Even at this distance something seemed odd about their dress.
This base was evidently much more than a simple Communist Chinese installation to harass a U.S. spy satellite receiving station. It was a nuclear submarine hideout.
The Soviets had them, as did the U.S. Navy. There were spots all around the globe where nuclear submarines could hide from the increasingly sophisticated detection systems that each government maintained.
Had the location of this Chinese sub base been known, the problem of the harassment of U. S. personnel on Hiva Faui would have been stopped by a simple diplomatic message.
It was likely, Carter figured, that the Chinese had had this as a secret base of operations long before the satellite tracking and receiving station was put up.
And yet he had to wonder why they would risk discovery of this place just to force the closure of a receiving station. The information the Hiva Faui station was gathering from the spy satellite must have been devastating to the Chinese for them to risk so much.
Very slowly, very carefully, using a gentle breaststroke, Carter swam toward the submarines. There were so many lights on the boats and illuminating the dock area that unless he came too close, no one topside would be able to see him. The entire area of the water was in relative darkness.
The soldiers on the balcony were dressed, Carter could see now, in some sort of khaki uniforms with sloping caps from which neck cloths were attached. Rifles leaned up against the railing.
A little closer and it suddenly came to him. They were dressed as World War II Japanese soldiers!
They were probably the troops who patrolled the islands. If the natives encountered them, after all that had happened here on this island, they would believe they had another religious experience. They would believe they had seen men from forty years ago!
The light show that the natives were fed, apparently on a regular basis, probably supported this belief as well.
It was a very sophisticated setup, Carter decided. This base was probably Communist China's major refueling and resupply point for her Pacific nuclear submarine pack.
He slowly worked his way around the outer submarine, keeping the bulbous hull of the huge boat between himself and the dock. The only way anyone would spot him there would be if a crewman decided to take a stroll on the deck and look down. Not likely, he figured.
When he came close enough, he reached out and touched the side of the boat. He could feel the hum of machinery through the hull. The boat was alive. He put his ear to the outer hull and could hear an amalgam of sounds, at one point even the sound of someone shouting something.
The tide was still coming in; its current had driven him inside. Carter figured it would be at least another half hour or forty-five minutes before it was slack tide and he would have any chance of swimming out of there. Meanwhile, he was going to have to make sure he was not detected. And he was going to have to be out of the way in case one or both of the subs had orders to sail. If he was caught swimming this close, he would be sucked down with the boat.
Quietly he worked his way along the length of the sub, coming to the stern, beyond which the dock extended farther back into the darkness.
He swam the rest of the way to the back of the cavern, angling toward the dock, and the water on the floor of the cavern suddenly got so shallow he could stand. Rocks were piled up against the cavern walls, and at one spot the rocks met the end of the concrete dock area.
Carefully Carter scrambled up to the dock and crouched in the darkness as he watched the activity around the submarines at least fifty yards away.
The unloading activity around the aft submarine continued, but as Carter watched, a dozen men came out onto the balcony above, said something to the soldiers, then tromped down the stairs and across the dock to the forward submarine.
Several of the men appeared to be officers, and as other crewmen emerged from the sub, the officers issued a string of orders.
Hatches were closed, and electrical and water lines connecting the boat to the dock were removed and coiled. The submarine was being made ready to depart.
All hell would break loose, Carter realized, if the presence of the Starfish in these waters was detected. He did not think there would be a fight. But the Chinese would definitely be pressed to do everything within their power to divert the American sub from discovering this place.
Several other people from inside the base came out onto the balcony and started down the stairs. One of them was Gabrielle. Carter recognized her slight form from where he crouched, and he stiffened.
Any lingering doubts he had that she had stumbled accidentally on this place, or that she was a captive, dissipated as he watched her come across the dock and shake the hands of the officers by the sub.
She was shown aboard and helped down one of the hatches. Within the next few minutes the final preparations for departure were finished, and the crew and officers clambered aboard, the hatches were closed, and a siren sounded a brief warning.
The sub. no longer attached to the dock, had begun to drift toward the back of the cavern, but suddenly it eased away from the dock toward the center of the cavern and slowly sank out of sight as it moved forward toward the front wall. Then it was gone, leaving behind only a few ripples in its wake.
Gabrielle was aboard. If the sub was on a war mission, or if it was heading out to divert the Starfish, they would never allow a civilian aboard. They were taking her somewhere. Possibly to a rendezvous with a boat from Hiva Faui.
Several other soldiers came from the glassed-in control area, and they also walked down the stairs to the dock. They slung their rifles over their shoulders and quick-stepped along the dock to the door that led to the catwalk in the outer cavern.
Carter figured they would be going out to look for the American who had come with Gabrielle and who had upset the natives. He didn't think Gabrielle knew that he had gotten to the cliffs. She had probably told them to begin their search well inland.
The unloading of the other submarine was still going on an hour later when Carter, who had remained hidden in the darkness at the end of the dock, slipped back into the warm tropical water and swam toward the underground passage to the open sea.
The tide was at slack; there was no longer any current to move the water. He would not have to fight against it on the way out, but there would be no ebbing flow to help him either.
At the end of the cavern, Carter treaded water for a few minutes to catch his breath. He watched the Chinese soldiers unloading the sub. There were a lot of supplies piled up on the dock already. A huge pile, in fact. Enough to supply a large contingent of men. He suddenly got the uncomfortable feeling that this installation was a hell of a lot bigger than he first suspected it was.
He took several deep breaths in quick succession, hyperventilating slightly, then plunged powerfully down through the pitch-black water. This time there were no lights at the other side to guide him upward. He swam as rapidly as he could, his heart exploding in his chest, his lungs screaming for oxygen, until finally he started upward in a long curve.
He broke the surface of the water about five yards beyond the rock wall. There were no soldiers on the catwalk above, but even if there had been, they would not have been able to hear Carter's gasps for air over the noise of the wind and crashing waves.
Cautiously he swam toward the entrance of the cavern. The wind had shifted in the hour or so he had been inside, and now the waves did not roar directly into the cavern. But just outside he could hear the surf crashing angrily against the rocks.