“Yes. It was buzzing about when I turned in, if it’s the same one.”
The Captain said, “I don’t know if it’s actually the same one, but I rather think it must be. It’s been up there on and off for a couple of hours, anyway. My officer-of-the-watch has been listening out.”
Shaw walked to the for’ard rail, stared up into the night. He asked, “Do you know if many of the scheduled flights cross the track here, sir?”
Sir Donald shook his head. “Not all that many, anyhow. Certainly I’ve never had anything like this before, and I’ve been on the run a good many years. However, the officer-of-the-watch apparently didn’t think there was anything particularly suspicious, not enough to call me — until the radio office reported a few minutes ago that the aircraft was making signals.”
Shaw frowned and rubbed the side of his nose. “What sort of signals?”
The Captain shrugged. “They couldn’t identify them.”
“Funny… was the plane getting any reply, any acknowledgement from anywhere?”
“Apparently not. None that the radio people could pick up, that is. What d’you make of it, Shaw?”
“I don’t know. It’s certainly odd.”
The two men exchanged glances, and Shaw felt a cold shiver running up his spine. That throbbing noise above as the liner slid so silently through the night had suddenly got him very much on edge. The Captain said, “You know, it’s almost as though we’re being shadowed. D’you remember those aircraft during the war, shadowing the convoys?”
“Do I not!” Shaw drew in breath sharply. “Always just out of range. Reports to the sub-packs and all that. But I don’t quite see what this chap can hope to do to us, all the same.” He ruminated for a moment, then he added half to himself: “Or do I?”
“How d’you mean?”
“I’m wondering if he could be… well, homing something on to us.”
Sir Donald stared at him, looming vast in the moonlight. “How — what?”
“Well, I don’t know, sir.” He laughed uneasily. “Maybe there’s just something about unexplained sounds in the night that gives me ideas! But this could be the threat, couldn’t it? Some attempt, perhaps, to seize REDCAP. Even seize the ship.”
“But good God, man — they couldn’t do that!”
“They could, sir, and very easily too.”
“But — a damn great ship like this — with all those people aboard! That’s a fantastic notion, Shaw. It’d be an act of war.”
“The whole of this threat is by way of being an act of war,” Shaw said grimly, “at least it will be when it materializes. I don’t believe they would hesitate to interfere with the ship if they wanted to. Remember we did even suspect they might try to blow us up.”
Sir Donald nodded, big shoulders hunching as he rammed his fists into his jacket pockets. He said heavily, “Quite, but that wouldn’t necessarily have looked like an act of war. It could have been put down to a fault in the reactor. This is quite different. Nevertheless, if there is any concrete danger developing, I’ve got my passengers and crew to consider. For that reason, I’d just as soon turn around and head back for Colombo.”
“I understand that, sir. But I think, before we make any fresh decisions, it’d be better to report this.”
“Who do we report to?”
Shaw wrinkled his brows. “There’s a man in Sydney I’ve been told to contact on arrival. He’ll be the one for this. With your permission, sir, I’ll report this myself. I’ll cypher a signal and tell him what’s going on and ask for a search of the area. He’ll take any other action he thinks necessary — I hope! That all right with you, sir?”
“Yes, indeed. Thank you, Shaw.”
Shaw went quickly below and encyphered the message, addressing it to Captain James of the Royal Australian Navy at the Garden Island base in Sydney. After showing the plain-language version to the Captain, he took the cypher himself to the radio office and saw it transmitted right away. It may have been the sheerest coincidence, but within five minutes of the transmission the throbbing noise, seeming to circle once more over their heads, had gone. There was a brief, fleeting shadow across the moon and that was all.
Sir Donald blew out his cheeks in relief, said: “I suppose they picked up the transmission and guessed they’d been rumbled. Anyway, it looks as though it’s done the trick, Shaw.”
Shaw was staring into the sky still, his face troubled and anxious. He said, “Maybe, just for now. I’ve a feeling we haven’t quite done with that chap, though. Not altogether.”
Shortly after the twelve to four watch had been relieved the following afternoon, they heard another distant sound, this time the roar of many aircraft; for some time that afternoon they had heard the patrols in the distance, but the day had been hazy and they hadn’t seen them. The sounds, increasing the tension in the ship, had upset the passengers. Little groups of them sat or stood about the decks, looking out to sea and speculating. And then, as that deep roar came closer, there was a sudden pattern of glittering silver in the sky as a formation thundered out of the haze across their course, straightened, and turned to come back down their beam.
Shaw, on the bridge with Sir Donald, said: “Australian Fleet Air Arm planes. There’s probably a carrier in the vicinity.” He screwed up his eyes against the glare. “They’re flashing, sir.”
A light was winking from the leader’s aircraft. It was a difficult light to read, and the message took some time to send as the planes turned and came back again and again until the signal was passed in full and acknowledged. It said:
NO PLANES NOW IN AREA THIS POSITION FREMANTLE. ALL
SURFACE CRAFT SIGNALLED AND PASSED O.K. GOODBYE AND
GOOD LUCK.
Shaw murmured, “Nice to have met you… He turned to the Captain. “Wish they were coming all the way with us! I could do with an escort.”
Sir Donald stretched his arms. “I expect they’ve cleared the air a bit, though.”
Shaw grinned. “Neatly put, if I may say so!”
Judith asked, “Now what’s up with this ship?”
“Why? Still giving you the shivers?”
“Yes, only more so. I don’t know… I’ve just been down at the Purser’s office. I was really sorry for them. All the old ladies were there, absolutely besieging the counter, demanding to know what all those planes meant. They were all terribly nervy and really being quite rude.”
“These things do hit you harder when you’re old, Judith.”
She said, “Yes, I know, and I’m sorry for them too, of course. There’s such an — I don’t know — such an oppressive feeling right through the ship now. Everyone’s on edge, wondering what’s going on.”
That, Shaw knew, was true. The stewards were having the life harassed out of them. Tempers had become strained, men became snappy and unhelpful, the elderly people even more querulous than they had been all along. This voyage had never been normal from the start, but now the last remnants of the proper carefree atmosphere of a liner had vanished, suddenly and entirely. The Liaison Officers, the entertainments men responsible for whipping-up the social frenzy, had never worked so hard, had never found it so frustratingly impossible to get anybody interested in anything. Quoits and deck-tennis pitches stood empty despite semi-finals of deck game competitions to be worked off, as the passengers still huddled in those little groups by the rails, staring out to sea, examining the sky. Unease spread like a contagion, self-propagating. Ship’s officers moved about on the Captain’s orders, which were to inject confidence and re-assurance so far as they were able; but the very fact that they were doing so only added to that general feeling of unease, of something unpleasant about to happen. Only some of the more boisterous extroverts were immune, and they went about the ship talking in loud voices and saying it was all damned queer and hinting that a war scare had blown up suddenly and no one wanted to tell them.