,”
Lee told him sincerely.
Chip
sent a nod over his shoulder. He
instinctively knew that Lee was acknowledging not just the meal but also Chip’s
willingness to deal with as many of the myriad details of command as he could
save Lee from doing. It wasn’t something
that was openly spoken of very often, except in the teasing they did about
Chip’s ‘Just looking after my CO, as any good XO would do’ comments. But each drew a great deal of comfort and
confidence from the other in both command team and friendship. They shared another quick grin as Chip pulled
the door closed behind him.
The
grin stayed on Lee’s face as he laid his head back against the chair. Going back to their first days at
Thoughts
of duty momentarily had Lee thinking of doing his usual evening walk-through of
the boat. Self-preservation had him
quickly reconsidering that idea. Jamie
would not be pleasant, no matter how amiable he’d been earlier, if Lee
didn’t do as requested and stay put for the night. A sheepish grin hit Lee’s face. While adequate reason would keep the CMO out
of his face, merely wandering around to check on things would totally tick him
off. Jamie was allowing Lee latitudes
that Lee knew only too well the doctor would rather not, all things considered. For that, Lee would behave. For tonight, he told himself with a
quiet chuckle, changed out of his uniform, and this time crawled between the
sheets as he once more settled into his bunk.
A
light knock on his door had him calling out amiably, “Come in, Jamie.” But a baritone chuckle had him rapidly
sitting up as Admiral Nelson strolled in.
“Ahem”,
Nelson cleared his throat loudly. Lee
continued to sit up but he turned and leaned against the back bulkhead, staying
in the bunk. “Thank you,” Nelson told
him as he settled his backside on the edge of Lee’s desk, facing Lee. “Will said that he convinced you to actually
rest for the night. Not that I thought
he was lying, mind you, but I needed to see that for myself.”
Lee
ducked his head and pulled his legs in to sit Indian-style on the bunk. “Promised him, unless I’m needed elsewhere,”
he confirmed.
“Which
is the real reason I came up.” Nelson
sent Lee a fond smile. “We all know that
one little wiggle on Seaview’s part and you’d come piling down to the
Nelson
easily read the intensity on Lee’s face and it was his turn to use one of
Chip’s favorite words. “Chill,” he told
his conscientious young captain. Lee
didn’t move but he did try to relax.
Nelson shook his head, smiling softly, but finally continued. “I’ve just been talking to Mike and
Alexis. Even though we know that we
tagged different dolphins today, a good deal of the data is matching what we’ve
already collected. It’s all useful, and
actually quite exciting, but it was questioned whether or not another dive on
this pod would bring in anything new.”
“So
we go find a different pod?” Lee asked, and finally leaned once more against
the back bulkhead.
Nelson
shook his head. “Actually, no. It was decided that they, along with Ms.
Neride, will return home via FS1. We’ll
schedule further collections in the
“Will
you be returning with them?” Lee asked.
If Seaview was merely headed home Nelson would occasionally leave a
cruise early to get back to his office, and everything waiting there for his
personal attention.
Nelson
pointed an eyebrow at Lee. “And leave
you to continue your football game with the Army?”
Lee
grinned sheepishly. “Doubt either Jack
or I would be up to it, sir,” he admitted.
Nelson
leveled a look at him. “Just means that
the pair of you would end up coaching, and heaven only knows what shape the
crew would be in when you got back.” As
Lee continued to look at him practically through his lashes Nelson finally
chuckled. “Actually, I’d like to take
another look at that seamount,” he told Lee.
He was still smiling but his voice was once more firm.
“You
think Ami used us to get to an unknown archaeological site, sir?”
“All
I can get out of her now is, she thinks that the symbols you saw were someone’s
idea of graffiti.” He shrugged. “And it’s entirely possible that she’s right,
especially when you remembered the beer can.
However…” Lee nodded. He was actually a bit surprised when Nelson
had so willingly left the site in the first place. Going back while they were still in the
vicinity, and without Ami aboard, made perfect sense. “But,” Nelson continued, once more pointing
an eyebrow at Lee, “that’s for tomorrow.
Chief Sharkey is pre-flighting FS1, and he and Kowalski will take off in
about an hour. They should be back by
mid-day tomorrow.” Lee nodded. “Lt. O’Brien has the notes from our other
trip to the mount and already has the course plotted. Far be it for me to tell you that you’re not
needed,” Nelson sent Lee a broad grin before he continued, once more firmly. “But for tonight, at this point, you’re not needed. Understand?”
Lee
nodded, a small grin of his own on his face.
“Yes, sir,” he told his boss. “If
I may ask, what did Jamie threaten you with?”
