The Jack Finney Reader

by Jack Finney

  Moreno had had to dive slowly, I understood; he had to find out where the destroyer was before we became blind. Yet he couldn't have waited on the surface; he had to begin his dive toward the Mary; she was our only hope of even temporary safety. If the destroyer reached us before we reached the Mary — and we could hear the throb of her propellers now — we'd be blasted from the water or forever down into it; our pitted, half-destroyed hull couldn't withstand any depth-charging. The depth gauge showed twenty feet now, then it crept to twenty-five. Turning to Linc, Moreno said quietly, "Rudder hard aport," and Linc began twisting the big wheel. We were curving in toward the Mary as we approached her, curving toward her stern; then we heard the ping of the destroyer's sonar sounding through the sub as though it had struck the hull an actual physical blow.

  Now, the ping sounding regularly, we were at thirty-five feet, the rudder still hard over, Moreno's eyes fixed unblinkingly on the compass reflector. At forty feet the ping of the sonar stopped abruptly, and I knew we were terribly close to the great sunken cliff of the Queen Mary's vast hull. Our tiny submarine lost against that enormous underwater expanse of metal, the destroyer could no longer detect us, nor could she approach any closer without ramming the Mary. She had shut down her sonar and now, too, the thrash of her propellers was suddenly diminishing; then it was gone. And I knew the destroyer — our course and position plotted — was heeling over as she turned to dash for the Mary's bow or stern to intercept us on the other side.

  For a moment I stood tensed and motionless, waiting for the terrible crash of our prow against the side of the Mary. It was too late to stop or shut down the motors. We were about to crash or pass under — all any of us could do now was wait to see which.

  "Rudder hard astarboard," Moreno said quietly — the depth gauge read forty-five feet — and again Linc heaved on the big wheel. A moment later we heard the awful sound, faint at first, but swelling rapidly — the indescribable blend of humming, murmuring and growling sounds of the cityful of machinery that crowded whole sections of the Mary's lower decks. We were directly beside them — feet away — their sounds, ever louder, passing through the Mary's hull, through the water and filling our little submarine. The sound grew to a chattering roar, swelled to a peak — we were about to crash if we were going to, within two, three, four seconds at most. Then, just barely perceptibly, it began to diminish, and I knew we were under — with how very few feet to spare I was glad I didn't know. For an instant Moreno's eyes flashed in triumph, and Linc swung around to grin at him, then at me, and I grinned back, but I felt the sweat on my face begin to cool.

  "Level off!" Moreno said, eyes on the depth gauge, which stood at fifty-five feet; Vic heaved on his wheel, and the forward end of the submarine rose, the deck coming level. "Quarter speed," Moreno said to me, and I turned to my board and reduced speed. Then I leaned into the control room, beckoned to Alice, and she came toward me, stepping over the coaming, and I took her in my alms. She was trembling. I glanced over at Rosa, who grinned at me tightly.

  "Very close," Rosa said to Moreno then. "And now what is our captain to do?" He didn't answer, and I began gently patting Alice's back, comforting her as well as I could, but standing motionless, listening intently. Moreno was maneuvering in a series of S curves as tight as he could manage, to port and to starboard alternately. We were moving slowly ahead toward the Mary's bow, passing under her regularly from one side to the other. Moreno listening and guiding himself, head cocked, by the alternately swelling then diminishing roar of sound from the great ship's hull, he spoke his commands, and Linc heaved on the rudder wheel — starboard and port.

  No more than any other ship can a submarine make a sharp turn, and I knew we must be passing out beyond first oneside of the Mary, then the other. The curves couldn't have been held tighter, and we were safe so long as we remained where we were. The destroyer couldn't even risk a few depth charges for luck, on the off chance of damaging us; the Mary's hull could be sprung, too, and we lay just underneath it.

  Vic said, "What now, Ed? We'll be up to the bow pretty soon."

  Absently Moreno said, "Turn and go back the same way," and then he looked at me. "How much power we got left?"

  I glanced at my watch, gently removing Alice's arms from my neck. We'd been under three minutes, and I said, "Fifteen minutes maybe; I can't really say. We'll know when the motors start slowing, and we better not be under the Mary when they do."

  Lauffnauer said, "Ed, they will figure out what we're doing; they probably have already. Then the Mary will simply move off and leave us here — at about the time we will have to surface."

