just want to know those three things - the extent of the damage, the location of this ticking noise and to see if it's possible to remove this atom bomb or whatever, which I'm convinced in advance is impossible. You are aware of the dangers and you are aware that I cannot order you to do this. How does the prospect appeal, Chief?"
'It doesn't appeal at all, sir.' Carrington was imperturbable. 'Neither Bill Grant nor I is cast in the heroic mould. We'll walk very softly down there. You shouldn't be worrying about us, you should be worrying about what your crew is thinking. If we slip up they'll all join us in the wide blue yonder or whatever. I know you want to come down, sir, but is it really necessary? We're pretty experienced in moving around inside wrecks without banging into things and we're both Torpedo Gunner Mates and explosives, you might say, are our business. Not, I admit, the kind of explosives you have down there but we know enough not to trigger a bomb by accident.'
'And we might?' Talbot smiled. 'You're very tactful, Chief. What you mean is that we might bang into things or kick a detonator on the nose or something of the kind. When you say "necessary", do you mean "wise"? I refer to our diving experience or lack of it.'
'We know about your diving experience, sir. You will understand that when we knew what we were coming into we made some discreet enquiries. We know that you have commanded a submarine and the Lieutenant-Commander was your first lieutenant. We know you've both been through the HMS Dolphin Submarine Escape Tower and that you've done more than a fair bit of free diving. No, we don't think you'll be getting in our way or banging things around.' Carrington turned up palms in acceptance. 'What's your battery capacity, sir?'
'For essential and non-mechanical purposes, ample. Several days.'
'We'll put down three weighted floodlights and suspend them about twenty feet above the bottom. That should illuminate the plane nicely. We'll have a powerful hand-flash each.
We have a small bag of tools for cutting, sawing and snipping. We also have an oxyacetylene torch, which is rather more difficult to use under water than most people imagine, but as this is just a reconnaissance trip we won't be taking it along. The closed-circuit breathing is of the type we prefer, fifty-fifty oxygen and nitrogen with a carbon dioxide scrubber. At the depth of a hundred feet, which is what we will be at, we could easily remain underwater for an hour without any risk of either oxygen poisoning or decompression illness. That's academic, of course. Provided there's access to the plane and the fuselage is not crushed a few minutes should tell us all we want to know.
'Two points about the helmet. There's a rotary chin switch which you depress to activate an amplifier that lets us talk, visor to visor. A second press cuts it off. It also has a couple of sockets over the ears where you can plug in what is to all effects a stethoscope.'
'That's all?'
'All.'
'We can go now?'
'A last check, sir?' Carrington didn't have to specify what check.
Talbot lifted a phone, spoke briefly and replaced it.
'Our friend is still at work.'
The water was warm and still and so very clear that they could see the lights of the suspended arc-lamps even before they dipped below the surface of the darkened Aegean. With Carrington in the lead and using the marker buoy anchor rope as a guide they slid down fifty feet and stopped.
The three arc-lamps had come to rest athwart the sunken bomber, sharply illuminating the fuselage and the two wings. The left wing, though still attached to the fuselage, had been almost completely sheared off between the inner engine and the fuselage and was angled back about thirty degrees from normal. The tail unit had been almost completely destroyed. The fuselage, or that part of it that could be seen from above, appeared to be relatively intact. The nose cone of the plane was shrouded in
'It doesn't appeal at all, sir.' Carrington was imperturbable. 'Neither Bill Grant nor I is cast in the heroic mould. We'll walk very softly down there. You shouldn't be worrying about us, you should be worrying about what your crew is thinking. If we slip up they'll all join us in the wide blue yonder or whatever. I know you want to come down, sir, but is it really necessary? We're pretty experienced in moving around inside wrecks without banging into things and we're both Torpedo Gunner Mates and explosives, you might say, are our business. Not, I admit, the kind of explosives you have down there but we know enough not to trigger a bomb by accident.'
'And we might?' Talbot smiled. 'You're very tactful, Chief. What you mean is that we might bang into things or kick a detonator on the nose or something of the kind. When you say "necessary", do you mean "wise"? I refer to our diving experience or lack of it.'
'We know about your diving experience, sir. You will understand that when we knew what we were coming into we made some discreet enquiries. We know that you have commanded a submarine and the Lieutenant-Commander was your first lieutenant. We know you've both been through the HMS Dolphin Submarine Escape Tower and that you've done more than a fair bit of free diving. No, we don't think you'll be getting in our way or banging things around.' Carrington turned up palms in acceptance. 'What's your battery capacity, sir?'
'For essential and non-mechanical purposes, ample. Several days.'
'We'll put down three weighted floodlights and suspend them about twenty feet above the bottom. That should illuminate the plane nicely. We'll have a powerful hand-flash each.
We have a small bag of tools for cutting, sawing and snipping. We also have an oxyacetylene torch, which is rather more difficult to use under water than most people imagine, but as this is just a reconnaissance trip we won't be taking it along. The closed-circuit breathing is of the type we prefer, fifty-fifty oxygen and nitrogen with a carbon dioxide scrubber. At the depth of a hundred feet, which is what we will be at, we could easily remain underwater for an hour without any risk of either oxygen poisoning or decompression illness. That's academic, of course. Provided there's access to the plane and the fuselage is not crushed a few minutes should tell us all we want to know.
'Two points about the helmet. There's a rotary chin switch which you depress to activate an amplifier that lets us talk, visor to visor. A second press cuts it off. It also has a couple of sockets over the ears where you can plug in what is to all effects a stethoscope.'
'That's all?'
'All.'
'We can go now?'
'A last check, sir?' Carrington didn't have to specify what check.
Talbot lifted a phone, spoke briefly and replaced it.
'Our friend is still at work.'
The water was warm and still and so very clear that they could see the lights of the suspended arc-lamps even before they dipped below the surface of the darkened Aegean. With Carrington in the lead and using the marker buoy anchor rope as a guide they slid down fifty feet and stopped.
The three arc-lamps had come to rest athwart the sunken bomber, sharply illuminating the fuselage and the two wings. The left wing, though still attached to the fuselage, had been almost completely sheared off between the inner engine and the fuselage and was angled back about thirty degrees from normal. The tail unit had been almost completely destroyed. The fuselage, or that part of it that could be seen from above, appeared to be relatively intact. The nose cone of the plane was shrouded in
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