Part 9 (1/2)
”I did not. Nor have I been by any means the only one. Bocker's miscarriage warned us all to allow full gestation. Incidentally, I suppose you know that there have been further discolorations of currents, and that those first discoloured have returned to normal?”
”Yes, Captain Winters told me. What do you think would cause that?” Phyllis asked, just as one might who had not immediately rung up Bocker the moment she heard it, to demand an explanation.
”Well, pursuing the mining theory, one would suggest that all the loose sediment near the scene of operations would gradually be washed away. Imagine sticking the end of a suction-pipe into sand. At first you'd get sand coming through it, and you'd create a funnel-shaped depression. After a while you'd reach rock, but there'd still be some sand trickling down the sides of your depression, and having to be sucked clear. In time, however, your depression would be of such a shape that very little sand which, of course, represents the sedimental ooze would trickle down, and you would be able to work on the cleared rock-face without disturbing the surrounding sand, or ooze, at all.
”But, of course, on the sea-bed the scale of such an operation would be immense, and a colossal quant.i.ty of ooze would have to be s.h.i.+fted before you could get to a rock-face that would remain clear. It would certainly be better to mine horizontally where possible. Once work on the rock itself had begun, the detritus would be too heavy to rise more than a few hundred feet before it began to settle, so the surface-water would no longer be discoloured.”
No one observing Phyllis's rapt attention would have suspected that she had already made use of this theory in a script.
”I see. You make it easy to understand, Doctor. Then the various discolorations will have enabled you to locate quite closely where this mining is going on?”
”With reasonable accuracy, I think,” he agreed. ”And so, of course. those spots become priority targets-in fact, to be honest, the only closely-localised targets, so far.”
”There'll be an attack on them, then? Soon?” Phyllis asked.
He shook his head. ”Not my side of things, but I imagine that any delay will be due simply to technical reasons. How much of the sea can we afford to poison with atomic weapons? Are we to risk s.h.i.+ps on the task? Or how long will it take to construct a depth-bomb light enough for air transport? The others have been exceedingly heavy, you know. There must be quite a number of points of that kind.”
”And that is all we can do as a counter-attack?” said Phyllis.
”All that I have heard of,” Dr Matet told her, cautiously. ”The emphasis at the moment is naturally defensive, and on securing safety for s.h.i.+ps. There again, that's not my department at au: I can only give you what I have picked up.” And he went on to do so.
It was generally agreed, it seemed, that s.h.i.+ps were liable to two forms of attack (three forms if one included electrification, but this had occurred only to s.h.i.+ps using cables at considerable depths for grappling or other purposes, and could be disregarded as far as the rest were concerned). Neither of these weapons was explosive: the explosions suffered by some of the s.h.i.+ps were almost certainly due to their own boilers blowing up when the stoke-holds were flooded, for there had been no similar explosions with the motor-vessels that had been lost.
One of the weapons appeared to be vibratory and capable of setting up sympathetic vibrations of such intensity in the attacked craft that she literally shook herself to pieces in a minute or two. The other was less obscure in its nature, but even more puzzling in its capacity. It was undoubtedly some contrivance which attacked the hull below the waterline. There were several obvious ways in which a device could be made to do this: what was less comprehensible was its method of a.s.sault, since the rapidity with which its victims sank, the fact that the air trapped in the hull blew the decks upwards, and various other effects, all tended to suggest some instrument that was capable, not simply of holing a s.h.i.+p, but of something that must be very like slicing the bottom clean off her.
Even before the Conference had begun Bocker had suggested that these devices might be found to form strategic barrages, or minefields, about certain deep areas, and might very well be regarded as perimeter defences. There would, he pointed out, be no great difficulty in constructing a mechanism to lurk inertly at any predetermined depth, and become active only on the approach of a s.h.i.+p-that, indeed, had been the principle of both the acoustic and magnetic mines. But on the means by which it could be made to slice through the hull of a s.h.i.+p with, apparently, the efficiency of a wire through cheese, even Bocker had no suggestions to make.
No one had disagreed with this, in general, but neither had anyone as yet been able to amplify it. The suddenness and success of the attacks, the small numbers of the survivors and the loose quality of their accounts give very little data.