  Moreno nodded. "That's right," he said. "You know it and I know it." Then he jerked his thumb to point upward. "And so does the destroyer."

  Then — it astonished me — Lauffnauer laughed, Vic and Linc staring at him and frowning, as I was. "Are you thinking as I am thinking?" Lauffnauer said softly.

  "Hard astarboard," Moreno said to Linc, then grinned a little at Lauffnauer. "Sure," he said. "And so is the destroyer captain. If he isn't, we're finished, but I think he is. His radio's on, and he's talking to the Mary's captain right now; I'll bet on it. And they're working it out. He'll get into position, lined up with the Mary maybe two hundred yards astern. Then, at a signal, the Mary moves off as fast as she can make it, the destroyer moving ahead, too, maintaining the distance, depth-charging as she goes. Lobbing them off from the sides, and rolling them off the stern, catching us for sure somewhere under the wake of the Mary or forcing us out from the sides to pick us up with their sonar. Isn't that how you'd figure it?" He looked at Lauffnauer, who nodded, smiling.

  Once again the life sound of the great ship swelled above us, then diminished, but now it was quieter and well astern, and we knew we were under the huge, silent cargo holds, approaching the Mary's bow. And now we made a great figure eight under the Queen Mary, then began snaking along underneath her again, the underwater sound of the ship growing again as we moved back toward her stern.

  "Well?" I said angrily to Moreno then. "Why aren't we sailing out then? We've got an exactly even chance that the destroyer'll be on the opposite side." I wasn't arguing exactly; I had a real respect for Moreno's captaincy, but I did want to know. "We might get pretty far out, before the destroyer

  Moreno was shaking his head. "We could come up directly in her path, for all we know. And with the best of luck, a few hundred yards out from the side is the most we could make, and they'd pick us up with the sonar right away; we can't dive very deep. We'd have to surface soon anyway. A hell of a fine plan that is; we'd be asking for it. Begging for it."

  "All right!" I said. "But what other chance is there? Sit here and wait to be depth-charged?"

  "That's what they'll do, isn't it?" he said calmly, and I saw Lauffnauer turn to grin at me, his eyes amused. "They'll kill us if they can, won't they?"

  "Maybe." I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they know we have a woman on board now, a passenger. Maybe they won't depth-charge at all."

  "And maybe they will!" Moreno shouted. "Who's commanding that destroyer! Some kid, maybe, some loot commander; who the devil knows what he'll do? I'd depth-charge if I was him; force us up! He doesn't know what kind of deathtrap we're in; he thinks we're in a modern sub, a new type; that's what we told the Mary! Force us up, capture us, and the girl won't be killed; it's how he's got to figure. What else can he do? Sit up there and let us sail away!"

  I shrugged again. From the look on Moreno's face, he had something in mind, but I didn't know what it could be. "Still," I said, "what else can we do?"

  Grinning at me, his voice almost gentle, Moreno said, "Why, we can just torpedo the louse."

  I stood staring at him. "Torpedo him?"

  "Sure," he said softly. Then deliberately misunderstanding me, as though I were merely questioning his strategy, he said, "I think I know what he's going to do. And if I do, I'll know where he is the moment I hear the Mary's engines start. Once they start, out we go — off to the s
ide, just like you said. Only then" — he grinned — "we curve back, toward the Mary's stern, blowing our tanks as we go. We'll pop up heading right for the destroyer, a full broadside shot with two torpedoes ready to go. One of them will get him for sure. Right, Frank?"

  "I will not miss," Lauffnauer said.

  I hadn't moved; standing there looking into the control room, I was still staring at Moreno; then I looked at Vic, who was watching me, and I saw the confirmation in his face. "The torpedoes are live?" I said gently to Moreno. "You didn't convert the others?"

  "Starboard rudder," Moreno said, and Linc began heaving on the wheel again. Then Moreno looked at me. "Brittain," he said wearily, "you're a pretty good man in your way, but I said it from the start; you got to be ready to do anything necessary, at times; anything. But you're not, you're noble; I know the type. So we just didn't tell you, lieutenant; sure the torpedoes are live! All but the first one; you saw me convert that. You fool," he said quietly, "did you think we could bluff the Queen Mary with an empty gun?"

