A Ravel of Waters

Kay, Tideman and I were back again in the sick-bay. I waited only long enough for the guard to settle behind the glass partition before sitting the others down at the table. The pretence of playing cards was agonizing. Guillotine victims did it with more aplomb. But they had no hope of escape. 'We are going to escape,' I added. 'Tonight.'

Kay's fan of cards trembled. Even Tideman's iron control cracked. 'How?' he demanded. 'For pity's sake, how?'

'It is tonight or never,' I answered. 'Our one big chance – our only chance – is while the fleet is occupied fuelling.' 'Peter!' Kay started to remonstrate.

'Try to remember you are supposed to be playing cards,' I reminded her. 'You know what to expect if that gorilla out there suspects us. It's his neck as well as ours. I intend it to be his.' 'Go on,' said Tideman quietly. I made a pretence of trumping a card. 'I intend to blow up the fleet.'

Tideman's incredulity, backed by the authority of a naval officer, was shattering.

Kay broke the ensuing silence. Her tone said everything. ‘I have never seen so many guns or so many men as there are in the squadron. Group Condor alone must number five or six hundred. Peter, what you propose is totally and wholly impossible.' 'Even if you weren't imprisoned,' added Tideman.

I tried to muster my words calmly despite my excitement. 'Soon every ship will be engaged in refuelling,' I said. 'The fleet will, figuratively speaking, have its pants down. Never will it be more vulnerable. The ships will be surrounded by tens of thousands of hectolitres of highly explosive jellified fuel. Molot Command itself is nervous -no smoking even here aboard Jetwind, kilometres away. No seismic explosions allowed on Trolltunga, either.' 'What's in your mind, Peter?' asked Tideman.

'Molot anchorage is one gigantic, ready-to-detonate bomb. One match would do it.'

'You could escape that way if you had a kamikaze death-wish. But you'd go up in smoke, too,' answered Tideman.

Nevertheless, I thought I detected slightly less scepticism.

'Aboard the pinnace is the scientists' supply of explosive charges,' I went on. 'I intend seizing the pinnace. I will set the charges on a time fuse. I will direct the boat at the fleet. The charges will blow. Up will go the fuel – up will go the fleet.'

'J am not going to stand by and watch you commit suicide,’ protested Kay.

I smiled, despite my tension. 'The pinnace will be unmanned. I will aim her at the fleet by locking the tiller. A bull's-eye isn't called for. A target that size is too big to miss. A flash anywhere near the fuel container will do the trick.'

'It's a good idea, Peter,' said Tideman. 'But it remains only an idea – there are far too many practical steps in-between that it doesn't take account of. The principle is excellent, your logistics are non-existent.' 'What steps?' I guessed what was coming.

'Let us assume for the sake of argument that somehow you managed to escape from the sick-bay – past a guard with an automatic weapon, past another similarly armed on the bridge, past Grohman himself…'

Kay added, 'Grohman brought two extra men back with him from the fleet to reinforce those aboard Jetwind. That makes six guards plus himself.'

'You've got to get from Jetwind to the pinnace. How?' Tideman resumed. 'By boat? Their automatics would cut you and the boat in half before you got clear of the ship. Also, the pinnace is within range of the AK-47 rifles the new guards have – they have the power, even if the UZIs don't. Forget it, Peter.'

'I wasn't thinking of using a boat, and besides they wouldn't dare shoot because of the danger of an explosion.'

‘Please, Peter, this is just talking!' Kay said agitatedly. 'It's simply killing time. Listen to John's advice – forget it.'

I went on. 'I need you two to win control of the bridge for as long as it will take me to climb up to Jetwind's topgallant masts. We'll work out the precise time. Then – ' I addressed Tideman' -1 want you to fire the chicken button on the bridge and blast away Number Two top-gallant mast directly overhead.' 'Ring charges – the ultimate emergency!' he exclaimed.

'That's it,' I replied. 'The ultimate emergency. Those charges are meant to blow away Jetwind’s top-hamper if ever she went over on her beam-ends in a storm. I intend using them for another type of emergency.'

Kay looked horrified. 'And you – where will you be, Peter?'

'Inside the crow's nest – above the site of the charges. The detonations will project the mast and me clear of the ship – the same principle as a pilot's ejector seat. The way the ship's head is lying at present and the direction of the wind will pitch the mast towards the pinnace. The mast is hollow so it'll float for a while. I'll reach the pinnace from it – you know my plan from that point onwards.'

'You'll be killed!' protested Kay. 'The blast inside the confined space will kill you!'