Arctic regions -- Fiction; Cold War -- Fiction; Divers -- Fiction; Science fiction; Submarines (Ships) -- Fiction
Further down, he saw Barney's black rubber suit spread-eagled and
sinking, and he swam clumsily down past the minisub. He clutched
Barney's black rubber arm and dragged it toward the minisub. The black
rubber suit seemed to have no bones. Everything drooped and swayed as
he tried to fit Barney into the stern cockpit. When he wrapped Barney's
wires to tie him in, they came face to face. There was no glass in
Barney's mask. The glass had burst where the face had been.
* * * * *
Murderer's eyes narrowed in helpless rage at Barney's death.
Dragging himself into Barney's forward cockpit, he valved air into the
minisub's forward flotation tank, raising the torpedo-like nose. It was
then that he saw them up there, silhouetted small and frog-like against
the blinding white ice, two divers.
The two silhouettes were looking down at him, and he knew they had been
attracted by the explosion of their gelatinous picket buoy. He looked
all around for the dim gray outline of their submarine, but there was
no sign of their "home," and his gaze concentrated with wide-eyed
intensity on their black paddling shapes as his minisub rose from the
depths.
He saw them exchange hurried hand signals. They began to swim away,
side by side, their fins fluttering rapidly now. They were swimming a
definite course, and still there was no sign of their submarine as his
minisub inexorably gained on them.
Now that he had reached their altitude, he noticed they were already
tiring. One diver looked back, then swam frantically to catch up with
the other. Like a slow fighter plane, the minisub came in on them from
behind, and one diver pushed at the other. They again exchanged hand
signals, losing yards to the minisub, and one began to swim hard while
the other turned back, facing the minisub, raising his hand in what
appeared to be a courteous military salute. The minisub kept coming
straight at him.
Then the diver spread his arms in a gesture of peace. The minisub's
torpedo-shaped nose rammed his belly. Unsheathing his long blade, the
Murderer struck.
As the diver wriggled, the Murderer withdrew the blade and struck
again. Air bubbles streamed from the diver's chest with each exhalation
of breath as he backwatered. His expression seemed mild surprise as
the Murderer struck a third time, driving the blade down between the
man's neck and collar bone, pushing him deeper. The next blow smashed
the mask. Belatedly, the man's hand flurried, seeming to clutch at his
bubbles as he sank.
The Murderer looked up. Far off under the ice, the other diver had
stopped, was looking down, watching, and the Murderer held up his
blade as a signal and turned the minisub upward, after him. This diver
took evasive action among the downward bulges of old Siberian ice and
suddenly vanished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account