The Western spokesman replied that, while respecting the intensity of the fight for Peace and the fervour with which it was being carried on in every department of Soviet science, except, of course, the biological, the West would remind the Soviets that this was a conference of peoples faced by a common danger and resolved to meet it by co-operation.
The Russian leader responded frankly that he doubted whether, if the West had happened to possess a means of controlling a submerged missile by radio, such as had been invented by Russian engineers working under the inspiration of the world's greatest scientist, the late Josef Stalin, they would care to share such knowledge with the Soviet people.
The Western spokesman assured the Soviet representative, that since the West had called the Conference for the purpose of co-operation, it felt in duty bound to state that it had indeed perfected such a means of control as the Soviet delegate had mentioned.
Following a hurried consultation, the Russian delegate announced that if he believed such a claim to be true, he would also know that it could only have come about through theft of the work of Soviet scientists by capitalist hirelings. And, since neither a lying claim nor the admission of successful espionage showed that disinterest in national advantage which the Conference had professed, his delegation was left with no alternative but to withdraw.
This action, with its reassuring ring of normality, exerted a valuable tranquillizing influence.
Concerning the less easily comprehensible vibratory weapon, it was announced that experiments with damping devices and counter-vibration fields had been begun, and were already showing hopeful results. The Conference appointed a Research and Co-ordination Committee to work in conjunction with Unesco, another for Naval Co-ordination, a Standing Committee for Action, several lesser Committees, and adjourned itself, pro tem.
Amid the widespread satisfaction and resuscitating confidence, the voice of Bocker, dissenting, rose almost alone: It was late, he proclaimed, but it still might not be too late for some kind of pacific approach to be made to the sources of the disturbance. They had already been shown to possess a technology equal to, if not superior to, our own. In an alarmingly short time they had been able not only to establish themselves, but to produce the means of taking effective action for their self-defence. In the face of such a beginning one was justified in regarding their powers with respect, and, for his part, with apprehension.
The very differences of environment that they required made it seem unlikely that human interests and those of these xenobathetic intelligences need seriously overlap. Before it should be altogether too late, the very greatest efforts should be made to establish communication with them in order to promote a state of compromise which would allow both parties to live peacefully in their separate spheres.
Very likely this was a sensible suggestion though whether the attempt would ever have produced the desired result is a different matter. In circumstances where there was no will whatever to compromise, however, the only evidence that his appeal had been noticed at all was that the word, 'xenobathetic', and a derived noun, 'xenobath', began to be used in print.
'More honoured in the dictionary than in the observance,' remarked Bocker, with some bitterness. 'If it is Greek words they are interested in, there are others Cassandra, for instance.'
The decision to avoid crossing the greater Deeps proved wise. For several weeks not a ship was reported lost. The markets settled down, confidence became convalescent, and the passenger lists began to fill up again, though slowly. Delays and higher freight-rates were continuing effects, nevertheless there presently arose a disposition to feel that the long-suffering public had once again been stampeded by sensationalism, and the advertising departments of all journals threatened falling revenues unless a note of sprightly plerophory were maintained.
Meanwhile, the brains moiled in the backrooms, and after some four months the Admiralty were able to announce that when certain naval craft had been equipped with the new counter-devices a test would be held over the series of Deeps south of Cape Race, in the neighbourhood where the Queen Anne had been lost.
It is possible that the omission of the Press from the test-party was due to a lukewarm enthusiasm in demanding its rights. Certainly no representative of my acquaintance was genuinely burning to be included or, it may have been that the authorities were disinclined to take greater risks than necessary. Whatever the cause, there was no correspondent further forward than the reserve ships. For first-hand accounts we had to depend on a somewhat inexpert running commentary, and the descriptions given later by the personnel of the test vessels.
Phyllis got herself an introduction to a young Lieutenant Royde, and worked on him. When he came back, we took him out to dinner, gave him some drinks, and listened.
'It turned out to be a piece of cake,' he assured us. 'Though, mind you, most of us were feeling pretty windy about it beforehand, and didn't mind admitting it.
'We all sailed together, and then hove-to some fifty miles short of the Deeps, and our party got its stuff all set up.
'The anti-vibration gadget is a bit wearing at first. In fact, anti- isn't quite the word I'd use because it sets up a constant hum which you can half-feel, half hear; but you get used to it after a time.
'The other gimmick is a tin fish that you sling overboard a dolphin, they're calling it. It promptly makes away forward, and then settles down to travel about two hundred feet ahead of the ship at about five fathoms. It's under control, of course, but when it spots anything it flashes a signal on a screen, and goes for it automatically. What its spotting range is, how it spots, and just why it doesn't lash about and go for the parent ship isn't my pigeon. You'll have to ask the boffins if you want to know about that but, in the rough, that's the way it works.
'Well, when it was all fixed, and the boffins had finished tearing round and testing everything in sight, we set off with the whole ship buzzing like a beehive and the dolphin leading the way, and none of us feeling too good in our bellies anyway, I wasn't. Everybody wore jackets, and orders were for all personnel who hadn't duty below to keep on deck, just in case.
'For about three hours nothing happened, and the sea looked just like any other sea. Then, while we were wondering whether the whole thing was going to turn out phoney, a voice from the hailer said:
'"Number One dolphin away! Make ready Number Two dolphin!"
'The dolphin party had just time to get Number Two swung out when Number One got home. And did it get home! By the record, it contacted whatever it was after at around thirty-five fathoms. When it blew, what we saw was several acres of sea going up in the air off the port bow. We raised a bit of a cheer. The hailer came through with:
'"Lower away there Number Two dolphin. Stand by Number Three dolphin."
'Dolphin Number Two went down in her sling, and ran away forward, and they hitched Number Three's sling ready.
'There was a boffin standing by me, looking pretty pleased with himself. He said:
'"Well, whatever it was, there was some pressure there. A dolphin going up on its own has about a quarter the punch of that."
'We kept steady on the same course, all looking out like hawks now, though there wasn't anything to be seen. After about five minutes the hailer said:
'"Dolphin away! Make ready Number Three dolphin!"
'It didn't take so long this time before another lot of sea went
up with a woomph, and Number Three dolphin was lowered away.