USA
Copyright© 2016 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 41
In the tropics ... and we were absolutely in the tropics ... Noumea is at 22° 16′ 0″ S, 166° 28′ 0″ E; that's twenty two degrees, sixteen minutes, zero seconds, south of the Equator; the Tropics start at 23° 26′ 13.8, the sun is almost as reflective as the snow in the snowy wastes of Alaska.
The ripples glisten like light reflected from a very good quality diamond, but no diamond ever had billions of brilliants. The ocean is huge and the reflected light from even a minor chop was blinding. Picking out the flash from a periscope lens cover is a pure miracle. Channet and I both saw it.
The Zeiss turret binoculars came equipped with a sun filter switch and I had immediately engaged it even before I placed my eyes on the eyepieces. It wasn't much but it was enough for the raised stalk to be seen ... the upright floating stick Channet had seen before the engine room explosion. It was time.
I altered course in my normal manner.
"TACKING. Coming about, 'Ware the booms Nothing suspicious, nothing out of the ordinary ... our normal tack and coming about. We settled in to our normal course.
I blew into the engine room voice tube. It whistled in the silent engine room.
"Scottie!"
"Aye, Captain."
"Step up to the wheel please," I said. "Bring Inkeri with."
"Aye Captain."
It's not all that far from the engine room to the bridge ... I laugh. Bridge! Very funny, David.
"Captain?"
"Scottie. We have a serious situation."
"The Japanese sub?" Scottie asked.
"You knew?"
"It's very quiet down below ... the Japs aren't being very quiet. After dark, they surface and charge batteries. Some times they run across the moon streak."
The moon streak is the reflected light of the moon reflecting off the water.
"It's an old sub ... Captain," Scottie said. "One gasoline engine ... might even be a Holland."
"They're stalking us?"
"Probably..."
"Do they do this often?"
"Captain, I was a drunk ... people talk around me. They're sure I won't remember. I remember."
"What?"
"A group of Imperial Navy officers were meeting some American arms merchants in a bar in Saigon. The Japs wanted a German submarine ... the Yanks had one. This would have been ten years or so ago." Scottie ruminated. "The officers were saying something about trading in the islands ... and eliminating the competition. Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere."
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.