David Golemon - Legend

"Who the hell are you and where's this woman?" At that moment the man caught sight of Danielle. "Fuck me three ways from Sunday, you were right, she's a looker."

"The navy never managed to tame that filthy mouth of yours, huh?" Carl said.

The master chief looked him over, and then the light of recognition lit the older man's eyes like a lantern.

"I'll be dipped in whale shit. Toad?"

Carl turned red at the mention of his nickname, but grabbed the master chief just the same and hugged him.

"Commander Toad to you, you slimy bastard," he said.

The two men hugged and patted each other on the back as Danielle watched. Then Jenks pushed the younger man away suddenly.

"Hey, you didn't turn gay on me, did you, boy? Could have sworn you grabbed my ass there," he said as he smiled at Carl, then at Danielle.

"No I didn't, and that's not very PC of you. Chief Jenks." He gestured toward his companion. "This is Danielle, she's—" he hesitated for a split second, "she's a friend of mine."

Jenks looked her over, his eyes lingering on her chest a moment longer than necessary. He continued smiling but didn't offer his hand.

"As I said, she's a looker all right," he stated flatly. He looked accusingly at Carl. "She's also a spook , I can smell it. You should watch the company you hang out with, Toad," he said as he slapped Carl on the arm and walked away.

Carl frowned at Danielle. "He has a nose for people," he whispered, and then called toward Jenks, who had gone back to wiping his hands on a greasy rag. "She's not a spy, Chief, she's in the same line of work as me."

Jenks stopped but didn't turn. "And that is?" "Let's just say I'm still in the navy and we're the good guys and leave it at that, okay?"

Jenks finally met his eyes again. "Okay, Toad, you're a good guy. Now what the fuck do you want?"

"We came to see your project," Carl said.

"You're not getting it, so go away. Hell, it's not even finished and probably won't be before the navy shit cans the project and me. "

"I may be able to help you there, Jenksy, now; just let us see the damned thing."

Jenks put his left hand on his hip, then removed his dirty white saucer cap and ran a still-filthy right hand through his crew-cut gray hair. Then he reached into his overall pocket and withdrew a stub of a cigar. Carl smiled, as these were signs that told him the man was relaxing.

"All right, but you're not getting her. I've still got major logistical concerns here; she won't be ready for river trials for…hell, maybe never." Jenks started for the giant tarpaulin covering three-quarters of the building. "Unless you have a check on you for about five and half million bucks."

Carl began to follow Jenks. Danielle came up close to his side. "How cute, your nickname was Toad?"

"Yeah, and I don't want to talk about it," he said as he stepped around a large empty crate. It was stenciled with a bright red logo that had several lines painted on it, depicting a bright light. It read laser device, handle with care.

"Come on, why did they give you that name?" she asked, smiling and ignoring Carl's curious glance at the empty crate.

"Because the stupid bastard used to jump six feet in the air every time ordnance went off around him in training, that's why," Jenks said as he started to pull the tarp aside. Then he stopped and looked at Danielle. "But he was still the best damned SEAL I ever trained and, as I hear it from people, he's the best there ever was, so as you can see, he worked out that little problem with loud noises he had when he was a kid." He pulled hard on the tarp. "Ain't that right, Toad?"

Carl smiled embarrassedly as the tarp was pulled away. His smile faded as he looked up and saw for the first time the master chief's project.

"Goodness," was all Danielle could utter.

"Damn," Carl mumbled as they stepped into the mad scientist's naval workshop of wonders to take in a gleaming jewel hidden away in a city that had come violently close to being deleted from the American landscape.

The vessel looked like something taken straight out of a science-fiction movie. The nose was enclosed and comprised mostly of glass except for the framing. It was shaped like a boat in the bow but that was where the resemblance ended. Except for the tri-hull shape of its body, the vessel looked more like a sleek submarine. It was over 130 feet long and was sectioned in twenty-two-foot compartments. Some areas were open on the top at the midway point, as an upper deck with seating around the gunwales. It had a high observation tower amidships that rose forty feet into the air, which included the ship's radar and antenna domes above the crow's nest. The vessel was gleaming white. Toward the stern, USS Teacher was in blue cursive and punctuated by a large illustration of a woman's eye, with the brow perfectly and beautifully arched over it. Large portholes, six-foot rectangles of thick glass, ran along the length of each section, both above the waterline and below. At the bottom of each section were four small protrusions that looked like the water jets of a speedboat.

Carl climbed a scaffold so he could see inside the glass nose and make out some of the command bridge. There were large chairs for the command pilot and a seat for a copilot. The interior of the bridge was dark save for a few glowing instrument lights.

"She's beautiful, Jenks," Carl said, admiring the composite graphite hull.

The master chief smiled and then looked hard at Danielle.

"She is that," she said quickly as Jenks grunted satisfaction with her late response. "But why did you name her Teacher ?" she asked.

"I don't know, because she's built to teach, I guess… plus it was an old Jethro Tull song I liked, you know, I thought it was cool," he said, lowering his head, waiting for them to laugh at his mention of the old rock group.

"She's a river craft? She's long and looks too big to navigate tight waterways," Carl said as he came down from the metal scaffolding.

Jenks tapped the composite hull. "Let me tell you something, Toad, this baby only draws six and a half feet of water. She rides high but is capable of taking on ten thousand pounds of water ballast. She has a whole section in the middle there that lowers deeper into the water by telescoping her hull by fifteen feet for observation purposes. She has an enclosed two-man submersible and an observation diving bell. In her stern housing, she has fifteen different unmanned, radio-controlled probes for underwater research. She has cabin space for fifty-one people. Her galley is better equipped than any vessel in the navy. She's totally sealed and air-conditioned. Her electronics suite is state-of-the-art, and she has three labs on board and room for one more if we clear out some storage lockers. She has a glass-enclosed live well that holds five thousand gallons of water and is fully oxygenated. The sections can be separately maneuvered by independent water jets to match the tight turns involved in river operation, thanks to the expanding rubber gaskets between the sections; and the water jets are controlled by computers so accurate she can bring her bow all the way around and kiss her own ass. She can be dismantled and flown anywhere in the world and be in the water ready for action within twenty-four hours. Each section is light enough to be carried by a Blackhawk or Seahawk helicopter."

"This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Carl exclaimed.

"Took ten years of my life, and now the navy's trying to shortchange me," grumbled Jenks as he ran his hand lovingly along Teacher 's side.

"This is an amazing science platform," Danielle said.

"Yeah, but I doubt if she ever has a chance to see the water," the master chief said glumly.

Carl walked straight up to him and smiled. "Chief, we need to borrow her and you, too."