|
|
|
|
|
|
On the sonar phone, he calls Grushenko. ''Seaman Palatin is having trouble. Help him.'' |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"At once, Academician Karmann." The reply is blurry and indistinct. The receivers in Karmann's helmet are not what they should be. Everything is falling apart, he thinks. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
He busies himself with securing an inspection hatch on the Soyuz that seems to have sprung slightly when the Device deployed. Because of this he has his head down and is not struck by the shock wave of the explosion. But he hears it and is buffeted by the water surging around him. The Device rolls and settles. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Karmann fin-kicks himself away from the bottom and looks frantically for the others in the suddenly turbid water. What he sees brings him close to vomiting into his breathing gear. The two divers float in broken, angular positions. One is headless and spewing bloodblack in this lightinto the surrounding water. The other is rising to the surface, his weights stripped away. He has no arms, only stumps spouting blood. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Instantly Karmann begins to call to the remainder of the team. One by one they answer. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Because sound carries powerfully through water, Karmann hears the sudden roar of air and bubbles as the invisible Pravda blows its tanks in a panic surface. The watch has heard the explosion. Karmann would have liked to believe that the submarine was surfacingextremely risky in these watersto render assistance to the divers. But this is not so. Captain Kolodin knows that if there has been an explosion, there are probably bodies. Russian bodies. They must be retrieved at all costs. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Karmann and the three surviving members of the deployment team break the surface of the bay under a sky the color of lead. The color, Karmann thinks bitterly, of sudden, senseless death. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The December sun was small and hidden behind a sky the shade of new silver coins. Three thousand feet below, the |
|
|
|
|
|