Jasper's travels

Commander Veronica Wilson replaced the receiver. She returned to the table where her daughter was attempting the art of eating. She was still learning that the concept simply required the use of the mouth. The other facial functionaries have minimal involvement. Her need for an imminent chat made her turn towards Jasper. Sensing her need though, the ginger tom turned onto his side, stretched his legs and closed his eyes. Refocusing on her daughter, she sighed, as she observed the huge cereal bubble.

The harbor buzzed with activity. It was always crawling with tourists, civilians and military personnel. It was the epicenter of the Konto nation. The island country in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, was annexed from Sicily in the 1600’s. Due to ongoing wars with Malta and Tunisia as recent as the early 1900’s, it established a powerful naval force. The Chief Commander of the Navy, Admiral Josias, was elected Prime Minister thirteen months ago. He was a respected leader, whose military acumen served him well in navigating the complex government policies. But he still kept a close guard on the country’s biggest protection unit. It was his voice that still echoed in her mind as she cleaned the table without disturbing her daughter’s artistic designs.

‘Commander Wilson, we have a situation which requires your urgent attention.’ The commanding voice almost made her salute, as she held the receiver tight. ‘At approximately 8.06 a distress call was received from the K188.’ Her mind raced at the thought of a fresh foreign attack. A month ago, they decommissioned five U9’s, and with the Santana festival in full swing, they had more personnel at parading stations in Gano, than those ready for any type of battle.

‘Commander Jones reported that 87 members became incapacitated on board.’ That was more than half the total number on board any big ship. ‘He was given the green light for an emergency blow. But within thirty minutes all on board were experiencing heavy convulsions.’ Her heart started to race. It was worse than she feared. ‘We managed to evacuate the entire harbor ten minutes ago. However, twelve members have reportedly perished.’

She waited for the command.

‘You must assemble your team immediately, and resume the patrol. Only then will I feel more at ease, as we investigate the cause of the incident.’

Bradley rushed through the front door. Jasper opened one eye, and then resumed his rest. As one of the tenants at the South Tower office complex at the far end of the harbor, she knew there was no need for explanations. Their movements were mechanical. While he took care of their daughter, she made the call to her Lieutenant. She grabbed her uniform from the over-sized wardrobe. The latter was a gift from Bradley’s late father. No amount of paint or maneuvering around the bedroom, can make the bulky piece fit.

She received the text as she grabbed the keys from the dresser. The K156 would be ready in thirty minutes. She wrecked her brain to highlight the maintenance schedule of the past six months. Acknowledging the futility of the exercise, she kissed her husband and daughter quickly. And then she was roaring down the street towards the harbor. Only seven minutes passed since receiving the call.

Lieutenant Dominic Fischer was the tallest member of her squad. He was barking orders into a mobile as she parked. He ran to open her door, and said, ‘Commander, the Jackson will be ready in five.’ He then marched towards an approaching group of Nukes.

Her steps quickened as she approached the fin. Within five minutes she gave the order to submerge.

When they reached three-hundred metres, Veronica perused the log book. A flickering light on the control panel caught her eye. A large object was spotted ten kilometres to the west. The object was stationary and no radio activity was detected, but she still gave the instruction for it to be monitored. She hoped that the festival at Gano had something to do with it.

After about five minutes the ping was bigger. She reached for the radio. And then everything went dark.

For the first few seconds, nobody was moving. The silence was menacing. And then she was barking orders.

The first thing to do was to locate the emergency switch. Once activated, they would have enough power to locate the source of the error, rectify it and get back on track. Someone handed her a torch. She turned towards the dials. And then she froze. The timer on the emergency switch was counting down. It meant that the emergency power would not be activated. She radioed control. Within seconds her call was acknowledged. But the radio cut out before they could confirm the ETA of the emergency crew.

She hurriedly lit the dials on the control panel. And then she cursed under her breath as she translated the readings for the generator capacity levels.

The Jackson was built about three years ago. Most older models only have two generators. The later models had an additional one installed. She read, ‘GEN A – 0,007%. GEN B – 0,189%. GEN C – 44,26%.’

