by Paul Byers
“Gabriel Pike, this is Brian Centers. Brian, Gabriel Pike.” Miles made the introductions. “Brian here is one of our best tunnel rats. He can find his way around these tunnels in the dark, in fact he has a couple of times. So even though you have the map, it never hurts to have a local guide.”
“Glad to have the help,” Pike said as he reached out his hand.
“Thank you sir. When do you want to leave?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Yes sir. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll get us a cart.” Centers turned and walked out the door.
“This is your baby.” Pike said. “How long do you think it will take to check out all the service tunnels?”
Miles thought for a moment “Four, maybe five long days if you really want to cover every inch of every tunnel, though I don’t think that will really be necessary.”
“Why’s that?”
“Most of the tunnels are redundant in their features, just servicing the cooling/heating piping and ducting. If it’s structural integrity you’re worried about,” Miles took the pad and pulled up and overall view of the barge, “as you can see, none of the tunnels are closer than ten feet to the outside. Obviously you can check anywhere you’d like but I might suggest that you start with the four main coolant/heat exchangers above the ships.” Miles brought up another screen showing where the four relay stations were and the piping going out from them.
“Ready to go when you are sir.” Centers said as he popped his head in the door. “Be right there.” Pike replied looking at Centers then back to Miles. “Thanks Dean, I appreciate your advice.” Pike shook his hand then left.
“Where to sir?” Centers asked as Pike climbed into a modified golf cart.
“It’s Gabe or Gabriel, which ever you prefer.
Centers relaxed a little. “Okay Gabe, where would you like to go?”
“Let’s head in the general direction of the bow, front or forward, whatever you call it on this thing.”
Centers nodded and with a small fishtail on the ice, they entered the main tunnel.
“How long have you been on board?” Pike asked.
“Almost since the beginning.”
“So you really do know your way around this tub then?”
“Oh yes sir.” Centers replied, a prideful smile on his face. “I helped lay nearly every foot of pipe on this thing.”
Pike nodded his head. “Good. Then where would you suggest I start?”
“Start? What are you looking for?”
“Mr. Cain has me doing the final safety inspection for the Coast Guard so we can get approval to bring the barge into New York harbor.”
“Where did Mr. Miles tell you to go?”
Pike smiled and shook his head. “I know where he suggested. I want to know where would you suggest?”
Centers thought for a moment then stopped the cart. “May I see the pad please?”
“Are you looking at the safety of the structural integrity of the barge or the mechanical?”
“Both.”
“Okay. For the mechanical, I would start here.” He brought up a screen showing the four-coolant/heat exchangers. Pike was just about to say that that was where Miles suggested when Centers took his finger and ran it across the screen, moving past the exchangers to another set of relays.
“What are these?” Pike asked, staring at the screen.
“These are the secondaries for the juice.”
“Juice?”
“Sorry, that’s what we call the mix we pump through the piping. The juice flows up from the ships to these four main exchanges. From here they are sent, under pressure, to the next set of relays and so on. Each set of relays increases the pressure so the juice can reach the outer pipes.” Centers flipped through the screens showing the pipes branching out, going from the primary to the secondary to the sub relays, giving Pike an overall view of the piping network. Then he scrolled back to the secondary relays.
“Like I said, I would start here because this is where the most initial pressure will come from, shooting out the juice to all the sub-relays.”
“What would happen if one or more of these secondary relays failed?”
“It’s hard to say. In theory, nothing. There are back up systems in place to take over in case of a failure. In theory, the juice would stop flowing and eventually that section of the barge would begin to melt. But that shouldn’t be a problem because of the extremely slow rate of melting; a brand new pump could be flown in and installed before any appreciable ice would be lost. I suppose at the other end of the scale the worst case scenario would be that one or more lines would rupture and they couldn’t turn off the main pump for whatever reason, then the back flow would flood the cavern.” The barge wouldn’t sink, but Mr. Cain would be out a whole lot of money. This is new technology and such a departure from established engineering, so who really knows?”
“Okay.” Pike said, thinking for a moment. “You said you would start here at the secondary relays for any mechanical safety issues. Where would you go then for any structural concerns?”
“Here.” Centers said, bringing up another screen. The screen came to life showing the front half of the iceberg with two spots glowing red. He tapped again and the view zoomed in and turned into a digital, 3-D animation. The view pierced through the layers of ice and emerged in the cavern housing the four ships. The animation circled around two large towers that rose from the decks of the two lead ships then disappeared into the ice.
“I saw these towers yesterday. What are they?” Pike asked.
“Those are the towing bridal support towers. They support the harness that’s used to hook up to the cable the tug pulls the barge with.” Centers replied.
Pike nodded, “yeah, I can see where they’d be subject to a lot of stress.” Pike thought for a moment then checked the pad again. “Stress testing the load factors should be relatively easy so we’ll come back to the towers. Let’s check out the relays first.”
“You got it.” Centers said. “Right this way.”
