Nick admired Wolf’s courage, he hadn’t expected him to get back into the Bunyip, but there he sat with two large bumps on his forehead, pulling at his beard. The first time Bunyip jittered Beau crossed himself and the others reached for a support. At the forefront of their minds was the threat of meeting more tremors or eruptions, and the thought that perhaps next time they would not be so lucky.
What they found at Mururoa, Unimak and now here, were swarms of hundreds of thousands of slow moving, low frequency earthquakes, that were a forecast of larger earthquakes in the magnitude of eight or nine plus. The Pacific oceanic plate being the largest, doesn’t move in a continuous manner, some parts move faster than others and when it meets resistance these swarms occur, and when they do lava breaks through onto the seafloor.
Nick’s fears deepened. Ice bergs loomed around them like white ghosts in the eternal dark. They formed weird shapes, thrusting out white ridges worn smooth by the whirling currents, as they floated silently on their insidious journey.
Just when Nick decided they’d had enough for the day an eerie sight confronted them. The men strained against the small fisheyes of the sub as the scene ahead grew nearer and clearer. The Bunyip’s bright searchlights pierced the freezing, murky depths through the limited vision, picking up what first appeared to be a ghostly sunken ship. As they approached they were able to make out more dark shapes.
‘Look! Is that a sub?’ Beau whispered in disbelief.
‘Ya, probably be Russian.’ Said Wolf. ‘Could be one of their dumping grounds. The Ruskis started building those death traps in the nineteen fifties. They’ve been scuttling them somewhere in the ocean ever since’
‘I thought they were dicing that stuff into the sea near Vladivostok.’ Nick said.
‘Maybe a little too close to home.’ Wolf replied.
‘Yeah, and I read somewhere they found a big dump in the Norwegian Sea in the nineties. Must be at least thirteen damaged sub reactors on the bottom there, five still filled with fuel.’ Nick said. ‘That’s also where the nuclear sub Komsomolets went down with four kilos of plutonium in her nose.’
‘Ya, and what about the seventeen thousand containers of radioactive waste they dumped in the Bering and Kara Seas?Plus the twenty-thousand spent fuel rods they found off the Kola Peninsular west of Murmansk. I could go on and on.’
They manoeuvred slowly around among the relics and sighted piles of barrels and cylinders. ‘Why couldn’t they have spread them around a bit?’ Jeremy snapped, nursing his plastered arm. ‘No-one knows how long these things will hold together or what they’ll do to the environment.’
‘I think it’s a case of out of sight out of mind, the Russians don’t care about the environment.’ Wolf said. ‘Don’t forget the Japs.’
‘They’re not the only ones.’ Nick said. ‘Excuse me guys, but look what the US did at Amchitka in the seventies? The underground blast was the biggest in US history. It raised the ground six metres! They’re still monitoring the area for leakage of nuclear materials.’
‘Christ. Listening to you two is scaring me.’ Beau said. ‘What’s all that doing to the marine life?’
Nick turned to Beau. ‘Look around. Do you see any? Radioactive material travels with ocean currents. It’s deposited in marine sediment and climbs the marine food chain. Seals have died here from blood cancer, so have millions of starfish, shellfish, seals and porpoises in the White Sea, caused by pollution or nuclear contamination. Most of the world’s radioactive contamination is in the marine environment.’
His mind was working furiously as he stared at the scene in front of him, and suddenly his head jerked around, his eyes narrowed into slits then widened as his pupils dilated to darkened orbs. At the same time Wolf’s expression turned sour.
‘Christ! That pile of junk out there’s sitting right on top of the fault line.’ Nick said. ‘When the quakes open up the seabed here, that stuff will be swallowed.’
‘Ya, and when it hits the molten magma, it’ll make Krakatoa look like a baby.’ Wolf added.
Nick turned an ashen countenance to Jeremy. ‘You’d better make a note of everything out there, see if you can get some images. It’s bloody frightening. I need to get back to Washington. Fast! How soon can we get back to land and have a Veto pick me up Wolf?’
Wolf immediately reached for the radio. ‘It’ll take about six hours to get to Kotzebue Sound, we can have a military Veto from Fairbanks waiting for you, he can take you to Anchorage airport.’
‘Good. Get them to book me on a flight to Washington while you’re at it. We’ll head off when Jeremy’s finished. Um, we should keep this under our hats for now, until I can sort it out with Josh in Washington.’
Nick retreated to his thoughts, his mind racing as he tried to assimilate all that had transpired in the past month. The ramifications of his findings were beyond calculation. The eruptions and crustal movement between Tahiti and the Aleutians would cause immeasurable damage to a vast region of land bordering the Pacific, but what they were facing here would destroy the weakened polar ice. Any that withstood the nuclear blast would be melted by the boiling sea and molten magma forced out by the amplified eruptions below the earth’s crust.
An explosion such as this would have a devastating affect on the already floundering cities on sea level, forcing the oceans higher, perhaps drowning all coastal cities entirely! His mind was spinning, questions flooding in at a rate he was unable to process. He wondered if Josh or anyone else would believe him.
Jeremy completed his observations and they headed back to the Platypus where Sam and the boys were more than glad to see them. ‘It’s about time y’ finished up down there. We’ve bin freezin’ our butts off as usual. What the hell did y’ find that took so long?’ Sam demanded.
Ignoring his question Nick pulled him aside out of earshot. ‘I’m jumping a Veto back to Washington. I want you to take the Platypus to Australia, but don’t go into any port unless it’s to refuel or take on supplies. If you do, get back to sea quick-smart, and stay there! Understand?’
‘Are you serious!’ Sam exploded, eyes bulging with disbelief. ‘e’ve bin at sea over six weeks and the men are restless. They need a break. Now your tellin’ me to go to Australia! Sweet Jesus. It’ll take us two weeks to get there! What the hell’s goin’ on?’
‘Looks like some major undersea earthquakes coming up Sam! It could affect the entire world as we know it. Jeremy can fill you in. Just trust me. This’s important. Don’t screw up. Just do as I tell you! I’m relying on you.’
‘Je…sus, if things aren’t bad enough.’ Sam muttered, thinking of the world-wide flooding. He knew it would be pointless to question Nick any further and stabbed his finger several times on the map on the console display.
Friday, May 26
They could see the Veto waiting as promised as they steamed into the sequestered inlet of Kotzebue Sound. Sam had informed the crew of their orders and heated arguments had followed and he had a great deal of trouble persuading the men to stay with him, several threatened to jump ship, and would have done so had they been anywhere else but in that isolated Godforsaken freezing hole.
Nick left his men with a feeling of deep sorrow not knowing whether he would ever see the Platypus again. He did know however, that its safety was going to be crucial to his future. ‘Remember what I said Sam.’ He reiterated. ‘Stay at sea! I’ll keep in touch.’
Wolf’s robust complexion had paled and he walked with a slight stoop as he escorted Nick to the waiting Veto. ‘Nicky, this’s bad. What’s worse is there’s nothing we can do to stop it.’