John Schettler - Golem 7

“Every time I looked,” Robert emphasized. “So here is a suspicious case of a survivor that changes the history again, just as Maeve warns.”

“It does have a smell about it,” said Kelly.

“Are you suggesting the Assassins may have done something here—operated directly within Convoy HX-126?”

“Well, you all have been talking about how easy it would be to divert a ship like this away from harm—and yet how difficult it is to reverse that and assure its destruction. This is a clear case. It’s an easy intervention for the Assassins to make, and one we can’t easily reverse.”

“They’ve got their teeth in this pretty deep,” said Paul. “It is suspicious.”

“There’s more,” said Robert. “Here’s the report from the Commodore of Convoy HX-126. He uses local time: ‘About 09:37 Aurania(an escort) hoisted signal Sub in sight 080° and almost immediately afterwards at 09:38-09:39 Darlington Courtfirst, and British Securityimmediately after, were hit. Darlington Courtrolled over onto her port side at once and sank in 2 minutes. I consider 2 torpedoes hit her. British Securityburst into flames fore and aft. A few men were seen getting away in her starboard quarter boat on the weather side. As soon as it was seen that attack was from starboard 9T was hoisted and a long blast blown followed by 2 short blasts. All convoy turned 90° to port together perfectly, just as at exercise, but some were hampered by the blazing tanker whose rudder was hard a port, evidently put on to avoid Darlington Courtwhen she was torpedoed. At 09:45 – The Signals TR, (Proceed at utmost speed) – and SM, (Drop smoke float) were made and obeyed. 09:50 – "Scatter" was made. Whilst scattering, roughly between 09:55 and 10:00 Cockaponset(63) was torpedoed.’ ”

“And our history credits that last kill to Wohlfarth and U-556 ,” said Paul. “It’s clear that someone has been messing with the history here, but how would they have managed to spare Darlington Court?”

“Good question,” said Maeve. “The more we study this the more we uncover clear information that seems to indicate someone has been running interventions here.”

“It was obvious what they did earlier with that fishing boat bursting into flames at Brest,” said Kelly.

“Yes, but this is much more subtle. They are operating around the whims of a Free Radical, our good Kapitan Wohlfarth. He’s got five torpedoes in his lower ship when he finds this convoy, and he uses four of them to get these first two ships. Then he picks off Cockaponset with that final torpedo. But in the alterations we were able to observe Cockaponset is hit earlier on, and it’s Darlington Court that survives. How could they achieve that?”

“Someone messed with the convoy steaming orders,” said Robert. “There’s further evidence of this in the Commodore’s report, but another odd thing happened here. Several ships in the convoy reported a very large undersea explosion. Well here, I’ll read it to you verbatim from the reports: ‘ John P. Pedersenwas still afloat, burning before the bridge structure as late as 11:50. (Local time. She had fuel oil cargo. At 10:50, a very heavy explosion shook the ship. No cause for it could be seen. So heavy was it that Nicoya,four to five miles on our starboard quarter stopped and blew off steam. Dorelian,two miles astern, had some men at work on boat deck blown overboard. She stopped and lowered boats.’”

“Ships two to five miles away reacted that way?” said Paul. “They had men literally blown off their decks?”

“That’s what the reports indicate,” Robert tapped his notebook with a pen. “The subsequent investigation had this to say: ‘The captain of Cockaponsetsays the following: "About 20 minutes later (meaning, after all survivors of that ship had gone in the lifeboats) there was a loud explosion which shook the boat considerably and brought a quantity of dead fish to the surface. There was no water thrown up, but just before the explosion it felt just as if something was tapping under the boat. ”

“That almost sounds like a mine,” Paul suggested. “But I doubt a typical sea mine could produce an explosion that serious, with effects so far ranging. It had to be an explosion on one of the ships that had already been sunk.”

“Well here is what the investigation concluded,” said Robert, reading again: “ ‘No satisfactory explanation of this explosion has yet been deduced, though three possible causes occur:

a) Darlington Courtor British Security, which had been torpedoed at 09:38, blew up. – Unlikely, as the former’s cargo consisted of 8000 tons of wheat, and the latter, a tanker, is reported to have still been blazing on the surface some hours later.

b) A U-boat blew up. – Division of Anti-Submarine Warfare doubts whether the simultaneous explosion of all the torpedoes in a U-boat could produce an explosion of the magnitude here reported.

c) That the shock was due to a subterranean earthquake.

The shock of the explosion and lack of any visible effect supports the view that the explosion occurred below the surface.

These reports appear sufficiently remarkable to warrant further investigation. It is therefore suggested that the Masters of all ships of this convoy be asked to describe their experiences at this time, and whether any eruption of the surface of the water was seen. It is requested that Division of Anti-Submarine Warfare may be informed of any facts which throw any light on the origin of this unexplained explosion.”

“Pretty amazing,” said Kelly. “An undersea earthquake? I hardly think that would register as an explosion, or have the effects described by the eye witnesses. Since when would an earthquake produce quantities of dead fish at the surface? No, this was clearly an explosion.”

“The Royal Navy felt that it could not be a U-boat, even if all her torpedoes exploded at once—it was that damn big. They didn’t even consider it might be a mine—much too small. And there were no reports on the German side indicating any loss of a U-boat here.”

“Then it had to be on Darlington Court ,” said Paul.

“But that was discounted as well,” said Maeve. “That ship was just carrying wheat.”

“Wheat can explode,” said Robert. “Grain silos have ignited in the past.”

“True, but the explosion was enormous,” said Paul, “That’s what the report says, so perhaps it had a little help. And we must remember our Sherlock Holmes— ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ And Darlington Court is what remains, at least in our history. She was the only ship that was under water in that area, because British Security was still afloat as was Cockaponset, just about to sink. Her captain’s report states the explosion literally shook his boat.”

“Add a nice bomb to all that wheat and you might get a fairly significant detonation,” said Robert. “You think the Assassins managed to get a bomb aboard her to possibly sink her and save Wohlfarth torpedoes?”

“Well we know how much these terrorists love to blow things up,” said Paul. “Someone has obviously intervened here to spare Darlington Court. She doesn’t get hit and there is no underwater explosion reported in the altered Meridian. That’s even more evidence that she was the source of that unexplained event. Suppose they had a bomb hidden in her hold. Suppose they meant to detonate it when Wohlfarth fires, giving him another kill, as it were. It may have influenced his decision on retaining that last torpedo.”