Sessions walked to the navigation table, and spoke with his senior chief. They studied the digital charts and ran some calculations.
'Captain,' Sessions said. 'Advise that from out present position, the distance to the mouth of the Skagerrak is two and a quarter times as great if we take the northern route through the Iceland-U.K. gap, compared to running the Channel.'.
'Exactly,' Jeffrey said.
'But the southern route, through the Channel, sir, would require a much slower speed, because of the shallows and the intensity of antisubmarine measures…. We won't save any time, and may actually lose time.'
'Ladies and gentlemen,' Jeffrey said. 'This ship has an appointment in the Baltic Sea. We need to get there before the upcoming magnetic storm dies down, and for another reason that some of you know, that I can only say is classified. From right now we've barely four days to get in position, and Lord knows if that's soon enough. We are go-ing through the Channel, to regain strategic surprise, and we are going to make up lost time, because we have to.'
Ilse thought of ARBOR, the mole. Was she already dangling from a gallows?
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
Ilse knocked on Lieutenant Bell's door.
'Come in.'She entered.
'Shut it behind you.'
Ilse felt her gut tighten. Bell looked at her as if she were a total stranger.
'The messenger said you wanted to see me.' She reached for the guest chair.
'Don't,' Bell said. 'I'll keep this short and sweet.' 'Sir?'
'You were completely out of line in the CACC.' Ilse bristled. 'How so?'
'Your remark about a second German submarine.' 'But it could be true, couldn't it?'
'Yes, it could be true. That long silence you felt so compelled to fill? Everyone in the compartment was thinking that already. Do you have some kind of a patent on undersea tactics? What could you possibly accomplish by giving voice to everyone's fears?'
'I, er…'
'Exactly. You didn't even think of that, did you? The submariner community's very tight. Half the people on Challenger have, or had, friends on Texas. You didn't even think of the effect you'd have on your shipmates' morale.'
Whew 'Did Jeffrey put you up to this?'
'That's Captain Fuller to you,' Bell snapped. 'And no, he did not. Discipline is my job.'
'I, look, I, I want to make a contribution here.' Ilse knew she was stammering, and felt angry with herself.
'Don't you have any common sense on when to keep your mouth shut?'
'No, Lieutenant, I'm sorry, that's just too harsh. I'm here for a reason. Lieutenant Sessions talked back to the Captain, just before, in front of everyone.'
'First of all, Miss Reebeck, you address me as Mister Bell, or preferably as XO.'
'Well, I didn't know that.'
'Second of all, Lieutenant Sessions has been in the Navy ten years. It's his job as navigator to devil's- advocate the Captain. Your job is to concentrate on your specific scientific tasks, under the direction of the sonar officer. Consider her your boss. Do nothing without her prior consent.'
'No one told me that.'
'Captain Fuller told you that. He said to work with Lieutenant Milgrom. Right?' Ilse nodded.
'When the captain of a naval ship says something, it's not a request or a suggestion. It's an order, dammit.' 'Yes, sir.' Ilse moved to the door. ' May I go now?' 'No. I'll tell you when you're dismissed. You realize, don't you, that you completely violated security back there?' 'Excuse me?'
'The crew is not supposed to know exactly where we're going. The same thing that happened to Texas could happen to us. RECURVE is highly classified. You just blurted it out. Greifswald. How careless can you be?'
Ilse hesitated. It all sank in at once. Celebrity syndrome; prima donna. She'd been warned by the chief of the boat, and just ignored it.
'Oh, God.'
'Your wardroom privileges are revoked.'
'Excuse me?'
'From now on you eat in the enlisted mess. That's all. Get out of here.' Ilse closed the door behind her, in shock. Two crewmen wriggled by. They read her face and looked away. She covered up as best she could and hurried to her stateroom.
THE NEXT DAY, ON DEUTSCHLAND
'Still no contact on Challenger, Captain,' Ernst Beck said. As ordered, Deutschland lurked at the Celtic Shelf, just west of the U.K.
'We can't afford to take the chance they snuck right past us,' Eberhard said. 'We'll have to try an end-around, to cut Fuller off. Einzvo, have the navigator plot a course for the English Channel.'
NIGHT OF D DAY MINUS 4, ON CHALLENGER
Ilse changed to pajamas, exhausted from work and her seesaw emotions. Visions of false-color 3-D bathythermograms danced in her head, colliding with probability isobars of early winter pack-ice drift.
She felt Challenger speed up.
'Fast, then slow, then fast again, over and over and over.' Kathy, reading a novel in her rack, grunted. 'Sprint and drift tactics. It's the only way to get where we're going by the deadline, and have a prayer of not getting killed.'
'But isn't it dangerous, going so fast for most of the time? Noisy?'
'Yes. That's why we stop to listen.'
'But—'
'Don't say it,' Kathy said. 'Just don't.'
Ilse climbed into her rack, then tried to adjust the covers without banging her elbows or her head. She awkwardly pulled the little curtain closed, then groped and turned off her reading light.
Oh, God, it felt good to just lie down and shut out the world.
'G'night, Kathy.'
'I missed you at dinner,' Kathy said from inside her bunk, with an interrogatory tone. Her light stayed on. Ilse sighed. 'It's a long story'
'I see; please go on.'
Ilse realized she couldn't keep it from Kathy forever. What if Kathy already knew?
'The XO put me in hack. For shooting my mouth off
in Control. He said I have to eat in the enlisted mess.'
'I heard, and shame on you for being such a bad girl.' 'Are you mocking me?' Ilse said. Kathy changed her tone. 'I was trying to cheer you up.' 'Sorry'
'The food's the same as in the wardroom, Ilse, and the atmosphere in the enlisted mess is more relaxed.'
