He took the jacket and slipped it on. “Lieutenant Lebedev, when the fire started, there appeared to be no organized damage control party.”
Lebedev’s thin eyebrows narrowed. “Comrade Captain, I beg to differ, sir; with all due respect.”
Anton continued in a calm voice. “What I saw was a chief putting together an ad hoc fire team when the explosion happened. He was shoving men here and yonder as they worked loose a hose from deck storage. I had to help them.”
“Sir, while they were doing that abovedecks, I was with the damage control party belowdecks working our way around engineering to the aft torpedo rooms. The sailor who gave you the glass of water was from that damage control party.”
Anton looked at Gesny.
“It is true, Comrade Captain. You were topside for most of the firefight. I moved aft with Gavril and his team. I watched them move the engineers away from their stations. It was he and his men who braved the aft torpedo room to control the fire.” After a pause, Gesny added, “And it was his men who rescued the two sailors trapped on the other side of the watertight hatch — the two sailors who are heading to the hospital.”
“Why were they trapped?”
Gesny took a deep breath and glanced at Lebedev. “We are not permitted to allow free passage between the aft torpedo room through the engineering spaces.”
“I know that,” Anton said. “It is too dangerous, but the aft escape hatch is directly above the torpedo room. They could have climbed out there.”
“Unfortunately, the fire blocked that way.”
“There is also the side passageway along the port side that circumvents the engineering spaces.”
Gesny agreed, “That was as close as they got before smoke overtook them. Otherwise they could have used the aft escape hatch once our sailors started using it for fighting the fire.”
Anton grunted. “Okay.” He looked at his OPSO. “How long did it take you to get the team together and at the scene of the fire? The topside makeshift fire team was pouring water into the fire within a minute of it starting.”
Lebedev straightened, his head raised. He stood at attention. “Comrade Captain, my men and I were there as soon as we could get there. I do not have an accurate time, but it was minutes, not hours.” So Lebedev was angry about his questions. That was too bad. A captain’s job was not to make friends or be easy on the crew. It was to turn a bunch of sailors and officers into a crew. A crew that could respond to any emergency as a team does—smoothly— with each person understanding his role and responsibility regardless of the casualties involved. He was not convinced that this crew was ready for any emergency, much less what most would consider a medium event of a fire pierside.
“XO, let’s go find Doctor Zotkin.”
“He’s in engineering,” Gesny said.
“Then we are going to engineering.” Anton stepped away from the wall and headed toward the gangway.
Gesny ran a couple of steps to catch up with him. “Captain, if I may, sir; I think you may have been too harsh with Lieutenant Lebedev. He is a good officer—”
“Survival of the Whale depends on more than good officers, Commander. It depends on how well the crew is trained. You fight like you train. I will want to cover the training plans for the Whale tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
They walked in silence to the gangway.
“Sir, Doctor Zotkin will not be happy if you enter engineering without his permission.”
“Then he will be unhappy, XO. The Whale—or the K-2 project, as Doctor Zotkin calls it — is my boat. The boat and the crew are my responsibility, and even though it is viewed as an extension of the facility only here to test atomic power, the Navy is still the Navy.” Gesny did not reply. Seconds later the two men were climbing down the ladder through the conning tower, down one more level to the control room. Then, ducking through the aft hatch, the two men continued aft, pausing once to scurry down a short half ladder through crew quarters. This would have been one of the battery compartments on board the Whale when it was a diesel submarine. At the hatch leading into the engineering spaces, an unfamiliar white-cloaked scientist stood outside it.
The scientist held up his hand. “I am sorry, Comrade Captain, but Doctor Zotkin and his assistants are inspecting the power plant. I cannot let you enter.”
Anton leaned close to the man’s ear. “Comrade, I am going to enter.” As he continued to speak, Anton moved his head a few inches from the scientist’s head, as if inspecting every inch of it. “If you don’t step out of my way, there is an ambulance taking two of my burned sailors to the hospital. You may have time to join them.” He did not see the half smile break the usual passive countenance of Gesny’s face.
The young scientist stepped away, his face registering his shock. “Sir, he will have me removed if I let you go in.”
Gesny stepped forward and slapped the man lightly on the cheek. “There. You can tell him you were physically overwhelmed by the captain and his XO.”
The scientist moved to one side. Gesny grabbed the lever and swung it up and to the right. Anton reached forward and pushed the hatch open. He should have been allowed in the engine room long before he had to take matters into his own hands.
“You have to delay.”
“There is nothing wrong. We won’t—”
It looks as if we have entered in the middle of a scientific argument, Anton thought.
Stepping inside, he was amazed at the pristine condition of the spaces. No stale odor of old oil or fuel fumes filling the space. The bulkheads had been painted white — that would have to go once atomic power was dispersed into the fleet — and ahead of them stood three white-smocked civilians.
The center civilian was Doctor Zotkin, who turned and glared at them. The other two leaned down, blocking his view of what they were looking at.
“Captain Zegouniov, I was going to send for you shortly,” Zotkin said unconvincingly.
The two men behind Zotkin seemed to be arguing, words garbled by the intensity and low voices.
Zotkin turned. “We’ll discuss this later.”
The two men stood and turned.
One of the men was the German, Doctor Danzinger. The last thing he saw of the German this morning, Danzinger was being carried out of the meeting. He seemed sober now.
Anton stopped a few steps from Zotkin. Behind him, Gesny turned and glanced at the young scientist who had followed them through the hatch. The XO leaned over to the young man and whispered something. Immediately the man turned and rushed back, out the hatch.
“What did you say to my man?” Zotkin asked.
It appeared that he and Gesny’s presence had disturbed the head of the facility. Or did they disrupt the heated conversation between Danzinger and Zotkin? Anton wondered how hard it would be to have a discussion between just him and Danzinger, out of sight of Zotkin.
Gesny shrugged. “I reminded him that you had ordered him to guard the hatch.”
“He did not do well,” Zotkin replied.
“He had little choice,” Anton said. “How is the engine?”
“The atomic reactor is fine as far as I can tell,” Zotkin answered, turning back to the small hatch hidden behind them. “Come here, Captain, and look. See what you and your men will bring to the glory of the Soviet Union.”
Danzinger grunted, drawing a warning glance from Zotkin. Anton deliberately ignored it.