Chapter Twenty Two
Pike fell on his bed exhausted, not even bothering to take off his parka. He lay there not wanting to move but as much as his muscles told him to relax, his stomach was ordering him up. He decided to compromise, stay in and order room service.
He had just mustered the energy to sit up and was gathering more strength to actually get off the bed and take a shower when the phone rang. He didn’t know why, but he half expected, half hoped that it was KD.
“Hello?”
“Hi Gabe, it’s me, Tabatha.”
“Oh...hi.”
“It sounds like you’re disappointed. Were you expecting someone else?”
“No, no, it’s not that, it’s just that I’m really tired. I spent the whole day running all over this thing doing my inspection.”
“Sounds interesting. Have you eaten yet? Nothing like a good hot meal to bring you back to life. You can tell me all about your adventure over dinner.”
“Well I was just going to get something from room service.”
“You hero types do work fast don’t you? Inviting me to your room for dinner after we only just met.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” Pike felt himself getting flustered and embarrassed. “What I meant was…” Pike stopped in mid-sentence when he heard laughter on the other end.
“It’s okay Gabe, I was only teasing.”
“Whew, you had me going there for a minute.”
“Good; well, unless you throw me out, I’ll be over in half an hour.”
“Why don’t you make it forty-five minutes; I have to take a quick shower.”
“In that case, I’ll be over in ten.”
There was dead silence on the phone. Pike didn’t know what to say. Finally after what seemed like an hour all he could come up with was “Ahhh...”
Suddenly more laughter filled Pike’s earpiece. “I’ll see you in forty-five minutes,” then she hung up.
Thirty minutes later he heard a knock on the door. “You’re early …” he started to say but stopped when he saw it was two waiters with serving carts.
“Early sir?” One of the waiters asked.
“Never mind. There must be some mistake, I haven’t ordered anything yet.”
“Yes sir.” He replied as he took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. The note read; Sorry, I took the liberty of ordering, see you in a few minutes. Tabatha.
“Sir?” The waiter asked, looking into the room
“Yes, please come in.” The waiter nodded as they rolled the two carts in. The first one was covered with silver dome-topped food servers and the second had all their dishes and silverware.
“Where would you like us to set up sir?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take it from here.” He started to reach into his pocket for their tip. “It’s all taken care of sir. Enjoy your meal.” With that, both waiters smiled and left.
Pike noticed that there was a bottle of wine and two glasses sitting on one of the carts. She must not be much of a reporter, he thought, otherwise she would know that I don’t drink. Pike’s stomach was shouting praises as heavenly aromas were beginning to escape from their silver cages. Was it impolite to peek and see what she had ordered? Should he wait for her? He decided, or should he say his stomach decided that it would be okay to take a peek since she was the one who ordered it. He lifted the lid on the closest platter and saw a beautiful porterhouse steak, still sizzling.
Suddenly he heard a knock on the door and quickly put the lid back. A twinge of nervousness shot through his body. What was he going to do if she was in a slinky black cocktail dress with the top cut down to there and the hemline way up to here? He took a deep breath, held it for a moment, blew it out slowly, then opened the door.
“I’m sorry to disturb you sir, but this was left off the cart.” The waiter said, holding a pitcher of iced tea.
“Please.” Pike motioned for him to come in. The waiter quickly came in, set the pitcher down then left. You’re losing it Gabriel, he said to himself. Just then there was another knock on the door. He opened the door wondering what the waiter had forgotten this time. Instead, he was standing face to face with Tabatha Amies.
“Well there’s a look I don’t get every day.” She said.
It took Pike a second to snap out of his surprise. “Sorry. It’s just that…never mind, please come in.” There was no slinky cocktail dress as she was wearing blue jeans, a white button down blouse with a jean jacket over it. He wasn’t sure if he was relived or disappointed.
“What’s for dinner? It sure smells good.” Pike said.
“You didn’t look.”
“No, that would be rude, not waiting for my guest.” He paused for a second, “Okay, yes I did, curiosity and the aroma got the better of me.”
“It’s okay; I won’t report you to the manners police.”
“Good, because I’m starved. Allow me to set the table.” Yesterday’s newspaper was spread out over the small table in the corner by the window. With a sweeping motion of his hand, he sent all the papers flying into the corner onto the floor. Tabatha did nothing to hide the curiosity that flooded her face as she watched her host going about his business. Pike disappeared into the bathroom and returned a moment later with two hand towels and laid them on the table as place mats. “Don’t worry, they’re clean.” He smiled, then walked over and took her by the hand, “If you please Madame,” and seated her at the table.
He served the food, consisting of salad, dinner rolls and a steak for each of them. When he was done, he stood back for a moment, tapping his chin, thinking. “That’s it!” He said, snapping his fingers. He walked over to the desk and entered a few commands on to his laptop then grabbed it and brought it over to the table. He set it down and opened it up to a scene of a fireplace burning brightly.
“I thought this was appropriate, being as we’re floating on a giant chunk of ice.” Pike smiled.