Nelson
snorted so hard that he started coughing, and shook a finger at his impudent
young captain. “None of your business,”
he told Lee, but he also ended up laughing.
Lee
grinned broadly. “Yes, sir.” His expression went curious. “Where’s Chip?”
Nelson
continued to grin. “Next on my list,” he
told Lee. “Any more questions?” There was a tone in his voice that Lee had no
trouble reading.
“No,
sir.” Lee’s voice was properly
respectful, but he couldn’t totally control his own grin.
“Good
night,” Nelson told him firmly, and stood to leave.
“Good
night, sir. See you first thing in the
morning,” he couldn’t resist tagging on.
It earned him a momentary glare from Nelson. But he couldn’t hold it and was once more
chuckling as he shut the door behind him.
Lee was surprised at his own bit of impishness with his boss – while he
might tease others, especially Chip, unmercifully on occasion, rarely was he so
totally relaxed around his boss as he’d been this whole cruise. Wish we
had a whole lot more cruises like this one, Lee told himself as he once
more crawled under the blankets. He let
out a heavy sigh as his head hit the pillow.
But I’m not holding my breath,
he admitted reluctantly.
* *
* *
Lee
sent a glance out the front windows as he came down the spiral stairs the
following morning and wasn’t at all surprised to see a seamount off the
bow. But for some reason that he
couldn’t quite put his finger on at the moment it looked different and he
pointed an eyebrow at Lt. Keeter as he walked up to the chart table.
Keeter
was pretty sure what the unspoken question was.
“Looks different to me, too, Skipper, but GPS says that it’s the right
one.” While not questioning the
lieutenant’s navigational skills, Lee still double-checked all the
instrumentation. Keeter didn’t take offense
– he understood that it was just his CO’s way of answering his own questions.
Lee
had just finished verifying that Seaview was, in fact, exactly where she’d been
two days ago when Chip all but jogged down the stairs. He, too, glanced out the front windows and it
stopped him dead. “It would appear that
something has changed the appearance of the seamount,” Lee told him almost
casually from where he was standing next to the navigation computer.
“Or
it’s the wrong seamount,” Chip muttered with a look at Lt. Keeter. Once more Keeter took no offense. He had no problems reading his XO’s
eyes. While Chip had his ‘XO on duty’
expression firmly in place, Keeter could see the bit of mischief in Chip’s eyes
that had been there a good part of this cruise.
As expected, when Keeter glanced at Crane that same relaxed humor was
evident. But whatever the comeback would
have been was interrupted by even more steps coming down the stairs. Lee and Chip met at the chart table. Lee handed his XO the current computer
readout before addressing his boss. “It
would appear that there have been further changes to the seamount since we left
it, sir.” Nelson studied the view out
the window. “We’re sitting almost
precisely where we were before but the height of the seamount is substantially
lower.”
“It
looks like the top of the mount is approximately where the cave had been,”
Nelson turned toward him.
“There
abouts, sir,” Lee confirmed. “Underwater
earthquake?”
Nelson
shrugged. “As good an explanation as
any,” he confirmed. “I still want to
check it out.”
“No
problem, sir.” Lee glanced at Chip. “After breakfast.”
Nelson
snorted. “By all means,” he confirmed,
and Seaview’s ruling triumvirate headed out the aft hatch toward the Wardroom.
Lee
did not immediately head back to the
And
Lee did have a matter that he wanted to see to before Nelson had a chance to
interfere. Normally Lee would dive with
Nelson, to keep an eye on his boss whether or not his boss actually needed
it. If Lee couldn’t go out, as was the
case this morning – that was one issue he’d not challenge Jamie over – Lee wanted
to make sure that there were divers out who would be strong enough to challenge
Nelson over any issue they thought might not be safe. Normally Lee would depend on Chief Sharkey
and/or Senior Rating Kowalski for that duty.
However, with both of those men at the moment on their way back from
returning the three researchers to NIMR, Lee wanted to set the dive team to
make sure that he had men out that Nelson couldn’t completely buffalo.
A
broad grin hit his face when he checked the schedule posted in the Missile
Room. In Chip’s neat handwriting Lt.
O’Brien had been assigned as dive master, with seamen Nielsen and Maxwell
accompanying Nelson outside. Not that
Lee would admit it, but he now had first-hand experience of how Chip felt when
Lt. James outguessed him a few days previous.
Chris
had appeared in the
It
turned out that neither man’s worries were founded. While Nelson stayed out as long as his tanks
would let him, exploring the seamount both visually and with a Geiger counter,
he did nothing to cause consternation for either his dive partners or his
command team. Jamie spent most of the
dive in the Nose, keeping track of whatever he felt he needed to keep track
of. Lee sent him a couple of quizzical
looks but the CMO kept his thoughts to himself.
