The Mission of No Return
Page 16
Every morning Huey and Harold would leave for the dock by six am and return home between seven and eight pm. The conversation at the dinner table was the business of the day and how much the catch brought in.
Stephanie learned how to cook all types of fish by broiling, grilling, and baking. She even learned how to make gumbos and stews from all types of shell fish. Harold and Huey became accustomed to the new cuisine that they were treated to on a nightly basis. All they had to do was bring home some of the fresh catch and the next day it was on the table made into a masterpiece.
This life all of a sudden came to a halt on April 10, 2210 when at the dinner table Harold told them that on the twelfth they were going to retrieve the time machine. The plan incorporated two of Harold’s fleet to stand guard and clean equipment just outside the bay while his ship worked on retrieving the time machine.
“How are we going to get to the bottom of the bay to hook up the time machine?” Huey asks.
“I will dive. I was in the Navy for eight years and I was part of the salvage team. Diving is part of my business especially when ship repairs are needed at sea.” Harold explains as he sips a cup of coffee.
“I still think the time machine is too heavy for the hoist to lift it out of the water.” Stephanie adds.
“You’re right so I plan on adding four large balloons on each side of the time machine to help lift it.” Harold says.
“You know if we bring it up during the day there is a chance that someone will see it.” Stephanie responds.
“I need the daylight to work under water. After the time machine is retrieved to the surface we will wait until evening and then we will bring the machine into one of my large hangers. From there you two can complete your repairs.” Harold replies.
The countdown was on. In less than thirty-six hours the time machine would be rescued from the dark depths of the cold Bering Sea. Then a time table would be set for the repairs to be completed.
Chapter 28 – The Rescue
On the dawn of April 12, 2210 the rescue was on. Harold, Stephanie, and Huey were on deck of Harold’s fishing ship, the Sea Urchin. The ship was headed full steam ahead to the bay just behind Harold’s house. The weather was cold and blustery as snow flurries were blowing in the wind. The temperature hovered around fifteen degrees above zero. With the other two ships off the port bow they kept in contact with Harold on the Sea Urchin. You could feel the excitement and intensity in the air building and you could cut it with a knife. As they approached the bay, Harold gave the other two ships their instructions to stand guard. One ship stood watch on the south end of the bay while the other ship would take up position on the north end of the bay. Their instructions were to appear to be cleaning the equipment, but also to notify the Sea Urchin should another vessel come into view, especially a Coast Guard cutter. When they came to a stop in the vicinity of where the time machine went down the anchor was dropped. All the equipment was placed strategically on the deck as Harold entered the water in his full scuba gear.
“Testing one, two, three. How am I coming in?” Harold said into the microphone inside his mask.
“You’re coming in loud and clear.” Huey responds through his head set.
As Harold dove, he took a wench down with him. Huey released the slack to accommodate Harold’s descent. Stephanie stood on the bridge monitoring the radio for any incoming messages. You could see Harold’s bright light shining through the water as he moved towards the bottom of the bay.
“Are we sure this is where the time machine went down?” Stephanie asks through her head set.
“Steph, my under water sonar detected a large metal object below the surface. So I think we’re in the right spot. Wait, I think I see it.” Harold says through the microphone in his mask.
Both Stephanie and Huey smiled at each other with Huey clenching his fist in the air. Time was of the essence as Harold hooked the wench around the entire hull of the time machine while reattaching the hook on the descending cable at the top of the time machine. Then Harold went to each corner of the time machine and attached a balloon. Harold only added enough air to barely inflate the large balloons. He knew he had to be careful to inflate each balloon enough to lift the time machine as slow as possible to avoid one balloon lifting too fast and detaching.
“How’s it going down there?” Huey says into his head set.
“It’s slow but I’m almost to the point where you are going to have to pull up on the wench.” Harold says.
Huey prepared to start the engine on the wench. He waited patiently for Harold’s signal to retrieve the time machine. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours, but Harold wanted to make sure all the kinks were worked out before he gave the command to bring the large craft to the surface.
“Okay Huey, start the wench on slow. The distance from bottom to the surface is about one hundred and twenty feet. Slow and easy, got it.” Harold says.
“Ten-four, slow and easy,” Huey answers as he slides the throttle forward.
The gears on the wench begin to spin as the cable is slowly spooled up on the spindle. The cable is pulling about one foot every thirty seconds. This means the total time for extraction is just less than an hour to get the time machine to the surface. It’s a slow, but drawn out, procedure and its better safe than sorry.
“Harold you need to surface, we have a Coast Guard cutter coming from the north. It’s about four miles out and closing in fast.” A voice calls out from the ship stationed to the north.
“I hear you Charlie, no more radio contact.” Harold says as he begins to surface.
You can see the bubbles surface as Harold slowly returns to the surface. The wench continues to retract the cable from the sea. Harold surfaces and slowly climbs the net on the side of the Sea Urchin. Harold remains in his scuba gear as the cutter begins to turn into the bay and moves towards the Sea Urchin. Harold can see Charlie on the deck of his other ship pointing to the Coast Guard cutter as it approaches.