  His voice soft and persuasive, Frank Lauffnauer said, "The captain of the Mary fought through a war, Hugh; you can be sure of that. And when you have survived a war, you understand reality. Now he is placed in command of one of the largest ships of the world; what kind of judgment must such a man have? There is only one way to bluff such a man, Hugh; and that is not to be bluffing at all. Don't you see? We had to have live torpedoes! We had to mean what we said! Couldn't you tell? Couldn't you see it in my face and eyes as I spoke to him? Couldn't you hear it in my voice? The captain of the Mary did, Hugh."

  "You'd have torpedoed the Queen Mary?" It came out a whisper; I couldn't seem to control my voice.

  Moreno shrugged. "You're darn right," he said.

  "And now you'd torpedo that destroyer?"

  "I will torpedo it." Fists on his hips, Moreno stood grinning at me, mocking me. Then again the rumbling roar of the Mary's machinery began to swell, and he said, "Port rudder," to Linc.

  I glanced at Vic, who was staring at me. "Vic," I said softly, "that's a Navy destroyer."

  He bit his lip for a moment, glancing down at the deck. Then he shook his head, brows rising regretfully, and looked up at me again. "Out to get us, though, Hugh," he said, and I stared at him.

  From just behind me Alice Muir said bitterly, "The rebel, who didn't want to sell his life," and I turned to look at her. "Well, look where it's got you!" she said, eyes flashing with fury. "You didn't sell it, not you — you handed it over to a bunch of murderers !"

  I nodded several times before speaking. "Looks like it," I said, and she stared at me in bitter disgust.

  "I admired you," she said contemptuously, "in spite of my own feelings; a strong man capable of rebellion! But rebellion needs a cause to go with it, Hugh! Bigger than simple selfishness!"

  "You can't," I said, staring into the control room, looking from one to another of them. "You just can't do it; you can't sink a Navy destroyer!" But Lauffnauer only smiled pityingly; Linc didn't turn, and Vic didn't look up. Moreno simply turned away contemptuously.

  "Hard to starboard," he said to Linc, and once more we heeled over, to continue our snakelike progress under the Mary's keel.

  Just beside me stood a little steel locker, and now I turned, opened it, fumbled inside it, then brought out a cap I'd put there, my old Navy cap with the insigne removed; I'd worn it a few times working on the sub. "Cut out the corn," Vic said, his voice ugly, but I put the cap on, grinning at him meanly.

  "Yeah," I said, "it's corn all right, that's all it is. So how come it bothers you, Vic?" Then I snarled it at them. "Call it anything you like, but I'll tell you what it means; I won't let you sink that destroyer! I'll do anything I have to; anything!"

  We stood motionless then, muscles tensed, eying each other, and waiting. There were four of them, but I had this advantage — standing just outside the little control room, one hand on each side of the open doorway, they couldn't get at me except one at a time. And I knew what I was going to do, while they did not.

  Again the sound of the Mary's machinery was swelling and growing overhead, but well behind us now: once more we were nearing the Mary's bow. Moreno gave his command, and I turned my hands at the wrists, no longer leaning against the sides of the opening I stood at, but gripping the edges. Linc twisted the wheel, we heeled over once more, and I tugged with all the strength of my arms, yanking myself forward through the opening and leaping at the same time — springing into the control room, an arm reaching out for Lauffnauer. I caught him on the neck with my open palm in a wide, swinging motion, flinging him across the little deck into Moreno. Then I had a hand on the air valve, yanking hard, and the ballast tanks began blowing, the pressure of the air flowing into them forcing open the Kingstons.

  But, of course — and I'd known this, hopelessly — there was really no chance that the tanks could even begin to empty before they were on me, except that Rosa had leaped right behind me. She was between me and the others, her back to me and facing them — a fighting fury in black. Kicking, gouging, her clawed hands raking at their faces in the crowded room, she fended them off, struggling and writhing to keep them from me and the air lever. Then Lauffnauer smashed her to the deck, and Moreno sprang; not swinging, but arms wide, and before I understood, he had them around me, just above the elbows, his hands gripped tight at my back, and I couldn't move my arms. I actually lifted him from his feet momentarily, swinging my body, trying to fling him off, but Lauffnauer was past us and shoving the air lever instantly, heaving open the air vents with the other hand, the water gushing into the tanks again. But nevertheless, air had replaced some of the water in the tanks and we'd begun to rise, and now as Lauffnauer reversed the process, checking our rise, we felt the jar — the entire length of the submarine rising to crash against the giant hull of the Mary, and I heard Alice scream.

