The Lord of the Plains (49 page)

Davi saw, the helmsman was moving again. The
com was still out cold.

When the sub finally stopped jerking Davi
almost didn’t realise.

They were ascending at such a speed the
whole world seemed to be on an angle.

‘Helm, get us…out of here…’

That was the Captain, the Captain!

It was a struggle for Davi to turn towards
the back. Everything ached.

The Captain was standing, supporting himself
with the door.

He grabbed the railing and started pulling
himself towards his post.

Davi turned again to watch. He spotted Vann
again. He was wedged between the helmsman’s chair and the
railing.

The captain reached him, shook him.

Davi couldn’t say how relieved he was to see
Vann get groggily to his feet.

Blood stood out starkly in his ash blonde
hair. His grey eyes were very wide.

‘Did you get it?’ Vann asked. His voice was
surprisingly steady.

‘Could hardly have missed now could I, it
was right there
.’
He hadn’t seen. Couldn’t have. But he
couldn’t have missed either.

‘What about the first volley?’

‘Not sure, sir.’

’How long til they go off?’ Vann asked.

‘Four hours.’ The Captain groaned. ‘We need
to be outta here by then or that will seem like just a little bump.
Helm, where are we?’

‘Ah… not sure, Captain.’ the little man
reported. ‘I was just getting us away.’

‘How’s your head?’

‘Not as bad as yours, I’d wager.’

Captain Endis pushed the com officer aside
and began speaking into the com.

Alarms were still blaring, Davi had tuned
them out a while ago.

‘What happened to them?’ he asked.

It was Vann who answered. ‘Heads banged into
each other. They were both out like a light.’

‘I think we’re leaking, sir.’

Vann glanced up at the lights and alarms.
‘Ah, just like every other mission then.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Despite everything the Captain managed to
gaze blackly at the head mechanic when she said they’d need to be
towed back to shore.

‘You sure, Officer?’

‘I’m afraid so, sir.’ The tech said in a way
that made it seem like the worst thing that had happened that
day.

‘We couldn’t just land somewhere and repair
ourselves?’

‘The way we’re going, sir, we’ll be lucky to
make it to the surface.’

‘Very well. I’ve contacted the supply ships.
There’ll be one waiting for us as soon as we surface. I don’t feel
like swimming today, Officer, do you?’

‘No, sir. We’ll get the
Bad Luck
to
the surface, sir.’

Vann leant against the supply ship’s
railing, looking out over the ocean. The sky was blue above
him.

‘Who did we lose, Second?’ Garis asked as he
joined him.

The crew that had made it off the
Bad
Luck
were busy being seen to by the supply ship’s medical team.
Vann and the Captain had yet to be seen. Vann’s whole body ached.
He ignored it.

‘Six members unaccounted for, sir. Officer
Andann’s body was brought aboard.’

The Captain waited.

‘When Molk hit us the lower levels flooded.
Andann was thrown about during the roll. He cracked his head
open.’

Neither of them looked towards the
Bad
Luck,
which was being towed behind the supply ship. Somewhere
in flooded, locked and sealed chambers six bodies were
floating.

When they reached Coastside the supply ship
and its cargo were secured.

Garis and Vann waited with those left
behind.

Vann wondered if any of the other subs had
landed a hit. He wondered if it would be enough.

An hour and a half after reaching land the
ocean exploded.

Vann watched in silent awe as water exploded
from the ocean surface in a giant geyser. Watching so far away from
where the explosion had to be, spray rained down on them.

‘Your friends saved a lot of lives.’

Vann turned from the sickening view of the
Bad Luck
to the Commander.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The fish people began bringing bodies to
shore. I don’t know if they just don’t like our people crowding up
their ocean or if they can’t tell if a human is dead or alive, but
they rescued a lot of people, and brought back a lot of
bodies.’

Confirmations had been coming in for hours,
from the fish people, from the back up subs.

Molk was gone. The ocean was very,
very
dirty where he had been

‘I’m afraid none from the
Bad
Luck
.’

Vann wasn’t surprised. Looking at the
ragged, torn,
missing
underbelly of his sub, he thought his
crew members had been eaten, not drowned.

Molk had not so much rammed them as taken a
chunk out of their sub.

‘You’re off til your injuries heal.’

Mostly Vann was just bruised. Everywhere.
Though somehow he’d managed to break his arm.

Strange, it didn’t feel any worse than the
rest of him.

Chapter 36

Mr Fisley was busy doing important, very
official, paperwork at his desk when his office door banged
open.

Surprise and irritation warred across his
face he looked up to berate the intruder.

Irritation melted into bewilderment at the
sight of an irate submariner storming into his office.

Not just irate, Mr Fisley vaguely noticed,
it was one of those tall, tanned, eye catching ones that the office
girls all went nuts for. Oh, and he had his arm in a sling.

‘Young man-’ he began. This one would look
good on a poster. This was what submariners were supposed to look
like. Yes, he liked this one. Although, the number and…
boisterousness… of the submariners made it very hard for a man in
Coastside to find a nice young lady to settle down with. All the
young ladies were busy courting the submariners. And the middle
aged ladies. Any woman at all really, was more interested in a
submariner than a shore sider…

Yes, it was practically impossible for a man
in Coastside who hadn’t served as a submariner to find a lady to
settle down with.

‘Have you an appointment?’ He continued. He
didn’t have an appointment. Mr Fisley knew that, of course. If this
one had had an appointment in the Square the girls would have been
gossiping about it for days. And the boys would have been extremely
miserable.

‘Helmets.’ The man said.

‘Helmets?’ Well, perhaps he should ok the
helmets. Perhaps if he gave the submariners silly helmets he’d have
more luck with Ms Abermith.

Mr Fisley was rocked out of his musing when
the submariner shoved a lightning rod at him. His eyes went wide.
What was this all about?!

‘Helmets. We’re getting helmets. With or
without you.’

‘Helmets?’ He squeaked. Every other thought
had been blown from his mind. Except helmets. ‘Submariners don’t
wear helmets.’

If Mr Fisley’s eyes had not been locked on
the lightning rod they might have noticed grey eyes narrowing
dangerously.

The lightning rod was withdrawn. Mr Fisley
breathed a sigh of relief.

If he’d seen the eyes he wouldn’t have been
relieved.

Mr Fisley’s eyes were closed so he didn’t
see the lightning rod raised.

He didn’t see it arcing down.

But he heard the thwack! as it hit his paper
covered desk.

And he noticed the flames erupting.

After that, he was too busy shrieking,
‘fire, FIRE!’ to notice the submariner had strode out of the
room.

‘Vann.’ Lillia began carefully, ‘you can’t
go setting the Head of Finance’s desk on fire.’

Vann, who was sitting in her window seat,
making himself as comfortable as he could given his present
condition, snapped his eyes to hers.

‘Lillia, our helmsman got knocked out. If he
hadn’t perhaps we would have gotten out of there sooner. Maybe the
sub would have been stabilized quicker and Andann wouldn’t have
smashed his head open. That could have happened on any other sub
out there.’ He gestured wildly out the window. His grey eyes were
afire. ‘I don’t know, but
helmets
could have saved a lot of
lives.’