”To my mind,” said Dr Matet, ”the important thing at the moment is to get across to the public that the danger is not incomprehensible, and so stop this silly panicking-for which we may blame the Stock Exchanges more than any other persons or inst.i.tutions. The attack comes from an utterly unexpected direction, it is true, but, like any other, it can and will be met, and the sooner people can be made to realise that it is simply a matter of finding a counter to a new kind of weapon, the sooner they'll cool off. I gather your job is to cool them off, so that is why I decided to tell you all this. In a few days I imagine there will be quite full and frank reports from the various Committees that are now being set up-once they have been brought to realise that here, at least, is one war in which there are no enemy spies listening.” And on that note we parted.
Phyllis and I did our best during the next few days to play our part in putting across the idea of firm hands steady on the wheel, and of the backroom boys who had produced radar, asdic, and other marvels nodding confidently, and saying in effect: ”Sure. just give us a few days to think, and we'll knock together something that will settle this lot!” There was a satisfactory feeling that confidence was gradually being restored.
Perhaps the main stabilising factor, however, emerged from a difference of opinion on one of the Technical Committees.
General agreement had been reached that a torpedo-like weapon designed to give submerged escort to a vessel could profitably be developed to counter the a.s.sumed mine-form of attack. The motion was accordingly put that all should pool information likely to help in the development of such a weapon.
The Russian delegation demurred. Remote control of missiles, they pointed out, was, of course, a Russian invention in any case; moreover, Russian scientists, zealous in the fight for Peace, had already developed such control to a degree greatly in advance of that achieved by the capitalist-ridden science of the West. It could scarcely be expected of the Soviets that they should make a present of their discoveries to warmongers.
The Western spokesman replied that, while respecting the intensity of the fight for Peace and the fervour with which it was being carried on in every department of Soviet science, except, of course, the biological, the West would remind the Soviets that this was a conference of peoples faced by a common danger and resolved to meet it by cooperation.
The Russian leader responded frankly that he doubted whether, if the West had happened to possess a means of controlling a submerged missile by radio, such as had been invented by Russian engineers working under the inspiration of the world's greatest scientist, the late Joseph Stalin, they would care to share such knowledge with the Soviet people.
The Western spokesman a.s.sured the Soviet representative that since the West had called the Conference for the purpose of cooperation, it felt in duty bound to state that it had indeed perfected such a means of control as the Soviet delegate had mentioned.
Following a hurried consultation, the Russian delegate announced that if he believed such a claim to be true, he would also know that it could only have come about through theft of the work of Soviet scientists by capitalist hirelings. And, since neither a lying claim nor the admission of successful espionage showed that disinterest in national advantage which the Conference had professed, his delegation was left with no alternative but to withdraw.
This action, with its rea.s.suring ring of normality exerted a valuable tranquillizing influence.
Concerning the less easily comprehensible vibratory weapon, it was announced that experiments with damping devices and counter-vibration fields had been begun, and were already showing hopeful results. The Conference appointed a Research and Coordination Committee to work in conjunction with Unesco, another for Naval Coordination, a Standing Committee for Action, several lesser Committees, and adjourned itself, pro tem.
Amid the widespread satisfaction and resuscitating confidence, the voice of Bocker, dissenting, rose almost alone: It was late, he proclaimed, but it still might not be too late for some kind of pacific approach to be made to the sources of the disturbance. They had already been shown to possess a technology equal to, if not superior to, our own. In an alarmingly short time they had been able not only to establish themselves, but to produce the means of taking effective action for their self-defence. In the face of such a beginning one was justified in regarding their powers with respect, and, for his part, with apprehension.
The very differences of environment that they required made it seem unlikely that human interests and those of these xen.o.bathetic intelligences need seriously overlap. Before it should be altogether too late, the very greatest efforts should be made to establish communication with them in order to promote a state of compromise which would allow both parties to live peacefully in their separate spheres.
Very likely this was a sensible suggestion-though whether the attempt would ever have produced the desired result is a different matter. In circ.u.mstances where there was no will whatever to compromise, however, the only evidence that his appeal had been noticed at all was that the word, ”xen.o.bathetic”, and a derived noun, ”xen.o.bath”, began to be used in print.
”More honoured in the dictionary than in the observance,” remarked Bocker, with some bitterness. ”If it is Greek words they are interested in, there are others-Ca.s.sandra, for instance.”
The decision to avoid crossing the greater Deeps proved wise. For several weeks not a s.h.i.+p was reported lost. The markets settled down, confidence became convalescent, and the pa.s.senger lists began to fill up again, though slowly. Delays and higher freight-rates were continuing effects, nevertheless there presently arose a disposition to feel that the long-suffering public had once again been stampeded by sensationalism, and the advertising departments of all journals threatened falling revenues unless a note of sprightly plerophory were maintained.
