The Lotus Eaters

Anno Condita 472 SdL Megalodon, Shimmering Sea, Terra Nova

You could cut the stress with a knife, and the Tauran—really the Gallic—battle group was still nearly twenty miles away.

From his command chair, mounted on a low dais overlooking the stations of the crew, to either side of the sub's bridge and forward, under the main screen, Chu followed the Orca's progress on an electronic sea chart. The other sub moved at a speed of twenty-one knots, so said the display, which speed the Meg matched. This was slow enough for the Orca to have no practically detectable sound of its own, through the thermal layer that separated the two. Only the clicker on the sub sounded, as it sailed two hundred meters up and about eight thousand forward.

Though much progress had been made, over the last few decades, in stealthing surface warships, they were still much noisier than submarines. Even here, below the thermal layer, the noise of the battle group and the frigate moving to meet it were detectable enough for the sonar man, aided by computer, to mark their positions on the screen with a considerable degree of certainty.

"But I still haven't heard shit out of the sub that's escorting that battle group, skipper," sonar announced softly through the boom mike that connected him to the rest of the on-duty crew. The sonar man, Antonio Auletti, thought, And if that doesn't worry you, it sure as shit worries me. Not that I expect to be able to do much about it. Though it's not, I suppose, as if we were sailing unarmed.

"Okay," said Chu, "Orca's on her own. Set intercept course for the carrier."