The Hunt for Red October - Tom Clancy [167]
"What is it, Arthur?" Greer asked a minute later.
"The latest from CARDINAL." Moore handed xeroxed copies of a message to both men. "How quick can we get word out?"
"That far out? Means a helicopter, a couple of hours at least. We have to get this out quicker than that," Greer urged.
"We can't endanger CARDINAL, period. Draw up a message and get the navy or air force to relay it by hand." Moore didn't like it, but he had no choice.
"It'll take too long!" Greer objected loudly.
"I like the boy, too, James. Talking about it doesn't help. Get moving."
Greer left the room cursing like the fifty-year sailor he was.
The Red October
"Comrades. Officers and men of Red October, this is the captain speaking." Ramius' voice was subdued, the crewmen noticed. The incipient panic that had started a few hours earlier had driven them to the brittle edge of riot. "Efforts to repair our engines have failed. Our batteries are nearly flat. We are too far from Cuba for help, and we cannot expect help from the Rodina. We do not have enough electrical power even to operate our environmental control systems for more than a few hours. We have no choice, we must abandon ship.
"It is no accident that an American ship is now close to us, offering what they call assistance. I will tell you what has happened, comrades. An imperialist spy has sabotaged our ship, and somehow they knew what our orders were. They were waiting for us, comrades, waiting and hoping to get their dirty hands on our ship. They will not. The crew will be taken off. They will not get our Red October! The senior officers and I will remain behind to set off the scuttling charges. The water here is five thousand meters deep. They will not have our ship. All crewmen except those on duty will assemble in their quarters. That is all." Ramius looked around the control room. "We have lost, comrades. Bugayev, make the necessary signals to Moscow and to the American ship. We will then dive to a hundred meters. We will take no chance that they will seize our ship. I take full responsibility for this—disgrace! Mark this well, comrades. The fault is mine alone."
The Pigeon
"Signal received: 'SSS,'" the radioman reported.
"Ever been on a submarine before, Ryan?" Cook asked.
"Nope, I hope it's safer 'n flying." Ryan tried to make a joke of it. He was deeply frightened.
"Well, let's get you down to Mystic."
The Mystic
The DSRV was nothing more than three metal spheres welded together with a propeller on the back and some boiler plating all around to protect the pressure-bearing parts of the hull. Ryan was first through the hatch, then Williams. They found seats and waited. A crew of three was already at work.
The Mystic was ready for operation. On command, the Pigeon's winches lowered her to the calm water below. She dived at once, her electric motors hardly making any noise. Her low-power sonar system immediately acquired the Russian submarine, half a mile away, at a depth of three hundred feet. The operating crew had been told that this was a straightforward rescue mission. They were experts. The Mystic was hovering over the missile sub's forward escape trunk within ten minutes.
The directional propellers worked them carefully into place and a petty officer made certain that the mating skirt was securely fastened. The water in the skirt between Mystic and Red October was explosively vented into a low-pressure chamber on the DSRV. This established a firm seal between the two vessels, and the residual water was pumped out.
"Your ball now, I guess." The lieutenant motioned Ryan to the hatch in the floor of the middle segment.
"I guess." Ryan knelt by the hatch and banged a few times with his hand. No response. Next he tried a wrench. A moment later three clangs echoed back, and Ryan turned the locking wheel in the center of the hatch. When he pulled the hatch up, he found another that had already been opened from below. The lower perpendicular hatch was shut. Ryan took a deep breath and climbed down the ladder of the white painted cylinder, followed by Williams.