Meanwhile, the brains moiled in the backrooms. and after some four months the Admiralty were able to announce that when certain naval craft had been equipped with the new counter-devices a test would be held over the series of Deeps south of Cape Race, in the neighbourhood where the Queen Anne had been lost.
It is possible that the omission of the Press from the test-party was due to a lukewarm enthusiasm in demanding its rights. Certainly no representative of my, acquaintance was genuinely burning to be included-or, it may have been that the authorities were disinclined to take greater risks than necessary. Whatever the cause, there was no correspondent further forward than the reserve s.h.i.+ps. For first-hand accounts we had to depend on a somewhat inexpert running commentary, and the descriptions given later by the personnel of the test vessels.
Phyllis got herself an introduction to a young Lieutenant Royde, and worked on him. When he came back, we took him Out to dinner, gave him some drinks, and listened.
”It turned out to be a piece of cake,” he a.s.sured us. ”Though, mind you, most of us were feeling pretty windy about it before-hand, and didn't mind admitting it.
”We all sailed together, and then hove-to some fifty miles short of the Deeps, and our party got its stuff all set up.
”The anti-vibration gadget is a bit wearing at first. In fact, anti- isn't quite the word I'd use because it sets up a constant hum which you can half-feel, half-hear; but you get used to it after a time.
”The other gimmick is a tin fish that you sling overboard a dolphin, they're calling it. It promptly makes away forward, and then settles down to travel about two hundred feet ahead of the s.h.i.+p at about five fathoms. It's under control, of course, but when it spots anything it flashes a signal on a screen, and goes for it automatically. What its spotting range is, how it spots, and just why it doesn't lash about and go for the parent s.h.i.+p isn't my pigeon. You'll have to ask the boffins if you want to know about that but, in the rough, that's the way it works.
”Well, when it was all fixed, and the boffins had finished tearing round and testing everything in sight, we set off with the whole s.h.i.+p buzzing like a bee-hive and the dolphin leading the way, and none of us feeling too good in our bellies-anyway, I wasn't. Everybody wore jackets, and orders were for all personnel who hadn't duty below to keep on deck, just in case.
”For about three hours nothing happened, and the sea looked just like any other sea. Then, while we were wondering whether the whole thing was going to turn out phoney, a voice from the hailer said: ”Number One dolphin away! Make ready Number Two dolphin!”
”The dolphin party had just time to get Number Two swung out when Number One got home. And did it get home! By the record, it contacted whatever it was after at around thirty-five fathoms. When it blew. what we saw was several acres of sea going up in the air off the port bow. We raised a bit of a cheer. The hailer came through with: ”Lower away there Number Two dolphin. Stand by Number Three dolphin.”
”Dolphin Number Two went down in her sling, and ran away forward, and they hitched Number Three's sling ready.
”There was a boffin standing by me, looking pretty pleased with himself. He said: ” 'Well, whatever it was, there was some pressure there. A dolphin going up on its own has about a quarter the punch of that.'
”We kept steady on the same course, all looking out like hawks now, though there wasn't anything to be seen. After about five minutes the hailer said: ”'Dolphin away! Make ready Number Three dolphin!'
”It didn't take so long this time before another lot of sea went up with a woomph, and Number Three dolphin was lowered away.
”After that nothing happened for quite a while. Then the pitch of the humming that we'd got so used to that we didn't notice it began to change so that we did notice it. The boffin beside me gave a grunt and whipped back like a streak into a kind of float-off instrument-room they had rigged up on deck. You could feel a sort of trembling in the deck, and the humming kept on changing pitch, and everybody gave a hitch to his lifejacket, and got ready for something to happen.
”The thing that did happen was that Number Three dolphin way ahead of us blew up. It was a far smaller blow than the others had been, and they reckon it was just the vibrations that set her off. She certainly didn't go for anything. The hailer started to order out Number Four dolphin, and in the middle of that an excited boffin bounced out of the instrument-room and ordered the depth-charge-thrower to work. It lobbed off a couple of spherical containers which just sank. We kept on waiting for a couple of bangs until we realised that they weren't going to come. And that was roughly that.
”After a bit the humming settled down to what it had been before, and there was a noise of uproarious boffins slapping one another on the back in the instrument-room.