(Un) Safe Harbour
A story from the Inundation
Image: Public Domain, found on Wikicommons
(Un)Safe Harbour
The research ship, Storm Warrior, was two weeks overdue and three weeks since the last message. The base’s only contact with the outside was missing. Still, the base had a duty to continue to research and document the Inundation as it unfolded. Even now, when they had to make or mend with no resupply ships left.
The mixed smell of the sea and oil was a familiar perfume as Haisley continued the maintenance of the sub, to ensure smooth running for tomorrow’s supply visit to the undersea farm: a dome in the Euphotic Zone. Even with the rising sea levels, enough light permeated the water so that land plants could grow in hydroponic tubs. She kept only half an ear on Neriah as she chattered about the last message.
“It’s not good that pirates have banded together in a fleet to raid the villages,” Neriah said.
“Not at all,” Haisley muttered, then raised her voice, “Can you pass me the middle toolbox, please?”
Neriah bent to pick up the box. “How’s it going in there?” Then she straightened with a frown. “Hold on, what’s that noise?”
Haisley poked her head out of the submarine designed to carry six scientists as they studied the adaption of the coral reefs to warmer waters but was now a general transport vehicle. Neriah trotted along the plastic walkway of the submarine shed, dodging crates of supplies. Haisley heard it. Voices shouting. A harsh crack directly outside.
“Don’t open-” Haisley called out.
The door slammed against the wall as Griogair burst through carrying the Base Commander, Riana. Her long grey hair fell out of its usual careful bun. Blood oozed from her shoulder. Griogar kicked the door shut. He adjusted Riana and slid the bolts in place. Then he ran. Neriah ducked out of his way and chased after him, with a glance at the bolted door.
“Get the sub started,” Griogair shouted.
Haisley ducked in through the hatch and slid into the co-pilot’s seat. With barely a hesitation, she reconnected two wires and shoved a panel back into place. Neriah’s feet thumped on the metal deck as she dropped into the sub.
Neriah reached up to help Griogair lower Riana. As Neriah strapped Riana into a seat, The sub drifted loose. Griogair jumped through the open door and landed well into the cabin. He dropped into the pilot’s seat. Ignoring the start-up checklist, he punched the starter button. The electric motor whirred. Relief filled Haisley, she had re-connected them correctly even in haste.
Neriah jumped up and started to climb out.
“I cut the ropes already,” Griogair said. “Secure the hatch.”
Outside a rhythmic thud sounded on the submarine shed door. Neriah glanced at Haisley, before slamming the hatch shut. The scent of the sea was filtered out as the ventilation fans cut in as Neriah screwed the sealing bolts into place.
“What happened?” Haisley asked
“Storm Warrior returned,” Riana whispered. “We didn’t bring the defences online fast enough, even without the safe signals.”
“The pirates took her?” Haisley
Riana’s husband had been the captain of the Warrior. They were the last of the original scientists on the research station. Everyone else was bred to the job, or rescued during missions.
“We thought there was something wrong with the radio,” Griogair said. “At least half the base ran to the dock to greet her. The Warrior rammed the outside quay. Pirates jumped down and started shooting. Then three sailing ships rounded the headland.”
“Hatch secure,” Neriah shouted.
Something pinged off the outside. A man had broken through the locked door and aimed a rifle at the departing sub. Crates of supplies sat on the dock. The gunman kicked over the nearest box, spilling nutrients for the hydroponic gardens. Griogair pulled the vehicle away from the dock. Instead of opening the doors, he took the sub underneath.
Neriah dug out the first aid kit and examined Riana’s shoulder. “Did anyone else get away?”
“Don’t know,” Griogair said. “I grabbed Riana and ran.”
“How did the pirates take the ship so fast that they had no time to destroy the charts?” Riana asked, staring at where the crumpled hull of the Warrior was rammed against the shore.
Wooden hulls of three other ships hung over them. The last light of evening turned the ceiling of water above their heads into silver.
Haisley tapped her control panels. Hand hovering over the instrument controls used for gaining coral supplies, she said, “We could use the drill.”
Griogair stared at her, then at the hulls. Then he shook his head. “We’d run down the battery and we don’t know how far we have to go.”
“There’s the underwater farm,” Riana whispered. “We could live there while we work out what to do next.”
“It’s close enough,” Neriah said. “We’re going to have to come back anyway to see if anyone else survived.”
Haisley stroked the control handle as Griogair let the sub drift, trying not to give away their position.
“Sod it,” Haisley said. “You dither, I’m doing.”
She grabbed the control handle for the drill. The sub still drifted but the drill arm unshipped from the hull of the sub.
As if relieved someone else had taken the decision, Griogair gripped his controls. He activated the fan engines and held the sub in place as Haisley aimed the drill at the closest ship. It hit the wooden base and the vibrations sounded like a whirring noise inside the sub. To be sure, Haisley drilled a line of holes in the vessel.
The sub moved to the next one. The silvery ceiling of the water burst. A man with a harpoon dived into the water. He saw them and aimed.
Griogair pushed the control handle forward. The research sub ran at maximum speed through the water towards the diver. The harpoon skimmed past them, silver air caught in the flanged arrowhead as the swimmer gave a powerful dolphin kick away from the oncoming vessel.
The hull of the holed ship cracked along the line of the punctures. The ship listed as water flowed in. A couple of sailors jumped into the water and paddled towards shore.