A cold chill crawled down her back. She thought about their location, deep in the dark belly of the Mediterranean. She always questioned the lack of windows on these ships. But no light could penetrate these waters, so the addition would be unnecessary. She touched her forehead for a few seconds to ground herself and to focus.

One generator had some capacity. She had to focus there, and did the mental calculations. With that capacity, and one hundred and three crew members on board, they have oxygen for at least an hour. She knew that the distress signal was received. She heard the confirmation. The fastest any crew would be able to be dispatched, and reached them, is forty minutes. She did not like the odds.

She scanned the generator readings again. Then she saw it. It was so faint, that she missed it the first time. There, under GEN A, a light was blinking next to the ‘ACTIVITY’ screen. That meant that there was more than 0% capacity, it was just not active!

‘Lieutenant, get me a Nuke now!’

A tiny member made her appearance. Shining the light onto the panel, Veronica addressed the engineer.

‘What does that mean?’

‘The generator is obstructed sir! …ma’am!’ Wiping the panel for a clearer look, the sweaty engineer continued. ‘If we can remove the obstruction, it can assist the operational one, and give us more time. I can do it. It is on the west side below the hull’.

She was cursing again. Then she made a decision.

‘Corporal, wait! You will need help down there.’

Whatever was on the west end, would require brains and brawn, she thought. She could provide the latter if needed. Also, there was just no way she was going to remain standing in one spot in the dark.

She grabbed a second torch and followed the sticky figure. The doorways were tight, and she was crawling for the most part. They reached the west side, and still breathing hard, they struggled for a bit to open the latch to the generator door. Once inside, they lit the interior.

There was no damage to the interior walls of the hull. The three bulky generators were also intact. GEN C’s reading was at 39,78%. GEN A was to the right. The engineer scratched in the tool bag around her waist, and produced an oblong apparatus. With that she opened the aperture marked ‘VENTIL’. Veronica hit the dimming torch against her thigh. After what felt like a painstakingly long time, the engineer opened the latch, peeked inside, and revealed a bunch of coded wires.

The engineer was silent for a moment. Then she forcefully unplugged the green wire, and then the white, and switched their points.

The sound of the generator was so deafening that the torch slipped from Veronica's hands. A loud noise emanated from the left. The light of the torch has gone out, and while she felt for the second one on her belt, she tripped over an object. She instinctively put her hands forward to break her fall. The pain which emanated from her wrists was nothing compared to the dizzying blow to her head. She called out to the engineer, and then realized that she must have been thrown by the blast of the generator. She stood, balanced herself in the dark and slowly retraced her steps.

She did trip over the engineer. There was indeed breathing, but the extent of her injury was unclear. She felt for signs of bleeding, but could feel none. She knew the heat of that room would become unbearable soon. Holding the engineer’s head, she yanked her up by the shoulders. With one hand holding onto the back of the collar, she tried to navigate with the other. She reached the door. Pulling the engineer into a sitting position next to her, images of her family started to flood her mind.

She immediately shut down the imagery. There was no time for emotions. She had to continue to focus on the task at hand. It would take too much energy to focus on anything else.

After taking some cautious deep breaths, she checked the pulse of the engineer. Satisfied with the evidence of life, she stood, steadied her footing and reached for the handle. But it needed an additional set of arms. She paused for ten seconds. Then tried again. No luck at all.

She slid down to a seated position, and all of a sudden, she was flung forward and landed face down. In her attempt to turn around, she saw from below her armpit, three shadowy figures approaching her. Then the darkness enveloped her.

The rescue team arrived exactly one hour later. Using a magnetic shield to hoist the ship from its stuck position, they were then towed to the surface. Preliminary reports revealed extensive damage to the bow planes, when they hit a dead whale. The latter’s corpse rolled over due to the impact, and crushed into the side of the pressure hull.

As Veronica disembarked from the ship, she saw Bradley approaching with a baby in one hand, and a cat basket in the other. When they reached her he said, ‘They both wanted to come.’

Embracing her family, she thought about that day. An unexplained virus on board a patrol ship; deep-diving with a ship which was scheduled for decommissioning; and getting stuck below a dead whale.

Jasper put his paw through the railings, and she gave him a fist-bump.

She wanted to get home, grab a bottle of Chardonnay, and watch the classic, Absolutely Fabulous, with the three members of her family.