suggested. He told us to go tell Dobrynin to fiddle with his reactor and send us home. He was speaking in jest, but now we find that this may end up being the truth after all.”
“What do you suggest we do, Fedorov? Should we test it?
“You mean complete the maintenance procedure and see what happens?”
“Of course! Dobrynin, is there any reason why you could not run this procedure now?”
“Now, sir? Well, nothing in principle, except I think we should wait for the men to clear the last of this seawater. The rods are just absorbing neutrons produced by the fission in the core. They just moderate the temperature of the reaction and control the flux.”
“Why would this maintenance procedure cause these neutron flux events you’ve recorded? They were very unusual, yes? Not normal?”
“I’m not exactly sure. If there was an air leak in the inspection module and the zirconium alloy coating the rods came into contact with air we could get oxidation there that would produce hydrogen. But the monitors have not detected any unusual hydrogen levels. I could also check the cooling water for contaminants. It must remain very pure, no ions, no chlorides.”
“Run some diagnostics, Dobrynin, and if possible, try to complete a normal maintenance procedure as soon as possible. Be sure to inform the bridge when you do so.”
“Very good, sir.”
“This is going to be interesting,” said Fedorov. “How long will this procedure take, Chief?”
“I should have everything ready to go in an hour. After that, the rod inspection normally takes two hours.”
“Then do it exactly as you would any other time,” said Volsky. “I want it perfectly routine. No rush. Just let us know when you complete it. Come now, Fedorov, let us get to the bridge. What were those three missiles I heard a while back?”
“Japanese planes out of Port Moresby. They were flying a typical search pattern and one group got a little too curious. Karpov took them down.”
“It sounded like the Klinok system. I thought as much. Well, Fedorov, now that we’ve got the repairs well in hand what next? We are in the Coral Sea, where should we steer?”
“We’ll want to stay well away from the Solomons. They would be east of our present position. I suspect there will be fighting there, whether the history has changed or not. Some places just have strategic magnetism about them, and the Southern Solomons is one of them insofar as this campaign is concerned.”
“Should we try to go north?”
“I wouldn’t advise it, sir. That’s all Japanese territory, and New Britain Island, the Bismarck barrier, will force us into restricted channels within range of Japanese air bases at Lae and Rabaul. The Bismarck Sea north of that Island is a Japanese lake at the moment. No, I think we must go south.”
“What about the Americans. Should they discover us they may be as dogged as the Japanese, particularly if they should manage to put two and two together and realize we are the ship responsible for that attack in the North Atlantic.”
“That would be quite a stretch, sir. I suggest we stay on a heading of 135 degrees southeast. That should keep us in the Coral Sea for a good long while, but well off the Australian Coast. There will not be much threat from the Australians. They had very little air or naval power to speak of at this point. New Caledonia is another matter. There’s a big American buildup underway at Noumea. We should keep well away from that place, and this course will give us a 400 mile buffer. We’ll eventually approach New Zealand on that heading, but we can turn on 90 degrees due east well before that and head into the South Pacific. That will take us down below the fireworks in the Solomons, and who knows, sir, we might even find your island girls out there somewhere. Tonga is 400 miles southeast of Fiji, then there is Niue, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Tahiti, Bora Bora, even Pitcairn Island. That’s the most isolated place I can think of on earth. The mutineers from the old ship Bounty settled there, but it’s virtually deserted.”
“Let’s have a look at French Polynesia first,” said Volsky. “That is assuming we can slip away from these Japanese without any more dive bombers coming through the roof.”
“We should know more near dawn, sir. With
“French Polynesia sounds much better to me,” said Volsky. “But Fedorov, if Dobrynin completes his maintenance, we could see changes in a matter of hours, assuming our little theory here proves to be true.”
“Possibly, sir.”
“And supposing we do move again, start shifting. It was very subtle last time. How will we know?”
“I think we’ll get enough clues—the radio traffic would suddenly disappear, we can look for changes in known weather patterns, even time of day. Remember when we shifted into the Med we went from night to day in just a few minutes time.”
The Admiral sighed. “Well now we get to choose which nightmare we end up living in, I suppose. If it was Dobrynin’s maintenance routine causing us to move, we can control that, yes? We can choose to stay put. The only thing is this: will the world still be empty if we shift again? Will we still be sailing from one dark radiation blighted shore to another?”
“Well, sir, we can’t really know. We’re changing the history each time we appear. We have no way to predict what we will find if we do displace forward in time again. But even if we do, I tend to think French Polynesia will not be on anyone’s target list.”
“I would hope not,” said Volsky sadly.
Fedorov completed his report as they walked, and then, seeing the Admiral was looking very tired, he suggested sleep. “Sir, it’s just after midnight. I can see to the last of the damage control work with Chief Byko. Why not get some rest.”
“I was considering that. In fact I think I will do so. Thank you, Mister Fedorov. But wake me if Dobrynin reports anything unusual.”
“He said it could be hours after the procedure before he might notice anything, sir, even a full day.”
“In that case I will sleep well, but don’t hesitate to wake me. And if you can get some rest yourself, that would also be good.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The night folded quietly about the ship, the seas rising a bit with the rain, though the storm was not severe. A little after 02:00 hours Fedorov was awakened by the deep drone of planes, high up, and called up to the bridge to find out what it was. Rodenko reported that there was a small flight of six planes coming up from the south, at high altitude, and on a heading that would take them to Port Moresby.
“Those will be American B-17 bombers, Rodenko. They probably took off from Cairns or Cooktown a few hours ago for a run up to Port Moresby. It obviously isn’t a serious raid, just harassment. I would not think they pose much of a threat. In fact, I don’t think they even know we are here.”
“We’ve been running dark all night,” said Rodenko.
“Then leave them alone. Take your next rest leave, and I’ll be back on the bridge soon. You can turn your station over to Kalinichev.”
Rodenko took the friendly advice and was glad that he did. It was to be the last chance for a little peace and quiet the ship would have for some time.
Events to the east were broiling up into a major air/sea battle, and far off in the Solomons, another Admiral was taking undo interest in these reports coming from Hara’s group. The name
Chapter 21
The reports coming in from the Western operation were very strange. Staff spent hours
