Chapter 26

An Amazing Place

Interdictor arrived at McMurdo Sound in the middle of a gale. Her captain ordered the helmsman to heave to, to stand off shore while the expedition leader radioed the base commander.

"Commander Blevins," Gunter Hahn called, "this is SeaVire Services expedition aboard Interdictor. I believe you were told to expect us. Is a facility prepared and ready for our security team?"

"Ahh, SeaVire Services, be advised that we were not consulted in this matter. If someone had done so, we would have advised you at that time that no building or rooms are available. Due to the extreme location and nature of our facility, we have been allowed no such excess capacity. Nor is it possible to relocate personnel or equipment to make housing space available. You will understand, I am sure, that it is impossible to put people or essential equipment outside into the snow. I regret whatever inconvenience this may cause you. Perhaps you have room on your vessel that will serve your needs? I am certain that you understand our situation, SeaVire Services? McMurdo Station, clear."

Gunter Hahn stared at the radio loudspeaker as if he'd not heard correctly. Surely, there was some misunderstanding? Herr Director Schmidt had been most specific that a secure facility would be available for their use at McMurdo! He turned to the radioman:

"Kohler, take down the following message for transmission to Herr Director Schmidt at central offices. Usual encryption. After you send it, please notify me immediately when there is a reply." Hahn dictated a brief report of Commander Blevins' failure to provide a facility, and stated that temporary shipboard holding cells would be arranged until more satisfactory cooperation would be forthcoming.

Hahn strode briskly to the bridge to report to Captain Otto Hartmann, a tall, formal man who had formerly commanded a fast frigate in the East German Volksmarine coastal defense force. When the Berlin Wall came down, Captain Hartmann lost his command. He found a much more lucrative commission with SeaVire Services.

"Captain, we have been informed by the American base commander that he has no room for us, and has no ability to make room. I have sent a message to Herr Schmidt, but I do not think we will see a quick resolution. Perhaps we should position ourselves to ride out this weather more comfortably, and begin preparations for our primary mission?"

Two days later the sea state had subsided sufficiently that Interdictor and her teams were ready to launch helicopters and fast boats. They would begin a sonobuoy search in the area where the McMurdo science researcher discovered unusual sea creature behavior patterns.

Captain Hartmann and Expedition Leader Hahn fumed in frustration with the American base commander's complete lack of cooperation; his unyielding resistance to their demands. Hahn got an answer back from Schmidt authorizing him to make the most insistent formal demands, not only for security facilities at McMurdo, but also to demand that the scientist, Christie, and her lead assistant, be made available for helicopter transport to the Interdictor. Their presence was needed for detailed interviews concerning her findings. Hahn very much wanted her best predictions for the behavior of the unique penguins if they were pursued for capture.

"Remind the Commander that this mission and these requirements are approved by the highest levels of his government. Inquire if he has received instructions to that effect, and insist on his immediate compliance!" Schmidt's message said.

Hahn did that. It got no cooperation.

"Mr. Hahn," Blevins said, quite stiffly and formally in his final radio communication, "I have received instructions from my superiors and I understand that I am obliged to make every effort to comply with your requests. Were it at all possible, I would have done so when you arrived three days ago. I will tell you again, Mr. Hahn, that we have no available facility. Nor have we received the air shipment of supplemental security materials you say were scheduled for delivery here.

"As for making our scientific research personnel available to your vessel, I must remind you of two things, sir. First, they are Science Foundation personnel responsible to their individual institutions and they are not mine to give orders concerning their assigned research missions. Second, even if they were so foolish as to submit to your request, I would not allow it. In my capacity as commander of this facility, I view a long helicopter flight over pack ice and open seas during gale season to be an unwarranted risk to their safety. We have no means to effect their rescue should there be a mishap, and with respect, Mr. Hahn, I do not believe you have that capacity, either. I have informed my superiors, with regret, that I wish to accede to your demands but the circumstances of our unique situation, and the hazards peculiar to this area, make it quite impossible for me to comply. I trust this will be the end of the matter, Mr. Hahn?

