Dirk Pitt18-Black Wind

by Cussler, Clive

  adjusted the color images in a golden hue so that the occasional rock

  or mound on the bottom cast a brown-tinted shadow. She studied the

  monitor closely, watching the same monotonous sea bottom glide by.

  Suddenly, a dark smudge appeared on the top right side of the screen

  and grew larger as the readings rolled down. The smudge was a shadow,

  she quickly realized, created by a long tubular shape that was crisply

  defined in a dark shade of russet.

  "My word, there it is!" she squealed, surprised at her own voice.

  A small crowd gathered around Summer as she replayed the image at a

  slow speed several times. The distinct outline of a submarine was

  clearly evident, complete with an upright conning tower that cast a

  long shadow to one side. The image roughened near one end of the

  vessel, but Summer measured the object at well over three hundred

  feet.

  "Sure looks like a submarine, and a big one," she said, not sure

  whether to trust her eyes.

  "That's our baby," Dirk said confidently. "Looks just like the image

  we scanned of the I-403."

  "Nice work, Summer," Morgan offered as he approached the commotion.

  "Thanks, Captain, but Audry did all the work. We better pull her

  aboard before she makes her way to China."

  Summer typed in a new handful of commands and a signal was relayed from

  the transducers to the underwater vehicle. In a matter or seconds,

  Audry terminated the search pattern and propelled herself upward, where

  she broke the water's surface a quarter mile away from

  the Sea Rover. Summer, Dirk, and Morgan watched as a retrieval team in

  a rubber Zodiac scooted over to the idling yellow sensor and clamped it

  to the gunwale. The team slowly made their way back alongside the

  research ship, where Audry was hoisted out of the water and replaced in

  her cradle on the stern deck.

  As the second of the two transducers was hoisted back aboard, Dirk

  admired a large exploration vessel that was inching past them a mile

  away, a Japanese flag wafting off its high bow platform.

  "Cable-laying ship," Morgan said, catching Dirk's gaze. "She followed

  us out of the Inland Sea."

  "She's a beauty. Doesn't appear to be in any hurry," Dirk said, noting

  the vessel's slow speed.

  "Must be operating under a daily billing rate contract," Morgan

  laughed, then turned his attention to ensuring the transducers were

  securely aboard.

  "Maybe," Dirk replied, smiling, but a vague caution tugged at the

  recesses of his mind. He shook off the feeling and refocused his

  thoughts on the task at hand. It was time to take a look. at the

  I-411 up close and personal.

  The crew of the Sea Rover wasted no time in making preparations to

  investigate the submerged target. Captain Morgan brought the ship

  around and positioned it directly above the target, using the GPS

  coordinates identified by Audry. Computerized side thrusters on the

  research vessel were activated and the Sea Rover was parked in place,

  constantly self-adjusting its position against the wind and current

  with the thrusters to remain fixed within a few inches of the

  designated mark.

  On the aft deck, Dirk, Summer, and First Officer Ryan carefully walked

  through a pre dive checklist for the Starfish. Specifically designed

  for deep-water scientific exploration, the Starfish was a high-tech

  submersible capable of operating in depths up to two thousand meters.

  Resembling a giant translucent ball on a forklift, the Starfish

  cat-tied two operators in a six-inch-thick reinforced acrylic bubble

  that offered a panoramic view of the sea. Wedged into a bright orange

  supporting buttress, the see-through sphere was filled with a myriad

  of

  sensors, still and video cameras, and coring devices. Four sets of

  adjustable thrusters were mounted behind and beneath the bubble, which

  provided the sub with a high degree of maneuverability. Adding to the

  functionality were a pair of steel articulating arms mounted on either

  side of the bubble, which could be used for collecting samples and

  manipulating the multiple data analysis devices. Since the right

  mechanical arm was larger in size than the left, the whole submersible

  took on a crablike appearance when operating on the seafloor.

  "I think we're set," Summer said, eyeing the last item on her

  clipboard. "You ready to get wet?"

  "Only if I get to drive," Dirk grinned back.

  Clad in aqua-colored NUMA jumpsuits, the two siblings threaded their

  way into the tiny chamber through a hatch in the rear. Though cramped

  inside, Dirk and Summer sat comfortably in a pair of padded captain's

  chairs, which faced out the front of the acrylic bubble. Dirk slipped

  on a communications headset and spoke to First Officer Ryan.

  "This is Starfish," he said, checking the system. "Ready when you are,

  Tim."

  "Prepare for deployment," Ryan's voice rang back.