Griogair chased the harpoon wielder. He swam to the side of his ship and caught a rope to haul himself clear. The swimmers from the sinking ship shifted to a fast crawl. Griogair aimed the sub at them.
“No! Get us back,” Haisley said, pushing the arm that held the joystick control. “That worked. Let’s hole another one.”
“Neriah,” Griogair said, angling the sub under the next boat. “Watch for swimmers.”
Neriah crawled forward and crouched between the two forward seats. She watched as Haisley aimed the drill for the next boat. The one that the harpooner had climbed into.
“What’s that?” she shouted. Something bright dropped off the side of the boat.
“A grenade!” Haisley hauled in the drill.
Griogair blew the ballast. Bubbles erupted around them as the sub dropped to the harbour floor and sped away. A current caught them and flung the sub towards the harbour wall. Griogair hauled the controls. Neriah flew into the back. She clung to the seat that held Riana as the sub bucked like a dolphin playing with a pufferfish.
More underwater blasts sent currents running around the quay.
“That’s not a sensible thing for them to do,” Riana said. Her face was white as the jolting of the sub sent her rocking in the seat.
The remains of the outside dock collapsed. The holed boat sank to the bottom and the boat Haisley had been in the process of attacking listed badly, taken out by their own grenades, thrown instead of depth charges. The third boat was coming about using an engine rather than the sails. Griogair sat poised to dodge if the ship used sonar to track the sub. He relaxed a little as the ship headed for the gap in the harbour wall that led out to sea.
“Will the sub be able to ram that one?” Haisley asked.
“Let it go,” Riana said. “Get back and see if we can help the rest of our people.”
“We don’t have guns stored in here,” Haisley objected. “They’re all stored in the base armoury.”
“Looks like I need to change that rule,” Riana said.
Lights flashed above the water and the listing boat burst into flames. The vessel escaping to the open water put on speed. Another light flared out. Fire reflected through the surface of the water as that boat caught fire as well. It continued on its path to safety.
“That was an emergency flare,” Neriah said. “I think we are fighting back.”
Griogair angled the research sub to the surface. Floating out in the harbour they watched as six pirates balanced on the wrecked dock. The wooden structure burned behind them catching the remains of the Storm Warrior. Black smoke from the diesel engine filled the air. Their only way out was in the water, where the sub lurked.
The listing boat was beyond salvage, its rigging carried flaming sails. Two lifeboats dropped and the crew jumped in. Out to sea, the escaping boat was also on fire, but that was contained. In the lifeboats, oars were passed and the crews began to pull. Fear of abandonment sent the six pirates on the dock tossing their guns and leaping into the water.
Griogair brought the sub in closer. The cox in the lifeboat pointed to the sub and shouted. The oarsmen picked up the stroke. The swimmers raced after the lifeboats heading out of the harbour, calling for rescue.
The sub docked at the ruined quay. The burning parts had fallen into the bay. The base was mostly intact, with some fires. The indoor dock they had just left was still fine.
Neriah unsealed the hatch and opened it. She coughed as the black smoke from the burning research ship poured inside.
Riana struggled out of her seat and peered out. “We can’t stay here. The pirates are rumoured to have a fleet. They’ll be back.”
“Ahoy!” a man shouted.
“It’s Mick,” Neriah said. “Haloh!”
Mick ran down the beach. He carried a flare gun. He aimed at the lifeboats, then lowered. “Too small.”
Riana pushed out of her seat and Neriah helped her to the hatch.
As they waited for Mick to run up, a figure climbed over the guard rail of the Storm Warrior and dropped to the broken dock. Everyone saw Riana’s hopeful face, which faded into anger.
“That’s why they didn’t need charts,” she said.
“Lorin!” Mick spat as if it was a swear word. “So that’s how they found us.”
The man who had climbed down straightened. “They killed everyone else.”
“And yet you brought them here,” Riana said. “To kill us.”
“They would have killed me!” Lorin said.
“Well, you made your choice.” Riana waved him towards the harbour and the lifeboats. “Your people are leaving without you. You might catch them if you swim fast enough.” She turned back to Mick.
“Who else?” she asked.
Mick shook his head. “I stayed behind while Jona led both our classes into the hills. I haven’t seen anyone else. We were at the back of the ‘welcome party’ so missed getting crushed.”
“Other people might have run into the hills,” Neriah suggested.
Haisley stared after the lifeboats and watched as Lorin stumbled to the edge of the dock. Behind the sailing ship, the setting sun turned the water blood red. Then he walked away through the burning base. Silence fell over the survivors. The people of the base shunned him.
Once he was out of hearing Haisley said, “The undersea farm. You’re right, that’s the best place to go.”
“We can retreat there for safety,” Riana said. “Rescue our people and equipment to establish a new research base. There have to be other scientists left in this dying world.”
Mick stared after Lorin. “I’ll join Jona in the hills to keep the Children safe while you make our undersea base habitable.” He strode after the exile fondling his flare gun.
Haisley and Neriah packed supplies into the sub. Griogair forced Riana to return to her seat.
As full dark hit, they ran the sub out into the open ocean. Griogair switched on the headlamps, checking for the markers planted on the sea bed that led to the undersea farm.
Ahead the printed plastic dome rose from the sea floor. Here was food and safety, as they continued to document the Inundation.
ENDS
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