“What’s the plan?” Huey says.
“You just sit there and work the wench. Say nothing and do nothing and let me do the talking.” Harold says as he waves to the approaching ship.
To be on the safe side Stephanie put a hat on and tucked her hair underneath it. The cutter moved to within ten feet of the Sea Urchin on the port side. The waves from the cutter rock the Sea Urchin as the cutter shuts down her engines.
“Hey Harold you know there is no fishing in the bay.” Captain Elroy Harrington says over his megaphone.
From a distance Captain Harrington is sixtyish with gray hair underneath his Coast Guard cap. He is a very thin man as he stands about six feet two inches tall and weighs about one hundred and sixty pounds. He has a drawn in face that is swallowed up by his large nose and sunken eyes.
“Yeah Roy I know. I’m just working on some new equipment. I figure it’s safer here in the bay then out in the Bering Sea.” Harold replies.
“I would like to see what you have on the other end of that wench.” Captain Elroy said.
“No problem, Roy. I hope you have about an hour and half because that’s how long it’s going to take for it to reach the surface.” Harold answers.
“I got a better idea. Why don’t I send one of my divers down below to check out your new piece of equipment?” Captain Elroy adds.
“Go right ahead.” Harold says.
As the diver prepares for the dive on board of the cutter, Harold gets a little nervous that Captain Elroy is going to go through with his plan. He starts to perspire a little as he puts a cap on to cover his nervousness.
“Who is the new man working the wench?” Captain Elroy asks Harold.
“His name is Hugh Stevensky a Russian fisherman that I hired on last week.” Harold explains.
“You sailor, what is your name?” Captain Elroy asks.
“I already told you his name.” Harold replies.
“Harold shut the hell up. When I want something from you I will ask you. I wan
t to hear it from the man himself. Now what’s your name boy?” Captain Elroy asks in a demanding voice.
“Hugh Stevensky.” Huey responds in a long drawn out response with a Russian accent.
“Where are you from?” Captain Elroy asks.
“Minsk” Huey replies.
“Captain, we have an emergency call. There is an overturned ship. It’s about twenty miles out sir.” A voice says from the load speaker onboard the cutter.
“Aye, make full steam to the coordinates and acknowledge with base that we are in route.” Captain Elroy commands.
“Harold I’ll be back after this call. Make sure you’re still here. Do you understand?” Captain Elroy says with a stern voice.
“I’ll be here until dark. After that you can find me either in my office or home.” Harold replies.
The Coast Guard cutter turned and slowly steamed out of the bay and then cruised at full speed as soon as she reached open waters. Harold figured he had three hours to pull this off before Captain Harrington would return. His plan was to head back to one of his hangers as soon as the time machine surfaced. An hour and a half to steam three miles and unload the cargo and return back to the same position, it was going to be close.
“Do you think he will return or will he blow this off?” Huey asks Harold.
“Captain Elroy will return. You can place a bet on it.” Harold responds.
The next hour and a half went by slowly as everyone kept their eyes on the open sea, waiting and watching for the Coast Guard cutters return. Then at last the time machine surfaced. Harold wasted no time as he steamed at full speed towards his hangers. The time machine wasn’t even out of the water before Harold was moving. He was already out of the bay before the time machine was set on the deck of the fishing boat.
When the Sea Urchin reached Harold’s port there was a flatbed tractor trailer already waiting as the ship docked. The time machine remained hooked to the wench but the balloons were detached during the three mile cruise. The time machine was swung out and laid onto the flatbed in ten minutes. The truck was loaded and had already departed for the hanger as the ship went back to its locale in the bay. As the Sea Urchin laid anchor and put a new crab pot on the end of the wench the Coast Guard cutters black smoke could be seen over the horizon.
“Do you think he saw us move back into the bay?” Stephanie asked from the platform next to the bridge of the ship.
“Not unless he has bionic eyes, there’s no way he saw us.” Harold replies.
The cutter moves into the bay with Harold’s other two ships still in there same positions. The cutter maneuvered into position alongside the Sea Urchin. The new crab pot was pulled up out of the water and set on the deck on the Sea Urchin. Captain Elroy came out with his megaphone in hand.
“So what’s so different about this crab pot that you had to test it here in the bay?” Captain Elroy asks.
“Well, Roy it’s bigger than the normal pots and I wanted to see what type of drag was engendered in pulling one of these out of the water.” Harold answers.
“Harold not for nothing I hope you’re not trying to pull something over on me. It’s not going to work I’m smarter than you give me credit for.” Captain Elroy replies.
“Is there anything else I can do for you Roy? It’s starting to get dark and I want to head in.” Harold says.
“Yes I want to check all three of your boats fishing holds. I want to make sure there are no fish onboard. You know the fine you could incur if I find any fish onboard in a no fishing zone.” Captain Elroy says.
“You and your men are welcome on board to check.” Harold answers.
Captain Elroy checked all three ships holds to make sure the fishing holds were empty. As darkness began to fall the three fishing boats made their way back to port. Then suddenly something came over the ships radio.