Lee
met Nelson in the Missile Room on the Admiral’s return. Nelson answered his unspoken question as Lee
helped him off with his dive gear.
“Nothing,” was his almost disgusted mutter. “No sign of any radioactive minerals of any
kind. While it matches the core samples
I took the other day there’s absolutely no sign of the samarium that you
found.”
“Buried
so deep in whatever slides changed the face and height of the seamount that the
Geiger counter couldn’t pick it up?” Lee guessed.
Nelson
shrugged as he peeled out of the wetsuit and dried off. Now that the women had
left he’d automatically gone back to the usual routine. “At this point I have no idea,” he
admitted. “I would have expected to pick
up traces of radioactivity, especially right at the top of the mount since we
think that’s where the cave was. As
close as we can figure,” he admitted.
“My
fault,” Lee told him immediately. “I
forgot to order standard measurements when we were here the first time. Stupid.”
He growled out that last word.
Nelson
sent him a grin as he redressed in his uniform.
While Lee might present a calm demeanor Nelson knew that he prided
himself on maintaining the highest levels of competence, in his crew but
especially in himself. “Relax, Lee,” he
told his over-conscientious captain.
“There was no real reason to do a detailed chart at first, and once the
dive got started we all ended up with other things on our minds.” He watched as Lee muttered something too low
for Nelson to hear and he grinned. “Let
it go.”
While
the words were an order, the grin broke through Lee’s self-beratement and he
sent his boss a sheepish grin. “Yes,
sir.”
“Might
as well pack it in and head for home,” Nelson continued. Lee nodded.
He headed for the hatch to return to the
* *
* *
A
week later Nelson was once more shaking his head, but this time he was sitting
in his office at NIMR glaring at several books laying open on his desk. “So, what’s wrong now,” came from the
door. Will Jamison was standing in the
open doorway.
Nelson
momentarily sent his CMO a glare, but it didn’t last and he waved Will in. “Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles,” Nelson
muttered, and leaned back in his chair.
“What
now?” Will asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“The
same ones,” Nelson admitted. Will raised
an eyebrow as he settled into one of the chairs. “Ms. Neride,” Nelson explained.
“Oh,”
Will told him with an enigmatic little smile.
“You
heard what happened?” Nelson was fairly
sure that Will knew what he’d found when Seaview got home. Will may profess to stay in his own little
part of NIMR, but Nelson suspected that the doctor knew far more about what was
going on around him then he let on so he wasn’t at all surprised when Will
nodded.
“She
and the Travers had barely gotten back before she handed Mike her
resignation. Something about working
conditions?”
Nelson
nodded. “There were issues on the dives
– she didn’t like that we don’t go out without armed watchdogs. She said in her letter that she simply
couldn’t continue to work under those conditions.” He shrugged.
“Her loss – we’re certainly not going to relax our safety standards for
a junior research assistant.”
Will
nodded before an impish grin hit his face.
“How did Chip take the news?”
Nelson
snorted. “According to sources who shall
remain nameless, but who works in my outer office,” he waved a hand in Angie’s
direction, “Chip took the first opportunity he had to wander down to the
secretary pool office, ostensibly to help one of the computer techs figure out
a problem down there.”
Will
chuckled. “Did your source suspect that
Chip had caused the computer problem in the first place?”
Nelson
grinned. “She didn’t say,” he told
Will. “She did say that Lee took Chip
out to BZ’s for a couple of beers that night to commiserate his loss.” Both men chuckled but let that subject
drop. Will eventually nodded toward the
assortment of books. “So?”
Nelson
sighed. “So,” he started, hesitated, and
shook his head. “I couldn’t let it
drop,” he admitted. “The necklace, the
marks she and Lee found…”
Will
grinned. “You and your puzzles.” He shared a smile with his boss. “Any answers?”
Again
Nelson sighed. “Mostly, more
puzzles.” He hooked a finger, and Will
rose and walked around the desk to look over Nelson’s shoulder. Nelson pulled one of the books over to where
Will could get a better look at the picture it was opened to.
“That’s
the picture on the necklace,” Will said.
“You found it. Well,” he hedged,
“that’s almost it.”
Nelson
nodded. “It’s the one I was remembering,
at least. There are some subtle
differences.”
“Like
I said to begin with, mermaids and dolphins.”
Will didn’t sound overly impressed.
Nelson
leaned back in the chair and sent Will a smug look. “Ah, but this one is ever so slightly more special.”
Will
hesitated a second but bit on the opening anyway, knowing that Nelson not only
expected it, but that Will was no doubt in for a lecture no matter what he
said. “And what makes this one so
special?” he gave Nelson his opening.
