3
“I don’t believe it,” Finn said, throwing his cap down on the bunk. “We haven’t even left the harbor yet and already I’ve blown my cover!”
“What happened?” Lucas said, frowning. “It was Verne, wasn’t it? You slipped up.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” said Finn. “ ‘How’s Phillip’s leg?’ `Oh, just fine, Mr. Verne, he’s all healed up and running around campus like an undergraduate.’ Me and my big mouth. Turns out Phillip Martinson lost both legs at the Battle of Shiloh.”
“Oops,” said Lucas.
“He hasn’t told the others yet,” Finn said. “He looked smug as hell about it, but he didn’t pursue it. I wonder what he’s thinking.” He shook his head. “Damn. I told them it was a dumb idea to have us pose as university professors. And they had to pick well-known universities!”
“It was a calculated risk,” said Lucas. “Samuelson, Devries and Vandenburg didn’t know anyone from Maine or Boston. Nobody figured on Verne, though. He was a last-minute addition. Hell of a thing, running into him of all people.”
“Well, I’m going to have to think of something to tell him,” Finn said.
Lucas thought for a minute. “Why not pretend to be an undercover journalist?”
“That’s not bad,” said Finn. “Only why would a journalist need to go to such lengths just to get aboard? Why not simply come on board as a reporter?”
“Maybe because people, scientists especially, don’t really act themselves when they know there’s a reporter around taking everything down,” said Lucas. “We already know how this bunch feels about reporters.”
Finn nodded. “I like it. We’ll go with it. I’ll make Andre my assistant or something. We might as well hang on to your cover, so long as it’s not blown. Just be careful what you say, especially around Verne. He’s pretty sharp. Those others exist in that rarified atmosphere of academics, but Verne’s a writer and writers watch everything obsessively.”
“I’d say he was the least of our problems. I just keep wondering why there have been so many sightings in this fairly localized period as opposed to any other. It strongly suggests there’s a special reason why that sub is here.”
“Can you think of any particular thing about this time period that might attract them?” said Finn.
Lucas shook his head. “Hell, take your pick. Without anything positive to go on, we’d just be making wild guesses. This has to be the longest shot we’ve ever taken. That sub can translocate literally anywhere. This whole mission is nothing but a giant crap shoot.”
“Well, we can always hope the Fate Factor intervenes,” said Finn. “It would be nice to have temporal physics working for us for a change.”
“Please,” said Lucas. “I’d rather not discuss the Fate Factor so soon after that last mission.” He touched his eyepatch.
“Sorry. That was insensitive of me.”
There was a soft knock at the cabin door and Andre came in.
“The equipment’s all secure,” she said. “I’ve locked the cabin door, but it bothers me to leave it unattended.”
“If we spend all our time watching it, that will only arouse curiosity,” said Lucas. “The cabin’s locked, the ordnance is packed away and locked. No one would know what the hell to do with it if they found it, anyway. Besides, I’ve got my trusty little alarm pager right here. It’s as secure as it can be under the circumstances.”
“Just the same,” said Andre, “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping very well, alone in my cabin with a grenade launcher and ten warp grenades.”
“You can always bring some strapping young sailor in there to keep you company,” said Finn, grinning. “Just don’t tell him what’s underneath the bunk. That might kill all the romance.”
“Or it might make things more interesting,” she said with a smile.
“Well, first order of business is to check the ship out thoroughly and make note of all the crew stations,” Lucas said. “We need to find a place we can fire the grenades from without being seen. If the sub is sighted, we’ll have to move very fast. There will be a lot of excitement and that will work in our favor, because everyone will be watching the sub.”
“Suppose we are seen?” Andre said.
“Then we’ll just have to improvise,” said Lucas. “The important thing is to destroy the sub and verify its destruction. Making sure nobody starts examining the warp grenades is the second priority. Making sure we get away safely only comes third. I don’t think we’ll be in any danger. At worst, Farragut will have us put in the brig, assuming there’s a brig aboard this ship. If we get caught, they’ll want to ask us lots of questions. So let’s get our routine straight. Andre, since Finn just blew his cover-”
“What?”
“It’s not serious. Verne caught him in a lie, so you’re both undercover journalists now. Anyway, since you’re both reporters, we can’t exactly have you playing around with any scientific apparatus. I’ll take over monitoring the SADD and radar and infrared gear.”
“Just make sure none of the others gets too close a look at any of it,” Finn said.
“No problem. I’m a professor, but I’m also something of a scientist and I’ve got ambition. I’ve been developing all this newfangled equipment and I’m very paranoid and possessive about it. Don’t want anyone to steal my ideas. I may ruffle a few feathers, but these people will surely understand that.”
“Good. That should work,” said Finn.
“Andre,” Lucas said, “you’ll be in charge of the grenades. First sign of trouble, you clock out with them.”
“What about you and Finn?”
“That’ll depend on what the situation’s going to be,” said Lucas. “A warp grenade makes one hell of a depth charge. The only chance the sub’s got of escaping complete destruction is to translocate before it goes off. One of us has to stay behind at least long enough to get a reading and make sure it’s been destroyed. Since I’ll be the one monitoring the instruments, I’m the logical candidate. Finn, once you’ve fired the grenade launcher, you clock out immediately. If for some reason that proves to be impossible, make sure you’ve fired your last grenade. Andre will be feeding them to you. No matter what, she has to clock out. I’ll be scanning the instruments, so I won’t be able to cover for her. You make sure she gets away, then if you can’t clock out yourself, make sure the last grenade is fired and dump the launcher overboard.”
“What about the instruments?” said Finn. “We can’t let them get their hands on those.”
“Better the instruments than the ordnance,” said Lucas. “We’ll take it step-by-step. I will already have established that it’s experimental gear of my own design and they’ll have no reason to tie me in with you. In all the excitement, I’ll be able to get my readings. If they’re positive, then we’re home free. I can either toss them overboard when I’m done or clock out with them or just finish out the trip as Professor Priest. On the other hand, it might all go smoothly. We sight the sub, sink same, and Andre clocks out with all the gear. We report she fell overboard in all the fuss, very tragic, then wait until the ship makes port and simply walk off like the others.”
“Sounds too damned easy,” Finn said, scowling.
“The hard part’s going to be getting lucky enough to encounter the sub,” said Lucas. “And nailing it before it trans-locates. Any way you look at it, if we manage to get that lucky, the rest is easy.”
“Yeah, famous last words,” said Finn.
“That’s okay,” said Lucas. “You just keep thinking about what can go wrong. That way we’ll be able to anticipate things better. The only-”
He broke off as the alarm pager went off.
“Shit! Someone’s broken into Andre’s cabin!”
They burst out of their cabin and ran down the companionway, covering the short distance to Andre’s cabin in a moment. The door was closed, but it was unlocked and Andre had not left it that way. Finn reached into the waistband of his trousers and pulled out a small revolver, a Colt baby Patterson. 28 caliber percussion pistol. Not as lethal as a laser, but far more suited to the time. He glanced at Lucas. Lucas nodded. He reached out, opened the door quickly, and stepped out of the way while Finn went in low, in case whoever was inside was armed.
Jules Verne was sitting on the bunk. He had opened the locks on their portmanteau and traveling chest and