"And allow me to speak in a more informal manner, sir. Perhaps you intend to sidestep my authority. It is highly unlikely that my replacement, if you should seek to force the issue, could be transported here in time to achieve your ends. And I'm quite certain that any competent officer acting in my place would make the same decisions. Limits and hazards are exactly that, Mr. Hahn. We deal with harsh realities on this continent, sir, and wishes and opinions do not alter those facts. Good day, sir. Have a safe voyage."

"SWINE! Arrogant, supercilious spawn of a syphilitic whore!" Hahn raved, slamming the radio microphone against the communications compartment bulkhead. He glared at the radioman, spun on his heel, and strode directly to the bridge where he, while forcing himself to regain his composure, informed Captain Hartmann of McMurdo's refusal to assist.

The ship was equipped with two long-range military-grade anti-submarine helicopters with state of the art equipment. They'd not need the magnetic anomaly detection capability to find metal-hulled undersea craft, but they would depend almost totally on the extreme sensitivity of their sound detection equipment. Each helicopter carried a submersible hydrophone on a winch cable that could be lowered into the ocean. An operator would listen and record sounds from an amazing distance.

Each helicopter also carried a launching rack loaded with tubular sonobuoys to deploy as remote monitors. The sonobuoy would float on the surface, submerge a microphone on a long cable, and radio its GPS position and sound data back to the helicopter. Each helicopter could operate independently of the other, and with sonobuoys deployed could triangulate the relative distance and direction of any enemy within detection range.

If there were something making sound down there, they'd have an excellent change of locating and tracking it.

The Interdictor carried six high-speed RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) similar to ones in use by the American coast guard and customs service for high speed pursuit and rescue. Each 32-foot boat mounted four 300-horsepower outboard engines. Each would carry a coxswain, a radioman, a two-man deep-dive team, and their helper. These would be the pursuit fleet to run down and confuse and herd their prey once it was located by the helicopter teams.

The actual capture would be made with a 36-foot aluminum hull net scow, equipped with a purse seine rolled up on a reel, mounted low in the boat. The net reeled out over a bow roller. The scow would drop its net in a circle around the confused, stunned prey. Its weighted bottom edge would sink to form a circular wall in the water. When the boat closed the circle, the crew would reel in a cable strung along the net's bottom to pull it closed like a purse string. They hoped the chase boats could stun the prey with concussion grenades long enough to circle around with the net. Divers would submerge when the prey was herded into catch range, to come up and chase them up into the waiting net before it was cinched shut.

It was an optimistic plan. Hahn gave it less than half a chance of working. But they were ordered to capture their prey alive, so there were few choices available to them.

They got a contact the first day the teams deployed. The sonobuoy signals triangulated a location about a half kilometer inside the ice sheet, toward shore, just east of McMurdo Sound. The sound technicians reported it as a very high-speed "hissing" sound through the water, estimated in excess of fifty knots. There were the other normal sea-creature noises, of course, but this was the type of abnormal sound return they were looking for.

"How many hours total did we have our microphones in the water, Keller?" Hahn asked his chief technician.

"Thirteen hours, sir. We've only just started our search patterns. The sound gear deployed from the chase boats is performing very well for us. This is an extremely unusual sound pattern. I've never heard anything like it, except for high speed torpedoes, perhaps. But there is no propeller noise, nothing! There is only the sound of an object moving through the water at extreme speed, with no propulsion noise!"

Hahn and Keller based their search plan on a strategy of locate and pursuit. There was no practical way to keep two helicopters searching, hovering, hour after hour, throughout the day. They'd brought sufficient sound detection equipment to equip each of the six chase boats. They were deployed in a staggered line along the ice shelf, arrayed so any combination of boats would provide interception vectors to get a good fix on their quarry. If it was in the open sea, the helicopters could lift off in pursuit, with the chase team bounding along behind.

"Damn ... under the ice! A half kilometer from open water, you make it. Is that too far for a dive team to investigate, perhaps with cameras?"

"Sir, I think that would not be good for the divers, and their chance of success would be poor. It is a deep signal, sir, approximately one hundred fathoms, a little over 180 meters depth.

"I suggest this might be a good job for the mini-sub, sir. It can safely dwell at that depth, and stay there for a long time; time enough, I think, to see if something similar comes that way again? There will be no problem with the depth or air for the crew, up to about twelve hours."