Cliff Ryder - The Ties That Bind

"It's a little rocky until we get in the water," he warned.

Jason closed the hatch, cycled the air exchanger, then took the controls. The Scorpion propelled into motion, throwing Tina into his lap.

"Did I forget to mention that you should always wear your seat belt?" he asked, grinning.

"If that's the worst of it I should be…"

Just then Jason plunged the stick forward and commanded the Scorpion into the water.

"Fine!" Tina shrieked.

They sank into the water and the awkward motions that plagued them on land turned into graceful movements. The Scorpion moved like a dancer, pushing off any obstacles to give it extra momentum as they moved through the water. Jason decided to show it off a little as they sped along the ocean floor. The infrared radar showed their path. They slipped through the water like a fish, and the resistance seemed to disappear as they crept ever closer to the cave.

"How is it that I couldn't see something this big moving through the water?" Tina asked.

"The same reason they won't pick us up on radar," he replied. "It has a protective shield that bends light around it, making it practically invisible. It's a little like the stealth system used by Air Force planes, but better."

"Like a cloaking device," she said. "Like on Star Trek?"

"Never figured you for a Trekkie, but something similar, yes."

They continued to travel until they reached the mouth of the underwater cave. The luminous glow from the lights on the Scorpion dissipated as they got closer, leaving only instrument navigation. Jason watched the small blips on his screen.

"So now what?" Tina's voice was tight with anticipation.

"This is where we wait."

"Wait," she said.

Tina sat back a little stunned. The tour of the underwater wonderland had her jazzed to find out the rest. Jason knew the thrill of anticipation that knotted up in your stomach as the trap was laid, ready to move into action.

"Yes, we wait. We need to find out who these guys are reporting to or how the trade is structured. If it's just a local matter, then I'll leave it to the locals. I'm not here to divert that plan unless it coincides with mine."

"I know that you're right, but I'd rather not get involved unless we have to. I still think that I'm right. I can't believe anyone in the village would willingly do some of this stuff. I know that there are already a few that are guilty of the guns, but the other stuff…I don't want to believe that," Tina said.

"I know you don't, but we're looking for facts here. If it's any consolation, what I really want are the people involved with the sub. I don't think there are a whole lot of people in the village who know about that. A sub docking off your shores wouldn't be beneficial for the village, and I think people realize that. Plus, if it was that open of a secret the information would have gotten back to my bosses by now."

Jason punched in a few keys, and a new screen came up with 3-D images of the caves. Three submersibles looked suspended in air as the screen began to fill in.

"How are you doing that?" Tina asked.

"I put sensors in the water when I first arrived. They are tracking to the cave and bouncing information off each other and then feeding information back to the Scorpion. The program takes all of the information and compiles it into the images on-screen. It should give us a pretty good read of what is going on in the cave."

"Why not use the sensors to find the submarine?"

"If it were that easy, they wouldn't have sent me in the first place. The sub must have a pretty good hiding mechanism, or one of our satellites would have picked it up by now. If it were right in front of the sensors they might have a chance to pick it up, but it's a big ocean and so far they haven't picked up anything that large. The cave has some of the same antidetection mechanisms in place, but I know exactly where to send them so they are slipping through their sensor nets for the moment."

The three submersibles sat at their docking stations. Infrared figures were walking back and forth from each of the vehicles, loading boxes. Jason used the trackers and locked on to the boxes. Most had weapons signatures but were relatively benign. He clicked on the boxes being loaded into the third submersible, and the weapons signatures came up as nuclear. Someone very big had to be behind this, he knew. None of the locals had the resources to get the plans for the Asp, build it, plus get their hands on nuclear weapons to sell to the Russians.

Jason locked the sensors on to the third submersible. Whether or not it took him to the sub, he wanted to know where those nuclear materials were going. The three craft began to submerge and move closer to the Scorpion. Jason guided his craft farther back into the cave and waited for the cruisers to move past so he could follow.

"Did that say nuclear?" Tina asked.

"Yes," he said. "So that's the guy we're going to follow. I want to know where that's going."

The first craft glided by so close they could have reached out and touched it, but it showed no signs of detecting them. The second glided closer to them and came to a stop hovering outside of the cave. There was still no sign that they had been detected, but the second submersible held its position. Jason stared at the monitor and watched the third, his prey gliding farther and farther from him.

"They're getting away," Tina said.

"Not for long."

Jason punched up the sonar pulse.

"What does that do?"

"Hopefully, it will just seem like a strong ocean current that pushes them out of the way a little bit."

Jason hit the button and watched as the submersible moved back and up just enough for him to glide the Scorpion underneath it. He used the arms of the Scorpion to hug the seafloor until he was far enough away to move undetected. Jason maneuvered the controls and started pushing off the seafloor to get them closer to the third submersible, which was quickly moving out of tracking range.

"Damn, it's outrunning my sensors!" he said.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Tina asked.

"The faster I move the more likely it is that we can be detected, but maybe we can push it just a little bit more," he said.

Trusting that the Scorpion would be safe, he accelerated and closed in on the third submersible.

The hum of the Scorpion's engines filled the cabin as they moved through the water. The screen began to short out, blinking out of existence as the power was drawn away from the controls and to the engine.

"We have to slow down before we lose all of our systems," Jason said.

He throttled back and tried to reboot his computer systems. The emergency system was still operational with minimal navigation and life support, but nothing else was responsive. Jason shut down the overhead switches and tried to restart it all from scratch.

"I'm not going to be happy if you kill me off in the middle of the ocean," Tina said.

"I could get us back to shore with what we have operational now. I don't want to give up the pursuit when we are so close."

Jason booted the system again, and the lights started to flicker on the screens. He turned his attention to the propulsion system to see if there was any part that was overloaded or needed some help before they took off again. He heard Tina laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You computer must have put those submersibles in its memory. It's showing all three of them on-screen."

"What!"

He barely had the word out before the second sub crashed into the Scorpion. Tina and Jason were knocked back in their seats as the Scorpion was tossed between the three submersibles like a volleyball. Propulsion controls in hand, Jason punched in a boost command, and it rocketed them forward and out of the grasp of the underwater bullies that were pushing them around.