“Because,”
Nelson took his victory without gloating, “this is identified as being
Amphitrite.”
“What?”
Nelson
chuckled. “Not what. Who.
Amphitrite, in Greek mythology, has several origins, depending on which
texts you read. But most agree that she
was probably a daughter of Nereus and Doris, and was thus one of the fifty
Nereid’s.”
Will
glanced at the pages in the next book Nelson pulled over. “You’re not trying to tell me…”
Nelson
held up a hand. “I’m not trying to tell
you anything, just show you what I found.
According to legend, Poseidon took a fancy to Amphitrite and wanted her
for his bride. She, apparently, had her
own ideas on that subject and ran away.
The legends say ‘to the furthest ends of the sea’, wherever that
is. Poseidon sent the dolphin-god
Delphin to track her down and persuade her to come back. She was probably the mother of Poseidon’s
son, Triton, although that, too, depends on who you read.” He chuckled softly. “Apparently Poseidon liked to ‘play the
field’ as it were.”
Will
sent him a frown. “You realize that, if
I wasn’t actually reading this, I’d be seriously considering locking you up
about now.” He couldn’t hold the
expression in the face of the one Nelson sent back and they both ended up
chuckling.
“Mostly,”
Nelson finally continued, “Amphitrite is represented as Poseidon’s wife and the
goddess of the sea – a kind of female Poseidon.
Also, it’s speculated that she created seals and dolphins, as well as
some fish and shellfish.”
Will
still looked somewhat unconvinced. “So
what you’re saying is, we had a sea nymph take human form and show up on
Seaview.” He paused for a second. “Although…”
It was his turn to get thoughtful.
“What?”
Nelson goaded him gently.
It
took Will a couple of seconds. “Are you
aware that nearly every one of the little spells Lee had on this cruise
occurred when Ms. Neride was, or had just been, close by?”
Nelson
stared at him. “No, I wasn’t.”
“We
both know how apparently susceptible Lee is to odd spirits.” Nelson nodded uncomfortably. “Yeah,” Will agreed.
“Oops.” Nelson said softly.
“Yeah,”
Will repeated, this time in almost a growl.
“There’s
more,” Nelson offered.
“Why
doesn’t that surprise me?” Nelson pulled
over another book showing pages of, to Will, meaningless symbols. “What are those?” he asked cautiously.
“Representations
of Mycenaean, the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, attributed
to the Bronze Age. No prose narratives
have been found in this form; no myths or poetry. Mostly, the tablets that have been found and
deciphered seem to be lists and inventories.”
“And
this pertains to Ms. Neride how?”
Nelson
pointed to a specific page, and to a vertical line bisected by three horizontal
lines. “This one translates as
‘Father.’ See here, this is the page of
symbols Lee drew, from what he remembered seeing in the cave. They are nearly identical.”
“Humm,”
was Will’s evaluation.
Nelson
pointed to two more, one on each of the pages.
“Lee described this one as an upside down peace symbol but it’s actually
a vertical line with two lines coming down at slight angles to meet at the
center point. It signifies ‘horse’, one
of Poseidon’s known symbols. And this
one,” he continued, “that sort of looks like a beer can.” That drew a snort from Will, and Nelson
grinned and shrugged. “Well, it
does.” They both grinned. “It means ‘woman.’ And we both recognize that triton that Lee
drew, even if it is sort of lying on its side.”
Nelson
grinned again as he pointed to another symbol on Lee’s page. “I accused him of less than stellar artistic
talent.” Both men grinned again. “And yet, here it is.”
Nelson
flipped a page in the book. “Second symbol
from the right. It’s translated as ‘Bull,’ another of Poseidon’s symbols.”
Will
polished off his coffee and shook his head slowly as he walked over to refill
the mug. “Please tell me that you’re not
going to show any of this to either Lee or Chip.”
Nelson
shuddered. “Stupid, I’m not!” Nelson sent Will a frown as Will grinned, but
it didn’t last long. “Lee would no doubt
take it badly, all things considered, especially after what you just told me
about the timing of the little spells.”
Both men nodded.
“And
heaven only knows what Chip would do,” Will added.
“No,” Nelson continued, and started flipping the books closed, “I really don’t think that we’ll see Ms. Neride, whoever she is, ever again. This whole issue is best left as just one of those unsolvable mysteries.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* see
Out of the Action
** see Storm Front
***
The shirt exists as of this writing, and is available from www.YourTrueNature.com No financial interest, I just love their products J
****see
The Substitute
As always, mention of Mrs.
Will Jamison (Lu-Tsi) is done with the permission of her creator, Cris
Smithson.