  An overhead boom reeled up a thick cable attached to the submersible by

  a pair of eyelets, raising the underwater vessel straight into the air

  and suspending her three feet above the deck. As the Starfish hung

  floating in the air, Ryan pushed a button on a side console and the

  deck suddenly split open beneath the submersible, sliding on rollers to

  either side of the deck. Exposed beneath the dangling submersible was

  the pale green water of the East China Sea. Ryan hit another switch

  and a circular band of underwater floodlights burst on, outlining the

  perimeter of the large moon pool cut into the Sea Rover's rear hull

  section. A large meandering grouper was caught illuminated Dy the

  sudden flash of light and quickly bolted from beneath the odd hole in

  the ship's hull. The orange submersible was slowly dropped through the

  hole and into the water, the lifting cable released after Dirk

  confirmed that all systems were operational aboard the Starfish.

  "Cable is released," Ryan's voice announced over Dirk's headset. "You

  are free to swim. Happy hunting, guys."

  "Thanks for the drop," Dirk answered. "I'll honk the horn when we get

  back from the store."

  Dirk tested the thrusters one last time as Summer opened a ballast

  tank, allowing a flood of salt water to fill the chamber. Negative

  buoyancy was quickly achieved and the submersible began slowly dropping

  into the depths.

  The pale green water gradually dissolved to brown, then faded to an

  inky black as the Starfish sank deeper. Summer flicked on a switch and

  a powerful bank of xenon arc lights illuminated their path, though

  there was little to see in the murky water. Dependent on gravity to

  reach the bottom, it took about fifteen minutes to make the nearly

  thousand-foot descent to the seafloor. Despite the frigid water

  temperatures outside, the occupants soon became warm from the

  electronic equipment churning about them in the insulated acrylic and

  Summer finally turned on an air-conditioning unit to keep themselves

  cool. Attempting to make the time go faster, Dirk rehashed a few of

  Jack Dahlgren's stale jokes while Summer brought
her brother up to date

  on the sea pollutant survey taken off Japan's eastern coast.

  At nine hundred feet, Summer began tweaking the buoyancy level to slow

  their descent and avoid smacking hard on the bottom. Dirk noticed the

  water visibility had cleared, though the seas were devoid of much life

  at that depth. Gradually, through the murk, he eyed a familiar dark

  shape looming up beneath them. "There she is. We're right on her."

  The shadowy black superstructure of the I-411's conning tower reached

  out to them like a tiny skyscraper as the Starfish descended amidships

  of the giant submarine. Much like he had found with the I-403, Dirk

  observed that the I-411 was sitting upright on the bottom, tilted at

  just a fifteen-degree angle. Surface encrustation was much less severe

  than on the I-403 and the big sub looked as if she had been

  underwater only a few months, not years. Dirk activated the Starfish's

  thrusters and backed away slightly from the approaching vessel while

  Summer adjusted their buoyancy to remain neutral at 960 feet, just even

  with the submarine's deck.

  "She's enormous!" Summer exclaimed as her eyes took in the sub's huge

  girth. Even with Starfish's bright lights, she could see only a

  portion of the entire vessel.

  "Definitely not your run-of-the-mill World War Two U-boat," he replied.

  "Let's see where she got hit."

  Maneuvering the thrusters, Dirk propelled the submersible along a path

  down the starboard flank of the submarine, gliding just a few feet

  above its rounded topsides. Circling around the stern, Summer pointed

  out the tips of the I-411's two giant bronze propellers poking out of

  the muddy bottom. Moving forward along the port side, they traveled

  about fifty feet before a huge gash appeared at the waterline.

  "Torpedo hit number one," Dirk called out, eyeing the fatal impact from

  one of the Swordfish's torpedoes. He positioned the Starfish so that

  its lights shined into the irregular opening. Inside, a circular mass

  of twisted and jagged metal shined back at them, like the open jaws of

  an iron-toothed shark. Turning and moving forward again, the

  submersible crept along the silent wreck another thirty feet before a

  second opening appeared.

  "Torpedo hit number two," Dirk said.

  Unlike the first gash on the port flank, the second hole was oddly

  centered higher up, along the edge of the topside deck, almost as if

  the explosive force had been delivered from above.

  "You're right, this must have been the second torpedo impact," Summer

  speculated. "The stern must have already dropped under from the first

  hit, and the sub rolled back from the initial recoil when the second

  torpedo hit her here."

  "Pretty good firing from the Swordfrish. They must have caught her at

  night, while she was running on the surface."

  "Is that the aircraft hangar?" Summer asked, pointing to a large

  tubular appendage that ran lengthwise along the rear deck to the

  conning tower.

  "Yes. Looks like it was blasted open in the explosion," he said as

  they glided over toward the opening. A twenty-foot section of the )

  hangar adjacent to the deck had simply disappeared in the carnage.

