the news loop had repeated itself on CNN twice since David and Kelly had stepped into the galley.
“Look at our fearless financial backer,” Alandale said, poking fun at Kane. “Pretending he’s fraternity pals with Juris.” He laughed lightly, as if to say it was below contempt. “Such a charade—the whole of it.”
“What do you mean, sir?” asked David. Ingles could not help but hear the note of disgust in Alandale’s last remarks.
“Why it’s a sham, his involvement. He makes phone calls. Threatens people… has a file on everyone. Squeezes them like some reincarnation of J.Edgar Hoover.”
This drew a laugh from everyone in the room. Alandale added, “Here he is acting as if without him, there is no hope or chance of success. He’s like that Trump fellow and Hitler rolled into one.”
“Juris looks so out of his element and uncomfortable, too,” said Kelly, eyes on the tube. “Don’t you think?”
“If I’m any judge of body language, yes,” said David, and to smooth things over, he off-handedly agreed. “Looks like the captain’d rather swallow bilge water than answer another question.”
Mendenhall, who’d been silently listening, muttered, “That’s for sure.”
But another question came from the suave-looking young CNN reporter on TV who said, “This one’s for the scientist, Captain Forbes and not Kane, the financier and PR guru.”
“Fire away!” challenged Kane while Forbes had stood stone-faced.
The reporter asked: “Is it true, sir, that the submersible you intend using to dive to
“When descending and ascending, yes, of course,” replied a stern-faced Forbes who looked like everyone’s idea of a white-bearded college professor, and who had cultivated a startling resemblance to Captain Edward J. Smith who, according to history, had gone down with
“Losing his temper,” commented Alandale who then sipped at his coffee.
At the same time, on the TV, another reporter fired off with, “And so pilot and crew are literally submerged within the submersible?”
“I just said that. Didn’t I make myself clear? Yes; it cuts down on any fear of implosion, and there’s no difficulty leaving the submersible for the shipwreck.”
“Sounds like science fiction!” shouted a third reporter. “Man on Mars stuff, you know? I mean men roaming the very depths of
“Its time has come!” shouted Kane now. “And I fear time has come for Dr. Forbes to return to his command; I am sure he is anxious to make all the final preparations and necessary checks of our multi-billion dollar equipment aboard
David could tell that Forbes needed no second telling, bolting as he did from the microphones with a quick wave of the hand. Kane raised both hands and basked in the adoration and said, “I’m prepared to take a few more questions.”
Now grumbling and at end of his own patience with the news report, the fed up galley cook switched the TV off. David noticed a subtle, silent signal between Alandale and Cookie—otherwise known as Frank O’Bannion, who shouted to any and all, “Eat! You’ll need all your strength where you’re goin’.”
Kelly held up her fork and let what remained of the eggs cascade back to her pewter plate just as Cookie lobbed another ladle full before her.
David stifled a laugh to see her eyes roll back in her head, and he was quick to cover his plate with his hand to say in no uncertain terms that he’d had enough.
As Juris Forbes made his getaway from the galley, he ran into Lou Swigart, his man in charge of the dive team. “Are they all aboard, Lou?” he asked.
“To a man, yes. Got our first introductions out of the way.”
“Good… good. And it certainly feels good to be underway.”
“Decided you’d rather we got started; figured no sense waiting, and no telling how long Kane was going to be flapping. Just glad to be underway, Juris—Captain.”
“What a circus. I had hoped to hell to be outta port before he could show up, but no such luck. Then I was just praying to get out to sea as quickly as possible before that fool decided he wanted to ride along ‘for the jollies’ as he’s so fond of saying.”
“I’m sick to death of the man, so you needn’t tip-toe ’round me! But there’s sure to be a mole among the crew, and I suspect it’s that fellow Alandale’s taken under his wing.”
“David Ingles?”
“No, no! That crewman named Houston Ford.”
“You think Alandale can’t attract a guy like Ford?”
“All right, maybe it isn’t Ford, but there’s got to be a plant somewhere aboard. Are you sure of the women, Gambio and Dr. Irvin?”
“I am sure neither one has ties to Kane, yes.”
“All right, but what about their diving ability with that liquid air equipment?”
“Yes, Juris, I am as sure of them as the men. Hell, they’ve done better in all the trials and training than the men, Captain.”
“Ah, then it’s true… women do better breathing OFPC-413 than do the men.”
“Proven fact, yes. No one has yet figured out why, but the supposition is that females are more ahhh… in tune with the collective memory of the womb, maybe even of the origins of life, but who knows. Anyhow, yeah, it’s true.”
“Kelly Irvin has certainly blossomed. Going from file clerk to marine biologist, oceanographer, and diver all in matter of a few years.”
“Woods Hole insisted we have a member of the team on board expressly to seek out marine specimens at the depths we’re headed, remember?”
“That’s why I recommended her to you, Lou.”
Nodding, Lou returned to the subject of the money man, Kane. “The thought of Kane aboard makes me shudder. I’m with you on that, Captain. Best pray he doesn’t fly out on that chopper anytime soon.”
Forbes liked being called Captain on such expeditions; it was his one vanity. But his forte was Oceanography and finding things under the waves. He’d worked as a young man with the famous Bob Ballard, and he had worked with Lou Swigart on several missions. He trusted Swigart above all; knew what to expect of the man. No surprises and none of the sarcasm Alandale heaped on him. No, Lou was a serious fellow, and Lou was resolutely predictable. Not everyone was. Forbes knew Swigart to be that rare individual who not only could command the respect of his men, but control his team as well. His vast knowledge of this new deep-water dive technology and state-of-the-art submersibles, paired with his deep-water experience made him uniquely qualified to take men and women into places where no one had gone before.
Swigart would be captain on the submersible; he’d be in charge down there at the dive site—at
NBC’s