  Then we were sprawled on the deck, all of us, tumbling and sliding helplessly across it as the sub tilted far to starboard, glass tinkling on metal, dust and cork insulation flying, the whole submarine ringing and vibrating with sound like the inside of a vast bell, and the lights went out. An instant later — I'd done my work well — the emergency lighting flashed on, and now all of us lay where we'd sprawled, listening for our lives. For three, four, five terrible seconds the awful grinding and crunching of the two metal hulls, one against the other, continued. Then it stopped, as the submarine, tilting slowly to the horizontal again, began to sink.

  There was nothing I could think of to do now, or even try; and I knew I had failed. We heard nothing, no sudden rush of water; the submarine was on an even keel, and I knew we'd only nudged the Mary — slowly and almost gently, just as our rise had been checked, jarring us, but with very little force. Vic stepped back into the control room and said, "There are pressure leaks forward; several stuffing glands badly jarred, but the leaks are small. Probably the same back in his compartment." He gestured at me.

  Moreno nodded slowly, staring at me all the time. "You'd of killed us," he said to me. "Killed yourself along with us. Well" — he shook his head in a kind of scornful admiration — "I've said this before, too; you've got guts of a kind."

  I just shook my head at him, slowly and stubbornly, and said it again. "You can't sink a Navy destroyer; you can't. Vic, damn you!" I yelled. "You belonged to the Navy that destroyer is part of! You still do! You're in the reserve. You probably know people on her!

  "And now you're tied up with Nazi scum," I said softly to Vic, my eyes holding his. "Working with him to sink a Navy destroyer. How low can you get; do you like your adventure now?" Then I yelled, "How important is it to stay alive?" and Vic's teeth bared, and I knew he'd hate me forever. "Ed!" I yelled then. "You were in the Navy too!"

  "Oh?" he said nastily. "You remembered that, did you? You finally remembered. Yeah, lieutenant, I was in the Navy, too, just as much as you were. No gold stripes, but I was in it too." Linc glanced up at him, Moreno nodded, and once more Linc began twisting the rudder
wheel. Then Moreno suddenly shouted, his face flushing dark, the veins on his temples popping out. "Well, all right! What else can we do ! What would you do, you college gold-stripe hero! You tell me, brave boy! Because I've got everything you've got, and more!"

  "Do?" I said softly. "Why, I'd go out, too, Moreno." Then I shouted it. "Straight out! Right through the back door the minute the Mary moves!" I stood staring at him for a moment, then I leaned toward him and said softly, "I've got the nerve to do it, and you know it. To do anything necessary, Moreno — to keep from murdering a Navy crew."

  Moreno glanced at me, then at Rosa. "Rudder aport," he said quietly, and Linc looked at him for a moment, then swung the wheel. The sub listed as it heeled, and Moreno stood, head cocked, listening intently to the growing murmur of the Mary's machinery. "Starboard rudder," he said. Linc heaved on the wheel again, and the sub began righting. But before it could begin heeling again, Linc stopped the wheel in the same moment that Moreno yelled, "Dead ahead; straight rudder!" and for a moment they stared at each other, then both of them grinned. "Yes, sir!" Linc said.

  "What do you think you are doing?" Lauffnauer said quietly.

  "Doing?" Moreno said. "Why, I'm getting us out of here; maybe. Just like the man said. He thinks it can be done — or he's willing to try it."

  Lauffnauer's mouth was opening to speak, then the sound overhead swelled suddenly to a giant, rumbling roar, and Moreno shouted over it, "I'm in command! Stations, stations! Man the dive planes! Full motors, Hugh! Dive, dive, or we're finished!" For a single instant Vic and Lauffnauer stood staring, then they swung to their dive-plane wheels as I turned to my switchboard and brought the motors whining up to full speed.

  The terrible roar of sound — the Mary's giant turbines coming to sudden life, four enormous thirty-five-ton propellers ahead beginning to revolve — never stopped growing. "Forty degrees! Forty degrees!" Moreno shouted, and already it was hard to hear him. The incredible roar of tons of tumbling water grew and swelled, increasing rapidly as we moved toward it and the Mary's propellers chewed into it faster and faster; it was hard even to think. Slowly, slowly, the sub's bow dipped, the deck tilting under us.