Andy McDermott - The Tomb Of Hercules

“Point taken.” Trulli switched off the winch and took the end of an electric cable from a reel, uncoiling it as he boarded the sub again. He opened the top hatch. “Okay, I’ll get everything prepped, and-”

“Mr. Trulli!” They looked around to see the security guard, Barney, walking towards them. “Is everything all right?”

“Er, yeah, mate,” Trulli said unconvincingly. “No worries. Just, ah…” He looked down into the open hatch. “Think my keys might be in here.”

Barney gave Nina a suspicious glance, then walked past her to stand at the edge of the dock. “Looks to me like you’re planning to take this thing out.”

Trulli adopted a cheesy grin. “Dunno why you’d think that.”

“You know that Mr. Corvus has to give his personal permission for each launch.” Barney’s hand moved towards his holstered gun. “I think you should step back onto the dock and-unk!”

He staggered, then fell to the dock. The fire extinguisher with which Nina had just hit him over the head clanked down beside him as she put her hands on her hips and addressed Trulli. “So, Matt. Are we good to go?”

“You’ve changed since I first met you,” he muttered, then dropped into the hatch, the cable trailing behind him.

Fifteen minutes later, the unconscious Barney had been tied up and locked inside one of the storage cages, and the large door at the end of the building raised. A cold wind blew in from the sea, the Wobblebug creaking against the fat rubber bumpers hanging over the side of the dock as waves lapped along it.

Trulli’s head popped out of the hatch. “Okay, we’re ready. As we’re going to be, anyway. I’ve hooked up a GPS receiver to the onboard computer, but it won’t work until we surface, so if the Ocean Emperor changes course while we’re underwater, we’re screwed.”

“We’ll have to take that chance.”

Trulli seemed dubious, but held out a hand to her regardless. “Okay, then. Hop aboard. I warn you, it’s a bit of a squeeze.”

She took his hand and stepped onto the Wobblebug ’s hull. The sub wallowed under the extra weight. Once he was sure that she wasn’t going to slip, Trulli dropped back inside the cabin. Nina carefully lowered herself inside feetfirst.

“Jeez, you weren’t kidding,” she said. The cabin was barely large enough for one person, never mind two. The small seat was crammed practically up against the controls. A steering yoke like that of a light aircraft jutted from the instrument panel, a fiendishly complex-looking bank of gauges and switches flanked by an LCD monitor screen with a keyboard duct-taped beneath it. Trulli was already in the seat, so she was forced to duck into the narrow gap to his side. “So where do I go?”

“Right where you are, I’m afraid. You’ll have to lie down and sort of wrap yourself around the seat with your backside against the aft bulkhead.”

“Oh, great.”

“Still want to do this?”

Nina squeezed awkwardly into the tight space. “I don’t want to do it. But I’ve got to.”

“I thought you’d say something like that.” Trulli flipped switches, checking the various gauges. “Okay, the batteries are at full charge, and the booster’s primed and ready to fire. Last chance to get out.” Nina frowned at him. “Yep, I thought.”

He shut the hatch. Once it was secured, he tapped the keyboard and a video image of the dock ahead appeared on the screen. “No room for a periscope,” he explained as he pushed a lever forward by a single notch. A soft vibration ran through the cabin, motors rumbling. On the screen, the walls of the dock slid past. Within thirty seconds, the Wobblebug was out in open water.

Trulli pushed the steering controls forward, increasing speed as he did so. Nina took a firmer hold of the seat as the submarine began its descent. The hull creaked ominously. “How deep will we go?” she asked, suddenly nervous.

“Supercav works best when it’s well clear of any surface turbulence, so probably around ten, twenty yards. Depends on the water conditions.”

“Have you taken it that deep before?”

Trulli hesitated before answering. “Would you feel better if I said yes?”

“Oh boy.”

He flicked through several windows on the monitor in rapid succession. “Okay, inertial guidance is set, I’ve got the waypoints programmed in. Hold on tight, it’ll be bumpy.”

“How bumpy?”

“You know how bumpy a really big roller coaster gets?”

“Uh, yeah?”

He gave her a not entirely confident grin as he flicked up the protective metal cover over a particular button. “Way bumpier than that. Okay, on three!”

Nina gripped the seat even more tightly.

“Two!”

She braced herself against the rear bulkhead. “One!”

And cringed-

“Warp speed!” Trulli cried, pushing the button. The response was immediate.

A thunderous roar filled the cabin. Sudden acceleration shoved Trulli back in his chair. Nina shrieked.

The Wobblebug shook violently as it surged forward. Nina had no idea how fast they were moving, but even through the roar of the rocket motor she could hear a rising hiss of water racing over the hull.

“This is the tricky part!” Trulli yelled.

“What do you mean?” Nina shouted back. She desperately wanted to put her hands over her ears, but if she let go of the seat she would be battered about like a pea in a whistle.

“I’ve got to time everything right! The rocket’s only got thirty seconds of fuel, but if I open the seawater intakes too soon there won’t be enough ram pressure and the engines will choke!”

“Too soon? What happens if you open them too late?”

“The heating elements melt and the sub will explode!”

“Perfect!” Nina wailed. The instruments were shaking too much for her to see any detail, but she could pick out a line of colored lights flicking on one by one.

They advanced from blue into a zone of orange, approaching a single green light. Beyond it, the color went straight to red-again with just a single light.

Presumably there wouldn’t be time for a second red light to come on before the sub blew up.

“This is it!” Trulli gripped a lever.

Orange, orange…

Nina cringed again.

Green .

Trulli yanked the lever back as hard as he could.

Nina heard a clunk as the louvres covering the intakes flicked open and seawater from the leading edge of the shock wave burst in to hit the heating elements. There was a colossal hissing shriek, a furious banshee beside her-

The Wobblebug leaped again, another burst of acceleration crushing Nina deeper into the confined space. Even Trulli screamed.

The roar of the rocket stuttered, then with an almost frightening abruptness cut out. But the piercing hiss of the steam jets continued steadily. The push of acceleration gradually eased as the submarine reached a stable speed.

Nina opened her eyes, realization that she hadn’t been blown to pieces sinking in. “How… how are we doing?” she asked, voice shaking.

“Hold on a sec,” said Trulli, sounding almost as surprised as she was that they were still alive. The sub was still shuddering, though not nearly as much as before. “Holy crap, we made it. We made it!” He whooped with delight. “We’re doing almost three-fifty knots! Suck it, Russia! Australia takes the record!”

“And is everything working properly?”

Trulli’s triumph quickly became more subdued. “Battery drain’s higher than I expected-must be from having two people aboard. The life support systems are drawing more power.”

“Will we be able to catch up with the Ocean Emperor?”