  Under the beam of the floodlights, they could see a three-bladed air|

  craft propeller mounted on the backside of the hangar wall as they

  floated outside peering in. Applying power to the thrusters, Dirk

  turned the vehicle and zoomed forward, gliding past the I-411's

  conning tower with its multiple gun platforms still in place. The

  Starfish proceeded down the forward deck before turning and hovering

  off the bow near one of the large diving planes, which sprouted off the

  submarine like a giant wing.

  "That concludes the scenic portion of the tour," Dirk said. "Let's see

  if we can find out what she carried."

  "We better check in with the gang upstairs first," Summer said,

  slipping on her communications headset and pushing the transmit

  button.

  "Sea Rover, this is Starfish. We've found the Easter Bunny and are

  proceeding to hunt for the eggs."

  "Roger," Ryan's voice crackled back. "Be careful with the basket."

  "I think he's more concerned about his submersible than he is about

  us," Dirk deadpanned.

  "A typical man," Summer mused, shaking her head. "Places emotional

  feelings on inanimate mechanical objects."

  "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Dirk replied

  facetiously.

  As he spoke, he gently guided the Starfish above the submarine's bow

  section, studying the forward deck. After several minutes, he spotted

  what he was looking for.

  "There's the forward hatch to the upper torpedo room. If they follow

  suit with the I-403, that's where the biological ordnance would have

  been loaded and stored."

  Dirk maneuvered the Starfish in front of the hatch before setting the

  submersible down onto the deck of the I-411 and killing the

  thrusters.

  "How's your breaking and entering skills?" he asked of Summer.

  Unlike on the I-403, the forward hatch was closed and battened tight by

  a flush-mounted wheel. Summer activated a joystick control hidden in

  the armrest of her chair and powered the hydraulics to the

  submersible's right retractable arm. As she manipulated the controls,

  the metal appendage sprang from the side of Starfish and extended

  forward in a clumsy stretch. Slowly she dropped the arm down toward

  the hatch, adjusting the toggle control with short flips to maneuver

  the device. With the precision of a surgeon, she opened the clawlike

  hand and dropped it down to the hatch, wedging the fingers into the

  open slots of the hatch wheel on the first attempt.

  "Nicely done," Dirk admired.

  "Now, if she'll just open," Summer replied. With the flick of a second

  toggle control, the articulated grip of the mechanical claw began to

  twist. Dirk and Summer both pressed their faces to the bubble window,

  intent on seeing the wheel turn. But the seal that had been locked for

  sixty years didn't budge. Summer tried toggling the grip back and

  forth a half-dozen more times but to no avail.

  "So much for my hydraulic grip," she finally muttered.

  "Keep a hold on the wheel," Dirk instructed. "We'll try a little

  leverage."

  In an instant, he powered up the thrusters and lifted the Starfish a

  few inches off the deck. With Summer gripping the hatch wheel with the

  claw, Dirk applied full reverse thrust and tried to break the seal with

  the momentum of the entire submersible. The wheel held tight, so he

  began rocking the Starfish forward and backward, trying to get a quick

  burst of leverage against the hatch.

  "I think you're going to rip the arm off," Summer cautioned.

  With silent determination, he kept trying. On the next tug, he

  observed a barely perceptible movement in the wheel. Another blast and

  the seal broke at last, the wheel jerking a quarter spin. "That's

  showing it who's boss," Summer said. "Just don't tell Ryan that his

  baby's right arm is now a few inches longer than it used to be,"
Dirk

  smiled.

  Hovering over the hatch, Summer was quickly able to spin the locking

  wheel to its stops with the articulated claw. Dirk then backed the

  Starfish away, and, with Summer holding on, the hatch finally swung up

  and open. Repositioning the submersible in front of the opening, they

  peered into the hole but could see nothing but a black void.

  "I guess this is a job for Snoopy. You have the controls," Summer

  said.

  Dirk pulled out a laptop control module and pressed the power on

  button. A row of lights lit up green as the unit was activated.

  "Ready, go fetch," he murmured while pressing a toggle switch that

  engaged a tiny thruster.

  From an external cradle tucked beneath the acrylic bubble popped out a

  small tethered Remote Operated Vehicle. No larger than an attache

  case, the tiny ROV was little more than a self-illuminated video camera

  wedged against a small set of electronic thrusters. Able to probe and

  prod into tight spaces, Snoopy was an ideal tool for exploring the deep

  and dangerous niches of a submerged wreck.

  Summer watched as Snoopy sprang into view and quickly ducked into the

  open hatch amid a spray of small bubbles. Dirk punched another console

  button and a live video feed from the ROV appeared on a color monitor.

  Watching the monitor to steer, he guided the vehicle around the

  now-familiar torpedo room. Snoopy skirted down one row of torpedoes,

  where the camera showed all five of the huge steel fish still resting

  in their racks. Circling to the other side of the bay, a duplicate