The blips were gone from the radar scope. The subs had spotted him and
submerged. In a moment he would be catching a torpedo, unless he moved.
He started the engines quickly, and the surfaced sub lurched ahead. He
nosed her toward the enemy craft and opened the throttle. She knifed
through the water like a low-running PT boat, throwing a V-shaped fan of
spray. When he reached the halfway point between his own former position
and the place where the enemy submerged, he began jabbing a release at
three second intervals, laying a trail of deadly eggs. He could hear the
crash of the exploding depth-charges behind him. He swung around to make
another pass.
Then he saw it--the wet metal hulk rearing up like a massive whale dead
ahead. They had discovered the insignificance of their lone and
pint-sized attacker. They were coming up to take him with deck guns.
Mitch reversed the engines and swung quickly away. The range was too
close for a torpedo. The blast would catch them both. He began
submerging quickly. A sickening blast shivered his tiny craft, and then
another. He dropped to sixty feet, then knifed ahead.
God! Why was he doing this? There was no sense in it, if he meant to run
away. But then the thought came: they're returning Old Man Garson's
big-winded threat. They're bringing a snootful of radiological hell, and
that's the damned bayonet-line across the road.
* * * * *
Depth charges were crashing around him as he wove a zig-zag course. The
computer was buzzing frantically. Then he saw why. The rocket launcher
hadn't retracted; there was still a rocket in it--with a snootful of
Uranium 235. The thing was dragging at the water, slowing him down,
causing the sub to shudder and lurch.
Apparently all the subs had surfaced, for the charges were falling on
all sides. With the launcher dragging at him, they would get him sooner
or later. He tried to nose upward, but the controls refused.
He knew what would happen if he tried to fire the rocket. Hell, he
didn't have to fire it. All he had to do was fuse it. It had a
water-pressure fuse, and he was beneath exploding depth.
_Don't think about it! Do it!_
No, you've got to think. That's what's wrong. Too much do, not enough
think. They're going to wreck mechanical civilization if they keep it
up. They're going to wreck Man's tools, cut off his hands, and make him
an ape again!
But what's it to you? What can _you_ do?
Dammit! You can destroy five _wrong_ tools that were built to wreck the
_right_ tools.
Mitch, who wanted to quit an all-out war, reached for the fusing switch.
_This_ part was _his_ war; destroy the destroyers, but not the
producers. Even if it didn't make good military sense--
A close explosion sent him lurching aside. He grabbed at the wall and
pushed himself back. The switch--the damn double-toggle _red switch_! He
screamed a curse and struck at it with both fists.
There came a beautiful, blinding light.