“A possibility,” Sergoff agreed.
“A very good possibility,” Danilov smiled. “No. I’m not ready to go racing in for the kill quite yet. But, Captain, add turns for another knot. We’ll close them slowly. I really would like to eavesdrop on Reed’s problems. They might make all the difference in the world as to how to prosecute our attack later on.”
Sergoff had been studying Stevan Lozak. Perhaps he really was maturing. Never once did he interrupt, and he was listening intently. Lozak should have understood that Danilov was adding one more knot, playing with the threshold of noise that could identify him, only because Houston was creating so much noise herself; and, she was concentrating on contacting the other submarine. Danilov desperately wanted to determine the extent of her damage. That would influence the where and when of his attack.
“Captain, we’ve got the fires under control but we’ve still got a lot of smoke, especially from the insulation in the equipment room. We’re going to have to ventilate sooner or later.”
“Can you isolate the compartments?” Snow asked. “Sure… but are you going to want to use this computer again?”
“That bad?”
“Captain, we’ve sealed off the vents in that area. But that means that smoke stays where it is. No one can get into those spaces for repairs. Look at your board. It’s so bad, you can’t see where it’s still smoldering.” Snow glanced at the colored sections on the damage control emergency board in front of him. “No matter what we do, eventually we’ve got to stick our nose above the ice.”
“Wait one.” Snow snapped off the speaker to DC Central. He turned to Carol Petersen in agitation. “What’s it going to take to get that computer back on the line?”
“I don’t know,” she responded helplessly. “The unit that analyzes casualties to the system is off-line. I can’t tell until I can see the damage. It could be simple. Maybe just a matter of replacing some component trays… but right now no one can get into those compartments.” Her face became firmer. “Captain, I know you don’t want to surface, but that computer’s going to remain inoperative until someone can get into those spaces. We’ve got to ventilate them somehow.”
Snow licked his lips nervously. Imperator on the surface was akin to a carrier submerged. Neither could perform their mission. Like Andy Reed, he knew there was another Russian submarine in the vicinity, and that it had to be Danilov. There wasn’t another as cunning as the Soviet admiral… and what would be a better time for him? No, the decision to surface wasn’t going to be his. “Turn toward Houston and close Admiral Reed. It’s safe to establish contact now,” he said to his XO.
“Imperator’s rogered us, Admiral. They’re in communication range.”
“Are they standing by to open a hole in the ice for us?” Reed’s impatience was obvious.
“Captain Snow insists on speaking with you, sir.” Andy Reed moved the few steps into sonar and spoke irritably into the mike. “Hal, we don’t have a hell of a lot of time. If you haven’t figured it out, there’s one more Russian out here. We need an open space or a soft spot to surface for some quick repairs, and we need it on the double. You can dive as soon as there’s enough ice-free space for our men to function outside the hull.”
Snow’s voice came back with the eerie, hollow echo of a human voice transmitted through the water. “We’re not much better off than you. I took a near-hit, Andy. The hull’s still solid, but I’ve got ruptured piping in the computer spaces. The flooding set off fires… Caesar’s down… have to surface and ventilate smoke before commencing repairs. You’ll have to decide how we do this.”
Reed considered the few options that existed. A little more than an hour before, nothing beneath the ice could have stopped them. Now, with casualties to both submarines, they were forced to protect each other from a Russian submarine that was certainly nearby, yet had succeeded in disappearing behind a cloak of silence. However he had done it, Danilov held the upper hand for the time being in a situation that might never have been programmed in a war game.
“We need Caesar… badly.” Reed’s impatience had been quickly subdued.”
“Agreed,” Snow answered.
“What’s your estimate on repair time.”
“We can’t even get in there to find out what has to be done.”
“Okay,” Reed decided. “How confident do you feel about Danilov’s last known position?”
“Wait one… can’t even use the goddamn memory.” I There was a long pause, then, “The best we can do is”—he read off a set of coordinates—“but that was hours ago.”
“Probably good enough,” Reed answered. “Not more than a couple of miles from our own estimate. That means he was astern of us… toward the pole. I’ll tell you what — I need some open water if I’m going to be any use… and we can’t do anything until you bust up some working space for us. I can’t get on more than four degrees rudder… and I want to have my torpedo tubes in Danilov’s direction when I hit the surface. Give me a position, something that I can make a wide turn for so that I’m facing the pole when I reach open water. You surface and get some fresh air while I’m making the turn, then pull the plug again. No need for you to stay up top while you’re making repairs… you can stand sonar guard while I’ve got men outside.”
“Roger. We’ve got a location one one zero degrees relative, about four miles. You can maneuver into that one easily. I’m on my way unless—”
“Take off, Hal. No telling about our competition.”
The competition had indeed crept close enough to record the transmission between the two submarines. The electronics officer ran the tape through a masking device to blot out background sound, transferring it to another tape for an interpreter. Much of the conversation was available.
The interpreter typed out the transmission, leaving spaces where the speech was unintelligible. Then he analyzed what he had on paper, inserting the most likely words in each case. Once he was satisfied, he retyped the Americans’ conversation and delivered it to a pacing Danilov.
“Plot that breakthrough position on the chart,” the admiral growled at Lozak, hoping they were closer than he estimated. His eyes brightened when he understood the extent of damage to Imperator’s computer.
“We were right in the middle of the positions each of them had for us,” Lozak said, laying the chart in front on Danilov. He marveled at the efficiency of the American sonar, for they had been tracked at excessive ranges until their speed dropped under four knots. “Even now, if they were searching carefully, they might pick us up at this speed.” But his voice dropped off as he noticed the admiral clap his hands in delight.
Danilov considered the relative position of the American submarines. Imperator was eighteen kilometers distant. Houston stood between them off Seratov’s port bow, sounding for all the world like a garbage truck with her howling propeller. She was successfully blocking Imperator’s sonar across that bearing. Houston would have to effect a wide turn to position herself beside an opening in the ice another eight kilometers beyond the giant submarine. Considering Houston’s infirmities, there was no need for a charge, nor anything that might be suicidal. Abe Danilov was convinced he could stop both of them.