Vladimir Todorov - Archipelago N.Y. - Flynn

Everything was up to Flynn, now! Trembling, he reached for the steering column, but his sweaty hands slipped over it. He wiped them quickly on the seat, then grabbed the steering wheel again and pressed on the throttle. Instantly, the Ark lurched forward, heading for the side wall, way too fast!

“How do I stop?” Flynn yelled.

“Put her in reverse, boy!”

Flynn pulled the throttle all the way back, the engines roared and the ship stopped a few feet from the wall. Then she started to back up slowly, tilting to one side and still dangerously close to the wall. Horrified, Flynn realized both his hands were on the throttle instead on the steering wheel. He grabbed for it and turned it all the way to the left. There was a terrible screeching sound as the hull scraped against the wall. Flynn kicked the throttle back into a forward position, and the Ark eased away from the wall. She was finally floating gently ahead.

“You’ll get the hang of it!” Mr. Kowalski patted his shoulder reassuringly.

Flynn was breathing hard. High on adrenaline, his face was flushed, his heart thumping in his chest. He moved the steering wheel to the right and cautiously pushed the throttle up just a fraction. The Ark instantly obeyed. Flynn turned left and gave the throttle another nudge. The Ark responded.

“I can do this,” said Flynn through gritted teeth as he scanned around feverishly for the blast hole and their exit. “There it is!” he cried. Fifty yards to his left, Flynn had spotted a huge, black gap in the wall. Its jagged edges were surrounded by heaps of unsettled rubble, and Flynn knew instantly that there was no way Duncan could have survived the explosion… The man was gone!

“I’m going for it, Mr. Kowalski!” Flynn said, steeling himself for what he had to do next… He tried to picture his own raft, and how he had navigated the Seeker through the narrow alleyways between buildings; squeezed past walls with not an inch to spare… how he had glided and docked into tight slips… dodged other vessels on the waterways without ever clipping their sides… Every fiber of his body remembered those moments, and he felt his confidence grow… Flynn Perry was ready to approach the exit… He bit his lip, steadied his heart and began to zigzag carefully between the floating debris. Slowly, he eased the Ark into the opening… Half of the hull was already through when the vessel’s headlight beams fell on something huge in the path ahead… One of the smokestacks had collapsed, blocking their way out!

“Damn!” This time Flynn reacted instantly, pushing the throttle in reverse. The Ark hovered idly, while he had his hands on the steering to keep it level. The hull was creaking. The pressure was too much… They had to get the ship to shallower water soon, otherwise…

“Now what, Mr. Kowalski?”

“Not to worry!” Mr. Kowalski had opened a small panel on the dashboard, his stubby fingers gripping a small lever. “I’ve got just the thing for this! Watch!”

Flynn shifted his eyes from the old man and strained his eyes to see what was happening outside. He stared in disbelief as a crude, mechanical arm extended slowly from the belly of the Ark. It then proceeded to sink its huge claws into the fallen smokestack, sending a murky cloud floating upward.

“There!” Mr. Kowalski grinned. “Your turn now! Go forward.”

Flynn pushed the throttle, the engines roared and the Ark inched forward again. But the smokestack refused to budge.

“Keep going!” Mr. Kowalski stared intently at the arm contraption.

Flynn applied more throttle… the Ark shuddered as the smokestack moved a bit.

“More!”

Flynn obeyed. Slowly, the smokestack began to cave in… it was disintegrating before their eyes. Suddenly, the Ark shook as the mechanical arm was ripped away from the hull. With its claws still embedded in the smokestack’s corpus, the arm began to fall away, sinking towards the bottom. The path ahead was finally clear!

“Go now, boy!” Mr. Kowalski shouted. “Never mind about the arm!”

Flynn steered the Ark through the gap and then tilted her nose up for the climb. He had to take her closer to the surface fast. They’d made it, alright! The rest should be easy, he though as they rose above the Power Plant.

But what Flynn saw next made his stomach turn. “We’re too late!” he cried, turning to Mr. Kowalski.

The submerged building was completely encircled by a thick net, stretching all the way down to the bottom. Flynn knew they were trapped! He looked up through the cockpit’s skylight and saw the silhouettes of the Van Zandt motor boats hovering above, their floodlights penetrating the surface. And then, to his horror, he saw the white streaks of bullets whizzing past the hull. They were shooting at the Ark !

“Full throttle ahead, Flynn!” Mr. Kowalski’s voice was unwavering. His grubby hands were buried inside the control panel again.

“But the nets…”

“Go! Go! Go!”

A shower of bullets was raining over them now. It was only a matter of time, before they would get hit and begin to take in water… Flynn pushed the throttle all the way, and the Ark leaped forward. She was gaining speed fast, accelerating toward the net. They were going to collide with it at any moment now, Flynn thought… get tangled in it… and that would be the end of them all! Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of another mechanical arm, just like the one they had lost, extending forward from the hull. But this arm didn’t have a claw. Instead, there was a huge, rotating blade attached to its end. Within seconds, it had sliced through the net, sending it flying in all directions.

Speechless, Flynn threw a glance at Mr. Kowalski who simply nodded and flicked some more switches. “We’re not out of the woods, yet,” he muttered and tapped the sonar. “What do you suppose those dots all over the screen are? Can’t be the Van Zandt boats…”

Flynn glanced at the instrument and instantly realized what they were looking at. Mines! Leo’s guards had managed to deploy them, and they were everywhere… Flynn’s mind was racing now… he knew what the currents were like in these waters, and at what speed they would carry anything that was afloat. He also knew the general direction of their flow at this time of year. Luckily for them, the Ark was moving against the current, meaning that the mines were drifting in the opposite direction.

Getting his bearings straight, Flynn calculated that at least five were in their direct path. He peered through the cockpit’s windows and scanned the way ahead. Sure enough, the cluster of deadly booby-traps were lying in wait, approximately twenty feet below the surface and coming their way. There was no time to go around them…. The only way was down… if they were to avoid a collision. Flynn threw a nervous glance at the depth gauge.

“Can’t go deeper, Flynn!” Mr. Kowalski shook his head. “The pressure’s too big! The Ark won’t survive the dive.”

“I’m gonna try anyway,” Flynn shouted, and tilted the bow down.

The engines groaned at the steep angle. The cluster of mines disappeared from view as they descended and Flynn turned his attention to the instruments, his eyes darting between the sonar and the depth gouge. Grinding his teeth, he counted the rate of descent… twenty feet… twenty three… twenty five… thirty. They should be deep enough now, but… there was no way to tell. The Ark shuddered and shook violently. Then she started to vibrate. The hull creaked and moaned. A horrible sound… as if some giant metal hand was dragging its fingernails along the walls. She would cave in any moment now, Flynn thought. If she managed not to scrape the mines, she would simply implode! He glanced at Mr. Kowalski and followed the old man’s gaze up. His eyes were locked on the glass ceiling, his lips moving silently.