The Lotus Eaters

SdL Orca, Shimmering Sea

"Three's ignoring the pod, skipper," Yermo said. "And Number Two is heading toward the pod. That brings it toward us."

Weapon's fingers moved over his station in a blur. "I can intercept," he announced.

"Do it!" Quijana ordered.

Weapon's finger lanced down, pressing a button to fire one of the remaining rear-facing torpedoes. A shudder ran through the sub as the torpedo launched itself, breaking through the plastic film that separated its distilled water from the salty sea. This was not a supercavitator, but a more conventional design, capable of, at most, fifty knots.

Weapons kept the torpedo on passive sonar only, with its point of aim set on the constantly pinging Gallic intruder. His hand wrapped around a stick control, not dissimilar to a computer gamer's, with a trigger to fire the wire-laying torpedo should it fail to detonate on its own when close enough to its target. He flipped off a red safety cap over the trigger, then straightened his finger.

Seconds later, Yermo said, "They heard the launch upstairs. We're getting active sonar from one of the ships and . . . another one has fired. At least two helicopters dipping now and I'm getting plonks as something is dropping passive sensors above us.

The sub suddenly lurched with two massive, nearly simultaneous explosions behind it.

"I got it!" Weapons exulted.

Quijana looked against at the main screen, now showing the pod, torpedo two aiming for it, and another torpedo just launched from the surface.

"Two has decided to ignore the pod," Yermo said. "I think it's got a lock on us. And . . . another surface ship has launched."

"Bring us down another two hundred," Quijana said.

"We've never tested it that deep, skipper," Garcia warned. "Worse: If we go too much lower we'll hit the critical point for the ammonia. Do that and we can't push out the ballast."

Quijana pointed at the screen and said, "See those. If we don't lose them we're dead anyway."