“Listen up Harold. If you think you pulled the wool over my eyes today, you’re definitely wrong. I know you were up to something and believe me I will find out what it is. You can mark my word on that. That is a promise.” Captain Elroy said over the ships radio.
There was silence on Harold’s end as he didn’t respond with the thought that no response meant he wasn’t listening.
“Even with no response Harold I know you’re listening. Just remember what I said because every time you turn around I will be there watching you.” Captain Elroy said over the ships radio.
The operation was a success and very well organized as everything fell into place. The timing was indisputably impeccable as not one time frame was missed.
Chapter 29 – The Overhaul
The time machine was put into one of Harold’s hangers. Normally these hangers were used for reconditioning his ships. The time machine was put in a corner with no windows. It was sectioned off and a wall was erected to seclude the time machine. Work was going to be extensive and costly since many of the electrical systems were fried. All the doors and hatches were opened, because first of all, the entire interior needed to be dried out. Stephanie and Huey worked diligently to repair the time machine. This work was going to be a long and drawn out process and a costly one too. Many of these components had to be modified by Huey and Stephanie because the time machine was made several hundred years in the future.
“You let me know what you need and I will buy it.” Harold says as the three conversed inside the small cornered off square of the hanger where the time machine was housed.
“Why are you being so kind?” Stephanie asks.
“Well let me put it this way. When you’re ready to go there is a favor I want to ask.” Harold said with his hands on his hips.
“Like what, if you’re thinking about going with us, it’s not going to happen.” Huey exclaims.
“No, no it’s not like that. I will tell you when the time is right.” Harold said as he exited the hanger.
Huey and Stephanie looked at each other with confused facial expressions.
“What could he possible want from us?” Stephanie asks.
“I don’t know but I’m not going to dwell on it.” Huey answers.
Stephanie and Huey continue to work into the evening on the repairs to the time machine. Stephanie didn’t let the topic rest as she thought about Harold’s request.
“You know he can’t go with us?” Stephanie asks Huey.
“Will you please keep your voice down? It carries. These walls are paper thin and you don’t who know who might be listening outside.” Huey responds as he stepped outside the work area inside dark hanger.
Huey looked around but with the lights out nothing can be seen with the naked eye. Huey returned back into the secluded section and he closed the door behind him. There, standing behind a small fishing boat Harold sat quietly listing to the conversation.
The repairs to the time machine went on for three months and cost Harold about twenty five thousand dollars. Harold was a sneaky bastard as he always returned to spy on the two scientists on a daily basis. No one knew what Harold’s expectations were or what he wanted in return for helping them out but the time was fast approaching when they would find out.
Another thing that went unnoticed was that Captain Elroy Harrington did keep to his word. He did this by using one of his enlisted men as a spy. He was dressed like the typical fisherman wearing blue jeans, flannel shirt and boat sneakers. He tried to infiltrate into Harold’s operations but Harold didn’t need any new hands at the time. This man lurked in the shadows and moved throughout the buildings at night looking for anything suspicious and out of the ordinary. This man tried desperately to see what was behind the secret compartment but could not get beyond the security that was set in place. Besides the compartment being locked on a nightly basis there was a security system. The security system monitored the door and any movement above a certain height. To top it all off there was an even a watch dog stationed inside the compartment nightly. When the spy discovered the whereabouts to secret compartment, he informed Captain Elroy of his findings.
“Sir I found a secret compartment hidden inside one of Harold’s hangers. His two new employees, a girl and that Russian fisherman work there until all hours of the morning. I see supplies and items being delivered that fishermen don’t use.” The seaman explains.
“Like what?” Captain Elroy asks.
“All type of electronics and components.” The seaman says.
“What is behind the door in the secret compartment?” Captain Elroy asks.
“I don’t know I can’t get past their security. Beside a lock they have a security system in place and a watch dog that they bring in every night.” The seaman explains.
“That’s enough for me. Keep a close watch out until I can get a search warrant. I should be able to get that sometime tomorrow.” Captain Elroy orders.
Chapter 30 – Escape
The seaman did as he was instructed by Captain Elroy and he stood guard outside Harold’s hanger hidden from anyone entering. As the night moved into the wee hours of the morning, a cold blustery wind began to build off the Bering Sea. This also picked up the moisture that was in the air which turned into snow flurries. The seaman sat restlessly behind a stack of old pallets as he pulled his coat collar up to cover his neck. The stack of old pallets did little or nothing to protect him from the wind chill that was cutting through his clothing and into his bones. The one thing he planned properly was packing his thermos full of hot coffee. Black coffee with no sugar or cream made as strong as possible. The seaman figured this assignment was going to get him a promotion to Master Chief. When the clock struck three am the seaman made his first mistake by falling asleep with a grey blanket wrapped around him for warmth. He was awakened by a horrific feeling as he gasped for air. When the seaman came to his senses from his slumber he realized that Harold had a tight grip around his neck. Harold was in the vicinity as he spied on Huey and Stephanie. When Harold made his way outside the hanger he heard the seaman’s thermos hit the ground and roll as the seaman fell asleep.