“You’re good.” She laughed. “Now all we need is some good music.”
“I’d serenade you, but since you said good music….” He reached over and pushed another key. Violin and cello chamber music began playing.
Tabatha sat up a little bit, tilting her head to one side, listening intently. “I know that.” She said excitedly. “That’s Haydn’s Opus 20, the “Sun” quartet. I played that when I was in college. How did you know?”
Pike smiled, “I may not be a reporter, but I do know how to use the internet. You’re a famous person so it was easy to find information about you. By the way, I think you would have won the talent contest you entered if you hadn’t had that wardrobe malfunction.”
Suddenly her face was flush with embarrassment, and then she reached over and hit him on the arm. “I was four years old!”
“You know,” Pike said between a bite of salad, quickly changing the subject, “Haydn is generally credited with creating the modern form of chamber music as we know it.”
“My music instructor often told us that. He was a great fan of Haydn.”
“Yes, but it was Beethoven who transformed chamber music, raising it to a new plane don’t you think? Both in terms of its content and in terms of the technical demands it made on its performers and its audiences?”
“That’s true, although I prefer the depth and variety that Mozart brought to his compositions. I liked the way he brought an independent role for the string instruments to chamber music, how he used them to counter the piano.”
Pike nodded his head in approval as he ate a large piece of steak. Tabatha looked at him for a moment then a suspicious smile began forming on her face. “You really don’t have a clue about what I’m talking about do you?”
Pike stopped in mid-chew, looking like the cat with the canary caught in his mouth. He grunted as he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “I read it on the internet right before you got here.” He replied sheepishly.
She studied him for an instant then burst out in laughter. “You are an interesting man, Gabriel Pike.”
“Thank you.” He said, tilting his head to one side. “This is a fine Bordeaux, would you like some?” He asked as he took the bottle of wine. He popped the cork, let the bottle breath, and then poured her a glass. He set the wine bottle down then poured his iced tea into the other wineglass. “A toast,” he said as he raised his glass.”
“And to what are we drinking?”
“To the power of the internet. To Haydn, wardrobe malfunctions and crackling fires,” he said looking at the computer screen. “And to new friendships.” He finished, smiling back at her. Their glasses clanged, the music played, the fire crackled as they sipped their drinks and stared into each other’s eyes. Magic was floating about the room…right until the phone rang and brought it down in flames.
“Excuse me please.” Pike apologized as he got up to answer the phone. “Hello,” he said, trying his best to hide the frustration in his voice.
“Well, hello to you too.”
“K.D.!” Pike could do nothing to cover the surprise in his voice. He was happy to hear from her yet he also felt embarrassed.
“You don’t seem too happy to hear from me. Am I interrupting anything?”
“Well, yes, I mean no. I was just having dinner…with a friend.”
“Oh, sorry. I’ll call back later. Talk to you soon.”
“Okay, thanks, bye.” He stood there for a second, not quite knowing what to think. He was glad to hear from her yet he felt guilty because he had another woman in his room, yet he knew he shouldn’t feel that way because there was nothing between them, or him and Tabatha. And yet he was a little disappointed at the same time because of the way she seemed to take it all in stride, considering it no big deal.
He tu
rned back around to find Tabatha looking at him with a sly look on her face. “That was K.D…Crooks, just a co-worker, from the office, back home in Seattle.”
“I see,” was her simple reply.
Pike sat back down and began eating again. He had taken two bites of his steak when he realized that Tabatha was just looking at him, reading him like book. “May I ask you a question Gabe?”
“Sure,” he answered almost hesitantly.
“Why do you look guilty of committing some great crime against humanity?”
“I do?”
“Yes, you do. Let me ask you another question. Is she your girlfriend?
“No.”
“Does she think she is?”
“No.”
“Do you think she is?”
“No.”
“Have you slept with her?”
“NO!”
“Do you feel guilty sitting here with me?”
Pike paused for a moment. “After the phone call… a little I guess.”
“Why?”
Pike shook his head and threw his hands up in the air. “That’s just it, I don’t know why. K.D. and I don’t have a past and you and I just met. So I have no reason whatsoever to feel guilty about anything.”
“And yet you do.”
“Yeah,” he replied, letting out a long sigh.
Tabatha laughed, but it wasn’t a mocking laugh. “Like I said, Gabriel Pike, you are an interesting man.”
Chapter Twenty Three
“Thanks for letting me take a look around Captain.”
“My Pleasure, Mr. Pike,” replied Captain Daniel Gregory. Gregory was a fit man in his mid-fifties with salt and pepper hair and a neatly trimmed matching beard. He projected an air of confidence and experience that immediately set Pike’s mind at ease.
Pike was standing on the Command Bridge of the iceberg, looking out the huge glass windows affording a beautiful view of the ocean; only today, the view was not so magnificent. The sky was a mass of solid, dull gray clouds. The sea was running in long, fifteen-foot rolling swells, topped with white peaks, before a strong, unrelenting wind.